Sheet Manufacturing Device for Low-Energy High Grammage Production
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sheet manufacturing processes, such as those using a slurry method, require significant energy to evaporate water, especially when producing high grammage sheets, leading to high energy consumption and operational costs.
Innovation Solution
A sheet manufacturing apparatus that uses an air-laid web formation and localized heating to bond fibers with resin, reducing energy consumption by applying heat only to a concentrated area, thereby minimizing the need for water evaporation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If traditional slurry method with water evaporation is used to manufacture sheets, then sheets can be formed by depositing and bonding fibers, but energy consumption increases significantly especially for high grammage sheets
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the fundamental parameter of the manufacturing process by eliminating water as the binding medium and using a dry air-laid web formation method instead of traditional wet slurry processing, thereby avoiding the energy-intensive water evaporation step entirely
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts and removes water from the sheet formation process entirely, using a dry process where fibers are laid and bonded in an air-laid web configuration without water as a carrier or binding agent
2Quantity of substance
If water is removed by squeeze roller before heating, then some water is removed mechanically, but large amount of water still requires evaporation consuming extreme energy
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes water from the sheet formation process entirely, using a dry process where fibers are laid and bonded in an air-laid web configuration without water as a carrier or binding agent
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of starting with a wet slurry and removing water (the traditional approach), the invention inverts the process by starting with dry fibers and maintaining a dry state throughout, bonding fibers through mechanical interlocking and resin coating rather than water evaporation
3Temperature
If heat is applied to broad area such as flat press or hot air, then water evaporation can be achieved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies resin coating locally to specific areas of the air-laid web where fiber bonding is needed, rather than heating a broad area, thereby concentrating energy application only where necessary for bond formation
4Quantity of substance
If grammage of manufactured paper is increased, then sheet density and quality improve, but amount of water to be evaporated increases leading to higher energy consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the fundamental parameter of the manufacturing process by eliminating water as the binding medium and using a dry air-laid web formation method instead of traditional wet slurry processing, thereby avoiding the energy-intensive water evaporation step entirely regardless of grammage
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
The apparatus achieves low energy consumption even when producing high grammage sheets, significantly reducing energy usage compared to traditional slurry-based methods by focusing heat application and eliminating the need for water evaporation.
Implementation Method 1
a configuration for heating and compressing the web
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
A sheet manufacturing apparatus can manufacture sheets using a small amount of energy even when making high grammage sheets. A sheet manufacturing apparatus according to the invention is characterized by supplying 0.014 times or more and 0.28 times or less energy to heat and compress a laid web of fiber and resin, bond multiple fibers through the resin, and form a sheet with grammage of 80 g/m2 than the energy consumed to dry a web containing approximately the same weight percent of water as fiber and form a sheet with grammage of 80 g/m2.