JP2019065405A - Opening device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an opening device which is devised so as to be able to open a fiber bundle while preventing the formation of a cotton-like material after cutting the fiber bundle for CF-SMC.SOLUTION: An opening device comprises an opening mechanism 11 comprising: a rotary shaft 13 rotatable around an axis whose axial direction is a substantially horizontal direction; a plurality of pins 21 protruded outward in the radial direction of the rotary shaft 13; an introduction chute 27 through which carbon fiber chopped strands S are dropped from above the rotary shaft 13; and comb-tooth forks 31 each having a comb-tooth recess part 33 which is arranged on the rotation trajectory of the tip part of each pin 21. While straddling the comb-tooth recess part 33 and being caught on both sides thereof, the carbon fiber chopped strand S is beaten by the pin 21 which is moved toward it by rotation, thereby being torn and opened.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

  The present invention relates to a fiber opening device suitable for carbon fiber-sheet molding compounds (CF-SMCs).

The material used for the SMC molding method is called SMC (Sheet Molding Compound), and is impregnated into a chopped strand with a resin paste mixed with a resin, a curing agent, a thickener, etc. It is a composite material which is heated and thickened under a predetermined temperature condition to make it easy to handle.
Improvements in resin impregnation technology make it possible to impregnate carbon fibers, and those impregnated with carbon fibers are called CF-SMC (carbon fiber-sheet molding compound), which is a conventional GF. -Significant weight reduction can be realized because it has a significantly higher specific strength and specific rigidity than SMC. Therefore, substitution of metal materials is expected in a wide range of fields including automobiles, aircrafts, and even industrial machines.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-200136 JP, 2014-5580, A

By the way, resin composite materials reinforced with carbon fiber include prepreg and RTM in addition to CF-SMC, and while prepreg and RTM are mainly composed of long fibers, CF-SMC is 1 inch Mainly carbon fiber of length.
The carbon fiber is provided in the form of a strand regardless of whether it is used as a raw material of any composite material, but the carbon fiber is rigid, and if bending or breaking occurs, the crack leading to breakage from that site In order to facilitate the development, recently, it is recommended to significantly improve the strength of the composite material by opening it to enhance the isotropy as an orientation state and then converting it into a composite material.
And about a prepreg and for RTM, as described in patent document 1, 2, the specific fiber-opening method which utilizes the air-flow and the fiber opening member which vibrates is proposed.

However, if this method is applied also to CF-SMC, since it will be cut into a length of 1 inch after opening, the fibers will become loose and become cottony, and the strength will be rather reduced. . On the other hand, when it was opened after cutting, it became manual, and the working efficiency was poor.
Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and is a novel and useful opening method devised to automatically open the carbon fiber chopped strand after cutting a fiber bundle for CF-SMC. The purpose is to provide a device.

  The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and the invention according to claim 1 is a rotary shaft rotatable about an axis with the horizontal direction as an axial direction, and a radially outward direction of the rotary shaft. Open with a plurality of pins provided in a projecting manner, an introduction chute for dropping a carbon fiber chopped strand from above the rotation shaft, and a comb fork having a comb concave portion arranged on the rotation path of the tip of each pin A fiber mechanism is provided, and the carbon fiber chopped strand is split and opened by being hit by the pin that has been turned by rotation while being received on both sides across the comb tooth recess. Opening device.

  According to the invention of claim 2, in the fiber opening device according to claim 1, a plurality of pin rows composed of a plurality of pins are provided along the axial direction of the rotation axis, and the pins of the pin rows are circumferentially arranged every other row. The fiber opening device is characterized in that the carbon fiber chopped strands are guided to the gaps between the pins and are broken by being hit by the pins that have been turned by rotation. .

  The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that in the fiber opening device according to claim 1 or 2, the comb-tooth recessed portion of the comb-tooth fork is formed using an inclined portion which is narrowed toward the lower side. Opening device.

  The invention of claim 4 relates to the fiber opening device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the introduction chute and the comb fork are connected in the vertical direction, and the carbon fiber chopped strand introduced into the introduction chute is dropped It is an opening device characterized by being derived | led-out from the comb-tooth recessed part of the said comb-tooth fork.

  The invention of claim 5 is the fiber opening apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a plurality of fiber opening mechanisms are provided in the vertical direction, and the carbon fiber chopped strands are led out from the fiber opening mechanism on the upper side. Is introduced into the introduction chute of the lower side of the fiber opening mechanism.

  According to the opening apparatus of the present invention, after cutting a fiber bundle short for CF-SMC, it can be automatically opened, and the obtained carbon fiber chopped strand does not become cottony.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is the schematic of the whole opening apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic of the whole open apparatus shown from the direction orthogonal to FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the protruding state of the pin of FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the arrangement | positioning state of the pin of FIG. It is explanatory drawing of opening of the carbon fiber chopped strand by the opening mechanism of FIG. It is explanatory drawing of fiber opening shown from the direction orthogonal to FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the fiber opening which utilized the site | part different from FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the fiber opening using the site | part different from FIG. 6, FIG.

A fiber opening device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described according to the drawings.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the fiber opening device 1 is installed integrally with the cutting device C, and the casing 3 of the fiber opening device 1 is disposed inside the mounting frame F of the cutting device C. It is done. The housing 3 has a rectangular cross section and a vertically long rectangular tube shape, and the top and bottom are closed at the top and bottom. In these drawings, the side portion located on the front side of the housing 3 is not shown and the inside can be seen.

  The transfer chute 5 penetrates the ceiling portion of the housing 3 and extends straight in the vertical direction. The transfer chute 5 has a rectangular cross section and a vertically long rectangular tube shape, and the upper and lower ends are open. The upper end opening is a receiving port 7 for receiving the carbon fiber chopped strands S which are cut out by the cutting device C and come out. On the other hand, the lower end opening is a discharge port 9 from which the carbon fiber chopped strand S after the opening process is dropped and discharged, and the carbon fiber chopped strand S after the open process is dropped from the discharge port 9 , And accumulate on the bottom of the housing 3. An open door (not shown) is provided at one side of the housing 3 and the open door is opened to take out the carbon fiber chopped strands S accumulated.

The fiber opening mechanism 11 is disposed over the upper, middle, and lower three stages in the housing 3, but the configuration of each stage is the same.
The fiber opening mechanism 11 includes a rotary shaft 13 having a cylindrical cross section. Both ends in the axial direction extend beyond the transfer chute 5 and project outward through both sides of the housing 3 and are rotatably supported by bearings respectively mounted on the outer surfaces of both sides of the housing 3 . By this support, the rotating shaft 13 is held in a posture facing in the horizontal direction.
A motor 15 is attached to one bearing side. The rotation shaft 13 described above is connected to the drive shaft of the motor 15, and is driven by the motor 15 to rotate the rotation shaft 13 about the axis.

As shown in detail in FIG. 3, inside the transfer chute 5, a plurality of screw holes 17, 17,... The screw holes 17, 17, ... are arranged at regular intervals along the axial direction of the rotating shaft 13, and a screw hole row 19 is formed. A plurality of screw hole rows 19 are provided at regular intervals in the circumferential direction.
The pin 21 is detachably attached to the screw hole 17. The pin 21 is in the form of a shaft having a circular cross section. The projecting side of the pin 21 is flat, and a screw 23 is formed on the outer peripheral surface on the mounting side. When the pin 21 is inserted into the screw hole 17 and the screw 23 is screwed to the screw hole 17, after advancing to a predetermined depth, further screwing is blocked and fixed. Therefore, the protrusion height of the pin 21 from the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 13 is constant. When the pin 21 is attached to the rotary shaft 13, the pin 21 protrudes radially outward from the rotary shaft 13.

  The pins 21 are attached to the screw holes 17 of the screw hole row 19 alternately, and the pin rows 25 are formed along the axial direction of the rotating shaft 13. The pin rows 25 adjacent to each other are arranged such that the pins 21 are alternately arranged in the circumferential direction. That is, the pins 21 of the pin row 25 face each other in the circumferential direction every other row. Therefore, the periphery of the pin 21 is left as a gap. The screw holes 17 are not shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 5, an introduction chute 27 is disposed above the rotating shaft 13. The introduction chute 27 is in the form of a rectangular tube having a rectangular cross section perpendicular to the horizontal direction, and is narrowed downward. There are two pairs of opposite sides, but the side of the short side faces the horizontal direction, but the pair of long sides approaches the direction at the same angle. It inclines and it becomes the inclined parts 29 and 29.

Comb teeth forks 31, 31 are provided on the lower end sides of the two inclined portions 29, 29, respectively. The comb-tooth fork 31 is cut in a concave shape upward from the lower end edge, and a plurality of comb-tooth recesses 33, 33, ... are formed. The comb-tooth recessed part 33 is making the vertically long rectangular shape, and the comb-tooth recessed parts 33 and 33 mutually adjoin a fixed space | interval.
The introduction chute 27 is positioned and disposed such that a center line parallel to the longitudinal direction thereof is vertically aligned in the axial direction of the rotation shaft 13. The upper end portion of the introduction chute 27 is internally fitted and fixed to the transfer chute 5 without a gap. The lower end portion is close to the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 13. The dimension in the latitudinal direction of the lower end is slightly smaller than that of the rotary shaft 13.

Since the lower end portion of the introduction chute 27 approaches the rotating shaft 13, most of the rotation trajectory including the tip portion of the pin 21 intersects with the inclined portion 29, but the comb teeth concave portion 33 is formed on the rotation trajectory of the pin 21. Is positioned so that the pin 21 can be rotated around the entire circumference by passing through the comb-tooth recess 33.
A slight gap of about 1 mm is designed to be formed between the pin 21 passing through and the opposite side edges of the comb-tooth recess 33. Further, the dimension of the cut depth of the comb tooth recess 33 is designed to be slightly larger than the dimension in the longitudinal direction of the carbon fiber chopped strand S, that is, the direction perpendicular to the cutting direction.

The opening mechanism 11 is configured as described above, and the motors 15 of the upper and lower opening mechanisms 11, 11 are disposed on the same side, and the middle stage opening mechanism 11 is disposed on the opposite side. This is because of easy installation and weight balance, and there is no difference in the opening operation.
The rotating shaft 13, the pins 21, and the introduction chute 27 are made of steel.

Next, the operation of the fiber opening device 1 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 5, the carbon fiber chopped strands S cut and generated by the cutting device C fall within the transfer chute 5, and as indicated by the white arrows, on the introduction chute 27 of the opening mechanism 11 at the upper stage. All are dropped and introduced, and guided onto the rotating shaft 13.
When the carbon fiber chopped strand S straddles the comb-tooth concave portion 33 and enters the gap while being received at the both side edges, it is struck with the pin 21 coming by rotation as shown by the black arrow. In that state, since the orientation direction of the carbon fiber of the carbon fiber chopped strand S is aligned with or close to the axial direction of the pin 21, as shown in FIG. 6, the pin 21 coming by rotation rotates the carbon fiber chopped strand S. It is torn quickly by tapping, from which the crack develops, and finally to both ends, it is opened.

  Further, a gap is provided around the pin 21, and the carbon fiber chopped strand S can enter the gap from the longitudinal direction and the lateral direction. Therefore, if an intermediate portion is hit by the pin 21 in the process of being guided and dropped into the rotary shaft 13, it is torn, from which a crack develops and finally to both ends, as shown in FIG. As shown in 8, it is opened.

After the carbon fiber chopped strands S are opened and the width dimension is shortened as described above, as shown in FIG. However, even in the case of non-opened fibers, when the flat side faces the pair of opposing edge portions of the comb-tooth recess 33, the comb-tooth recess 33 is led out.
As long as the rotation shaft 13 continues to rotate, the carbon fiber chopped strands S are transported in the direction of passing through the comb-tooth concave portions 33, and therefore, they do not fit into the gaps of the pins 21 and stay there.

The carbon fiber chopped strands S that have passed through the comb-tooth concave portions 33 of the opening mechanism 11 in the upper stage fall within the transfer chute 5 and are all introduced into the introduction chute 27 of the opening mechanism 11 in the middle stage. They are guided to open and again subjected to fiber opening treatment.
The same applies to the lower fiber opening mechanism 11.
As described above, since the three-stage opening mechanism 11, 11, 11 is repeatedly subjected to the opening process, the yield of the opening process of the carbon fiber chopped strands S is high. In addition, since the fiber is opened by tapping with the pin 21, the carbon fiber chopped strand S does not fall apart and becomes cottony.

According to the fiber opening device 1 of the present invention, since the tapping of the pin 21 is used, the cleavage stress is easily concentrated on the carbon fiber chopped strand S, and the fiber opening progresses smoothly if tapping is good.
Therefore, if the opener 1 is used, it is possible to obtain carbon fiber chopped strands which are opened in a size suitable for CF-SMC without being cottony with high yield.

  The carbon fiber strand can be purchased cheaper as the number of filaments is larger, so if 60K can be used, the raw material cost can be reduced. However, the larger the number of filaments, the easier it will become cottony when it is cut after being opened. According to the fiber opening device 1 of the present invention, the dimensions and intervals of the pins 21 and the comb teeth 33 can be designed according to the number of filaments, and those having a large number of filaments can be opened with high yield after cutting. It is expected that it can be woven.

The opener 1 was designed and tested with the dimensions (in mm) described in FIGS. 4 and 5.
The following results were confirmed when 12K was opened.

  As mentioned above, although the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and even if there is a design change or the like without departing from the scope of the present invention included.

  The fiber opening device of the present invention can be linked to the cutting device, and the work can be efficiently and continuously performed from cutting to fiber opening.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Opening device 3 ... Housing | casing 5 ... Transfer chute 7 ... Receiving port 9 ... Discharge port 11 ... Opening mechanism 13 ... Rotation shaft 15 ... Motor 17 ... Screw hole 19 ... Screw hole row 21 ... Pin 23 ... Screw 25 ... Pin row 27: introduction chute 29: inclined portion 31: comb tooth fork 33: comb tooth recess C: cutting device F: mounting frame S: carbon fiber chopped strand

The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that, in the fiber opening device according to claim 1 or 2, the comb-tooth concave portion of the comb-tooth fork is formed on the lower end side of the inclined portion which is narrowed downward. Opening device.

Claims (5)

A rotating shaft rotatable about its axis with a substantially horizontal direction as an axial direction, a plurality of pins projecting radially outward of the rotating shaft, and an introduction chute for dropping a carbon fiber chopped strand from above the rotating shaft And a fiber opening mechanism constituted by a comb tooth fork in which a comb tooth recess is disposed on the rotational trajectory of the tip of each pin,
The fiber opening device is characterized in that the carbon fiber chopped strand is split by being hit by the pin that has been turned by rotation while being received on both sides across the comb tooth recess. In the fiber opening device according to claim 1,
A plurality of pin rows composed of a plurality of pins are provided along the axial direction of the rotation axis, and the pins of the pin rows are circumferentially opposed to each other every other row,
A fiber opening device characterized in that a carbon fiber chopped strand is also guided to a gap between the pins, and is broken by being hit by the pin that has been turned by rotation. In the opening device according to claim 1 or 2,
An opening device characterized in that a comb-tooth concave portion of a comb-tooth fork is formed utilizing an inclined portion which is narrowed toward the lower side. The fiber opening device according to any one of claims 1 to 3
An opening device characterized in that the introduction chute and the comb fork are connected in the vertical direction, and the carbon fiber chopped strand introduced and dropped to the introduction chute is led out from the comb concave portion of the comb fork. The fiber opening device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
A plurality of fiber opening mechanisms are provided in the vertical direction, and a carbon fiber chopped strand derived from the fiber opening mechanism on the upper side is introduced to an introduction chute of the fiber opening mechanism on the lower side.

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