Rinsing station for spray dyeing system
AssigneeHBI Branded Apparel Enterprises, LLC
InventorsMichael D. Abbott, Robert A. Miller, III, Ruth E. May
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A rinsing station for removing residual materials from a fabric being dyed or bleached. The rinsing station includes a first pair of rinse spray nozzles. One of the first pair directed to spray a rinse fluid downwardly onto incoming dyed fabric. The other of the first pair directed to spray the rinse fluid upwardly onto the incoming dyed fabric. The rinsing station also includes a pair of nip rollers downstream for the first pair of rinse spray nozzles for extracting the rinse fluid.
Claims20
A rinsing system for removing residual materials from a dyed or bleached flat tubular fabric, the rinsing system comprising:
- a first rinsing station comprising:
- a first pair of rinse spray nozzles, one of the first pair of rinse spray nozzles being configured to spray a rinse liquid downwardly as a jet of finely divided liquid onto a first technical face of the fabric, and the other of the first pair of rinse spray nozzles being configured to spray the rinse liquid upwardly as a jet of finely divided liquid onto a second technical face of the fabric;
- a first pair of nip rollers downstream from the first pair of rinse spray nozzles for extracting the rinse liquid from the fabric;
- and
- a first rinse liquid collector configured to collect the rinse liquid;
- a second rinsing station, upstream of the first rinsing station, the second rinsing station comprising:
- a second pair of rinse spray nozzles, wherein one of the second pair of rinse liquid spray nozzles is directed angularly downward as a jet of finely divided liquid onto the first technical face of the fabric, and the other of the second set of rinse spray nozzles is directed angularly upward as a jet of finely divided liquid onto the second technical face of the fabric;
- and
- a second pair of nip rollers downstream of the second pair of rinse spray nozzles, the second pair of rinse spray nozzles being angled toward the second pair of nip rollers;
- and
- a fluid recirculation circuit in fluid communication with the first rinse liquid collector and the second pair of rinse spray nozzles, wherein the second pair of rinse spray nozzles is configured to spray recirculated rinse liquid collected by the first rinse liquid collector.
A method for rinsing fabric being run through a fabric dying or bleaching system, the method comprising:
- accepting taut, flat tubular fabric into a first rinsing station;
- providing water collected at a second rinsing station to the first rinsing station;
- spraying the provided water as a jet of finely divided liquid downwardly onto a first technical face of the fabric with a first nozzle;
- spraying the provided water as a jet of finely divided liquid upwardly onto a second technical face of the fabric with a second nozzle;
- extracting at least some of the water from the sprayed fabric with a first pair of nip rollers;
- accepting the fabric into the second rinsing station;
- spraying water as a jet of finely divided liquid downwardly onto the first technical face of the fabric with a third nozzle;
- spraying water as a jet of finely divided liquid upwardly onto the second technical face of the fabric with a fourth nozzle;
- extracting at least some of the water from the sprayed fabric with a second pair of nip rollers;
- collecting at least some of the water extracted by the second pair of nip rollers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.