The present invention relates to a discharge nozzle for nanofiber production apparatuses that produce fine fibers and a nanofiber production apparatus including the discharge nozzle.
Nanofibers are being used in various fields thanks to the properties thereof. In recent years, it has been requested to produce nanofibers in which fibers having different diameters and different lengths corresponding to the application are complicatedly intertwined, such as nonwoven fabrics formed of ultrafine fibers. Fine-fiber production technologies are disclosed in, for example, Patent Literatures 1 and 2. Ultrafine-fiber production apparatuses disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 and 2 include substantially the same spinnerets for melt blowing. These ultrafine-fiber production apparatuses include one or more liquid nozzles that are able to discharge a heated molten resin (Patent Literature 1) or a polymer solution obtained by dissolving a raw-material polymer in a solvent (Patent Literature 2) and one or more hot blast nozzles that draw the molten resin or polymer solution discharged from the liquid nozzles into fibers by blowing a hot blast onto the molten resin or polymer solution. Patent Literatures 1 and 2 disclose that the ultrafine-fiber production apparatuses stably spin the molten resin into fine fibers using a small amount of hot blast gas.
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent No. 5946569
Patent Literature 2: Japanese Patent No. 5946565
However, in the case of the ultrafine-fiber production apparatuses described in Patent Literatures 1 and 2, for example, when producing fibers having different diameters, it is difficult to appropriately change the diameter or inclination of the liquid nozzles or hot blast nozzles so as to correspond to the different diameters. The only method to change such conventional liquid nozzles or hot blast nozzles is to replace the entire spinneret.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problem, and an object thereof is to provide a discharge nozzle for nanofiber production apparatuses that allows for an easy change to a specification of nanofibers to be produced, such as the diameter, and thus an improvement in apparatus variety or workability and a nanofiber production apparatus including the discharge nozzle.
A discharge nozzle mounted on a nanofiber production apparatus according to the present invention is a discharge nozzle mounted on a nanofiber production apparatus that draws a molten or dissolved resin discharged from a molten/dissolved resin outlet into fine fibers by discharging the molten/dissolved resin such that the molten or dissolved resin is guided by a hot blast discharged from a hot blast outlet. The discharge nozzle includes a division-type nozzle unit that is provided with a molten/dissolved resin outlet and a hot blast outlet and can be divided into multiple units.
In the discharge nozzle mounted on the nanofiber production apparatus according to the present invention, the division-type nozzle unit can be divided such that at least one of the molten/dissolved resin flow path and the hot blast flow path is divided into multiple flow paths.
In the discharge nozzle mounted on the nanofiber production apparatus according to the present invention, a division joint of the division-type nozzle unit is an airtight sealing plate, such as a packing structure, that is formed of a highly heat-resistant, pressure-resistant, and chemical-resistant metal or special material corresponding to the temperature of a hot blast to be used or the properties of the molten or dissolved resin.
In the discharge nozzle mounted on the nanofiber production apparatus according to the present invention, the division-type nozzle unit includes a first nozzle unit serving as a molten/dissolved resin inflow unit, a second nozzle unit serving as a hot blast inflow unit, a third nozzle unit serving as a resin/hot blast introduction unit, and a fourth nozzle unit serving as a discharge unit.
A discharge nozzle mounted on a nanofiber production apparatus according to the present invention is a discharge nozzle mounted on a nanofiber production apparatus that draws a molten or dissolved resin discharged from a molten/dissolved resin outlet into fine fibers by discharging the molten/dissolved resin such that the molten or dissolved resin is guided by a hot blast discharged from a hot blast outlet. The discharge nozzle includes a division-type nozzle unit that can be divided into multiple units. The hot blast outlet is formed as a single rectangular slit-shaped hot blast outlet on a front wall surface of the division-type nozzle unit. The molten/dissolved resin outlet includes multiple aligned molten/dissolved resin outlets formed on the front wall surface of the division-type nozzle unit and disposed along a length direction of the hot blast outlet.
A nanofiber production apparatus according to the present invention is a nanofiber production apparatus that draws a molten or dissolved resin discharged from a molten/dissolved resin outlet into fine fibers by discharging the molten/dissolved resin such that the molten or dissolved resin is guided by a hot blast discharged from a hot blast outlet. The nanofiber production apparatus includes a discharge nozzle including a division-type nozzle unit that can be divided into multiple units. The hot blast outlet is formed as a single rectangular slit-shaped hot blast outlet on a front wall surface of the division-type nozzle unit. The molten/dissolved resin outlet includes multiple aligned molten/dissolved resin outlets formed on the front wall surface of the division-type nozzle unit and disposed along a length direction of the hot blast outlet.
According to the present invention, the discharge nozzle can be divided into multiple units. Thus, when producing nanofibers having the desired diameter, some of the divided nozzle units provided with the molten/dissolved resin outlet and hot blast outlet can be easily replaced with units provided with a molten/dissolved resin outlet and a hot blast outlet corresponding to the desired specification, such as the fiber diameter. This allows for an increase in replacement workability and a reduction in the working time, allowing for providing low-cost fine fibers and nonwoven fabrics or the like formed of such fibers.
When producing a nonwoven fabric, a hot blast is blown from the hot blast outlet formed as a single slit, and the molten or dissolved resin is simultaneously discharged from the aligned multiple molten/dissolved resin outlets. This allows for optimization of a blow of the molten or dissolved resin discharged from the molten/dissolved resin outlets onto the hot blast, allowing for suppression of unevenness in the quality of fibers to be formed and thus acquisition of high-quality fibers.
The divided nozzle units can be easily integrated using fixing means, such as bolts. This allows for a reduction in the time required for troublesome assembly/disassembly work and thus a reduction in the cost of fibers to be produced.
Now, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
Referring now to
The discharge nozzle 2 includes a division-type nozzle unit 6. The division-type nozzle unit 6 can be divided into first to fourth nozzle units 6a to 6d. The first to fourth nozzle units 6a to 6d are arranged sequentially from the right to the left in
Depending on ease of formation of the internal molten/dissolved resin flow path 10 or hot blast flow path 12, the discharge nozzle 2 may be divided, for example, in the up-down direction (may be cut in the left-right direction so that nozzle units are arranged in the up-down direction in
In the present embodiment, the division-type nozzle unit 6 includes the first nozzle unit 6a serving as a molten or dissolved resin inflow unit, the second nozzle unit 6b serving as a hot blast inflow unit, the third nozzle unit 6c serving as a resin/hot blast introduction unit, and the fourth nozzle unit 6d serving as a discharge unit. The first to fourth nozzle units 6a to 6d are provided with the molten/dissolved resin flow path 10 (molten/dissolved resin flow paths 10a to 10d). Thus, the molten or dissolved resin supplied from the molten/dissolved resin supplier 3 is sent to the molten/dissolved resin outlet 9 located on the downstream side of the fourth nozzle unit (discharge unit) 6d through the molten/dissolved resin flow path 10. The molten/dissolved resin outlet 9 is disposed so as to communicate with the downstream end of the molten/dissolved resin flow path 10.
The molten/dissolved resin flow path 10 is formed continuously over the first to fourth nozzle units 6a to 6d. The molten/dissolved resin outlet 9 of the fourth nozzle unit 6d is in the shape of a circle having an extremely small discharge-side diameter. The diameter of the molten/dissolved resin outlet 9 is determined in accordance with the specification of the shape (e.g., diameter) of ultrafine fibers to be produced. As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The hot blast flow path 12 is formed continuously over the second to fourth nozzle units 6b to 6d. The hot blast supplier 4 supplies a hot blast to the second nozzle unit 6b through a hot blast inlet 18. To suppress a sudden pressure variation in the hot blast flow path 12, the second nozzle unit 6b includes the air storage 14 having a predetermined large volume.
As shown in
As shown in
As seen above, the hot blast flow path 12 is provided with the many partitions 15 for rectifying a hot blast and the single hot blast path space 12d for merging the hot blasts rectified by the partitions 15. That is, the single horizontally rectangular, slit-shaped hot blast outlet is provided with respect to the multiple resin outlets rather than providing one hot blast outlet with respect to one resin outlet. Thus, a uniform hot blast discharge flow is formed with respect to the resin discharged from the multiple resin outlets, allowing for production of uniform nanofibers over the entire length of the horizontally rectangular slit.
While, in the embodiment shown in
The relationship between the molten/dissolved resin outlet 9 and hot blast outlet 11 will be described. As shown in
The lower vertical surface 20 is provided with the single rectangular slit-shaped hot blast outlet 11. The inclined surface 22 is provided with the molten/dissolved resin outlets 9-1 to 9-12 (12 outlets in the present embodiment) oriented in the direction of the normal to the inclined surface 22. Accordingly, by adjusting the inclination angle of the inclined surface 22, the direction (angle) of discharge of the molten or dissolved resin with respect to the discharged hot blast is changed. That is, if multiple nozzle units having inclined surfaces 22 having different inclination angles are prepared, a nozzle unit having an inclination angle (the angle at which the molten or dissolved resin and a hot blast intersect each other) corresponding to a desired specification, such as the fiber diameter, can be selected. Instead of a nozzle unit having a different inclined angle, a nozzle unit having molten/dissolved resin outlets 9-1 to 9-12 having a different diameter, a nozzle unit having a different number of molten/dissolved resin outlets, or a nozzle unit having a hot blast outlet 11 having a different configuration (the shape, the number of partitions 15, etc.) may be selected.
As shown in
The fourth nozzle unit (discharge unit) 6d of the discharge nozzle 2 of the present embodiment shown in
As seen above, by mounting the discharge nozzle 2 of the present embodiment on the nanofiber production apparatus 1, the nanofiber production apparatus 1 is allowed to draw the molten or dissolved resin discharged from the multiple molten/dissolved resin outlets 9-1 to 9-12 into fibers by discharging the molten or dissolved resin onto a hot blast discharged from the single slit-shaped hot blast outlet 11. The discharge nozzle 2 of the present embodiment includes the division-type nozzle unit 6 that is provided with the molten/dissolved resin outlet 9 from which the molten or dissolved resin is discharged, the molten/dissolved resin flow path 10 through which the molten or dissolved resin is sent to the molten/dissolved resin outlet 9 (molten/dissolved resin outlets 9-1 to 9-12), the hot blast outlet 11 from which a hot blast is discharged, and the hot blast flow path 12 through which a hot blast is sent to the hot blast outlet 11.
The nanofiber production apparatus 1 of the present embodiment includes the molten/dissolved resin supplier 3 that introduces the molten or dissolved resin into the molten/dissolved resin flow path 10 disposed in the division-type nozzle unit 6 and the hot blast supplier 4 that introduces a hot blast into the hot blast flow path 12 disposed in the division-type nozzle unit 6. The division-type nozzle unit 6 can be divided into first to fourth nozzle units 6a to 6d.
More specifically, the division-type nozzle unit 6 is divided such that the molten/dissolved resin flow path 10 and hot blast flow path 12 are each divided into multiple flow paths. Thus, if multiple different nozzle units that can be applied to different fiber specifications are prepared, some of the nozzle units can be easily replaced in accordance with the target fiber specification. For example, when changing a specification of fibers to be produced, the fourth nozzle unit 6d provided with the molten/dissolved resin outlet 9 and hot blast outlet 11 can be easily replaced with a fourth nozzle unit 6d provided with a molten/dissolved resin outlet 9 and a hot blast outlet 11 corresponding to the changed fiber specification. This allows for an increase in the workability and a reduction in the working time when producing the desired nanofibers, allowing for efficiently providing low-cost fine fibers and nonwoven fabrics or the like formed of such fibers.
The discharge nozzle 2 of the present embodiment is provided with the multiple molten/dissolved resin outlets 9-1 to 9-12, and discharges a resin from the outlets and blows a hot blast through the hot blast outlet 11 formed as a single horizontally rectangular slit. This allows for making uniform the amount of hot blast blown onto the molten or dissolved resin discharged from the molten/dissolved resin outlets 9-1 to 9-12, allowing for suppression of unevenness in the quality of fibers to be formed and thus acquisition of high-quality fibers.
The divided first to fourth nozzle units 6a to 6d can be easily integrated using the fixing means 8, such as bolts. This allows for a reduction in the time required for troublesome assembly/disassembly work and thus a reduction in the cost of fibers to be produced.
While the embodiment of the present invention has been described, the present invention is not limited thereto. Various modifications can be made to the embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. While, in the above embodiment, the four divided first to fourth nozzle units 6a to 6d are each provided with the molten/dissolved resin flow path 10 and hot blast flow path 12, the portions in which the molten/dissolved resin flow path 10 and hot blast flow path 12 are formed may be further dividable. Of course, the number of divided nozzle units may be reduced.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2017-121050 | Jun 2017 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2018/023457 | 6/20/2018 | WO | 00 |