JP2015209608A - Apparatus for manufacturing fiber and apparatus for manufacturing non-woven fabric using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for manufacturing fiber and an apparatus for manufacturing a non-woven fabric which can get rid of increase of manufacturing cost caused by clogging of raw materials.SOLUTION: An apparatus 1 for manufacturing fibers comprises: a storage tank 12 storing raw material liquid 11 containing molten thermoplastic resin; heating means 13 heating the storage tank 12; a rotating body 14 that is partially impregnated in the raw material liquid 11; and a rib unit 28 provided to the rotating body 14. The rotating body 14 comprises: a front end 14A locating at a raw material liquid 11 side and a rear end 14B at another side; a revolving shaft 15 extending to an axial Y direction; and a side surface 16 that inclines towards the revolving shaft 15. A dimension between the revolving shaft 15 and the side surface 16 in a direction to intersect the axial Y direction at right angles increases from the front end 14A towards the rear end 14B. At the rear end 14B of the rotating body 14, a rib unit 17 extending to a direction to intersect the revolving shaft 15 at right angles is provided. An apparatus 2 for manufacturing a non-woven fabric comprises the apparatus 1 for manufacturing fibers and a collector 21.

Description

  The present invention relates to a fiber manufacturing apparatus and a nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus using a thermoplastic resin as a raw material.

  As a fiber manufacturing apparatus or a nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus using a thermoplastic resin as a raw material, an apparatus for manufacturing a fiber or a nonwoven fabric by discharging a molten thermoplastic resin from a discharge nozzle, such as a spun bond method or a melt blow method, is known.

  When using a nonwoven fabric as sanitary goods such as a mask, the fiber diameter is preferably smaller in consideration of irritation to the skin. The fiber diameter can be reduced by reducing the diameter of the discharge nozzle that discharges the thermoplastic resin. There is also a technique in which antibacterial agent particles are mixed with raw materials in order to impart antibacterial properties to the fiber, and the mixture is discharged from a discharge nozzle.

JP2013-142215A

  However, in the conventional techniques including Patent Document 1, since the raw material is discharged using the discharge nozzle, the discharge is particularly performed when the nozzle diameter is reduced in order to reduce the fiber diameter or when antibacterial particles are mixed. The nozzle is likely to be clogged with raw materials. In order to prevent clogging of raw materials, the antibacterial particles must be made special as described in Patent Document 1, and there is a concern about an increase in manufacturing cost. Further, when the discharge nozzle is clogged, it is necessary to remove the clogged raw material, and the maintenance of the apparatus becomes complicated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and its object is to provide a fiber manufacturing apparatus and a nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus that can eliminate an increase in manufacturing cost due to clogging of raw materials. It is to be.

The present invention for achieving the above-described object includes the first invention and the second invention.
1st invention is the manufacturing apparatus of the fiber which spins the raw material liquid containing the molten thermoplastic resin, Comprising: The raw material liquid stored in the said raw material liquid and the said raw material liquid stored in the said storage tank impregnate one part A rotating body that is capable of having a rotating shaft that extends in a direction perpendicular to the liquid surface of the raw material liquid, and a side surface that is inclined with respect to the rotating shaft, and is orthogonal to the rotating shaft. The dimension from the rotation axis to the side surface in the direction to be increased from the front end portion located on the raw material liquid side toward the rear end portion opposite thereto, and by rotation of the rotating body, the dimension along the side surface is increased. A liquid film flow in which the raw material liquid rises is generated, and spinning is performed by dispersing the raw material liquid at the rear end portion.

  The first invention may further include heating means for heating the raw material liquid.

  1st invention further provides the rib part extended in the direction orthogonal to the said rotating shaft from the said rear-end part of the said rotary body, and the said rib part rotates with rotation of the said rotary body. Also good.

  A second invention is a non-woven fabric manufacturing apparatus for spinning a raw material liquid containing a molten thermoplastic resin and collecting the spun fibers to produce a non-woven fabric. The raw material liquid storage tank and the storage tank A rotating body that is partially impregnated in the stored raw material liquid, and a collecting body that collects the fibers, and the rotating body extends in a direction perpendicular to the liquid surface of the raw material liquid. And a side surface inclined with respect to the rotation axis, and a dimension from the rotation axis to the side surface in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis is a rear end opposite to the tip portion located on the raw material liquid side. As the rotating body rotates, a liquid film flow is generated in which the raw material liquid rises along the side surface, and the raw liquid is dispersed and dispersed at the rear end. The fiber is produced and the collector Accordingly, characterized in that the fibers are collected.

  In the second invention, the collection body may be formed in an annular shape while being positioned outside the side surface of the rotating body.

  The second invention may further comprise heating means for heating the raw material liquid.

  The second invention further includes a rib portion extending from the rear end portion of the rotating body in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis, and the rib portion rotates as the rotating body rotates. Also good.

  In the present invention, “the rotating body that can be partially impregnated in the raw material liquid stored in the storage tank” means that the raw material liquid is impregnated under a condition in which a liquid film flow is generated by rotation of the rotating body. means. Further, a part of the rotating body does not always indicate a state where the raw material liquid is impregnated, but includes a state where the rotating body is impregnated temporarily or a state where it is not impregnated. Furthermore, a state in which part of the material is impregnated or a state in which all the material is impregnated is included.

  “The dimension from the rotation axis to the side surface in the direction perpendicular to the rotation axis increases from the front end portion located on the raw material liquid side toward the rear end portion opposite thereto” means that the side surface is the rear end portion. It means to spread toward. The side surface may be straight or may include a curve in part.

  According to the present invention, since the fiber can be manufactured without using the discharge nozzle, the nozzle is not clogged with the raw material liquid, and the manufacturing of the fiber can be prevented from increasing the cost due to the clogging. An apparatus and an apparatus for producing a nonwoven fabric using the apparatus can be provided.

It is the schematic diagram which showed the manufacturing apparatus of the fiber which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, and the manufacturing apparatus of the nonwoven fabric, Comprising: The figure which showed the storage tank and the collection body in the cross section. The image which showed the mode of the raw material liquid when rotating a rotary body in an experiment example.

  Referring to FIG. 1, the nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus 2 includes a fiber manufacturing apparatus 1. That is, the nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus 2 is configured by further including a collector that collects the fibers manufactured by the fiber manufacturing apparatus 1.

  The fiber manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a storage tank 12 that stores a raw material liquid 11 containing a molten thermoplastic resin, a heating unit 13 that heats the storage tank 12, a rotating body 14 that is partially impregnated in the raw material liquid 11, And a rib portion 17 provided on the rotating body 14. Such a fiber manufacturing apparatus 1 has an axial direction Y perpendicular to the surface of the raw material liquid 11 stored in the storage tank 12.

  The thermoplastic resin as a raw material is not particularly limited as long as it is a resin that can spin fibers. For example, a polyolefin resin, a polyamide resin, a polycarbonate resin, a fluorine resin, a urethane resin, or the like is used. Can do. One type of resin may be used, or a plurality of resins may be mixed and used. Furthermore, the raw material liquid 11 may contain antibacterial particles. As the antibacterial particles, those in which an antibacterial material such as silver is supported on inorganic particles such as zeolite can be used.

  The rotating body 14 includes a front end portion 14A located on the raw material liquid 11 side and a rear end portion 14B opposite thereto, and includes a rotating shaft 15 extending in the axial direction Y and a side surface 16 inclined with respect to the rotating shaft 15. . The side surface 16 is formed in an annular shape around the rotation shaft 15, and the dimension in the direction perpendicular to the axial direction Y between the rotation shaft 15 and the side surface 16 increases from the front end portion 14A toward the rear end portion 14B. In this embodiment, the rotating body 14 has a conical shape having a vertex at the front end portion 14A and a bottom surface at the rear end portion 14B.

  A rib portion 17 extending in a direction orthogonal to the rotation shaft 15 is provided at the rear end portion 14B of the rotating body 14. The rib portion 17 rotates integrally with the rotation of the rotating body 14. In this embodiment, the rib portion 17 has a circular shape whose diameter is larger than that of the rear end portion 14 </ b> B, and the center thereof coincides with the rotation axis of the rotating body 14. A driving source 18 such as a motor is connected to the rotating body 14 so that the rotating body 14 can rotate about the rotating shaft 15. When the rotating body 14 rotates, the rib portion 17 also rotates in the same direction at the same speed as the rotating speed of the rotating body 14. The rib portion 17 may be formed integrally with the rotating body 14 or may be formed as a separate body.

  The fiber manufacturing apparatus 1 is provided with a heating means 13 for holding the stored raw material liquid 11 so as to have a melting point or higher. Any means can be used as the heating means 13 as long as the raw material liquid 11 can be maintained at a constant temperature. For example, a heating wire may be provided in the storage tank 12 to heat the storage tank 12. Alternatively, the raw material liquid 11 may be directly heated.

  A supply pipe 19 for supplying the raw material liquid 11 is attached to the storage tank 12. The heating means 13 may be provided in the supply pipe 19 so that the heated raw material liquid 11 is supplied to the storage tank 12.

  The fiber manufacturing apparatus 1 as described above can be provided with the collector 21 to form the nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus 2. The collection body 21 is located outside the rotator 14, covers the periphery of the rotator 14 in an annular shape, and is larger than the dimension in the axial direction Y of the rotator 14. In this embodiment, the collection body 21 is a circular cylinder located on the radially outer side of the rotating body 14.

  In the fiber manufacturing apparatus 1 and the nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus 2 as described above, the raw material liquid 11 of the storage tank 12 is impregnated with the distal end portion 14A of the rotating body 14. When the rotating body 14 is rotated by the drive source 18, the raw material liquid 11 generates a liquid film flow that rises along the side surface 16. That is, when the rotational speed of the rotating body 14 increases, the water surface and the water of the raw material liquid 11 are stirred, and the water surface around the rotating body 14 is lifted. The lifted raw material liquid 11 rises along the side surface 16 of the rotating body 14 due to the rotational force of the rotating body 14, the surface tension of the raw material liquid 11, etc., and this forms a liquid film flow and covers the side surface 16.

  The liquid film flow on the side surface 16 becomes thinner toward the rear end portion 14 </ b> B, and when it travels along the rib portion 17, it becomes a thread and extends outward in the radial direction. Since the raw material liquid 11 contains a thermoplastic resin, it has a higher viscosity than water and can easily draw a yarn. Therefore, it is presumed that the rib portion 17 has a thread shape. The raw material liquid 11 in the form of a thread is discharged further outward from the end portion 17A of the rib portion 17 by centrifugal force. Although the raw material liquid 11 is heated in the storage tank 12, it is not heated in the rotating body 14, but is gradually cooled and solidified, so that it leaves the rib portion 17 while maintaining the thread shape. At this time, the raw material liquid 11 is spun into fibers. The thread-shaped raw material liquid 11 can be further stretched by being discharged to the outside by centrifugal force to form finer filament fibers.

  The fiber diameter and fiber length can be appropriately adjusted depending on the rotational speed of the rotating body 14, the shape and size of the rotating body 14, the size of the rib portion 17, the concentration of the thermoplastic resin in the raw material liquid 11, and the like. Further, depending on the shape and size of the rotating body 14, the rib portion 17 is not an essential configuration, and the rib portion 17 can be omitted as long as fibers are formed.

  Since the storage tank 12 includes the supply pipe 19, the raw material liquid 11 can be added from the supply pipe 19 so that the amount of the raw material liquid 11 in the storage tank 12 becomes constant. Therefore, even if the raw material liquid 11 becomes a fiber and is discharged from the storage tank 12, the raw material liquid 11 is not insufficient. Further, by holding a certain amount of the raw material liquid 11 in the storage tank 12, the thickness of the liquid film flow formed on the side surface 16 can be kept constant, and fibers having a constant fiber diameter and length can be obtained. be able to.

  The fibers released to the outside of the rotating body 14 are collected by the collecting body 21. A nonwoven fabric can be formed by laminating collected fibers. The amount of fibers collected can be controlled by the number of rotations, rotation time, etc. of the rotating body 14, and a nonwoven fabric with a desired density can be obtained.

  According to the apparatus as described above, since the discharge nozzle is not used for spinning the resin, the problem that the discharge nozzle is clogged does not occur. Therefore, various problems caused by the discharge nozzle can be avoided. Further, the fiber diameter can be determined without depending on the nozzle diameter, and the design change according to the application can be easily performed. Furthermore, since the discharge nozzle is not used, even if antibacterial particles are added to the raw material liquid 11, it does not clog the nozzle.

  By rotating the rotating body 14, a circulating vortex accompanied by a strong vortex is formed in the storage tank 12, and a large-scale upward circulating flow from the bottom to the top of the rotating body 14 is created. That is, in the storage tank 12, due to the rotation of the rotating body 14, the raw material liquid 11 flows from the top to the bottom near the inside of the side surface 16 and flows from the bottom to the top near the extension line of the rotating shaft 15. Furthermore, a flow in the circumferential direction is generated along the rotation of the rotating body 14 as a whole. By generating such a flow, a circulation flow is formed in the storage tank 12, and the raw material liquid 11 is circulated in the storage tank 12. Since the raw material liquid 11 is circulated, the temperature deviation of the raw material liquid 11 can be suppressed, and the raw material can be homogenized. Even when antibacterial particles are added to the raw material liquid 11, the antibacterial particles can be prevented from aggregating and settling and dispersed in the raw material liquid 11.

  In the fiber manufacturing apparatus 1 and the nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus 2, the only power required is a drive source 18 that rotates the rotating body 14. According to the melt blow method using a conventional discharge nozzle, etc., at least two powers of extrusion from the discharge nozzle and blowing by the jet are required, but in this embodiment, the power can be reduced. Therefore, power consumption can be reduced accordingly.

  In this embodiment, the rotating body 14 has a conical shape, but is not limited to this shape as long as a liquid film flow rising along the side surface 16 is generated. That is, the side surface 16 preferably has a circular cross section perpendicular to the axial direction Y, but does not have to be a complete circle. Further, the tip portion 14A may have a truncated cone shape having a surface substantially parallel to a surface orthogonal to the axial direction Y. The dimension between the rotating shaft 15 and the side surface 16 may increase toward the rear end portion 14B at a constant ratio, or the rate of increase may vary.

(Experimental example)
In the fiber manufacturing apparatus 1, the storage tank 12 has a cylindrical shape, a diameter of about 70 mm, and a dimension in the axial direction Y of about 100 mm. A heating wire was wound around the storage tank 12 as the heating means 13, and the storage tank 12 was heated so that the raw material liquid 11 became about 50 ° C. 200 g of a 5% by weight polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) aqueous solution with a small amount of borax added thereto was used as the raw material solution 11, and a small amount of aluminum powder was added thereto as a model of antibacterial particles. As practical antibacterial particles, silver particles in which silver is supported on zeolite can be used.

  The rotating body 14 has a dimension in the axial direction Y of about 60 mm, a diameter at the rear end portion 14B of about 60 mm, and an angle between the side surface 16 and the rotating shaft 15 of about 30 °. The rib portion 17 is provided in contact with the rear end portion 14B of the rotating body 14, and has a diameter of about 150 mm and a dimension (thickness) in the axial direction Y of about 2 mm. The rotating body 14 and the rib portion 17 were rotated at a rotational speed of about 1000 to 3000 rpm. A motor was used as the drive source 18 for rotation. Prior to the rotation of the drive source 18, the rotating body 14 was impregnated with the raw material liquid 11 by about 25 mm.

  The collection body 21 has a cylindrical shape and is disposed on the outer side in the radial direction of the rotating body 14. The size of the collector 21 in the axial direction Y is about 310 mm, and the diameter is about 300 mm. The separation dimension from the end portion 17A of the rib portion 17 to the collecting body 21 is about 70 mm.

  FIG. 2 shows a state of the raw material liquid 11 in the storage tank 12 when the rotating body 14 is rotated in this experimental example, and aluminum powder is added as a tracer for visualization. As shown in the figure, it was confirmed that when the rotating body 14 was rotated, a circulating vortex accompanied by a strong vortex 11A was formed in the raw material liquid 11 below the rotating body 14 in the drawing. The vortex 11 </ b> A extends to the bottom of the storage tank 12 substantially coincident with the rotation axis of the rotating body 14. By forming such a circulation vortex, a large ascending circulation flow from the bottom to the top of the rotating body 14 is created.

  A liquid film flow of the raw material liquid 11 rising on the side surface 16 was formed on the rotating body 14. The raw material liquid 11 formed a linear flow extending in the rib portion 17 toward the end portion 17A. This suggests that the filament raw material liquid 11 flows while slipping on the rib portion 17. The filament raw material liquid 11 was further discharged and stretched radially outward at the end portion 17A, and filamentary fibers were generated. The produced | generated fiber was collected and laminated | stacked by the collection body 21, and the nonwoven fabric was formed.

  In the embodiment as described above, the collection rate by the collector 21 can be improved by providing a potential difference between the raw material liquid 11 and the collector 21. For example, by applying a voltage to the storage tank 12 so that the raw material liquid 11 and the fibers generated thereby have a negative charge, a potential difference can be provided between the collector 21 and the collector 21.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Fiber manufacturing apparatus 2 Nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus 11 Raw material liquid 12 Storage tank 13 Heating means 14 Rotating body 14A Front end portion 14B Rear end portion 15 Rotating shaft 16 Side surface 17 Rib portion 19 Heating means 21 Collecting body Y axial direction

Claims (7)

An apparatus for producing fibers for spinning a raw material liquid containing a molten thermoplastic resin,
A storage tank of the raw material liquid, and a rotating body that can be partially impregnated in the raw material liquid stored in the storage tank,
The rotating body has a rotating shaft extending in a direction orthogonal to the liquid surface of the raw material liquid, and a side surface inclined with respect to the rotating shaft, from the rotating shaft to the side surface in a direction orthogonal to the rotating shaft. The dimension of increases from the front end located on the raw material liquid side toward the opposite rear end,
By rotating the rotating body, a liquid film flow in which the raw material liquid rises along the side surface is generated, and the fiber is spun by dispersing the raw material liquid at the rear end portion. manufacturing device.   The synthetic fiber manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a heating unit configured to heat the raw material liquid.   The rib portion extending in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis from the rear end portion of the rotating body is further provided, and the rib portion rotates as the rotating body rotates. The synthetic fiber manufacturing apparatus according to 1 or 2. A non-woven fabric production apparatus for producing a non-woven fabric by spinning a raw material liquid containing a molten thermoplastic resin and collecting the spun fibers,
A raw material liquid storage tank, a rotating body partly impregnable in the raw material liquid stored in the storage tank, and a collector for collecting the fibers,
The rotating body has a rotating shaft extending in a direction orthogonal to the liquid surface of the raw material liquid, and a side surface inclined with respect to the rotating shaft, from the rotating shaft to the side surface in a direction orthogonal to the rotating shaft. The dimension of increases from the front end located on the raw material liquid side toward the opposite rear end,
By rotating the rotating body, a liquid film flow in which the raw material liquid rises along the side surface is generated, and at the rear end portion, the raw material liquid is spun to generate the fiber to be spun. The said fiber is collected by the collection body, The manufacturing apparatus of the nonwoven fabric characterized by the above-mentioned.   The said collector is located in the outer side from the said side surface of the said rotary body, and is formed cyclically | annularly, The manufacturing apparatus of the nonwoven fabric of Claim 4 characterized by the above-mentioned.   The apparatus for producing a nonwoven fabric according to claim 4 or 5, further comprising heating means for heating the raw material liquid.   The rib portion extending in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis from the rear end portion of the rotating body is further provided, and the rib portion rotates as the rotating body rotates. The manufacturing apparatus of the nonwoven fabric in any one of 4-6.