Fiber Piling Humidification for Low-Water Sheet Forming
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sheet manufacturing apparatuses require large amounts of water for humidification, leading to low humidification efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A sheet manufacturing apparatus with a defibrating unit, fiber piling-up unit, pressing unit, and a humidifying mechanism that includes a rotating portion, transportation belt, and nozzles to supply humidified air to the fiber piling-up unit, enhancing humidification efficiency by targeted air supply.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the entire space inside the housing is humidified, then the drying and electrification of fibers is suppressed, but a large amount of water is required resulting in low humidification efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by humidifying only the specific region where fibers are piled up in the former, rather than the entire housing space. The humidification mechanism is positioned to target the fiber accumulation zone directly, providing localized moisture supply that prevents fiber drying and electrification while consuming less water compared to whole-space humidification.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the humidification function from the general housing environment and concentrates it specifically at the fiber piling-up location. By removing the need to humidify the entire housing space and focusing moisture supply only where fibers are accumulated, the system achieves better fiber stability with reduced water consumption.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a large amount of water is used for humidification, then fiber drying is prevented, but water consumption increases reducing process efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by directing humidified air specifically to the fiber piling-up region within the former using a targeted humidification mechanism. This localized approach prevents fiber drying at the critical accumulation zone without requiring excessive water consumption across the entire housing space, thereby maintaining manufacturing efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by humidifying the fibers before they complete the piling-up process in the former. The humidification mechanism is positioned upstream to ensure fibers receive moisture during accumulation, preventing drying and electrification issues before they affect the final web quality, thus maintaining continuous production efficiency.
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
Achieves higher humidification efficiency with reduced water usage by uniformly humidifying the fibers and preventing static cling, improving the manufacturing process.
Implementation Method 1
a humidifying mechanism that supplies humidified air to the fiber piling-up unit
Implementation Method 2
suppress the drying and electrification of fibers in the former
Data Source
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AI summary
An apparatus includes: a defibrating unit that defibrates a material to turn it into fibers; a fiber piling-up unit that piles up the fibers to form a second web; a pressing portion that presses the second web to turn it into a sheet; and a humidifying mechanism that supplies humidified air to the fiber piling-up unit. The fiber piling-up unit includes a rotating portion that stirs the fibers supplied from the defibrating unit, a case in which the rotating portion is housed, and a mesh belt that is provided under the case and transports the second web in a transportation direction. The second web is formed on the mesh belt by piling up the fibers on the mesh belt. The humidifying mechanism includes an upstream-side nozzle that is provided upstream of the fiber piling-up unit in the transportation direction and supplies the humidified air to the fiber piling-up unit.