Methods of winding substrates having three-dimensional features

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10071870-B2
Application number	US-201615071553-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 16, 2016
Priority date	Mar 26, 2015
Publication date	Sep 11, 2018
Grant date	Sep 11, 2018

Abstract

The present disclosure provides methods of winding substrates comprising three-dimensional features about a core to form a spool so that at least a majority of the three-dimensional features in one wrap of a lane of the spool are at least partially nested with a majority of the three-dimensional features in another adjacent wrap in the same lane of the spool. By at least partially nesting these three-dimensional features in adjacent wraps of a lane of the spool, the three-dimensional features may be at least mostly maintained in the substrates without significant compression during winding and storage of the spool.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of winding a substrate comprising a nonwoven on a core to create a spool of the substrate, wherein the substrate comprises a plurality of three-dimensional features, and wherein the core defines a longitudinal axis and has a first end and second end, the method comprising:
spirally winding a plurality of wraps of the substrate about the core to at least partially form a first lane, wherein a majority of the three-dimensional features in at least some of the wraps of the first lane are at least partially nested with a majority of the three-dimensional features in an adjacent wrap in the first lane;
helically winding at least a ⅕ wrap to at most 2 wraps of the substrate about the core to transition to a second lane;
spirally winding a plurality of wraps of the substrate about the core to at least partially form the second lane, wherein a majority of the three-dimensional features in at least some of the wraps of the second lane are at least partially nested with a majority of the three-dimensional features in an adjacent wrap of the second lane;
helically winding at least a ⅕ wrap to at most 2 wraps of the substrate about the core to transition to a third lane;
spirally winding a plurality of wraps of the substrate about the core to at least partially form the third lane, wherein a majority of the three-dimensional features in at least some of the wraps of the third lane are at least partially nested with a majority of the three-dimensional features in an adjacent wrap of the third lane; and
applying less than 10% machine direction strain on the substrate during the spirally and helically winding steps.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
helically winding at least a ⅕ wrap to at most 2 wraps of the substrate about the core to transition to a fourth lane; and
spirally winding a plurality of wraps of the substrate about the core to at least partially form the fourth lane, wherein a majority of the three-dimensional features in at least some of the wraps of the fourth lane are at least partially nested with a majority of the three-dimensional features in an adjacent wrap of the fourth lane.

3. The method of claim 2 , comprising:
helically winding at least a ⅕ wrap to at most 2 wraps of the substrate about the core to transition to a fifth lane; and
spirally winding a plurality of wraps of the substrate about the core to at least partially form the fifth lane, wherein a majority of the three-dimensional features in at least some of the wraps of the fifth lane are at least partially nested with a majority of the three-dimensional features in an adjacent wrap of the fifth lane.

4. The method of claim 1 , comprising fully spirally winding the first lane prior to spirally winding the second lane.

5. The method of claim 4 , comprising fully spirally winding the second lane prior to spirally winding the third lane.

6. The method claim 5 , comprising:
fully winding the spool in a first direction extending from the first end to the second end; or
fully winding the spool in a second direction extending from the second end to the first end.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first lane is positioned adjacent to the second lane, and wherein the second lane is positioned adjacent to the third lane.

8. The method of claim 1 , comprising only partially spirally winding the first lane prior to transitioning to the second lane.

9. The method of claim 8 , comprising only partially spirally winding the second lane prior to transitioning to the third lane.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first lane, the second lane, and the third lane extend in a first direction extending between the first end and the second end.

11. The method of claim 1 , comprising helically winding at least a ⅕ wrap to at most 2 wraps of the substrate about the core to transition to an end lane positioned proximate to the second end.

12. The method of claim 11 , comprising spirally winding a plurality of wraps of the substrate about the core to form the end lane, wherein a majority of the three-dimensional features in at least some of the wraps of the end lane are at least partially nested with a majority of the three-dimensional features in an adjacent wrap of the end lane.

13. The method of claim 12 , comprising spirally winding a greater number of wraps in the end lane than in the third lane.

14. The method of claim 13 , comprising helically winding at least a ⅕ wrap to at most 2 wraps of the substrate about the core in a direction extending from the second end toward the first end.

15. The method of claim 14 , comprising spirally winding a second plurality of wraps of the substrate about the core to continue to spirally wind the third lane, wherein a majority of the three-dimensional features in at least some of the second plurality of the wraps of the third lane are at least partially nested with a majority of the three-dimensional features in an adjacent wrap of the second plurality of wraps of the third lane.

16. The method of claim 15 , comprising:
helically winding at least a ⅕ wrap to at most 2 wraps about the core in a direction extending from the second end to the first end to transition to the second lane; and
spirally winding a second plurality of wraps of the substrate about the core to continue to form the second lane, wherein a majority of the three-dimensional features in at least some of the second plurality of the wraps of the second lane are at least partially nested with a majority of the three-dimensional features in an adjacent wrap of the second plurality of wraps of the second lane.

17. The method of claim 16 , comprising:
helically winding at least a ⅕ wrap to at most 2 wraps about the core in a direction extending from the second end to the first end to transition to the first lane; and
spirally winding a second plurality of wraps of the substrate about the core to continue to spirally wind the first lane, wherein a majority of the three-dimensional features in at least some of the second plurality of the wraps of the first lane are at least partially nested with a majority of the three-dimensional features in an adjacent wrap of the second plurality of wraps of the first lane.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of three-dimensional features comprise a plurality of projections on a first side of the substrate that form a plurality of recesses on a second side of the substrate.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of three-dimensional features comprise a plurality of second recesses on a first side of the substrate and a plurality of second projections on the second side of the substrate.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises apertures.

21. The method of claim 1 , comprising applying less than 5% MD strain on the substrate during the spirally and helically winding steps.

22. A method of winding a three-dimensional substrate on a core to create a spool of the three-dimensional substrate, wherein the three-dimensional substrate comprises a plurality of projections on a first side of the substrate that form a plurality of recesses on a second side of the substrate, and wherein the core defines a longitudinal axis and has a first end and second end, the method comprising:
spirally winding a plurality of wraps of the three-dimensional substrate about the core to at least partially form a first lane, wherein a majority of the projections in at least some of the wraps of the first lane are at least par

Assignees

• Procter & Gamble

Inventors

• Erdem Gueltekin
• Kurbatova Nadezhda
• Lam Joseph Hung
• Gupta Sudhanshu

Classifications

• A61F13/15764

  Transferring, feeding or handling devices; Drives · CPC title

• B65H2301/412845

  and spliced to each other, e.g. for serial unwinding · CPC title

• B65H55/00

  Wound packages of filamentary material · CPC title

• B65H2801/57

  Diaper manufacture · CPC title

• B65H2701/18444

  Helically wound material · CPC title