Bulk recovery apparatus for nonwoven fabric and bulk recovery method for the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9809913-B2
Application number	US-201415030043-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 6, 2014
Priority date	Oct 18, 2013
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

An apparatus for recovering bulkiness of a nonwoven fabric by blowing hot air and heating the nonwoven fabric transferred in a transfer direction, includes a case member that has both end portions in the transfer direction opened; an entrance and an exit provided to openings on opposite end sides, in the transfer direction, of the case member to transfer the nonwoven fabric; and a blast opening provided on the entrance side of the case member for blasting hot air inside the case member toward the exit. Inside the case member, a sectional area at a first position downstream of the blast opening is wider than at a second position located between the blast opening and the first position. Hot air blasted from the blast opening flows downstream through the first and second positions while coming into contact with one of two faces of the nonwoven fabric inside the case member.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus that recovers a bulk of a nonwoven fabric by blowing hot air and heating the nonwoven fabric that is transferred in a transfer direction, comprising:
a case member that has both end portions thereof in the transfer direction opened;
an entrance that is provided to an opening on one end side, in the transfer direction, of the case member, the entrance being used to transfer the nonwoven fabric;
an exit that is provided to an opening on an other end side, in the transfer direction, of the case member, the exit being used to transfer the nonwoven fabric; and
a blast opening that is provided to a part on the entrance side of the case member and blasts into a space inside the case member the hot air toward a part on the exit side, wherein
a sectional area at a first position, of the space inside the case member, on a downstream side along the transfer direction with respect to a position where the blast opening is provided, is wider than a sectional area at a second position, of the space inside the case member, located between the position where the blast opening is provided and the first position and
the hot air that is blasted from the blast opening flows from an upstream side along the transfer direction through the first and second positions and to the downstream side along the transfer direction while coming into contact with one face of two faces of the nonwoven fabric in the space inside the case member.

2. The nonwoven fabric bulk recovery apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
an area that includes the first position and has a sectional area wider than that at the second position, in the space inside the case member has provided a discharge opening that discharges to an outside the hot air blasted in the space inside the case member.

3. The nonwoven fabric bulk recovery apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the discharge opening is provided to a location vertically shifted from a path along which the nonwoven fabric is transferred.

4. The nonwoven fabric bulk recovery apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
the blast opening and the discharge opening are both provided at locations vertically shifted to a same side with respect to the path along which the nonwoven fabric is transferred.

5. The nonwoven fabric bulk recovery apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
a member that blocks a part of a space on an exit side of the space inside the case member is provided at a part most downstream along the transfer direction in the space inside the case member.

6. The nonwoven fabric bulk recovery apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising a hot air supply device that supplies the hot air to an inside of the case member, wherein
the hot air supply device recovers the hot air discharged from the discharge opening to resupply to an inside of the case member.

7. The nonwoven fabric bulk recovery apparatus according to claim 6 , further comprising a CD direction that is a direction orthogonal to each of a vertical direction of the case member and the transfer direction, wherein
the discharge of the hot air from the discharge opening and the supply of the hot air to the inside of the case member are performed on a same side with respect to the CD direction of the case member.

8. A method of recovering a bulk of a nonwoven fabric by blowing hot air and heating the nonwoven fabric that is transferred in a transfer direction, comprising:
providing an entrance to an opening on one end side in the transfer direction to transfer the nonwoven fabric and providing an exit to an opening on an other end side in the transfer direction to transfer the nonwoven fabric, in a case member that has both end portions thereof in the transfer direction opened,
blasting from a blast opening provided to a part on the entrance side of the case member the hot air toward a part on the exit side and into a space inside the case member; and
in the case member having a sectional area, in the space inside the case member, at a first position that is located on a downstream side along the transfer direction with respect to a position where the blast opening is provided, wider than a sectional area, in the space inside the case member, at a second position that is located between the position where the blast opening is located and the first position,
allowing the hot air blasted from the blast opening to flow from an upstream side along the transfer direction through the first and the second positions and to the downstream side along the transfer direction while coming into contact with one face of two faces of the nonwoven fabric.

Assignees

• Unicharm Corp

Inventors

• Okuda Jun
• Mitsuno Satoshi

Classifications

• D06C3/00

  Stretching, tentering or spreading textile fabrics; Producing elasticity in textile fabrics (shaping or stretching tubular fabrics upon cores or internal frames D06C5/00) · CPC title

• D06C7/00 Primary

  Heating or cooling textile fabrics · CPC title

• D04H1/70

  characterised by the method of forming fleeces or layers, e.g. reorientation of fibres · CPC title

• D06C17/00

  Fulling · CPC title