JP2018016908A - Manufacturing apparatus for conjugate type nonwoven fabric and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing apparatus for a conjugate type nonwoven fabric capable of reducing a manufacturing cost.SOLUTION: The manufacturing apparatus 1 is for manufacturing a conjugate type nonwoven fabric in wich a pulp fiber layer and a synthetic fiber layer are integrally laminated, and comprises: a pulp air-laid unit 2 in which raw material pulp is fibrillated in a dry state and dispersed on an air stream and pulp fibers are fed to a laminate position 24; a synthetic fiber layer supply unit 3 that supplies a web which is made of synthetic fibers and prepared in advance as a synthetic fiber layer to a laminate position 24; a lamination forming unit 4 that is arranged opposite the laminate position 24 and forms a preliminary laminate P Web by applying a negative pressure to the synthetic fiber layer and the pulp fiber layer formed of pulp fibers mounted on the synthetic fiber layer; a hydro-entanglement unit 5 that carries out a hydro-entanglement treatment by water jet spraying toward the preliminary laminate in a downstream of the lamination forming unit 4 to facilitate an integration of the pulp fiber layer with the synthetic fiber layer; and a dewatering and drying unit 6 that carries out dewatering and drying in a downstream of the hydro-entanglement unit to obtain a laminate.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a composite nonwoven fabric composed of pulp fibers and synthetic fibers, and a manufacturing method thereof.

Non-woven fabric has a cloth-like texture, has water absorption and wiping properties, and can be mass-produced. For this reason, nonwoven fabrics are widely used in various fields.
Generally, a nonwoven fabric is manufactured through the web formation process which forms the web used as a base material (it may be called a fleece), and the fiber bonding process which couple | bonds the fiber which comprises a web mutually. And many proposals are conventionally made about each of a web formation process and a fiber bonding process.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, a pulp fiber layer (web) and a synthetic fiber layer (web) are overlapped to form a laminated web, and then a high-pressure water jet (water stream) is sprayed to hydroentangle the fiber. A combined nonwoven fabric is obtained. As described above, the composite nonwoven fabric formed by the pulp fiber layer and the synthetic fiber layer is advantageous in that the pulp fiber has good absorbability for both aqueous and oily liquids, and the synthetic fiber has excellent strength. It can be provided to consumers as an excellent non-woven fabric product.

Japanese Patent No. 2533260

As described above, a non-woven fabric partially containing pulp fibers has excellent properties similar to paper, and thus is a versatile product widely used by consumers.
Here, as disclosed in Patent Document 1 above, an example of producing a pulp web is disclosed. In many cases, a wet method is employed for the production. In this wet method, a pulp web is obtained through a process similar to conventional papermaking.

However, conventionally known general papermaking equipment includes, in addition to papermaking equipment (manufacturing equipment), for example, a large equipment group including a pulp concentration adjusting chest, a filter for collecting white water, a water tank, and the like. Need to build.
Therefore, if a pulp web for non-woven fabric is manufactured by a wet method, the capital investment for that purpose will increase, and the required motive energy will increase. Moreover, since the costs for the equipment maintenance and the like increase, there is a concern that the manufacturing cost of the nonwoven fabric may increase.
Furthermore, if the manufacturing facility is large, it becomes difficult to switch the product, and the time required for the switching becomes long. Therefore, there is a concern about an increase in manufacturing cost.

  Therefore, a main object of the present invention is to provide a production apparatus capable of efficiently producing a composite nonwoven fabric having excellent properties of pulp fibers and the strength of the synthetic fiber layer while suppressing costs. Moreover, it is providing the manufacturing method.

  The above-mentioned purpose is a manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a composite nonwoven fabric in which a pulp fiber layer and a synthetic fiber layer are laminated and integrated, and the raw pulp is defibrated in a dry state and dispersed in an air flow. And a pulp air laid portion for supplying pulp fibers to the lamination position, a synthetic fiber web prepared in advance as the synthetic fiber layer, and a synthetic fiber layer supply portion for supplying to the lamination position, and facing the lamination position Lamination is applied to form a preliminary laminate by applying a negative pressure to the synthetic fiber layer and the pulp fiber layer formed by the pulp fiber placed on the synthetic fiber layer. And a hydroentangled portion that promotes the integration of the pulp fiber layer and the synthetic fiber layer by spraying a water jet toward the preliminary laminate and performing hydroentanglement processing downstream of the laminate forming portion. And said It can be achieved by a composite nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus characterized by having a dehydration / drying unit that obtains an integrated laminate by performing dehydration and drying processes downstream of the entangling unit. .

The dehydration / drying section preferably includes an air through dryer.
Moreover, you may arrange | position the pre-wet part which sprays and wets a water mist to the said preliminary | backup laminated body in the upstream of the said water flow entanglement part.

Further, it is preferable that an embossing device is disposed on the upstream side or the downstream side of the dewatering / drying unit.
The synthetic fiber web prepared in advance is preferably a web manufactured by a spunbond method.

  The above-mentioned purpose is a method for producing a composite nonwoven fabric in which a pulp fiber layer and a synthetic fiber layer are laminated and integrated, and the raw pulp is defibrated in a dry state and dispersed in an air flow. And a pulp air laid process for supplying pulp fibers to the lamination position, a synthetic fiber web prepared in advance as the synthetic fiber layer, and a synthetic fiber layer supply process for supplying to the lamination position, and facing the lamination position Lamination is applied to form a preliminary laminate by applying a negative pressure to the synthetic fiber layer and the pulp fiber layer formed by the pulp fiber placed on the synthetic fiber layer. A hydroentanglement step of spraying a water jet toward the preliminary laminate and performing hydroentanglement treatment after the laminate formation step to promote integration of the pulp fiber layer and the synthetic fiber layer; After serial hydroentangling step, dehydration, and a step dehydrated and dried to obtain a laminate processing performed by the integrated drying also achieved by a method for producing a composite nonwoven fabric which comprises.

According to the present invention, the equipment for producing the pulp fiber layer (pulp web) can be extremely miniaturized as compared with the case where the wet method is adopted, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced by saving space and saving energy. Can be planned.
In addition, since the composite nonwoven fabric device as a whole is reduced in size, when changing the blending ratio or type of pulp fiber layer (pulp web) and synthetic fiber layer (synthetic fiber web), the wet method Compared with the case, the product can be easily switched because it can be easily performed. Therefore, the manufacturing apparatus of the composite type nonwoven fabric suitable for manufacture of many kinds and many uses can be provided.

It is the figure which showed the manufacturing apparatus which manufactures the composite type nonwoven fabric which consists of a pulp fiber layer and a synthetic fiber layer.

Hereinafter, a manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a composite nonwoven fabric according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
The composite nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes an airlaid apparatus 2 as a pulp airlaid section, a synthetic fiber web supply apparatus 3 as a synthetic fiber layer supply section, and a suction apparatus 4 as a lamination forming section on the upstream side. It is installed. The suction device 4 is arranged to face the lower side of the air laid device 2.
In the transport direction TD, downstream from these devices 2, 3, and 4, a water jet device 5 as a water entangling unit and a drying device 6 as a dewatering / drying unit are arranged in this order from the upstream side. . A winding device 7 for winding the continuously manufactured composite nonwoven fabric CWeb is further provided downstream of the drying device 6.

The airlaid device 2 is defibrated with a defibrating machine 21 for defibrating (also referred to as opening) the raw pulp RP in which the fibers are densely packed into a block shape, or a blower (not shown). And a duct 22 for conveying the pulp fiber FP to the air-laid hopper 23. The air-laid hopper 23 is designed so that the defibrated pulp fiber FP descends while being dispersed in the air hopper 23 and gradually accumulates at the stacking position 24 set on the lower surface.
A suction device 4 is disposed opposite to the lower side of the stacking position 24. More specifically, the suction device 4 has a suction portion 42 on the upper surface of the device main body 41, and the suction portion 42 is set with respect to the lamination position 24 so as to apply a suction force (negative pressure) to the pulp fiber FP. It is.

Further, a transport wire 43 for transporting the web is disposed around the suction device 4. The transport wire 43 is placed so that the pulp fiber FP can be placed at the stacking position 24 and transported downstream. However, the pulp fiber FP is not placed directly on the transport wire 43. This will become clear from the following description.
The carrier wire 43 is formed in an open-mesh shape (mesh) so that the suction force of the suction part 42 extends to the opposite side (upper side).

In addition, the conventionally well-known pulp is employable as said raw material pulp RP. For example, when wood pulp is employed, NBKP such as radiata pine, slash pine, southern pine, spruce, and Douglas fir is preferable and may be appropriately selected in consideration of defibration properties, yield, and the like.
Furthermore, since the raw material pulp RP is often supplied in the form of a roll pulp as illustrated, it is preferable to employ a hammer mill, a disk mill type or the like as the defibrating device 21. The defibrating process here may be a single stage or a plurality of stages as required.
Moreover, you may make it mix | blend synthetic fibers, such as natural fibers, such as cotton, and polyester, a polypropylene, and polyethylene, with the said raw material pulp RP. When adopting such a composition, an airlaid head may be added separately to overlap the web layer, or an air feeding line for mixing other fibers may be added to a duct for airing the opened pulp.

A synthetic fiber web supply device 3 is disposed below the air laid device 2 and upstream of the suction device 4. A synthetic fiber web SW prepared in advance is set in a roll shape in the synthetic fiber web supply device 3. The synthetic fiber web SW is drawn out from the synthetic fiber web supply device 3 and is transported to the stacking position 24 on the transport wire 43 described above.
The synthetic fiber web SW is preferably a continuous filament web formed by a spunbond method. The synthetic fiber here is preferably selected from nylon, vinylon, polyester, acrylic, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and the like.

The above-described pulp fiber FP is placed (stacked) on the synthetic fiber web SW located at the stacking position 24, and the synthetic fiber web SW is conveyed downstream on the conveying wire 43.
At that time, at the stacking position 24, the suction force by the suction part 42 of the suction device 4 passes through the transport wire 43 and acts on the synthetic fiber web SW and the pulp fiber FP thereon. Therefore, the laminated web moved to the downstream side through the laminating position 24 is laminated with the lower synthetic fiber layer (synthetic fiber web SW) and the pulp fiber layer (pulp web) placed thereon. It becomes the preliminary | backup laminated body PWeb of the state which was in a state.

The above-described preliminary laminated body PWeb is maintained in a laminated state by being sucked and compressed by the suction force of the suction device 4. At this time, the upper pulp fiber layer is in a state where the pulp fibers FP are dense. However, if the preliminary laminate PWeb is conveyed and introduced into the downstream water jetting device 5 as it is, a part of the pulp fiber FP may be swollen by the water flow (water jet).
Therefore, in the present manufacturing apparatus 1, the preliminary laminated body PWeb is sandwiched from above and below, the sandwiching roller 28 for stabilizing the placement state of the pulp fiber FP on the synthetic fiber web SW, and the upstream side of the water flow injection device 5. Further, a prewetting device 30 for providing moisture to the pulp fiber FP to prevent scattering is provided. The prewetting device 30 preferably applies a suction force from the spray nozzle 31 that sprays the water mist from above the preliminary laminate PWeb and the lower side of the preliminary laminate PWeb (that is, the lower surface of the synthetic fiber web SW). And a suction device 32.

  The sandwiching roller 28 and the prewetting device 30 can be understood as a pre-processing unit for smooth execution of the water entangling process in the water jetting device 5. The pre-processing unit shown in FIG. 1 is a preferred configuration example, and the sandwiching roller 28 may be omitted.

The water jet device 5 promotes the confounding of the pulp fibers by blowing a high-pressure water jet to the preliminary laminate PWeb that has been subjected to the processing of the pretreatment units 28 and 30. Thereby, integration of the pulp fiber layer located on the upper side and the synthetic fiber layer located on the lower side is promoted.
In the water jet device 5 shown as an example in FIG. 1, water jet nozzles 51 are arranged in multiple stages (four stages are illustrated in FIG. 1) along the transport direction TD. It is good also as a substitute for the pre-wet apparatus 30 mentioned above by spraying the 1st stage water-flow injection nozzle by low pressure.
In FIG. 1, the state of the nozzles in the direction perpendicular to the transport direction TD (the width direction of the apparatus 1) is not shown, but a plurality of water jet nozzles are also arranged in the width direction. What is necessary is just to design suitably the number of water jet nozzles, the arrangement position, etc. according to the preliminary | backup laminated body PWeb which performs a water flow entanglement process. That is, the water flow injection device 5 is provided with a plurality of water flow injection nozzles 51 in a lattice shape in plan view, but the specific structure of the water flow injection nozzles 51 is arbitrarily and appropriately changed.

  The water pressure at the time of the hydroentanglement treatment is desirably set in consideration of the basis weight of the pulp fiber layer (web) and the synthetic fiber layer (web). For example, it is preferable to select in the range of 1 to 30 MPa.

  A suction device 52 is disposed so as to face the water jet nozzle 51. The suction force of the suction device 52 is made to act on the lower side of the synthetic fiber layer located on the lower side while blowing the high-pressure water jet from the water jet nozzle 51 to the pulp web located on the upper side. Due to the cooperative action of the water jet nozzle 51 and the suction device 52, the state where the pulp fibers of the pulp web have entered the fibers of the lower synthetic fiber web, the state where the synthetic fiber web has penetrated to the opposite side, etc. Is estimated to be formed. The action promotes the integration of the two layers.

The water jet device 5 is also provided with a transport wire 55. The transport wire 55 receives the preliminary laminate PWeb downstream of the pretreatment units 28 and 30 and transports it into the water jetting device 5. The transport wire 55 is disposed so as to pass between the water jet nozzle 51 and the suction device 52 of the water jet device 5 from the upstream side toward the downstream side.
Therefore, the preliminary laminated body PWeb transported on the transport wire 55 is subjected to more hydroentanglement processing as it goes downstream in the transport direction TD. Sufficient entanglement between the layer and the lower synthetic fiber web is achieved.
As the transfer wire 55, for example, a mesh size of 40 × 40 to 100 × 100 is preferably used. In addition, for the purpose of imparting a concavo-convex pattern or the like to the composite nonwoven fabric CWeb after commercialization, the transport wire 55 may be provided with a design pattern sheet, or the diameters of the warp yarn and the weft yarn may be set individually.
Immediately after leaving the water jetting device 5, the web is in a wet state, and before drying, the bond between the pulp fibers is not sufficiently established.

Therefore, a drying device 6 for removing water from the wet web is disposed downstream of the water jet device 5. The drying device 6 exemplified here is preferably an air-through dryer. The rotatable dryer main body 61 is a cylindrical body, and a large number of through holes are provided on the peripheral surface thereof. Hot air heated by a heat source (not shown) is radiated from the center side of the dryer main body 61 toward the outer periphery. It is a structure that blows out. Therefore, when the wet web exits from the drying device 6, it is sufficiently dried to complete the bonding of the fibers, and the composite nonwoven fabric CWeb is completed as a product.
Note that the dried pulp fibers are bonded by hydrogen bonding. As described above, when, for example, heat fusion fibers are additionally blended together with the raw material pulp RP, the heat fusion fibers or the pulp fibers are fused to each other by heating to realize a new bond. Therefore, when a fiber having heat-fusibility is additionally blended into the pulp fiber, a composite nonwoven fabric CWeb that realizes stronger bonding can be obtained.
The composite nonwoven fabric CWeb manufactured continuously in this manner is wound around the roller 71 of the winding device 7 to complete a series of steps.
As exemplified here, drying with an air-through dryer is preferable because the finished non-woven fabric CWeb can be finished into a bulky, thick and high-quality product.

Although not shown, an embossing device may be further arranged on the upstream side or the downstream side of the drying device 6. The embossing device may be arranged as necessary for the purpose of adjusting the thickness, texture, water absorption, etc. of the nonwoven fabric CWeb as a product. Such an embossing device may be a well-known one, and for example, a web having projections and depressions can be formed by being sandwiched between rolls on which projections and depressions are formed (metal rolls, or metal and rubber). . For example, when the embossing device is disposed upstream of the drying device 6, the composite nonwoven fabric CWeb that is produced as a product can be adjusted so that the apparent thickness is increased.
In some cases, priority is given to the shape retention of the embossed shape of the composite nonwoven fabric CWeb that is the product. In this case, it is preferable to arrange an embossing device on the downstream side of the drying device. In this case, it is preferable to employ a hot embossing (a metal roll having an uneven pattern).

  The composite nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus 1 described above manufactures a pulp web that becomes a pulp fiber layer by the air laid apparatus 2. This air laid apparatus 2 is much smaller than a pulp nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus using a wet method, and the maintenance of facilities is easy. Further, since the entire apparatus can be downsized, the product can be easily switched compared to the case of the wet method, and the manufacturing apparatus of the composite nonwoven fabric that can be applied to a variety of products while suppressing the manufacturing cost.

In addition, although the airlaid apparatus of one form example was shown in FIG. 1, it is not restricted to this. As the airlaid method, various techniques such as the Karl-Croyer method, the Dunweb method, the J & J method, the KC method, and the kinocross method are known, and can be appropriately selected from these.
Moreover, although the case where an air through dryer is used as an example of the dehydration / drying unit 6 has been described as a preferred example in the above description, the present invention is not limited thereto. In order to dehydrate and dry the wet web, an apparatus configuration in which a dehydrating apparatus using suction and another drying apparatus are combined may be employed.

  Although the description of the embodiment has been completed above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it is needless to say that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

1 Manufacturing equipment for composite nonwoven fabric 2 Airlaid equipment (pulp airlaid part)
3 Synthetic fiber web supply device (synthetic fiber layer supply unit)
4 Suction device (lamination forming part)
5 Water jetting device (water entangled part)
6 Drying equipment (dehydration and drying section)
7 Winding device 21 Defibrator 22 Duct 23 Airlaid hopper 24 Lamination position 28 Nipping roller 30 Prewetting device (prewetting part)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 31 Spray nozzle 32 Suction apparatus 41 Suction apparatus main body 42 Suction part 43 Conveyance wire 51 Water jet nozzle 52 Suction apparatus 55 Conveyance wire FP Pulp fiber PWeb Preliminary laminated body CWeb laminated body (composite type nonwoven fabric)
SW synthetic fiber web

Claims (6)

A manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a composite nonwoven fabric in which a pulp fiber layer and a synthetic fiber layer are laminated and integrated,
Pulp air laid part that defibrates raw pulp in a dry state, disperses it on an air flow, and supplies pulp fibers to the lamination position;
A synthetic fiber layer supply unit that supplies a synthetic fiber web prepared in advance as the synthetic fiber layer to the lamination position;
Preliminary lamination is performed by applying negative pressure to the synthetic fiber layer and the pulp fiber layer formed by the pulp fiber placed on the synthetic fiber layer, facing the lamination position. A laminate forming part for forming a body;
Downstream of the lamination forming portion, a water entanglement treatment is performed by spraying a water jet toward the preliminary laminated body to perform a hydroentanglement process, and promoting integration of the pulp fiber layer and the synthetic fiber layer;
An apparatus for producing a composite nonwoven fabric, comprising: a dehydration / drying unit that obtains an integrated laminate by performing dehydration and drying processes downstream of the hydroentanglement unit.   The said dehydration and drying part contains the air through dryer, The manufacturing apparatus of the composite type nonwoven fabric of Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned.   The apparatus for producing a composite nonwoven fabric according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a pre-wet portion for spraying water mist on the preliminary laminated body and moistening it is disposed upstream of the hydroentangled portion. .   The apparatus for producing a composite nonwoven fabric according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an embossing device is disposed upstream or downstream of the dewatering / drying unit.   The said synthetic fiber web prepared in advance is a web manufactured by the spunbond method, The manufacturing apparatus of the composite type nonwoven fabric as described in any one of Claim 1 to 4 characterized by the above-mentioned. A method of manufacturing a composite nonwoven fabric in which a pulp fiber layer and a synthetic fiber layer are laminated and integrated,
Pulp air laid process in which raw pulp is defibrated in a dry state and dispersed in an air flow to supply pulp fibers to the lamination position;
Synthetic fiber layer supplying step of supplying a synthetic fiber web prepared in advance as the synthetic fiber layer to the lamination position;
Preliminary lamination is performed by applying negative pressure to the synthetic fiber layer and the pulp fiber layer formed by the pulp fiber placed on the synthetic fiber layer, facing the lamination position. A layer forming process for forming a body;
After the layer formation step, water entanglement treatment is performed by spraying a water jet toward the preliminary layered body to perform a water entanglement process, and promoting the integration of the pulp fiber layer and the synthetic fiber layer;
A method for producing a composite nonwoven fabric, comprising: after the hydroentanglement step, a dehydration / drying step of obtaining an integrated laminate by performing dehydration and drying processes.

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