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US 11,911,930 B2Granted
Methods for manufacturing bulked continuous filament from recycled PET
AssigneeAladdin Manufacturing Corporation
InventorThomas R. Clark
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament that includes providing a polymer melt and separating the polymer melt from the extruder into at least eight streams. The multiple streams are exposed to a chamber pressure within a chamber that is below approximately 25 millibars, or another predetermined pressure. The streams are recombined into a single polymer stream. Polymer from the polymer stream is then formed into bulked continuous carpet filament.
Claims24
A method of manufacturing a PET comprising product, the method comprising:
- providing a PET crystallizer;
- passing a plurality of flakes of recycled PET through the PET crystallizer to at least partially dry at least a portion of a surface of the plurality of flakes;
- after passing the plurality of flakes through the PET crystallizer, at least partially melting the plurality of flakes into a polymer melt;
- increasing a surface area of the polymer melt by dividing the polymer melt into at least eight streams;
- passing the at least eight streams of polymer melt into an interior of a chamber such that a respective surface area of each of the at least eight streams is exposed to a chamber pressure below atmospheric pressure;
- recombining the at least eight streams into a single polymer stream;
- and
- forming the single polymer stream into said PET comprising product.
5 more elements
A method for manufacturing a carpet, the method comprising:
- obtaining PET flakes substantially from a mix of both non-clear and clear PET bottles;
- providing a PET crystallizer;
- passing the PET flakes through the PET crystallizer to at least partially dry at least a portion of a surface of the PET flakes;
- after passing the PET flakes through the PET crystallizer, at least partially melting the PET flakes into a polymer melt;
- increasing a surface area of the polymer melt by extruding the polymer melt into at least eight streams;
- passing the at least eight streams of polymer melt into an interior of a chamber such that a respective surface area of each of the at least eight streams is exposed to a chamber pressure below atmospheric pressure;
- recombining the at least eight streams into a single polymer stream;
- producing carpet yarn at least by forming the single polymer stream into continuous bulked carpet filament;
- dyeing the continuous bulked carpet filament;
- and
- using the carpet yarn for producing said carpet.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.