Patent Application
20200378062
The present invention relates to improving the characteristics of fabrics and other substrates that may or may not be related to fabrics. More particularly, the present invention relates to effective and cost-efficient application of materials such as additives to substrates including but not limited to fabrics, down feathers, fill, leather, synthetics, and yarn, which are generally referred to herein as materials. The present invention is an apparatus and a method for applying materials to substrates by spraying or otherwise directing the materials on to the substrate to infuse them on and/or into the substrate.
Fabrics and applicable substrates mentioned are widely used throughout the world to make finished products such as clothing, bedding, and towels, to name just three. There are many desirable characteristics that product manufacturers seek to establish in their products. These characteristics vary widely and can include, but not be limited to feel, temperature control, moisture control and microbe control. Manufacturers also seek to maintain the product integrity and the desired characteristics through many cycles of cleaning and usage. It is therefore important to treat materials effectively to enable desired characteristics. It is also important to be able to do so in a cost-effective manner.
Presently, for the most part, components, or materials such as additives are applied to fabric items in a wet condition, such as in a bath, by conventional spraying, coating, or foam. Application of material in a liquid state as currently accomplished is costly in terms of the amount of additive material used, the amount of liquid used to deliver the additive material and the energy required to dry the material after liquid immersion. Moreover, the additive material delivery vehicle in the form of solvents and adherence-enhancing chemicals are increasingly undesirable components of the treatment that may remain in the substrate material and/or be exposed in the effluent downstream. Nevertheless, the desired material characteristics achieved by liquid additive application currently outweigh the negative consequences. In addition, existing methods for treating materials by applying additives thereto involve simply coating the substrate material rather than applying the additives in a way that integrates or embeds them into the material and so, while enhancing material characteristics, additive materials applied by current processes do not improve those characteristics as much as is possible.
The described limitations of additive material introduction to substrates also limit the number, form and type of desired additives that can be applied to fabrics particularly to improve their characteristics. Some additives may not be suitable for dispersion in a liquid and/or uniform introduction to the material. It may not be possible to combine a plurality of additives in a single liquid mixture and so multiple applications may be required. These and other limitations reduce the manufacturer's options for improving materials in a desired but cost-effective way. Therefore, what is needed is an apparatus and method for the effective application of one or more materials such as additives to a substrate by adhering and/or embedding the one or more materials on and/or into the substrate material. Further, what is needed is such an apparatus and method that provides additive application in a cost-effective process. In addition, what is needed is an apparatus and method to apply one or more sprayable materials to other types of substrates as well as components of materials, particularly nanoparticle additives but not limited thereto. Relatedly, the present invention forms new products including such additive materials.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for the effective application of one or more materials, such as additive materials, to a substrate such as a fabric but not limited thereto. The applied materials may be sprayable or otherwise transferable onto and into the substrate. It is also an objective of the present invention to provide such an apparatus and method that improves additive material application in a cost-effective process.
These and other objectives are achieved with the present invention, which is a material application device that may be a stand-alone apparatus or that may form part of a more comprehensive system, such as a fabric or fill production and treatment apparatus. The material may be an additive, for example. The application device includes a plurality of applicators arranged in an array to provide a substantially uniform dispersion of the atomized material, which may be a plurality of materials, such as additives, onto a substrate so that at least a portion of the one or more applied materials is retained within, or at least attached to the surface of, the substrate. The focus of the description of the present invention is directed to application of one or more additives to fabrics and/or the components of fabrics; however, it is not limited to that substrate alone. For example, but not limited thereto, it is to be understood that the present invention may be used to adhere and/or embed one or more additive materials on and/or into fibers, yarns, down, fills, leather, and other synthetic or natural substrates, that may include porous and nonporous substrates. The substrate items may be stationary, or they may be moving during the application process. The number and arrangement of applicators in the array is selectable. The applicators include nozzles that are selectably positioned with respect to the substrate item or items to ensure substantial uniformity of additive material dispersion and substantially complete contact of applied material with the substrate. The device includes one or more manifolds to which the applicators are connected. The manifold supplies an additive material delivery vehicle, which may be air, to the applicators. The additive material or additive materials are also supplied to the applicators with the delivery vehicle and transmitted through applicator nozzles. The nozzles are configured to generate a dispersive pattern of the mixture, such as in a conical arrangement, for example, but not limited thereto. The delivery vehicle is configured to disperse the one or more additive materials onto the substrate with minimal liquid inclusion. As a result, the substrate is treated with the additive material(s) with minimal liquid and decreased drying requirements.
The device optionally includes a heater used to warm the additive material enough to manipulate the physical properties thereof. The material substrate, particularly synthetic fibers but not limited thereto, may have thermoplastic characteristics that allow the physical properties of such substrates to be modified when manipulated with and exposed to heat. The process of warming a substrate material to enhance additive adhesion is not limited to use of the additive application device described herein. That is, the mechanism of warming may be employed separate from the additive apparatus as described, with the one or more additives directed to the substrate material in an alternative way provided that the one or more additive materials or at least a portion thereof are embedded into or adhered onto the substrate. The warming of the substrate may also be accomplished by other means not limited to a heater placed adjacent to the substrate. For example, the substrate may be warmed due to a process of making it, such as when synthetic materials are thermally set but not limited thereto.
The material application device of the present invention may be used to improve characteristics of substrate items and any resultant product made using such substrate items. Prior systems for adding materials to substrates often involved immersing the substrate material in water or another solvent that included such additives or simply coating the surface of the substrate material with a treatment. On the other hand, the present invention enables introduction of the materials, such as additives, in a form that is close to dry relative to the immersion method while enabling integration of at least a portion of the additive into or onto the substrate. There is less energy required to complete drying, less water (with its corresponding waste removal obligations) used and the substrate is of a better quality with less residual dampness therein. The method of the present invention involves generating an additive material formulation, an additive material delivery vehicle and directing a dispersion of that mixture to the substrate material to be treated. The dispersed additive material formulation uses an efficient amount of moisture to allow the additive material to adhere to the substrate material or embed into the surface of the substrate material. The additive formulation is directed to the substrate material in a pattern and at a rate selected to provide substantially uniform dispersion on the substrate with enough speed, power, and pressure to ensure integration and while maximizing the efficiency of the additive material usage. The use of a relatively dry delivery vehicle reduces the time and energy required to dry the substrate to completion after additive material application.
As noted, the apparatus of the present invention may also be used to apply one or more additives to a surface, such as a wall, a carpet, a chair, a computer keyboard, and any other substrate where it is of interest to treat at least the surface thereof with nanoparticle additives. For such types of additives, the apparatus used to deliver a formulation of additives and the material delivery vehicle includes components that come in contact with the additive that are made of, or treated with, low surface tension substrate materials. The nanoparticles tend to adhere to interior surfaces of components such as pump walls, tubes, valves, and applicator nozzles when those interior surfaces are relatively rough. The surfaces of the components of the apparatus of the present invention that are designed to contact nanoparticle additives are either coated with low-surface-tension materials or are made of low-surface-tension materials. That includes nonmetallic materials such as Nylon and Teflon, for example.
These and other advantages of the invention will become more apparent upon review of the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.
While the following description is directed for the embodiment of the invention wherein one or more materials such as additives are delivered to a substrate such as a fabric, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Instead, the present invention provides an apparatus and method to facilitate the introduction and adhesion of one or more materials to a substrate with minimal after drying and processing required. In addition, the present invention improves the opportunity to enhance the characteristics of treated substrate through a more effective integration of the material or materials into the interstices of the substrate. Additionally, the present invention provides a method for substrate material enhancement using the apparatus described. The steps of the method as described may be done in different orders without deviating from the scope of the invention. The method of the present invention involving the application of one or more additive materials to a substrate of interest results in the fabrication of products having improved characteristics due to the integration of one or more materials into and on the substrate so that it is effectively joined thereto.
The fabric introduction section 14 includes a plurality of preparation rollers 22 and an optional pretreater 24 that can be used to prepare a fabric for subsequent processing in the apparatus 10. The fabric roller section 16 is used to configure the fabric in a desired alignment and for controlling the rate of fabric passage through the apparatus 10. The fabric recovery section 20 is used to spool treated fabric for subsequent delivery and later processing into finished product. It is to be understood that the fabric introduction section 14, the fabric roller section 16, the optional fabric treatment section 18, and the fabric recovery section 20 are all elements of a fabric processing system known to those of skill in the art. The apparatus 10 shown in
With reference to
As illustrated in
It has been observed that at least some additive materials bind better to the fibers of the fabric 30 when those fibers have been warmed to a point of increased viscosity, more particularly, at or greater than glass transition temperature. When the one or more additives contact the fabric 30 with viscous fibers, the additive material is retained in and on the fibers, particularly as those fibers cool while passing from the additive application device 12 through to the fabric recovery section 20. That is, the additive material applied using the applicators 28 adhere well to the fabric fibers. The resultant improved fabric has a better chance of retaining the desired characteristics imparted by the one or more additives for a longer period than when the one or more additives are applied to fabric that is cooler. This additive adhesion improvement resulting from additive material application when the fabric fibers are in a viscous state is not limited to additive introduction with a device such as the material application device 12 described herein.
With respect to
The nozzles 44 are selected to maintain integrity and minimize clogging based on the materials selected to pass therethrough. In an embodiment of the invention, the nozzles 44 include conical inserts 45 selected and arranged to generate a conical pattern on the fabric 30 passing by. It is to be understood that the nozzles 44 may be configured to generate any desired spray pattern not limited to a conical pattern. The nozzles 44 are arranged on the manifold 26 and the force of the applied pattern is selected to ensure substantially that the dispersions of additive material from adjacent nozzles 44 overlap. That configuration, the dispersion force selected, and the additive materials chosen are designed in combination to enhance the likelihood that the material application to the fabric 30 is complete and uniform over the entire surface of the fabric 30.
Each manifold 26 includes a first end cap 46 and a second end cap 48. The first end cap 46 seals interior cavity 50 of the manifold 26 so that any dispersion vehicle introduced into the cavity 50 can only exit through the ports that are coupled to the dispersion vehicle inlets 38 of the applicators 28. The second end cap 48 includes a supply port 52 that may be coupled to a dispersion vehicle supply. For example, when air is used as the dispersion vehicle, the dispersion vehicle supply may be an air compressor having a supply tube removably coupled to the supply port 52 of the manifold 26. The dispersion vehicle is maintained at a force sufficient to cause turbulent mixing with the one or more additive materials in the mixing chamber 42 of the applicator 28 and sufficient to force the material-dispersion vehicle mixture to pass through the nozzle 44 with enough force to reach the fabric 30 passing by or retained in position adjacent to the manifolds 26.
Referring to
The material application device 12 of the present invention may be used to improve characteristics of a substrate such as a fabric, and any resultant product made using such substrate. Whereas prior systems for adding materials to fabrics often involved submerging the fabric in water or another solvent that included such materials, the present invention enables introduction of the material or materials in a form that is close to dry relative to the immersion method. There is less energy required to complete drying, less solvent (with its corresponding waste removal obligations) used and the fabric is of a better quality with less residual dampness therein. The method of the present invention involves generating a mixture of additive material and additive material delivery vehicle and directing a dispersion of that mixture to fabric to be treated. The dispersed mixture is sufficiently damp to cause the material to adhere to the fabric while the delivery vehicle is selected to be relatively dry, such as a gas like air, for example. The mixture is directed onto the fabric in a pattern and at a rate selected to provide substantially uniform dispersion on the fabric and embed into or adhere onto the fabric while maximizing the efficiency of additive material usage. The use of a relatively dry delivery vehicle reduces the time and energy required to dry the fabric to completion after additive material application. It is to be understood that the material application device 12, or at least those components used to combine the one or more additive materials with the delivery vehicle and the applicator 28 may be employed to treat a surface with desired materials. For example, the material application device 12 so configured can be used to apply one or more additive materials to a wall, a floor, a chair, a keyboard, and any other surface of interest.
The type of additive material that may be used and the number of additive materials used in a single dispersion process is selectable. The additive material is preferably in a fluid form, such as a gas, a liquid, solid particles, or any combination thereof but not limited thereto. Examples of materials that may be deployed on and into a substrate such as a fabric using the present invention include, but are not limited to, anti-microbials, dyes, moisture suppressors, insulative materials and fluid transport regulators. Nanoparticles of materials may be applied to fabric with the present invention. Examples of suitable nanoparticles include, but are not limited to, Diamond, Gold, Silver, Jade, Copper, Zinc, and combinations thereof. Other types of particles may also be added or substituted. In addition, while nanoparticles are suitable additive materials in the present invention, additive materials sized in a manner so that they may not qualify as nanoparticles as conventionally understood are also contemplated as suitable additives in the present invention.
The material application device 12 is shown in the drawings as part of the more comprehensive and stationary fabric treatment apparatus 10. It is to be understood that alternative configurations exist for the material application device 12. For example, and not limited thereto, the material application device 12 may be operated as a mobile device that is not specifically coupled to a stationary structure or to a broader treatment apparatus.
When the one or more additive materials includes one or more nanoparticles and/or other solid materials, the components of the material application device 12 that contact those types of materials are preferably treated with, or made of, materials that minimize additive material buildup thereon. For example, the supply tubes 54, the inlet 40, the mixing chamber 42, and the nozzles 44 are fabricated of a low-surface-tension material such as Nylon or Teflon, for example. Alternatively, at least the additive material contact surfaces of those components are treated with low-surface-tension material.
The optional step of warming the substrate material to the point that its components are in a state of viscosity increases the adhesion of the additive material or materials on and into the fabric, yarn, or a surface to be treated. The apparatus and method of the present invention improve the uniformity and certainty of additive material inclusion in and on a fabric, yarn or surface while reducing drying time and overall expense of such an effort.
While the step of warming has been described herein with respect to modification of a material's physical properties specifically, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. The invention includes the process of applying the additive material described to any substrate wherein either or both the substrate and the additive material are warmed to a temperature suitable to enhance the adhesion of the additive material to the substrate. The substrate may be a solid or a fluid material. The substrate may also be a component of a product. For example, the additive material is shown in
In a situation where individual fibers are treated with an additive material, the material application device 12 or another type of device can be used to direct fluid material onto fibers. The fluid material may be warmed to facilitate adhesion of the additive material to the fibers. The fibers may be warmed to facilitate that adhesion. Both the fluid additive material(s) and the fibers may be warmed to enhance the adhesion. The fibers may be warmed by applying heat to them prior to or while they are twisted into a yarn. For man-made fibers that are fabricated from a polymeric fluid that passes through a spinneret and cooled to form fibers. The additive material may be applied to the fibers either before or after the fibers exit the spinneret while in a semi-solid state prior to twisting into a yarn through various methods of introduction into the screw extrusion or application after yarn stabilization.
Fibers to be treated with the additive material may be of any shape, including those of uniform cross section, those of non-uniform cross section and those that are at least partially voided, such as fibers referred to as hollow fibers. The fibers of non-uniform cross-section, such as those with a plurality of lobes including, but not limited to X-shaped, Y-shaped and W-shaped fibers, for example are suited for additive adhesion, whether warmed or not warmed, as they have perimeters that are greater than fibers of uniform cross-section, such as round fibers. Moreover, fibers with non-uniform cross section effectively are formed with valleys, pockets and other entrapment configurations that are more likely to retain desired additive material or materials joined on and/or into the fiber structure than fibers having smooth perimeters. Nevertheless, the additive material may be applied to fibers of any shape. Application of one or more desired additive materials at the fiber level enhances the effectiveness of the one or more additive materials when the fibers form part of a product because the additive material is integrated throughout the product rather than at the surface of the perimeter of the product.
Further, while the material application device 12 or the mobile example described herein may be used to apply one or more additive materials to selectable fibers, the one or more additive materials may be applied to fibers by using other types of application devices, as well as by contacting them with the additive material such as by placing them on, or immersing them into, a bath of fluid containing the one or more additive materials, whether or not warmed. The one or more additive materials may also be incorporated into the polymeric fluid prior to extruding the fibers through the spinneret.
The application of one or more additive materials having desirable characteristics to individual fibers results in the formation of new fiber products having such characteristics. Further, products such as yarns and fabrics made with such fibers are also new products having such characteristics. More generally, the present invention produces enhanced products of all types because of the effective integration of the one or more additive materials on and into those products, wherein at least a portion of those one or more additive materials are nanoparticles.
The present invention of an apparatus and method for applying one or more additive materials to a substrate such as a fabric has been described with respect to specific components and method steps. Nevertheless, it is to be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. All equivalents are deemed to fall within the scope of this description of the invention as identified by the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62632308 | Feb 2018 | US | |
| 62744490 | Oct 2018 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/US2019/018467 | Feb 2019 | US |
| Child | 16994550 | US |
