US20140377391A1

US20140377391A1 - Electro Fiber Pulling Apparatus with Spiral Rod

Info

Publication number: US20140377391A1
Application number: US13/926,343
Authority: US
Inventors: Paul Kaohing Lee
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2013-06-25
Filing date: 2013-06-25
Publication date: 2014-12-25

Abstract

An electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod is provided for generating fibers or fiber web structure from a viscous liquid (such as polymer solutions, sol-gel or molten mass). The fiber pulling apparatus includes: a fiber generator with spiral rod; a fiber collector with counter electrodes spaced apart from the fiber generator with a certain distance; a liquid container for storing the viscous liquid for fiber generating; and a high voltage generator, wherein the electrodes of the high voltage generator are connected with the fiber generator and the fiber collector respectively.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fiber pulling apparatus, especially to an electro fiber pulling apparatus.
2. The Prior Arts
A roller-type electrode (fiber generator) partially immersed in the polymer solution and a fiber collector with counter electrodes spaced apart from the fiber generator for a certain distance are provided by the PCT publication No. WO2005024101. The rotation of the roller electrodes can load the polymer solution uniformly onto the whole surface of the roller. When the loaded polymer solution is located in the electric field formed by the roller electrodes and the fiber collector, and when the electric field is strong enough for the solution on the surface of the roller to be pulled to form a cone structure, the fibers are pulled from the surface of the roller, and are further collected by the collector with counter electrodes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a new electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod, so as to process various viscous liquid into fibers in the electrostatic field.
An aspect of the present invention is to provide a fiber generator with spiral rod, which generates fibers from a viscous liquid based on the principle of electro fiber pulling, including an axle and a spiral blade connected to the axle.
More importantly, the average radius of the spiral blade is between 5 mm 1000 mm.
More importantly, the spiral blade includes a single blade or a plural of coaxial blades.
More importantly, when the spiral blades include three or more than three blades, the radius of the blades near the two ends of the axle is smaller than the blades near the center of the axle.
More importantly, the length of the fiber generator with spiral rod is between 20 mm˜6000 mm.
More importantly, the thickness of the spiral blade is between 0.5 mm˜50 mm.
More importantly, the spacing between two adjacent spiral blades is between 5 mm˜800 mm.
More importantly, the fiber generator with spiral rod consists of a row or a plurality of rows of the fiber generators with spiral rod, and the distance between two adjacent rows is larger than 20 mm.
More importantly, the fiber generator with spiral rod includes a liquid container.
More importantly, the liquid container is used to store the viscous liquid which can generate fibers.
More importantly, at least a part of the surface of the fiber generator with spiral rod is in contact with the viscous liquid in the liquid container.
More importantly, the spiral blade has a hollowed structure, a plurality of holes distributed on the surface of the blade, and a channel disposed inside each of the blades in communication with a hollowed driving axle.
More importantly, the channel inside the blade is in communication with the liquid container so as to provide the viscous liquid from the liquid container to the channel.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral blade, which pulls fibers from a viscous liquid in an electric field, including: the fiber generator with spiral rod according to the first aspect of the present invention; a fiber collector with counter electrodes spaced apart from the fiber generator with a certain distance; a liquid container used to store the viscous liquid for generating fibers; and a high voltage generator where the electrodes thereof are connected with the fiber generator with spiral rod and the fiber collector with counter electrodes respectively.
More importantly, the axis of the fiber collector with counter electrodes is parallel to the axis of the fiber generator with spiral rod.
More importantly, the width and the length of the fiber collector with counter electrodes is the same as the width and the length of the fiber generator with spiral rod.
More importantly, the fiber collector with counter electrodes can be a flat panel, a roller or any other conveyable belt-shaped receivers.
More importantly, the surface of the fiber collector with counter electrodes has a porous structure so as to improve the ventilation in the receiving area with dry gas of a certain temperature.
More importantly, the electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod generates a voltage difference higher than thirty thousand volts between the fiber generator with spiral rod and the fiber collector with counter electrodes.
More importantly, the distance between the fiber generator with spiral rod and the fiber collector with counter electrodes in the electro fiber pulling apparatus is between 100 mm˜600 mm.
More importantly, the viscous liquid of the electro fiber pulling apparatus can generate fibers.
More importantly, the fiber generator with spiral rod of the electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod is immersed in the viscous liquid, and on the other hand, the fiber generator is configured to rotate around the center axis thereof so the viscous liquid can be loaded onto the surface of the fiber generator with spiral rod.
More importantly, the fiber generated by the electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod is a non-woven fabric or an oriented fiber film.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a fiber generator with spiral rod according to the present invention, a viscous liquid container and a high voltage generator;

FIG. 2 shows the shape and the structure of the fiber generator with spiral rod according to the present invention in detail;

FIG. 3 is a picture of the fibers generated by an electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod according to the present invention taken with an electronic microscopy; and

FIG. 4 shows the electric field intensity distribution of the spiral blade surface of the electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod according to the present invention, where the right half of the FIG. 4 shows the enlarged spiral blades, and the numbers indicates the electric field intensity (unit: kvolt/mm) of the constant voltage line.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention provides a new type of electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod. The main purpose of the apparatus is to process various types of viscous liquid into fibers under the effect of electrostatic field. The core portion of the fiber manufacturer includes one or one set of the fiber generator with spiral rod consisted of any number of spiral blades. The fiber generator with spiral rod includes spiral blades and a rotatable driving axle, where the spiral blades are mounted on the driving axle. The diameter ratio of the blade to the driving axle is greater than 1:3, preferably greater than 1:5, and more preferably greater than 1:10.
The main purpose of the spiral blade is to focus the electrostatic field at the edge of the blade, and also lower or cancel the effect of the shape and size of the blade on the electrostatic field. Such equipment can distribute the high electric field uniformly and concentrated through out the fiber forming area on the surface of the blade. During the operation process, a jet which forms the fibers is generated at the edge area of the blade when the electrostatic field is strong enough to pull the liquid into a cone structure. While using multiple spiral blades, the interference between electric fields can be lowered or completely avoided by enhancing the distance between each blade, thereby generating fibers.
The spiral blade of the fiber generator with spiral rod can be composed by a single blade or multiple blades. The blades are distributed along the central axis to form a spiral structure.
The spiral blades can be distributed along and around the center axis of the axle. The radius of the blades can be between 5 mm˜1000 mm. The thickness of the blades can be between 0.5 mm˜200 mm, but more preferably between 0.7 mm˜50 mm. When one set of blades is used, the blades can be distributed independently relative to each other. The length of the entire fiber generator can be between 20 mm˜6000 mm.
When the same set of blades is used, the electric fields of the blades near the two ends of the axle are stronger than the electric fields of blades near the center of the axle. When the radiuses of the blades are smaller at the two ends of the axle, the electric field generated along the axle can be distributed evenly over each blade. Therefore, the radii of the blades near the two ends of the axle are preferably designed to have smaller radii.
In order to prevent the blades from interfering each other, there must be sufficient spacing between two adjacent blades. The distance between two adjacent blades, the thickness of the blade, the diameter of the blade and the structure of the blade can be adjusted accordingly. The spacing between two adjacent blades is preferably to be in between 5 mm˜800 mm.
The spiral blade can be made from any material, including conductive and insulation materials. Metals such as copper, iron and aluminum can also be utilized as the material of the spiral blade, as well as engineering plastics, resin, ceramics, woods or other composite materials. The only requirement for the spiral blade material is that it cannot be dissolved or degraded in the viscous liquid for generating fibers.
The spiral blades can have a hollowed structure, such as a channel in communication with the hollowed driving axle to transmit the viscous liquid for generating fibers. Under this kind of situation, holes should be disposed on the surface of the blades, so the viscous liquid can be transmitted from the inside of the blades and driving axle to the surface of the blades where the fibers are formed.
The fiber manufacturer with electrostatic provided by the present invention, which can generates fibers from a viscous liquid, is also called the electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod, includes: the fiber generator with spiral rod as described above; a fiber collector with counter electrodes spaced apart from the fiber generator with a certain distance; a liquid container used to store the viscous liquid for generating fibers; and a high voltage generator.
The electrodes of the high voltage generator are connected with the fiber generator with spiral rod and the fiber collector with counter electrodes respectively to generate high voltage differences.
The fibers are formed from the viscous liquid, which covers the surface of the spiral blade of the fiber generator. The high voltage generator generates a high voltage difference between the fiber generator with spiral rod and the fiber collector with counter electrodes. When the voltage difference generated between the surface of the viscous liquid and the collector with counter electrodes is greater than a certain value (e.g. 30,000 volts), a jet is generated from the viscous liquid at the surface of the blades, which forms the fibers eventually. In general, at least 40,000 volts of high voltage is required to form fibers. In most situations, it is better to have a voltage greater than 60,000 volts.
The distance between the fiber generator with spiral rods and the collector with counter electrodes can affect the strength of the electric field. Generally speaking, the distance between the fiber generator and the fiber collector with counter electrodes is between 100 mm˜600 mm.
The viscous liquid for generating fibers can be any liquid that can generates the fibers, such as polymer solution, sol-gel, particle suspension solution, or molten mass solutions.
In order to load the viscous liquid onto the surface of the spiral blades, at least a part of the surface of the spiral blades of the fiber generator should be immersed in the viscous liquid, and the fiber generator should be configured to be able to rotate around its center axis; in this way, viscous liquid can be loaded onto the surface of the blades. Preferably, the fiber collector with counter electrodes is located above the spiral blades, and is parallel with the driving axle thereof. In this way, fibers are formed on the edge of the top surface of the blades, and are deposited onto the receiver with counter electrodes.
The viscous liquid can also be loaded to the surface of the blades from the inner side of the spiral blades. In this situation, the spiral blade is designed to have a hollowed structure, and a channel is disposed inside the spiral blade to be in communication with an external liquid storing tank. The holes on the surface of the blades can load the viscous liquid uniformly onto the fiber forming area of the spiral blades. In this configuration, the liquid container below the spiral blades is mainly used to collect the excessive viscous liquid.
Different structures of the collector with counter electrodes can also be used in the present invention. Besides the flat panel receiver, rotational rollers or other continuous collectors similar to conveyor belts can also collect the fibers more efficiently. Under some situations, a porous network structure can be applied at surface of the fiber collector with counter electrodes, in order for the fibers to solidify. In addition, dry gas with a certain temperature can also be used to speed up the ventilation of the air in the collecting area.
The fibers manufactured from the electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod are non-woven fabric or oriented fibers.
The fiber generator with spiral rod can further include parallel arrays of spiral blades. In this situation, a large liquid container or a plural of independent liquid containers can be used with the arrays of spiral blades. The spacing between the arrays should be greater than 20 millimeters and preferably greater than 50 millimeters to prevent interference between the spiral blades.
The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof, with reference to the attached drawings.
FIG. 1 shows the electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod of the present invention. The electro fiber pulling apparatus includes fiber generator with spiral rod A, a liquid container B for storing fiber generating viscous liquid, a fiber connector with counter electrodes C and a high voltage generator D. The fiber generator with spiral rod A includes a spiral blade A-01 and a driving axel A-01. The electrodes of the high voltage generator are connected to the fiber generator with spiral rod A and the fiber collector with counter electrodes B through electrode wire E-1 and electrode wire E-2 respectively. The fiber generating viscous liquid stored inside the liquid container B is somewhat in connection with the spiral blade A-01. When the spiral blade starts to slowly rotate (e.g. 40 rpm), the viscous liquid can be uniformly loaded to the surface of the spiral blade due to the characteristics of the liquid.
FIG. 2 shows the structure of the fiber generator with spiral rod in detail. As shown in FIG. 2, the metal spiral blade extends in the axial direction of the axle. When the spiral blades include more than three blades, the radii of the blades near the two ends of the axle are smaller than the radius of the blade near the center portion of the axle. The spiral blades are partially immersed in the viscous liquid.
The preferred embodiments described above are disclosed for illustrative purpose but to limit the modifications and variations of the present invention. Thus, any modifications and variations made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention should still be covered by the scope of this invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Claims

1. An electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod, which generates fibers from a viscous liquid based on the principle of electro fiber pulling, comprising:

a fiber generator with spiral rod, comprising:

an axle; and

a spiral blade connected to said axle.

2. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 1, wherein an average radius of said spiral blade is between 5 mm˜1000 mm.

3. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 1, wherein said spiral blade includes a single blade or a plurality of co-axial blades.

4. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 3, wherein, when said spiral blades includes three or more than three blades, the radius of said blades near the two ends of said axle is smaller than said blades near the center of said axle.

5. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 3, wherein a length of said fiber generator with spiral rod is between 20 mm˜6000 mm.

6. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 1, wherein a thickness of said spiral blade is between 0.5 mm˜50 mm.

7. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 3, wherein a spacing between two adjacent spiral blades is between 5 mm˜800 mm.

8. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fiber generator with spiral rod is consisted of a row or a plurality of rows of said fiber generators with spiral rod, and a distance between two adjacent rows is larger than 20 mm.

9. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fiber generator with spiral rod includes a liquid container for storing said viscous liquid for generating fibers.

10. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 9, wherein at least a part of a surface of said fiber generator with spiral rod is in contact with said viscous liquid in said liquid container.

11. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 10, wherein said spiral blade has a hollowed structure, a plurality of holes distributed on the surface of said blade, and a channel disposed inside each of said blades in communication with a hollowed driving axle.

12. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 11, wherein said channel inside said blade is in communication with said liquid container so as to provide said viscous liquid from said liquid container to said channel.

13. An electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod, which generates fibers from a viscous liquid in an electric field, comprising:

said fiber generator with spiral rod as claimed in any of claims 1-12;

a fiber collector with counter electrodes spaced apart from said fiber generator with a certain distance;

a liquid container used to store said viscous liquid for generating fibers; and

a high voltage generator, wherein the electrodes of said high voltage generator are connected with said fiber generator with spiral rod and said fiber collector with counter electrodes respectively.

14. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 13, wherein, the axis of said fiber collector with counter electrodes is parallel to the axis of said fiber generator with spiral rod.

15. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 13, wherein, the width and the length of said fiber collector with counter electrodes is the same as the width and the length of said fiber generator with spiral rod.

16. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 15, wherein, said fiber collector with counter electrodes is a flat panel, a roller or any other conveyable belt-shaped receivers.

17. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 15, wherein, the surface of said fiber collector with counter electrodes has a porous structure, so as to improve the ventilation in the receiving area with dry gas of a certain temperature.

18. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 13, wherein, a voltage difference higher than thirty thousand volts is generated between said fiber generator with spiral rod and said fiber collector with counter electrodes.

19. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 13, wherein, the distance between said fiber generator with spiral rod and said fiber collector with counter electrodes is between 100 mm˜600 mm.

20. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 13, wherein, said viscous liquid is a viscous liquid which can generate fibers.

21. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 13, wherein, said fiber generator with spiral rod is immersed in said viscous liquid, said fiber generator with spiral rod is configured to rotate around the center axis thereof so said viscous liquid can be loaded onto the surface of said fiber generator with spiral rod.

22. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 13, wherein, the fibers generated is a non-woven fabric or an oriented fiber film.