JPH05177587A - Method and device for manufacture of short fiber bundle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce likelihood of tape dislocating or unevenness in the length of short fiber bundles in the process of manufacturing short fiber bundles. CONSTITUTION:A binding machine 2 binds a long fiber bundle F supported by a gutter 11 by wrapping the bundle F with a tape T in the binding position P3 set downstream in the axial direction of the bundle F. A cutting machine 3 cuts between bound parts T1 by the binding machine 2 in the cutting position P4 set downstream farther than the binding position P3. A moving device 5 moves the fiber bundle F at a certain pitch axially for a distance L from the binding position P3 to the cutting position P4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

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

[0002]

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

[0003]

However, in the conventional method for producing a short fiber bundle, the long fiber bundle is detected while being moved in the axial direction, the tape is wound around the portion to be cut and bound, and this movement is performed. After bundling is repeated to bind a number of points, the tape is detected and cut while moving the long fiber bundle in the axial direction. Here, in this conventional method,
Since the tape or the long fiber bundle is detected and the portion to be cut is determined, the length of the short fiber bundle easily varies due to a detection error. Further, apart from the bundling, the tape is also detected and cut at the time of cutting, so that variations in the length of the short fiber bundle due to detection errors tend to accumulate, and moreover there is a deviation between the bundling pitch and the cutting pitch. Since it is easy, the position of the tape is likely to be displaced. The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for producing a short fiber bundle in which positional deviation of the tape and variation in the length of the short fiber bundle are unlikely to occur. ..

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, in the method of the present invention, the long fiber bundle is axially moved, and then the long fiber bundle is wound and bound at the binding position. After this bundling, the bundling portion where the long fiber bundle is bound or its vicinity is moved by a predetermined pitch to a cutting position downstream of the bundling position. After this pitch movement process,
The bundled portion of the long fiber bundle or its vicinity 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 bind the tape. The pitch movement and the cutting and binding process are repeated to produce a plurality of short fiber bundles from the long fiber bundle.

On the other hand, the device of the present invention winds the tape around the long fiber bundle at a supporting member for supporting the long fiber bundle and a binding position set downstream of the long fiber bundle in the axial direction of the supporting member. A binding machine that binds, a cutting machine that cuts the binding part bound by the binding machine or its vicinity at a cutting position set further downstream than the binding position, and a long length from the binding position to the cutting position And a moving device that moves the fiber bundle in the axial direction with a pitch.

[0006]

According to the present invention, after the long fiber bundle is moved in the axial direction by a predetermined pitch, the pre-bundled portion of the long fiber bundle is cut, and the long fiber bundle is not moved in the axial direction. Since the bundling is performed at the bundling position upstream of the cutting position, it is possible to obtain the short fiber bundle divided into the lengths of the pitch for moving the long fiber bundle without detecting the long fiber bundle or the tape.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a plane layout of an apparatus for producing short fiber bundles. In FIG. 1, this manufacturing apparatus uses a short fiber bundle F1 by binding a long fiber bundle F indicated by a chain double-dashed line and then cutting the bundle.
It is a device for processing into. The long fiber bundle F is a bundle of many long hollow fibers, and is bound by a tape T in the vicinity of the right end portion on the upstream side.

The chain conveyor 1 with a gutter is a long fiber bundle F.
A gutter (supporting member) 11 that supports a pair of chains (not shown) is attached to the outer periphery of a pair of chains (not shown) at an equal pitch. This chain conveyor with gutter 1 moves the gutter 11 intermittently by the mounting pitch and sends the long fiber bundle F from the supply position P1 to the processing position P2. A positioning member 12 is disposed on the right side of the chain conveyor 1 with gutter, and the right end portion of the long fiber bundle F is in contact with the positioning member 12, so that the gutter of the long fiber bundle F is received. The amount of protrusion from 11 is constant. A static elimination blower 13 is provided outside the receiving gutter 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 on the downstream side (right side) of the receiving gutter 11 at the processing position P2. A collection station 6 and a disposal station 7 are provided at both ends of the sorting device 4.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 8, the moving device 5 moves the long fiber bundle F and the short fiber bundle F1 (FIG. 1) in the axial direction of the long fiber bundle F by a predetermined pitch. .. Although not shown, the moving device 5 of FIG. 1 rotates a ball screw by a servomotor based on 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.

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

As shown in FIG. 4, the long fiber bundles F are provided on both sides of the portion where the long fiber bundles F are tapped by the binding machine 2.
A pair of first pinching machines 24 that move forward and backward in the radial direction to loosely grip the long fiber bundle F are provided.

The cutting machine 3 cuts between the binding portions T1 bound by the binding machine 2 as shown in FIG. 5 at the cutting position P4. In this cutting machine 3, for example, a sharp cutter 31 is moved downward while reciprocating,
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, and the cutting position P4 can be slightly moved left and right. Thereby, the distance L between the bundling 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. It should be noted that a pair of second sandwiching machines 33 that move forward and backward in the radial direction of the long fiber bundle F to grip the long fiber bundle F are provided on both sides of the cutting position P4.

The sorting device 4 shown in FIG. 1 is provided with a swing plate 41 which is swingable around the axis C of the moving device 2, and the short fiber bundle F1 and the waste bundle F2 conveyed by the moving device 5 are
The oscillating plate 41 is rolled by changing the inclination direction, and is distributed to the collection station 6 or the disposal station 7 and conveyed.

Next, the long fiber bundle F is replaced with the short fiber bundle F1.
A method of processing into the above will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 1, the long fiber bundle F is conveyed to the processing position P2 by the chain conveyor 1 with a gutter. Then, after the moving device 5 has moved to the left side, the right end portion of the long fiber bundle F is gripped by the gripping machine 51, and the long fiber bundle F is moved in the axial direction as shown in FIG. Draw from. After this withdrawal, the pair of first sandwiching machines 24 sandwiches the long fiber bundle F, and in this sandwiched state, the pair of binding machines 2 moves from the position indicated by the solid line to the position indicated by the alternate long and two short dashes line. As described above, the tape T is wound around the long fiber bundle F and bound. Thereafter, after the pinching machine 24 retreats in the radial direction and releases the grip, the moving device 5 moves by an amount corresponding to the distance L from the bundling position P3 to the cutting position P4 as shown in FIG. The center of the two binding portions T1 of the long fiber bundle F is moved to the cutting position P4 by a predetermined pitch in the axial direction.

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 binding portions T1 and, at the same time, at the binding position P3 upstream of the cutting position P4, the binding machine 2 moves from the solid line position to two points. The tape T (FIG. 6) is wound around the long fiber bundle F and bound to the position shown by the chain line (cutting and binding step).

After the cutting and bundling step, as shown in FIG. 6, after the second pinching machine 33 retracts in the radial direction, the moving device 5 retracts 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 gripping device 51, and the swinging plate 41 is tilted so that the sorting device 4 is lowered on the discarding station 7 side, and the discarding bundle F2 is rolled to the discarding station 7.

After that, the moving device 5 again moves to the left side to grip the right end portion of the long fiber bundle F, and as shown in FIG.
The long fiber bundle F is moved in the axial direction by a predetermined pitch 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 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 binding 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 with gutter 1 is driven, and a new long fiber bundle F is processed at the processing position P2.
Is supplied to.

As described above, according to this manufacturing method, the tape T
Since the bundling and cutting are performed without detecting the long fiber bundle F or the long fiber bundle F, the variation in the length of the short fiber bundle F1 due to the detection error does not occur. In addition, since the long fiber bundle F is moved by one pitch L to bind and cut, the pitch of binding and the pitch of cutting do not deviate, and thus the position of the tape T does not easily deviate.

In the above embodiment, the binding machine 2 was moved to bind the long fiber bundles F across the bundle, but the binding machine 2 was used.
Alternatively, the long fiber bundle F may be moved in the radial direction without being moved to bind the fibers. However, as in this embodiment, if the binding machine 2 is moved to bind, the binding and cutting can be performed at the same time, and the cycle time is shortened.

By the way, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the cutting machine 3 is mounted on the base 32 whose position is adjustable, and the cutting machine 3 is movable 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 it equal, and an integer multiple of the moving pitch of the long fiber bundle F by the moving device 5 is set. 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 set to L
In the case of / 2, after the bundling machine 2 is bound twice, the cutting and bundling step is performed by the bundling machine 2 and the cutting machine 3 as many times as necessary, and thereafter, the cutting by the cutting machine 3 is performed twice continuously.
As a result, a short fiber bundle F having a length that is an integral multiple of the distance L is obtained.
1 can be obtained. Moreover, since the distance L can be changed as described above, the short fiber bundle F of any length can be obtained.
1 can be obtained.

In the above embodiment, both sides of the portion to be cut are bound in advance and the long fiber bundle F is cut at the center (near the vicinity) of both binding portions T1. However, the portion to be cut is bound in advance, This binding portion may be cut by the cutting machine 3 together with the tape. Further, the present invention is not limited to the short fiber bundle F1 made of hollow fibers, but the short fiber bundle F made of solid fibers.
It goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to the production of 1.

Further, in the above embodiment, the swinging plate 41 is inclined for sorting, but sorting is also performed by using a conveyor for sorting and feeding or changing the stop position of the moving device 5 for sorting. You can

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, the long fiber bundles F are cut and bound each time the long fiber bundles F are axially pitch-moved. Since there is no need to detect the tape or the tape, no detection error occurs. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a short fiber bundle having a predetermined length in which the position of the tape is not easily displaced and which does not vary.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a short fiber bundle manufacturing apparatus showing 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 a 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 bundling step.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a step of carrying out a waste bundle F3.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a second cutting and bundling 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 ... Bunding position, P4 ... Cutting position.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A bundling step of wrapping a tape around the long fiber bundle at a bundling position after moving the long fiber bundle in the axial direction, and binding the long fiber bundle, and then binding the long fiber bundle. A pitch moving step of moving the binding portion or the vicinity thereof by a predetermined pitch to the cutting position downstream of the binding position, and after this pitch movement, the binding portion of the long fiber bundle or the vicinity thereof is cut at the cutting position. While cutting, at the binding position upstream of the cutting position,
A method for producing a short fiber bundle, comprising a cutting and binding step of winding a tape around the long fiber bundle to bind the tape, and repeating the pitch moving step and the cutting and binding 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 binding a tape around the long fiber bundle at a binding position set downstream of the long fiber bundle in the axial direction of the support member. And a cutting machine that cuts a binding portion or its vicinity bound by the binding machine at a cutting position set further downstream than the binding position, and the long fiber bundle by a distance from the binding position to the cutting position. A device for manufacturing a short fiber bundle, comprising: