Cooling Roller Structure for Glass Chopped Strand Mat Production
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional glass chopped strand mat manufacturing apparatuses face inefficiencies and quality issues due to gum-up phenomena on rollers during the production of lightweight glass chopped strand mats, leading to decreased production efficiency and product defects.
Innovation Solution
The apparatus incorporates a second conveying means with heated rollers equipped with a cooling structure and water spraying means to maintain low surface temperatures, preventing resin adhesion and facilitating easy removal of solidified resin, along with multi-rollers with successively increasing diameters and a cooling channel to efficiently cool and reinforce the rollers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the rotational speed of the roller is increased to improve production efficiency, then productivity increases, but the frequency of contact between the roller and glass chopped strand mat increases, causing gum-up phenomenon and quality deterioration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by controlling the surface temperature of the roller to be lower than the softening temperature of the thermoplastic resin. This temperature parameter control prevents the resin from adhering to the roller surface, allowing high-speed rotation without gum-up phenomenon, thus resolving the contradiction between productivity improvement and quality maintenance
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the conventional heating roller system with a cooling structure that maintains low surface temperature. This substitution fundamentally changes the thermal mechanism from heating to cooling, preventing resin softening and adhesion, thereby enabling continuous high-speed production without quality degradation
2Manufacturing precision
If the roller is adjusted or cleaned to prevent meandering and maintain product quality, then manufacturing precision is improved, but the manufacturing line must be temporarily stopped, leading to decreased productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-cooling the roller surface before the glass chopped strand mat contacts it. This preliminary temperature control prevents gum-up from occurring in the first place, eliminating the need for subsequent cleaning or adjustment operations, thus maintaining both high precision and continuous productivity
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling structure enables the roller to maintain its own low surface temperature automatically during operation. This self-regulating temperature control prevents resin adhesion without requiring external intervention for cleaning or adjustment, allowing continuous production with both quality and efficiency maintained
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
This configuration significantly reduces gum-up occurrences, maintaining roller cleanliness and enabling continuous production of high-quality glass chopped strand mats with improved efficiency by preventing resin adhesion and ensuring uniform product quality.
Implementation Method 1
a cooling structure is provided for at least one of the plurality of rollers
Implementation Method 2
performing a heating treatment on the glass chopped strands at a temperature higher than the melting point of the resin powder
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A glass chopped strand mat manufacturing apparatus is provided which can improve the production efficiency and quality of a glass chopped strand mat, particularly a lightweight one . An apparatus for manufacturing a glass chopped strand mat (M) by shaping glass chopped strands S into a sheet, includes first conveying means (50) for continuously conveying the glass chopped strands (S) in a distributed form while spraying resin powder (A) serving as a binder, and second conveying means (60) for continuously conveying the glass chopped strands (S) to which the resin powder A adheres while performing a heating treatment on the glass chopped strands (S) at a temperature higher than the melting point of the resin powder (A). The second conveying means (60) includes a plurality of rollers arranged from upstream to downstream, where a conveying direction of the glass chopped strands (S) is defined as a flow direction, and a cooling structure is provided for at least one of the plurality of rollers.