Woven papermaking fabric having discrete cross-machine direction protuberances

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11920302-B2
Application number	US-201817279423-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 28, 2018
Priority date	Sep 28, 2018
Publication date	Mar 5, 2024
Grant date	Mar 5, 2024

Abstract

The woven papermaking fabrics have a machine direction (MD) axis and a cross-machine direction (CD) axis, a machine contacting surface and a web contacting surface. The web contacting surface comprises a plurality of MD and CD oriented protuberances. Generally, the MD oriented protuberances are formed from warp filaments and may be continuous across one dimension of the papermaking fabric. The CD oriented protuberances are formed from shute filaments and are discrete. The fabrics may be woven such that the CD oriented protuberances traverse at least one MD oriented protuberance and in other instances two or more MD oriented protuberances. In addition to MD and CD oriented protuberances, the web contacting surface comprises valleys disposed between adjacent MD oriented protuberances. The valleys are generally permeable to air and water and aid in the formation and structuring of webs manufactured using the fabrics.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A woven papermaking fabric having a machine direction axis and a cross-machine direction axis, the fabric comprising: a plurality of machine direction (MD) oriented warp filaments and a plurality of cross-machine direction (CD) oriented shute filaments, the shute filaments being interwoven with warp filaments to provide a machine contacting fabric side and opposed web contacting fabric side, the web contacting fabric side having a plurality of MD oriented protuberances formed from two or more warp filaments woven above their corresponding shute filaments, each of the plurality of MD oriented protuberances spaced apart from one another to define valleys having a depth of 0.5 mm or greater there between, and a plurality of discrete CD oriented protuberances formed from at least one shute filament woven about a corresponding warp filament.

2. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 1 wherein the CD oriented protuberance has an upper surface lying in a first upper surface plane and the MD oriented protuberance has an upper surface lying in a second upper surface plane, wherein the first upper surface plane is above the second upper surface plane.

3. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 1 wherein the valleys are continuous.

4. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 1 wherein valleys are discrete and have a pair of opposed end walls formed from two spaced apart CD oriented protuberances and a pair of opposed sidewalls formed from two spaced apart MD oriented protuberances.

5. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of MD oriented protuberances are continuous.

6. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of MD oriented protuberances have an element angle from 0 to ±20 degrees.

7. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 1 wherein the each of the plurality of MD oriented protuberances have an element angle from 2 to 10 degrees.

8. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 1 wherein the web contacting surface has a valley depth from 0.5 to 2.0 mm.

9. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of MD oriented protuberances have a height from about 0.2 to about 5.0 mm.

10. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 1 wherein the plurality of MD oriented protuberances are woven in a twill pattern.

11. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of MD oriented protuberances comprises from 2 to 6 warp filaments.

12. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of discrete CD oriented protuberances contact at least one MD oriented protuberance.

13. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of discrete CD oriented protuberances contact at least two or more MD oriented protuberance.

14. The woven papermaking fabric of claim of 1 wherein each of the MD-oriented protuberances are parallel to one another and have substantially similar height and width.

15. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of discrete CD oriented protuberances comprises a single shute filament having a length from about 1.0 to about 4.0 mm.

16. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of discrete CD oriented protuberances are parallel to one another and have substantially similar lengths.

17. A woven papermaking fabric having a machine direction axis and a cross-machine direction axis, the fabric comprising: a plurality of machine direction (MD) oriented warp filaments and a plurality of cross-machine direction (CD) oriented shute filaments, the shute filaments being interwoven with warp filaments to provide a machine contacting fabric side and opposed web contacting fabric side, the web contacting fabric side having first and second spaced apart MD oriented protuberances and first and second CD oriented protuberances spaced apart from each other in the MD and intersecting the first and second MD oriented protuberances, the first and second MD oriented protuberances and the first and second CD oriented protuberances defining a discrete parallelogram shaped valley having a depth of 0.5 mm or greater there between.

18. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 17 wherein the first and second MD oriented protuberances are parallel to one another and have an element angle from 2 to 10 degrees.

19. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 17 wherein the web contacting surface has a valley depth from 0.5 to 2.0 mm.

20. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 17 wherein the web contacting surface has a valley width from about 0.5 to about 4.0 mm.

21. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 17 wherein the first and second MD oriented protuberances form valley sidewalls having a wall angle from about 22 to about 30 degrees.

22. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 17 wherein the first and second CD oriented protuberances are parallel to one another and have a width from about 1.0 to about 5.0 mm.

23. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 17 wherein the first and second MD oriented protuberances are woven in a twill pattern.

24. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 17 wherein the first and second MD oriented protuberances comprise from 2 to 6 warp filaments.

25. A woven papermaking fabric having a machine direction axis and a cross-machine direction axis, the fabric comprising: a plurality of machine direction (MD) oriented warp filaments and a plurality of cross-machine direction (CD) oriented shute filaments, the shute filaments being interwoven with warp filaments to provide a machine contacting fabric side and opposed web contacting fabric side, the web contacting fabric side having a pair of spaced apart MD oriented protuberances woven from two or more adjacent warp filaments and a pair of spaced apart CD oriented protuberances comprising at least one shute filament woven over the two or more adjacent warp filaments forming the MD oriented protuberance, the at least one shute filament having an upper surface lying in a first fabric upper surface plane, wherein the pairs of MD and CD orientated protuberances define a valley having a depth of 0.5 mm or greater there between.

26. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 25 wherein the two or more adjacent warp filaments forming the MD protuberance have an upper surface lying in a second fabric upper surface plane and wherein the second fabric upper surface plane is below the fabric upper surface plane.

27. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 25 wherein the MD oriented protuberance has an element angle from 2 to 10 degrees.

28. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 25 wherein the CD oriented protuberance has a width from about 1.0 to about 2.0 mm.

29. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 25 wherein the first and second MD oriented protuberances are woven in a twill pattern.

30. The woven papermaking fabric of claim 25 wherein the first and second MD oriented protuberances comprise from 2 to 6 warp filaments.

Assignees

• Kimberly Clark Co

Inventors

• Collins Lynda Ellen

Classifications

• D21F7/08 Primary

  Felts · CPC title

• D03D13/00

  Woven fabrics characterised by the special disposition of the warp or weft threads, e.g. with curved weft threads, with discontinuous warp threads, with diagonal warp or weft · CPC title

• D03D13/004

  with weave pattern being non-standard or providing special effects · CPC title

• D21F1/00 Primary

  Wet end of machines for making continuous webs of paper · CPC title

• D21F5/18

  Drying webs by hot air · CPC title