Patent DE-19925134-A1 (DE)
Title: Prodn of matting with randomly laid fibers uses vegetable matter taken from harvest byproducts to be broken down and separated into fiber and non-fiber fractions in an economic process
Inventor: WURLITZER HOLGER
IPC: D01B1/14
Filed: 1999-06-02
Abstract: To produce a vegetable fiber matting material, with the fibers in a random lie, the harvested material is taken from a storage stack to form a strand with a two-dimensional alignment of the vegetable parts which is fed to a preparation station. The material is chopped, reduced to fibers, and non-fiber matter is separated and the fiber and non-fiber fractions are removed.  The raw harvested material can be dried or partially dried, which can be poured or not. According to the type of harvesting methods, the material can be in a variety of conditions such as broken, chopped and/or compressed, to be taken from a supply stack. The material can be taken from wound bales or compressed bales which are round or quadratic, a layered stack, an extruded strand or a loose pile. The extracted material is compressed and/or drawn, and is opened out when fed to the preparation station as a strand, at a tangent or radially to the line of the rotating preparation tools. At the material preparation station, a combination of active and passive tools breaks down the vegetable matter, and any fiber scrapings are separated from the fibers. The preparation station tools are a beating rotor with an integrated winnowing action or beating and combing tools to break down the fibers and separate the scrapings. The strand of random fibers is drawn and/or accelerated by control of the tool rotary speed at the preparation station. An air stream and/or a mechanical guide carries the materials out of the preparation station, through the cyclone action and the centrifugal forces of the tool rotation within the station housing. The prepared material is passed to a further station, where it is combed and shaken, racked and/or passed through a vibrating sieve for further cleaning. The process stages can be repeated. An Independent claim is included for an assembly with a feed station with guide and/or feed rollers (2) to give the material matting or strand flow a generally two-dimensional alignment of the vegetable components. At the preparation station, the material strand is deflected and simultaneously separated into fiber and non-fiber fractions by rotating tools. The random fiber material is led out from the working range of the tools at the preparation station. Preferred Features: The guide and/or feed rollers (2) are drawing rollers to accelerate the movement of the material strand. The rollers (2) are in pairs, in a multiple succession if required. The rollers (2) are at a feed table (8), with an adjustable gap between the rollers and the table. The feed table (8) has trough-shaped inserts (17), to increase the clamping action on the material between the table (8) and the rollers (2). The feed station can have an expanded feed channel containing rollers to open out the material strand together with an air flow. At the preparation station, the beating rotor and the comb can be adjacent or in succession. The tools at the preparation station rotate at a speed which is at least 50% faster than the speed of material travel. A fan generates the air flow to carry the materials out of the preparation station, or guide tines give a mechanical material guide action. The working surfaces of the beating rotor are wedge-shaped beating edges, as cut-back beating edges or blunt hammer surfaces.