Apparatus to control the dispersion and deposition of chopped fibrous strands

Abstract

An air cannon, formed by associating an air amplifier and an outlet cone with one another, receives chopped fibers and forcefully deposits the chopped fibers on a collection surface or web moving beyond an outlet end of the outlet cone. The air amplifier includes insert structure formed of an abrasion resistant material to prevent abrasive wear within the air amplifier caused by the chopped fibers. A binder is applied to the resulting mat of chopped fibers, the binder is activated by the application of energy with the resulting treated mat being compacted, cooled and rolled up to form a chopped strand mat package. For wide mats, one or more banks of air cannons extend across the moving collection web. The air cannons of each bank are alternately directed up-line and down-line of the web to reduce interference between the air cannons by means of L-shaped support rods which have generally horizontal and generally vertical legs which are separated from one another by acute and obtuse angles for up-line and down-line direction, respectively. The air cannons can also be individually adjusted to vary the aimed direction of the air cannons across the web by rotation of the generally horizontal legs of the L-shaped support rods. The air cannons forcefully direct chopped fibers to the web to overcome air turbulence within a forming hood and forces due to static electricity.