CN223017203U - Warp elastic nonwoven fabric and manufacturing equipment thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A warp elastic non-woven fabric and its production equipment are composed of heater, needle clip chain, feeding wheel set and brush wheel. In operation, the differential gear of the feeding wheel set feeds the non-woven fabric between the differential gear and the suction gear in an overfeeding manner to form wave wrinkles, the suction holes of the suction gear provide suction force to enable two sides of the non-woven fabric to cling to the outer surface of the suction gear, the needles of the needle clip chain penetrate the non-woven fabric to fix the wave wrinkles, the brush wheel flattens the wave wrinkles, the non-woven fabric is heated to soften in the preheating section, stretched and oriented in the weft direction in the expanding section, and the wave wrinkles are flattened in the stabilizing section and then cooled and shaped to form the warp-elastic non-woven fabric. By making the non-woven fabric form uniform wave folds in advance and matching with the air suction device, the phenomenon of area reduction or thickness thinning of the non-woven fabric caused by necking in the subsequent stretching process can be compensated, so that the non-uniform condition of the traditional overfeeding mode is improved.

Description

Warp elastic nonwoven fabric and manufacturing equipment thereof

Technical Field

The present utility model relates to a warp elastic nonwoven fabric and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a warp elastic nonwoven fabric which is formed with wavy wrinkles, is then subjected to heat softening, weft stretching and cooling setting to change the directionality of the nonwoven fabric fibers and impart elasticity, and is flattened.

Background

Typical sanitary articles, such as masks, disposable garments, infant or adult diapers, or athletic protective bandages, medical bandages, and the like, are generally disposable to prevent contamination by pathogens or harmful substances while taking into account hygiene and safety of use. Because these products are in contact with the skin for a period of time, the air permeability requirements are stringent to prevent discomfort or skin irritation, itching, and even eruption due to stuffiness or wetness.

Nonwoven fabrics made of plasticized materials have been widely used in many sanitary products because of their advantages of easy manufacture, processing, excellent chemical resistance, durability, and low cost. However, nonwoven fabrics have poor extensibility, and are not comfortable and have adequate coating properties, which can cause inconveniences in use for wearable applications, such as diapers. Accordingly, the present inventors have developed a composite nonwoven fabric capable of improving extensibility, which may be referred to as an elastic composite nonwoven fabric. In the conventional process of manufacturing an elastic composite nonwoven fabric, one method is to stretch an elastic material in advance as an intermediate layer, then to laminate two non-elastic general nonwoven fabrics as an upper layer and a lower layer respectively in a sandwich manner, and to stop applying an external force for stretching after lamination to form wavy wrinkles on the upper and lower surfaces of the elastic composite nonwoven fabric, and another method is to laminate one elastic material as an intermediate layer without stretching, then to laminate two non-elastic general nonwoven fabrics as an upper layer and a lower layer respectively in a sandwich manner to form a flat three-layer structure, and after lamination, to destroy the material surfaces of the general nonwoven fabrics, for example, activate (Activation) to make the general nonwoven fabrics slightly have extensibility.

However, the bonding process increases the number of steps, and the nonwoven product becomes heavy, which results in poor comfort for the user and increases the space and cost required for storage and transportation. And, the product may be peeled off due to incomplete bonding. Moreover, if the bonding is performed by using an adhesive, peeling is liable to occur due to uneven distribution of the adhesive.

Another prior art technique is to use an elastomer as a raw material to manufacture a single layer elastic nonwoven fabric by a nonwoven fabric process such as melt blowing or spunbonding (spbond), which is however costly. Accordingly, the present utility model is intended to develop an elastic nonwoven fabric which imparts elasticity to a single layer nonwoven fabric only by the thermoplastic nature of rayon, and thus has the advantage of greatly reducing costs.

In the conventional nonwoven fabric manufacturing process, there are other processes such as hydroentanglement, needling, and hot-melt in addition to the spunbonding (spin) process. The spinning method is to extrude the material from the nozzle through the extruding equipment, to form superfine fiber through the air channel stretching and cooling, to be blown to the collecting net to be piled into net structure, to heat the long fiber with disordered net structure through the heated heat roller, to adhere the fiber layer by hot pressing.

Due to the thermoplastic properties of the plasticized nonwoven fabric (the property of softening upon heating, hardening upon cooling) and the dispersion non-orientation of the fibrous structure of the conventional nonwoven fabric (as shown in fig. 1a, the fibrous structure 11 of the nonwoven fabric is randomly oriented), the fibrous structure can be penetrated by a hot air stream to heat the fibers to a corresponding softening temperature, and the dispersed fibers are mechanically continuously weft-stretched while being softened by heating to change the fibrous structure compliance (the nonwoven fabric of fig. 1a is weft-stretched to orient the fibrous structure 11 in the weft direction to a state as shown in fig. 1b while necking the nonwoven fabric in the warp direction).

Since the fiber direction in the fiber structure 11 of the nonwoven fabric provides an elastic source, the fiber structure of the elastic nonwoven fabric after heat softening and weft stretching forms the shape of a stretching robot arm as shown in fig. 1b after cooling, wherein the fiber structure 11 of the nonwoven fabric oriented in the weft direction (as shown in fig. 1 b) can be stretched back in the warp direction to a state in which the fiber compliance is not changed (as shown in fig. 1 a) under the application of the warp stretching force, thus having the warp extensibility, and the fiber structure 11 of the elastic nonwoven fabric is restored again to a state oriented in the weft direction (as shown in fig. 1 b) after stopping the application of the warp stretching force, thus having the warp restorability, that is, such elastic nonwoven fabric has the elasticity of the warp stretchable restorability.

On the other hand, fig. 2a and 2b show microscopic images before and after the weft stretching of a common hydro-entangled nonwoven fabric, respectively, in which the state of the nonwoven fabric fiber structure oriented in the weft direction after the stretching can also be observed.

In addition, the nonwoven is mechanically stretched in the weft direction to produce a neck-in (Necking) deformation (e.g., neck-in region N in fig. 3) and to reduce the warp area of the nonwoven material due to Poisson's effect. Therefore, the non-woven fabric can be in a wave state by overfeeding the non-woven fabric in the warp direction in advance (namely, the feeding speed is higher than the running speed of the needle clip chain), so that the warp tension of the fabric is reduced, the necking phenomenon is compensated, the non-woven fabric is prevented from becoming too thin due to the necking phenomenon after being stretched, and the weft expanding is facilitated.

However, overfeeding, which is conventionally performed simply in a differential speed manner, causes non-woven fabrics with uneven wavy wrinkles, which in turn causes a problem of uneven cloth cover after expanding in the weft direction. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method of making elastic nonwoven fabrics.

Disclosure of utility model

In view of the problems encountered in the prior art, the present utility model is directed to a method for manufacturing a warp-direction elastic nonwoven fabric, which can compensate for the shrinkage of the area or the thinning of the thickness of the nonwoven fabric caused by necking during the subsequent stretching by pre-forming uniform wave folds on the nonwoven fabric and matching with an air suction device, thereby improving the non-uniformity of the traditional overfeeding method, and a single-layer elastic nonwoven fabric manufactured by the method, which has strong resilience in the upward direction and has a flat surface, thus being directly used for products without being attached to another elastic substrate, thereby greatly improving the production rate, improving the comfort of users, and reducing the space and the cost of storage and transportation.

In order to solve the above problems, the present utility model provides an apparatus for manufacturing an elastic nonwoven fabric, comprising:

The heating device is provided with an inlet, an inner space and an outlet in sequence along the radial direction, wherein the inner space is divided into a preheating section adjacent to the inlet, a spreading section positioned in the middle and a stabilizing section adjacent to the outlet along the radial direction;

At least two needle clip chains in the form of conveying belts, which are respectively positioned at two latitudinal sides of the heating device, and extend from an inlet of the heating device to the outlet along the longitudinal direction sequentially through the preheating section, the expanding section and the stabilizing section, wherein each of the needle clip chains is provided with a plurality of needles;

at least two feeding wheel sets respectively arranged above the needle clip chains at the inlet of the heating device, and

At least two brush wheels are respectively arranged above the needle clip chains at the radial downstream of the feeding wheel groups, wherein

Each of the feeding wheel sets comprises a speed difference gear and a suction gear which are meshed with each other, wherein

Each of the differential gears is provided with a plurality of first teeth portions and a plurality of first groove portions, which are alternately arranged along the outer circumferential surface of the differential gear, and

A hollow groove is arranged at the weft center of the outer surface of each of the air suction gears, a plurality of second tooth parts, a plurality of second groove parts and a plurality of air suction holes are respectively arranged at the weft two sides of the hollow groove, wherein the second groove parts and the second tooth parts are respectively staggered along the weft two sides of the outer circumferential surface of the air suction gear, and the air suction holes are at least arranged on the second groove parts, wherein

The speed difference gears respectively feed the two weft sides of the non-woven fabric between the speed difference gears and the air suction gears along the warp direction at a speed higher than the conveying speed of the needle clip chains, wherein the speed difference gears and the air suction gears are meshed and rotated with each other in a mode that the first tooth parts are inserted into the second groove parts and the second tooth parts are inserted into the first groove parts, so that the two weft sides of the non-woven fabric are respectively sunk between the first tooth parts and the second groove parts and between the first groove parts and the second tooth parts, and regular wave wrinkles are formed on the non-woven fabric along the warp direction; the suction gears provide suction force through the suction holes so that two weft sides of the fed non-woven fabric are respectively clung to the outer surfaces of the second tooth parts and the second groove parts, the hollow grooves are configured to enable the needles to respectively penetrate the fed non-woven fabric and enter the hollow grooves in a conveying belt mode when the needle clip chains rotate on the suction gears so as to fix the wave wrinkles of the fed non-woven fabric, and the suction gears stop providing the suction force after the needles penetrate the fed non-woven fabric so as to enable the non-woven fabric to be smoothly transferred onto the needle clip chains from the suction gears;

The brush wheels rotate while the needle clip chains are operated in a conveying belt mode so as to flatten the wave folds of the non-woven fabrics on the needle clip chains, and

The clip chains feed the non-woven fabric with flattened wave folds from the inlet of the heating device into the interior space of the heating device in the warp direction, wherein

In the preheating section, the needle clip chains convey the non-woven fabric along the warp direction under the condition of maintaining a fixed weft spacing, and the heating device heats the non-woven fabric to soften,

Subsequently, in the expanding section, while the heating device continues to heat, the needle clip chains convey the softened nonwoven fabric in the warp direction with the weft pitch gradually widened to stretch the same in the weft direction, so that the nonwoven fabric is subjected to a necking compensation action in the warp direction to flatten the wavy wrinkles which extend and are flattened in the warp direction, and simultaneously the fibrous tissues of the nonwoven fabric are oriented in the weft direction, thereby making the nonwoven fabric take on a flat shape and have an extension restoring force in the warp direction,

Then, in the stabilization section, while the heating device is continuously heating, the needle clip chains convey the softened and stretched nonwoven fabric in the warp direction with maintaining the widened weft pitch to stabilize it,

Finally, the needle clip chain sends the stabilized non-woven fabric out of the heating device from the outlet so as to cool and shape the stabilized non-woven fabric, thereby forming an elastic non-woven fabric.

In an embodiment of the utility model, the air suction holes are further disposed on the second tooth portions. In one embodiment of the present utility model, the heating temperature of the heating device is 120 to 180 ℃, preferably 130 to 150 ℃.

In one embodiment of the utility model, the nonwoven fabric has a weft expansion ratio in the expansion section of between 15 and 100%.

In one embodiment of the utility model, each spike on the needle clip chain is aligned with a crest and/or trough of the corrugation, respectively.

In one embodiment of the present utility model, the spacing between the first teeth and the spacing between the second teeth and the spacing between the lancets is 1:1:1 or 1:1:0.5.

In one embodiment of the present utility model, the nonwoven fabric is manufactured by a spunbonding method, a hydroentanglement method, a thermal method, a melt blowing method, or a needle punching method.

In one embodiment of the present utility model, the nonwoven is made of a material selected from the group consisting of PP, PE, PET, PP/PE, PP/PET, or a combination thereof.

In order to solve the above problems, the present utility model also provides a warp elastic nonwoven fabric, wherein the warp elastic nonwoven fabric has a flat surface and the fibrous structure thereof is oriented substantially in the weft direction, so that the warp elastic nonwoven fabric has an extension restoring force in the warp direction.

In one embodiment of the present utility model, the warp-elastic nonwoven has a warp elongation of between 50 and 350%.

The utility model has the effects that firstly, regular wave folds can be formed on the non-woven fabric through the speed difference gears and the induced draft gears which are meshed with each other to be beneficial to ensuring the surface flatness of the final elastic non-woven fabric, secondly, the non-woven fabric is clung to the tooth parts of the induced draft gears and the outer surfaces of the groove parts through the suction force on the induced draft gears, the wave folds of the non-woven fabric can be transferred to the subsequent process as they are, the uniformity of the final cloth cover is beneficial to being improved, thirdly, the hollow groove is arranged in the center of the outer surface of the induced draft gears, the accommodating space of the needles on the needle clip chain after penetrating the non-woven fabric can be provided, fourth, the compliance of the fibers and the subsequent cooling shaping can be changed through the slight weft stretching under heating, the non-woven fabric can have elasticity superior to the prior art, and fifth, the phenomenon that the area of the non-woven fabric is reduced or the thickness of the non-woven fabric is thinned due to the subsequent stretching can be compensated through the uniform wave folds formed in advance, and the attaching material or attaching step can be omitted after the single-layer non-woven fabric is excellent in elasticity after the processing, thereby reducing the comfort and reducing the manufacturing cost and reducing the required storage space and reducing the required cost.

The effects of the present utility model are not limited to the above-described effects, and other effects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description of the claims.

Drawings

Fig. 1a and 1b show images of the condition of a common spunbonded nonwoven fabric before and after weft stretching (photographed by a hand-held low-noise point high-image quality digital microscope);

Fig. 2a and 2b show images of the condition of the plain hydro-entangled nonwoven fabric before and after weft stretching (photographed by a hand-held low-noise point high-image quality digital microscope);

Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of an apparatus for manufacturing a warp elastic nonwoven fabric of the present utility model;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of the lancet entering the hollow slot in the manufacturing apparatus of the present utility model, wherein the nonwoven is not shown;

FIG. 5a shows a schematic representation of a prior art setting machine in which only the wavy folds produced by the flat-surfaced differential wheel are flattened by the brush wheel;

FIG. 5b shows a differential gear of a prior art setting machine;

FIG. 6a is a schematic view of uneven wave wrinkles produced by a prior art setting machine;

FIG. 6b is a schematic view of a prior art setting machine with uneven corrugation flattened by a brush wheel;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing the collapse of wave wrinkles by brush wheels generated by a feed wheel set comprising a differential gear in the form of a gear and a suction gear in the manufacturing apparatus of the present utility model;

FIG. 8a shows a schematic view of a uniform wave crease produced by a manufacturing apparatus of the present utility model;

FIG. 8b is a schematic view of a uniform wave crease produced by the manufacturing apparatus of the present utility model flattened by a brush wheel;

FIG. 9a shows a picture of a final fabric produced using a prior art setting machine;

fig. 9b shows a photograph of the final nonwoven fabric produced using the manufacturing apparatus of the present utility model;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing a method of manufacturing a warp elastic nonwoven fabric according to the present utility model;

FIG. 11 shows a schematic view of the appearance of a warp elastic nonwoven fabric of the present utility model, and

Fig. 12 shows a partial enlarged view of the area a of fig. 11.

Reference numerals illustrate:

area a

10 Nonwoven fabric

11 Fibrous tissue

20 Speed difference gear

20': Speed differential wheel of the prior art

20A' frictional surface

20B': hairbrush

21 First tooth portion

22 First groove part

30 Suction gear

31 Second tooth portion

32 Second groove part

33 Suction holes

34 Hollow groove

40,40': Needle clip chain

41,41': Needles

50,50' Hairbrush wheel

60 Heating device

61 Inlet

62 Internal space

62A preheating section

62B expanding section

62C stabilization zone

63 Outlet port

100 Warp elastic nonwoven 110 fibrous structure B' pulley group

F, feeding wheel set

N necked-down region

MD warp direction

TD weft direction

S10, a supply step

S20 wave formation step S30 fixing step

S40, flattening step

S50 preheating step

S60, expanding step

S70 stabilization step

S80, cooling step

Detailed Description

The advantages and features of the present utility model and methods of accomplishing the same may be understood more clearly from the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present utility model is not limited to the following embodiments, but may be embodied in various forms.

The technical features of any of the embodiments of the present utility model may be combined with other embodiments of the present utility model without contradiction.

Herein, "warp direction (MD, machine direction)" refers to a direction parallel to a direction in which the nonwoven fabric is conveyed by the manufacturing apparatus, also referred to as a machine direction, and "weft direction (TD, TRANSVERSE DIRECTION)" refers to a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the nonwoven fabric is conveyed by the manufacturing apparatus.

In this context, "stretch ratio (Broaden ratio)" refers to the ratio of the final elongation of a material (e.g., a raw nonwoven) from which the width was stretched in the stretch stage to the original width of the material.

As used herein, "extensibility (Elonation)" refers to the ratio of the maximum elongation of a material (e.g., a warp elastic nonwoven) from its natural width to the natural width of the material.

Referring to fig. 3, the present utility model provides an apparatus for manufacturing a warp elastic nonwoven fabric, comprising a heating device 60, a needle clip chain 40 in the form of a conveyor belt, a feeding wheel set F, and a brush wheel 50.

The heating device 60 has an inlet 61, an inner space 62 and an outlet 63 in this order in the radial direction, wherein the inner space 62 is divided in the radial direction into a preheating section 62a adjacent to the inlet 61, a spreading section 62b located in the middle, and a stabilizing section 62c adjacent to the outlet 63.

In the present utility model, the nonwoven fabric may be softened by heating using a heating device 60 for processing and shaping, such as, but not limited to, an oven. The internal space 62 of the heating device 60 is a space that is actually heated, and the inlet 61 and the outlet 63 of the heating device 60 may be designed to be heated or not heated as required.

Since the nonwoven fabrics 10 of different compositions have different softening points, the heating temperature of the heating device 60 may be between 120 and 180 ℃, preferably between 130 and 150 ℃.

The number of needle clip chains 40 is at least two, and the needle clip chains are respectively located at two sides of the heating device 60 in the weft direction, and extend from the inlet 61 of the heating device 60 to the outlet 63 through the preheating section 62a, the expanding section 62b and the stabilizing section 62c in sequence along the warp direction. A plurality of lancets 41 are provided on each clip chain 40.

Referring to fig. 3, the number of feeding wheel sets F is configured as at least two sets, each set being disposed above the clip chain 40 on both sides at the inlet 63 of the heating device 60.

Each feeding set F includes a differential gear 20 and a suction gear 30 engaged with each other.

Each of the differential gears 20 is provided with a plurality of first tooth portions 21 and a plurality of first groove portions 22, which are staggered along the outer circumferential surface of the differential gear 20.

Referring to fig. 4, a hollow groove 34 is provided at the center of the outer surface of each suction gear 30 in the weft direction, and each suction gear 30 is provided with a plurality of second tooth parts 31, a plurality of second groove parts 32, and a plurality of suction holes 33 at both sides of the hollow groove 34 in the weft direction, wherein the second groove parts 32 and the second tooth parts 31 are staggered along both sides of the outer circumferential surface of the suction gear 30, respectively, and the suction holes 33 are provided at least on the second groove parts 32.

Referring to fig. 3, the number of brush wheels 50 is at least two, and is disposed above each clip chain 40, respectively, longitudinally downstream of each set of feed wheels F.

In the manufacturing apparatus of the present utility model, the needle clip chains 40, the feeding wheel sets F, and the brush wheels 50 are preferably disposed symmetrically on both sides of the heating device 60 in the weft direction, so as to facilitate smooth conveyance of the nonwoven fabric and avoid pulling or uneven phenomena of the nonwoven fabric during processing.

Furthermore, while the present disclosure describes two needle clip chains 40, two feeding sets of wheels F, and two brush wheels 50 as examples, one skilled in the art will appreciate that additional needle clip chains 40, feeding sets of wheels F, and brush wheels 50 may be added as appropriate between the above elements depending on product requirements, depending on the tradeoff between equipment cost and process precision.

In the present utility model, the warp elastic nonwoven fabric 10 is manufactured by using a manufacturing apparatus for the warp elastic nonwoven fabric, and is subjected to heat softening, weft stretching, and cooling setting, and then the fiber orientation is changed to be oriented in the weft direction, thereby imparting the warp elastic properties.

Preferably, the nonwoven 10 includes, but is not limited to, nonwoven made by spunbonding, hydroentangling, thermal, meltblowing, or needle punching.

In order to meet the heat softening and cooling setting characteristics required in the process, the nonwoven fabric 10 of the present utility model is made of a thermoplastic material such as polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), bi-component PP/PE, bi-component PP/PET, or a combination thereof, but is not limited thereto.

The operation of the apparatus for producing a warp-elastic nonwoven fabric according to the present utility model will be described below.

First, the differential gears 20 feed the two weft sides of the nonwoven fabric 10 between the differential gears 20 and the suction gears 30, respectively, in the warp direction at a higher conveying speed than the clip chain 40 (i.e., in the overfeed manner), wherein the differential gears 20 and the suction gears 30 of each group are rotated in engagement with each other in such a manner that the first teeth 21 are inserted into the second grooves 32 and the second teeth 31 are inserted into the first grooves 22, so that the two weft sides of the nonwoven fabric 10 are respectively caught between the first teeth 21 and the second grooves 32 and between the first grooves 22 and the second teeth 32, thereby forming regular wave wrinkles of the nonwoven fabric 10 in the warp direction.

Next, the suction gear 30 provides suction force through the suction holes 33 provided at least on the second groove portion 32 so that both sides in the weft direction of the fed nonwoven fabric 10 are respectively abutted against the outer surfaces of the second tooth portion 31 and the second groove portion 32.

Preferably, in order to enhance the effect of adhering the nonwoven fabric 10 to the outer surfaces of the second teeth 31 and the second grooves 32 of the suction gear 30, the second teeth 31 may be further provided with suction holes 33.

The hollow groove 34 of the suction gear 30 is then configured such that the needles 41 of the needle clip chain 40 penetrate the fed nonwoven fabric 10 and enter the hollow groove 34 to fix the wavy folds of the fed nonwoven fabric 10 when the needle clip chain 40 is operated in a conveyor belt manner while the suction gear 30 is rotating.

And, the suction gear 30 stops providing the suction force after the needles 41 penetrate the fed non-woven fabric 10, so that the non-woven fabric 10 is smoothly transferred from the suction gear 30 to the clip chain 40.

The brush wheel 50 is then rotated while the needle clip chain 40 is running in a conveyor belt manner in order to collapse the wavy folds of the nonwoven fabric 10 on the needle clip chain 40, wherein the height of the brush wheel 50 is set such that the wavy folds of the nonwoven fabric 10 fastened to the needle clip chain 40 can be collapsed when the brush wheel is rotated over the needle clip chain 40 for smooth processing.

Further, in order to collapse the wavy puckers of the nonwoven fabric 10 before stretching and expanding the nonwoven fabric 10 (described later), a specific position of the brush wheel 50 may be set in a range from the warp downstream of the feeding wheel set F to the softening section 62a of the heating device 60.

In the prior art, because the fabric can shrink after being dyed by high temperature water, a setting machine can be used for expanding the fabric in the high temperature drying process to compensate for the shrinkage and set, so that the width of the cloth cover is consistent, the straight arrangement of the warp and weft yarns is stabilized, the hand feeling of the cloth cover can be adjusted, and the arrangement of the warp and weft yarns can be more finely adjusted in the expansion by using an overfeeding technology.

In the fabric expanding and shaping process using overfeeding technology, the conditions and adjustable ranges of the denier number (tensile strength), the warp and weft yarn arrangement (tissue arrangement tensile strength) and the weave number (density tensile strength) of the fabric are fixed and cannot be adjusted to a larger extent.

In the development process of the utility model, when the setting machine and the overfeeding technology in the prior art are applied to non-woven fabrics, different from fabrics with warp-weft yarn arrangement, the non-woven fabrics have random arrangement, so that the setting expanding and overfeeding tightening effects can be more obvious. However, the overfeeding technique applied in the prior art described above may affect the uniformity of the nonwoven fabric due to the lack of gears and the design of the air suction device (as shown in fig. 9 a).

In the present utility model, by the improved design of the speed difference gear 20 and the air suction gear 30, the non-woven fabric 10 can form uniform wave wrinkles and be transferred to the needle clip chain as it is, so that the problem of uneven wave wrinkles caused by overfeeding of the fabric simply in a speed difference manner in the prior art during the expanding and shaping process and the problem of uneven thickness of the final cloth cover after weft expanding are avoided.

As shown in fig. 5a to 5b, in the related art fabric setting machine, there is only a configuration in which the differential speed wheel 20 'is matched with the brush wheel 50', and there is no suction gear. Wherein, the Belt wheel group (Belt) B 'and the differential wheel 20' overfeed the non-woven fabric 10 'between the differential wheel 20' and the brush wheel 50', the overfeed differential is formed due to the feeding speed of the Belt wheel group B' and the differential wheel 20 'being greater than the conveying speed of the needle clip chain 40', the non-woven fabric 10 'is clamped by the Belt wheel group B' and the differential wheel 20 'to cause differential extrusion, thereby forming wave wrinkles, and then the non-woven fabric 10' is pressed into the needle clip chain 40 'by the brush wheel 50'. Preferably, as shown in fig. 5b, the differential gear 20' has a friction surface 20a ' on one side of its circumferential surface and a brush 20b ' on the other side, and the brush 20b ' on the differential gear 20' can press the non-woven fabric 10' into the clip chain 40'.

However, since the surface of the related art differential gear 20 'is flat without teeth, it can provide friction with the non-woven fabric 10' only by a friction surface (e.g., made of a rubber material).

Thus, this arrangement will cause irregular wave wrinkles of the nonwoven fabric, which in turn will lead to uneven cloth cover after the weft expansion. Specifically, while the differential gear 20 'rotates, the needles 41' of the clip chain 40 'pierce and fix irregular wavy folds of the nonwoven fabric 10' (as shown in fig. 6 a), and after the wavy folds are further flattened by the brush wheel 50', only the nonwoven fabric 10' (as shown in fig. 6 b) exhibiting an uneven flattened wavy fold appearance can be obtained, so that uniform spreading cannot be achieved in the subsequent process, thereby causing a problem of uneven final cloth cover.

Referring to fig. 7 to 8b, the manufacturing apparatus of the present utility model is different from the prior art in that the present utility model replaces the prior art flat differential gear 20' with a differential gear 20 in the form of a gear, and further includes a suction gear 30.

Along with the meshing rotation of the speed difference gear 20 and the suction gear 30, the non-woven fabric 10 is trapped between the tooth parts and the groove parts of the speed difference gear 20 and the suction gear 30, so that the non-woven fabric 10 forms regular wave wrinkles along the warp direction.

Thereafter, since the suction holes 33 are provided on the surface of the suction gear 30, the non-woven fabric 10 is closely attached to the outer surfaces of the second tooth part 31 and the second groove part 32 of the suction gear 30 by the suction force of the suction holes 33, so that the wave wrinkles of the non-woven fabric 10 can be temporarily fixed by the suction force, and the wave wrinkles of the non-woven fabric 10 can be transferred to the subsequent process as they are, which is advantageous for the subsequent fixation by the needle clip chain 40, so as to avoid the non-woven fabric 10 from being shifted in the subsequent process, thereby improving the cloth cover uniformity of the final non-woven fabric.

Then, as the suction gear 30 rotates, the wave wrinkles of the non-woven fabric 10 move above the clip chain 40, and as the clip chain 40 operates in a conveyor belt manner, the needles 41 of the clip chain 40 penetrate and fix the regular wave wrinkles of the non-woven fabric 10 (as shown in fig. 8 a), and then, after the brush wheel 50 further crushes the wave wrinkles, the non-woven fabric 10 (as shown in fig. 8 b) exhibiting a uniform crushed wave wrinkles appearance can be obtained, so that uniform spreading can be achieved in a subsequent process, thereby manufacturing a warp-elastic non-woven fabric with uniform cloth cover.

Fig. 9a and 9b show pictures of a final fabric produced using a prior art manufacturing apparatus and a final non-woven fabric produced using the manufacturing apparatus of the present utility model, respectively. Wherein in the case of using the prior art differential gear 20', there are uneven wrinkles on the surface of the final fabric, and in the case of using the differential gear 20 and the suction gear 30 of the present utility model, the final non-woven fabric has a flat surface appearance.

Preferably, the spacing or arrangement density between the needles 41 on the needle clip chain 40 can be adjusted to increase the degree of securement of the needle clip chain 40 to the nonwoven 10.

Preferably, multiple sets of needle clip chains 40 are provided, and the number of teeth and the pitch of the needles are adjusted according to the elastic extension requirement.

Preferably, the speed differential gear 20 and the suction gear 30 may be designed to have the same diameter and the same number of teeth, so that the rotation speed ratio of the speed differential gear 20 to the suction gear 30 may be 1:1.

Preferably, compared with the warp elastic non-woven fabric manufacturing equipment in the prior art, the number of teeth of the speed difference gear 20 and the suction gear 30 can be increased or decreased and replaced by modules, and the number and the height of the tooth grooves can be matched corresponding to the needle clip chain 40.

Preferably, the manufacturing apparatus of the present utility model can be designed such that each lancet 41 is aligned with the crest and/or trough of the wavy folds of the nonwoven fabric 10 (as shown in fig. 8 a), respectively, thereby enabling to fix the wavy folds better in the subsequent process.

Preferably, the spacing between the first teeth 21 and the spacing between the second teeth 31 and the spacing between the needles 41 are designed to be 1:1:1, so that each needle 41 can be aligned with each crest or each trough of the wavy puckering of the nonwoven fabric 10, respectively.

Alternatively, in a preferred embodiment, the spacing between the first teeth 21 and the spacing between the second teeth 31 and the spacing between the needles 41 may be designed to be 1:1:0.5, so that each needle 41 can be aligned with each peak and each trough of the wavy pucker of the nonwoven fabric 10 (as shown in fig. 8 a).

Preferably, in the manufacturing apparatus of the present utility model, the height or width of the wavy folds of the nonwoven fabric 10, that is, the shape of the wavy folds of the nonwoven fabric 10, may be adjusted by adjusting the height and width of the first tooth portion 21 and the second tooth portion 31, the width of the first groove portion 22 and the second groove portion 32, and the interval between the speed difference gear 20 and the suction gear 30.

The thickness, the warp elasticity and the uniformity of the final warp elastic non-woven fabric can be adjusted by changing the shape of the wave folds of the non-woven fabric.

The height or width of the corrugation, the distance between the two wheels and the uniformity of the cloth cover have absolute relation, for example, if the number of gears and the pitch are fixed, the distance between the two wheels is close (the corrugation is high), enough fibers are stretched to two sides, the cloth is slightly thickened and contracted, the warp elasticity is good, and if the width of the weft is narrow, the distance between the two wheels is open (the corrugation is low), the contracted is small, and the warp elasticity is poor. The warp elasticity can be controlled and regulated according to the requirements, and the uniform gram weight of the cloth cover is maintained.

On the other hand, if the width of the weft is increased, the distance between the two rolls is large (the waving wrinkles are low), the shrinkage is large, the number of fibers is insufficient due to the small wrinkles, the cloth surface is uneven, and the grammage is inconsistent, and if the width of the weft is small, the distance between the two rolls is small (the waving wrinkles are high), the cloth becomes thick, and the elasticity is reduced.

Specifically, the depth and uniformity of the wavy folds affect the evenness of the cloth cover (i.e. uneven gram weight of the unit area of the fabric) under the same spreading ratio, and the fibers with high wavy folds and uniform arrangement are easier to uniformly spread in the weft spreading stretching and necking process with proper temperature, however, under the condition of low wavy folds and uneven arrangement, the fibers at the thinner part of the cloth cover are stretched and uneven first, so that the thickness of the cloth cover is thinned, and moreover, under the condition of neglected loosening of the wavy folds, the uneven necking of the warp continuity is caused.

Compared with the prior art, the utility model has the advantages that the height and the arrangement uniformity of the wave wrinkles can be controlled, the continuous and stable necking of the non-woven fabric in the warp direction can be promoted by precisely controlling the processing conditions, the continuous shrinkage ratio (continuous elasticity) of the non-woven fabric in the warp direction is consistent throughout the fabric surface, the elastic extension recovery effect of the non-woven fabric can be controlled, and the uniform gram weight of the fabric surface per unit area is realized.

The clip chain 40 then feeds the nonwoven fabric 10 with flattened wave folds from the inlet 61 of the heating device 60 into the interior 62 of the heating device 60 in the warp direction.

Thereafter, in the preheating section 62a of the heating device 60, the clip chains 40 fixing both sides of the nonwoven fabric 10 convey the nonwoven fabric 10 into the expanding section 62b in the warp direction while maintaining a fixed weft pitch, i.e., without changing the width of the nonwoven fabric 10, and at the same time, the heating device 60 heats the nonwoven fabric 10 to soften for subsequent processing and molding.

Subsequently, in the expanding section 62b of the heating device 60, the heating device 60 continuously heats the nonwoven fabric 10 to maintain it at the softening temperature, and at the same time, the clip chains 40 fixing both sides of the nonwoven fabric 10 in the weft direction continuously convey the softened nonwoven fabric 10 in the warp direction with the weft pitch gradually widened to stretch the nonwoven fabric 10 in the weft direction with the gradually widened weft pitch, thereby increasing the weft width of the nonwoven fabric 10.

Preferably, the weft expansion ratio of the nonwoven 10 in the expanding section 62b may be, for example, between 15 and 100% (i.e., the weft width that is ultimately stretched to 1.15 to 2 times its original weft width in the expanding section 62 b).

For example, the width of the nonwoven fabric in the weft direction is 100cm, and after the stretching in the warp and weft directions, the width in the weft direction becomes 115cm, so that the weft expansion ratio is 115%. For another example, the width of the nonwoven fabric in the weft direction is 100cm, and after the stretching in the warp and weft directions, the width in the weft direction becomes 200cm, so the width ratio in the weft direction is 200%.

Further, the weft expansion ratio of the commercially available setting machine can be, for example, up to 450%.

In the weft stretching process, the needle clip chain 40 is utilized to gradually widen the weft interval to carry out mechanical continuous weft stretching on the fibers of the non-woven fabric 10, so that the compliance of the fiber tissues is changed, the fiber tissues of the non-woven fabric 10 are oriented along the weft direction, and accordingly the fiber tissues have an extension restoring force along the warp direction, and meanwhile, the non-woven fabric 10 generates a necking compensation effect along the warp direction due to the poisson effect due to the weft stretching, so that the waved wrinkles which extend along the warp direction and are flattened, and the cloth cover is flat.

Then, in the stabilizing section 62c of the heating device 60, the heating device 60 continuously heats the nonwoven fabric 10 to maintain the softening temperature, and at the same time, the needle clip chains 40 fixing both sides of the nonwoven fabric 10 in the weft direction maintain the widened weft pitch, that is, the nonwoven fabric 10 is conveyed in the warp direction to maintain the softened and stretched nonwoven fabric 10 in the softened and stretched state for a period of time while maintaining the width of the nonwoven fabric 10 after the stretching, thereby stabilizing the stretched and stretched nonwoven fabric 10.

Finally, the clip chains 40 fixing both sides of the nonwoven fabric 10 in the weft direction send the stabilized nonwoven fabric 10 out of the heating device 60 from the outlet 63 to cool and shape the stabilized nonwoven fabric 10, that is, shape it in a state of being stretched and expanded and having elasticity in the warp direction, thereby forming the elastic nonwoven fabric in the warp direction of the present utility model.

After cooling and shaping, the fiber structure of the nonwoven fabric 10 is oriented in the weft direction and formed into a shape of a telescopic mechanical arm (as shown in fig. 1 b), and under the condition of applying warp stretching force, the fiber structure of the nonwoven fabric 10 oriented in the weft direction can be stretched back to the state of unchanged fiber compliance in the warp direction, so that the fiber structure has warp extensibility, and after stopping applying warp stretching force, the elastic nonwoven fabric can be restored to the state of being oriented in the weft direction again, so that the fiber structure has warp resilience. Accordingly, the warp elastic nonwoven fabric of the present utility model imparts a high stretch recovery characteristic over prior art elastic nonwoven fabrics due to the formation of weft directionality by stretching the expanded web in the weft direction.

Referring to fig. 10, a flow chart of a method for manufacturing a warp elastic nonwoven fabric according to the present utility model is shown. The method for producing the elastic nonwoven fabric of the present utility model comprises a supply step S10, a wave formation step S20, a fixing step S30, a flattening step S40, a preheating step S50, a spreading step S60, a stabilization step S70, and a cooling step S80.

The elements used in the following steps, such as the heating means, the clip chain, the feeding wheel set and the brush wheel, may be the elements mentioned above, such as the heating means 60, the clip chain 40, the feeding wheel set F and the brush wheel 50. Therefore, the features and details of these elements will not be described in detail.

In the feeding step S10, a nonwoven fabric is fed by at least two feeding wheel sets, wherein the speed difference gears of the feeding wheel sets feed the two weft sides of the nonwoven fabric between the speed difference gears and the air suction gears of the feeding wheel sets along the warp direction.

In the supplying step 10, the nonwoven fabric may be the nonwoven fabric 10 as described above, and thus, the characteristics and details of the nonwoven fabric will not be described again.

In the wave forming step S20, the differential gear and the suction gear are engaged with each other to rotate in such a way that the first tooth portion of the differential gear is inserted into the second groove portion of the suction gear and the second tooth portion of the suction gear is inserted into the first groove portion of the differential gear, so that the two weft sides of the nonwoven fabric are respectively sunk between the first tooth portion and the second groove portion and between the first groove portion and the second tooth portion, thereby forming regular wave wrinkles on the nonwoven fabric along the warp direction.

In the fixing step S30, the wavy folds of the nonwoven fabric are fixed by using the suction gear and at least two needle clip chains in the form of a conveying belt, wherein suction force is provided through the suction holes of the suction gear so that two weft sides of the nonwoven fabric are respectively clung to the outer surfaces of the second tooth part and the second groove part of the suction gear, and the needle clip chains are operated in the form of the conveying belt while the suction gear rotates, so that the needles respectively penetrate the nonwoven fabric and enter the hollow grooves of the suction gear to fix the wavy folds of the nonwoven fabric, and the suction gear stops providing suction force after the needles penetrate the nonwoven fabric, so that the nonwoven fabric is smoothly transferred onto the needle clip chains from the suction gear.

In the flattening step S40, the wavy folds of the nonwoven fabric are flattened by means of at least two brush wheels, wherein the brush wheels are rotated while the needle clip chain is operated in a conveyor belt manner, so as to flatten the wavy folds of the nonwoven fabric on the needle clip chain.

In the preheating step S50, the nonwoven fabric is transported in the warp direction with the needle clip chain maintaining a fixed weft pitch, and at the same time, the nonwoven fabric is heated to soften by a heating device.

In the expanding step S60, under the condition of continuous heating by the heating device, the softened non-woven fabric is conveyed along the warp direction by the needle clip chain under the condition that the weft interval is gradually widened so as to carry out weft stretching on the non-woven fabric, so that the non-woven fabric is subjected to necking compensation effect along the warp direction due to poisson effect caused by weft stretching, thereby flattening the waved wrinkles which extend and are flattened along the warp direction, and at the same time, the fiber tissues of the non-woven fabric are oriented along the weft direction, thereby enabling the cloth cover to be flat and enabling the non-woven fabric to have extension restoring force along the warp direction.

In the stabilization step S70, the softened and stretched nonwoven fabric is transported in the warp direction by the clip chain while maintaining the widened weft pitch while continuously heating by the heating device, so as to be stabilized.

In the cooling step S80, the stabilized nonwoven fabric is cooled and set, thereby forming a warp elastic nonwoven fabric.

In the method for producing a warp elastic nonwoven fabric according to the utility model, the differential gear is fed in the warp direction between the differential gear and the suction gear in the feeding step S10 in such a way that the conveying speed of the clip chain is higher.

Preferably, the warp elastic nonwoven of the present utility model produced by the apparatus or the method described above has a warp elongation of between 50 and 350% (i.e., can be stretched to a warp width that is 1.5 to 4.5 times its natural warp width).

Preferably, in the above method, the air suction holes are further disposed on the second teeth.

Preferably, the heating temperature in the preheating step S50, the expanding step S60 and the stabilizing step S70 is 120 to 180 ℃, preferably 130 to 150 ℃.

Preferably, in the step S60 of expanding, the weft expansion ratio of the nonwoven fabric 10 is between 15 and 100%. Preferably, in the cooling step S80, the nonwoven fabric 10 subjected to the stabilizing step S70 is cooled by, for example, wind cooling or normal temperature standing cooling, so that the nonwoven fabric 10 returns to an unsoftened state, thereby fixing the shape of the nonwoven fabric 10.

Preferably, in the fixing step S30, each needle on the clip chain is aligned with a crest and/or a trough of the wavy crimp of the nonwoven fabric, respectively.

Preferably, in the above method, the spacing between the first teeth, the spacing between the second teeth, and the spacing between the lancets are adjusted to be 1:1:1 or 1:1:0.5.

Referring to fig. 11 and 12, the present utility model provides a warp elastic nonwoven fabric 100, which can be manufactured by the manufacturing apparatus or the manufacturing method as described above, and has the characteristics and technical effects as described above.

Specifically, referring to fig. 11, the warp elastic nonwoven 100 of the present utility model has a flat surface. Further, referring to fig. 12, there is shown a partial enlarged view of region a of fig. 11 wherein the fibrous structure 110 of the warp elastic nonwoven 100 is oriented substantially in the weft direction.

When the nonwoven fabric 100 is stretched by an external force in the warp direction, the fiber structures 110 oriented in the weft direction can be stretched back to the state of unchanged fiber compliance in the warp direction, and after the stretching by the external force is stopped, the fiber structures 110 of the nonwoven fabric 100 can be restored to the state of oriented in the weft direction, so that the elastic nonwoven fabric has the characteristic of high warp-direction stretch recovery, namely, high extension restoring force, which is superior to the elastic nonwoven fabric of the prior art.

In summary, the utility model has the effects that firstly, regular wave folds can be formed on the non-woven fabric through the speed difference gear and the suction gear which are meshed with each other to be beneficial to ensuring the surface evenness of the final elastic non-woven fabric, secondly, the non-woven fabric can be clung to the tooth part of the suction gear and the outer surface of the groove part through the suction force on the suction gear, the wave folds of the non-woven fabric can be transferred to the subsequent process as they are, which is beneficial to improving the evenness of the final cloth cover, thirdly, the hollow groove is arranged in the center of the outer surface of the suction gear, the accommodating space of the needle clip chain after penetrating the non-woven fabric can be provided, fourth, the compliance of the fibers and the subsequent cooling shaping can be changed through the slight weft stretching under heating, the non-woven fabric can have elasticity superior to the prior art in the warp direction, and fifth, the phenomenon that the area of the non-woven fabric is reduced or the thickness is thinned due to necking when the non-woven fabric is in the subsequent stretching can be compensated through the uniform wave folds formed in advance, and the single-layer non-woven fabric can have excellent elasticity after the processing, the additional attaching step can be omitted, the material can be carried out or the attaching step can be omitted, the manufacturing cost can be reduced, the required manufacturing cost and the required product can be reduced, and the storage cost can be reduced, and the required cost is reduced.

Those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure relates will appreciate that various modifications and changes can be made to the above-described embodiments, e.g., combinations, separations, substitutions and alterations of configurations, etc., without departing from the essential characteristics of the present disclosure.

Accordingly, the embodiments of the present utility model are intended to illustrate the scope of the technical idea of the present utility model, but the scope of the present utility model is not limited to the above embodiments, and any modification or variation of the present utility model that is within the same spirit of the present utility model should be included in the scope of the present utility model.

Claims (9)

1. An apparatus for producing a warp-elastic nonwoven fabric, comprising:

The heating device is provided with an inlet, an inner space and an outlet in sequence along the radial direction, wherein the inner space is divided into a preheating section adjacent to the inlet, a spreading section positioned in the middle and a stabilizing section adjacent to the outlet along the radial direction;

At least two needle clip chains in the form of conveying belts, which are respectively positioned at two latitudinal sides of the heating device, and extend from an inlet of the heating device to the outlet along a longitudinal direction sequentially through the preheating section, the expanding section and the stabilizing section, wherein each of the needle clip chains is provided with a plurality of needles;

at least two feeding wheel sets respectively arranged above the needle clip chains at the inlet of the heating device, and

At least two brush wheels respectively arranged above the needle clip chains at the radial downstream of the feeding wheel groups, wherein

Each of the plurality of feeding wheel sets comprises a speed difference gear and a suction gear which are meshed with each other, wherein

Each of the plurality of differential gears is provided with a plurality of first teeth portions and a plurality of first groove portions, which are alternately arranged along the outer circumferential surface of the differential gear, and

A hollow groove is arranged at the weft center on the outer surface of each of the plurality of air suction gears, and each of the plurality of air suction gears is respectively provided with a plurality of second tooth parts, a plurality of second groove parts and a plurality of air suction holes on the weft two sides of the hollow groove, wherein the plurality of second groove parts and the plurality of second tooth parts are respectively staggered along the weft two sides of the outer circumferential surface of the air suction gear, and the plurality of air suction holes are at least arranged on the plurality of second groove parts, wherein

The speed difference gears and the air suction gears are respectively fed between the speed difference gears and the air suction gears along the warp direction at a speed higher than the conveying speed of the needle clip chains, and the speed difference gears and the air suction gears are meshed and rotated in a mode that the first tooth parts are inserted into the second groove parts and the second tooth parts are inserted into the first groove parts, so that the weft two sides of the non-woven fabric are respectively sunk between the first tooth parts and the second groove parts and between the first groove parts and the second tooth parts, and the non-woven fabric forms regular wave wrinkles along the warp direction; the plurality of suction gears provide suction force through the plurality of suction holes so that the two weft sides of the fed non-woven fabric are respectively clung to the outer surfaces of the plurality of second tooth parts and the plurality of second groove parts, the plurality of hollow grooves are configured to enable the plurality of needles to respectively pierce the fed non-woven fabric and enter the plurality of hollow grooves in a conveying belt mode when the plurality of needle clip chains rotate on the plurality of suction gears so as to fix the wave wrinkles of the fed non-woven fabric, and the plurality of suction gears stop providing the suction force after the plurality of needles pierce the fed non-woven fabric so that the non-woven fabric is smoothly transferred onto the plurality of needle clip chains from the plurality of suction gears;

The plurality of brush wheels rotate while the plurality of needle clip chains are operated in a conveyor belt manner so as to flatten the wavy folds of the non-woven fabrics on the plurality of needle clip chains, and

The plurality of clip chains feed the nonwoven fabric having flattened wave folds from the inlet of the heating device into the interior space of the heating device in a radial direction, through the preheating section, the expanding section and the stabilizing section, and out of the outlet of the heating device, wherein

In the preheating section, the plurality of needle clip chains have a fixed weft spacing,

In the expanding section, the weft spacing of the plurality of clip chains is gradually widened, and

In the stabilizing section, the plurality of clip chains maintain a widened weft spacing.

2. The apparatus for producing a warp-wise elastic nonwoven fabric according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of air suction holes are further provided on the plurality of second teeth.

3. The apparatus for manufacturing a warp-elastic nonwoven fabric according to claim 1, wherein the heating temperature of the heating means is 120 to 180 ℃.

4. The apparatus for producing a warp-elastic nonwoven fabric according to claim 1, wherein the nonwoven fabric has a weft-expansion ratio in the expanding section of between 15 and 100%.

5. The apparatus for producing a warp-elastic nonwoven according to claim 1, wherein each of the needles of the clip chain is aligned with a respective one of the peaks and/or troughs of the wavy folds.

6. The apparatus for producing a warp-elastic nonwoven according to claim 1, wherein a pitch between the first teeth and a pitch between the second teeth and a pitch between the needles are 1:1:1 or 1:1:0.5.

7. The apparatus for producing a warp-elastic nonwoven fabric according to claim 1, wherein the nonwoven fabric is produced by a spunbonding method, a hydroentanglement method, a thermal method, a melt-blowing method, or a needle punching method.

8. A warp-elastic nonwoven produced according to the production apparatus of claim 1 to 7, characterized in that,

The warp elastic nonwoven has a flat surface and its fibrous structure is oriented in the weft direction such that the warp elastic nonwoven has an extension restoring force in the warp direction.

9. The warp-elastic nonwoven according to claim 8, characterized in that the warp-elastic nonwoven has a warp-elongation of between 50 and 350%.