Breathable Structural Web With Tapered Hollow Protrusions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Non-woven membranes with randomly formed pores of varying sizes lack directional control for water or liquid flow, limiting their application in products like diapers and filters.
Innovation Solution
A breathable structural web with a layered structure featuring a base layer and tapered hollow protrusions on one side and indented portions on the other, allowing for controlled airflow while preventing liquid passage, formed using a rotary member, screen mold, spinneret, and suction box apparatus.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If non-woven membranes are made using melt blown or melt spun techniques, then the membranes become permeable to air and water, but the pores are randomly formed with various sizes and lack defined directivity for flow
Solution Approach 1:
The screen mold with pre-formed holes and protrusions is prepared before the non-woven membrane is formed. The membrane is then formed over this pre-prepared screen mold, which automatically imprints the ordered pore structure onto the membrane surface, giving the membrane defined directivity for flow before the membrane is even completed
Solution Approach 2:
The screen mold acts as an intermediary tool between the membrane formation process and the desired ordered pore structure. The screen mold with its specific hole pattern and protrusions transfers the ordered structure to the membrane, serving as a mediator that converts random pore formation into ordered pore structures with controlled sizes and directions
2Adaptability or versatility
If non-woven membranes have randomly formed pores, then the membranes are permeable to air and water, but they cannot control the directionality of water or liquid flow
Solution Approach 1:
The screen mold introduces local quality variations through its pattern of holes and protrusions at different locations. This creates regions with different pore sizes, shapes, and orientations across the membrane surface, enabling directional control of liquid flow while maintaining breathability in specific directions
Solution Approach 2:
The screen mold design incorporates asymmetric hole shapes and protrusion orientations that break the symmetry of random pore structures. This asymmetry in the screen mold template is transferred to the membrane, creating ordered pores with defined directionality that can control liquid flow paths while maintaining air permeability
3Manufacturing precision
If a screen mold with tapered projections is used to form ordered pores, then directional flow control is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The screen mold combines multiple functions into a single component: it serves as both the forming tool and the template for the ordered pore structure. The tapered projections on the screen mold simultaneously create the pore shapes, define the pore orientations, and control the membrane thickness, merging several structure-defining functions into one element
Solution Approach 2:
The screen mold is designed as a universal tool that can be used for different membrane formation applications by simply changing the screen mold template. The same basic apparatus structure can produce different ordered pore patterns by swapping screen molds with different hole patterns, making the system multi-functional and adaptable to various requirements
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances breathability and liquid management, maintaining skin dryness and comfort by allowing air and vapor passage while blocking liquids, as demonstrated in diaper applications.
Implementation Method 1
a suction box that is disposed adjacent to the second side of the screen body and opposite to the first side of the screen body, and that is configured to draw the molten fibers to fit into the screen holes
Implementation Method 2
a plurality of hollow protrusions that are disposed at the first side and that protrude and that are tapered from the base layer portion in a first direction, and a plurality of indented portions that are disposed at the second side, that extend from the base layer portion in a second direction opposite to the first direction
Data Source
AI summary
A breathable structural web includes a layered structure having at least a layer of a non-woven material. The layered structure includes a base layer portion that has opposite first and second sides, a plurality of hollow protrusions that are disposed at the first side and that protrude and that are tapered from the base layer portion in a first direction, and a plurality of indented portions that are disposed at the second side, that extend from the base layer portion in a second direction opposite to the first direction, and that respectively define a plurality of recesses which open in the first direction. The hollow protrusions are scattered among the indented portions.