Virtual Tour
Start the Virtual Tour by clicking the image to the right or the button below.
Virtual Tour
Start the Virtual Tour by clicking the image below.
Core Forming Pockets
Innovent has extensive experience designing and provided Core Forming Pockets on a wide variety of Disposable Hygiene Machine platforms from U.S., European, and Asian machine builders, including lines no longer supported by an OEM.
- Innovent can provide formation for continuous or discreet cores and a variety shapes and sizes. Flat, 2D & 3D cores can be easily attained.
- Innovent Core Forming Pockets feature Elcomb™ Support Structure and Anti-Blinding Screen for consistent pad formation with low standard deviation and minimal losses.
- Cores with channels are becoming more popular. Innovent has been providing straight and shaped channels since it’s onset.
- Completely fluff free through channels can be obtained with solid material while partial thickness channels can be formed using permeable material.
- Innovent can provide formation for continuous or discreet cores and a variety shapes and sizes. Flat, 2D & 3D cores can be easily attained.
- Innovent Core Forming Pockets feature Elcomb™ Support Structure and Anti-Blinding Screen for consistent pad formation with low standard deviation and minimal losses.
- Cores with channels are becoming more popular. Innovent has been providing straight and shaped channels since it’s onset.
- Completely fluff free through channels can be obtained with solid material while partial thickness channels can be formed using permeable material.
Screens
Innovent’s Anti Blinding Forming Screen technology resists SAP plugging far more effectively than traditional screens including wire mesh and typical electro etched materials. Less plugging results in less downtime for cleaning, reduced maintenance expense, and improved productivity.
With the superior filtering properties of the Innovent Screen, less fluff and SAP are lost thru the drum and into the air handling system. This not only reduces material losses, but it also reduces final filter cleaning as there is less material reaching the filters.
Innovent offers several types of screens for forming directly on screen, on a non-woven, fluff only, or for alternate fluff types.
Elcomb™
Innovent Screens are supported by our unique Elcomb™ (honeycomb) design. The combination of Elcomb™ and longitudinal stiffeners creates an incredibly ridged, but light weight structure that possess superior open area properties. This results in a stable forming surface that remains rigid over time, thus eliminating the problem of support buckling or dimpling and continually produce consistent cores.
Utilizing the same processes and technologies originally developed to manufacture honeycomb components for aerospace applications, Innovent is capable of machining completed tooling that is highly repeatable. This results in pocket to pocket consistency by reducing volumetric variability which results directly in improved core-to-core weight deviation. Better Standard deviation means less fluff and SAP are used resulting in another major cost savings. Elcomb™ is 95% open and allows nearly unrestricted air flow.
Using a honeycomb support structure offers the following benefits:
- The Elcomb™ can be accurately machined into 2D/3D forms with a straightforward or highly profiled geometry.
- The Elcomb™ structure is a robust and solid support for the screen. Therefore, there are no volume variations causing weight variability.
- The lifetime of the screen will improve.
- It has a 95% “open area”. Therefore, the air has limited resistance which also reduces energy consumption.
- The air flow is straightened by the Elcomb™ which improves the core formation and transfer.
- The Elcomb™ can be accurately machined into 2D/3D forms with a straightforward or highly profiled geometry.
- The Elcomb™ structure is a robust and solid support for the screen. Therefore, there are no volume variations causing weight variability.
- The lifetime of the screen will improve.
- It has a 95% “open area”. Therefore, the air has limited resistance which also reduces energy consumption.
- The air flow is straightened by the Elcomb™ which improves the core formation and transfer.
Low Clearance Support (LCS) Design
In applications where there is simply not enough room between the forming surface and the drum inner surface to install Elcomb™, Innovent has developed a method of obtaining the same Elcomb™ profile on a thin metal sheet. Once the screen is applied, it delivers performance similar to Elcomb™ at a fraction of the thickness.
LCS panels are typically 0.080”-0.125” (2mm-3mm) thick while Elcomb™ support is a minimum 0.500” (12.5mm) thick.
Core Forming Systems
In addition to core forming tools, Innovent can provide core forming solutions from the mill to the transfer drum, we can:
- Offer customized solutions based on target core specifications.
- Perform analysis of existing equipment and process with physical measurements and computational analysis tools.
- Using extensive process knowledge, determine the best approach to system optimization, modifying components when possible and replacing where necessary.
- Upgrade older equipment to produce high front to back ratio 3-dimensional pad cores.
- Convert double drum forming systems to single drum 3-D systems.
- Integrate with current equipment.
- Optimize core for improved performance and reduced material costs.
- Enhance mixing for thin, high SAP to fluff ratio cores.
Refiner
The Refiner is meant to recondition the fluff fibers which have coalesced into flocks on their way from the hammer mill to the drum. Flocks are entangled fluff fibers caused by factors such as; long distance transportation, bends of the ducting, transportation fans, etc.
These flocks can cause serious quality issues, especially in thin cores and 3D cores with low GSM thin zones. If this flock is positioned in a thin-zone of the core and it gets caught by the scarfing brush, often a hole or light spot will appear. These holes/light spots negatively impact absorption and transportation of the liquid causing unacceptable performance in acquisition times and rewet values. The refiner, positioned as close as possible to the drum, detangles the fluff flocks in up to 3 stages. After leaving the refiner the fibers are as good as they were produced by the hammer mill.
The Innovent Refiner resides in the fluff stream between the mill and the drum. When flocks enter the Refiner, they are gently pulled apart as they go through a 3-stage separation process and exit as fluff fibers.
This process results in:
- Better SAP / Fluff mixing
- Reduction of holes in the core
- Smoother product with fewer hard spots
- Improved standard deviation with a more consistent distribution of fluff.
Flocks or flakes are fluff fibers that are entangled during transport to the drum. Flocks can create issues in Core Forming:
- SAP cannot mix well with flocks, leaving areas of unmixed fluff
- Flocks can be easily picked off the core during brushing, leaving behind a void or hole.
- Flocks that remain in the core can become hard spots when debulked.
SAP Targeting
Maximum Results with Minimum Materials
SAP is not always needed through the whole core or the same amount of SAP through the entire length of the core. For example: in an adult diaper, SAP is mainly needed around the point of insult. SAP at the ends of the core nearer the waistband is not fully utilized and therefore wasteful, but with the continuous SAP-supply there’s no other option. Therefore, Innovent designed a SAP-Target unit which gives you the opportunity to target your SAP amount precisely where it’s needed.
Precise placement of SAP can have several advantages:
- Comparable Acquisition and Rewet test results with 20% less SAP
- Lower product cost with same performance
- Reduces SAP in end seal – Improving user comfort
- Short or Long Target Zones; On-Off pulses down to 25% on time
- Variable targeting settings for partial homogeneous mixing within the full core length
- By-Pass mode for non-targeted SKU’s without changing equipment
- Stand-alone PLC system for easy integration and startup
- Advanced communications options available
- Runs multiple recipes direct from main MCU
- Low Maintenance
- High Reliability – Innovent’s original systems have been running for over 400,000 production hours and counting!
- Comparable Acquisition and Rewet test results with 20% less SAP
- Lower product cost with same performance
- Reduces SAP in end seal – Improving user comfort
- Short or Long Target Zones; On-Off pulses down to 25% on time
- Variable targeting settings for partial homogeneous mixing within the full core length
- By-Pass mode for non-targeted SKU’s without changing equipment
- Stand-alone PLC system for easy integration and startup
- Advanced communications options available
- Runs multiple recipes direct from main MCU
- Low Maintenance
- High Reliability – Innovent’s original systems have been running for over 400,000 production hours and counting!
