APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR MANUFACTURING FIBER BUNDLES

• US 20130086872A1
• Filed: 11/01/2012
• Published: 04/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fresenius Medical Care Deutschland GmbH (Fresenius Medical Care AG)
• Original Assignee: Fresenius Medical Care Deutschland GmbH (Fresenius Medical Care AG)
• Inventors: Barra, Elmar, Reuschenbach, Hermann, Hoermann, Joern
• Granted Patent: US 8,764,925 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 53/430
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 2313/23 Specific membrane protectors, e.g. sleeves or screens
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 2323/42 Details of membrane preparation apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 63/021 Manufacturing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 63/0233 forming the bundle
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 65/003 Membrane bonding or sealing
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 69/08 Hollow fibre membranes manufacture of hollow fibres D01D5/24, D01F1/08
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 63/065 continuously
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 11/00 Wrapping, e.g. partially or wholly enclosing, articles or quantities of material, in strips, sheets or blanks, of flexible material bundling articles by applying narrow strips or bands of flexible material B65B13/00
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 13/02 Applying and securing binding material around articles or groups of articles, e.g. using strings, wires, strips, bands or tapes
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 27/125 and wrapping or bagging
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 54/22 Automatic winding machines, i.e. machines with servicing units for automatically performing end-finding, interconnecting of successive lengths of material, controlling and fault-detecting of the running material and replacing or removing of full or empty cores
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 54/58 Swifts or reels adapted solely for the formation of hanks or skeins B65H49/30 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 54/62 Binding of skeins
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 59/38 by regulating speed of driving mechanism of unwinding, paying-out, forwarding, winding, or depositing devices, e.g. automatically in response to variations in tension

Abstract

An apparatus for the reeling up of fiber bundles, in particular of hollow fiber membrane bundles, and in particular for the manufacture of dialysis filters, includes a reel carrier rotatable around a main axis. The apparatus includes at least two reels which are rotatably supported on the reel carrier, with the axes of rotation of the reels being perpendicular to the main axis of the reel carrier. The apparatus can be used for the wrapping of a fiber bundle with a film, having a receiver of first and second side elements and a flexible channel fastened between them for the reception of the film and the fiber bundle. A drive is provided to move at least the first side element transversely to the channel, and at least one folding device movable transversely to the channel for the folding of the film around the fiber bundle.

Claims

1-24. -24. (canceled)

25. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles, in particular of hollow fiber membrane bundles, in particular for the manufacture of dialysis filters, on a reel arrangement comprising a reel carrier rotatable around a main axis and comprising at least two reels which are rotatably supported on the reel carrier, wherein the axes of rotation of the reels stand perpendicular on the main axis of the reel carrier, said method comprising the following steps:

reeling up of a fiber bundle on a first reel

rotation of the reel carrier around the main axis

further processing of the fiber bundle on the first reel and simultaneous reeling up of a fiber bundle on the next reel.

26. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 25, wherein the fiber strand, on the reeling up by the rotation of a reel bar, is wrapped around winding mandrels arranged at its end so that the reeled on fiber bundle extends along the reel bar.

27. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 26, wherein the length of the fiber bundle amounts to at least three times the length of the filter portions of dialysis filters manufactured with the hollow fiber membrane bundles.

28. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 25, wherein the next reel adopts the position previously adopted by the first reel by the rotation of the reel carrier around the main axis.

29. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 25, wherein the axis of rotation of the reel carrier coincides with its longitudinal axis and the reels each substantially comprise a reel bar with reel heads arranged at the ends of the reel bar having winding mandrels, with the reel bars being brought into a position substantially parallel with the reel carrier before the rotation of the reel carrier.

30. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 25, wherein the reel bar remains in its position substantially parallel to the reel carrier during the further processing step.

31. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 25, wherein

the fiber strand is provided continuously, in particular by continuous spinning of the fiber strand,

and the fiber strand is intermediately stored in a storage apparatus, while the next reel is provided by rotation of the reel carrier.

32. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 31, wherein

the reel is operated at a higher rotational speed until the fiber strand stored in the storage apparatus falls below a certain length, whereupon the reel is operated at a lower rotational speed.

33. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 25, wherein

the fiber strand is provided continuously, in particular by continuous spinning of the fiber strand,

whereas the fiber strand is reeled up with fluctuating speed, in particular on the start up and stopping of the reel and/or by rotation of the reel at a substantially constant speed, and

the fluctuating speed of the reeling up is balanced by a storage apparatus.

34. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 33, wherein the rotational speed is readjusted on the exceeding or falling below of specific limit values for the fiber strand stored in the storage apparatus.

35. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 31, wherein the tension of the fiber strand is in particular set via the storage device.

36. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 35, wherein the tension of the fiber strand is measured via a thread tension measuring device and is readjusted as required.

37. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 31, wherein the fiber strand is held under tension via a dancer roll of the storage device, in particular via a low-mass pulling force apparatus such as a torque-controlled servo motor in particular in conjunction with a smooth toothed belt drive.

38. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 25, wherein the start of the fiber strand is clamped to the reel, whereupon the reeling up starts and ends after a fixed number of rotations, whereupon the end of the fiber strand is also clamped to the reel.

39. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 25, wherein, after the reeling up of the fiber bundle on a first reel, the fiber strand is taken up by a transfer grip, is cut and is transferred to the next reel after rotation of the reel carrier.

40. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 25, wherein loose ends of the fiber strand are sucked up via a suction apparatus.

41. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 26, wherein the pulling tension in the fiber bundle is reduced by displacement of the winding mandrels for the further processing of the fiber bundle.

42. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 26, wherein the fiber bundle divided into two by the wrapping up around the winding mandrels is brought into the substantially circular cross-section.

43. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 25, wherein the fiber bundler is wrapped with a film band in the further processing whose length corresponds to the length of the fiber bundle.

44. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 43, wherein the fiber bundle is compressed by the wrapping with the film.

45. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 43, wherein the film wrapped around the fiber bundle is fixed, in particular welded.

46. A method for the reeling up of fiber bundles in accordance with claim 25, wherein the fiber bundle is cut into a plurality of smaller bundle portions during the further processing.

47-80. -80. (canceled)