Methods and systems for manufacturing a composite textile

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12528282-B2
Application number	US-202418640989-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 19, 2024
Priority date	Apr 21, 2023
Publication date	Jan 20, 2026
Grant date	Jan 20, 2026

Abstract

This disclosure relates to a composite textile that can be sustainable, as well as methods and systems for constructing the composite textile and recollecting and harvesting excess material (e.g., remnants). In at least some examples, a first pattern piece is cut from a first material layer, and a second pattern piece is cut from a second material layer. In addition, the first pattern piece can be separated from the first material layer, which can leave a first remnant, and the second pattern piece can be separated from the second material layer, which can leave a second remnant. Once separated, the first pattern piece can be stacked atop the second pattern piece, and the stacked pattern pieces can be entangled to form a composite pattern piece. The remnant associated with the first material layer can be separated from the remnant associated with the second material layer and reused.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
stacking a fiber web adjacent to a material layer; cutting, in a shape associated with a pattern, the fiber web and the material layer; separating the fiber web into a fiber-web pattern piece, which comprises the shape associated with the pattern, and a fiber-web remnant; separating, concurrently with separating the fiber web, the material layer into a material-layer pattern piece, which comprises the shape associated with the pattern, and a material-layer remnant; and peeling the fiber-web remnant apart from the material-layer remnant.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the fiber web comprises a first material and the material layer comprises a second material, which is different from the first material; the method further comprises forming a second fiber web from fibers of the fiber-web remnant; and the second fiber web comprises an amount of the second material, which is less than a threshold amount, by weight, of the first material.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the threshold amount is about 5%.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein forming the second fiber web comprises repelletizing the fibers of the fiber-web remnant.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein:
forming the second fiber web comprises shredding the fiber-web remnant into shredded fibers; and forming the second fiber web with the shredded fibers.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the fiber web and the material layer are concurrently cut in the shape associated with the pattern.

7 . The method of claim 1 further comprising, after the fiber-web pattern piece and the material-layer pattern piece are separated from respective remnants, entangling fibers of the fiber-web pattern piece with the material-layer pattern piece.

8 . The method of claim 1 further comprising, entangling or bonding the fiber-web pattern piece and the material-layer pattern piece without entangling or bonding the respective remnants.

9 . A system comprising:
a fiber web extending between a first rotatable core and a second rotatable core; a material layer extending between a third rotatable core and a fourth rotatable core, wherein an unrolled portion of the fiber web is stacked with an unrolled portion of the material layer; a cutting tool that is positioned between the first rotatable core and the second rotatable core and that is configured to cut pattern pieces from the unrolled portion of the fiber web and the unrolled portion of the material layer; and a drive assembly configured to rotate the second core, which winds the fiber web after the pattern pieces are cut.

10 . The system of claim 9 further comprising, one or more rollers positioned between the first rotatable core and the second rotatable core, wherein the unrolled portion of the fiber web and the unrolled portion of the material layer wrap at least partially around the one or more rollers.

11 . The system of claim 9 further comprising a negative pressure source configured to apply negative pressure to the unrolled portion of the fiber web and the unrolled portion of the material layer.

12 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the drive assembly is configured to rotate the fourth core, which winds the material layer after the pattern pieces are cut.

13 . The system of claim 9 , wherein:
a fiber-web pattern piece cut from the unrolled portion of the fiber web and a material-layer pattern piece cut from the unrolled portion of the material layer comprise a multi-layer pattern piece; and the system further comprises an entanglement device for mechanically entangling fibers of the fiber-web pattern piece with the multi-layer pattern piece.

14 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the second core and the fourth core are spaced apart, such that winding the fiber web after the pattern pieces are cut peels the fiber web apart from the material layer.

15 . A method comprising:
positioning a first fiber web on top of a second fiber web to form a stack, wherein:
the first fiber web comprises a first property and the second fiber web comprises a second property, which corresponds with the first property and is different from the first property; and
the first property and the second property include at least one of chemical composition of fibers, average denier of fibers, average diameter of fibers, average length of fibers, surface coating applied to a respective web, and fiber color;
cutting the stack to form a first part and a remnant, wherein:
the first part comprises a first delineated portion of the first fiber web and a second delineated portion of said second fiber web, and
the remnant comprises a first remnant portion of the first fiber web and a second remnant portion of the second fiber web;
separating the first part from the remnant; entangling the first delineated portion of the first fiber web with the second delineated portion of the second fiber web; removing the second remnant portion from the first remnant portion, wherein, after the removing, the first remnant portion comprises less than 10% by weight of fibers from the second remnant portion; and recycling at least one of the first remnant portion and the second remnant portion.

16 . The method of claim 15 further comprising, cutting the stack to form at least a second part, wherein the second part comprises a third delineated portion of the first fiber web and a fourth delineated portion of the second fiber web.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein a first shape of the first part is different from a second shape of said second part.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein:
the stack comprises a first longitudinal edge and a second longitudinal edge; the first part and the second part are disposed inboard of at least the first longitudinal edge by a first distance; and the first part and the second part are separated from each other by a second distance, which is less than the first distance.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the first distance is at least about 10 mm.

20 . The method of claim 15 , wherein:
the second remnant portion comprises fibers that comprise a thermoplastic polymer; and the method further comprises, after removing the second remnant portion from the first remnant portion, pelletizing the fibers of the second remnant portion.

Assignees

• Nike Inc

Inventors

• Brandt Baron C
• Lund Dallas
• Staub Andrea J
• Wang Gaorong

Classifications

• B32B37/20

  involving the assembly of continuous webs only · CPC title

• B32B2305/28

  in the form of a mat · CPC title

• B32B38/10

  Removing layers, or parts of layers, mechanically or chemically · CPC title

• D01G11/00

  Disintegrating fibre-containing articles to obtain fibres for re-use · CPC title

• B32B2437/00

  Clothing · CPC title