The present invention relates to a method for the manufacture of wound packages comprising a plurality of strands wound in parallel that can be reeled off in the form of a single assembled roving, strands for industrial use, notably based on glass or on thermoplastic polymer. According to another aspect of the invention, it also relates to the wound package so obtained, as well as to the device that makes it possible to carry out this method.
In the context of the manufacture of glass strands for reinforcement, the manufacture of an assembled roving is the result of a complex industrial process that consists in obtaining strands from thin jets of molten glass flowing through orifices of spinnerets. These thin jets are drawn into the form of continuous filaments, and then these filaments are combined to base strands, strands which are then generally connected in the form of cakes intended for internal use because they are difficult to transport. The cakes are then positioned on the creels that feed a bobbin winder on which the cylindrical ball of assembled roving forms. The products obtained are not free of defects, such as corrugation or loops originating from differences in the tension of the base strands.
The manufacture of a multifilament roving leads in a single operation and directly under the spinneret (direct roving) to the production of cylindrical bobbins consisting of a single large strand whose threads (in the sense of continuous filaments) are correctly under equal tension.
According to the invention, the bobbins are also in the form of wound packages with straight sides or in the form of cylindrical wound packages, generally referred to as “roving” or “ball” as a function of their final destination.
The preparation in the form of a bobbin is carried out with the bobbin winders which, as their name indicates, have the function of winding the glass strands that have been sized beforehand at very high speed (approximately 10-50 m per second).
These bobbin winders ensure the drawing and the winding of these filaments, and the operating parameters of these bobbin winders determine, together with those of the spinneret, the dimensional characteristics of the strand, notably, for example, in tex (tex being the gram weight of 1000 m fibers or strands).
Usually, a bobbin winder is placed approximately under a spinneret, from which one or more rovings of strands, gathered into one point or several points, descend; these strands are then wound directly on a rotating spindle through the intermediary of one or more travelers with grooves that ensure the axial distribution of the gathered strands along one or more bobbins by a back and forth movement that is synchronized with the rotation of the spindle; this traveler or these travelers are part of a subassembly called a shed winding, mounted on a mobile support that allows its permanent repositioning during the spooling, in parallel to the axle of the spindle, to allow it to maintain a certain distance between the traveler(s) and the external cylindrical surface of the bobbin(s) whose diameter changes throughout its/their construction.
A first family of bobbin winders is of the manual restarting type, i.e., an operator is in charge of manually restarting the wound packages, and it is possible to wind on the same wound package several strands, up to eight, and even sixteen strands (in which each strand consists of a roving of filaments).
A second family of bobbin winders is of the automatic restarting type. In this ease, the bobbin winder is more complex than those described above, and it comprises, in addition, a circular pirn battery that supports a plurality of spindles (generally at least two), in which each one of the spindles mobile in rotation is adapted to draw and wind at least a successive stacking on each one of the spindles, in which one of the spindles is active while the other one is at rest to allow the discharging of the stacking that has been prepared, in which an automated mechanism coupled to the different actuators of the bobbin winder ensures the passage of at least one roving of filaments from one spindle to the other during the rotation of the circular pirn battery.
With this type of technology, one can obtain several stackings on the same spindle, in which each one of the stackings consists of a single thread of wound strand that has its own characteristics.
On the other hand, with such a stacking, it is not possible to obtain, using bobbin winders with manual restart, a spooling of several threads of optimal quality, i.e., its capacity to be easily unwound, without the presence of loops, interfering knots, and with limitation of friction.
The present invention concerns specifically bobbin winders whose restarting is automated, which do not possess the above-mentioned disadvantages, and which allow the spooling on the same bobbin, separate spooling according to an optimal quality, of at least two threads with different or identical characteristics (notably number of strands per thread, choice of the material forming the strand . . . ).
For this purpose, it is necessary for the precision of the deposition resulting from an axial distribution of the strands that have been wound directly on the rotating spindle to be optimal.
To this end, the method for the manufacture of wound packages comprising a plurality of strands assembled using a bobbin winder comprising a circular pirn battery equipped with a first and a second spindle, in which each one of said first and second spindles are successively either at rest, i.e., in a discharging phase, or moving in rotation, i.e., during a phase of spooling a wound package, is characterized in that
Due to these arrangements and notably to the presence of the separation device, the ravings are constantly preserved and identified during the entire transition phase, namely during the passage from one spooling spindle to the other, thus making it possible to wind on the same wound package at least two rovings in a separate way.
In preferred embodiments of the invention, one can optionally use, in addition, one and/or the other of the following arrangements:
According to another aspect of the invention, the latter relates to a bobbin winder that makes it possible to carry out the above-described method, in which the bobbin winder comprises essentially a frame, which frame comprises a circular pirn battery that can be rotatably moved with respect to the frame, in which said circular pirn battery is [made] of at least two spindles that are each adapted to support at least one wound package, each one of the spindles being rotatable about a first axis that is substantially perpendicular to the diameter of the wound package in such a way as to draw and wind simultaneously at least two rovings in the form of a wound package of separate rovings, and a shed winding device equipped at least with a traveler that makes it possible to deposit on the surface of the wound package the rovings separated from each other, characterized in that it comprises, in addition, a separation device that can occupy a first position in which it allows, on the one hand, the separation from each other of the rovings that travel from a spinneret to the traveler, and on the other hand, maintaining them in a separated position, and a second position in which it does not interfere with the trajectory of the rovings.
In preferred embodiments of the invention, one may use, in addition, one and/or the other of the following arrangements:
According to another aspect of the invention, the latter relates to a wound package obtained by the above-described method, characterized in that it comprises a plurality of wraps, preferably at least two, in which each of the wraps consists of at least one roving consisting of a material and being separated from one of them by a pitch p.
In the preferred embodiments of the invention, one can optionally use, in addition, one and/or the other of the following arrangements:
Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent in the following description of one of its embodiments, which is given as a nonlimiting example, in reference to the drawing in the appendix.
In the drawing:
According to a preferred embodiment of a bobbin 1 according to the invention, illustrated in
On this foundation, a closed structure that is in part covered is assembled, which is intended to receive all the components necessary for the operation of the bobbin winder 1. For this purpose, and in a nonlimiting way, this closed structure designed in the shape of a cabinet is provided with the control and command devices necessary for the different regulations of the different devices, which will be described below in the present description, of hydraulic, electric networks, networks of compressed air and other fluids necessary for the operation of said devices.
On the closed structure, a circular pirn battery 2, which projects laterally, works in cooperation. This circular pirn battery 2 is mounted so it is rotatable about an axis of rotation and it is maintained within one of the walls of the closed structure through the intermediary of a plurality of guidance devices (ball bearing crown, guide rail with ball bearings, for example).
Indeed, this circular pirn battery 2 constitutes a support assembly for spindles 3, 4. In
Each one of the spindles 3, 4 integrally connected to the circular pirn battery 2 constitutes a rotating assembly adapted to draw and wind the strand 5 on a sleeve that has been introduced beforehand on the spindle. This spooling is carried out along a first axis of rotation substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the circular pirn battery compared to the structure of the framework.
In
Usually, and reference is made to
To obtain a complete wound package, the traveler 7 is mounted so it is movable with a back and forth movement of translation on a shaft integrally connected to the frame and parallel to the axis of the spindle, in which this second movement of translation thus makes it possible to cover the length of the bobbin.
In a preferred embodiment, the traveler 7 represented in
The traveler 7 has an overall trapezoidal shape, whose base 8 is substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the wound package.
At the level of its sides, the traveler 7 presents a curved or inclined surface that delimits indeed guidance surfaces 9, 10 that allow, during the displacement of the traveler along a direction substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the spindle, the interception of the trajectory of a first roving in one displacement direction and of a second roving in the other alternate displacement direction, in which these rovings originate from a spinneret 11 (visible in
This protruding wall constrains each one of the rovings in a retention and immobilization area 13, 14, designed in the shape of a groove (in
Within this groove 13, 14, the roving is free to slide with as little friction as possible; moreover, the material constituting the guidance surface and the grooves is chosen to present locally a high hardness and a coefficient of friction as small as possible so as not to destroy and damage the roving of filaments and notably at the level of its sizing.
The traveler 7, which is substantially trapezoidal, presents walls inclined at the level of its sides 9, 10, as well as the level of the inlet walls of each one of the grooves 13, 14 so as to promote the guidance of the groove towards the groove bottom which presents a parallel axis. In a variant, the inventors have envisaged intercepting the trajectory of the rovings not by an alternating movement of the traveler 7 and they have preferred a movement of position indexing of the traveler 7 with respect to the trajectory of the rovings, in which this movement of position indexing is facilitated by the different control systems for both the position and the speed of a bobbin winder of this type; all the movements of the spindle(es) 3, 4, of the circular pirn battery 2, of the shed winding device 6 and of its traveler 7, and of the separation device 15 which will be discussed below, are controlled by a programmable automation device in charge of controlling and commanding at each time this assembly in view of an optimal spooling of a wound package.
Regardless of the embodiment of the traveler 7, the operation of the latter is combined with that of separation device 15, represented in
This separation device 15 is mounted so it is rotatable with respect to the frame (articulation point marked A) and it travels between a rest position in which the trajectory of the rovings is not deflected by the position of the separation device 15, and a so-called work position in which the separation device 15 intercepts the trajectory of the ravings so as to, on the one hand, spread them or separate them from each other, and on the other hand, to maintain them separate during the transition phase.
The transition phase is defined as the phase during which the rovings that have been wound on the wound package until a full bobbin is obtained from the wound package and from the drawing on a first spindle must switch automatically (i.e., without a human restarting intervention) to another spindle (because of the rotation of the circular pirn battery), in which this second spindle must allow the spooling, the drawing of rovings of filaments on the surface of at least a second wound package.
In this transition phase, it is of crucial importance that the rovings initially wound on the wound package of a first spindle in a separate way if there are two rovings of strands 5 of identical or different material, this corresponds to a bobbin with two wraps) not be mixed or lost during the rotation of the circular pirn battery and that the two rovings can be wound again and drawn in a separate form on a second wound package supported by the second spindle.
For this purpose, the decomposition of the movements is as follows:
During the transition phase, the separation device 15 switches from its rest position to its active position, the rovings of filaments or strands 5 originating from the spinneret 11 that is located above the bobbin winder 1 come in contact with a palette 16 that is integrally connected to the separation device 15.
As one can see in
Taking into account the inclined faces 17, 18 of the palette 16, each one of the rovings in contact with this phase is directed towards the free ends of the diamond toward a retention area 19, 20 or an area with grooves adapted to receive with as little friction as possible each one of the rovings, in which the ravings cannot escape from these areas for the entire duration of the transition phase.
When each one of the rovings is held in its retention area 19, 20, the shed winding device moves away from the wound package surface or the full bobbin, releasing the traveler 7 from its corresponding roving, the circular pirn battery 2 carries out a movement of rotation in such a way as to arrange the second spindle 3 or 4 so it is ready to wind and draw a second wound package under conditions similar to the first wound package.
When the second spindle 3 or 4 is ready to be wound, the shed winding device 6 comes closer to the surface of the wound package, the ravings (still held in their respective retention area 19, 20 of the palette 16) graze the surface of the wound package (they remain under tension due to the position of the first spindle), the separation device 15 is positioned in its rest position, releasing the rovings from their respective retention area 19, 20.
The rovings then intercept the alternating movement of the traveler 7, as explained above. When each one of the grooves 13, 14 of the traveler 7 is engaged with its respective roving, the spooling of the wound package can be initialized, and the bobbins obtained from the bobbin winder that functions according to the modalities of the above-described procedure differ significantly from the prior art:
Indeed, it is possible to wind on the same spindle axle and on at least one same wound package (notably two juxtaposed wound packages) several rovings (at least two in the examples), in which each one of the rovings can consist of a number n and n′ of identical or different filaments, of the same material or of different materials, in which these materials are chosen from those for technical use, such as, for example, those based on glass, thermoplastics (notably polypropylene).
These wound packages have the capacity of being unreeled, although none of the wraps is separated by a pitch p, without risk of knots or interfering loops forming.
An example of a wound package based on “Twintex”®, which is a registered trade name of a commingled strand of glass and thermoplastic, is given below.
This wound package comprises at least 2 separate wraps, in which each one of the wraps is formed respectively from a roving of 400-4000 glass filaments, preferably 800-1600 glass filaments, and a roving of 200-4000 polypropylene filaments, preferably 600-1600 polypropylene filaments.
Indeed, it may be advantageous to obtain, on one wound package, at least two separate wraps as a function of the intended applications
For these applications, no solution was found in the prior art, which discloses only wound packages with separate wraps of identical type and optionally different titer.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
0651291 | Apr 2006 | FR | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/FR07/51067 | 4/4/2007 | WO | 00 | 11/29/2011 |