Device and method for processing an endless non-woven fabric
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for removing liquid from an endless web using suction devices result in high energy losses due to ambient air being sucked in, manual adjustability issues, and uneven moisture distribution causing edge waviness, as they rely on negative pressure and manual width adjustments.
Innovation Solution
A device with a suction system that includes sensors to detect the lateral edges of the web, allowing for automatic adjustment of the suction opening's size to match the web's width, coupled with a dryer that adapts its performance to the web's width, ensuring continuous moisture removal and reduced energy consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the suction slot width is increased to handle wider webs, then more liquid can be removed, but ambient air is sucked in causing high energy losses
Solution Approach 1:
The suction slot width is made dynamically adjustable through actuators that move slide-in strips laterally. The control unit automatically adjusts the suction slot width to match the actual web width, ensuring the suction device processes only the necessary area without sucking in excessive ambient air, thus optimizing energy consumption while maintaining liquid removal capacity.
2Loss of energy
If the suction slot width is manually adjusted to match web width, then energy losses are reduced, but the adjustment process is time-consuming and imprecise
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-adjustment by automatically detecting the web width using sensors and autonomously positioning the slide-in strips to the correct lateral positions. This eliminates the need for manual measurement and adjustment by operators, making the system self-sufficient in optimizing its configuration while reducing energy losses.
Solution Approach 2:
Manual mechanical adjustment is replaced by an automated control system that uses sensors to detect web width and actuators to position the slide-in strips. This substitution of manual operation with an automated sensing-actuating system improves precision and speed while reducing energy consumption.
3Productivity
If the suction slot is too large, then liquid removal is effective, but edge areas experience excessive forces causing waviness
Solution Approach 1:
The suction slot width is locally adapted to match the actual web width, ensuring that suction force is applied only where the web exists. This prevents excessive suction forces from acting on edge areas that would otherwise be exposed to the suction flow, thereby maintaining edge flatness while preserving liquid removal efficiency across the web surface.
4Productivity
If the suction device processes the entire conveyor belt width, then all liquid is removed, but energy is wasted on processing empty areas
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and processes only the relevant portion of the conveyor belt width by laterally positioning the slide-in strips to define a suction slot that matches the web width. This extraction approach excludes empty areas from the suction process, eliminating energy waste on non-productive zones while ensuring complete liquid removal from the actual web material.
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 solution improves the web's quality by maintaining even moisture distribution, reducing energy usage, and preventing edge waviness, while allowing for efficient operation of the downstream dryer.
Implementation Method 1
a suction device arranged after the bonding or treatment under the conveyor belt for sucking off the liquid across the working width
Implementation Method 2
a dryer arranged after the suction device
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The present invention relates to a device and a method for processing an endless fleece, wherein the fleece (2) is transported on at least one conveyor belt (1) and is consolidated or treated with a liquid, comprising, after the consolidation or treatment under the conveyor belt (1 ) arranged suction device (4) for sucking off the liquid over the working width and a dryer (10) arranged after the suction device (4), with at least one sensor for detecting at least one lateral edge of the web (2), and with a controller that is the sensor data can actuate actuators, with which the size of a suction opening (4a) of the suction (4) can be adjusted.