Format Slides for Wet-Laid Web Edge Definition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for producing wet-laid nonwoven webs face challenges in setting the web width arbitrarily and achieving tidy edges, particularly when using long fibers, leading to untidy edges, tears, and unintended machine downtimes due to fiber entanglement with edge trimmers and hydraulic turbulences.
Innovation Solution
The use of at least three format slides in the dewatering gap allows for adjustable web width and simultaneous production of multiple nonwoven webs, eliminating the need for edge trimmers by acting as dividers for the fibrous suspension, ensuring tidy edges and uniform area weight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If edge trimmers are used to cut nonwoven web edges, then web width can be trimmed, but long fibers catch on the trimmer causing untidy edges and machine downtimes
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the edge trimmer component entirely from the system. Instead of using a knife-based trimming device that causes fiber entanglement and machine downtime, the patent extracts this harmful element and replaces it with a format shield that defines the web width during the forming process itself, thereby eliminating the source of the problem.
Solution Approach 2:
The format shield performs the edge definition action during the web formation process itself, before the web reaches the trimming stage. By establishing the correct web width and edge quality during dewatering on the screen former, the invention prevents the need for subsequent trimming operations that would cause fiber entanglement and machine interruptions.
2Adaptability or versatility
If edge trimmers are used to set web width, then width can be adjusted, but resources such as compressed air and spray water are required
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the resource-intensive edge trimmer system including compressed air and spray water supplies. By using a format shield that defines web width during the forming process, the system eliminates the need for these additional utility resources while maintaining web width adjustability.
Solution Approach 2:
The format shield performs the web width definition function using only the existing process water flow, without requiring additional compressed air or spray water resources. The shield utilizes the natural hydrodynamics of the forming process to achieve edge definition and width control.
3Adaptability or versatility
If format width is fixed during production, then device structure is simple, but arbitrary web width setting is not possible
Solution Approach 1:
The format shield is designed with adjustable positioning capabilities that allow the web width to be changed during production without requiring a complete device reconfiguration. The shield can be moved to different positions on the screen former, enabling flexible web width settings while maintaining a relatively simple overall device structure.
4Manufacturing precision
If hydraulic turbulences occur about edge trimmers, then area weight uniformity on edges deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the edge trimmer component that generates hydraulic turbulence. By eliminating the trimmer and its associated water jets and air flows, the system prevents the creation of harmful hydraulic disturbances that would otherwise cause area weight non-uniformity at the web edges.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses the natural, laminar flow conditions of the forming process water to define web edges through the format shield, converting what would normally be a neutral flow into a beneficial edge-defining mechanism that simultaneously maintains area weight uniformity and prevents turbulence.
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
Enables flexible setting of nonwoven web width and production of multiple webs with tidy edges without edge trimmers, reducing resource usage and machine downtimes, and achieving uniform area weight in the finished fabric.
Implementation Method 1
the displaceable format slides thus act as dividers for the fibrous suspension that exits the headbox
Implementation Method 2
Device for dewatering a wet-laid nonwoven web from a fibrous suspension
Data Source
AI summary
A device dewaters a wet-laid non-woven web formed from a fibrous suspension. The device has a multiplicity of dewatering strips which are disposed so as to be mutually spaced apart. Mutually neighboring dewatering strips conjointly delimit a dewatering gap for discharging liquid from the fibrous suspensions. The device further has at least three format slides which along the longitudinal direction of the respective dewatering gap are disposed or disposable so as to be distributed relative to one another and which partially obscure the dewatering gap in such a manner that any discharging of the liquid by way of the obscured part of the dewatering gap is prevented.