Additive material supply device and method

Abstract

To provide an additive material supply device that can stably supply additive material having a low bulk density and can also handle recycled products.SOLUTION: An additive material supply device (30) supplies additive material to be mixed into resin in a kneader (10) from a supply port (10b) installed in the kneader. The additive material supply device comprises: a cylinder (31) having a discharge port (31a) at its tip; a holding member (50) holding the cylinder pre-filled with additive material (F) at a work position (ST3) corresponding to the supply port; and a piston (32) which pushes additive material in the cylinder held by the holding member from the supply port into the inside of the kneader by extruding the additive material from the discharge port.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an additive material supplying device and method, and more particularly to an additive material supplying device and method for supplying an additive material to be mixed into a resin in a kneader. [Background technology]

[0002] In a kneaded product manufacturing apparatus that manufactures a composite material (kneaded product) by kneading resin and fiber, it is common to supply pellet-shaped resin, which is the main raw material, and continuous fiber, which is a bundle of fibers wound, to a kneader body having a heating cylinder. There are also devices that supply discontinuous fibers, which have been cut into short pieces in advance, as a secondary raw material in addition to the continuous fibers.

[0003] In the kneaded product manufacturing apparatus described in Japanese Patent No. 6134772 (Patent Document 1), a continuous fiber supplying section that supplies continuous fibers and a discontinuous fiber supplying section (pushing device) that supplies discontinuous fibers that have been cut into short pieces in advance are provided independently. The pushing device as the discontinuous fiber supplying section includes a casing into which the discontinuous fibers are introduced and a screw disposed in the casing, and the bulk density of the discontinuous fibers supplied to the kneader is increased by, for example, decreasing the pitch of the screw from the upstream side to the downstream side.

[0004] Furthermore, as disclosed in Patent No. 6594021 (Patent Document 2), a plasticization unit has been proposed that includes a cutting section that cuts long continuous fibers to a predetermined length and a pumping section that pushes the discontinuous fibers cut in the cutting section into a kneader (heating cylinder). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6134772 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 6594021 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] In the kneaded product manufacturing device of Patent Document 1, recycled fibers are used as discontinuous fibers. This makes it possible to reduce the environmental impact. On the other hand, there is a concern that additive materials with low bulk density such as discontinuous fibers cannot be mixed evenly into the resin in the kneader. The pushing device of Patent Document 1 attempts to steadily supply discontinuous fibers to the kneader by increasing the bulk density of the discontinuous fibers in a casing connected to the kneader, but there is room for improvement in terms of efficiency, etc.

[0007] The device in Patent Document 2 incorporates a fiber supplying device that cuts continuous fibers into discontinuous fibers, and the device as a whole has a very large and complex structure. In addition, because it uses continuous fibers wound on a reel, it is not possible to use recycled fibers that have been cut into short lengths in advance.

[0008] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its object is to provide an additive material supplying device and method that can stably supply additive materials with low bulk density and can also be used for recycled products. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] An additive material supplying device according to one aspect of the present invention is an additive material supplying device that supplies additive material to be mixed into resin in a kneader from a supply port provided in the kneader, and is characterized in that it comprises a cylinder having a discharge port at its tip, a holding member that holds the cylinder pre-filled with additive material at a working position corresponding to the supply port, and a piston that pushes the additive material in the cylinder held by the holding member out of the discharge port, thereby pushing the additive material from the supply port into the interior of the kneader.

[0010] Preferably, the additive material supplying device further comprises a cylinder exchanging means for discharging the empty cylinder after the additive material has been supplied from the working position and for moving another cylinder filled with the additive material to the working position.

[0011] The holding member is preferably a rotary table that holds a plurality of cylinders. In this case, the cylinder exchanging means includes a rotary table and a rotary drive means that rotates the rotary table to continuously eject an empty cylinder and place another cylinder in the working position.

[0012] Preferably, the additive material supplying device further comprises a filling means for filling an empty cylinder discharged from the working position with the additive material.

[0013] It is preferable that the piston is provided in a working position and moves back and forth between a rear end position outside the cylinder and a front end position inside the cylinder.

[0014] Preferably, the additive material supplying device further comprises a piston driving means for adjusting the amount of additive material pushed in by adjusting the moving distance of the piston.

[0015] The additive material supplying device can be integrated with a kneader to provide a kneaded product manufacturing device.

[0016] A method for supplying an additive material according to one aspect of the present invention is a method for supplying an additive material to be mixed into a resin in a kneader from a supply port provided in the kneader, and includes a filling step of filling a cylinder having a discharge port at its tip with the additive material, a positioning step of positioning the cylinder filled with the additive material at a working position corresponding to the supply port, and a supply step of pushing the additive material in the cylinder positioned at the working position out of the discharge port with a piston, thereby forcing the additive material into the interior of the kneader from the supply port.

[0017] It is desirable that the additive material supplying method further includes a discharge step of discharging the empty cylinder from the working position after the additive material has been supplied, and that the additive material is continuously supplied into the kneader by repeatedly executing the placement step, supply step, and discharge step. Effect of the Invention

[0018] According to the present invention, it is possible to stably supply additive materials with low bulk density. Also, since the additive materials pre-filled in the cylinder are pushed out by the piston, recycled products can be used as additive materials. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0019] [Figure 1] 1 is a vertical sectional view showing a schematic overall configuration of a kneaded product manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a top view showing a schematic configuration of a discontinuous fiber supplying section (additive material supplying device) provided in the kneaded product manufacturing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic diagram of a method for supplying discontinuous fibers in an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 11 is a top view illustrating another configuration example of the discontinuous fiber supplying section. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0020] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are designated by the same reference characters and their description will not be repeated.

[0021] In this embodiment, an example in which the "additive material" is discontinuous fiber will be described. The additive material supplying device according to this embodiment is a device that supplies discontinuous fiber to the inside of a kneader, and is installed in a kneaded product manufacturing device that kneads resin and fiber to manufacture a composite material (kneaded product).

[0022] <Overall structure> The overall configuration of the kneaded material manufacturing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view that typically shows the overall configuration of the kneaded material manufacturing apparatus 1. Note that an arrow A1 in Fig. 1 indicates the longitudinal direction of the kneader 10, and an arrow A2 indicates the up-down direction.

[0023] The kneaded product manufacturing apparatus 1 is an apparatus for manufacturing a composite material by kneading resin and fibers, and more specifically, an apparatus for manufacturing a composite material by kneading continuous fibers, discontinuous fibers, and resin. Continuous fibers are continuous, long fibers, and are a fiber raw material in which fibers are wound. Continuous fibers are, for example, rovings in which a bundle of multiple fibers (for example, 12,000 or more) is wound. Discontinuous fibers are fibers cut into short pieces, and are preferably recycled fibers. Discontinuous fibers are, for example, fibers reused from FRP (fiber reinforced plastic) and have a length of about 0.5 mm to 5 mm. Discontinuous fibers are short fibers, and therefore have a lower bulk density than continuous fibers, and bring in more air into the kneader 10.

[0024] The materials of the continuous fibers and discontinuous fibers are not particularly limited, and may be carbon fibers, glass fibers, organic fibers, metal fibers, etc. The continuous fibers and discontinuous fibers may be made of the same material or different materials.

[0025] The kneaded product manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a kneader 10, a resin supplying section 20, a discontinuous fiber supplying section 30, and a continuous fiber supplying section 40. The kneader 10 includes a heating cylinder 11 and a shaft 12 provided in the heating cylinder 11. A screw 13 and a paddle 14 are attached to the shaft 12. The heating cylinder 11 is disposed horizontally. Three supply ports 10a, 10b, and 10c are provided on the outer periphery of the heating cylinder 11. The three supply ports 10a, 10b, and 10c are located at the upper end portion of the heating cylinder 11 and are provided in this order along the longitudinal direction of the heating cylinder 11 (indicated by the arrow A1).

[0026] Of the three supply ports 10a, 10b, and 10c, the supply port 10a located most upstream (on the left side of the drawing) is connected to a resin supply unit 20. The resin supply unit 20 has a hopper 21, and pellet-shaped resin material introduced into the hopper 21 is supplied from the supply port 10a to the inside of the heating cylinder 11. The supplied resin material becomes thermally molten (plastic) in the heating cylinder 11. The thermally molten resin material is sent downstream while being stirred by the screw 13 and the paddle 14 as the shaft 12 rotates.

[0027] The supply port 10c on the most downstream side (right side of the drawing) is connected to the continuous fiber supplying unit 40. The continuous fiber supplying unit 40 includes a storage unit 41 that stores the continuous fiber wound around a bobbin, and the continuous fiber pulled out from the storage unit 41 is pulled directly into the heating cylinder 11 from the supply port 10c. In other words, the continuous fiber supplying unit 40 supplies the continuous fiber to the heating cylinder 11 by causing the continuous fiber to be engaged with the screw 13 or paddle 14 rotating in the heating cylinder 11.

[0028] The intermediate supply port 10b is connected to a discontinuous fiber supplying section 30. The discontinuous fiber supplying section 30 is an additive material supplying device that supplies discontinuous fibers F (shown by cross-hatching in FIG. 1 and the like) to the inside of the kneader 10 (the internal space of the heating cylinder 11) as an additive material to the resin. The discontinuous fibers F are typically recycled products. An example of the configuration of the discontinuous fiber supplying section 30 will be described in detail below.

[0029] As described above, the kneaded product manufacturing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is configured to supply the discontinuous fibers F, which are recycled products, into the kneader 10 prior to the introduction of the continuous fibers. Note that the present embodiment is not limited to an example in which the supply port 10b for the discontinuous fibers F is provided upstream of the supply port 10c for the continuous fibers, and the supply port 10b for the discontinuous fibers F may be provided downstream of the supply port 10c for the continuous fibers.

[0030] <Configuration example of discontinuous fiber supply section> An example of the configuration of the discontinuous fiber supplying section 30 will be described with reference to Figures 1 and 2. Figure 2 is a top view that shows a schematic configuration of the discontinuous fiber supplying section 30. In the following description, the longitudinal direction (arrow A1) of the kneader 10 is also referred to as the kneading axis direction. The direction that intersects (is perpendicular to) the kneading axis direction on a horizontal plane is indicated by arrow A3 in Figure 2.

[0031] As shown in FIG. 1, the discontinuous fiber supply section 30 includes a cylinder 31 having a discharge outlet 31a at its tip (lower end), a holding member 50 that holds the cylinder 31 pre-filled with discontinuous fibers F at a position (working position) corresponding to the supply port 10b of the kneader 10, and a piston 32 that pushes the discontinuous fibers F in the cylinder 31 held by the holding member 50 out of the discharge outlet 31a, thereby pushing the discontinuous fibers F into the interior of the kneader 10 from the supply port 10b.

[0032] The piston 32 is driven to advance and retreat up and down by an actuator 33 serving as a piston driving means. Thus, in this embodiment, the cylinder 31 extends in the vertical direction (indicated by the arrow A2), and a discharge port 31a is provided at the lower end (tip) of the cylinder 31. The piston 32 is driven to advance and retreat up and down within the cylinder 31.

[0033] The up-down direction (extension direction of the cylinder 31 and advance / retract direction of the piston 32) here is not limited to the vertical direction, and may be a direction slightly inclined with respect to the vertical direction, for example, in the left-right direction of the paper surface of Fig. 1. Alternatively, although it is desirable that the extension direction of the cylinder 31 and the advance / retract direction of the piston 32 are the up-down direction, they are not limited to the up-down direction as long as they are a direction intersecting (perpendicular) the kneading axis direction (i.e., a radial direction of the kneader 10).

[0034] 2, the holding member 50 in this embodiment is composed of a rotary table that holds a plurality of cylinders 31. Hereinafter, the holding member 50 will be referred to as the rotary table 50. The rotary table 50 is horizontally disposed above the kneader 10, and is rotated by a rotary drive means 51 such as a servo motor.

[0035] The rotary table 50 is circular about a rotary shaft 50a and rotates clockwise (or counterclockwise) around the rotary shaft 50a. The rotary table 50 has a plurality of (e.g., four) through holes 50b arranged at equal intervals along the circumferential direction, and a cylinder 31 is inserted into each of the through holes 50b. The rotary table 50 holds the cylinder 31 at a predetermined height.

[0036] In Fig. 1, as an example, a protrusion 31b is provided on the outer periphery of the cylinder 31, and the protrusion 31b is hooked onto the upper surface of the rotary table 50 (illustration of the protrusion 31b is omitted in Fig. 2). As a result, the protrusion 31b of the cylinder 31 is supported from below by the rotary table 50, so that the cylinder 31 is held at a predetermined height without falling from the through hole 50b. Note that the protrusion 31b may be separate from the cylinder 31. Also, the protrusion 31b may be annular.

[0037] In this embodiment, a filling station ST1, a waiting station ST2, a working station ST3, and a waiting station ST4 are formed in this order along the rotation direction (clockwise direction) of the turntable 50. The working station ST3 is provided at a position overlapping with the supply port 10b of the kneader 10 when viewed from above, that is, at a working position. At least one of the waiting stations ST2 and ST4 may be omitted. Typically, the number of the through holes 50b and the number of the stations are the same.

[0038] The filling station ST1 is provided with a filling means 34 for filling the cylinder 31 with the discontinuous fibers F. The filling means 34 desirably includes a means for introducing (supplying) the discontinuous fibers F into the cylinder 31, and a compression means for compressing the discontinuous fibers F introduced into the cylinder 31 (not shown). In other words, before being transferred to the work station ST3, the discontinuous fibers F are desirably compressed in the cylinder 31 from a fluffy state containing a large amount of air to a state in which the bulk density is increased and the fibers are clumped together.

[0039] More specifically, it is desirable that the compression means compresses the discontinuous fibers F so that the bulk density of the discontinuous fibers F falls within a predetermined density range. This allows the movement (stroke) of the piston 32 in the work station ST3 to be proportional to the discharge amount of the discontinuous fibers F.

[0040] In this specification, "filled" does not mean that the entire cylinder 31 is filled with the discontinuous fibers F, but rather that at least a portion (the lower end) of the cylinder 31 is packed with the discontinuous fibers F (preferably in a compressed state).

[0041] In the filling station ST1, for example, a mounting plate (not shown) that supports the cylinder 31 from below is fixed below the rotary table 50, and the discharge port 31a of the cylinder 31 located in the filling station ST1 is blocked by the mounting plate. In this state, the discontinuous fibers F in the cylinder 31 are pressed from above by a compression means such as a piston, thereby increasing the bulk density of the discontinuous fibers F and making them into a lump-like aggregated state (hereinafter referred to as a "solid state").

[0042] When the discontinuous fibers F are in a solid state, even if the discharge port 31a of the cylinder 31 is not blocked, the discontinuous fibers F do not fall due to friction with the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder 31 and remain inside the cylinder 31. Note that the diameter of the discharge port 31a is preferably equal to the inner diameter of the cylinder 31, but may be slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the cylinder 31.

[0043] 1 is provided only in the work station ST3. In other words, the piston 32 is not provided in one-to-one correspondence with the cylinder 31 held by the rotary table 50, and the position of the piston 32 in plan view is fixed to the work station ST3.

[0044] In the work station ST3, the piston 32 advances and retreats between an upper end position (rear end position) outside the cylinder 31 and a lower end position (front end position) where the piston 32 pushes through the discontinuous fibers F inside the cylinder 31. As shown in FIG. 1, the upper end position is a position above the upper end height of the cylinder 31. Note that "pushing through" does not necessarily mean pushing out all of the discontinuous fibers F, but means completing the extrusion of the discontinuous fibers F. The piston 32 retreats to the upper end position when the turntable 50 rotates.

[0045] 2, the discontinuous fiber supplying unit 30 includes a control unit 60 that controls the actuator 33, the filling means 34, and the rotation driving means 51. The control unit 60 controls the rotation driving means 51 to rotate the turntable 50 by 90 degrees at a time, thereby moving each cylinder 31 held on the turntable 50 to the filling station ST1, the standby station ST2, the work station ST3, and the standby station ST4 in that order. The turntable 50 and the rotation driving means 51 constitute a "cylinder exchanging means" that exchanges an empty cylinder 31 with a new cylinder 31.

[0046] <Operation of discontinuous fiber supply unit> 1 and 2, a method for supplying the discontinuous fibers F by the discontinuous fiber supplying unit 30 will be described. That is, a method for supplying the discontinuous fibers F to be mixed into the resin in the kneader 10 from the supply port 10b provided in the kneader 10 will be described.

[0047] In this embodiment, it is assumed that all (four) cylinders 31 are held on the rotary table 50 when the kneaded product manufacturing apparatus 1 starts operating. It is also assumed that all cylinders 31 are empty. In the following description, for ease of understanding, the cylinder 31 located at the filling station ST1 at the start of operation is referred to as the "first cylinder", and the cylinder 31 located at the standby station ST4 (the cylinder 31 adjacent to the first cylinder in the counterclockwise direction (the direction opposite to the rotation direction of the rotary table 50)) is referred to as the "second cylinder". Also, the cylinder 31 located at the work station ST3 at the start of operation is referred to as the "third cylinder", and the cylinder 31 located at the standby station ST2 is referred to as the "fourth cylinder".

[0048] First, the filling means 34 fills the first cylinder located at the filling station ST1 with the discontinuous fibers F (filling step). At this time, typically, the discontinuous fibers F are compressed into a solid state.

[0049] The rotary table 50 then rotates 90 degrees. As a result, the first cylinder filled with the discontinuous fibers F is transferred to the waiting station ST2. Once the first cylinder is transferred to the waiting station ST2, a second cylinder is placed at the filling station ST1. While the first cylinder, which is already filled with the discontinuous fibers F, is waiting at the waiting station ST2, the second cylinder is filled with the discontinuous fibers F.

[0050] After that, the rotary table 50 rotates another 90 degrees. As a result, the first cylinder filled with the discontinuous fibers F is transferred from the waiting station ST2 to the working station ST3 and placed at the working position (placement step). Also, the third cylinder is placed at the filling station ST1.

[0051] The discharge port 31a of the first cylinder arranged at the work station ST3 is located directly above the supply port 10b of the kneader 10. While the first cylinder is arranged at the work station ST3 and a supply step described below is being performed, a filling process is performed on the third cylinder arranged at the filling station ST1.

[0052] Immediately after the first cylinder is placed in the work station ST3, the actuator 33 moves the piston 32 forward to supply the discontinuous fibers F to the kneader 10 (supply step). The operation of the piston 32 in the supply step will be described with reference to Fig. 3. Note that the rotary table 50 is not shown in Fig. 3.

[0053] The piston 32 descends at high speed from an upper end position (shown by an imaginary line in FIG. 3(A)) to a working position (shown by a solid line in FIG. 3(A)) where it comes into contact with the discontinuous fibers F. The piston 32 then descends from the working position to a lower end position at a predetermined speed (constant speed) (see FIG. 3(B)).

[0054] Since the discontinuous fibers F are compressed in advance, the piston 32 descends at a constant speed (predetermined stroke amount), and the discontinuous fibers F are extruded in a fixed amount from the discharge port 31a. As a result, the discontinuous fibers F are supplied in a fixed amount into the kneader 10 (heating cylinder 11) through the supply port 10b. In addition, since the discontinuous fibers F are compressed to be within a predetermined density range, it is possible to adjust the amount of the discontinuous fibers F pushed into the kneader 10 by controlling the actuator 33 to adjust the moving distance (stroke) of the piston 32. In other words, the amount of the discontinuous fibers F mixed in can be easily and accurately controlled.

[0055] When the piston 32 descends to the bottom end position, and all of the discontinuous fibers F in the first cylinder are pushed into the kneader 10 (when the first cylinder becomes empty), the piston 32 rises at high speed. When the piston 32 rises to the top end position (or immediately before), the rotary table 50 immediately rotates 90 degrees. As a result, the empty first cylinder is immediately transferred (discharged) to the standby station ST4 (discharge step). At the same time, the second cylinder that has been waiting at the standby station ST2 is transferred to the work station ST3.

[0056] In this manner, in the present embodiment, the arranging step, the supplying step, and the discharging step are repeatedly performed. This allows the discontinuous fibers F to be continuously supplied into the kneader 10. That is, the discontinuous fiber supplying section 30 allows the discontinuous fibers F with a low bulk density to be stably supplied.

[0057] In addition, in this embodiment, by simply repeatedly driving the piston 32 back and forth at a predetermined timing in the work station ST3, the discontinuous fibers F in the cylinder 31 that are transferred one after another to the work station ST3 can be efficiently supplied.

[0058] In addition, by using the rotating table 50, the empty cylinder 31 after the discontinuous fibers F have been discharged (supplied) can be easily and quickly replaced with another cylinder 31 filled with the discontinuous fibers F, thereby shortening the period during which the discontinuous fibers F are not supplied.

[0059] Therefore, the discontinuous fibers F can be evenly mixed into the resin in the kneader 10. As a result, it is possible to reduce bias in fiber distribution in the kneaded product (composite material) discharged from the kneader 10, thereby improving the production efficiency of the composite material by the kneaded product production apparatus 1.

[0060] Furthermore, the cylinder 31, which has become empty after the piston 32 is actuated, returns to the filling station ST1 via the waiting station ST4 by the rotation of the turntable 50, so that the filling and extrusion of the discontinuous fibers F can be efficiently performed. Thus, in this embodiment, the filling step, arrangement step, supply step, and discharge step are completed on the turntable 50, so that the device configuration can be simplified.

[0061] <Modification> In this embodiment, an example has been shown in which the filling station ST1 and the work station ST3 are provided on the rotary table 50, but the filling station ST1 may be provided at a position away from the rotary table 50.

[0062] For example, as shown in Fig. 4, the filling station ST11 may be provided on a linear conveyor (transport means) 52 arranged independently of the rotary table 50. The conveyor 52 is, for example, a belt conveyor, and has a rotating belt that closes the discharge port 31a of the cylinder 31. Note that in Fig. 4, components common to those shown in Fig. 2 are omitted as appropriate.

[0063] The filling means 34 provided in the filling station ST11 may include an introduction means 35 and a compression means 36 arranged along the longitudinal direction (conveyance direction) of the belt conveyor 52. In this case, the introduction means 35 introduces the discontinuous fibers F having a low bulk density into the empty cylinder 31 (an introduction step). The compression means 36 presses the discontinuous fibers F introduced into the cylinder 31 from above to solidify the discontinuous fibers F (a compression step).

[0064] The cylinder 31 that has been subjected to the compression step by the compression means 36 is carried into the carry-in station ST12 on the rotary table 50 by the transfer means 38 such as a robot hand (carry-in step). The carry-in station ST12 may also serve as the above-mentioned waiting station ST2.

[0065] In addition, in this modified example, the empty cylinder 31 discharged to the waiting station ST4 on the turntable 50 may be transported to a position upstream of the filling station ST11 on the belt conveyor 52 by a discharge means 37 such as a robot hand.

[0066] <Other Modifications> In the above embodiment, an example has been shown in which the holding member for holding the cylinder 31 at least in the work station ST3 and the cylinder exchanging means for exchanging the empty cylinder 31 with a new cylinder 31 are realized by the rotary table 50, but the present invention is not limited to such an example. For example, they may be realized by a conveying means (such as a belt conveyor) that transfers the cylinder 31 along the kneading axis direction (arrow A1 direction) or along a direction perpendicular to the kneading axis direction (arrow A3 direction).

[0067] In the above embodiment, the filling means 34 includes a compression means, but the compression means may be omitted depending on the type of additive material. For example, when the additive material has an extremely short fiber length or is a powder material, the compression means may be omitted. When the additive material is powder, a thin film sheet (not shown) may be provided to block the discharge port 31a of the cylinder 31, and the thin film sheet may be broken by the downward movement of the piston 32.

[0068] In addition, although the additive material mixed into the resin in the kneader 10 is described as being discontinuous fiber, it may be a material other than discontinuous fiber. The method for supplying discontinuous fiber in the present embodiment can be suitably used for additive materials with low bulk density.

[0069] The embodiments disclosed herein should be considered to be illustrative and not restrictive in all respects. The scope of the present invention is defined by the claims, not the above description, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope of the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0070] 1 kneaded product manufacturing apparatus, 10 kneader, 10a, 10b, 10c supply port, 11 heating cylinder, 20 resin supply section, 30 discontinuous fiber supply section, 31 cylinder, 31a discharge port, 32 piston, 33 actuator, 34 filling means, 35 introduction means, 36 compression means, 37 discharge means, 40 continuous fiber supply section, 50 rotating table (holding member), 51 rotation drive means, 52 belt conveyor, 60 control section, F discontinuous fiber, ST1 filling station, ST2, ST4 waiting stations, ST3 work station.

Claims

1. An additive material supplying device that supplies an additive material to be mixed into a resin in a kneader from a supply port provided in the kneader, A cylinder having a discharge port at its tip; a holding member for holding the cylinder pre-filled with additive material in a working position corresponding to the supply port; and a piston that pushes the additive material in the cylinder held by the holding member out through the discharge port, thereby pushing the additive material from the supply port into the inside of the kneader.

2. 2. The additive material supplying device according to claim 1, further comprising a cylinder exchanging means for discharging an empty cylinder after the additive material has been supplied from said working position and for moving another cylinder filled with the additive material to said working position.

3. the holding member is constituted by a rotary table that holds a plurality of cylinders; 3. The additive material supply device according to claim 2, wherein the cylinder exchanging means includes the rotary table and a rotary drive means for rotating the rotary table to continuously discharge the empty cylinder and place the other cylinder in the working position.

4. 3. The additive material supplying device according to claim 2, further comprising a filling means for filling the empty cylinder discharged from the working position with the additive material.

5. 2. The additive material supplying device according to claim 1, wherein the piston is provided at the working position and moves back and forth between a rear end position outside the cylinder and a front end position inside the cylinder.

6. 2. The additive material supplying device according to claim 1, further comprising a piston driving means for adjusting the amount of additive material pushed in by adjusting the moving distance of the piston.

7. 7. An apparatus for producing a kneaded product, comprising the additive material supplying device according to claim 1 and the kneader.

8. An additive material supplying method for supplying an additive material to be mixed into a resin in a kneader from a supply port provided in the kneader, comprising: A filling step of filling an additive material into a cylinder having a discharge port at its tip; a placement step of placing the cylinder filled with additive material at a working position corresponding to the supply port; a supply step of forcing the additive material from the supply port into the inside of the kneader by pushing the additive material in the cylinder arranged at the working position out of the discharge port with a piston.

9. The method further includes a discharge step of discharging the empty cylinder from the working position after the supply of the additive material; The method for supplying an additive material according to claim 8 , wherein the placing step, the supplying step, and the discharging step are repeatedly performed to continuously supply the additive material into the kneader.

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