KR-20260065801-A - Packaging system

Abstract

The package comprises individual units of fiber material (e.g., glass fiber roving, carbon tow) positioned in multiple layers on a pallet, and each layer of the fiber material units has a separating plate supported thereon. According to this configuration, the package can simultaneously deliver fiber material from each fiber material unit. Fiber material from the units on the pallet can be delivered to one or more fiber-requiring processes, such as a knitting process, a weaving process, a winding process, a chopping process, a drawing process, etc.

Inventors

• 브란트, 뤽
• 뒤프렌, 엘리자베스 에이.
• 그레이엄, 존 윌리엄
• 포트로니, 프란시스코 페르난데스
• 오브린, 3세, 스티브 존

Assignees

• 오웬스 코닝 인텔렉츄얼 캐피탈 엘엘씨

Dates

Publication Date

20260511

Application Date

20240821

Priority Date

20230822

Claims (9)

1. As a package, Support; Multiple rovings - each roving comprises a fiber length extending between the head end of the fiber and the tail end of the fiber -; First separation plate; Multiple first support legs; 2nd separation plate; and It includes a plurality of second support legs, The above rovings are arranged on the support in n rows, m columns, and o layers, and n ≥ 2, m ≥ 2, and o ≥ 2, and The first separation plate is positioned between the rovings of the first layer and the rovings of the second layer, and The first support legs maintain the first separation plate substantially parallel to the support on the rovings of the first layer, and The second separation plate is positioned on the rovings of the second layer, and The second support legs maintain the second separation plate substantially parallel to the first separation plate on the rovings of the second layer, and The first separation plate includes nxm first slots, and Each of the first slots allows at least one of the head end and the tail end of the roving within the rovings of the first layer to pass through, The above-mentioned second separation plate includes nxm second slots, and Each of the second slots allows at least one of the head end and tail end of the roving within the rovings of the second layer to pass through the package.
2. In claim 1, the support is a package, which is a pallet.
3. In paragraph 3, the above fiber is a glass fiber, a package.
4. In claim 1, a package in which n = 4, m = 4 and o = 4.
5. A package according to claim 1, wherein at least 8 of the second support legs connect the first separation plate and the second separation plate.
6. A package according to claim 1, wherein m channels are formed in the first separation plate, and n first slots are located in each of the channels.
7. In paragraph 1, each of the first slots has a first part and a second part, and A package in which the maximum width of the first part is different from the maximum width of the second part.
8. In paragraph 1, Third separation plate; and It further includes a plurality of third support legs, The third separation plate is positioned on the rovings of the third layer, and The third support legs maintain the third separation plate substantially parallel to the second separation plate on the rovings of the third layer, and The above third separation plate includes nxm third slots, and Each of the above third slots allows at least one of the head end and tail end of the roving within the rovings of the third layer to pass through the package.
9. In paragraph 8, 4th separation plate; and It further includes a plurality of fourth support legs, The above-mentioned fourth separation plate is positioned on the above-mentioned rovings of the fourth layer, and The fourth support legs maintain the fourth separation plate substantially parallel to the third separation plate on the rovings of the fourth layer, and The above-mentioned fourth separation plate includes nxm fourth slots, and Each of the above-mentioned fourth slots allows at least one of the head end and tail end of the roving within the above-mentioned fourth layer to pass through the package.

Description

Packaging system Cross-reference regarding related applications This application claims priority and interest to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/520,950 filed on August 22, 2023, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. field The general concept of the present invention relates to fiber materials, and more specifically, to a package of fiber materials comprising a system and a method for packaging fiber materials. The formation of glass fibers is a well-known technique. For example, U.S. Patents No. 3,653,860, 3,972,702, and 4,207,086 all disclose the formation of glass fibers. Each of these references is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. A generalized overview of a conventional system (100) for forming glass fibers is illustrated in FIG. 1. In the system (100) of FIG. 1, a furnace (102) receives a mixture of raw materials (commonly referred to as a “batch”) to produce a desired glass composition. The batch is reduced to a molten state in the furnace (102). The molten glass exits the furnace (102) and flows along a forehearth channel (104), from which it is fed to at least one bushing (106). The bushing (106) is typically heated by an electric resistance to control the viscosity of the molten glass. The bushing (106) includes an orifice plate containing a plurality of orifices. Often, tips are interfaced with the orifices so as to extend slightly below the orifice plate. The molten glass is attenuated into glass fibers (108) by flowing through the tips within the bushing (106). A moisture applicator (110) applies water to the glass fibers (108) as the glass fibers (108) exit the bushing (106) to accelerate the cooling of the glass fibers (108). Afterward, the glass fibers (108) come together to form at least one strand (112). A sizing applicator (114) applies a chemical composition (generally referred to as "size") to the strand (112). The size may also be applied to the glass fibers (108) before the formation of the strand (112). The size can serve many purposes, such as preventing the glass fibers (108) within the strand (112) from wearing against each other and providing an improved interface between the glass fibers (108) and a downstream matrix (e.g., a resin system). Then, the strand (112) continues downstream for further processing, for example, packaging (e.g., winding onto a spool) or chopping into smaller segments (commonly referred to as "chopped strands"). Arrows (120, 122, 124) illustrate the flow of glass between the furnace (102) and the forehouse (104), between the forehouse (104) and the bushing (106), and from the bushing (106), respectively. As described above, the strand (112) can be wound into individual packages. Such wound packages of fiber material may be referred to by various names such as roving, bobbin, dope, etc. As illustrated in FIG. 2, an exemplary roving (200) is formed by winding a strand (e.g., strand (112)) onto a hollow cylindrical body (202) having a central cavity (204) or by manipulating it in a different way. One end of the strand forms the head end (206) of the roving (200), and the other end of the strand forms the tail end (208) of the roving (200). The strand (112) is continuous between the head end (206) and the tail end (208). The distance between the head end (206) and the tail end (208) defines the length of the strand. In industrial processes using glass fibers (e.g., knitting, weaving, winding), a continuous supply of many (e.g., hundreds) individual glass fiber strands is often required. For example, the pultrusion process requires a continuous stream of glass fibers to be combined with resin and fed through one or more dies to manufacture pultrusion parts. Conventionally, as illustrated in FIG. 3a, a number of individual packages of glass fibers (e.g., rovings (200)) are stacked on a pallet (302) to form a package (300). For example, four (4) layers of 16 (16) rovings (200) may be placed on the pallet (302), providing a total of 64 (64) rovings (200). In a conventional package (300), a pallet (302) having stacked rovings (200) may be wrapped (e.g., shrink wrapped) to prevent movement of the rovings (200) during transport and storage. Additionally (or alternatively), as shown in FIG. 3b, a lower cardboard tray (304) is positioned between the pallet (302) and the bottom layer of the rovings (200). Likewise, an upper cardboard tray (306) is placed over the top layer of the rovings (200). The trays (304, 306) help prevent movement of the rovings (200) during transport and storage. Then, when it is time to use the rovings (200), the pallet (302) is moved relatively close to the drawing or other process, the shrink wrap (not shown) and/or trays (304, 306) are removed from the pallet (302), and the individual rovings (200) are removed from the pallet (302) and fed into a fiber dispensing device (e.g., creel) as known in the art. As described above, each roving (200) has a head end (206) and a tail end (208). Since t