Hills, Inc.

Mark R Miller

Arnold E Wilkie

Jeffrey S Haggard

Jeff S Haggard

Tony Owen

Brian Johnston

Kevin Moschetti

Michael W Felber

John Quinlivan

Ted Mire

Ruey Chern

Brent Soucier

A temperature control system for use in a fiber extrusion process includes a number of metering pump assemblies including inlets to receive at least two molten polymer streams from a supply source that is connectable to the system. A pump block disposed proximate the metering pump assemblies includes a plurality of flow paths extending within the pump block, where the flow paths are aligned to receive molten polymer flowing from outlets of the metering pump assemblies and to deliver the molten polymer to a spinneret. The flow paths are arranged in flow path sets within the pump block, and each flow path set includes at least one flow path and is spaced a selected distance from the other flow path sets within the pump block so as to facilitate independent control of the temperature of a molten polymer flowing through each flow path set.

Temperature control system to independently maintain separate molten polymer streams at selected temperatures during fiber extrusion

A molten polymer filtration assembly includes at least three independently controllable and removable filter housings which extend from a common inlet passage to a common outlet passage, thereby providing parallel flow paths for polymer filtration. Each of the filter housings includes an inlet valve controlling the flow of polymer from the inlet passage, an outlet valve controlling the flow of polymer to the outlet passage, and a filtration passage which extends between the inlet and outlet valves and houses a candle-type filtration element. When the inlet and outlet valves are opened, the filter housing is on-stream and allows polymer to flow from the inlet to the outlet passage. Each filter housing is individually controllable, and can be set in an on-stream state independent of the state of any of the other filter housings, such that any number of filter housings can be on-stream at a given time. By setting the number of on-stream filter housing in correspondence with the polymer flow rate, the polymer residence time can be maintained in a relatively narrow range of durations over a wide range of polymer flow rates, thereby ensuring that the polymer residence time within the filtration system remains below an acceptable duration and that the polymer residence time is regulated to avoid significant fluctuation or variances in the polymer residence time. Interlocks prevent the closure of the outlet valve of each filter housing unless the inlet valve for that housing is closed. Removal of any filter housing is prevented unless its valves are both closed.

Variable capacity continuous extended area filter

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Melbourne, FL, United States of America

Mark R Miller