Fiber structure manufacturing apparatus, method of manufacturing fiber structure, and fiber structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11891753-B2
Application number	US-202117325275-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 20, 2021
Priority date	May 22, 2020
Publication date	Feb 6, 2024
Grant date	Feb 6, 2024

Abstract

A fiber structure manufacturing apparatus including: an accumulation portion that accumulates a material containing a resin and a fiber in air to generate a fiber web; a transport portion that transports the generated fiber web in a transport direction; and a heating and pressurizing portion that pressurizes the transported fiber web with a heated lower flat plate and an upper flat plate to melt the resin, in which a liquid absorbent having a first region where pressurization by the heating and pressurizing portion is performed the predetermined number of times and a second region where the pressurization is performed more than a predetermined number of times is formed by alternately repeating transport at a predetermined pitch shorter than a length of the flat plate in the transport direction by the transport portion and the pressurization.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing a fiber structure, comprising:
an accumulation step of accumulating a material containing a resin and a fiber in air to generate a fiber web;
a transport step of transporting the generated fiber web in a transport direction; and
a heating and pressurizing step of pressurizing the transported fiber web with a heated flat plate to melt the resin, wherein
a fiber structure having a first region where pressurization by a heating and pressurizing step is performed a predetermined number of times and a second region where the pressurization is performed more than the predetermined number of times is formed by alternately repeating transport at a predetermined pitch shorter than a length of the flat plate in the transport direction by a transport step and the pressurization.

2. The method of manufacturing a fiber structure according to claim 1 , wherein
in the transport step, the transport is performed by applying a transport force to the second region.

3. The method of manufacturing a fiber structure according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a cutting step of cutting the formed fiber structure, wherein
in the cutting step, the second region is cut.

4. The method of manufacturing a fiber structure according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a cutting step of cutting the formed fiber structure, wherein
in the cutting step, the first region is cut.

5. The method of manufacturing a fiber structure according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a bending step of bending the formed fiber structure, wherein
in the bending step, the second region is bent.

6. The method of manufacturing a fiber structure according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a bending step of bending the formed fiber structure, wherein
in the bending step, the first region is bent.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Yoda Kaneo
• Nagai Yoshiyuki
• Miyasaka Yoichi
• Urano Nobutaka

Classifications

• D06M10/00 Primary

  Physical treatment of fibres, threads, yarns, fabrics or fibrous goods made from such materials, e.g. by ultrasonic waves, corona discharge, irradiation, electric currents or magnetic fields; Physical treatment combined with treatment with chemical compounds or elements · CPC title

• D04H1/60

  the bonding agent being applied in dry state, e.g. thermo-activatable agents in solid or molten state, and heat being applied subsequently · CPC title

• D04H1/732

  by fluid current, e.g. air-lay · CPC title

• D06H7/02

  transversely (D06H7/14 takes precedence) · CPC title

• D21B1/06 Primary

  by dry methods · CPC title