Systems and methods for applying tension to backing materials for tufted products

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10508372-B2
Application number	US-201815863020-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 5, 2018
Priority date	Jan 5, 2017
Publication date	Dec 17, 2019
Grant date	Dec 17, 2019

Abstract

Systems and methods for pre-tensioning backing materials of a tufted product. The systems can include at least first and second tensioning assemblies and a guide assembly. Each tensioning assembly can have a backing supply subassembly for supporting a backing material and a roller subassembly for effecting movement of the backing material at a desired tension. The roller subassembly can include a driven roller for pulling the backing material from the backing supply subassembly, and a compensator for receiving the backing material from the driven roller. The guide assembly can simultaneously receive the tensioned backing materials from the tensioning assemblies and position the backing materials in contact with each other for delivery to a tufting machine at the desired tension.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for pre-tensioning backing materials of a tufted product, comprising:
at least first and second tensioning assemblies, wherein each tensioning assembly comprises:
a backing supply subassembly configured to support a backing material; and
a roller subassembly configured to effect movement of the backing material and comprising:
a driven roller positioned downstream of the backing supply subassembly and configured to pull the backing material from the backing supply subassembly, and
a compensator positioned downstream of the driven roller and configured to receive the backing material from the driven roller,

wherein the roller subassembly is configured to maintain a desired tension of the backing material; and

a guide assembly configured to simultaneously receive the tensioned backing materials from the first and second tensioning assemblies,
wherein the guide assembly is configured to position the tensioned backing materials in contact with each other.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the roller subassembly of each of the first and second tensioning assemblies further comprises an idler roller configured to receive the backing material from the compensator.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second tensioning assemblies further comprise respective motors, and wherein the system further comprises a system controller that is communicatively coupled to the motors of the first and second tensioning assemblies and configured to effect rotation of the driven rollers of the first and second tensioning assemblies.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the compensator of each of the first and second tensioning assemblies comprises a floating compensator roller configured for vertical movement, wherein the system controller is configured to selectively adjust rotation of the driven rollers of the first and second tensioning assemblies to maintain a vertical position of each floating compensator roller between an uppermost position and a lowermost position of a tolerated range of motion for the floating compensator roller.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein each of the first and second tensioning assemblies comprises a position sensor that is communicatively coupled to the system controller, wherein the position sensor of each of the first and second tensioning assemblies is configured to produce an output indicative of a location of the floating compensator roller of the tensioning assembly relative to a vertical axis.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the system controller is configured to receive the outputs from the position sensors of the first and second tensioning assemblies, and wherein the system controller is configured to maintain or adjust a speed of rotation of the driven roller of each of the first and second tensioning assemblies based upon the outputs of the position sensors.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein, within each of the first and second tensioning assemblies, the driven roller is positioned above the floating compensator roller relative to the vertical axis.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein, when the output of the position sensor of the first tensioning assembly is indicative of a location of the floating compensator roller that is between the uppermost position and the lowermost position of the tolerated range of motion, the system controller is configured to maintain the speed of rotation of the driven roller of the first tensioning assembly, and wherein, when the output of the position sensor of the second tensioning assembly is indicative of a location of the floating compensator roller that is between the uppermost position and the lowermost position of the tolerated range of motion, the system controller is configured to maintain the speed of rotation of the driven roller of the second tensioning assembly.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein, when the output of the position sensor of the first tensioning assembly is indicative of a position that is below the lowermost position of the tolerated range of motion of the floating compensator roller relative to the vertical axis, the system controller is configured to decrease the speed of rotation of the driven roller of the first tensioning assembly, and wherein, when the output of the position sensor of the second tensioning assembly is indicative of a position that is below the lowermost position of the tolerated range of motion of the floating compensator roller relative to the vertical axis, the system controller is configured to decrease the speed of rotation of the driven roller of the second tensioning assembly.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein, when the output of the position sensor of the first tensioning assembly is indicative of a position that is higher than the uppermost position of the tolerated range of motion of the floating compensator roller relative to the vertical axis, the system controller is configured to increase the speed of rotation of the driven roller of the first tensioning assembly, and wherein, when the output of the position sensor of the second tensioning assembly is indicative of a position that is higher than the uppermost position of the tolerated range of motion of the floating compensator roller relative to the vertical axis, the system controller is configured to increase the speed of rotation of the driven roller of the second tensioning assembly.

11. The system of claim 5 , wherein the position sensor of each tensioning assembly is a laser rangefinder that is configured to determine a distance between the position sensor and a reference point associated with the floating compensator roller of the tensioning assembly.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the compensator of each of the first and second tensioning assemblies comprises a load cell configured to produce an output indicative of a tension of the backing material.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the system controller is configured to receive the output from the load cell of each of the first and second tensioning assemblies, and wherein the system controller is configured to adjust a speed of rotation of the driven roller of each of the first and second tensioning assemblies based upon the output of the load cell.

14. The system of claim 3 , wherein the system controller comprises:
at least one programmable logic controller communicatively coupled to the motor of the first tensioning assembly; and
at least one programmable logic controller communicatively coupled to the motor of the second tensioning assembly.

15. The system of claim 3 , wherein the system controller is configured to independently control the desired tension of the backing material exiting each of the first and second tensioning assemblies.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second tensioning assemblies are arranged symmetrically about a plane containing a vertical axis.

17. A tufting apparatus comprising:
a system for pre-tensioning backing materials of a tufted product, the system having:
at least first and second tensioning assemblies, wherein each tensioning assembly comprises:
a backing supply subassembly configured to support a backing material; and
a roller subassembly configured to effect movement of the backing material and comprising:
a driven roller positioned downstream of the backing supply subassembly and configured to pull the backing material from the backing supply subassembly, and
a compensator positioned downstream of the driven roller and configured to receive the backing material from the driven roller,
wherein the roller subassembly is configured to ma

Assignees

• Columbia Insurance Co

Inventors

• Aylor Kyle Andrew
• Tincher Wesley Coleman

Classifications

• D05C15/14 Primary

  Arrangements or devices for holding or feeding the base material (D05C15/26 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B65H23/1888

  and controlling web tension · CPC title

• B65H2408/217

  of rollers type, e.g. with at least one fixed and one movable roller · CPC title

• B65H2404/152

  Arrangement of roller on a movable frame · CPC title