1. A thermoplastic pultrusion die system for pultruding a thermoplastic composite, comprising:
a first pultrusion die member;
a second pultrusion die member;
a die cavity gap formed between the first pultrusion die member and the second pultrusion die member;
a die cavity gap adjustment mechanism that imparts movement to at least one of the first pultrusion die member and the second pultrusion die member to vary the die cavity gap from closed to a first predetermined location to open at a second predetermined location;
a pultrusion gripper mechanism having one or more grippers in series;
computer numerical control (CNC) hydraulic cylinders to prevent the die cavity gap from being less than a predetermined-position compression distance, and
a computer numerical control (CNC) computer system controlling the die cavity gap adjustment mechanism and the pultrusion gripper mechanism, wherein the (CNC) computer system including
a computer readable medium configured to store executable programmed modules;
a processor communicatively coupled with the computer readable medium configured to execute programmed modules stored therein;
one or more computer programmed module elements stored in the computer readable medium and configured to be executed by the processor,
wherein the one or more computer programmed module elements configured to incrementally consolidate the thermoplastic composite by compressing the thermoplastic composite with the thermoplastic pultrusion die system at a zero line speed alternated with pultruding the thermoplastic composite on incremental distance at no compression using the pultrusion gripper mechanism whereby the pultrusion gripper mechanism configured to accelerate and decelerate the thermoplastic composite over a predetermined programmed distance until the zero line speed is again achieved.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the system further includes a belt material at both the first pultrusion die member and the second pultrusion die member that is fed between the first pultrusion die member and the thermoplastic composite material, and the second pultrusion die member and the thermoplastic composite material, wherein the belt material is a release material.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the die cavity gap adjustment mechanism includes one or more servo motors.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the computer numerical control (CNC) computer system is a CNC controller for precise servo motion control of the die cavity gap adjustment mechanism includes for precise control of the die cavity gap.
5. The system of claim 3, wherein the die cavity gap adjustment mechanism includes one or more ball screws rotatably driven by the one or more servo motors.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the die cavity gap adjustment mechanism includes one or more hydraulic cylinders with a maximum pressure setting.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first pultrusion die member and the second pultrusion die member are part of a series of pultrusion die members, one or more of which move towards and away a center of gravity of the thermoplastic composite material for thermoplastic pultrusion of a part.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer numerical control (CNC) computer system controls the die cavity gap adjustment mechanism to control the die cavity gap based on at least a thickness of the thermoplastic composite material and one or more thickness anomalies in the thermoplastic composite material.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the system further includes one or more sensors to sense a composite processing pressure.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more sensors include one or more load cells.
11. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more sensors include one or more gripper load cells associated with the pultrusion gripper mechanism for sensing at least one of frictional forces and loads associated with pultrusion by the system.
12. A thermoplastic pultrusion die system for pultruding a thermoplastic composite, comprising:
a first pultrusion die member;
a second pultrusion die member;
a die cavity gap formed between the first pultrusion die member and the second pultrusion die member;
a die cavity gap adjustment mechanism that imparts movement to at least one of the first pultrusion die member and the second pultrusion die member to vary the die cavity gap from closed to a first predetermined location to open at a second predetermined location;
a pultrusion gripper mechanism having one or more grippers in series;
computer numerical control (CNC) hydraulic cylinders to prevent the die cavity gap from being less than a predetermined-position compression distance; and
a computer numerical control (CNC) computer system controlling the die cavity gap adjustment mechanism and the pultrusion gripper mechanism, the (CNC) computer system including
a computer readable medium configured to store executable programmed modules;
a processor communicatively coupled with the computer readable medium configured to execute programmed modules stored therein;
one or more computer programmed module elements stored in the computer readable medium and configured to be executed by the processor, therein the one or more computer programmed module elements configured to incrementally consolidate the thermoplastic composite by compressing the thermoplastic composite with the thermoplastic pultrusion die system at a zero line speed alternated with pultruding an incremental distance the thermoplastic composite at no compression using the pultrusion gripper mechanism whereby the pultrusion gripper mechanism configured to accelerate and decelerate the thermoplastic composite over a predetermined programmed distance until the zero line speed is again achieved, allowing higher-thickness pre-preg thermoplastic materials to be processed by the thermoplastic pultrusion die system without crashing a pultrusion process and whereby the higher-thickness pre-preg thermoplastic materials entering the thermoplastic pultrusion die system being thicker than cured thermoplastic materials exiting the thermoplastic pultrusion die system.
13. A thermoplastic pultrusion die system for pultruding a thermoplastic composite, comprising:
a first pultrusion die member;
a second pultrusion die member;
a die cavity gap formed between the first pultrusion die member and the second pultrusion die member;
a die cavity gap adjustment mechanism that imparts movement to at least one of the first pultrusion die member and the second pultrusion die member to vary the die cavity gap from closed to a first predetermined location to open at a second predetermined location;
a pultrusion gripper mechanism having one or more grippers in series;
computer numerical control (CNC) hydraulic cylinders to prevent the die cavity gap from being less than a predetermined-position compression distance; and
a computer numerical control (CNC) computer system controlling the die cavity gap adjustment mechanism and the pultrusion gripper mechanism, the (CNC) computer system including
a computer readable medium configured to store executable programmed modules;
a processor communicatively coupled with the computer readable medium configured to execute programmed modules stored therein;
one or more computer programmed module elements stored in the computer readable medium and configured to be executed by the processor, therein the one or more computer programmed module elements configured to incrementally consolidate the thermoplastic composite by compressing the thermoplastic composite with the thermoplastic pultrusion die system at a zero line speed alternated with pultruding an incremental distance the thermoplastic composite at no compression using the pultrusion gripper mechanism whereby the pultrusion gripper mechanism configured to accelerate and decelerate the thermoplastic composite over a predetermined programmed distance until the zero line speed is again achieved,
wherein the thermoplastic pultrusion die system includes a heater, a consolidation-under-pressure zone, and a length to allow heating of the thermoplastic composite prior to the consolidation-under-pressure zone, allowing faster processing speeds.
14. A thermoplastic pultrusion die system for pultruding a thermoplastic composite, comprising:
a first pultrusion die member;
a second pultrusion die member;
a consolidation-under-pressure zone formed by the first pultrusion die member and the second pultrusion die member, the consolidation-under-pressure zone including an inlet end with one or more heating elements and an exit end with one or more cooling elements;
a die cavity gap formed between the first pultrusion die member and the second pultrusion die member;
a die cavity gap adjustment mechanism that imparts movement to at least one of the first pultrusion die member and the second pultrusion die member to vary the die cavity gap from closed to a first predetermined location to open at a second predetermined location;
a pultrusion gripper mechanism having one or more grippers in series;
computer numerical control (CNC) hydraulic cylinders to prevent the die cavity gap from being less than a predetermined-position compression distance; and
a computer numerical control (CNC) computer system controlling the die cavity gap adjustment mechanism and the pultrusion gripper mechanism, the (CNC) computer system including
a computer readable medium configured to store executable programmed modules;
a processor communicatively coupled with the computer readable medium configured to execute programmed modules stored therein;
one or more computer programmed module elements stored in the computer readable medium and configured to be executed by the processor, therein the one or more computer programmed module elements configured to incrementally consolidate the thermoplastic composite by compressing the thermoplastic composite with the thermoplastic pultrusion die system at a zero line speed alternated with pultruding an incremental distance the thermoplastic composite at no compression using the pultrusion gripper mechanism whereby the pultrusion gripper mechanism configured to accelerate and decelerate the thermoplastic composite over a predetermined programmed distance until the zero line speed is again achieved, wherein the one or more computer programmed module elements configured to consolidate the thermoplastic composite in the consolidation-under-pressure zone under a hot melt condition at the inlet end applied by the one or more heating elements, and consolidate the thermoplastic composite in the consolidation-under-pressure zone under a cold solid condition at the exit end applied by cooling elements, before exiting the consolidation-under-pressure zone.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A detergent tablet of compressed particulate composition wherein the tablet or a region thereof comprises organic surfactant and water-insoluble detergency builder, characterised in that the tablet or region thereof contains from 30 to 65% by weight (of the tablet or region respectively) of particles which contain from 20 to 50% by weight (of these particles) of non-soap organic surfactant which is anionic and nonionic surfactants in a weight ratio from 5:1 to 1.5:1 and in that in addition to said particles the tablet or region contains 15% or more by weight (of the tablet or region respectively) of material which is other than soap or organic surfactant and which has a solubility in water of at least 10gmliter at 20 C.
2. A detergent tablet of compressed particulate composition wherein the tablet or a discrete region of the tablet comprises particles which contain non-soap anionic surfactant, nonionic surfactant, preferably soap and other ingredients, characterised in that the particles contain at least 20 wt % in total of the anionic and nonionic surfactants and in that a test tablet consisting of the said non-soap anionic surfactant, nonionic surfactant, and any soap in the same proportions, together with 15% by weight moisture has a breaking strength as herein defined of at least 0.4 MPa and a modulus as herein defined of not more than 10 MPa.
3. A tablet according to claim 2 wherein the mixture of surfactants and soap is such that a test tablet consisting of the said non-soap anionic surfactant, nonionic surfactant, and any soap in the same proportions, together with 15% by weight moisture has a breaking strength of at least 0.5 MPa and a modulus of not more than 5 MPa.
4. A tablet according to claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the particles contain from 30 to 60 wt % of the mixture of surfactants and soap.
5. A tablet according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the weight ratio of anionic surfactant to nonionic surfactant lies in a range from 1.7:1 to 5:1.
6. A tablet according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the said weight ratio of anionic surfactant to nonionic surfactant lies in a range from 2:1 to 4:1.
7. A tablet according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the weight ratio of nonionic surfactant to soap in said particles lies in a range from 10:1 to 30:1.
8. A tablet according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the said particles contain non-soap anionic surfactant in an amount which is at least 3% by weight of the tablet or region and nonionic surfactant in an amount which is at least 2% by weight of the tablet or region respectively.
9. A tablet according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the amount of non-soap organic surfactant in the said particles is from 22 to 40% by weight of the particles.
10. A tablet according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the said particles contain from 30 to 80% by weight (of the particles) of water-insoluble detergency builder.
11. A tablet according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the 15% or more of water-soluble material present in addition to the particles is in the form of further particles which contain no more than 5% of their own weight of organic surfactant.
12. A tablet according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the 15% or more of water-soluble substance present in addition to the particles is material with a water solubility of at least 50gmliter at 20 C., sodium tripolyphosphate containing more than 50% of its own weight of the phase I anhydrous form, or a mixture thereof.
13. A tablet according to claim 12 wherein the 15% or more of water soluble substance is selected from: sodium citrate, sodium citrate dihydrate, potassium carbonate, urea, sodium acetate, sodium acetate trihydrate, magnesium sulphate 7H2O, potassium acetate, sodium tripolyphosphate containing more than 50% of its own weight of the phase I anhydrous form and mixtures thereof.