Process and plant for forming padding from recycled padded textile products

Abstract

A process and plant for forming wadding or fiber flock from padded textile products, recycled or resulting from excess production, in which all textile materials forming the same starting padded product are treated together and simultaneously. Compared to known embodiments in the field, the process and plant of the present invention make it possible to produce wadding or fiber flock that can be used as thermal insulation padding in the clothing and furniture sector in an economical, rapid and fully mechanized way.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method and associated plant for forming padding from recycled padded textile products.

[0002] The field of the invention is that of the recovery of fibres coming from discarded clothing. [Background technology]

[0003] Currently, this type of recovery is carried out by manually selecting the various parts that make up the garment: inner and outer fabric, padding, etc. Each single component is then cut separately into small pieces, which are then processed in conventional garnet machines.

[0004] However, the fibrous material obtained by the described selection of the different materials constituting the garments to be recycled is very compact and not very bulky, so it is not suitable for forming stuffing that can generally be used as padding material for clothing and for furniture.

[0005] The above conventional methods also have the drawback of requiring expensive and lengthy manual separation and mechanical processing of the various materials to be processed, which involves considerable labor in terms of time and electricity.

[0006] CN 208 917 366, CN 104 120 510 and US 4 241 474 describe plants for opening or defibrating unpadded garments in which only a rotating cylinder is used, whereas the plant disclosed in CN 108 060 474 performs a simple cutting of the unpadded fabric by means of a rotating blade. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0007] [Patent Document 1] China Patent Application Publication No. 208 917 366 [Patent Document 2] China Patent Application Publication No. 104 120 510 [Patent Document 3] US Patent Application Publication No. 4 241 474 [Patent Document 4] China Patent Application Publication No. 108 060 474 Summary of the Invention

[0008] The main object of the present invention is to provide a process and a plant for the recovery in a single operation of padded textile products that are recycled or that result from overproduction, which, unlike conventional processes of the same type, makes it possible to obtain a filling that can be used as a padding in the clothing and furnishings sector in general.

[0009] A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing thermal insulation fibers or wadding from padded textile products, which are recovered or resulting from overproduction, in a simple and rapid operation and without manual intervention. Fiber Group The object of the present invention is to provide a process and a plant of the above type which are capable of producing

[0010] These and other objects are achieved by the process and plant respectively of claim 1 and claim 4. Preferred embodiments are evident from the remaining claims.

[0011] In comparison with known embodiments in the field, the process and plant of the present invention provide an economical, rapid and fully mechanized method for producing stuffing or fibers that can be used as thermal insulation padding in the clothing and furniture sectors. group This enables production.

[0012] The method and plant according to the invention also have the advantage that they allow the processing of more than 200 padded garments per hour of production, with an hourly throughput of 150-200 kg / h of stuffing from padded garments weighing approximately 1 kg.

[0013] Creating a sustainable circular economy, the plant is very compact and space-saving (approx. 5m x 2m x 1.5m), but could be larger and therefore more productive.

[0014] It should be noted that 2 kg of oil are required to produce 1 kg of fiber, therefore, with a production of 200 kg of wadding per hour, the method and plant of the invention provide the advantage of saving about 400 kg of oil (8,000 kg of oil per day of production). Thus, due to the non-use of raw material (oil) and all the resulting operations such as transportation, mechanical processing of the starting textile fibers, a significant and substantial reduction of pollutants is obtained. The energy consumption required by the process and plant of the invention is indeed very low (about 10 / 12 kW / h) and, moreover, given the complete absence of water consumption and any form of pollution, the invention can be perfectly placed in the context of a sustainable circular economy.

[0015] The process of the invention also allows traces of the recovered starting fabric fragments to remain in the thus formed filling, thereby revealing its origin from the recovery process of recycled materials. A certificate is issued as a guarantee that the original material (manufactured or assorted cuttings) has been cleaned and disinfected by UV radiation, such as with ozone current. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0016] These and other objects, advantages and features will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments of the process and plant according to the invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

[0017] In these: [Figure 1]FIG. 1 is a plan view of a schematic embodiment of a plant of the present invention; [Diagram 2] 2 shows a side view of a pair of rotating plates used in the plant of FIG. 1; [Diagram 3] A pair of double cylinders used in the plant of FIG. 1 is shown in side view. [Figure 4] FIG. 3 is a side view of the carding willow used in the plate of FIG. [Diagram 5] 2 shows a cross section of a cylinder of station 13 of the plant of FIG. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0018] In the process of the invention, the padded products 1 to be recycled, for example excess production, typically padded garments such as insulating jackets, sleeping bags, bed quilts, padding material waste, etc., previously cleaned with metal or plastic parts removed, are placed in a decontamination chamber 2 which allows them to perform a disinfecting action, for example by contact with UV radiation, via ozone current, etc.

[0019] The product 1 thus treated in the decontamination chamber 2 is then transported by a conveyor belt 3 to a compression station 4 equipped with a pair of rollers 5 between which the product 1 is crushed and compressed to make it more processable in the subsequent stations.

[0020] Preferably, a metal detector is also provided which can detect the presence of any metal parts which should be rejected.

[0021] Then, at the exit from station 4, the comminuted product 1 is treated as a whole, together with the pads and the fabric, inside station 6, which performs a defibrating and tearing treatment of all these materials together at the same time. For this purpose, station 6 is provided with two pairs of rotating plates 7, 8, one of which is better shown in FIG.

[0022] In particular, each of said pairs of plates is formed by an upper plate 9 and a lower plate 10 with mutually opposite rotation (arrows F1 and F2 in FIG. 2). The opposing faces of the plates 9, 10, between which the products 1 coming from the compression station 4 are processed, have needles 11, 12 of different size and density, in a staggered arrangement between the needles 11 of plate 9 and the needles 12 of plate 10.

[0023] Preferably, according to the invention, the needles 11, 12 of said pairs 7, 8 of plates 9, 10 are shaped like arcs or carding willows, as better shown in FIG.

[0024] Even more preferably, the pair of plates 7 which first receive the products 1 from the compression station 4 has a density of, for example, 2 needles / cm 2 Alternatively, the subsequent pair 8 of plates 9,10 has a higher density, e.g. 6 needles / cm. 2 The needles 11, 12 of the previous pair are distributed at 0.05 mm and have smaller dimensions than the previous pair, for example 2 mm at the base and 1 mm at the tip. Preferably, the length of the needles of said pair of plates is in the range of 2-3 cm.

[0025] In this way, the first pair of plates 7 performs a first coarse tear of the padded product 1, while the second pair of plates 8 performs a finer and more complete tear of the fabric and stuffing fibers. In this way, raw fibers of the stuffing and fabric emerge from the first pair of plates 7, 9, 10, but from the second pair of plates 8 finer and shorter fibers are obtained than those coming from the previous pair of plates 9, 10.

[0026] The fibrous material obtained at station 6 is then transferred, by means of a suitable pneumatic conveying system (not shown), to the subsequent station 13 for converting said fibrous material into a thin layer of parallelized fibers which essentially form a stuffing layer.

[0027] In particular, said station 13 is provided with two pairs of cylinders 14, 15 which convert the fibre material prepared in the previous station 6 into a layer of parallelised fibres. For this purpose, each pair of cylinders 14, 15 is composed of an upper cylinder 16 and a lower cylinder 17 with mutually opposite rotations F3, F4 (Fig. 3). Each cylinder 16, 17 also supports, respectively, needles 18, 19 of different length and density, which are fixed on suitable supports in a staggered arrangement between the needles 18 of the cylinder 16 and the needles 19 of the cylinder 17. Advantageously, the needles 18, 19 of the first pair of cylinders 14 have larger dimensions (length and thickness) than the needles of the second pair 15 arranged downstream of the previous pair. Preferably, the pair 14 of cylinders 16, 17 which first receives the fibres from the previous station 6 has needles 18, 19 with a lower density than the density of the needles present on the subsequent pair 15 of cylinders.

[0028] Thanks to the aforementioned pair of cylinders present at station 13, the fabric and stuffing fibers coming out of the previous station 6 in a bulk state and with random orientation are condensed into a stuffing fiber at the next station. Fiber Group The fibers are stretched and arranged parallel to one another to form a single layer of fibers suitable for being converted into

[0029] The layer of material emerging from station 13 is then passed through a subsequent air circulation station 21. suction device 20, in this case, stuffing Fiber Group The fabric layer to obtain 22 is torn open.

[0030] The aforementioned process and plant thus achieve together and simultaneously the liberation of the different materials (fabrics, linings, padding of different natures, synthetic, artificial or natural, etc.) forming the product 1 to be recovered, thereby converting them into valuable filling fibres that can be used as padding material and for the insulation of new products of easy-to-maintain thermal products.

[0031] As a result, the fibers can have a bulkiness (or filling power - FP) of at least 350 to 400 Cuin (inches3 / ounce) even if they do not need to be combined with additional fibers relative to the fibers already present in the initial product 1. Filling fiber group 22 is obtained. If a higher FP is required, it is sufficient to add x percent of fiber to the mixing chamber.

[0032] The bulkiness of the product (FP) has a significant effect on the CLO value. In theory, 400 cuin of recycled FP encapsulated in a special fabric can be expected to yield a CLO value of approximately 1.7 to 1.8.

[0033] Nevertheless, modifications can be made to the above-described illustrated invention in order to provide variants which fall within the scope of the following claims. Thus, for example, the stations 6, 13 of the plant of the invention can also have a single pair of rotating plates and a single pair of cylinders, respectively. Furthermore, the decontamination chamber 2 can be omitted, since the described defibrating and tearing station 6 and the wadding forming station 13 are essential to the invention.

Claims

1. A process for forming a filling from a padded textile product, either recycled or resulting from overproduction, comprising the defibration and tearing of the fabric and filling fibres forming said padded textile product together with and simultaneously forming a single filling layer which is subsequently converted into a filling fibre mass, (a) the textile product is treated in a compression station (4) provided with rollers (5) for compressing and crushing, and is crushed and compressed in the compression station (4); (b) the crushed product coming from step (a) is processed inside a fiberization station (6) which performs a joint and simultaneous fiberization and tearing process of all these materials by means of two pairs (7, 8) of rotating plates (9, 10) each equipped with needles (11, 12); (c) the fibrous material obtained from said step (b) is then treated in a subsequent conversion station (13) in order to convert said fibrous material into a thin layer of parallelized fibers forming a substantial filling layer by means of two pairs (14, 15) of cylinders (16, 17) each provided with needles (18, 19); (d) the textile material layer obtained in step (c) to obtain said filling fiber mass is torn open by a suction device (20) in a subsequent air circulation station (21); A process characterized by:

2. 2. The process of claim 1, wherein the padded textile product comprises any one or more of the following: an insulating jacket, a sleeping bag, a quilted bed cover, a production waste of padding material, a surplus production, and a padded garment.

3. A plant for forming a filling from a padded textile product using the process according to claim 1 or 2, - a fiberizing station (6) having two pairs (7, 8) of rotating plates (9, 10), each pair (7, 8) of plates being formed from an upper plate (9) and a lower plate (10) with said needles (11, 12) of different needle thickness and needle distribution density, with an alternating arrangement between the needles (11) of said upper plate (9) and the needles (12) of said lower plate (10) and with mutually opposite rotation, a subsequent conversion station (13) for converting said fibrous material into a thin layer of parallelized fibers forming substantially a filling layer, said conversion station (13) being provided with two pairs (14, 15) of cylinders (16, 17) for converting the fibrous material prepared in the fiberizing station (6) into a layer of parallelized fibers, each pair (14, 15) of cylinders consisting of an upper cylinder (16) and a lower cylinder (17) with opposite directions of rotation, each cylinder (16, 17) also supporting needles (18, 19), respectively, with different needle root-to-tip lengths and different needle distribution densities, said needles (18, 19) being fixed on a suitable support in a staggered arrangement between the needles (18) of the upper cylinder (16) and the needles (19) of the lower cylinder (17); a subsequent air circulation station (21) where the textile material layers are torn open to obtain the filling fibre flocks; A plant comprising:

4. 4. A plant according to claim 3, characterized in that the distribution density of the needles (11, 12) of the first pair (7) of rotating plates is lower than the distribution density of the second pair (8) of plates, which is arranged downstream of the previous pair.

5. 4. A plant according to claim 3, characterized in that the needles (18, 19) of the first pair (14) of cylinders have a greater length from the base to the tip and a greater thickness than the needles (18, 19) present in a second pair (15) of cylinders arranged downstream of said pair (14) of cylinders.

6. 6. A plant according to claim 3, wherein said station (21) is arranged downstream of said conversion station (13) and comprises a suction device (20) for converting the layers obtained at said conversion station (13) into a filling fibre mass.

7. A plant according to any one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that it further comprises a chamber (2) with ultraviolet or ozone current for decontaminating the product (1).

8. 6. A plant according to any one of claims 3 to 5, characterised in that it also comprises a compression station (4) provided with rollers (5) for compressing and grinding the product (1) upstream of the fibre defibration station (6) with rotating plates.

9. A plant according to any one of claims 3 to 5, characterised in that it also comprises a metal detector for detecting the presence of metal parts to be removed.

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