Patent Application
20190085510
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The disclosure and prior art relates to manufacturing devices and more particularly pertains to a new manufacturing device for manufacturing paper with enhanced strength.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a paper machine that has a headbox to contain a slurry of fluid mixed with cellulosic fibers. The headbox has an opening therein to direct the slurry outwardly from the headbox. A turbulence unit is positioned within the headbox to agitate the slurry when the slurry travels through the headbox and out of the opening. In this way the turbulence unit facilitates a random organization of the cellulosic fibers in the slurry when the slurry leaves the headbox. The turbulence unit includes a plurality of cylinders and each of the cylinders urges the slurry to swirl into a plurality of eddies when the slurry passes around each of the cylinders. Each of the cylinders is comprised of a carbon fiber material to inhibit adhesion between the cellulosic fibers and the cylinders.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated.
There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The orientation of the cellulosic fibers in parallel to the direction of flow through the paper machine 12 is called machine direction (MD). The orientation of the cellulosic fibers perpendicular to the direction of flow through the paper machine 12 is called cross direction (CD). An isotropic slurry comprises a perfect symmetry between MD and CD, and an anisotropic slurry comprises an imbalance between MD and CD. The cellulosic fibers form an interconnected web when the slurry 18 is deposited onto the conveyor belt 16. Additionally, the cellulosic fibers tend to be preferentially oriented in MD due to viscous shear, friction and acceleration forces when the slurry 18 flows through the headbox 14. The resulting anisotropic slurry 18 deposited on the conveyor belt 16 produces a paper that has reduced strength properties compared to paper produced from an isotropic slurry 18.
A turbulence unit 20 is provided and the turbulence unit 20 is positioned within the headbox 14. The turbulence unit 20 agitates the slurry 18 when the slurry 18 travels through the headbox 14 and out of the opening 19. In this way the turbulence unit 20 facilitates a random organization of the cellulosic fibers in the slurry 18 thereby producing paper with enhanced tensile strength.
The turbulence unit 20 includes a plurality of cylinders 22. Each of the cylinders 22 urges the slurry 18 to swirl into a plurality of eddies when the slurry 18 passes around each of the cylinders 22 in accordance with the Coanda effect. In this way the turbulence unit 20 facilitates a more isotropic slurry 18 to be deposited onto the conveyor belt 16 thereby producing paper with enhanced strength properties. Additionally, each of the cylinders 22 is comprised of a carbon fiber material to inhibit the cellulosic fibers from adhering to the cylinders 22. The carbon fiber material may be a carbon fiber nanotube or the like.
The turbulence unit 20 comprises a frame 24 that has a pair of first members 26 each extending between a pair of second members 28. The first members 26 are spaced apart from each other such that the frame 24 has a rectangular shape. Each of the first members 26 has a first surface 29 and the first surface 29 corresponding to each of the first members 26 is directed toward each other.
Each of the cylinders 22 has a first end 30 and a second end 32. The first end 30 corresponding to each of the cylinders 22 is coupled to the first surface 29 of a corresponding one of the first members 26. The second end 32 corresponding to each of the cylinders 22 is coupled to the first surface 29 of a corresponding one of the first members 26. Additionally, the cylinders 22 are spaced apart from each other and are distributed between the second members 28. The turbulence unit 20 is oriented such that the slurry 18 flows perpendicular to an axis extending through the first 30 and second 32 ends of the cylinders 22. Thus, the slurry 18 flows around and between the cylinders 22.
In use, the turbulence unit 20 is mounted in a selected manner within the headbox 14. Additionally, the turbulence unit 20 is positioned such that the slurry 18 flows perpendicular to the cylinders 22. Each of the cylinders 22 produces eddies in the slurry 18 when the slurry 18 flows around the cylinders 22. In this way the cellulosic fibers in the slurry 18 are randomly mixed thereby facilitating the slurry 18 to be isotropic. The resulting isotropic slurry 18 is deposited onto the conveyor belt 16 thereby producing paper with enhanced strength in CD and enhanced elongation in MD. Additionally, the turbulence unit 20 disrupts flow instabilities that are generated from various components located upstream from the turbulence unit 20.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
