JP3027647B2 - Method and apparatus for producing short fiber bundle - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for producing short fiber bundles from long fiber bundles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, short fiber bundles obtained by bundling hollow fibers are used as modules for water purifiers and artificial kidneys. As a method for producing such a short fiber bundle, there is known a method of first producing a long fiber bundle and then cutting the long fiber bundle to obtain a short fiber bundle.

[0003]

However, in the conventional method for producing a short fiber bundle, a long fiber bundle is detected while being moved in the axial direction, and a tape is wound around a portion to be cut and bound. After bundling many places, the tape is detected and cut while moving the long fiber bundle in the axial direction. Here, in this conventional method,
Since the position to be cut is determined by detecting the tape or the long fiber bundle, the length of the short fiber bundle tends to vary due to a detection error. In addition, apart from bundling, the tape is also detected and cut at the time of cutting, so variations in the length of short fiber bundles due to detection errors are likely to accumulate, and there is a deviation between the bundling pitch and the cutting pitch. Therefore, the position of the tape is easily shifted. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described conventional disadvantages, and has as its object to provide a method and an apparatus for manufacturing a short fiber bundle in which a tape misalignment and a short fiber bundle length hardly vary. .

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the method of the present invention, after a long fiber bundle is moved in an axial direction, a tape is wound around the long fiber bundle at a binding position to bind the tape. After the binding, the bound portion of the long fiber bundle or the vicinity thereof is moved by a predetermined pitch to a cutting position downstream of the binding position. After this pitch moving step,
The bound portion of the long fiber bundle or the vicinity thereof is cut at the cutting position, and a tape is wound around the long fiber bundle at the binding position upstream of the cutting position to be bound. A plurality of short fiber bundles are manufactured from the long fiber bundle by repeating the pitch movement and the cutting and bundling process.

On the other hand, the apparatus of the present invention comprises a support member for supporting a long fiber bundle, and a tape wound around the long fiber bundle at a binding position set downstream of the long fiber bundle in the support member in the axial direction. A bundling machine for bundling, a cutting machine for cutting the bundled portion or the vicinity thereof bound by the bundling machine at a cutting position set further downstream from the bundling position, and a length that is long by a distance from the bundling position to the cutting position And a moving device for moving the fiber bundle in pitch in the axial direction.

[0006]

According to the present invention, after the long fiber bundle is moved in the axial direction by a predetermined pitch, the previously tied portion of the long fiber bundle is cut, and the long fiber bundle is not moved in the axial direction. Since the binding is performed at the binding position upstream of the cutting position, the short fiber bundle divided into the pitch for moving the long fiber bundle can be obtained without detecting the long fiber bundle or the tape.

[0007]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a plan layout of an apparatus for producing short fiber bundles. In FIG. 1, this manufacturing apparatus cuts a long fiber bundle F indicated by a two-dot chain line and then cuts the short fiber bundle F1.
It is a device for processing. The long fiber bundle F is formed by bundling a number of long hollow fibers, and is bound by a tape T in the vicinity of the right end on the upstream side.

The chain conveyor 1 with a gutter is a long fiber bundle F
(Supporting member) 11 for supporting a pair of chains (not shown) is attached at equal pitches around the outer periphery. In the chain conveyor 1 with a gutter, the gutter 11 is intermittently moved by the mounting pitch, and the long fiber bundle F is sent from the supply position P1 to the processing position P2. A positioning member 12 is provided on the right side of the chain conveyor 1 with a gutter, and the right end of the long fiber bundle F is in contact with the positioning member 12, so that the gutter for the long fiber bundle F is received. The amount of projection from 11 is constant. A discharge blower 13 is provided outside the receiving gutter 11 at the processing position P2.

Downstream (right side) of the receiving trough 11 at the processing position P2, a binding machine 2, a cutting machine 3, a sorting device 4, and a moving device 5 are provided in this order. At both ends of the sorting device 4, a collection station 6 and a disposal station 7 are provided.

The moving device 5 moves the long fiber bundle F and the short fiber bundle F1 (FIG. 1) by a predetermined pitch in the axial direction of the long fiber bundle F as shown in FIGS. . Although not shown, the moving device 5 of FIG. 1 rotates the ball screw by a servomotor under the control of a servo controller to move in the axial direction of the long fiber bundle F while holding the fiber bundle at the tip. It has a gripping machine 51 which performs.

At the binding position P3, the binding machine 2
As shown in FIG. 4, a tape T is wound around a long fiber bundle F and bound. The binding machine 2 is provided as a pair of left and right, one of which will be described with reference to FIG. The binding machine 2 includes a pair of upper and lower tape rollers 21, 21 and four tension rollers 22, and a welding and cutting machine 2 shown in FIG.
3 is provided. The bundling machine 2 is driven to travel in the radial direction of the long fiber bundle F, and as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the tape T is applied to the peripheral surface of the long fiber bundle F.
As shown in (c) to (d), the tape T is welded and cut by the welding / cutting machine 23 to bind the long fiber bundle F with the tape T.

As shown in FIG. 4, the long fiber bundle F is provided on both sides of the portion where the long fiber bundle F is taped by the binding machine 2.
A pair of first pinching machines 24 are provided which advance and retreat in the radial direction of the pair and loosely grasp the long fiber bundle F.

The cutting machine 3 cuts a portion between the binding portions T1 bound by the binding device 2 as shown in FIG. 5 at a cutting position P4. This cutting machine 3 moves downward, for example, while reciprocating a sharp cutter 31,
The long fiber bundle F is cut. The cutting machine 3 is mounted on a base 32 whose position can be adjusted in the axial direction of the long fiber bundle F, so that the cutting position P4 can be slightly moved left and right. Thereby, the distance L between the binding position P3 and the cutting position P4 can be changed. The binding position P3
The cutting position P4 is set on the axis C of the long fiber bundle F. In addition, on both sides of the cutting position P <b> 4, a pair of second sandwiching devices 33 that advance and retreat in the radial direction of the long fiber bundle F and hold the long fiber bundle F are provided.

The sorting device 4 shown in FIG. 1 has a swinging plate 41 that can swing around the axis C of the moving device 2, and the short fiber bundle F 1 and the waste bundle F 2 transported by the moving device 5 are
The rocking plate 41 is rolled by changing its inclination direction, and is distributed to the collection station 6 or the disposal station 7 for transport.

Next, the long fiber bundle F is replaced with the short fiber bundle F1.
A method for processing into the following will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 1, the long fiber bundle F is transported to the processing position P2 by the chain conveyor 1 with a gutter. Then, after the moving device 5 moves to the left, the right end of the long fiber bundle F is gripped by the gripper 51, and the long fiber bundle F is moved in the axial direction as shown in FIG. Withdraw from After this withdrawal, the pair of first sandwiching machines 24 sandwich the long fiber bundle F, and in this sandwiched state, the pair of binding machines 2 move from the position indicated by the solid line to the position indicated by the two-dot chain line, and FIG. The tape T is wound around the long fiber bundle F as shown in FIG. Thereafter, after the pinching device 24 is retracted in the radial direction to release the grip, the moving device 5 moves by an amount corresponding to the distance L from the binding position P3 to the cutting position P4 as shown in FIG. Then, the center of the two binding portions T1 of the long fiber bundle F is moved by a predetermined pitch in the axial direction to the cutting position P4.

After this pitch movement, the first and second pinching machines 24 and 33 pinch the long fiber bundle F. In this sandwiched state, the cutting machine 3 cuts the long fiber bundle F between the two tying portions T1, and at the same time, at the tying position P3 upstream of the cutting position P4, the tying machine 2 is moved from the solid line position by two points It moves to the position shown by the dashed line, winds the tape T (FIG. 6) around the long fiber bundle F, and binds it (cutting and binding step).

After the cutting and bundling step, as shown in FIG. 6, after the second pinching device 33 retreats in the radial direction, the moving device 5 retreats to the position of the sorting device 4 while holding the waste bundle F2. . After this retreat, the moving device 5 releases the gripping of the gripper 51, and the sorting device 4 tilts the rocking plate 41 so that the disposal station 7 side is lowered, and rolls the waste bundle F2 to the disposal station 7.

Thereafter, the moving device 5 moves forward to the left again, grasps the right end of the long fiber bundle F, and as shown in FIG.
The long fiber bundle F is moved by a predetermined pitch in the axial direction by an amount corresponding to the distance L from the binding position P3 to the cutting position P4. After this pitch movement, the long fiber bundle F is cut by the cutting machine 3 and the tape T (FIG. 8) is newly wound and bound by the binding machine 2 in the same manner as described above. After the cutting and bundling step, the moving device 5 transfers the cut short fiber bundle F1 onto the sorting device 4 as shown in FIG. After this transfer, the short fiber bundle F1 is transferred to the collection station 6 by the sorting device 4.

By repeating the pitch movement of the long fiber bundle F by the moving device 5 and the cutting and bundling process, the long fiber bundle F is processed into a plurality of short fiber bundles F1. When the processing of one bundle of long fiber bundles F is completed, the chain conveyor 1 with a gutter is driven and a new long fiber bundle F is moved to the processing position P2.
Supplied to

Thus, in this manufacturing method, the tape T
Since the bundling and cutting are performed without detecting the long fiber bundle F, the length of the short fiber bundle F1 does not vary due to the detection error. In addition, since the long fiber bundle F is moved by one pitch L to perform bundling and cutting, there is no deviation between the bundling pitch and the cutting pitch.

In the above-described embodiment, the binding machine 2 is moved to bind the fiber bundle F across the long fiber bundle F.
May be moved by moving the long fiber bundle F in the radial direction without moving. However, if the binding is performed by moving the binding machine 2 as in this embodiment, the binding and cutting can be performed simultaneously, so that the cycle time is shortened.

In the above embodiment, the cutting machine 3 is mounted on the base 32 whose position can be adjusted so that the cutting machine 3 can move in the axial direction of the long fiber bundle F. By changing the drawing pitch of the moving device 5, the length of the short fiber bundle F1 can be easily changed.

In the above embodiment, the moving pitch of the long fiber bundle F is set equal to the distance L. However, it is not always necessary to make the moving pitch equal to the distance L. It may be set equal to the distance L. For example, the moving pitch of the long fiber bundle F by the moving device 5 is L
In the case of / 2, after the binding unit 2 binds twice, the binding unit 2 and the cutting unit 3 perform the cutting and binding step as many times as necessary, and thereafter, the cutting unit 3 continuously performs the cutting twice.
As a result, the short fiber bundle F having a length that is 1 / integral of the distance L
1 can be obtained. In addition, since the distance L can be changed as described above, the short fiber bundle F of any length can be used.
1 can be obtained.

In the above-described embodiment, the long fiber bundle F is cut at both sides of the cut portion in advance and the long fiber bundle F is cut at the center (near the center) of both the tied portions T1. The binding portion may be cut by the cutting machine 3 together with the tape. Further, the present invention provides not only the short fiber bundle F1 made of hollow fibers but also the short fiber bundle F made of solid fibers.
It is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to the production of No. 1.

In the above-described embodiment, the sorting is performed by inclining the swinging plate 41. However, the sorting can be performed by performing the sorting and sending out using the conveyor or changing the stop position of the moving device 5. Can be.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, each time the long fiber bundle F is moved in pitch in the axial direction, the long fiber bundle F is cut and tied. Since there is no need to detect a tape or a tape, no detection error occurs. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a short fiber bundle of a predetermined length that does not easily displace the tape position and does not vary.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an apparatus for manufacturing a short fiber bundle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the operation of the binding machine.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of the manufacturing apparatus showing a binding step.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a state after binding.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a first cutting and binding step.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a process of unloading a waste bundle F3.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a second cutting and binding step.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a step of carrying out a short fiber bundle.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Bundling machine, 3 ... Cutting machine, 5 ... Moving device, 11 ... Support member, F ... Long fiber bundle, F1 ... Short fiber bundle, P3 ... Bundling position, P4 ... Cutting position.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ identification code FI D01G 1/04 101 D01G 1/04 101 (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B26D 3/00 601 B26D 5/00 B26D 7/27 B65H 51/015 D01G 1/04 101

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A bundling step of moving a long fiber bundle in an axial direction, winding a tape around the long fiber bundle at a bundling position and bundling the bundle, and after the bundling, binding the long fiber bundle. The binding portion or the vicinity thereof, a pitch moving step of moving the binding portion by a predetermined pitch to a cutting position downstream from the binding position, and after the pitch movement, the binding portion or the vicinity of the long fiber bundle bound at the cutting position. While cutting, at the binding position upstream from the cutting position,
A method for producing a short fiber bundle, comprising: a cutting and bundling step of winding and bundling a tape around a long fiber bundle, and repeating the pitch moving step and the cutting and bundling step to produce a plurality of short fiber bundles from the long fiber bundle. 2. A support member for supporting a long fiber bundle, and a binding machine for winding and bundling a tape around the long fiber bundle at a binding position set downstream of the long fiber bundle in the support member in the axial direction. And a cutting machine that cuts at or near the binding portion bound by the binding machine at a cutting position set further downstream from the binding position, and the long fiber bundle by a distance from the binding position to the cutting position. And a moving device that moves the pitch in the axial direction.