US 11,992,978 B2 · Processing a thermoplastic textile

Abstract

A method for generating a pattern of indentations in a surface of a thermoplastic textile includes processing the thermoplastic textile with a mold comprising at least one subunit adapted to create at least one subpattern of the pattern, wherein the at least one subunit is at least one of exchangeable or reconfigurable; fusing at least one indentation of the pattern of indentations into the thermoplastic textile by applying heat and pressure; and exchanging the at least one subunit with a second at least one subunit or reconfiguring a spatial arrangement of a footprint of the at least one subunit within the mold from a first spatial arrangement to a second spatial arrangement, wherein a footprint of the at least one subunit is different than a footprint of the second at least one subunit.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method for generating a pattern of indentations in a surface of a thermoplastic textile, the method comprising:

processing the thermoplastic textile with a mold comprising a first subunit comprising:
a base;
and
at least one molding feature extending into the base, from the base, or a combination thereof and adapted to create a subpattern of the pattern;
wherein the first subunit is exchangeable;
wherein the base forms a footprint of the first subunit;
and
wherein the footprint of the first subunit is different than a shape of the at least one molding feature;
fusing an indentation of the pattern of indentations into the thermoplastic textile by applying heat and pressure;
and
exchanging the first subunit with a second subunit, wherein the footprint of the first subunit is different than a footprint of the second subunit.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Processing a thermoplastic textile

Life of this patent

Processing a thermoplastic textile

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20