Bulked continuous carpet filament manufacturing from polytrimethylene terephthalate

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11242622-B2
Application number	US-201916514903-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 17, 2019
Priority date	Jul 20, 2018
Publication date	Feb 8, 2022
Grant date	Feb 8, 2022

Abstract

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament from polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT) with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) comprises: (1) splitting the PTT stream extruded from the primary extruder into a number of polymer streams, each of the plurality of polymer streams having an associated spinning machine; (2) adding a colorant to each split polymer stream; (3) adding PET to the extruded polymer stream downstream of the primary extruder; (4) using one or more static mixing assemblies for each split polymer stream to substantially uniformly mix each split polymer stream and its respective colorant and PET; and (5) spinning each polymer stream with its substantially uniformly mixed colorant and any additives into BCF using the respective spinning machine.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament from polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT), the method comprising:
providing an extruder;
using the extruder to at least partially melt the PTT into a polymer stream and at least partially purify the polymer stream;
providing a static mixing assembly downstream of the extruder;
adding polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to the polymer stream downstream of the extruder and before the static mixing assembly or along a length of the static mixing assembly between an upstream end and a downstream end of the static mixing assembly;
using the static mixing assembly to mix the polymer stream with the PET to create a mixed polymer stream;
forming the mixed polymer stream into bulked continuous carpet filament;
splitting the polymer stream into a plurality of individual polymer streams downstream from the extruder; and
providing, for each stream of the plurality of individual polymer streams, a respective secondary extruder and a respective static mixing assembly, wherein adding the PET, using the static mixing assembly, and forming the mixed polymer stream into bulked continuous carpet filament occurs with respect to each stream of the plurality of individual polymer streams.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adding a liquid colorant to the polymer stream before the static mixing assembly or along the length of the static mixing assembly between the upstream end and the downstream end of the static mixing assembly,
wherein using the static mixing assembly to mix the polymer stream with the PET to create the mixed polymer stream comprises using the static mixing assembly to mix the polymer stream with the PET and the liquid colorant to create a colored mixed polymer stream, and
wherein forming the mixed polymer stream into the bulked continuous carpet filament comprises forming the colored mixed polymer stream into the bulked continuous carpet filament.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adding a molten polymeric masterbatch to the polymer stream before the static mixing assembly or along the length of the static mixing assembly between the upstream end and the downstream end of the static mixing assembly,
wherein using the static mixing assembly to mix the polymer stream with the PET to create the mixed polymer stream comprises using the static mixing assembly to mix the polymer stream with the PET and the molten polymeric masterbatch to create a colored mixed polymer stream, and
wherein forming the mixed polymer stream into the bulked continuous carpet filament comprises forming the colored mixed polymer stream into the bulked continuous carpet filament.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adding a liquid colorant to each stream of the plurality of individual polymer streams before the respective static mixing assembly or along the length of the respective static mixing assembly between the upstream end and the downstream end of the static mixing assembly,
wherein using the static mixing assembly to mix the polymer stream with the PET to create the mixed polymer stream comprises using the respective static mixing assembly to mix each stream of the plurality of individual polymer streams with the PET and the liquid colorant to create a respective colored mixed polymer stream, and
wherein forming the mixed polymer stream into the bulked continuous carpet filament comprises forming the respective colored mixed polymer stream into the bulked continuous carpet filament.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adding a molten polymeric masterbatch to each stream of the plurality of individual polymer streams,
wherein using the static mixing assembly to mix the polymer stream with the PET to create the mixed polymer stream comprises using the respective static mixing assembly to mix each stream of the plurality of individual polymer streams with the PET and the molten polymeric masterbatch to create a respective colored mixed polymer stream, and
wherein forming the mixed polymer stream into the bulked continuous carpet filament comprises forming the respective colored mixed polymer stream into the bulked continuous carpet filament.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein adding the molten polymeric masterbatch to each stream of the plurality of individual polymer streams comprises adding the molten polymeric masterbatch to the respective secondary extruder.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein adding the molten polymeric masterbatch to each stream of the plurality of individual polymer streams comprises adding the molten polymeric masterbatch before the respective static mixing assembly or along the length of the respective static mixing assembly between the upstream end and the downstream end of the respective static mixing assembly.

8. A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament from polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT), the method comprising:
providing an extruder;
using the extruder to at least partially melt the PTT into a polymer stream and at least partially purify the polymer stream;
providing a static mixing assembly downstream of the extruder;
adding a liquid colorant to the polymer stream before the static mixing assembly or along a length of the static mixing assembly between an upstream end and a downstream end of the static mixing assembly;
using the static mixing assembly to mix the polymer stream with the liquid colorant to create a colored polymer stream;
forming the colored polymer stream into bulked continuous carpet filament;
splitting the polymer stream into a plurality of individual polymer streams downstream from the extruder; and
providing, for each stream of the plurality of individual polymer streams, a respective secondary extruder and a respective static mixing assembly, wherein adding the liquid colorant, using the static mixing assembly, and forming the colored polymer stream into the bulked continuous carpet filament occurs with respect to each stream of the plurality of individual polymer streams.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising adding polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to the polymer stream;
wherein using the static mixing assembly to mix the polymer stream with the liquid colorant to create the colored polymer stream comprises using the static mixing assembly to mix the polymer stream with the liquid colorant and the PET to create a colored mixed polymer stream, and
wherein forming the colored polymer stream into the bulked continuous carpet filament comprises forming the colored mixed polymer stream into the bulked continuous carpet filament.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein adding the PET to the polymer stream comprises adding the PET to the extruder.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein adding the PET to the polymer stream comprises adding the PET before the static mixing assembly or along the length of the static mixing assembly between the upstream end and the downstream end of the static mixing assembly.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising adding polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to each stream of the plurality of individual polymer streams,
wherein using the static mixing assembly to mix the polymer stream with the liquid colorant to create the colored polymer stream comprises using the respective static mixing assembly to mix each stream of the plurality of individual polymer streams with the liquid colorant and the PET to create a respective colored mixed polymer stream, and
wherein forming the colored polymer stream into the bulked continuous carpet filament comprises forming the respective colored mixed polymer stream into the bulked continuous carpet filament.

Assignees

• Aladdin Mfg Corp

Inventors

• Clark Thomas R

Classifications

• B29B7/42

  with screw or helix · CPC title

• B29C48/362

  using static mixing devices · CPC title

• D01D1/106

  Filtering · CPC title

• D10B2331/04

  polyesters, e.g. polyethylene terephthalate [PET] · CPC title

• B29B7/86

  for working at sub- or superatmospheric pressure {(B01F33/70 takes precedence)} · CPC title