AU719339B2

AU719339B2 - Process and apparatus for the drying and shrinking of textile goods

Info

Publication number: AU719339B2
Application number: AU60828/96A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Kurt Dr. Muller
Original assignee: KURT MULLER DR
Current assignee: KURT MULLER DR
Priority date: 1996-07-30
Filing date: 1996-07-30
Publication date: 2000-05-04
Anticipated expiration: 2016-07-30
Also published as: AU6082896A

Description

P/00/0011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for service in Australia: DR. KURT MULLER DR. KURT MULLER CARTER SMITH BEADLE 2 Railway Parade Camberwell Victoria 3124 Australia Invention Title: PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR THE DRYING AND SHRINKING OF TEXTILE GOODS The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us 1A SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a process for the continuous drying and shrinking of textile knitted or woven goods, in which the moist goods to be treated are conveyed along a through-channel formed between at least two endless rotating porous guide belts for the purpose of drying on both sides by means of at least one drying station comprising oppositely disposed, oppositely acting hot-air nozzles which are offset relative to each other, and also an apparatus for carrying out this process.

-0 o..

15 Processes of the kind mentioned above are already known, but all have the disadvantage that articles treated in this way are mostly twisted and/or unevenly shrunk, so that they require subsequently to undergo further relatively expensive treatment.

The problem underlying the present invention is in particular to provide a process lacking this disadvantage, i.e. by the employment of which textile webs of extremely accurate form can be produced with improved uniformity of web structure.

This problem is solved according to the invention by a 2 process of the kind described initially and with the characterisation of claim 1.

Advantageous further developments of the process according to the invention form the subject of claim 2 to A further subject of the invention is an apparatus for carrying out the process of the invention according to 1o claim 11.

Advantageous further developments of the apparatus according to the invention are to be found in claims 12 to 19.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will now be described by way of example *with reference to the drawings, in which: 20 Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section through an embodiment as an example of an apparatus according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a section on the line II II and is a 25 perspective view on a larger scale; S.Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the web widthstretching device A in Fig. i, on a larger scale; Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic plan view of the upper strands of a lower guide belt unit of a second embodiment as example of an apparatus according to the invention; Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view in perspective of a web-supporting and transport unit which supports the regular narrowing of the web; Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic side-elevation view of a further embodiment of an apparatus according to the invention, and Fig. 7 is a cross-section through a special form of the hot-air nozzles, on a larger scale.

Referring now to Fig. i, the moist textile web 1 to be treated is conveyed within a through-channel 4 formed between two endless rotating porous guide belts 2 and 3 so that they are impacted and dried on both sides by three successive drying stations 5, 6, 7 of known construction.

These drying stations 5, 6 and 7 are provided in the known manner with hot-air slit nozzles 8 or 9 which are laterally distanced from each other, which are directed towards the through-channel 4, and which extend at a right-angle to the direction of travel D 20 of the textile web 1 to be treated and over the entire width of the two guide belts 2, 3.

In order to obtain the wave movement in the web 1 travelling along the through-channel 4, the upper hotair slit nozzles 9 are offset in relation to the lower hot-air slit nozzles 8 in the direction of travel D of said web i, whereby in practice very different wave forms can be obtained. The upper and the lower hot air slit nozzle rows 8 and 9 are movable relatively one to S 30 another and parallel to the direction of travel D of the web 1 between an offset (see Fig. 7) and an non-offset arrangement of the individual hot air nozzles to adjust the offset between each other to an optmal extent.

The web 1 to be treated will be kept in wave form by the aerodynamic force of the air emerging from the hot-air nozzles 8 and 9. On the other side the web 1 will be moved forward by the guide belts 2 and 3, whereby a friction force is originated at the contacting points between the web 1 presented in wave form and the guide and transporting belts 2,3, which friction force is compacting the web 1 in its longitudinal direction.

l• After their action on the web i, the hot air emerging from the hot-air nozzles 8 and 9 is drawn in via air filters 10 and heat-exchangers 11 from the ventilators 12 and, on reheating, is returned to the relevant hotair nozzles 8 and 9.

Is As will be seen especially from Figs. i, 2 and 3, in order to obtain the most even stretching of the moist textile web 1 over its entire width, it is conveyed firstly to a width-stretching device A, then to an .o endless tenter frame 13 moving forward through channel oooe 4 with clearance distance in the blower direction, and is secured with forward slip at the point B by pinning on the tenter frame 13.

a° 25 As will be seen from Fig. 3, the width-stretching device A is provided in the known manner with two rotating grooved rollers 14 and 15 leaving a stretching gap between them. After this widthstretching device A, the web is conveyed via several spreader rollers to a pinning unit B.

After the lateral pinning of the already widthstretched web 1 into the tenter frame 13 by the pinning unit B, the width-stretched web, is held by means of a web-supporting and transporting unit which moves, conically narrowing from an initial width F (see Fig. in the web-supporting plane C, and extends laterally over the entire web width G, to achieve the desired treatment width H, which web 1 is continuously laterally held by the endless tenter frame 13 so as to narrow conically until it is conveyed to the entrance to the drier 5, 6, 7.

In this way, by the narrowing of the web width F to the treatment width H as it enters the drier 5, 6, 7, a most uniform initial web structure is obtained since, during its narrowing, the web 1 lies upon the upper strands of the endless conveyer sides 31, and these latter thus support a uniform narrowing of the web 1 over its entire varying web width G.

Referring to Fig. 2, the endless tenter frame 13 is provided with a web-clamping device 18 or 19 on the left-hand and right-hand side, each formed by an endless chain and provided with needles 16 or 17 for the lateral fixing of the web 1, the speed of rotation 20 of said clamps being variable in order to control [7"individually the direction of the weft, whereby it is of evidence that the guide belts 2,3 are driven forward quicklier as the middle velocity of the both web-clamping devices 18 and 19.

In the embodiment illustrated, one of the two endless chains 18 and 19 in the through-channel 4 passes through a guide and covering channel 20 extending in longitudinal direction of the channel 4 to prevent any 30 damage to the upper guide belt 2 from the needles 17.

Moreover, the two web-clamps 18 and 19 are adjustable laterally (see E) in order to adjust the tenter frame 13 to a particular web width. Of course, it is also possible to pass the web-clamp 18 through a guide covering channel similar to 20 between the upper and lower guide belts 2 and 3.

By this lateral guidance of the web 1, which is held taut transversely by means of an endless rotating tenter frame 13 passing through the drier, and end product may be obtained which is most uniform in respect of structure, accuracy of dimension and form stability.

In order for example to adjust the weft direction or stitching to a straight line at a right-angle to the Io longitudinal direction of the web, e.g. when the web 1 is twisted, and/or to achieve over the width of the web a different gathering or stretching effect in order to obtain a more homogeneous end product, it is possible (see Fig. instead of one single upper and lower guide belt 3 or 2, to provide several narrower guide belts 3 and to regulate their rotary speeds vl, v2, v3 individually with the aid of an t opto-electronic web-scanning arrangement such as is obtainable for example from Mahlo, BRD or Erhard 20 Leimer, BRD.

In order to effect the gathering resp. compacting or stretching of the web 1 more accurately to a particular density, it is also possible (see Fig. 25 instead of a single upper and lower guide belt 3 or 4, to provide several successive and independent guide *T belt groups 2a, 3a; 2b, 3b and 2c, 3c and to regulate their rotary speeds vl, v2, v3 individually in groups with the aid of an optoelectronic web-scanning arrangement.

a In order to reinforce the shrinking effect in the shrinking zone, it is useful (see Fig. 7) if the efflux direction I from the hot-air nozzles 8 and 9 in this zone is obliquely inclined to the vertical against the direction of travel D of the web, by an angle a in the region of 1° 40°. The blow strength and the angle of inclination a require in this case to be co-ordinated so that in practice there is no significant displacement of the parts of the web lying in places in contact with the two guide belts 2 and 3.

With this type of arrangement of the hot-air nozzles 8' and 9' in the shrinking zone of the drier, as compared with the normal vertical arrangement thereof, a considerable reinforcement of the aerodynamic compacting effect is obtained.

1O To use the dryer as multifunctional machine also without a tenter frame 13, the left-hand and the right-hand web clamping means 18 and 19 of the tenter frame 13 are movable in the outward direction E at least to the margin or even outside of the area effected by the hot-air nozzles 8 and 9, so that the dryer can be operated as well as with or without the tenter frame 13 in use. Further for operation of the dryer with the tenter frame 13 there is provided a S 20 climbing up transport belt 32 (see Fig.l) which is .pivotable out of the web outlet area of the guide belts 2 and 3 for a such use.

Further it is to mention, that for obtaining the ~2S greatest possible drying and shrinking effect the vertical distance K between the nozzle outlet openings of the upper and the lower nozzle rows 8 and 9 should be smaller as 65 mm, preferably smaller as ae C."o C. CC

Claims

1. A process for the continuous drying and shrinking of textile knitted or woven goods, in which the moist goods to be treated are conveyed along a through-channel formed between at least two endless rotating porous guide belts for the purpose of drying on both sides by means of at least one drying station including oppositely disposed, oppositely acting hot-air nozzles which are offset relative to each other, comprising the steps of securing the material, with forward slip on an endless tenter frame moving said material forward through said channel while maintaining a clearance distance in the blower direction between said tenter frame and said at least two endless rotating porous guide belts, moving said material, transversely tensioned and laterally secured, in the direction of motion and in wave-form through said drying station so that the material to be treated, in the blow area of an individual hot-air nozzle comes momentarily to rest on said guide belt facing away 15 from the latter, whereby the lower and/or upper guide belt moves forward more quickly than said tenter frame, so that at the contacting points of the web with the guide belts there is originated a friction force which compacts the web in its longitudinal direction.

2. A process according to claim 1 further comprising the steps of separately 20 regulating the rotary speeds of the web-clamping devices on the left-hand side and right-hand side of the tenter frame in order to obtain different speeds for each of them.

3. A process according to claim 1, characterised in that the material, before being placed on the tenter frame, is conveyed through a width-stretching device.

4. A process according to claim 3, characterised in that, after leaving the width- stretching device and laterial fixing in the tenter frame, the width-stretched material is further conveyed by means of a web-supporting and transporting unit which moves, narrowing conically as seem from the web-supporting plane, and extends over the entire varying web width, to reach the desired treatment width, and in that said transport unit is preferably 6 March 2000 provided with several endless conveyor cables or belts arranged laterally one beside the other with a gap between and extending in the direction of travel.

A process according to claim 1, characterised in that a lower and/or upper guide belt is employed which comprises several narrower belts or cables which are independent of each other and whose rotary speeds are preferably individually regulatable.

6. A process according to claim 1; characterised in that the through- channel is limited by several groups of guide belts which are independent of each other and whose rotary speeds are preferably individually regulatable.

7. A process according to claim 6, characterised in that the guide belt rotary speed in the actual shrinking zone is at its greatest.

8. A process according to claim 5, characterised in that the drive of the various guide belts is individually regulable with the aid of web-scanner, 15 preferably an optoelectronic web-scanner.

9. A process according to claim 6, characterised in that the drive of the various guide belts is individually regulable with the aid of web-scanner, *•go preferably an optoelectronic web-scanner.

A process according to claim 5 and 8, characterised in that the drive 20 of the various belts or cables, which are arranged side-by-side and parallel to each other, is controlled so that, with knitted goods the stitches are aligned with each other at a right-angle to the moving web, and, with S"woven goods the weft threads are aligned at a right-angle to the moving web, and if necessary the degree of gathering or of stretching thereof is adjusted.

11. An apparatus for carrying out the process according to claim 1, having at least one drying station comprising several oppositely disposed and oppositely acting hot-air nozzles which are offset relative to each other and directed into a through-channel and also having at least two endless rotating, porous guide belts limiting said channel above and below, JRG:GM:#21286 30 July 1996 characterised in that, for conveyance of a web of material to be treated through at least one drying station an endless rotary web-tentering frame passing along the through-channel limited by the guide belts is provided, and the vertical distance between said frame and the lower strand of at least one upper guide belt, as also between the upper strand of at least one lower guide belt is so calculated that, as the apparatus operates, within the particular effective range of a hot-air nozzle directed thereon, a web, in a locally limited area, secured in and conveyed by the web-tenter frame, comes into contact with the further distance guide belt, whereby the lower and/or upper guide belt moves on at greater speed than that of the tenter frame, so that at the contacting points of the web with the guide belts there is originated a friction force which compacts the web in its longitudinal direction, and the supply means conveying the web to be treated to the tenter frame are so designed as to secure the material with forward slip to the tenter frame.

12. An apparatus according to claim 11, characterised in that a width- stretching device for treatment of the web is mounted before the tenter o9oo i frame which device is provided preferably with at least two rollers, one of which has on its periphery a relief comprising a plurality of elevations and 20 depressions, whilst the other has on its periphery an at least approximately complementary relief whose elevations fit into the depressions of the aforementioned roller.

13. An apparatus according to claim 11, characterised in that the left- hand and right-hand web-clamping means of the tenter frame comprise an 25 endless chain carrying needles or tenter clips, and in that at least one of the 99 °Q two chains is conveyed through a guide and covering channel within the through-channel and extending in longitudinal direction of said channel.

14. An apparatus according to claim 11, characterised in that the mutual distance apart of the two guide belts limiting the through-channel in vertical direction is adjustable.

JRG:GM:#21286 30 July 1996 11 An apparatus according to claim 11, characterised in that the efflux direction in at least a part of the shrinking zone of the apparatus is directed obliquely counter to the direction of travel of the web and at an angle in the region of 10 400 to the vertical, and in that the blower strength and the angle of inclination are co-ordinated in such a manner that, in practice, no significant displacement at any point occurs of the web portions in contact upon the two guide belts.

16. An apparatus according to claim 11, characterised in that for an operation without the tenter frame in use, the left-hand and the right-hand web clamping means of the tenter frame are movable in the outward direction at least to the margin or even outside the effected area of the hot-air nozzles, so that the dryer can be operated as a multi-functional machine as well as with or without the tenter frame.

17. An apparatus according to claim 10, characterised by that the upper and the lower hot air slit nozzle rows are movable relatively one to another and parallel to 11 S 15 the direction of travel of the web between an offset (see Fig. 7) and a non-offset *•go arrangement of the individual hot air nozzles to adjust the offset between each other to an optimal extent.

18. An apparatus according to claim 15, characterised in that there is provided a 2 climbing up transport belt which is pivotable out of the web outlet area of the guide belts.

19. An apparatus according to claim 10, characterised by the vertical distance i o between the nozzle outlet openings of the upper and the lower nozzle rows is smaller as 65mm, preferably smaller as A process for the drying and shrinking of textile goods substantially as hereinbefore described.

JRG:TOC:#21286.RS 1 6 March 2000

21. An apparatus for the drying and shrinking of textile goods substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one or more of the accompanying drawings. DATED: 6 March, 2000 CARTER SMITH BEADLE Patent Attorneys for the Applicant: Dr Kurt MULLER e. *5 S.. o.. *S *S JRG:TOC:#21286.RS1 6 March 2000