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(11) | EP 1 595 982 A1 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
| published in accordance with Art. 158(3) EPC |
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| (54) | FLUID SPINNING SYSTEM |
| (57) The invention relates to a system for spinning in a fluid medium, whereby fibres
are transformed into yarns. According to the invention, fibres are introduced into
said medium, moved about and transformed into yarn (spinning) by controlling and varying
determined parameters of the fluid system and controlling the movement of the fibres
to be spun. Moreover, in said fluid medium, the yarns can be subjected to a physical
and/or chemical treatment of the type used in the textile sector, as the spinning
is being performed. |
Purpose of the invention
[0001] The present invention is related to a new spinning system within a fluid medium, that transforms the fibres into yarns by utilizing a fluid medium in which the fibres are introduced, moved and transformed into yarn (spinning) by means of the control and the variation of determined parameters of the fluid system and the movement control of the fibres to spin, and at the same time they can receive in said fluid medium a physical and chemical treatment from the known ones in the textile sector, simultaneously to the carrying out of the spinning.
Background
[0002] There exist several systems using fibres: The conventional spinning system or ring spinning, open end spinning, friction or Dref spinning, etc. None of these systems uses a fluid medium to transform the fibres into yarn, and the majority utilizes mechanical systems to spin.
Description of the invention
[0003] The present invention consists of a system or machine which produces and treats yarn from fibres through the establishment, variation, and control of static and dynamic parameters of the fluid in which the fibres have been introduced, and at the same time causes physical overlaying effects, drawing out, twisting, in the fibres themselves.
[0004] The system essentially has a set of fluid pipes in which said fluid circulates in a closed system under pressure, in the interior of which exist one or several intakes through which, dragged by a fluid, the fibres are introduced in the fluid system; there also exist in the fluid circuit one or several outlets for the yarn. This circuit has some driving mechanism of the fluid, for example, pumps, in such a way the one can modify all of the variables that affect the speed, the rate of flow, the pressure, etc. and the intakes have the possibility to change the surface of the clearance, which can also be done in other sites of the circuit, as well as the predetermined modification of the direction of the fluid stream to cause the desired movements of the textile fibres.
[0005] The spinning process is produced when the fibres are introduced dragged by a fluid medium through one or several orifices or nozzles perpendicular or oblique with respect to the pipe axis, within the closed circuit of fluid under pressure, from the moment at which this is carried out, in a combined and programmed form according to the type of yarn to be obtained: parallel connections of different orifices or intake nozzles through which fluid under pressure is admitted (with or without fibres), reduction effects, Venturi effects in the interior of the pipes, connexion among different pipes to achieve the overlay or doubling of different fibres, and any other effect known in the state of the art which might be susceptible of being carried out by conventional means in the interior of a fluid which contains some solids (fibres) in suspension. Among these effects there are included: dyeing, steaming, fixing or any other possible treatments of fibres and/or yarn.
[0006] By making a comparison with conventional spinning, we can say that fibres introduced in the fluid medium double or overlay when the two intake nozzles of fluid and fibres are connected in parallel, or two pipes converge at a point, and each time a Venturi effect is used (increasing of speed in the medium as a cause of the diminishing of the clearance) there is carried out a drawing (stretching) of the fibres. This is necessary in order to regularize the fibres and put them one with respect to another as parallel as possible. With the Venturi effect we obtain the effect of reduction of the mass of fibres which circulates within the medium in such a way that the titre (thickness) of the yarn will depend on the quantity of fibres in grams for each lineal unit of the section of said yarn (titre of the yarn).
[0007] Also within the circuit whose pipes might have different geometric forms, among them preferentially the tubular ones, several auxiliary devices can be arranged that might help to arrange the fibres in parallel in the interior of the fluid. These devices can be for example ripplings (card clothings), that provide mechanical help within the fluid to arrange fibres in parallel, fins, deflecting blades, nozzles for the introduction of air under pressure and other fixed or movable elements which permit to modify the direction of the fluid at will.
[0008] The twisting of the yarn is carried out through the application driver effects which can be combined or not among themselves and can be applied simultaneously or in deferred phases. The distinct effects and degrees of twisting are achieved through the application of conventional techniques very well known in the technical standard of fluid dynamics, through whose controlled utilization the fluid path diverges, and consequently that of the circulating fibres, a circular movement of the yarn around itself is generated by causing the creation of a Coriolis effect, or is carried out a change of direction in any of the three spatial directions (e.g. 180 degrees of deviation, multiple changes of a spiral direction, etc.), all that for applying a controlled twisting motion to the yarn, the above mentioned can be combined with individual changes of the clearance to internally cause Venturi effects, and with the injection of more fibres in determined points.
[0009] The twisting of fibres is produced when the fibres interlace among each other, once they have been attached as parallel as possible one to another. As we mentioned before, that can be achieved through the manipulation of solids and/or through the insertion of new fibres through additional nozzles (with result or not of Venturi effects), in such a way that the fibres remain interlaced and twisted. Once the effect within the system is achieved, the already doubled and/or stretched and/or twisted yarn is collected by a folding system which might be a conventional spindle or another folding system that already exists in the market.
[0011] Other desired additional transformations of the yarn can be achieved through the utilization of selected fluids for such ends, or through the addition to the fluid system of different fluids. Among them we shall cite all those that implicate modifications in the physical and chemical structure of the fibres and of the resulting yarn. Examples for these transformations might be the dyeing of the yarn, the steaming, the fixing, the bonding or treatment with liquids in order to improve the physical and chemical characteristics of the yarn, superficial treatments or other, to only cite some of all that can be carried out by the textile industry using a fluid medium. The pressure, and the temperature of the fluid used can be diverse in function of what characteristics of the final yarn to be produced are desired.
[0012] All possible effects that exist in the known practice in the textile industry can be applied to a yarn, can also be reproduced in the fluid system of the present invention through the modification of the static and dynamic variables of the fluid system, as mentioned before. For example, one can make slubby yarn by carrying out some stretchings (Venturi effects or a combination of the above described) in a programmed manner within the fluid medium. Other effects might be loops, saw patterns, knots, Lycra insertion, etc.
[0013] The dimensions of the pipes or pipes used for configuring the circuit may be of any kind, and the driving pumps and injection as well as the control elements (pressure gauges, etc.) programming the operations, they can form, together with the required injectors, subsystems that achieve the results in laminated or turbulent form in the interior of the pipe.
Description of the drawincs
[0014] For a better understanding of the invention, among the several practical applications that the invention facilitates, there will be shown, based on drawings, in
- Fig. 1
- a scheme showing the causing of the Venturi effect in a tubular line
- Fig. 2
- a scheme showing the creation of torsion of some fibres to obtain twisted yarn.
- Fig.3
- a scheme of a fluid system of the invention with three intake nozzles for fibres and an outlet for yarn
- Fig. 4
- a schematic view of the fluid injection area, with or without fibres
Preferred embodiment of the invention
[0015] A preferred embodiment of the invention among the multiple practical applications the invention facilitates, will be shown, based mainly on the system scheme shown in fig. 3, as follows.
[0016] The fluid together with the textile fibres it transports is introduced into a pipe assembly through the nozzles I1, I2, I3.
[0017] The injected fluid in 11 undergoes a Venturi effect in E1, when it enters the circuit C1, which causes a stretching of the transported fibres, whereas the fluid with the fibres goes on with it's trajectory until point 1, wherein it joins the fluid with stretched fibres coming from I1 merges with stream coming I2. The fluid in this circuit C1 is driven by the pump B1.
[0018] The injected fluid in I2 undergoes a Venturi effect in E2, when it enters in the circuit C2, which causes a stretching of the transported fibres, whereas the fluid with the fibre continues with it's trajectory until it reaches point 1 wherein it merges with this stream of fluid with stretched fibres coming from I1 and I2 causing the folding or doubling of the fibres coming from I1 and I2. In said point 1, the reduction of the section of the pipe coming from I2 causes, due to the Venturi effect, an additional stretch of the already stretched and folded fibres and coming from I1 and I2; Then the fluid stream with said stretched and bent fibres goes into the inferior horizontal area of the pipe which comes from I2 in a way that is out of alignment with respect to the axis of said pipe thereby causing a vortex effect of the fluid and then again causes a pre-torsion of the fibres at that point. The fibres transported by the fluid reach point 2 in this circuit C2 are driven by the pump B2.
[0019] The injected fluid in I3 undergoes a Venturi effect in E3 when it enters in the circuit C3, which causes a stretching of the transported fibres, the fibres going on with their run towards point 2 where the fluid with the folded/stretched/pretwisted fibres coming from I2 joins the stream which comes out from I2 joins the stream again causing a folding or doubling of the fibres and causing also a reduction of the pipe's section coming from 12 and 13 and causing, due to the Venturi effect, an additional stretching of the fibres coming from 12 and 13; Then, the fluid stream with said fibres joins the inferior horizontal zone of the pipe coming from 13 off-centre with respect to the axis of said conduction thereby causing a vortex effect of the fluid which in turn causes a pre-torsion of the fibres at that point. The fibres transported by the fluid reach point 3 where a rotation of the fluid is caused by the Coriolis effect which in turn causes a twisting of the fibres, which already have taken the form of a stretched and twisted yarn, which can be extracted from the pipe through the outlet to be later on wound or collected in any other conventional form. The fluid in this circuit 3 is driven by the pump B3,
[0020] The described preferred embodiment has been carried out only as an example. The fluid spinning system of the invention may show different configurations of circuits, different sizes and very diverse combinations of intake nozzles, stretching zones caused by the Venturi effect, doubling and twisting areas for fibres and yarn in function of the kind of material and sizes of the yarn to be produced, while the described embodiment does not involve any limiting condition of it's scope.
1. Fluid spinning system, for spinning all kinds of textile fibres, natural, artificial,
and synthetic ones within a fluid medium under pressure, characterized in that it is composed of:
a) a closed piping unit which contains a circulating fluid under pressure and textile fibres which are dragged by said fluid, fibres which are spun by the controlled manipulation of said fluid, wherein said conduction unit is equipped with
- nozzles for injecting fluid, or fluid with textile fibres into the circulating stream, which passes through the external surface of said conduction unit in determined positions and orientations depending on the type and composition of the yarn to be produced, as well as on the operations to be carried out on said textile fibres in the interior of the conductions unit having said nozzles means for modifying the size of the diameter of the fluid clearance area through them, thereby causing a Venturi effect
- some fixed and/or mobile mechanical elements situated in the interior of said conduction unit, with respect to quantity, form, placement and arrangement which all depend on the type of yarn to be produced, to modify the direction, clearance area and speed of the circulating stream and of the textile fibres transported by said fluid such as said fibres achieve predetermined movements, and
- some output ports of the fabricated yarn from said textile fibres to the outside of the conduction unit for their recollection afterwards
b) some impulsion means of the circulating stream and of the fluid that goes into said conduction unit through said nozzles
c) programming means of the variables of the fluid system, which are among others, the parameters of the fluid such as the pressure, temperature, viscosity and flow speed, dimension of the diameter of the clearance area of the nozzles, configuration and arrangement of said mobile mechanical elements situated in the inner side of said conduction unit, as well as the parameter of another or any other different fluids that are introduced in the fluid system, and
d) control means of the variables of the fluid system
wherein said system, due to the creation of some predetermined doubling, drawing, and twisting effects of said fibres within said closed conduction unit induced by simultaneous injection of fibres through several parallel nozzles, change in direction, pressure, temperature, viscosity and speed of said fluid, renders possible the fabrication of different yarns from textile fibres, and at the same time makes it possible to give the fibres and/or the yarn specific treatments like dyeing, steaming, fixing, and many others, whereby said treatments are carried out within the proper fluid system.