HK1047459B - Blowable insulation clusters - Google Patents

Description

Blowable insulation clusters

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a down-like insulation cluster (clusters), and a method of manufacturing the down-like insulation cluster.

Technical Field

Many attempts have been made by professionals to obtain insulating materials with down-like quality in order to use such materials for insulating articles, such as clothing, sleeping bags, warmth-keeping quilts or the like. Prior efforts have suggested materials that can be used, most of which are produced with excessive weight and density relative to down-like items and are difficult to blow through conventional equipment.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,742 to BABBITT et al, a blown insulation is described which comprises a mixture of first and second fiberglass materials having an insulating effect. In one of the plurality of fibers, has a smaller size so as to fill the voids between a large group of fibers.

In US-3,893,919 to MILLER, a filling material is described which uses relatively large cylindrical and spherical fibrous bodies and feather-like fibrous bodies, the fibrous bodies and feather-like fibrous bodies being intermixed according to the void to be filled.

In U.S. patent No. 4,167,604 to ALDRICH, an improved thermal insulation material is described which is a blend of down and synthetic staple fibers composed of hollow polyester filaments which are treated with silicone and formed into a carded web.

In U.S. patent No. 4,248,927 to LIEBMANN, an insulating material is described which comprises a mesh formed from a combination of natural feathers and down, as well as synthetic polyester.

In US patent US-4,468,336 to SMITH, a loose-fill insulation material is described which is blown to form a space. The insulation material comprises a mixture of loose-fill cellulosic insulation material mixed with short fibers.

In U.S. patent No. US-5,057,168 to mulcrief, an insulation material formed by mixing binder fibers with insulating fibers is described. The insulating fibers are selected from the group formed by synthetic and natural fibers that form a batt that can be cut into any desired shape.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,971 to HERNADEZ et al, a fiber blend is described for use in a fiber filler for garments. The fiber fill mixture includes crimped hollow polyester fibers and crimped binder fibers.

In U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,371 to COOPER et al, a polyester fiber filler material is described which comprises a blend of polyester staple fibers and organic staple fibers.

In U.S. patent No. 5,492,580 to FRANK, a material is described which is formed by blending a mixture of first thermoplastic, thermoset, inorganic or organic fibers with second thermoplastic fibers.

In U.S. patent No. 4,588,635 to DONOVAN, a superior synthetic down is disclosed and has a specific lightweight thermal insulation system that can be obtained by using a low density combination of fine fibers and a range of fiber blends are described which when used to make an insulation batt have the advantage of having the quality of down-like items, for example, having a relatively high heat-to-weight ratio, a soft hand, and good compression recovery. Such materials can approach, and in some cases may even exceed, the thermal insulation properties of natural down. However, from a mechanical point of view, very fine fibers have rigidity and strength deficiencies, which are difficult to produce, handle and use. The recovery properties of such synthetic insulation can be enhanced by increasing the fiber diameter, however, an increase in the larger fiber content will seriously reduce the thermal insulation properties of the overall material. Under humid conditions, the mechanical stability of the fine fiber composition is reduced due to the surface tension associated with capillary water being much higher than the gravitational force, or other loads normally used, which have a considerable adverse effect on the material structure. Unlike waterfowl down, the disclosed fiber combinations described therein have excellent water resistance properties.

In U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,327 to DONOVAN et al, it is described to improve the overall performance of insulation using a binder fiber component without compromising the performanceThe desired performance is lost. In particular, there is disclosed therein a thermal insulation material of synthetic fibers, the material having the form of a bonded fibrous structure comprising the following components in combination: a) 70-95% by weight of synthetic polymer microfine fibers having a diameter of 3-1 μm; b) 5-30% by weight of synthetic polymer microfine fibres having a diameter of 12-50 microns, characterised in that at least some of the fibres are bonded to one another at their points of contact, the bonding being such that the density of the final structural material is in the range 3-60kg/m²The thermal insulation properties of the bonded composition are equal to or substantially no worse than the thermal insulation properties of an equivalent unbonded composition. In its document, a good fiber mixture in the form of a down-like cluster is also described. The outstanding advantages of the clusters compared to felts are also disclosed in this patent.

However, in the prior art, the clusters are usually made by hand, and the production process is slow, long and mass production. Furthermore, the materials in the prior art are materials that are not easily blown using conventional manufacturing equipment. It is therefore desirable to provide a blowable material which can partially or wholly replace down and which is easy to manufacture and blow by conventional equipment.

Disclosure of Invention

The main object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks present in the materials mentioned above.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a blowable material for use in partial or complete replacement of down.

According to the present invention there is provided a blowable insulation material comprising one or more materials selected from the group consisting of; bonded batt, bonded web, partially bonded batt and partially bonded web, said material being chopped one or more times into random shaped blowable clusters, said material being composed of random fibers bonded together at a plurality of contact points between fibers.

The invention discloses a silk ball made of chopped wool layers. Such batt may be a thermally cured batt, which preferably comprises fibers treated with a water repellent or lubricant and/or dried fibers, and/or binder fibers. The batt is then mechanically chopped into small clusters for blowing by conventional equipment. To some extent, clusters of filaments in random shapes can be better packed in a fairly uniform filling process. In a preferred embodiment, the material consisting of water repellent and/or lubricant treated fibers and dry fibers is subjected to an opening process and then mixed with a tow to form a blowable material having bulk properties, good compression properties and improved hand compared to the use of the tow alone.

Brief description of the drawings

Fig. 1a is a front view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1b is an enlarged front view of the SEM of the invention shown in FIG. 1 a.

Fig. 2a is a front view of a second preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2b is an enlarged front view of the SEM of the invention shown in FIG. 2 a.

Fig. 3 is a graph comparing the resiliency of a material after wetting.

Fig. 4 is a comparative image of the spring back force after wetting of the material.

Detailed description of the invention

The material of the present invention comprises clusters made from chopped batt. Such batt may or may not be a thermally cured batt, depending on the composition of the batt. The batt layer preferably comprises water repellent treated or lubricant treated fibers and/or dry fibers and/or binder fibers. The batt is then mechanically chopped one or several times into small clusters, which can be blown and have a down-like mass. It is contemplated that mesh (typically a single layer of material) and batt (typically a multi-layer material) may be used, or portions thereof, may be used to make the clusters of the present invention. The method of making the clusters is described by the following example.

The clusters may be made from lightweight roving (card sliver) made from a blend of suitable binder fibers. The fiber blend is preferably the fiber blend disclosed in U.S. patent No. 4,992,327 to DONOVAN et al, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Other preferred embodiments utilizing fiber blends include water repellent treated or lubricant treated fibers and/or dry fibers and/or binder fibers. First, the sliver is collected in a sliver can, which is usually used for this purpose, on the output side of the carding machine and is passed directly through a heating tube from which the bonded fiber mixture is thermally bonded. It is important that the fluffy sliver does not shrink and not increase in density during the completion of the bonding step. The ends of the strands descend through the vertical tube while being centered by the guide ring and combine to form a fluffy, linear fiber composition as heated air is blown up through the vertical tube. From the heating tube, the sliver was pulled to the inlet side of a guillotine-type staple cutter. The pure cutting is carried out, and the compact effect of fiber melting is avoided in the cutting process. This process produces a very fluffy mass of fiber that is gathered together.

Using a long, thin prima soft of 7/8 inches, 4 ounces/yard^*Batt (PRIMALOFT)^*ONE) tested the above method, but not the sliver, PRIMALOFT^*The batt has a cross-lapped, bonded structure comprised of a fiber blend of the type disclosed in U.S. patent to DONOVAN et al, and is commercially available. The batt was approximately 7/8 inches wide and was cut in the cross-machine direction (CD) to obtain a fiber orientation substantially parallel to the battThe length direction of the strip, in this respect, is just like a thick strip. By PRIMALOFT^*The strips of batt are pre-bonded and therefore have sufficient integrity to be easily fed into the cutter. It is believed that bonding prior to cutting also improves the quality of the cut. The short fiber cutter used was a laboratory apparatus manufactured by the company of japan ACE MACHINERY co, which was designed to be No. c-75, and was cut at 7/8 inch intervals. Cutting prima loft simply^*The supply of batt material was in the form of clusters of cubes having dimensions of approximately 7/8X 7/8X 7/8 inches. The density of the filament mass collection is shown to be much less than 0.5lb/ft³The insulating material is made into a down-like shape and has high heat insulation efficiency per unit weight. PRIMALOFT as feedstock^*The batt has a nominal density of 0.5lb/ft³And during the cutting process, practically no phenomenon of increasing the density occurs.

The density of the collection of clusters is much less than the density of the clusters alone. If the clusters of the present invention are made directly from roving, rather than batt, the clusters thus produced are somewhat cylindrical, rather than cubic or rectangular in shape.

The batt used in this preferred method is comprised of plied carded laps (plied card laps), although other types of fibers are equally suitable. Preferably, the batt is formed from a roll or web of carded wool having a density comparable to that of the down character. The carded lap or web is preferably prepared from binder fibers of 0.5 to 6.0 denier and/or dry fibers and/or water resistant fibers. In this preferred method, the carded lap or web comprises 40% binder fibers, 30% 1.4 denier dry fibers, and 30% 1.4 denier water resistant fibers. These selected fibers are preferably carded into a 3oz./sq.yd. composition with a stationary flat web by means of a separate cylindrical metal carding machine. These carding machines are available from Hollingworth Saco LOWELLOF Greenville, California. The output of the transport card is passed through a thermal electron and/or gas ignition source to heat cure the binder fibers. The batt is heated for a period of time and to a temperature sufficient to cause bonding of the fibers. In this case, temperatures between 300 and 400 deg.F are used. The heat-cured batt is then chopped, preferably twice through a Rando Opener Blender, such equipment being manufactured by Rando MACHINE COMPANY OF MACEDON, NY, to form the clusters OF the present invention. FIGS. 1a and 1b are front views of clusters, which have been cut twice.

Other variations include:

1. increasing the length of the staple fibers to the limit of being able to be carded, so as to improve the integrity and durability of the clusters;

2. the content of the binder fiber is changed to have good adjusting (fine-tune) shredding performance, cutting performance and cohesion, and the clusters have good characteristics;

3. changing the size, shape and ratio of the clusters;

4. an ultrasonic wave combination device is adopted according to the purpose;

5. shredding the clusters more than once;

6. a batt layer which is not cured by heat is adopted;

7. only a portion of the batt or web is chopped.

It is clear that the clusters that were chopped twice are smoother and easier to blend than clusters that were chopped only once. Also, slit tapes or strips of thermoset batt can be used, and these portions then passed through a standard shredding process to form clusters.

From the examples described above, many variations can be obtained as required without departing from the scope of the invention.

Material evaluation

Fig. 2a and 2b show a preferred embodiment of a silk mass, wherein the silk mass is further strengthened by mixing the silk mass with opened 100% synthetic fibers, preferably a pre-mixed mixture of water repellent or lubricant treated fibers and dry fibers. The opening fibers are preferably any blend of 0.5 to 6.0 denier fibers. The fibers treated with water-repellent agents or lubricants can enhance water-repellent properties. In a preferred embodiment, the clusters comprise no more than 50% material. In certain embodiments, the opened fibers may also be a blend of 70-95% 0.1-1.4 denier fibers and 5-30% 1.4-24 denier fibers. In another embodiment, the opened fibers are 50/50 blends of 1.4 denier polyester fibers treated with a water repellent or lubricant and 1.4 denier dry polyester fibers.

Test 1

Properties of clusters

The 25 lbs. of twice-chopped batt comprised 30% water repellent or lubricant treated fibers, 30% dry fibers, and 40% binder fibers fed into a mixing drum through a blowing station. The chopped batt alone is easily opened once the beater is rotated in the tub and passes through the metering and blowing system without any problems.

Similar results were obtained for mixtures of silk clusters and opened fibers. The size of the blow nozzle can compensate for this. In some cases, hand mixing may also enhance the performance of the mixture.

The clusters are better than down in terms of water absorption resistance. The degree of resilience, water absorption, density of the resulting mixture can be measured in the test by soaking several times in water.

Test 2

In end use, the insulation is used in garments or sleeping bags. To represent a realistic humidity environment, the test material was placed in a fabric pillow case prior to immersion in water. These pillow cases were 8 "x 9" in size and were made of 3oz./sq.yd. break-resistant nylon fabric sewn on three edges. The fourth edge is nailed by a safety pin.

The materials tested were chopped batt alone, 50/50 down/chopped batt, chopped batt and antistatic treatment, 50/50 synthetic fiber/chopped batt and 50/50 synthetic fiber/chopped batt with antistatic treatment. 12 grams of insulation material was placed into each pillow case and each type of material filled three identical articles. The initial degree of rebound and weight of each sample was measured and recorded.

First, each sample was half-immersed in 70 ° F water for 10 seconds and then kept floating in water for 20 minutes. At this point, each sample was sent to an industrial press and subjected to one press to measure its degree of rebound. Then, each sample was shaken vigorously for 10 seconds, and the degree of springback thereof was measured and recorded. The sample was then half immersed in water for another 10 seconds and the above procedure was repeated to measure the values after 1, 2 and 4 hours of total immersion exposure. Figure 3 shows a comparative graph of the effect of springback after exposure by immersion in water. Fig. 4 is a photograph showing the degree of resiliency of 50/50 synthetic fiber/chopped batt after four hours of soaking, pressing and shaking.

The clusters (mixed only with synthetic fibers) exhibit excellent water resistance and, through the enhancement of cleaning performance, do not cause the lumping phenomenon when filling down alone.

It is well known that the use of clusters and the mixing of opened fibres in clusters can lead to a certain level of static electricity in the product, which must be solved. For example, two boxes of fabric softening sheet and a bucket of static electricity removal spray were added to the mixture of test 1. The sheet was cut into 1/2 "squares and sprinkled into the product. And (4) freely spraying the electrostatic removal spraying agent on the surfaces of the barrel and the product. In this case, the product can be successfully blown through the system. The conduit cross-section is larger than the nozzle, which is used to provide an accurate metered weight. With suitable adaptation to the appropriate equipment, a mixture of the clusters and the opened fibers can be used. At some point, it is desirable to treat the fibers with a static-dissipative treating agent prior to shredding.

The invention also takes care of using fibre mixtures not mentioned before. These mixtures limit the range of diameters of the average fibers in order to guarantee a high level of insulating properties. In certain examples, the average fiber diameter is greater than the fiber diameter defined in the referenced patents, as desired. For example, if the final product is to be used in pillows or upholstery and products requiring high compressive stiffness, fibers of considerable diameter may be utilized.

Thus, the advantages of the present invention will be understood from the detailed description which follows, disclosing preferred embodiments of the invention. The scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments but is defined by the claims of the present invention.

Claims (20)

1. A blowable insulation material comprising one or more fibrous materials selected from the group consisting of: bonded batt, bonded web, partially bonded batt and partially bonded web, characterized in that the fibrous material is chopped one or several times into randomly shaped blowable clusters consisting of random fibers bonded together at many points of contact between the fibers.

2. A blowable insulation material as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the fibrous material comprises 70 to 95% by weight of synthetic polymer microfine fibers having a diameter of 3 to 12 microns, and 5 to 30% by weight of synthetic polymer macrofibers having a diameter of 12 to 50 microns.

3. A blowable insulation material as claimed in claim 1, wherein: also comprises an electrostatic removing device.

4. A blowable insulation material as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the fibrous material further comprises one or more materials selected from the group consisting of 0.5 to 6.0 denier fibers treated with a water repellent or lubricant, 0.5 to 6.0 denier dry fibers, and binder fibers.

5. A blowable insulation material as claimed in claim 4, wherein: the fiber material comprises 40% of bonding fibers, 30% of dry fibers and 30% of fibers treated with a water repellent agent or a lubricant.

6. A blowable insulation material as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the blowable clusters are mixed with one or more materials selected from the group consisting of opened water repellent treated fibers, lubricant treated fibers and dry fibers to form a mixture.

7. The blowable insulation material of claim 6, wherein: the blowable clusters are no more than 50% of the mixture.

8. The blowable insulation material of claim 6, wherein: the dry fibers are dry polyester and the water repellent or lubricant treated fibers are siliconized polyester.

9. The blowable insulation material of claim 6, wherein: the opened water repellent or lubricant treated fiber/dry fiber blend is a blend of 50/50.

10. A blowable insulation material as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the blowable clusters include randomly arranged fibers that are bonded together at a number of contact points between the fibers.

11. A blowable insulation material as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the fibrous material is a thermoset fibrous material.

12. A method of making a blowable clusters comprising:

providing a fibrous material comprising one or more materials selected from the group consisting of batt, web, portions of batt, portions of web, and suitable mixtures of binder fibers and other fibers;

carding the fibrous material to produce a carded fibrous material;

heating said carded fibrous material for a time and at a temperature to cause said binder fibers to bind with other fibers to form a bound fibrous material; and

chopping the bonded fibrous material to produce the blowable clusters comprised of random fibers bonded together at a number of contact points between the fibers.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein: the blowable clusters are shredded one or more times.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein: the fibrous material comprises a plied carded wool lap.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein: the fibrous material comprises a mesh.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein: the fibrous material is chopped one or more times.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein: heating is performed by an electrical or gas ignition source.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein: a suitable binder fiber mixture is a binder fiber mixture having from 70% to 95% by weight of synthetic polymer microfibers having a diameter of from 3 to 12 microns and from 5% to 30% by weight of synthetic polymer macrofibers having a diameter of from 12 to 50 microns.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein: suitable binder fiber blends include one or more of the following materials: water repellent or lubricant treated fibers, dry fibers, and bonded fibers.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein a static removal device is added.