Patent Application
20050138834
The present invention relates to insulation production systems and methods, and more particularly to systems and methods for curing fiberglass insulation.
As part of the process for manufacturing fiberglass insulation products, textile glass or spun glass fibers, or both, which may or may not contain thermoplastic fibers, are deposited on a forming conveyor belt. A fiberglass mat formed on the conveyor belt is then moved through a curing oven in order to remove moisture from the glass mat and to cure the binder used to couple the glass fibers. The curing oven generally includes five or six discrete horizontal oven zones or stages disposed on the manufacturing facility's floor to form a continuous oven. When the stages are combined in a continuous line, the oven occupies significant floor space and be between about 100-500 feet in length and about 20-30 feet in width, depending on the mat that is being formed.
As currently employed, each oven zone typically has a height around 30-40 feet. Hot air from the top of each oven zone is recycled through ductwork to the bottom of the respective oven zone by a recirculating fan associated with each oven zone. The recycled hot air tends to lose heat after it has passed through the oven mat and while traveling to the top of the oven zone and through the ductwork that spans the distance from top of the oven zone to the bottom of the oven zone, resulting in an inefficient process despite the recirculation. The recirculating fans, spaced about 25 feet from the side of each oven zone, and associated duct work also tend to consume valuable factory space, including floor space. Each oven zone also includes its own gas burner that serves as a heat source and is typically located to the side of each oven opposite the recirculating fans and spaced about 10 feet from the side of each oven zone.
While the process and system described above produces high quality insulations products, there is presently a need for a more space efficient and heat efficient system and method for curing insulation mats, particularly fiberglass insulation mats.
In a first embodiment of an insulation manufacturing system and method, the system comprises a curing oven tower for heating uncured or partially cured insulation mats. The curing oven tower includes a plurality of vertical oven zones comprising heat sources through which the insulation mats are moved.
In a second embodiment, a insulation manufacturing system is provided including a curing oven tower for heating uncured or partially cured insulation mats. The curing oven tower comprises a heat source and a conveyor system for moving the insulation mats both vertically and horizontally through the curing oven tower in a serpentine path.
The system and method for heating uncured or partially uncured insulation mats provide both space and heat efficiency advantages. By utilizing a serpentine-like path for the mats and/or vertical heating zones, valuable factory floor space is preserved. By allowing heated air to pass through or otherwise engage a mat more than once in the air's progression through an oven, heat that may otherwise be wasted is used in the process to heat the mat. Because of the improved efficiencies, it may also be possible to use fewer heat sources, less powerful heat sources, or a combination thereof. Still further, because of the more efficient heating of the insulation mat, it is anticipated that the total distance that a mat must cover and/or the time the mat must be heated may be reduced. The mat may be conveyed at higher speeds, leading to increased output.
The above and other features of the present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention that is provided in connection with the accompanying drawings.
The accompanying drawings illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention, as well as other information pertinent to the disclosure, in which:
An oven system and method of heating uncured or partially cured insulation are described below in connection with
The improved oven system and method described below are described primarily with respect to the belt assembly that moves the insulation mat through the oven system. The remaining portions of a fiberglass insulation fabrication system, except as shown in
A curing system includes a plurality of vertically oriented oven zones or stages. In one embodiment, a conveying means moves the fiberglass mat through the curing tower and through the oven zones.
Still further, conveying the mat through an overlapping serpentine path greatly reduces the overall length of the curing oven when compared to an oven system including only a substantially horizontal belt assembly 10 (
It should be understood that several possible patterns and conveying schemes other than that shown in
Referring again to
In addition, or alternatively, it is contemplated that the oven 214 can include multiple heating zones each comprising its own heat source or sources. For example, it is also contemplated that one or more heat sources 208 may be used, along with appropriate ducting (not shown), to provide heat at positions proximate to each conveyor 130 or at different vertical positions in the oven (e.g., at different heights). Further, one or more radiant heat sources 212 may be provided along the side walls of the oven 214 at different height and/or horizontal positions to heat the insulation mats as they move through the oven via the conveyor assembly 110. In essence, the vertical nature of the heating oven allows for the more strategic placement of heat sources both vertically and horizontally in the oven, e.g., either along the oven walls (or floor) or via ductwork that brings heated air to various selected locations within the oven 214.
As described above, the system and method for heating uncured or partially uncured insulation mats, such as fiberglass insulation, provide advantages in both space and heat efficiency. By utilizing a serpentine-like path for the mats and/or vertical heating zones, valuable factory floor space is preserved. By allowing heated air to pass through a mat more than once or engage a mat substantially continuously in the air's progression through an oven, heat that may otherwise be wasted (such as heat lost in the recirculation process of the prior art) is used in the process to heat the mat. Because of the improved efficiencies, it may also be possible to use fewer heat sources, less powerful heat sources, or a combination thereof. For example, radiant heat sources disposed more proximate to the bottom of the oven 214 may be selected or configured to produce more heat than heat sources disposed more proximate to the top of the oven 214 (where the rising heat from the bottom most heat sources is also used to heat the insulation mat). Still further, because of the more efficient heating of the fiberglass mat, it is anticipated that the total distance that a mat must cover and/or the time the mat must be heated may be reduced. The mat may be conveyed at higher speeds than the present maximum of around 200 feet per minute (depending on the product), leading to increased output.
Although the invention has been described in terms of exemplary embodiments, it is not limited thereto. Rather, the appended claims should be construed broadly to include other variants and embodiments of the invention that may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and range of equivalents of the invention.
