APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING NON-WOVEN FABRIC
An apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric is provided. The apparatus includes a spinning device and a coagulation device. The spinning device has at least one spinning nozzle, and the coagulation device has an ice sheet thereover and is disposed corresponding to the spinning device. Furthermore, a method for manufacturing the non-woven fabric is described as followed. First, a spinning solution containing a solvent and a fiber material dissolved therein is provided. Then, a spinning step is performed, in which the fibrous spinning solution extruded from the spinning device is coagulated by the coagulation device to form a plurality of mutually stacked fibers, thus forming a non-woven fabric. The non-woven fabric made by the apparatus and the method has desired uniformity.
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This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 96101251, filed on Jan. 12, 2007. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for manufacturing artificial fibers. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric.
2. Description of Related Art
Non-woven fabric is an application of artificial fibers, and the process combines the technologies and principles such as plastics, chemical industry, paper making, and spinning. Such application of artificial fibers is referred to as a “non-woven fabric”, as it is not manufactured by conventional weaving methods, such as weaving or knitting. The non-woven fabric has the features such as low manufacturing cost, moisture absorbing, dust proofing, and anti-static, so it has very extensive uses. For example, in various fields, such as agriculture, architecture, people's livelihood, industry, medicament, and automobile, the non-woven fabric is used as a material for filtering, blocking, and moisture absorbing, and so on.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,358,461, European Patent NO. EP0944753, US Patent NO. US2004099981, and European Patent NO. EP1358369, a method of manufacturing a non-woven fabric by placing un-coagulated fiber net in a coagulation bath is set forth. The method has a major disadvantage that the un-coagulated fibers are likely to be combined, overlapped during netting, thus leading to a phenomenon that the non-woven fabric product has agglomerates and coarse fibers.
In order to eliminate the phenomenon of fibers being agglomerated or coarse, a non-woven fabric can be manufactured by sprinkling a coagulation liquid upon spinning is set forth, for example, in US Patent NO. US2005056956 and International Patent Publication NO. WO2005106085. However, the fibers manufactured by the method are un-extensible due to too early coagulation, and the spinning solution is likely to be coagulated at the spinning nozzle and block the spinning nozzle. Further, the coagulation liquid is sputtered, and the fiber molecules may be coagulated around the apparatus and may contaminate the apparatus.
Additionally, a method of manufacture a non-woven fabric by directly feeding fibers manufactured by spinning into a coagulation bath to be coagulated into a net is set forth, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,596,033 and 6,306,334. The method dose not has the problem of causing fiber to be agglomerated and coarse, but the buoyancy and the fluidity of the coagulation liquid always increase the bending of the fibers and make the surface of the non-woven fabric uneven.
Accordingly, the conventional methods for manufacturing a non-woven fabric still have disadvantages. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the conventional methods for manufacturing a non-woven fabric.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccordingly, the present invention is directed to provide an apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric, so as to solve the problems in the non-woven fabric manufactured by a conventional non-woven fabric manufacturing apparatus that fibers are likely to be agglomerated, coarse, bended, and lead to an uneven surface.
The present invention is further directed to provide a method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric, so as to solve the problems in the non-woven fabric manufactured by a conventional method that fibers are likely to be agglomerated, coarse, bended, and lead to an uneven surface.
As embodied and broadly described herein, the present invention provides an apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric, which includes a spinning device and a coagulation device. The spinning device has at least one spinning nozzle, for extruding a spinning solution from the at least one spinning nozzle to form a plurality of fibrous spinning solutions. The coagulation device is disposed corresponding to the spinning device and has an ice sheet thereover, for coagulating the fibrous spinning solutions extruded from the spinning nozzle on the ice sheet to form a plurality of mutually stacked fibers.
In an apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to an embodiment of the present invention, the ice sheet of the coagulation device is, for example, composed of cracked ice.
In an apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to another embodiment of the present invention, the ice sheet of the coagulation device is composed of a layer of frost.
In the apparatuses for manufacturing a non-woven fabric of the embodiments, the coagulation device includes a reception device, a refrigerating device, and a sprinkling device. The refrigerating device is disposed inside the reception device, to reduce the temperature of the surface of the reception device to a temperature at which water is frozen. The sprinkling device is disposed above the reception device, for sprinkling water to the surface of the reception device, to form a layer of frost on the surface of the reception device.
In the apparatuses for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to the embodiments, the refrigerating device includes a liquid nitrogen supply device.
In an apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to an embodiment of the present invention, the coagulation device is, for example, disposed under the spinning device.
In an apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to an embodiment of the present invention, the distance between the spinning device and the coagulation device is 30 cm-1 m.
The apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to an embodiment of the present invention further includes a drying device disposed adjacent to the coagulation device, for drying the mutually stacked fibers to form a non-woven fabric.
The apparatuses for manufacturing a non-woven fabric of the embodiments further includes a rolling-up device disposed adjacent to the drying device, for batching up the non-woven fabric.
The apparatuses for manufacturing a non-woven fabric of the embodiments further includes a conveyor belt connected between the coagulation device, the drying device, and the rolling-up device.
The apparatuses for manufacturing a non-woven fabric of the embodiments further includes a gas generator disposed between the spinning device and the coagulation device for generating a gas flow to the fibrous spinning solutions extruded from the spinning nozzle.
As embodied and broadly described herein, the present invention further provides a method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric including the following steps. First, a spinning solution containing a solvent and a fiber material dissolved therein is provided. Next, a spinning step is performed to coagulate the spinning solution on an ice sheet to form a plurality of mutually stacked fibers.
In the method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to an embodiment of the present invention, the spinning solution is coagulated on an ice sheet with cracked ice to form mutually stacked fibers. During the spinning step, cracked ice is continuously provided.
In the method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to another embodiment of the present invention, the spinning solution is coagulated on an ice sheet frozen into a layer of frost to form the mutually stacked fibers.
In the method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to an embodiment of the present invention, the method for forming the layer of frost includes: providing a low-temperature surface at a temperature at which water is frozen; next, sprinkling water to the low-temperature surface to form the layer of frost on the low-temperature surface.
In the method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to an embodiment of the present invention, the spinning step includes: providing a spinning device, and feeding the spinning solution into the spinning device; next, disposing a coagulation device corresponding to the spinning device, in which the coagulation device has the ice sheet thereover; and then, extruding the spinning solution from the spinning device to the coagulation device, such that the spinning solution is coagulated on the ice sheet to form mutually stacked fibers.
The methods for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to the embodiments further includes disposing a conveyor belt on the coagulation device, in which the ice sheet is placed on the conveyor belt, such that the fibers are stacked on a surface of the conveyor belt and the mutually stacked fibers are conveyed.
In the methods for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to the embodiments, the distance between the spinning device and the coagulation device is 30 cm-1 m.
In the methods for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to the embodiments, the spinning pressure for extruding the spinning solution from the spinning device to the coagulation device is 25 psi to 2000 psi.
The method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to an embodiment of the present invention further includes performing a drying step, such that the mutually stacked fibers form a non-woven fabric.
In the method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to an embodiment of the present invention, the solvent in the spinning solution includes N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) or tertiary amine oxides.
In the method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to an embodiment of the present invention, the fiber material in the spinning solution includes cellulose.
The method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric according to an embodiment of the present invention further includes further comprising performing generating a gas flow to the spinning solution before coagulating on the ice sheet.
In the apparatus and the method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric of the present invention, as a coagulation device having a solid ice sheet on the surface thereof is adopted, the problems occurred in conventional art that non-woven fabric fibers are likely to be bonded into coarse particles or fiber agglomerates when coagulating the non-woven fabric in a coagulation bath can be solved, and the phenomenon that the coagulation liquid is spattered and blocks the spinning nozzle during the process is eliminated. Furthermore, the method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric of the present invention can make the non-woven fabric to have desired uniformity and have an even surface.
In order to make the aforementioned and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention comprehensible, preferred embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
In an embodiment, the coagulation device 110 is disposed under the spinning device S, and the distance there-between is, for example, but not limited to, 30 cm-1 m. In other words, it is unnecessary for the coagulation device 110 and the spinning device S to be arranged in perpendicular mode as shown in the figure. The coagulation device and the spinning device can also be arranged in horizontal mode (not shown). Particularly, the coagulation device 110 includes a reception device 110a and an ice supply device 110b, such that the coagulation device 110 has an ice sheet 160a composed of cracked ice 160 thereover, so as to coagulate fibrous spinning solutions 150 extruded from the spinning nozzle Z. The ice sheet 160a composed of cracked ice 160 is a characteristic of this embodiment, which can coagulate the fibrous spinning solutions 150 on a solid surface. Accordingly, the problem that conventional spinning solution is likely be interfered by the disturbance and flow of the coagulation liquid and be bended during coagulation in the coagulation liquid. Therefore, in this embodiment, the spinning solution 150 is directly coagulated on the solid surface (i.e., cracked ice sheet 160a), such that the stacked fibers 170 are not likely to be agglomerated, thus having desired uniformity.
In an embodiment, the apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric 100 further includes a drying device 120, a rolling-up device 130, and a conveyor belt 140. The drying device 120 is disposed adjacent to the coagulation device 110, and the rolling-up device 130 is disposed adjacent to the drying device 120. Further, the conveyor belt 140 is connected between the coagulation device 110, the drying device 120, and the rolling-up device 130.
In an embodiment, the drying device 120 is used for drying the mutually stacked fibers 170 formed on the ice sheet 160a, so as to form a non-woven fabric. The rolling-up device 130 is used for batching up the formed non-woven fabric. The conveyor belt 140 disposed between the coagulation device 110 and the drying device 120 conveys the mutually stacked fibers 170 into the drying device 120. The conveyor belt 140 disposed between the drying device 120 and the rolling-up device 130 conveys the non-woven fabric from the drying device 120 to the rolling-up device 130.
The method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric using the apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric 100 includes the following steps. Referring to
In an embodiment, the solvent of the spinning solution D includes N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) or tertiary amine oxides. The fiber material in the spinning solution D includes cellulose or polyvinyl alcohols.
In an embodiment, the spinning step includes the following steps. A spinning device S is provided, and the spinning solution D is fed into the spinning device S. Next, the coagulation device 110 is disposed corresponding to the spinning device S, and the distance there-between is 30 cm-1 m. In an embodiment, the spinning pressure is 25 psi to 2000 psi. The cracked ice supply device 110b continuously provides cracked ice 160, and thus the reception device 110a has a cracked ice sheet 160a thereover. Accordingly, the cracked ice 160 is directly supplied on the reception device 110a, which will not cause sputtering, and will not block the spinning nozzle 110a due to the coagulation of the sputtered spinning solution 110b, and at the same time, will not cause contamination around the apparatus 100. And then, the spinning solution D is extruded from the spinning device S to the coagulation device 110, so as to be coagulated on the cracked ice sheet 160a to form mutually stacked fibers 170.
In an embodiment, after the spinning step, a step of disposing a conveyor belt 140 on the coagulation device 110 is further included, such that the cracked ice sheet 160a is formed on the conveyor belt 140 and the fibers are stacked on the surface of the conveyor belt 140, so as to further convey the mutually stacked fibers 170 into the drying device 120. Next, a drying step is performed, in which the mutually stacked fibers 170 are dried by using the drying device 120, so as to form a non-woven fabric. Thereafter, the non-woven fabric is further conveyed to the rolling-up device 130 by using the conveyor belt 140 to batch up the non-woven fabric.
In this embodiment, the coagulation device 210 includes a reception device 210a, a refrigerating device 210b, and a sprinkling device 210c. The refrigerating device 210b is disposed inside the reception device 210a, so as to reduce the temperature of the surface of the reception device 210a to a temperature at which water 260 is frozen. The sprinkling device 210c is disposed above the reception device 210a, so as to sprinkle water 260 to the surface of the reception device 210a to form a layer of frost 260a on the surface of the reception device 210a. The coagulation device 210 is designed such that fibrous spinning solution 150 extruded from the spinning nozzle Z is coagulated on the layer of frost 260a to form a plurality of mutually stacked fibers 170, thus forming a non-woven fabric. In an embodiment, the refrigerating device 210b is a liquid nitrogen supply device for providing the reception device 210 a low-temperature surface. Coagulating the stacked fibers 170 by using the ice sheet composed of the layer of frost 260a is a characteristic of this embodiment. The advantage of this embodiment lies in that the fibrous spinning solutions 150 are coagulated on a solid surface into a net, instead of the conventional manufacturing process in which fibers are likely be interfered by the disturbance and flow of the liquid and be bended. Further, the stacked fibers 170 are directly coagulated on the layer of frost 260a into a net, thus solving the problem that fibers coagulated after being netted are likely to be coarse, agglomerated on surface, and lead to a poor uniformity.
The method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric by using the apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric 200 includes the steps similar to those of the method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric of the first embodiment. Referring to
In an embodiment, the solvent in the spinning solution D includes N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) or tertiary amine oxides, and the fiber material in the spinning solution D includes cellulose or polyvinyl alcohols.
In an embodiment, the spinning step includes the following steps. A spinning device S is provided, and the spinning solution D is fed into the spinning device S. Next, a coagulation device 210 is disposed corresponding to the spinning device S, and the distance there-between is 30 cm-1 m. It is notable that, the coagulation device 210 has an ice sheet composed of a layer of frost 260a thereover. Thereafter, the spinning solution D is extruded from the spinning device S, so as to coagulate fibrous spinning solutions 250 on the layer of frost 260a to form mutually stacked fibers 170. In an embodiment, the spinning pressure is preferably 25 psi to 2000 psi. The fibrous spinning solutions 150 are coagulated on the solid surface of the layer of frost 260a into a net, and thus the fibers will not interfered by the disturbance and flow of the liquid and be bended. Further, the stacked fibers 170 are directly coagulated on the layer of frost 260a into a net, thus solving the problem that fibers coagulated after being netted are likely to lead to an uneven surface.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the method for forming the layer of frost 260a includes: proving a low-temperature surface on a reception device 210a by using a refrigerating device 210b, and the temperature is reduced to a temperature that water 260 is frozen; sprinkling water 260 to the low-temperature surface by a sprinkling device 210c, so as to form the layer of frost 260a on the low-temperature surface. The refrigerating device 210b is, for example, a liquid nitrogen supply device, for reducing the temperature of the surface of the reception device 210a. Water 260 is sprinkled on the low-temperature surface of the reception device 210a, which will not cause sputtering of the spinning solution D. Therefore, no fiber is coagulated around the apparatus 200, and thus no fiber is coagulated at the spinning nozzle Z to block the spinning nozzle Z.
Thereafter, in an embodiment, a step of disposing a conveyor belt 240 after the spinning step is further included, in which the fibers are stacked on the surface of the conveyor belt 240 and mutually stacked fibers 170 are conveyed. Further, a drying step can be further performed by using a drying device 120, in which the mutually stacked fibers 170 are dried to form a non-woven fabric. And then, the non-woven fabric is conveyed to a rolling-up device 130 by using a conveyor belt 140, so as to batch up the non-woven fabric.
In view of the above, the present invention at least has the following advantages.
1. In the apparatus and the method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric of the present invention, a solid ice sheet is used to coagulate fibers instead of using conventional coagulation liquid in the manner of sprinkling, jetting, or coagulation bath, and so on, thus avoiding the interference of coagulation liquid on the fiber netting and the apparatus.
2. In the non-woven fabric manufactured by the apparatus and method of the present invention, the fibers will not be bonded into coarse particles or fiber agglomerates before being coagulated.
3. In the non-woven fabric manufactured by the apparatus and method of the present invention, the fibers will not be bended and lead to an uneven surface.
4. In the apparatus and the method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric of the present invention, the fibers can be coagulated after being extended to a proper length, so the problem that the fibers are not extensible due to too early coagulation will not occur.
5. In the apparatus and the method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric of the present invention, as a solid ice sheet is used instead of using the conventional liquid coagulation bath, thus eliminating the phenomenon that the coagulation liquid sputters and coagulates the fibers to block the spinning nozzle.
6. A cellulose non-woven fabric of long fibers can be manufactured by using the apparatus and the method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric of the present invention, so as to be applied in the fields such as high-grade wiping material, artificial leather, decorating wallpaper, and food fresh-keep package.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
Claims
1. An apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric, comprising:
- a spinning device, having at least one spinning nozzle, for extruding a spinning solution from the at least one spinning nozzle to form a plurality of fibrous spinning solutions; and
- a coagulation device, disposed corresponding to the spinning device, having an ice sheet thereover, for coagulating the fibrous spinning solutions extruded from the spinning nozzle on the ice sheet to form a plurality of mutually stacked fibers.
2. The apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ice sheet over the coagulation device is composed of cracked ice.
3. The apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ice sheet over the coagulation device is composed of a layer of frost.
4. The apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 3, wherein the coagulation device comprises:
- a reception device;
- a refrigerating device, disposed inside the reception device, such that the temperature on a surface of the reception device is reduced to a temperature at which water is frozen; and
- a sprinkling device, disposed above the reception device, for sprinkling water to the surface of the reception device, so as to form the layer of frost on the surface of the reception device.
5. The apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 4, wherein the refrigerating device comprises a liquid nitrogen supply device.
6. The apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coagulation device is disposed under the spinning device.
7. The apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 1, wherein the distance between the spinning device and the coagulation device is 30 cm-1 m.
8. The apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a drying device disposed adjacent to the coagulation device, for drying the mutually stacked fibers to form a non-woven fabric.
9. The apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 8, further comprising a rolling-up device disposed adjacent to the drying device, for batching up the non-woven fabric.
10. The apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 9, further comprising a conveyor belt connected between the coagulation device, the drying device, and the rolling-up device.
11. The apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 9, further comprising a gas generator disposed between the spinning device and the coagulation device for generating a gas flow to the fibrous spinning solutions extruded from the spinning nozzle.
12. A method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric, comprising:
- providing a spinning solution, wherein the spinning solution contains a solvent and a fiber material dissolved therein; and
- performing a spinning step, to coagulate the spinning solution on an ice sheet to form a plurality of mutually stacked fibers.
13. The method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 12, wherein the spinning solution is coagulated on an ice sheet with cracked ice to form the mutually stacked fibers.
14. The method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 13, wherein the cracked ice is continuously provided during the spinning step.
15. The method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 12, wherein the spinning solution is coagulated on an ice sheet frozen into a layer of frost to form the mutually stacked fibers.
16. The method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 15, wherein the method for forming the layer of frost comprises:
- providing a low-temperature surface, at a temperature at which water is frozen; and
- sprinkling water to the low-temperature surface, so as to form the layer of frost on the low-temperature surface.
17. The method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 12, wherein the spinning step comprises:
- providing a spinning device, and feeding the spinning solution into the spinning device;
- disposing a coagulation device corresponding to the spinning device, wherein the coagulation device has the ice sheet thereover; and
- extruding the spinning solution from the spinning device to the coagulation device, such that the spinning solution is coagulated on the ice sheet to form the mutually stacked fibers.
18. The method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 17, further comprising disposing a conveyor belt on the coagulation device, wherein the ice sheet is placed on the conveyor belt, and thus the fibers are stacked on a surface of the conveyor belt and the mutually stacked fibers are conveyed.
19. The method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 17, wherein the distance between the spinning device and the coagulation device is 30 cm-1 m.
20. The method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 17, wherein the spinning pressure for extruding the spinning solution from the spinning device to the coagulation device is 25 psi to 2000 psi.
21. The method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 12, further comprising performing a drying step, such that the mutually stacked fibers form a non-woven fabric.
22. The method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 12, wherein the solvent in the spinning solution comprises N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) or tertiary amine oxides.
23. The method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 12, wherein the fiber material in the spinning solution comprises cellulose.
24. The method for manufacturing a non-woven fabric as claimed in claim 12, further comprising generating a gas flow to the spinning solution before coagulating on the ice sheet.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 27, 2007
Publication Date: Jul 17, 2008
Applicant: TAIWAN TEXTILE RESEARCH INSTITUTE (Taipei Hsien)
Inventor: Tzu-Shiang Huang (Taipei Hsien)
Application Number: 11/964,717
