Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
10696~;0
This in~entiDn relates to an extruder die which ls
capable of both ~i~rillating a plastic mass of material as
well as cooling the material to prevent coalescenceO
: Fibrillation of plastic material is well known.
When an extruded pl~&tic-like material is t~ undergo f~brilla-
tion it is imperative that the plastic-like material be cooled
as soon aæ possible to prevent any coalescence o~ the individ~
ual fibe~s created durlng the fibrillation processO In the
past it has been very difficult to simultaneously ~ibrlllate
an extrude~ plastic-like mass while cooling the formed fibers
su~icient to prevent such coalescenceO The present invention,
however, provides an extruder die which is capable of both
~ fibrillating a plastic-like mass of materlal as well as cool-
; lng the material to prevent cDalescenceO
The present invention provides a die utillzed for .
the coollng of fibers in a hot éxtrudate comprlsing an outer ~ :
heatlng means engaged about an lnner housing having an inlet
in the upper portlon of sald housing and an outlet ln the
lower portion of said houslng, a first gas in~ectlon means af-
. 20 flxed to said outer heating means locat~d ad~acent to said
.
outlet, and a second gas injection means a~ixed to said outer
I heating means located adjacent to said outlet and parallel to
said first gas in~ection means.
It ls, there~ore, an ob~ect of this invention to
1 prbvlde a novel apparatus for use as an extruder dleO
i Another object of the present invention is to pro
vide means ln con~unction with an extruder die ~or ~ibrillat-
ing a hot extrudateO
. Yet another ob~ect of the present invention is to
30 provide an apparatus capable of cooling a hot extrudate as it
leaves the die,
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Still another ob~ect o~ this invention is to provide
a die which simultaneously fibrillates a plastic-like mass of r
material while it cools that materialO
These and other Dbjects of this invention are accom-
plished by pro~iding an extruder die comprising an inner hous-
ing surrounded by an outer heating meansO Ad~acent to the
outlet of the inner housing is provided a pair of gas in~ec- -'~
tion meansO' By in~ectlng a gas through said gas in~ection '
means into a hot extrudate ~lowing through the inner housing
10 the extrudate can be fibrillated and cooled simultaneou~lyO
This invention may be more fully described but is
not limited by the enclosed drawing wherein:
Figure 1 is a cross-sectional side view of an(ex-
truder die having air in~ection means attached, and
Figure 2 is a cross-sectional front'view of the ex-
truder die illustrated in Figure lo
In accordance with the novel aspects of the present
I invention an extruder die is provided that is capable of both
cooling a hot extrudate' while simultaneously fibrillating that extrudate to form a fibrous productO
More specifically, this fibrous product is produced
' by in~ecting a gas directly upon the hot extrudate as that
extrudate exits from the extruder dieO To obtain fibrillation
it is ne¢essary that the gas impinge upon the extrudate at a : '~
45 angle to the direction of ~low o~ the exbrudateO F~bril~
lation produced in this manner would be highly beneficial in
the formation of fibrillated plastic products a~ well as food
products~ If desired, however, fibrillation of the extrudate
by the gas blasts can be prevented by lowering the pressure of
the gas in~ection into the extrudate so that the ~as will mere-
ly have a cooling effect upon the extrudateO
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Figure 1 ~s illustrative o~ a cross~sectional sideview of a novel extruder die llo The d~e is made up of three
basic structures; the inner housing 12, the heating me~ns 13,
and the gas injection means 16 and 16'. At each end of the
inner housing 12 is an openingO These openings are inner con~
nected by a longitudinal boreO The opening at the upper por~
tlon of the housing acts as an ~nlet 14 while ~n opening at
the lower portion of the housing acts as an outlet 150 The
inlet 14 ~6 capa~le o~ ~e~ng connected tD a means to b~end a
food or other plastic type materialO Typically this means
comprises a screw conveyor having a heated barrelO Engaged
about the inner housing 12 is a heating means capable o~ main~
; taining the temperature within the die equal to that wlthin
~` the blending meansO As shown in the figure the heating means
may be an outer ~acket 13 sealingly engaged about the inner
hou~sing. The outer ~acket is provided with an inlet for the
introduction of steam into said ~acket and an outlet for the
" ~ - discharge of condensation. At the lower end of the heating
~acket ad~acent outlet 15 ~ provided gas in~ection means 16
and 16' parallel to one anotherO Typically these gas in~ec~
tion means are air pipes af~ixed to the outer heating ~acketO
These~air pipes contain a plurality of protrusions t~rough
which air may be in~ected onto the hot extrudate flowing
through the inner housing 120 In order to pro~ide ~ibrilla~
tion of the hot extrudate, these protrusions must be located
so that air ~low~ng through them will impinge upon the hot
extrudate at an angle of 45 to the flow of that extrudateO
! This is illustrated by locating these protrusions at points A
and A' of the air pipe.
Figure 2 ~erely illustrates the novel d~e from a
somewhat different view than Figure lo The extruder die
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operates in the following manner. When the inlet 14 is con-
nectea with blending means the hot extrudate is forced
through the inner housing 12. The inner housing may be heated
by elevated temperature by the introduction of steam into the
outer jacket. As the hot extrudate exits from the housing
through outlet 15, air is injected through gas injection
sources 16 and 16' so that the hot extrudate undergoes fibril-
lation as well as cooling. The amount of pressure required to
fibrillate the hot extrudate is dependent upon the specific
material comprising the extrudate. The temperature of the air
required to cool the extrudate to prevent coalescence of the
fibrillated product is also dependent upon the material com-
prising the extrudate. If the pressure is too low, the hot
extrudate may ~re1y be cooled and fibrillation prevented.
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