Glass manufacturing – Fiber making apparatus
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-21
2001-12-18
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Glass manufacturing
Fiber making apparatus
C406S198000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06330813
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD AND INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the production of fibrous insulation products, and more particularly to the handling of fibrous insulation material after the material has been deposited onto a forming conveyor and prior to the forming of the insulation material into an insulation product.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The manufacturing of fibrous insulation products involves making insulation fibers and transforming them into insulation products. Mineral fiber insulation material, for example, is produced by first forming mineral fibers from molten mineral material, such as molten glass, rock, slag or basalt. Numerous fiber forming processes, such as a rotary process with a rotating spinner, a spintex process with a series of parallel drums, or a superfine process where primary glass streams are blasted into fibers by the action of jets of hot gases, can be used to form the mineral fibers. Fibrous insulation products are usually held together by a binder material such as urea phenol-formaldehyde. During the manufacturing process the insulation material, with the binder material applied, is passed through an oven where the binder material is dried and then elevated in temperature to cause the binder material to be cured thereby bonding the fibers together where the fibers intersect with each other. Typical binder curing ovens involve upper and lower continuously moving oven chains that are spaced apart a specified distance to define the thickness of the ultimate mineral fiber product. The oven chains are perforated or foraminous and hot air flows through both the oven chains and the insulation material to cure the binder.
In a typical fiber forming process the fibers are deposited from several fiberizing devices to form a wool pack on a perforated or foraminous conveyor, referred to as a forming chain, which is mounted for travel within a forming chamber. The forming chamber has sidewalls and endwalls, and is provided with suction boxes beneath the forming chain to help pull the insulation fibers down onto the forming chain which forms the insulation pack. Because of the high downward flow of air associated with the fiberizing process, a strong suction force is required to draw the mineral fibers onto the forming chain and prevent the fibers from remaining airborne in the air currents within and surrounding the forming chamber. The suction boxes also help evenly distribute the insulation material across the width of the forming chain so that the subsequent insulation products are generally uniform in density and thickness in the width or transverse direction.
The suction forces required to assure that the mineral fibers remain on the forming chain are often so strong that it is difficult for the insulation material to completely expand or spring up to a desirable height after the wool pack travels beyond the suction boxes. Excessive moisture in the pack prevents the pack from expanding to the desired height. It is preferred to have the wool pack to be expanded to a full, unrestrained height that is greater than the spacing between oven chains prior to entering the oven so that the full height of the cured insulation product can be realized. To achieve the desired expansion of the wool pack prior to the pack's entering the curing oven, it is typical for a pack lift blower to be positioned outside the forming area and beneath the forming chain. The pack lift blower directs air upward through the foraminous forming chain to fluff up the pack and assist the fibers in the pack to recover from the compression during the fiber collecting process. Further, the pack lift blower also has the added dividend of providing beneficial lateral or transverse fiber distribution.
A typical pack lift blower involves a supply of pressurized air from a fan or other source. The pressurized air is supplied via a duct to a nozzle that is flared out to change in cross-sectional shape from a supply conduit, such as an 8 inch diameter circular duct, to an elongated slot positioned directly beneath the forming chain and having a length extending across (i.e., transverse to the machine direction) the underside of the forming chain.
A problem with pack lift blowers is that the they become plugged with fibers and binder material that accumulate on the nozzle outlet. Fibers and binder material reach the nozzle by dropping down through the traveling forming chain, by being sprayed by errant binder sprays, by the accumulation of air-borne fibers and binder drops, and possibly even by condensation of binder material. Eventually, the nozzle outlet becomes so plugged with accumulated binder and fibers that the pack lift blower can no longer perform its function of fluffing up the pack. This leads to a reduction in the recovery value of the insulation product when the insulation package is opened after compression packaging, transport and storage. Stopping the fiber glass insulation production line to clean out the nozzle is an unattractive solution because of the lost value of the production time. Accordingly, it would be valuable if there could be developed a system for maintaining the integrity of the opening of the nozzle for the pack lift blower without requiring shutting down the manufacturing equipment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The above objects as well as other objects not specifically enumerated are achieved by apparatus for manufacturing fibrous insulation comprising a porous conveyor mounted for transporting fibrous material in a machine direction in the form of pack. A pack lift blower is positioned beneath the porous conveyor, in a direction transverse to the machine direction, to direct gases upwardly through the porous conveyor to fluff the fibers within the pack. The pack lift blower has a nozzle that is readily removable and replaceable for cleaning without requiring interruption in the motion of the conveyor.
In another embodiment of the invention, there is provided apparatus for manufacturing fibrous insulation comprising a porous conveyor mounted for transporting fibrous material in a machine direction in the form of pack. A pack lift blower is positioned beneath the porous conveyor, oriented in a direction transverse to the machine direction, to direct gases upwardly through the porous conveyor to fluff the fibers within the pack. The pack lift blower has a nozzle including a series of elongated slots. Movable members are positioned within the slots and mounted for reciprocation along the length of the slots to maintain the slots in an open condition.
In yet another embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing fibrous insulation comprising transporting fibrous material in the form of a pack on a porous conveyor in a machine direction. A pack lift blower is positioned beneath the porous conveyor and in a direction transverse to the machine direction. The pack lift blower has a nozzle that is readily removable and replaceable for cleaning without requiring interruption in the motion of the conveyor. The pack lift blower directs gases upwardly through the porous conveyor to fluff the fibers within the pack; and the nozzle is removed for cleaning without interrupting the motion of the conveyor.
Various objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, when read in light of the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2988469 (1961-06-01), Watson
patent: 4280253 (1981-07-01), Holt
patent: 4292365 (1981-09-01), Kane et al.
patent: 4463048 (1984-07-01), Dickson et al.
patent: 4551378 (1985-11-01), Carey, Jr.
patent: 4640082 (1987-02-01), Gill
patent: 4716712 (1988-01-01), Gill
patent: 5014396 (1991-05-01), Nieminen
patent: 5088959 (1992-02-01), Heemskerk
patent: 5302220 (1994-04-01), Terakawa et al.
patent: 5624742 (1997-04-01), Babbitt et al.
Patel Mayur M.
Walsh Timothy A.
Barns Stephen W.
Dillon, Jr. Joe
Eckert Inger H.
Ellis Christopher P.
Owens Corning Fiberglas Technology Inc.
LandOfFree
Blower with orifice clearing member for lifting insulation pack does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Blower with orifice clearing member for lifting insulation pack, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Blower with orifice clearing member for lifting insulation pack will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2558961