NL1007162C2 - Production of insulation panels from mixtures of insulation material and meltable binder fibres - Google Patents

Abstract

Rigid insulation material fibres are used to strengthen the insulation panels. A process for making insulation elements comprises the following steps : (i) providing a supply of fibres comprising at least one insulation material and a meltable binder material ; (ii) mixing the fibres ; (iii) forming a loose web from the fibre mixture ; (iv) heating the web to a temperature greater than or equal to the binder m.pt. and significantly below the insulation material m.pt. ; and (v) allowing the molten binder fibre material to cool. Rigid insulation fibres are used in order to strengthen the insulation element.

Description

W-2

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING INSULATION ELEMENTS

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing insulating elements, successively comprising: - providing fibers of at least one insulating material and a fusible bonding material; - mixing the fibers; - stacking the mixed fibers into a loose layer; - thoroughly heating the formed layer to a temperature which is at least equal to the melting temperature of the binder material, the insulating material having substantially a higher melting temperature; and - solidifying fibers melted by heating in the layer by cooling.

Insulation elements, for example with insulating materials rock wool and glass wool, are well known, as are the methods for manufacturing them.

The known insulating elements have the drawback that they have a relatively weak structure per se. As a result, processing such insulating elements, e.g. installing them in a building during construction or renovation, is cumbersome and time consuming, resulting in unnecessarily high costs.

The object of the invention is at least to obviate the above-mentioned or other drawback, and to this end it provides a method which is distinguished by providing rigid fibers of a structure-improving material for reinforcing the insulating element to be manufactured.

As a result, the insulating elements have a plate shape, and can also be processed as such. The ease in processing such insulating elements has therefore been increased, with which these insulating elements can be applied more quickly.

Preferably the method described in claim 2 is used. The insulating material of the insulating element to be manufactured at least partly comprises the stiff fibers. The stiff fiber content here depends on the stiffness to be achieved of the insulating elements to be manufactured.

Alternatively, use can be made of the method characterized in claim 3, in which the binding material contains the stiff fibers.

Incidentally, it may relate in advance to limp fibers, which have the desired stiffness only after heating the formed layer thoroughly, melting and cooling thereof, in order to provide the insulating element with the desired stiffness.

The invention will be further elucidated in the following description with reference to the annexed figures.

The figures show the successive parts of a production line.

Figure 1 schematically shows a feeding device; Figure 2 shows subsequent devices for mixing, opening and carding the supplied fibers; and

Figure 3 again shows subsequent devices for stacking, fusing and cutting the insulating elements.

Figure 4 shows a configuration of devices as an alternative to that shown in Figure 3.

Fig. 1 shows the supply side of a production line for manufacturing an insulating element using the method according to the invention.

The insulation element is made from different types of fibers. These fibers are fed on a conveyor 2 in the form of bales 3. Each bale 3 can contain a certain type of material. The insulating material to be produced contains a mixture of fibers of different types, at least one of which is low-melting and another type of high-melting.

The fibers are compressed in the supplied bales 3. One of the types of bales 3 high-melting and low-melting material contains the stiff fibers. Alternatively, in addition to the bales of high-melting and low-melting material, separate bales of rigid fibers can be supplied, with which three separate types of material are used in the production of insulating elements according to the invention. As a rigid fiber insulating material, use can be made, for example, of coconut fibers, camel hair, sisal fibers, hemp fibers, flax fibers or the like. The bales 3 are pulled apart in a bale breaker 4. For example, a pin belt 5 is mounted in this bale breaker 4, which pulls pieces out from one side of each bale. The peeled-off pieces of fiber material are fed via a conveyor 6 to a device 7 in which the fibers are opened. In this device 7 there is a drum with teeth, which expands the material into flakes. These flakes are transported via a conduit 9 to a mixing chamber 11 by means of an air flow generated with a fan 8. Additional air can be supplied via the air supply 10.

In the mixing chamber 11, a distribution head 12 is connected to the pipe 9. This distribution head 12 can move back and forth in the direction indicated. The flakes of fiber material are distributed in the mixing chamber with the aid of the reciprocating distribution head 2.

The material of the successive bales 3 thus comes to lie in layers in the mixing chamber 11.

When the mixing chamber 11 is filled, the stack of flock material formed is transported further by means of a conveyor to a next chamber in which a pin belt 15 is mounted. From the stack 1007162 4 material 14, uniform material is removed from each of the layers by means of the pin belt 15. The flakes 16 leaving the mixing device on a conveyor are thus homogeneously mixed.

Following the mixing chamber 11, the device 1 comprises a carding device 17. In this device 17, the fibers fed into the flakes 16 are separated and directed by a combing or carding operation. The carding device 17 shown here comprises a first stage 18 in which a pre-processing is carried out and a second stage 19 in which a loose web 20 is formed, in which the fibers extend substantially in one direction, the transport direction.

The thus-formed loose web 20 is folded in a web-stacking device 21 in a zig-zag fashion into a stack 22. Alternatively, as shown in Figure 4, use may be made of a fan 31, or a cyclone, for the fibers of the high-melting material and of the low-melting material. This provides an optimally homogeneous mixture of the relevant fibers, which can be processed into stacks 22 in the press 30. The stack of fiber material 22 is then transported to an oven 23, in which the stack 22 is thoroughly heated to a temperature just above the melting temperature of the low-melting material. The fibers of this low-melting material melt thereby and, after solidification by cooling, bind the other fibers into a coherent whole. The first section 24 of the furnace 23 is designed to provide uniform through-heating of the stack 22.

If desired, radiant heaters 25 may be mounted in the second, in this case connecting section of the furnace 23, each of which superficially heat one side of the stack 22 to a temperature at least substantially equal to the melting temperature of the high-melting material. As a result, after cooling, a firm or relatively hard layer is formed on the outside of the 1007162 stack 22, which further facilitates handling of the formed fiber material.

The stacks of fiber material 27 thus formed are further conveyed on a conveyor 26 to a cutting device 28, which cuts the stacks 27 into plate-shaped elements 29. These plate-shaped elements 29 can be packed together for transport to the customers.

Instead of rotary cutting blades as shown in Fig. 3, the cutting device 28 can also contain, for example, melting wires, so that the interfaces of the plates 29 also obtain a solid surface. If desired, the cutting operation can be carried out by means of the cutting device 28 prior to the second heating operation with the radiators 25.

The device 1 shown in the figures is only an example. Certain parts of the device can be replaced by other suitable devices. The only important thing is that the supplied fibers of the different types are stacked into a substantially homogeneous loose layer, after which the stack is heated to make it cohesive, using stiff fibers to optimize cohesion and plate-shaped insulation. to manufacture elements. It is noted here that the processing of plate-shaped insulating elements is considerably simpler than that of relatively weak insulating elements, for instance with regard to transport or attachment thereof.

The said type of fibers can occur in all kinds of mixing ratios. The desired ratio depends on availability, application purpose and, moreover, the desired stiffness of the plate-shaped insulating elements to be manufactured.

The fibers can be both new fibers and fibers of waste material that have been made suitable for reuse. In particular, through the use of waste material 1007162 6, the cost price of the insulating elements manufactured with the invention can be low.

If the insulating elements according to the invention are released after use, for example by demolishing a building in which it is incorporated, this can be reused without further ado. The released waste material can be reprocessed into insulating elements, whether or not pressed into bales, in the device shown in the figures. Optionally, the mixing ratio of components can be changed, for example, additional low-melting fiber material can be added.

Instead of plates as described here, the insulating elements can also be manufactured and used in other shapes. Therefore, the term "stack" used in the description is not intended to indicate a particular shape. All possible design variants are considered to be included within the scope of the appended claims.

1007162

Claims (10)

A method for manufacturing insulating elements, successively comprising: - providing fibers of at least one insulating material and a fusible tape material; 5. mixing the fibers; - stacking the mixed fibers into a loose layer; - thoroughly heating the formed layer to a temperature at least equal to the melting temperature of the binder material, the insulating material exhibiting substantially a higher melting temperature; and - cooling by solidification of fibers melted by heating in the layer, characterized by providing stiff fibers of a structure-improving material for reinforcing the insulating element to be manufactured. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that fibers of the insulating material are mixed in a ratio of 30-70% of stiff fibers and 70-30% of other insulating fibers. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that fibers of the binder material are mixed in a ratio of 30-70% of stiff fibers and 70-30% of other fibers of the binder material. Method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized by accumulating the mixed fibers to be stacked without preferential orientation. Method according to claim 2, 3 or 4, characterized in that the stiff fibers comprise coconut fibers. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that the stiff fibers comprise camel hair. 1007162 A method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, characterized in that the stiff fibers comprise sisal fibers. A method according to any one of claims 2 to 7, characterized in that the stiff fibers comprise hemp. Method according to any one of claims 2 to 8, characterized in that the stiff fibers comprise flax fibers. A method according to any one of claims 2 to 9, characterized in that the stiff fibers comprise polypropylene fibers. 1007162