Method for controlling a functional property of an industrial fabric

• US 7,815,978 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2007
• Issued: 10/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Albany International Corporation
• Original Assignee: Albany International Corporation
• Inventors: Kramer, Charles E., O'Connor, Joseph G., Paquin, Maurice, Davenport, Francis L.
• Primary Examiner(s): LIGHTFOOT, ELENA TSOY
• Application Number:
  US11/893,209
• Publication Number:
  US 20070286951A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,161 Days
• Field of Search: 427/508, 427/372.2, 427/385.5, 427/398.1
• US Class Current: 427/508
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 38/145 Printing
• CPC Class Codes: D04H 1/465 Hydraulic needling
• CPC Class Codes: D04H 3/04 in rectilinear paths, e.g. crossing at right angles
• CPC Class Codes: D04H 3/12 with filaments or yarns secured together by chemical or thermo-activatable bonding agents, e.g. adhesives, applied or incorporated in liquid or solid form
• CPC Class Codes: D06N 2205/023 Emulsion, aqueous dispersion, latex
• CPC Class Codes: D06N 2209/105 Resistant to abrasion, scratch
• CPC Class Codes: D06N 2209/128 Non-permeable
• CPC Class Codes: D06N 3/0081 by wave energy or particle radiation D06N3/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: D06N 3/142 mixture of polyurethanes with other resins in the same layer
• CPC Class Codes: D06N 7/0092 Non-continuous polymer coating on the fibrous substrate, e.g. plastic dots on fabrics
• CPC Class Codes: D21F 1/0027 Screen-cloths
• CPC Class Codes: D21F 1/0036 Multi-layer screen-cloths
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 162/903 Paper forming member, e.g. fourdrinier, sheet forming member
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24405 Polymer or resin [e.g., natural or synthetic rubber, etc.]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24802 Discontinuous or differential coating, impregnation or bond [e.g., artwork, printing, retouched photograph, etc.]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/254 Polymeric or resinous material
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 442/2139 Coating or impregnation specified as porous or permeable to a specific substance [e.g., water vapor, air, etc.]

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a papermaker'"'"'s or industrial fabric requires the application of a polymeric resin material onto preselected locations on a base substrate using an array which deposits the polymeric resin material in droplets having an average diameter of 10μ (10 microns) or more. The preselected locations, for example, may be knuckles formed by the interweaving of the yarns making up the fabric or interstices between the yarns. The purpose of such precise application of the resin is to control functional properties of the fabric, such as permeability and abrasion resistance. The polymeric resin material is set by means appropriate to its composition, and, optionally, may be abraded to provide the polymeric resin material above the surface plane of the base substrate with a uniform thickness.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a papermaker'"'"'s or industrial fabric, said method comprising the steps of:

a) providing a base substrate for the fabric;

b) depositing polymeric resin material onto said base substrate at discrete locations in a controlled manner so as to control the x, y, z dimensions of said material deposited to create a predetermined pattern in droplets to provide a desired functional property to the fabric; and

c) at least partially setting said polymeric resin material, wherein the method includes building up at least one x, y, z dimensionally controlled geometric shape with a plurality of the droplets of polymeric resin material, wherein each droplet of the shape is partially set before the deposition of the subsequent droplet when building up the shape.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said droplets have an average diameter of 10μ

(10 microns) or more.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the optional step of abrading said polymeric resin material deposited on said base substrate to provide said polymeric resin material above the surface plane of said base substrate with a uniform thickness and smoothness.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein steps b) and c) are performed sequentially on successive bands extending widthwise across said base substrate.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein steps b) and c) are performed sequentially on successive strips extending lengthwise around said base substrate.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein steps b) and c) are performed spirally around said base substrate.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, in step b), said preselected locations on said base substrate are knuckles formed by lengthwise yarns of said base substrate passing over crosswise yarns.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, in step b), said preselected locations on said base substrate are knuckles formed by crosswise yarns of said base substrate passing over lengthwise yarns.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, in step b), said preselected locations on said base substrate are interstices between lengthwise and crosswise yarns of said base substrate.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, in step b), said polymeric resin material is deposited by a piezojet array comprising a plurality of individual computer controlled piezojets.

11. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein step b) comprises the steps of:

i) checking the surface of said base substrate to ensure that said polymeric resin material has been deposited onto said preselected locations; and

ii) depositing said polymeric resin material onto said preselected locations lacking polymeric resin material.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11 wherein said checking step is performed by a fast pattern recognizer (FPR) processor operating in conjunction with a digital imaging camera.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12 wherein said depositing step is performed by a piezojet array coupled to said FPR processor.

14. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said polymeric resin material is:

hot melts;

moisture-cured hot melts;

two part reactive systems based on urethanes and epoxies;

photopolymerizable compositions consisting of reactive acrylated monomers and acrylated oligomers derived from urethanes, polyesters, polyethers, and silicones;

or

aqueous-based latexes and dispersions and particle-filled formulations including acrylics and polyurethanes.

15. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said curing step is performed by exposing said polymeric resin material to a heat source.

16. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said curing step is performed by exposing said polymeric resin material to cold air.

17. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said curing step is performed by exposing said polymeric resin material to actinic radiation.

18. A method as claimed in claim 10 wherein said piezojet array comprises a plurality of individual computer controlled piezojets, and wherein some of said individual computer controlled piezojets deposit one polymeric resin material while other individual computer controlled piezojets deposit a different polymeric resin material.

19. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the base substrate is selected from the group consisting of woven fabric, nonwoven fabric, spiral formed fabric, spiral-link fabric, knitted fabric, mesh, strips of material which are ultimately wound to form a substrate having a width greater than a width of the strips, and a substrate which includes batt.

20. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the method includes building up at least one x, y, z dimensionally controlled geometric shape to be square, round, conical, rectangular, trapezoidal or layered.