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EP-4124689-B1 - DEFIBRATING APPARATUS AND FIBER BODY MANUFACTURING APPARATUS

EP4124689B1EP 4124689 B1EP4124689 B1EP 4124689B1EP-4124689-B1

Inventors

  • OMAGARI, Naoko

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20220726

Claims (11)

  1. A defibrating apparatus (200) comprising: a rotor (500) that rotates around an axis center (AR) of a rotation shaft (501) as a rotation center; a defibrating chamber (210) that accommodates the rotor and in which a defibrated product is formed from a material (MA) containing a fiber by rotation of the rotor; a supply pipe (20) that supplies the material to the defibrating chamber; a discharge path (310) that is in communication with the defibrating chamber and to which the defibrated product is discharged from the defibrating chamber; a discharge pipe (30) that discharges the defibrated product from the discharge path by negative pressure being applied; a discharge unit (314) that causes the discharge path to be in communication with the discharge pipe; an annular wall (221) having an annular shape that is provided and spaced from the rotor in a radial direction (RR) of the rotor and defines the defibrating chamber; a housing (311, 312, 313) that forms the discharge path extending in a circumferential direction (CR) of the annular wall by covering an outer side of the annular wall; a plurality of through-holes (222) that is provided in the annular wall and causes the defibrating chamber to be in communication with the discharge path; and an outer peripheral wall (351) that is included in the housing and provided at an interval from the annular wall in the radial direction, wherein the discharge unit (314) is provided in the housing (311), and when a region, of the discharge path (310), including the discharge unit (314) is a downstream discharge path (310D), a region, of the discharge path, other than the downstream discharge path is an upstream discharge path (310U), a region, of the annular wall, constituting the downstream discharge path is a downstream annular wall (221D), a region, of the annular wall, constituting the upstream discharge path is an upstream annular wall (221U), and the through-holes (222) that cause the defibrating chamber to be in communication with the discharge path are communication holes, the communication holes are provided in the annular wall characterised in that , in a case in which the downstream annular wall (221D) is compared with the upstream annular wall (221U) having the same area as the downstream annular wall, air is less likely to pass through the downstream annular wall than the upstream annular wall, wherein, the plurality of through-holes (222) has the same shape, and the number of the communication holes provided per unit area is less in the downstream annular wall (221D) than in the upstream annular wall (221U).
  2. The defibrating apparatus (200) according to claim 1, further comprising: a closing member (601) on the downstream annular wall of the annular wall, wherein the closing member closes openings of the through-holes (222) by covering the annular wall (221).
  3. The defibrating apparatus (200) according to claim 1, wherein, the discharge unit (314) faces the annular wall (221), the downstream annular wall (221D) includes a facing region (RD) that the discharge unit faces, and the number of the communication holes provided per unit area is more in a region (RN), of the annular wall, farthest from the discharge unit in the circumferential direction than in the facing region.
  4. The defibrating apparatus (200) according to claim 3, wherein, the communication holes are not provided in the facing region of the annular wall.
  5. The defibrating apparatus (200) according to claim 3, further comprising; a closing member (601) on the facing region of the annular wall, wherein the closing member closes openings of the through-holes (222) by covering the annular wall.
  6. The defibrating apparatus (200) according to claim 2, wherein the closing member (601) is provided on an outer peripheral surface that is a surface on a side of the discharge path (310) of the annular wall (221) and closes the openings of the through-holes (222) on a side of the outer peripheral surface.
  7. The defibrating apparatus (200) according to claim 1, wherein, the number of the communication holes provided per unit area, in the annular wall, gradually increases with increase of a distance from the discharge unit in the circumferential direction.
  8. The defibrating apparatus (200) according to claim 1, wherein, the housing (311, 312, 313) forms the discharge path (310) by surrounding the outer side of the annular wall (221) in the circumferential direction.
  9. The defibrating apparatus (200) according to claim 1, wherein, the interval between the outer peripheral wall (351) and the annular wall (221) is narrower in a region, of the discharge path (310), away from the downstream discharge path in the circumferential direction than in the downstream discharge path.
  10. The defibrating apparatus (200) according to claim 1, wherein, the rotor (500) is accommodated in the defibrating chamber (210) and the axis center (AR) intersects with a vertical direction, and the discharge unit (314) is located at a lowermost position of the outer peripheral wall.
  11. A fiber body manufacturing apparatus (100) comprising; the defibrating apparatus (200) according to claim 1; a web forming unit (70) that forms a web by causing the defibrated product discharged from the discharge pipe (30) to accumulate; and a fiber body forming unit (80) that forms a fiber body containing the fiber by binding the fiber contained in the web.

Description

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a defibrating apparatus and a fiber body manufacturing apparatus. 2. Related Art US 2020/299897 A1 discloses a defibration processing apparatus which includes: an input port into which a raw material is input; a rotating body that rotates about a rotary shaft; a stationary member that covers at least part of the rotating body; and a discharge port through which a defibrated object obtained by the rotating body and the stationary member defibrating the raw material is discharged, in which the rotating body has a plurality of rotating blades protruding in a direction away from the rotation center shaft, and the stationary member has a configuration in which a screen having a plurality of openings is disposed in at least part of the stationary member in a direction of the rotation center shaft and surrounds the rotating body in a rotation direction. JP-A-2020-158944, having patent family member EP 3 739 112 A1, discloses a defibrating apparatus that discharges a defibrated product formed of a material through a discharge path extending along an outer side of an annular wall defining a defibrating chamber and a discharge pipe in communication with the discharge path, by rotation of a rotor accommodated in the defibrating chamber. In the defibrating apparatus, the discharge path and the defibrating chamber are in communication with each other through a plurality of through-holes proved on the annular wall of the defibrating chamber. In addition, the defibrated product formed in the defibrating chamber is discharged to the discharge path through the through-holes by an air flow generated by a pressure difference between the pressure in the defibrating chamber and the pressure in the discharge path. However, in the defibrating apparatus described in JP-A-2020-158944, the pressure difference between the pressure in the downstream discharge path including the discharge unit where the discharge path and the discharge pipe are in communication with each other and the pressure of the upstream discharge path away from the discharge unit tends to increase. As a result, the velocity difference between the velocity of the air flow passing through the through-holes of the downstream annular wall constituting the downstream discharge path and the velocity of the air flow passing through the through-holes of the upstream annular wall constituting the upstream annular path tends to increase. Accordingly, the degree of defibration of the defibrated product discharged to the discharge path may vary. SUMMARY According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a defibrating apparatus according to claim 1. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fiber body manufacturing apparatus according to claim 11. Preferable features are set out in the remaining claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a configuration of a sheet manufacturing apparatus as an embodiment of the present disclosure.FIG. 2 is a side view of a defibrating apparatus as an embodiment of the present disclosure viewed from a -X direction side.FIG. 3 is a side view of the defibrating apparatus viewed from a -Y direction side.FIG. 4 is a sectional view illustrating an IV-IV cross section illustrated in FIG. 3.FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a rotor.FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating a defibrating chamber excluding a part of a screen.FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating the defibrating chamber.FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a portion VIII illustrated in FIG. 7.FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating the defibrating apparatus excluding a part of a housing.FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating the defibrating apparatus.FIG. 11 is a sectional view illustrating an XI-XI cross section illustrated in FIG. 2.FIG. 12 is a sectional view illustrating a state in which the rotor is excluded from FIG. 11.FIG. 13 is a cross sectional perspective view illustrating a periphery of a discharge unit.FIG. 14 is a cross view illustrating specifications of a discharge path and the discharge unit.FIG. 15 is a sectional view illustrating specifications of the discharge path and the screen. DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described based on embodiments. In each figure, the same parts will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant descriptions will be omitted. Note that in the specification, being the same includes not only being exactly the same, but also being the same in consideration of measurement errors, being the same in consideration of manufacturing variation of a part, and being the same within a range in which the function is not damaged. Therefore, for example, when two parts have the same dimension, in consideration of measurement errors and manufacturing variation of the parts, the dimensional difference between the two parts is within ±10%,