Various fluid-conveying tubular components, such as conduits, pipes, and tubes, may be secured to surfaces, such as walls, ceilings or the like, through fastening assemblies. For example, a cylindrical tube may be secured to a wall through a fastening assembly having a tube channel that snapably, latchably, or otherwise secures around a portion of the tube. The fastening assembly itself may be secured to the wall through a stud that is received and retained by a stud retainer, for example, that may be integrally formed with the fastening assembly.
However, the channels within the fastening assembly are typically configured to retain tubes having a certain diameter. The channels may not be able to accommodate tubes having smaller or larger diameters. For example, a tube having a smaller outer diameter than the inner diameter of the channel may axially shift within the channel. Accordingly, the fastening assembly may be incapable of securely retaining the smaller diameter tube.
Conversely, a tube having a larger outer diameter than the inner diameter of the channel is typically unable to fit within the channel. As such, the fastening assembly may be incapable of even receiving the tube.
FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective top view of a conventional tube-retaining clip 10 retaining a tubular component 12 (such as a pipe, conduit, tube, or the like). The tube-retaining clip 10 includes a main body 14 defining a tube-retaining channel 16. The tubular component 12 is received and retained within the tube-retaining channel 16. As shown, the tubular component 12 is urged into a receiving channel of the routing clip assembly in the direction of arrow A (conversely, the pipe is extracted in the opposite direction denoted by arrow B). The routing clip assembly is configured to resist thrust forces in the direction of arrow C (which are parallel with a longitudinal axis 18 of the tubular component), and rotational forces in the directions of arc D (radial about the longitudinal axis 18).
In general, the more a tube-retaining clip is designed to resist thrust forces (such as denoted by arrow C), the less the retaining clip is able to resist rotational forces (such as denoted by arc D), and vice versa. Accordingly, typical tube-retaining clips are designed to provide a balance between such forces. Some known tube-retaining clips include a relatively large barb that resists rotational force of a tubular component, but consequently increase insertion and extraction forces of a tubular component with respect to the tube-retaining clip assemblies, thereby making insertion and extraction of the tubular component more difficult. Conversely, some known-tube-retaining clips include a smaller barb, which reduces insertion and extraction forces of a tubular component, but may not effectively resist rotational forces.