TWI832196B - Meltblowing device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a meltblowing device including a supplying wheel set for feeding a polymer wire, a fuse region below the supplying wheel set, and a nozzle module below the fuse region. The supplying wheel set includes a first supplying wheel and a second supplying wheel opposite to each other. The fuse region includes a wire channel, an air channel, a heating module, and a heating element. The wire channel is configured to collect the polymer wire. The air channel is disposed outside of the wire channel, and a high pressure air may enter the air channel from the end thereof adjacent to the supplying wheel set. The heating module is disposed outside of the air channel and configured to heat the high pressure air. The heating element is disposed on the side away from the supplying wheel set and configured to form the polymer wire into a fused polymer. The nozzle module includes a nozzle, which is configured to spray the fused polymer to form meltblown fibers.

Description

Melt blowing device

The present disclosure relates to a melt-blowing device, and particularly to a melt-blowing device for forming melt-blown fibers.

For textiles with complex shapes or undulating surfaces, such as shoe materials or intimate apparel, the process involves cutting multiple layers of fabric and heat-setting the cut fabric to form a composite structure. However, the multi-layer alignment of fabrics will increase the difficulty of cutting, resulting in a decrease in product yield. In addition, solvents are often used in the alignment process to assist in the formation of fabrics, so solvents can easily remain in textiles and cause negative effects. Therefore, how to directly form fibers into textiles with complex shapes to improve their manufacturing yield and how to avoid the use of solvents during the manufacturing process are important issues in this field.

The present disclosure provides a melt-blown device using a hot-melt method that can be applied to form melt-blown fibers in fabrics.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a melt-blowing device includes a wire supply wheel set, a fuse area and a nozzle. The wire supply wheel set is used to transport the polymer wire, and the wire supply wheel set includes a first wire supply wheel and a second wire supply wheel arranged oppositely. The fuse area is arranged below the wire supply wheel group, and the fuse area includes a wire channel, an air channel, a heating module and a heating element. The wire channel is used to receive the polymer wire. The air channel is located outside the wire channel, and high-pressure air enters the air channel from an end of the air channel adjacent to the wire supply wheel set. The heating module is located outside the air channel and is used to increase the temperature of the high-pressure air. The heating element is disposed on a side of the fuse area away from the wire supply wheel set and is used to form the polymer wire into molten polymer. The nozzle is disposed below the fuse zone, and the nozzle includes a nozzle for injecting molten polymer to form melt-blown fibers.

In some embodiments, when the first wire supply wheel has a first rotation direction and the second wire supply wheel has a second rotation direction, the polymer wire enters the wire channel from the wire supply wheel set.

In some embodiments, when the first wire supply wheel has a second direction of rotation and the second wire supply wheel has a first direction of rotation, the polymer wire exits the wire channel toward the set of wire supply wheels.

In some embodiments, the air channel includes a spiral duct surrounding the wire channel, and the heating module surrounds the spiral duct.

In some embodiments, the air channel further includes a straight duct between the spiral duct and the nozzle, and the straight duct connects the spiral duct and the nozzle.

In some embodiments, the nozzle head includes an air outlet hole of the air channel, and the air outlet holes are located on both sides of the spray hole of the nozzle.

In some embodiments, the nozzle includes a plurality of nozzle holes arranged in a straight line.

In some embodiments, the polymer wire has a melt index between 100 g/10 min and 3000 g/10 min.

In some embodiments, the melt-blown device further includes cooling fins located outside the heating module.

In some embodiments, the melt-blown device further includes a thermal insulation layer located between the heating element and the heating module.

According to the above embodiments of the present disclosure, since the melt-blowing device of the present disclosure controls the transportation of the polymer wire through the wire supply wheel set, the melt-blowing device can control the injection rate of the molten polymer in real time, so it can form a melt with clear distribution breakpoints. Spray fibers and avoid residual material. In addition, the melt-blown device of the present disclosure sends high-pressure air into the air channel from one end adjacent to the wire supply wheel set, thereby cooling the polymer wire adjacent to the wire supply wheel set to avoid affecting the feeding efficiency of the wire supply wheel set.

The following disclosure provides many different implementations in order to implement different features of the mentioned subject matter. Specific examples of components, values, configurations, etc. are described below to simplify the present disclosure. Of course, these are examples only and are not limiting. For example, in the following description, forming a first feature on or over a second feature may include embodiments in which the first feature and the second feature are formed in direct contact, and may also include embodiments in which the first feature and the second feature are formed in direct contact. Additional features are formed between the first and second features so that the first feature and the second feature may not be in direct contact.

In addition, spatially relative terms may be used herein, such as “below,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper,” etc., to describe an element or feature relative to that shown in the figure. relationship to another element or feature shown. The spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.

The present disclosure provides a melt-blown device, which includes a wire supply wheel set that controls the delivery of polymer wires, so that the melt-blown device can instantly control the formation of melt-blown fibers, thereby forming melt-blown fibers with clear distribution breakpoints and avoiding polymer Remaining materials. The melt-blown device also includes an air channel, in which high-pressure air enters the air channel from one end adjacent to the wire supply wheel group, so that the high-pressure air can cool the polymer wire adjacent to the wire supply wheel group to prevent the wire supply wheel group from being unable to smoothly convey the polymer wire. . The high-pressure air in the air channel is heated by the heating module, so that the high-pressure air arriving at the nozzle is high enough to help the nozzle form melt-blown fibers.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic cross-sectional view of the melt-blown device 10 . The melt-blown device 10 includes a material supply area 100 , a fuse area 200 disposed below the material supply area 100 , and a nozzle 300 disposed below the fuse area 200 . Specifically, the polymer wire 400 enters the melt-blowing device 10 from the material supply area 100 . The polymer wire 400 sequentially passes through the material supply zone 100 and the fuse zone 200 to form molten polymer. The molten polymer is formed into melt-blown fibers on the collection element 500 by the nozzle 300 .

As shown in FIG. 1 , the material supply area 100 , the fuse area 200 and the nozzle 300 are located coaxially, thereby simplifying the path of the melt-blowing device 10 for forming the polymer wire 400 into melt-blown fibers. In addition, the coaxial material supply area 100, fuse area 200 and nozzle 300 can make the melt-blowing device 10 lightweight, so that when the melt-blowing device 10 is combined with a movable device (such as a robotic arm), the movement of the movable device will not be affected. ability.

The supply zone 100 includes a supply wheel set 110 for transporting the polymer wire 400 . Specifically, the wire supply wheel set 110 includes a first wire supply wheel 112 and a second wire supply wheel 114 opposite to the first wire supply wheel 112 . There is a gap between the first wire supply wheel 112 and the second wire supply wheel 114 , so that the polymer wire 400 is transported to the fuse zone 200 through the gap between the first wire supply wheel 112 and the second wire supply wheel 114 . In some embodiments, the first wire supply wheel 112 and the second wire supply wheel 114 may each have grooves (not shown) disposed on their sides, wherein the grooves may be configured to maintain the polymer wire 400 between the two sides. between the wire supply wheels, so that the wire supply wheel set 110 can transport the polymer wire 400 more stably.

Since the wire supply wheel set 110 directly transports the polymer wire 400, the melt-blowing device 10 does not need additional pipelines for supplying materials, thereby increasing the mobility of the melt-blowing device 10. The melt-blown device 10 that uses the wire supply wheel set 110 instead of the pipeline to supply material can also avoid interruption of the supply caused by bending of the pipeline, thereby maintaining stable melt-blown fiber formation. In addition, the wire supply wheel set 110 transports the solid linear polymer wire 400 to the fuse area 200 , so that the melt-blowing device 10 does not need to use additional solvent to dissolve the polymer material, thereby increasing process safety.

In some embodiments, the first and second wire supply wheels 112 and 114 clamp the polymer wire 400 such that the rotating first and second wire supply wheels 112 and 114 can advance the polymer wire 400 or Push away from the fuse area 200. Figure 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the melt-blowing device 10 in melt-blowing. As shown in FIG. 1 , when the first wire supply wheel 112 has a first rotation direction D1 and the second wire supply wheel 114 has a second rotation direction D2 , the polymer wire 400 is affected by the rotation direction of the wire supply wheel set 110 . Enter the fuse area 200 from the supply wheel set 110 . The polymer wire 400 entering the fuse zone 200 forms meltblown fibers on the collection element 500 through the nozzle 300 .

In contrast, Figure 2 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the melt-blowing device 10 in Figure 1 when melt-blowing is stopped. As shown in FIG. 2 , when the first wire supply wheel 112 has the second rotation direction D2 and the second wire supply wheel 114 has the first rotation direction D1 , the polymer wire 400 leaves the wire channel 202 toward the wire supply wheel set 110 . In other words, the polymer wire 400 moves away from the fuse area 200 toward the wire supply wheel set 110 . Since the polymer wire 400 stops entering the fuse zone 200, the molten polymer in the nozzle 300 is no longer squeezed by the polymer wire 400, so the nozzle 300 stops ejecting melt-blown fibers.

As mentioned above, the melt-blown device 10 can control the transportation of the polymer wire 400 through the rotation direction of the wire supply wheel set 110, and thereby control the formation of melt-blown fibers. When the wire supply wheel set 110 rotates in the forward direction (ie, transports the polymer wire 400 into the fuse zone 200), the melt-blowing device 10 forms melt-blown fibers. When the wire supply wheel set 110 rotates in the reverse direction (that is, stops transporting the polymer wire 400 into the fuse zone 200), the melt-blowing device 10 can immediately stop forming melt-blown fibers without causing any residual material. When the wire supply wheel set 110 rotates in the forward direction again, the melt-blown device 10 can form melt-blown fibers again. Therefore, the melt-blown device 10 including the wire supply wheel assembly 110 can form melt-blown fibers with clear distribution breakpoints, so that the melt-blown fibers can be locally sprayed on the collection element 500 . For example, a base fabric that has been cut into a specific shape (such as shoe materials, personal clothing or masks, etc.) can be placed on the collection element 500, and the melt-blown device 10 can spray melt-blown fibers according to the shape of the base fabric without spraying melt. Spray fibers outside the intended area. In other words, the stop-and-start melt-blown device 10 can avoid alignment difficulties between the base fabric and the melt-blown fibers, thereby increasing the flexibility of the melt-blown device 10 .

In some embodiments, the molten polymer formed by the polymer wire 400 has a low viscosity, so that when the wire supply wheel assembly 110 rotates, the polymer wire 400 delivered to the fuse zone 200 is enough to push the molten polymer away from the nozzle 300 to form Melt blown fiber. For example, the melt flow index (MI) of the polymer wire 400 at 190°C may be between 100g/10min and 3000g/10min. In some embodiments, the polymer wire 400 suitable for the wire supply wheel set 110 may include thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), thermoplastic polyether ester elastomer (TPEE) or hot melt adhesive thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). hot melt thermoplastic polyurethane (TPUHM).

In some embodiments, the feed area 100 may include a wire base 120 located above the feed reel 110 such that the polymer wire 400 is aligned with the feed reel 110 . Specifically, the wire base 120 may have a hole that can receive the polymer wire 400 and the hole is aligned with the gap between the first wire supply wheel 112 and the second wire supply wheel 114 . When the polymer wire 400 passes through the wire base 120, the polymer wire 400 directly enters the gap between the first wire supply wheel 112 and the second wire supply wheel 114, thereby avoiding the bending phenomenon of the polymer wire 400.

The fuse area 200 includes a wire channel 202, an air channel 204 located outside the wire channel 202, a heating module 210 located outside the air channel 204, and a heating element 216 disposed on a side of the fuse area 200 away from the wire supply wheel set 110. Specifically, the wire channel 202 is used to receive the polymer wire 400 from the wire supply wheel set 110 . The air channel 204 surrounds the outside of the wire channel 202 so that the high-pressure air in the air channel 204 can affect the state of the polymer wire 400 in the wire channel 202 .

As shown in FIG. 1 , low-temperature and high-pressure air enters the air channel 204 from one end adjacent to the wire supply wheel set 110 along arrow 205 . When low temperature and high pressure air enters the air channel 204, the air channel 204 adjacent to the wire supply wheel set 110 can reduce the temperature around the entrance of the wire channel 202, thereby cooling the polymer wire 400 between the wire supply wheel set 110 and the wire channel 202. Therefore, the polymer wire 400 adjacent to the wire supply wheel set 110 will not be softened by the high temperature of other parts of the fuse zone 200 . In other words, the polymer wire 400 adjacent to the wire supply wheel set 110 can maintain sufficient hardness, so that the wire supply wheel set 110 can smoothly transport the polymer wire 400 to the fuse area 200 , thereby increasing the supply of the wire supply wheel set 110 . material efficiency.

The heating module 210 of the fuse area 200 surrounds part of the outside of the air channel 204, thereby heating the high-pressure air in the air channel 204. When the low-temperature and high-pressure air passes through the air channel 204 near the heating module 210, the temperature of the high-pressure air increases to form high-temperature and high-pressure air. The high-temperature and high-pressure air continues to advance along the air channel 204 and enters the nozzle 300 . The high-pressure air sent into the nozzle 300 through the air channel 204 helps the nozzle 300 to inject the molten polymer to form melt-blown fibers. Furthermore, the high-temperature and high-pressure air heated by the heating module 210 can maintain the required high temperature of the nozzle 300 and prevent the high-pressure air from cooling the molten polymer at the nozzle 300 in advance. For example, the heating module 210 can heat high-pressure air to a temperature between 140°C and 250°C. In some embodiments, the fuse area 200 may include cooling fins 214 located on the stabilizer 212, where the cooling fins 214 are located outside the heating module 210 to assist in cooling the heating module 210.

Figure 3 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the melt-blown device 10 in Figure 1 along the section line A-A'. As shown in Figures 1 and 3, the wire channel 202, the air channel 204 and the heating module 210 form a coaxial multi-layer distribution. The energy provided by the heating module 210 is mainly absorbed by the high-pressure air in the air channel 204, causing the temperature of the high-pressure air to increase. The energy provided by the heating module 210 may indirectly heat the polymer wire 400 in the wire channel 202, causing the polymer wire 400 to initially soften before forming molten polymer. In some embodiments, the position of the heating module 210 and the entrance of the wire channel 202 can be separated by a certain distance, so that the heating module 210 will not soften the polymer wire 400 at a position adjacent to the wire supply wheel set 110, and therefore will not affect Supplying material to the wire wheel set 110.

In some embodiments, the air channel 204 may include a spiral duct 206 surrounding the wire channel 202 , wherein the spiral duct 206 extends from a side of the fuse area 200 adjacent to the wire supply wheel set 110 to a side adjacent to the nozzle 300 . The heating module 210 surrounds the spiral duct 206 so that the low-temperature and high-pressure air can become high-temperature and high-pressure air after passing through the spiral duct 206 . In some embodiments, the air channel 204 may further include a linear duct 208 between the spiral duct 206 and the spray head 300 . The straight pipe 208 connects the spiral pipe 206 and the nozzle 300, and is used to send the heated high-temperature and high-pressure air into the nozzle 300.

Heating element 216 of fuse zone 200 surrounds wire channel 202 to form polymer wire 400 into molten polymer. In some embodiments, fuse zone 200 may include a thermal insulation layer 218 between heating element 216 and heating module 210 . The thermal insulation layer 218 can block the temperature of the heating element 216, thereby preventing the polymer wire 400 adjacent to the wire supply wheel set 110 and the high-pressure air in the air channel 204 adjacent to the wire supply wheel set 110 from being affected by the heating element 216.

The molten polymer formed by polymer wire 400 then enters nozzle 300 to form meltblown fibers. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, FIG. 4A shows an enlarged schematic diagram of the nozzle 300 in FIG. 1 . As shown in Figures 1 and 4A, the spray head 300 includes a nozzle 302 for spraying molten polymer. The molten polymer exits the meltblowing device 10 via the orifice 304 of the nozzle 302, thereby forming meltblown fibers. In some embodiments, nozzle 302 may include multiple orifices 304 . FIG. 4B illustrates an enlarged bottom view of the nozzle 302 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 4B, the nozzle 302 may include a plurality of nozzle holes 304 arranged in a straight line, thereby increasing the formation efficiency of melt-blown fibers.

In some embodiments, the spray head 300 may include an air outlet hole 306 of the air channel 204 , where the air outlet hole 306 is located on both sides of the spray hole 304 . As shown in FIG. 4A , when the nozzle 302 injects molten polymer, high-pressure air can advance from the linear pipe 208 to the air outlet 306 in the direction of arrow 205 . The high-pressure air exiting the air outlet 306 can disperse the molten polymer so that the molten polymer forms meltblown fibers with uniform fiber fineness. For example, when the pressure of high-pressure air is between 1 kg/cm ² and 3 kg/cm ² , the fiber fineness of the melt-blown fiber can be between about 2 microns and 10 microns, and its fiber uniformity can be between About 85% to 95%. In some embodiments in which the nozzle 302 includes a plurality of nozzle holes 304 arranged in a straight line, the air outlet holes 306 may be slits located on both sides of the plurality of nozzle holes 304 so that high-pressure air can be blown to the plurality of nozzle holes 304 at the same time.

It is worth noting that when the melt-blowing device 10 stops melt-blowing as shown in FIG. 2 , high-pressure air continues to enter the melt-blowing device 10 from the air channel 204 in the direction of arrow 205 and leaves from the air outlet 306 . Since the air outlet 306 continuously sprays high-pressure air, the melt-blowing device 10 can start spraying the molten polymer at any time and form melt-blown fibers with uniform fiber fineness by the high-pressure air.

According to the above embodiments of the present disclosure, the wire supply wheel set of the melt-blown device controls the conveying direction and conveying amount of the polymer wire, so that the melt-blown device can instantly control the formation of melt-blown fibers, thereby forming melt-blown fibers with clear distribution breakpoints. To achieve the effect of local spraying of melt-blown fibers. The air channel of the melt-blown device inputs low-temperature and high-pressure air from one end adjacent to the wire supply wheel group, so that the low-temperature and high-pressure air can cool the polymer wire adjacent to the wire supply wheel group, thereby smoothly transporting the polymer wire to the fuse area. The heating module of the melt-blown device heats the low-temperature and high-pressure air in the air channel into high-temperature and high-pressure air, so that the high-temperature and high-pressure air entering the nozzle helps form melt-blown fibers with low fineness and high uniformity.

The foregoing summarizes features of some embodiments so that those skilled in the art may better understand the aspects of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they may readily use the present disclosure as a basis for designing or modifying other processes and structures for carrying out the same purposes and/or achieving the same advantages of the embodiments introduced herein. It should also be understood by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, and that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

10: Melt blown device 100: Material supply area 110: Line supply wheel set 112:The first wire supply wheel 114: Second wire supply wheel 120: Wire base 200: Fuse area 202:Wire channel 204:Air channel 205:Arrow 206:Spiral Pipe 208: Straight pipeline 210:Heating module 212:Stabilizer 214: Cooling fins 216:Heating element 218:Thermal insulation layer 300: nozzle 302:Nozzle 304:Nozzle hole 306: Vent 400:Polymer wire 500:Collect components A-A′: cut line D1: first rotation direction D2: Second rotation direction

Aspects of the present disclosure are best understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that, in accordance with standard methods in the industry, various features are not drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion. Figure 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a melt-blowing device in melt-blowing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the melt-blowing device in FIG. 1 when melt-blowing is stopped according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the melt-blown device in FIG. 1 along line A-A′ according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 4A shows an enlarged schematic diagram of the nozzle in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 4B illustrates an enlarged bottom view of a nozzle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Domestic storage information (please note in order of storage institution, date and number) without Overseas storage information (please note in order of storage country, institution, date, and number) without

10: Melt blown device

100: Material supply area

110: Line supply wheel set

112:The first wire supply wheel

114: Second wire supply wheel

120: Wire base

200: Fuse area

202:Wire channel

204:Air channel

205:Arrow

206:Spiral Pipe

208: Straight pipeline

210:Heating module

212:Stabilizer

214: Cooling fins

216:Heating element

218:Thermal insulation layer

300: nozzle

400:Polymer wire

500:Collect components

AA ' : cut line

D1: first rotation direction

D2: Second rotation direction

Claims (10)

A melt-blown device including: A wire supply wheel set, used to transport polymer wire, the wire supply wheel set includes a first wire supply wheel and a second wire supply wheel arranged oppositely; The fuse area is arranged below the wire supply wheel group and includes: A wire channel to receive the polymer wire; An air channel is located outside the wire channel, wherein high-pressure air enters the air channel from one end of the air channel adjacent to the wire supply wheel set; A heating module is located outside the air channel to increase the temperature of the high-pressure air; and A heating element, disposed on a side of the fuse area away from the wire supply wheel set, for forming the polymer wire into a molten polymer; and A nozzle is disposed below the fuse area, and the nozzle includes a nozzle for spraying the molten polymer to form melt-blown fibers. The melt-blown device of claim 1, wherein when the first wire supply wheel has a first rotation direction and the second wire supply wheel has a second rotation direction, the polymer wire flows from the wire supply wheel. group into the wire channel. The melt-blown device of claim 2, wherein when the first wire supply wheel has the second rotation direction and the second wire supply wheel has the first rotation direction, the polymer wire faces the The wire supply wheel group leaves the wire channel. The melt-blown device of claim 1, wherein the air channel includes a spiral duct surrounding the wire channel, and the heating module surrounds the spiral duct. The melt-blown device according to claim 4, wherein the air channel further includes a straight pipeline between the spiral pipeline and the nozzle head, and the straight pipeline connects the spiral pipeline and the nozzle head. The melt-blown device according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle head includes an air outlet of the air channel, and the air outlet is located on both sides of the injection hole of the nozzle. The melt-blown device according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle includes a plurality of nozzle holes arranged in a straight line. The melt-blown device according to claim 1, wherein the melt index of the polymer wire is between 100g/10min and 3000g/10min. The melt-blown device of claim 1 further includes cooling fins located outside the heating module. The melt-blown device of claim 1 further includes a heat insulation layer located between the heating element and the heating module.

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