Method of making a rigidized fiber filter element
AssigneeAlbany International Corp.
InventorsAndrew B. Jeffery, George Bakis, John Skelton
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A rigidized fiber filter element is produced from a precursor fiber web. The precursor fiber web contains heat-shrinkable fibers or binder fibers or both. The web is exposed to temperatures sufficiently elevated to cause shrinkage of the fibers or melting of the binder. After cooling the web, the filter elements produced are self-supporting, and may have densities up to 500 kg/m.sup.3 to improve filtration while retaining good functional characteristics for operating pressure drop and air permeability. Rigidized fiber filter elements can be constructed of one material, and thus may be suitable for recycling.
Claims9
A method for producing a rigidized and densified fiber filter element for filtering fluid streams comprising the steps of:
- providing a precursor fiber web, said precursor fiber web including heat-shrinkable fibers and binder fibers;
- placing said precursor fiber web on a forming device;
- exposing said precursor fiber web and said forming device to a temperature sufficiently elevated to cause said heat-shrinkable fibers to shrink and said binder fibers to soften and to melt;
- cooling said fiber web and aid forming device to ambient temperature;
- and
- removing said fiber web from said forming device, said fiber web having become the rigidized and densified fiber filter element.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.