NL1007164C2 - Production of insulation panels based on nonwovens - Google Patents

Abstract

A nonwoven insulation material is heated with a netting or mesh fabric structure and the composite is then allowed to cool, resulting in a reinforced nonwoven material. A process for making insulation elements comprises the following steps : (i) providing a supply of fibres in the form of at least one nonwoven insulation material with a relatively high m.pt. ; (ii) forming a composite material consisting of the nonwoven insulation material and a structure such as nettting or a mesh fabric; (iii) heating the composite material to a temperature less than the insulation material m.pt. ; (iv) allowing the resulting insulation element to cool so that the nonwoven insulation material fibres are bonded together, resulting in a reinforced element. An Independent claim is also included for the process apparatus used.

Description

W-3

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING INSULATION ELEMENTS

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing insulating elements.

Insulation elements, for example with mineral wool and glass wool insulating materials, are well known, as are the methods for their manufacture.

The known insulating elements have the drawback that they themselves have a relatively weak structure. As a result, processing such insulating elements, eg installing them in a building during construction or renovation, is laborious and time consuming, which entails unnecessarily high costs.

The object of the invention is at least to eliminate an aforementioned or other drawback, and to this end provides a method which is distinguished in that it comprises: - providing fibers of at least a non-woven insulation material with a relatively high melting temperature; - forming a composition of the non-woven insulating material and a cohesive structure, such as a net or a mesh; - heating the composition to a temperature in the range below the high melting temperature; and - solidifying at least one element of the composition by cooling and thus bonding the fibers of the non-woven insulating material, and reinforcing the insulating element.

As a result, the insulating elements have an increased rigidity and can also be processed as such. The ease in processing such insulating elements has therefore been increased, so that these insulating elements can be fitted more quickly.

1007162 2

Preferably the method described in claim 2 is used. In this way, the cohesive structure also forms a binding material for binding the non-woven insulating material. Alternatively or additionally, a method according to claim 3 is used. Hereby, additional or separate binding material in the form of its fibers is added to the composition, which thus comprises fibers of insulating material, fibers of binding material and the associated structure.

The method described in claim 4 is preferably used. Apart from the melting and subsequent solidification of the material of the cohesive structure or possibly of the binding material, and perhaps a combination thereof, a higher stiffness of insulating elements is obtained with the aid of the fibers of the reinforcing material, especially when the material of the cohesive structure or possibly of the binding material is not thermosetting.

Other embodiments of a method according to the present invention, as discussed in the further dependent claims, will become apparent from the figure description below.

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 supply device;

Figure 2 shows subsequent devices for mixing, opening and carding the supplied fibers;

Figure 3 again shows subsequent devices for stacking, fusing and cutting the insulating elements; 1007164 3

Figure 4 schematically shows a perspective view of the operation of a part of the device shown in Figure 3?

Figures 5-7 show possible alternative embodiments of end products of a method according to the present invention.

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

10 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 element to be manufactured contains a mixture of 15 fibers of different types, at least one of which is low-melting and another type of high-melting. The high-melting material is the insulating material and the low-melting material is the binding material.

The fibers are compressed in the supplied bales 3. Alternatively or additionally, in addition to the bales of high-melting and low-melting material, separate bales of rigid fibers can be supplied, with which four separate types of material are used in the production of insulating elements according to the invention. As stiff fibers or as the 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. In this bale crusher 4, for example, a pin belt 5 is mounted, which pulls pieces out from one side of each bale. The pulled-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 a drum with teeth is present, which expands the material into flakes. These flakes are transported by means of an air flow generated with a fan 8 via a pipe 9 to a mixing chamber 11. 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 of 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 mainly 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, use can be made of a fan 31, or a cyclone, to fill the fibers of the high-melting material and the low-melting material. to mix. This provides an optimally homogeneous mixture of the relevant fibers, which can be processed into stacks in a press. Fig. 4 schematically shows, in perspective view, the operation of the nonwoven stacking device 21, which is here arranged to roll off nonwoven mesh 31 stacked between the layers of roll mesh 30. Each layer of the fleece 20 is laid 1 nil 71 6 4 5 in the directions corresponding to arrows A and B, after which a further layer of gauze 31 is stretched over the stack thus formed in the direction of arrow C.

In addition to the manner of stacking the web 20 and mesh 31 shown here, many alternative stacking configurations are possible, which are highly associated with substantially two data. Firstly, the cutting direction in which the stacks 22 thus formed and to be cut and to be cut will be cut, and secondly whether the mesh 31 also serves as a binding material.

The stack of fibrous material 22 containing the mesh 31 incorporated therein 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. This can therefore be the binding material, the material of the mesh 31 or both. Preferably, alternatively, the material of the mesh is thermosetting or, in any case, after heating and cooling is stiffer than before. This low-melting material melts hereby and, after solidification thereof by cooling, connects the other fibers into a whole associated with the gauze. 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 stack 22, which further facilitates the 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 1007164 elements 29. These plate-shaped elements 29 can be packed together for transport to the customers.

Instead of rotary cutting knives 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.

As has already been stated above, the manner in which the gauze 31 is incorporated in the stack 22 of Fig. 4 is highly dependent on the cutting direction of the cutting device 28, and on the function which is produced by the material of the mesh 31 is fulfilled. In the perspective view shown in Fig. 5, a plate-shaped insulating element, which is made from a stack like that shown in Fig. 4, and is cut with a cutting device, such as the 28 in Fig. 3 -20 clearly, the individual layers of the mesh 31 are still recognizable. The layers of mesh 31 are distributed over the height of the plate-shaped insulating element 29, the mesh 31 consisting of low-melting material in order to fulfill a reinforcing function as a binding material. The separations between the layers of fleece, as positioned by the fleece stacker 21, are shown here for illustrative purposes only, although in reality they will no longer be discernible after heating and cutting resp. the stacks and the plate-shaped insulating elements.

In fig. 6 another plate-shaped insulating element is shown in perspective view, wherein the layers of mesh 31 are parallel to the front and the rear face of the finally formed plate-shaped insulating element 32. Therefore, for this purpose, another way of stacking and cutting handled than that shown in Figure 4. The function of the mesh here can be in the absence of any bonding material to bind the fibers of 1007164 7 the insulating material. However, if use is made of separate bonding material, it may be sufficient if the material of the mesh 31 does not melt during heating, but is only thermosetting, since the function of bonding the fibers of the insulating material does not affect this. is asked. However, due to their location parallel to the front and rear surfaces of the plate-shaped insulating element 32 to be formed in this way, the layers of mesh 31 are ideally suited to fulfill the reinforcing function, possibly supplemented by the use of stiff fibers. The configuration shown in Fig. 6 can be obtained by tilting the stack 27 prior to cutting it through the cutting device 28, whereby the layers of mesh 31 come to lie parallel to the cutting direction of the blades of the cutting device 28. As alternatively, the cutting direction of the cutting blades of the cutting device 28 can be rotated through 90 ° to achieve the same effect.

In Fig. 7 an insulating element 33 is shown, which in construction is very similar to that shown in Fig. 6, but in which the insulating element 33 thus formed with the layers of mesh 31 therein is not cut in the form of a plate. , but rectangular.

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 in order to transfer the cohesion of the gauze to it, using rigid fibers to further enhance the cohesion. and to manufacture plate-shaped insulating elements.

In a preferred embodiment, which is not explicitly shown in the figures, a layer of fiber material up to a thickness of about 5 to about 20 cm is placed on a polypropylene mesh and processed with heat. The mesh is then located on or very close to the surface of the insulating element thus formed. Alternatively or additionally, the polypropylene mesh may be disposed on or near both surfaces, the fiber material being located on either side of the insulating element thus formed.

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 types of fibers mentioned 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 by using waste material, the cost 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 demolition of a building in which it is incorporated, this can be reused without further ado. The released waste material can be reprocessed into balancing 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 embodiments 35 are considered to be included within the scope of the appended claims.

1007164

Claims (8)

A method for manufacturing insulating elements of fiber material, comprising: - providing fibers of at least a non-woven insulating material with a relatively high melting temperature; 5. forming a composition of the nonwoven insulating material and a cohesive structure, such as a net or a mesh; heating the composition to a temperature in the range below the high melting temperature; and 10. solidifying at least one element of the composition by cooling and thus bonding the fibers of the non-woven insulating material, and stiffening the insulating element. 2. A method according to claim 1, characterized by the use of a cohesive structure of a material with a melting temperature lower than the temperature of heating. Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by adding fibers 20 of a non-woven binder material with a lower melting temperature than the temperature of heating to the composition. Method according to claim 1, characterized by adding fibers of a reinforcing material to the composition, which exhibit a high degree of stiffness at least after heating. Method according to claim 1, characterized by splitting the composition by cutting the layer into plate-shaped parts. 6. Method according to claim 1, characterized by splitting the composition by burning the layer into plate-shaped parts with the aid of melting wires. 7. Method according to claim 1, characterized by using one of the material polypropylene and a braid of 0071 6 4 for the cohesive structure, the materials of coconut fibers, camel hair, sisal fibers, hemp and flax fibers. 8. Device for carrying out a method according to one or more of the preceding claims, for which it comprises at least means for carrying out each of the steps in claim 1. 1007164