Systems and methods for electrostatically individualizing and aligning fibers

Abstract

Various systems and methods described herein use electrostatic forces to separate fibers with minimal to no breakage and align the individual fibers with minimal handling. These systems and methods allow for testing, such as measuring the length, of individual fibers without the biases caused by breakage or bundling in prior art systems. These systems and methods may also be useful in applications requiring fiber alignment with minimal material handling. One exemplary system includes a pair of nip rollers and a collector that are spaced apart from each other to define an air gap therebetween. The nip rollers are grounded or negatively charged, for example, and the collector is positively charged to create an electrostatic field in the air gap. The electrostatic field separates the fibers, elongates the fibers end to end, and urges the fibers toward the collector.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.