Synthetic fill materials having composite fiber structures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10526749-B2
Application number	US-201515127689-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 30, 2015
Priority date	Apr 1, 2014
Publication date	Jan 7, 2020
Grant date	Jan 7, 2020

Abstract

In some embodiments, the inventive subject matter relates to a fiber construct suitable for use as a fill material for insulation or padding, comprising: a primary fiber structure comprising a predetermined length of fiber; a secondary fiber structure, the secondary fiber structure comprising a plurality of relatively short loops spaced along a length of the primary fiber. In some embodiments, the inventive subject matter relates to insulative fiber structures that mimic the structure and scale of natural down and thereby provide similar properties.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A bulk fill material, comprising a plurality of fiber constructs, each construct having a configuration comprising:
a primary fiber having a predetermined length; and
a second fiber structure, the secondary fiber structure comprising a plurality of loops, each loop consisting of a single monofilament fiber and having a pair of spaced apart intersection points with the primary fiber, wherein each of the intersection points of the primary fiber and the single monofilament fiber is spaced apart a length of the primary fiber from the other intersection points of the primary fiber and the single monofilament fiber, the primary fiber and the secondary fiber structure being coupled together at the intersection points by bonding of materials;
wherein the primary fiber has a length of 0.1 mm to 5 cm.

2. The bulk fill material of claim 1 wherein the primary fiber length is between 5 mm to 70 mm.

3. The bulk fill material of claim 1 wherein the secondary fiber has more than 20 loops.

4. The bulk fill material of claim 3 wherein the secondary fiber intersection points with the primary fiber are spaced from 10 μm to 150 μm apart.

5. The bulk fill material of claim 1 wherein the secondary fiber loops have a maxima of 5 mm or less.

6. The bulk fill material of claim 3 wherein the secondary fiber loops have a maxima of between 100 μm to 1 mm.

7. The bulk fill material of claim 3 wherein the secondary fiber loops have a maxima of between 300 μm-1000 μm.

8. The bulk fill material of claim 1 wherein the primary fiber has a diameter equal to or less than 100 μm.

9. The bulk fill material of claim 1 wherein one or both the primary fiber and secondary fiber structure comprise a thermoplastic material, the thermoplastic material of one or both of the primary fiber and secondary fiber structure being fused to the material of the other of the primary fiber and/or secondary fiber structure to provide the bonding of materials, the primary fibers and secondary fiber structures in a given fiber construct forming a monolithic structure.

10. The bulk fill material of claim 1 wherein the primary fiber and/or secondary fiber structure comprises a hollow fiber.

11. The bulk fill material of claim 1 wherein the secondary fiber loops are in a pattern comprising a generally sinusoidal pattern, with the primary fiber comprising a base line for the sinusoidal pattern.

12. The bulk fill material of claim 3 wherein the secondary fiber loops are disposed in multiple planes in a twisting or helical arrangement around the primary fiber.

13. The bulk fill material of claim 3 wherein the secondary fiber loops comprise a continuous strand of secondary material fusion bonded to the primary fiber to form a monolithic structure, and wherein the primary fibers have higher stiffness, tensile strength, and/or higher thickness relative to the secondary fibers.

14. The bulk fill material of claim 1 wherein a given secondary fiber loop is disposed in multiple planes with the primary fiber.

15. A bulk fill material comprising a plurality of fiber constructs according to claim 1 , the plurality of such constructs having a bulk density of about 50 kg/m 3 or less.

16. A method of making a fiber construct, comprising:
ejecting from a first ejector a stream of melted or softened fiber-forming material for a secondary fiber in a predetermined pattern onto a stream or structure for a primary fiber so as to create a composite fiber structure of primary fiber and secondary fiber, and wherein in the predetermined pattern, the secondary fiber is disposed on the primary fiber in a plurality of loops, each loop consisting of a single monofilament fiber and having a pair of spaced apart intersection points with the primary fiber, wherein each of the intersection points of the primary fiber and the single monofilament fiber is spaced apart along a length of the primary fiber from the other intersection points of the primary fiber and the single monofilament fiber, the primary fiber and the secondary fiber structure being coupled together at the intersection points by bonding of materials; and
segmenting the primary fiber lengths into a plurality of smaller units of constructs wherein the average length of the segmented primary fiber is between 0.1 mm to 5 cm.

17. The segmented fiber constructs of claim 16 wherein on the average the segmented primary fibers have more than 20 loops each.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the secondary fiber material is compression set onto the primary fiber material.

19. A bulk fill material comprising a plurality of fiber constructs:
the plurality of such constructs having a bulk density of about 50 kg/m 3 or less, wherein the plurality of constructs provide a fill power of 550 to 1000, and
wherein each fiber construct comprises, a primary fiber structure comprising a predetermined length of fiber; and a secondary fiber structure, the secondary fiber structure comprising a plurality of loops, each loop consisting of a single monofilament fiber and having a pair of spaced apart intersection points with the primary fiber, wherein each of the intersection points of the primary fiber and the single monofilament fiber is spaced apart along a length of the primary fiber from the other intersection points of the primary fiber and the single monofilament fiber, the primary fiber structure and the secondary fiber structure being coupled together at the intersection points by bonding of materials, free of mechanical fasteners, and
wherein the primary fiber has more than 20 loops, and
wherein the secondary fiber intersection points with the primary fiber are spaced from 10 μm to 150 μm apart and
wherein the secondary fiber loops have a maxima of between 100 μm to 1 mm.

20. The method of claim 16 comprising: ejecting the secondary fiber material in a back and forth pattern onto the stream or structure for the primary fiber material.

21. The method of claim 16 comprising: ejecting the secondary fiber material in a partially encircling or fully encircling pattern onto the stream or structure for the primary fiber material.

22. The bulk fill material of claim 1 wherein the monofilament fiber has a diameter equal to or less than 100 μm.

23. The bulk fill material of claim 1 wherein the monofilament fiber has a diameter between 1 μm to 3 μm.

24. The bulk fill material of claim 1 wherein the loops of the secondary fiber are oriented along a same side of the primary fiber.

Assignees

• North Face Apparel Corp

Inventors

• Milton Andrew
• Moir Robert
• Murphy Michael
• Moody Krystle
• Gladish Justin Lee

Classifications

• A41D31/06

  Thermally protective, e.g. insulating · CPC title

• A41D31/125

  Moisture handling or wicking function through layered materials · CPC title

• A41D31/102

  Waterproof and breathable · CPC title

• D01D11/06

  Coating with spinning solutions or melts · CPC title

• D01D5/0092

  characterised by the electrical field, e.g. combined with a magnetic fields, using biased or alternating fields · CPC title