Separating Doubled Rubber Panels via Rapid Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
In the rubber processing industry, doubled rubber panels generated during conveyor belt production are difficult to separate, leading to waste and reduced product quality due to mixing issues, resulting in significant cost losses and reduced value of leftover materials.
Innovation Solution
Rapid cooling of doubled panels to a temperature between -20°C and +5°C, followed by separation using a jerky pull method, allows for efficient detachment and reuse of individual sheets, which can then be recombined into high-quality products.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If doubled rubber panels are kept at normal temperature during storage and processing, then the panels remain in a bonded state suitable for original application, but the separating forces increase making separation difficult and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies temperature parameter changes to resolve the contradiction. By cooling the doubled rubber panels to temperatures between -20°C and +5°C, the separating forces decrease significantly, enabling easy separation. The temperature parameter modification changes the physical state of the rubber material, reducing adhesion between layers while maintaining material integrity for subsequent reuse.
2Ease of manufacture
If doubled rubber panels are not separated and are instead reused as mixed material, then separation costs are avoided, but product quality decreases due to material mixing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by physically separating the doubled rubber panels into individual layers through controlled cooling and jerky pull separation. This segmentation enables each layer to be treated as a distinct material unit, maintaining purity and quality consistency. The separated panels can then be individually fed to sorted fresh mix processes, ensuring that each rubber type maintains its specific properties without contamination from other rubber types.
3Ease of operation
If rapid cooling is applied to doubled panels, then separating forces decrease and separation becomes easier, but additional cooling equipment and process time are required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent exploits phase transition principles by inducing a temporary physical state change in the rubber material through rapid cooling. The temperature reduction to -20°C to +5°C causes a phase transition that fundamentally alters the material's adhesive properties, enabling easy separation. After separation, the panels are rapidly reheated to their original state, allowing the phase transition effect to be reversed without permanent material alteration.
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 method enables the effective separation and reuse of rubber panels, maintaining product quality and reducing production costs by allowing proportional replacement of new mixtures with recovered materials, thereby improving the manufacturing margin.
Implementation Method 1
the doubled panels are rapidly cooled in a first process step and are detached from one another, i.e. separated, in at least one further process step
Implementation Method 2
such rapid cooling causes the separating forces of the doubled panels to decrease, and the panels can therefore be separated from one another in a comparatively simple manner
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for separating double-layered sheets based on at least one type of rubber, particularly in the manufacture of conveyor belts. The method comprises at least the following process steps: - Rapid cooling of the double-layered sheets based on at least one type of rubber in a first process step; - Separation of the double-layered sheets into individual sheets in at least one further process step.