Fiber manufacturing method, non-woven fabric manufacturing method, and fiber manufacturing equipment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016354964-A1
Application number	US-201615231094-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 8, 2016
Priority date	Feb 12, 2014
Publication date	Dec 8, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A fiber manufacturing method includes the following steps of: dissolving a polymer in a solvent to obtain a polymer solution; spraying the polymer solution into a liquid heated to a boiling point of the solvent or higher, and evaporating the solvent to precipitate a fibrous polymer in a sealed precipitation tank, the liquid being immiscible with the polymer and the solvent; conveying the precipitated fibrous polymer in a liquid from the precipitation tank; water-rinsing the fibrous polymer conveyed in the liquid in the conveying step in a sealed water-rinsing tank; conveying the water-rinsed fibrous polymer in a liquid from the water-rinsing tank; and cooling and condensing solvent gas that is generated in the spraying step and the water-rinsing step.

First claim

1 . A fiber manufacturing method comprising the following steps of:
(A) dissolving a polymer in a solvent to obtain a polymer solution; (B) spraying the polymer solution into a liquid heated to a boiling point of the solvent or higher, and evaporating the solvent to precipitate a fibrous polymer in a sealed precipitation tank, the liquid being immiscible with the polymer and the solvent; (C) conveying the precipitated fibrous polymer in a liquid from the precipitation tank; (D) water-rinsing the fibrous polymer conveyed in the liquid in the step (C) in a sealed water-rinsing tank; (E) conveying the water-rinsed fibrous polymer in a liquid from the water-rinsing tank; and (F) cooling and condensing solvent gas that is generated in the step (B) and the step (D).

2 . A non-woven fabric manufacturing method comprising the following steps of:
(A) dissolving a polymer in a solvent to obtain a polymer solution; (B) spraying the polymer solution into a liquid heated to a boiling point of the solvent or higher, and evaporating the solvent to precipitate a fibrous polymer in a sealed precipitation tank, the liquid being immiscible with the polymer and the solvent; (C) conveying the precipitated fibrous polymer in a liquid from the precipitation tank; (D) water-rinsing the fibrous polymer conveyed in the liquid in the step (C) in a sealed water-rinsing tank; (E) conveying the water-rinsed fibrous polymer in a liquid from the water-rinsing tank; (F) cooling and condensing solvent gas that is generated in the step (B) and the step (D); (G) separating water from the fibrous polymer subjected to the step (E) to obtain a sheet polymer; and (H) forming the sheet polymer into a non-woven fabric.

3 . The non-woven fabric manufacturing method according to claim 2 ,
wherein, in the step (G), the sheet polymer made of the fibrous polymer is formed on a traveling mesh belt by spreading the water containing the fibrous polymer by a nozzle in a width direction of the mesh belt.

4 . The non-woven fabric manufacturing method according to claim 3 ,
wherein, in the step (G), the volume of the sheet polymer is changed by controlling the traveling speed of the mesh belt and the flow rate of the fibrous polymer from the nozzle.

5 . The non-woven fabric manufacturing method according to claim 2 ,
further comprising: the following step in the step (H), (I) sandwiching and conveying the sheet polymer with a plurality of rolls to obtain the non-woven fabric.

6 . The non-woven fabric manufacturing method according to claim 2 ,
wherein the polymer is cellulose acylate, the solvent is methylene chloride, the liquid is water, the temperature of the cellulose acylate solution in the step (B) is 20° C. or higher and 40° C. or lower, and the temperature of the water is 40° C. or higher and 100° C. or lower.

7 . The non-woven fabric manufacturing method according to claim 2 ,
further comprising: the following step, (J) adsorbing solvent gas that is generated in the step (G).

8 . A fiber manufacturing equipment comprising:
a polymer dissolving tank that dissolves a polymer in a solvent to obtain a polymer solution; a sealed precipitation tank that sprays the polymer solution into a liquid heated to a boiling point of the solvent or higher, and evaporates the solvent to precipitate the polymer in a fibrous state, the liquid being immiscible with the polymer and the solvent; a sealed water-rinsing tank that rinses the precipitated fibrous polymer with water; a tank for separating out water that separates water from the water-rinsed fibrous polymer; a first liquid delivery unit that conveys the water containing the fibrous polymer in a liquid from the precipitation tank to the water-rinsing tank; a second liquid delivery unit that conveys the water containing the fibrous polymer in a liquid from the water-rinsing tank to the tank for separating out water; and a condenser that cools and condenses solvent gas that is generated in the precipitation tank and the water-rinsing tank.

9 . The fiber manufacturing equipment according to claim 8 ,
wherein the liquid is water, and a separation tank is provided to separate a liquid condensed in the condenser into water and the solvent.

Assignees

• Fujifilm Corp

Inventors

• Katai Yukihiro
• Sugiyama Shigehisa
• Kasahara Seiji
• Shimoda Yasuhisa
• Esaki Masahiro

Classifications

• D04H1/736 Primary

  characterised by the apparatus for arranging fibres (D04H1/728, D04H1/732 take precedence) · CPC title

• B29B11/04

  by assembling preformed material · CPC title

• B29C47/0021 Primary

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B29C47/0014

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B29K2001/12

  Cellulose acetate · CPC title