Method for foaming adhesive and related system
AssigneeHenkel AG & Co. KGaA
InventorsMatthew Grossman, Nicholas Patterson, Robert Sandilla
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to methods and systems for producing a foamed adhesive. A method for foaming an adhesive includes feeding an adhesive from a supply storage tank to a pump, conveying the adhesive outputted by the pump through an adhesive flow meter, injecting an air into the adhesive once the adhesive travels through the adhesive flow meter, feeding a mixture of the adhesive and air to a static mixer, mixing the mixture homogeneously with the static mixer such that the adhesive is foamed, and transporting the foamed adhesive to a product storage tank.
Claims21
A method for foaming an adhesive, the method comprising:
- pumping, using a pump, the adhesive from a supply storage tank through a first conduit;
- dampening, using a pulsation dampener downstream of the pump, pulsations and pressure fluctuations of the adhesive flowing in the first conduit;
- measuring, using an adhesive flow meter downstream of the pulsation dampener, a flow rate and/or mass of the adhesive flowing in the first conduit;
- regulating, using a flow control valve downstream of the adhesive flow meter, and based on the measured flow rate and/or mass of the adhesive flowing in the first conduit, the flow of adhesive to a junction that connects the first conduit to a gas supply line;
- supplying gas to the gas supply line that terminates at the junction;
- controlling, using a gas flow controller along the gas supply line, and based on the measured flow rate and/or mass of the adhesive flowing in the first conduit, gas flow volume injected into the adhesive at the junction to form a mixture of the adhesive and the gas;
- supplying the mixture of the adhesive and the gas to a non-helical, static mixer downstream from the junction, the non-helical, static mixer being distinct from the first conduit;
- mixing the mixture, in the non-helical, static mixer, to form a foamed adhesive having bubbles sized between 1 micron and 500 microns;
- and
- supplying, via a second conduit downstream and distinct from the non-helical, static mixer, the foamed adhesive to a product reserve tank.
A foaming adhesive system for mixing an adhesive and gas to produce foamed adhesive, the foaming adhesive system comprising:
- a supply storage tank containing adhesive;
- a pump connected to the supply storage tank via a first conduit and configured to pump the adhesive from the supply storage tank to the first conduit;
- a pulsation dampener downstream of the pump, the pulsation dampener configured to dampen pulsations and pressure fluctuations of the adhesive flowing in the first conduit;
- an adhesive flow meter downstream of the pulsation dampener, the adhesive flow meter configured to measure a flow rate and/or mass of the adhesive flowing in the first conduit;
- a flow control valve downstream of the adhesive flow meter, the flow control valve configured to regulate the flow of adhesive to a junction that connects the first conduit to a gas supply line based on the measured flow rate and/or mass of the adhesive flowing in the first conduit;
- a gas supply storage containing the gas;
- the gas supply line fluidly connected to the gas supply storage and terminating at the junction,
- a gas flow controller along the gas supply line, the gas flow controller configured to control gas flow volume injected into the adhesive at the junction to form a mixture of the adhesive and the gas based on the measured flow rate and/or mass of the adhesive flowing in the first conduit;
- a non-helical, static mixer downstream from the junction, the non-helical, static mixer configured to receive the mixture of the adhesive and the gas and homogeneously mix the mixture of the adhesive and the gas to produce a foamed adhesive having bubbles sized between 1 micron and 500 microns;
- and
- a product reserve tank configured to receive the foamed adhesive from the non-helical, static mixture.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.