Classifications

• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D21—PAPER-MAKING; PRODUCTION OF CELLULOSE
  • D21F—PAPER-MAKING MACHINES; METHODS OF PRODUCING PAPER THEREON
  • D21F1/00—Wet end of machines for making continuous webs of paper
  • D21F1/0027—Screen-cloths
  • D21F1/0072—Link belts
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10T428/249921—Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or component
  • Y10T428/249922—Embodying intertwined or helical component[s]

Definitions

• the present invention relates to spiral fabrics, and, more particularly, to such fabrics having stuffers inserted into open areas to reduce the permeability of the fabric.
• Spiral fabrics wound with coiled filaments are used in such applications as dryers, PMC, and other applications. They are typically assembled using a series of right and left handed monofilament coils. Adjacent coils are connected by pintles, typically formed from a monofilament.
• the permeability of the assembled fabric may be reduced by insertion of stuffer yarns into the openings formed between adjacent pintles.
• the stuffers may be extruded or braided and come in a variety of elongated solid geometric shapes.
• the stuffers may be effectively locked into the fabric structure by heat setting the monofilament or by applying a polymeric resin material at each edge of the fabric. An encapsulated composite of spiral loops, stuffers and resin results. Due to the nature of the manufacturing process, it becomes progressively more difficult to achieve reductions in permeability for wider fabrics approaching 9 meters wide because of the difficulty of inserting the stuffers in the open spaces in the woven fabric.
• the invention in one form, is directed to a fabric having a plurality of coiled monofilaments arranged in side-by-side, intermeshing relationship and elongated pintles extending through intermeshed portions of the coiled monofilaments.
• Elongated stuffer elements extend through central portions of each of the coils in between adjacent pintles. The stuffer elements respond to a given input after insertion to expand and fill the central portion of each of the coils.
• the invention in another form, is directed to a method of forming a fabric having the steps of arranging a plurality of coiled monofilaments in side-by-side intermeshing relationships. Pintles are extended through intermeshed portions of the coiled monofilaments and tubular stuffer elements are extended through central portions of the monofilaments in between the pintles.
• the tubular stuffer elements are responsive to a given input to expand and fill the central portion of each of the coils and after the stuffer elements are in place they are subjected to the given input.
• the invention in yet another form involves a fabric having a plurality of coiled monofilaments in side-by-side intermeshing relationship.
• Pintles extend through intermeshed portions of the coiled monofilaments between adjacent pintles and tubular stuffer elements extend through central portions of the coiled monofilaments.
• the stuffer elements are formed from auxetic material to expand in response to tension and fill the central portion of each of the coils.
• An advantage of the present invention is the easy insertion of stuffer elements with substantial reductions in permeability.
• Fig. 1 is a schematic side view of a fabric including stuffer elements embodying the present invention
• Fig. 2 is a plan view of a fabric with stuffer elements also embodying a form of the present invention.
• a plurality of stuffer elements 10 in place in a fabric made of a plurality of coiled yarns 14 intermeshing to form continuous coiled or spiral loops in the MD (machine direction).
• a series of pintles 18 which extend in a CMD (cross machine direction).
• the fabric 12 is formed to provide a belt and the elongated portion of the belt is in the MD while the CMD extends at right angles to the plane of Fig. 1.
• the yarns have been described as coiled, an alternative term for designating their shape and interaction is spiral.
• the yarns may be formed from a variety of materials suitable for use as a dryer fabric. One type of material suitable for this purposes is polyester. It should be apparent, however, that other materials may be employed for the yarns with equal results.
• tubular stuffers are inserted in a CMD fashion.
• the tubular stuffers 10 are sized to be received in the open spaces between adjacent pintles 18.
• the stuffer elements 10 are fashioned from material having a property that is responsive to an external input, shown schematically by reference character 20, which causes the stuffer elements to expand and substantially fill the spaces between pintles, as shown by stuffer element 10a to the right of Fig. 1.
• the external input is selected from one of heat, temperature, light, sound, chemical and tension to cause the stuffer elements to expand in place.
• the materials may be responsive to the external input to expand in substantially an irreversible condition or remain in the expanded state so long as the input is present.
• the advantage of the materials set forth above is that they can be sized to easily fit into the spaces in the coiled fabric between pintles 18 but, in place, subjected to the external input from element 20 to expand them to substantially completely fill the spaces in the fabrics. This enables permeability levels significantly lower than those experienced in prior art coiled or spiral fabrics.
• Fig. 2 shows yet another example of a material that is subjected to an external input to expand, once it is in place and fill the spaces between the pintles 18.
• the material is selected from a type of material known as auxetic material.
• auxetic material This material exhibits a negative Poisson's ratio.
• an auxetic material will become thicker.
• auxetic material when auxetic material is compressed, it will become thinner.
• stuffer element 10 is made from auxetic material, and it is pushed into the spaces between the pintles 18, it becomes thinner.
• ends 22 and 24 are stretched thus causing the thickness of the stuffer element 10 to increase.
• the ends 22 and 24 are held in tension by securing them to the ends 26 and 28 of the fabric 12.
• the auxetic material is held in the expanded position during operation of the fabric 12.

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• Woven Fabrics (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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ID=39428010

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Country Status (3)

Families Citing this family (3)

Family Cites Families (10)

• 2007
  • 2007-04-10 US US11/733,455 patent/US20080254273A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2008
  • 2008-03-04 EP EP20080717357 patent/EP2188441A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2008-03-04 WO PCT/EP2008/052594 patent/WO2008122471A1/en not_active Ceased

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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