System and process for applying an adhesive to a moving web

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11878322-B2
Application number	US-201716622622-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 23, 2017
Priority date	Jun 23, 2017
Publication date	Jan 23, 2024
Grant date	Jan 23, 2024

Abstract

A system and process are disclosed for applying an adhesive composition to a moving web of material. During the process, a web of material is conveyed very rapidly adjacent to a nozzle of an adhesive applicator. A defecting device periodically deflects the web into contact with a surface of the nozzle. An adhesive flow control device is used to control the flow of adhesive through the nozzle. Adhesive flows through the nozzle and is timed with the deflection device. In one embodiment, the flow of adhesive is started prior to contact with the web. In this manner, treated discrete areas of the adhesive composition can be formed on the web. The treated discrete areas can have lengths that are minimized through the process of the present disclosure allowing for adhesive to be applied at extremely fast speeds.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for applying an adhesive to a moving web of material comprising:
a nozzle in fluid communication with an adhesive supply;
a web conveying device for conveying the moving web of material, the web conveying device being configured to convey the moving web of material adjacent to the nozzle without contacting the nozzle;
a web deflecting device that periodically causes the moving web of material being conveyed by the web conveying device to contact the nozzle for a length of time, the web deflecting device comprising a rotating roll in the shape of a cylinder having an outer surface, wherein a deflecting cam is disposed on a portion of the outer surface of the rotating roll, the deflecting cam including a web-contacting surface disposed on a surface of the deflecting cam opposite from a surface in contact with the rotating roll, wherein the web-contacting surface is curved between a leading edge and a trailing edge of the web-contacting surface, wherein the web-contacting surface comprises a length between the leading edge and the trailing edge, the length being greater than a length of the nozzle, wherein the nozzle and web-contacting surface are positioned such that the moving web of material is parallel with a horizontal plane when travelling toward the nozzle and forms an exit angle when travelling away from the nozzle, wherein the deflecting device causes the moving web of material to contact the nozzle in a manner such that the moving web of material forms a maximum exit angle with the nozzle, the maximum exit angle being from about 5° to about 30° in relation to the horizontal plane that is perpendicular to an exit port on the nozzle, wherein the exit angle changes from a minimum exit angle to the maximum exit angle while the moving web of material is in contact with the nozzle such that web deflecting device is configured to clean the nozzle; and
an adhesive control device in communication with the nozzle that controls a flow of adhesive through the nozzle, the adhesive control device being configured to dispense a metered amount of adhesive through the nozzle prior to contact with the moving web of material such that a length of an adhesive streak disposed on the moving web of material in a longitudinal direction can be controlled.

2. The system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the nozzle includes a plurality of spaced apart exit ports for depositing a plurality of parallel and vertical adhesive streaks onto the moving web of material.

3. The system as defined in claim 2 , wherein the nozzle includes from 2 to 15 exit ports.

4. The system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the adhesive control device is configured to dispense the metered amount of adhesive such that an adhesive bead is formed and remains adhered to a bottom surface of the nozzle, wherein the web deflecting device is configured to contact the bottom surface of the nozzle to remove the adhesive bead therefrom.

5. The system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the rotating roll is configured to rotate at a speed such that web-contacting surface of the deflecting cam moves at a speed that is faster than a speed of the moving web of material contacting the deflecting cam.

6. The system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the web deflecting device is positioned downstream from the nozzle.

7. The system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the web deflecting device is positioned upstream from the nozzle.

8. The system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the web deflecting device contacts the moving web of material in a manner that causes the moving web of material to increase in tension during contact with the nozzle.

9. The system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the web conveying device is configured to move the moving web of material at a speed of at least 400 m/min.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the adhesive control device is configured to dispense adhesive forming a plurality of adhesive streaks on the moving web of material, wherein each of the plurality of adhesive streaks has a head portion and a tail portion, the head portion having a maximum width that is greater than the tail portion.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the adhesive control device is configured to dispense adhesive forming a plurality of adhesive streaks, wherein each of the plurality of adhesive streaks has a length of less than about 80 mm.

12. The system of claim 10 , further comprising a controller in communication with the adhesive flow control device, the controller configured to control the adhesive flow control device for enabling and disabling flow of the adhesive through the nozzle, wherein the web deflecting device is configured to contact the nozzle and the controller is configured to control the flow of the nozzle such that the head portion and tail portion are formed when each of the plurality of adhesive streaks is dispensed, the head portion having a maximum width greater than the tail portion.

13. A process for applying an adhesive to a moving web of material comprising:
conveying the moving web of material adjacent to a nozzle without contacting the nozzle;
flowing an adhesive through the nozzle while the nozzle and the moving web of material are in a spaced apart relationship such that a metered amount of adhesive forms a bead of adhesive on a bottom surface of the nozzle; and
periodically contacting the bottom surface of the nozzle with the moving web of material via a web deflecting device comprising a web-contacting surface while the moving web of material is moving, the nozzle applying at least one vertical streak of adhesive to the moving web of material, the at least one vertical streak having a head portion and a tail portion, the head portion having a maximum width that is greater than the tail portion, wherein the web-contacting surface is curved between a leading edge and a trailing edge of the web-contacting surface, wherein the web-contacting surface comprises a length between the leading edge and the trailing edge, the length being greater than a length of the nozzle, wherein the nozzle and the web-contacting surface are positioned such that the web of material is parallel with a horizontal plane when travelling toward the nozzle and forms an exit angle when travelling away from the nozzle, wherein the deflecting device causes the moving web of material to contact the nozzle in a manner such that the moving web of material forms a maximum exit angle with the nozzle, the maximum exit angle being from about 5° to about 30° in relation to the horizontal plane that is perpendicular to an exit port on the nozzle, wherein the exit angle changes from a minimum exit angle to the maximum exit angle while the the moving web of material is in contact with the nozzle such that web deflecting device is configured to clean the nozzle.

14. The process as defined in claim 13 , wherein flow of adhesive through the nozzle is intermittent.

15. The process as defined in claim 14 , wherein flow of adhesive through the nozzle is started and stopped prior to contacting the bottom surface of the nozzle with the moving web of material.

16. The process as defined in claim 14 , wherein flow of adhesive through the nozzle is started prior to contact with the moving web of material and is stopped during contact with the moving web of material.

17. The process as defined in claim 13 , wherein the adhesive flowing through the nozzle has a viscosity of from 500 cps to 50,000 cps at 350° F. (177° C.).

Assignees

• Kimberly Clark Co

Inventors

• Niedt James
• Hagy Walter
• Barriger Kyle M
• Sina Joseph J
• Grassl Daniel J

Classifications

• B05C5/0279 Primary

  independently, e.g. individually, flow controlled · CPC title

• B05C11/1005

  responsive to condition of liquid or other fluent material already applied to the surface, e.g. coating thickness, weight or pattern · CPC title

• B05D1/265 Primary

  Extrusion coatings · CPC title

• B05D5/10

  to obtain an adhesive surface · CPC title

• B05D7/04

  to surfaces of films or sheets (producing layered products by applying coatings of pasty or pulverulent plastics B29C41/00) · CPC title