Systems and methods for stiffening wet extrudate by circumferential irradiation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11999074-B2
Application number	US-202017634771-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 7, 2020
Priority date	Aug 14, 2019
Publication date	Jun 4, 2024
Grant date	Jun 4, 2024

Abstract

An extrusion system ( 100 ) according to certain aspects includes at least one infrared emitting device ( 102 ) arranged in a generally cylindrical shape with a hollow interior. The at least one infrared emitting device ( 102 ) is positioned downstream of an outlet of an extrusion die ( 110 ) to irradiate a perimeter of wet extrudate material in a uniform manner to form stiffened wet extrudate material ( 116 ) before such material is received by an extrudate support channel ( 118 ). The at least one infrared emitting device ( 102 ) generally uniformly stiffens the skin of the wet extrudate material ( 116 ) to resist mechanical deformation of the extrudate material during subsequent handling steps. Such skin stiffening allows for increased tolerance of handling forces and permits extrusion of softer wet extrudate material without compromising the shape of a fired ceramic product.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An extrusion system comprising:
an extrusion die comprising an outlet and configured to continuously form wet extrudate material comprising a honeycomb cross-section;
at least one infrared emitting device having a hollow interior, positioned downstream of the outlet in a direction of travel of the wet extrudate material, arranged in a generally cylindrical shape around a perimeter of the wet extrudate material, and configured to uniformly irradiate the perimeter of the wet extrudate material, without any portion of the wet extrudate material being supported from below within the hollow interior, to form stiffened wet extrudate material; and
an extrudate support channel, positioned downstream of the at least one infrared emitting device and configured to receive the stiffened wet extrudate material following passage of the wet extrudate material through the hollow interior of the at least one infrared emitting device.

2. The extrusion system of claim 1 wherein:
the at least one infrared emitting device is configured to produce infrared emissions having at least one peak emission wavelength and at least one full-width, half-maximum emission wavelength range;
the wet extrudate material comprises a plurality of constituents each having an absorption spectrum having at least one peak absorption wavelength and at least one full-width, half-maximum absorption wavelength range; and
the at least one full-width, half-maximum emission wavelength range comprises at least one wavelength value within 1 micrometer of a wavelength of the at least one full-width, half-maximum absorption wavelength range of the absorption spectrum of at least one constituent of the plurality of constituents.

3. The extrusion system of claim 2 wherein the at least one peak emission wavelength comprises at least one of 1.2 μm or 2.9 μm.

4. The extrusion system of claim 2 wherein the at least one peak absorption wavelength comprises at least one of 3 μm, 6 μm, or 10 μm.

5. The extrusion system of claim 1 wherein the generally cylindrical shape of the at least one infrared emitting device comprises an internal diameter of at least 100 mm.

6. The extrusion system of claim 1 wherein the at least one infrared emitting device comprises at least one laser.

7. The extrusion system of claim 1 wherein the at least one infrared emitting device comprises at least one lamp.

8. The extrusion system of claim 1 wherein the at least one infrared emitting device comprises a plurality of infrared emitting devices, and each infrared emitting device of the plurality of infrared emitting devices is configured to produce infrared emissions of a different peak emission wavelength and a different full-width, half-maximum emission wavelength range.

9. The extrusion system of claim 1 wherein the at least one infrared emitting device comprises a plurality of infrared emitting devices including a first infrared emitting device and a second infrared emitting device positioned downstream of the first infrared emitting device in the direction of travel of the wet extrudate material.

10. The extrusion system of claim 9 wherein the first infrared emitting device and the second infrared emitting device are each arranged in the generally cylindrical shape, and the first and second infrared emitting devices are configured to irradiate the wet extrudate material with differing total radiant flux.

11. A method of forming a stiffened wet extrudate material, the method comprising:
continuously forming wet extrudate material comprising a honeycomb cross-section from an outlet of an extrusion die;
uniformly irradiating a perimeter of the wet extrudate material with infrared emissions produced by at least one infrared emitting device having a generally cylindrical shape with a hollow interior and positioned downstream of the outlet, without any portion of the wet extrudate material being supported from below within the hollow interior, to form stiffened wet extrudate material; and
passing the stiffened wet extrudate material through the hollow interior of the at least one infrared emitting device onto an extrudate support channel positioned downstream of the at least one infrared emitting device.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein:
the infrared emissions comprise at least one peak emission wavelength and at least one full-width, half-maximum emission wavelength range corresponding to the at least one peak emission wavelength;
the wet extrudate material comprises a plurality of constituents each having an absorption spectrum having at least one peak absorption wavelength and at least one full width, half-maximum absorption wavelength range corresponding to the at least one peak absorption wavelength; and
the at least one full-width, half-maximum emission wavelength range corresponding to the at least one peak emission wavelength comprises at least one wavelength value within 1 micrometer of a wavelength of the at least one full-width, half-maximum absorption wavelength range corresponding to the at least one peak absorption wavelength of the absorption spectrum of at least one constituent of the plurality of constituents.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the at least one peak emission wavelength comprises at least one of 1.2 μm or 2.9 μm.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the at least one peak absorption wavelength comprises at least one of 3 μm, 6 μm, or 10 μm.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the generally cylindrical shape of the at least one infrared emitting device comprises an internal diameter of at least 100 mm.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the at least one infrared emitting device comprises at least one laser.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the at least one infrared emitting device comprises at least one lamp.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein the at least one infrared emitting device comprises a plurality of infrared emitting devices, and each infrared emitting device of the plurality of infrared emitting devices is configured to produce infrared emissions of a different peak emission wavelength and a different full-width, half-maximum emission wavelength range.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein the at least one infrared emitting device comprises a plurality of infrared emitting devices including a first infrared emitting device and a second infrared emitting device positioned downstream of the first infrared emitting device in a direction of travel of the wet extrudate material, and the method further comprises irradiating the wet extrudate material with a first radiant flux using the first infrared emitting device and irradiating the wet extrudate material with a second radiant flux using the second infrared emitting device, and the second radiant flux differs from the first radiant flux.

20. The method of claim 11 wherein uniformly irradiating the perimeter of the wet extrudate material further comprises uniformly irradiating with an intensity and duration selected to provide the stiffened wet extrudate material with a uniformly stiffened external surface and a non-stiffened core.

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Akarapu Ravindra Kumar
• Jain Priyank Paras
• Li Xinghua
• Wight Jr John Forrest

Classifications

• B28B11/243 Primary

  Setting, e.g. drying, dehydrating or firing ceramic articles (B28B11/242 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B28B3/269 Primary

  For multi-channeled structures, e.g. honeycomb structures · CPC title

• B29C48/11

  comprising two or more partially or fully enclosed cavities, e.g. honeycomb-shaped · CPC title

• B29C48/9105

  of hollow articles · CPC title