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US 10,124,513 B2Granted
Methods for manufacturing bulked continuous filament
AssigneeMohawk Industries, Inc.
InventorThomas R. Clark
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) grinding recycled PET bottles into a group of flakes; (B) washing the flakes; (C) identifying and removing impurities, including impure flakes, from the group of flakes; (D) passing the group of flakes through an MRS extruder while maintaining the pressure within the MRS portion of the MRS extruder below about 5 millibars; (E) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (F) forming the recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament that consists essentially of recycled PET.
Claims26
A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament, said method comprising:
- (A) providing a multi-screw extruder that comprises:
- a multi-screw extruder housing that defines at least six satellite screw barrels;
- at least six satellite screws each mounted within a respective one of said at least six satellite screw barrels and each mounted to rotate about a respective central axis of each of said at least six satellite screws;
- and
- a pressure regulation system that is adapted to maintain a pressure within each of said respective satellite screw barrels between about 0.5 millibars and about 5 millibars;
- (B) using said pressure regulation system to reduce a pressure within said at least six satellite screw barrels to between about 0.5 millibars and about 5 millibars;
- (C) while maintaining said pressure within said at least six satellite screw barrels between about 0.5 millibars and about 5 millibars, passing a melt comprising recycled polymer through said multi-screw extruder so that at least a portion of said melt is fed through each of said at least six satellite screws;
- and
- (D) after said step of passing said melt of recycled polymer through said multi-screw extruder, forming said recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament.
6 more elements
A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament, said method comprising:
- (A) providing a plurality of polymer flakes comprising recycled polyethylene terephthalate;
- (B) washing said plurality of polymer flakes;
- (C) drying said plurality of flakes to at least substantially remove any surface moisture from said plurality of flakes;
- (D) at least partially melting said plurality of polymer flakes to form a melt comprising recycled polymer;
- (E) providing a multi-screw extruder that defines an interior chamber and comprises:
- (i) a first satellite screw that is mounted to rotate about a central axis of said first satellite screw;
- (ii) a second satellite screw that is mounted to rotate about a central axis of said second satellite screw;
- (iii) a third satellite screw that is mounted to rotate about a central axis of said third satellite screw;
- (iv) a fourth satellite screw that is mounted to rotate about a central axis of said fourth satellite screw;
- (v) a fifth satellite screw that is mounted to rotate about a central axis of said fifth satellite screw;
- and
- (vi) a sixth satellite screw that is mounted to rotate about a central axis of said sixth satellite screw;
- (F) providing at least one vacuum pump that is in operative communication with said interior chamber of said multi-screw extruder and adapted to maintain a pressure within said interior chamber of said multi-screw extruder between about 0 millibars and about 5 millibars;
- (G) using said at least one vacuum pump to reduce said pressure within said interior chamber of said multi-screw extruder to between about 0 millibars and about 5 millibars;
- (H) while maintaining said pressure within said interior chamber of said multi-screw extruder between about 0 millibars and about 5 millibars, passing said melt comprising recycled polymer through said multi-screw extruder so that:
- (1) a first portion of said melt is fed through said first satellite screw, (2) a second portion of said melt is fed through said second satellite screw, (3) a third portion of said melt is fed through said third satellite screw, (4) a fourth portion of said melt is fed through said fourth satellite screw, (5) a fifth portion of said melt is fed through said fifth satellite screw, and (6) a sixth portion of said melt is fed through said sixth satellite screw;
- and
- (I) after said step of passing said melt of recycled polymer through said multi-screw extruder, forming said recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament.
15 more elements
A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament comprising the steps of:
- (A) washing a group of polymer flakes to remove at least a portion of one or more contaminants from a surface of said flakes, said group of flakes comprising a first plurality of flakes that consist essentially of PET and a second plurality of flakes that do not consist essentially of PET;
- (B) after said step of washing said first plurality of flakes:
- (i) scanning said washed group of flakes to identify said second plurality of flakes,
- (ii) separating said second plurality of flakes from said first plurality of flakes;
- (C) after separating said second plurality of flakes from said first plurality of flakes, melting said first plurality of flakes to produce a polymer melt;
- (D) providing a multi-screw extruder that extrudes material in a plurality of different extrusion streams;
- (E) reducing a pressure within said multi-screw extruder to between about 0 millibars and about 5 millibars;
- (F) while maintaining said pressure within said multi-screw extruder between about 0 millibars and about 5 millibars, passing said polymer melt through said multi-screw extruder so that said polymer melt is divided into at least eight extrusion streams, each having a pressure between about 0 millibars and about 5 millibars;
- (G) after passing said polymer melt through said multi-screw extruder, forming said recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.