Patent Publication Number: US-2005142971-A1

Title: Fabric membrane texture and manufacturing method thereof

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a fabric membrane texture and manufacturing method thereof, herein especially comprising a texture and thereof method of reinforced membrane of 3D fabric containing spacer. The method of the present invention applies to outdoor shield or space insulating materials by mainly using the low-pressure fixation process to build up a space of spacer.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      A fabric normally employing for outdoor shield, space insulating materials or related applications, derivatives and extensions uses is shown in  FIG. 1A  which illustrates the distribution of temperature and airflow of monolayer membrane texture from a prior art.  FIG. 1A  reveals that the inner temperature of this shield increased owing to the outdoor sunshine directly penetrating this monolayer shield  10 ′. The high temperature airflow  16 ′ is in the upper part of this shield, however the inlet of airflow  12 ′ and the outlet of airflow  14 ′ are on the lower part of the shield which is not able to deliver the high temperature out through airflow  18 ′.  
       FIG. 1B , schematically diagramed the distribution of temperature and airflow of bi-layer membranes texture from the prior art.  FIG. 1B  states the inner temperature of the shield is still high although the bi-layer membranes  20 ′ with inner membrane  22 ′ have air as an insulator which insulates the high temperature airflow  24 ′ in the area of inner membrane  22 ′. Because the temperature difference is not so high between high temperature airflow  26 ′ and  24 ′ and the inlet of airflow  210 ′ and the outlet of airflow  220 ′ are on the lower part of the shield, the high temperature is not able to deliver out through airflow  28 ′. Both  FIG. 2A and 2B  schematically diagram the texture of tri-layer composite membranes and multilayer composite membranes from a prior art. Referring to  FIGS. 2A and 2B , there are tri-layer composite membrane  30 ′ comprising a lower fabric  32 ′, a plain woven fabric  34 ′ and an upper fabric  36 ′, and multilayer composite membranes  40 ′ comprising a fabric substrate  42 ′, a surfactant  44 ′ and a texture of porosity PTFE membrane  46 ′. However, the consequence presented that the thickness is increased and the defect of heat directly penetrating into inner of texture is not improved.  
      U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,864 discloses that two different textures of fabric adhere to a layer of air impermeable and waterproof polymer membrane to reach the effect of waterproof, thermal preserving and thermal insulation for tri-layer texture fabric. U.S. Pat. No. 5,849,395 discloses the polymer membrane which is affixed to a release thin plate. After a treatment to the said polymer membrane, the thin plate is removed, and the polymer membrane becomes into a two-dimensional reticular to obtain the effect of penetration through the special process. U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,388 discloses the multilayer composite membrane with the properties of abrasion resistance and tear resistance. A porous PTFE membrane is used as a material to strengthen the said multilayer composite membrane property. The polymer is adhered between PTFE membrane and fabric composite to be employed to electromagnetics interruption materials; U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,935 discloses that the composite fabric is made of fabric and a heat sealable film comprising an inner and outer film layer of linear low density polyethylene and an intermediate film layer of a polyamide polymer, which provides a barrier against of solids, liquid and gases.  
      The strengthened fabric membrane of two-dimentional fabric, in the examples of U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,319,864 and 5,849,395, only reinforces its strengthened texture design of the plain fabric such as woven fabrics, warp-knitted fabrics, seine fabrics and bonding fabrics etc. The characteristics of the texture are the change of strength and toughness on the direction of plane 360 degrees, but the defect is lack of the effect of impedance and insulation for the efficiency of light, heat and dynamics on the direction of thickness. Especially under the circumstances of the impact of cold-hot environment, the temperature of inner and outer transmitting fast results in the disappearance of the efficiency of insulation due to the time factor and it leads to the disadvantages of high temperature and muggy inside of applications such as curtains and shields under the sunshine in summer.  
      Moreover, the known design of bi-layer membranes is base on aforesaid the disadvantages of the strengthened membranes of two-dimentional fabric. One is developed from the fixed gauge of the texture of bi-layer membranes using two styles of fabric membranes through the method of fixed gauge sewing. The fixed gauge requires to be filled in gas and be maintained in order to build up the spacer on the direction of thickness. The purpose is to employ the effect of air layer in the space of the direction of thickness to achieve the high performance of impedance and insulation. The disadvantages of this method are the subsectional design requirement for process, space gauge not able to be precisely controlled, an enormous work, and requiring long time to maintain the supply of inner air pressure.  
      Therefore, providing a novel fabric membrane texture and manufacturing method thereof for the aforesaid problems can not only improve the conventional defects of lacking the effect of impedance and insulation of efficiency of light, heat and dynamics in the space of the direction of thickness, but also can be simplified the process. Based on the inventor engaging on the research and develop and sales experiences for the related products for many years, the inventor finally proposes a method to improve the aforementioned problems for fabric membranes texture and its manufacturing process according to his professional background.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      It is an object of the present invention to provide a fabric membrane texture and manufacturing method thereof which employs 3D texture for a specific distance of spacer to enable particular functions of anti-bump, thermal insulating, thermal conductivity, air permeability and elastic strength. The present invention enhances the efficiency of high lightweight for effectiveness of the industry.  
      It is another object of the present invention to provide a fabric membrane texture and manufacturing method thereof which of the 3D texture of fixed gauge of spacer is a fiber texture of one-piece form that enables the stability of capability to obtain the best control. At the same time, not only the processing is shortened, but also the requirements for application maintenance are reduced. Especially the prop force of plural connecting fibers in the direction of thickness enables to stably control the space size and efficiency for spacer, to increase the dynamic characteristics in the direction of thickness of fabric membranes and to enhance the capability of dynamic impedance in the plane direction.  
      Another purpose of the present invention is to provide the fabric membrane texture and manufacturing method thereof to avoid the crash damage from the high temperature and pressure for the middle connecting fibers, through a process of low-pressure fixation, to exploit the size and characteristics of the fixed spacer.  
      In order to perform the aforementioned purposes, efficiency and characteristics of each, the present invention discloses that among a texture of fabric membrane comprising of 3D fabric. An upper layer and lower fiber texture layer of the 3D fabric membrane are stretched to build up a spacer of the present invention through plural connecting fibers in the middle layer to execute the functions of anti-bump, thermal insulating, thermal conductivity, air permeability and elastic strength. Additionally, a polymer membrane is used to mount to at least one of the 3D fabric surface to build up a better function of shielding, insulating, or the capacity of ambiance impedance. Besides, this polymer membrane adhering with the 3D fabric using the process of low-pressure fixation that is applied to the product enables to obtain the better clearance of spacer. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The accompanying drawing is included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and is incorporated in and constitutes a part of this specification. The drawing illustrates an embodiment of the invention and, together with the description, serves to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawing,  
       FIG. 1A  is a schematic view illustrating the temperature and air flow of monolayer membrane of prior art.  
       FIG. 1B  is a schematic view illustrating the temperature and air flow of bi-layer membranes of prior art.  
       FIG. 2A  is a schematic view illustrating the temperature and air flow of tri-layer membranes of prior art.  
       FIG. 2B  is a schematic view illustrating the temperature and air flow of multi-layer membranes of prior art.  
       FIG. 3  is a manufacturing flow chart of the fabric membrane of the present invention.  
       FIG. 4  is a manufacturing block diagram of the fabric membrane of the present invention.  
       FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram of space fabric membrane of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      In order to clearly express and explore the feature characteristics and efficiency of the present invention for the committee of patent, the preferred embodiment and detailed description is as below.  
      The method of low-pressure fixation can evade the high temperature and high pressure resulting from the conventional roll adhesion used in the known art for fabric membranes and eliminate the crush damage to the middle connecting fibers which causes the serious impact of the development of size and characteristics of spacer.  
      Refer to  FIG. 3  is manufacturing flow chart of space fabric membrane for the preferred embodiment of the present invention that illustrates a manufacturing method of a space fabric membrane texture comprising the steps of: 
          Step S 10 : adding an adhesive powder to at least one surface of a 3D fabric and preheating;     Step S 12 : adhering at least a polymer membrane onto at least a surface of the 3D fabric using a low-pressure fixation process; and     Step S 14 : taking-up the 3D fabric containing the polymer membrane.        

      Refer to  FIG. 4  is a manufacturing block diagram of space fabric membrane for the preferred embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 4  expresses that a powder controller  30  spreads an adhesive such as EVA, PE, PVC or one in the group of polyester resin on the top of a 3D fabric  20  such as a warp-knitted fabric, a plain interval fabric or a honeycomb interval fabric, and a pre-heater  40  preheats the adhesive to a melting status, and then a polymer membrane  50  is adhered on the top of the 3D fabric  20  through a low-pressure fixation process  60 . Finally, the 3D fabric is taken up by an automatic take-up machine  70 . The aforementioned low-pressure fixation process  60  comprises a plane-joint process, a laminating process, a coating process or an adhesive process.  
      Refer to  FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram of space fabric membrane for the preferred embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 5  states that a space fabric membrane texture  10  of the present invention consists of a 3D fabric  12  comprising a 3D space texture  120  of a specific distance of spacer, an adhesive layer  14  on at least a surface of the 3D fabric  12 , and a polymer fabric membrane  16  adhered to at least an adhesive layer  14 . The aforementioned 3D space texture  120  of a specific distance of spacer comprises a lower fiber texture layer 1240 , an upper fiber texture layer  1220 , and a specific distance of spacer  1260  which is set by bearing and splitting the lower fiber  1240  and upper fiber  1220  texture layers through the plural middle connecting fibers  1262 . The polymer membrane is chosen from one of the group of PTFE, PVC, PP or PE. The texture of the 3D fabric of the present invention enables the thermal reflectance of sunshine achieving 70%, thermal absorption achieving 15%, and then the heat being only 15% left which is very suitable for the field of weathering resistance and energy-saving of day-lighting, for example, requiring the temperature, light and climate controlling for the place without non-shadow such as green house, child care room, floriculture, cultivation factory, conference room, warehouse etc.  
      Description of the preferred embodiment is as below:  
                                                               Fabric   Fabric   Fabric               membrane A   membrane B   membrane C               of the present   of the present   of the present           Normal canvas   invention   invention   invention                                                        Thickness (h) nm   1.54   1.68   8.04   9.22       Thermal conductivity   47.1   54.5   78.5   73.4       (λ * 10 −3 )W · m −1  · k −1         Thermal dissipation   0.064   0.121   0.255   0.3113       (a * 10 −6 )m 2  · s −1         Thermal absorption   186   156   155   131       (b) W · m 2  · s −1/2  · k −1         Thermal resistance   15.8   30.8   102   126       (r * 10 −3 )k · m 2  · w −1         Heat transfer density   207   5.99   8.89   9.67       ratio (p)                 Remark:            this thickness includes the thickness of spacer.             
 
      The improved effectiveness of the present invention due to the increasing interval of fabric membrane in the direction of thickness expresses as below: 
          1. The thermal conductivity coefficient increases resulting in the thermal convection increases horizontally.     2. Thermal dissipation increases resulting in the temperature of the environment increase uniformly.     3. Thermal absorption reduces resulting in part thermal absorption reduces.     4. Thermal resistance increases resulting in thermal insulation increases vertically.     5. Heat transfer density ratio increases resulting in the speed of thermal dissipation increases.        

      The main art of fabric membrane of the present invention is a method of design, composition and figuration for composite materials of fiber texture of permanent inside space and to set up function of specific capacity and environment impedance. Therefore, the field of the main art comprises the method of weaving and processing of fiber design of forming a permanent inside space texture, carrier design and figuration, surface subtract design, the manufacturing method of fabric membrane . . . etc. The characteristics of applications emphasize on the capability of elastic resistance of dynamics and the impedance of temperature and light. Employing the forming art of special fiber texture naturally sets up a necessary function of spacer. The polymer membrane mainly provides an impedance while the environment condition changes, the fiber texture provides the characteristics of dynamics and spacer especially invests better light weight effectiveness besides high performance of insulation design. A synchrony design method of one-piece figuration is used in the fiber texture, which precisely controls the space size and efficiency for spacer besides simplifying the process. A method of low-pressure fixation is used in both the polymer membrane and fiber texture to eliminate the impact of gauge setting of spacer. The 3D fabric replaces the plane fabric and increases the function of fabric membrane. And the spacer improves the characteristics of anti-bump, thermal insulating, thermal conductivity, air permeability and elastic strength of fabric membrane. The improvement art of low-pressure fixation can remarkably avoid the high temperature and high pressure resulting from the conventional roll adhesion of fabric of the known art and eliminate the crush damage to the middle connecting fibers.  
      Furthermore, the fiber texture of one-piece figuration of the present invention enables the stability of capability to obtain the best control. At the same time, not only the processing is shortened, but also the requirements for application maintenance are reduced. Especially the prop force of plural connecting fibers in the direction of thickness enables to stably control the space size and efficiency for spacer, to increase the dynamic characteristics in the direction of fabric membranes and to enhance the capability of dynamic impedance in the plane direction. These results in the material requirements and processing cost being reduced and fast manufacturing and the effectiveness of high lightweight.  
      While certain preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed in detail, it is to be understood that various modifications may be adopted without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope of the following claims.