Vacuum cleaner filter bag made from recycled plastic

Abstract

The invention relates to a vacuum-cleaner filter bag comprising a wall made of an air permeable material and surrounding an inner chamber, and an inlet opening introduced into the wall. The vacuum-cleaner filter bag is characterized in that the air permeable material comprises at least one layer made from a non-woven fabric and/or a layer made from a fiber web which comprises fibers or is made from fibers which are made from a recycled plastic or a plurality of recycled plastics.

Claims

1. A vacuum cleaner filter bag comprising an interior-enclosing wall of an air-permeable material and an inlet opening introduced into the wall, wherein the air-permeable material comprises at least one layer of a nonwoven fabric or one layer of a fiber web comprising or consisting of fibers made of one or several recycled plastics, and wherein the recycled plastics are spun into said fibers by melting the recycled plastics and extruding the molten recycled plastics into said fibers.

2. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 1, wherein the recycled plastic is selected from the group consisting of recycled polyesters; recycled polyolefins; recycled polyvinyl chloride (rPVC), recycled polyamides and mixtures and combinations thereof.

3. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 1, wherein the air-permeable material has a multilayer construction, wherein at least one, several or all of the layers comprise a nonwoven fabric or a fiber web or are made thereof, wherein the nonwoven fabric or the fiber web comprises or consists of fibers made of a recycled plastic or several recycled plastics.

4. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 1, wherein the air-permeable material comprises a capacity layer and a fine filter layer, wherein the capacity layer is a nonwoven fabric of staple fibers produced by an aerodynamic process, the staple fibers are made of one or several recycled plastics, and wherein the fine filter layer is a meltblown nonwoven fabric of virgin polypropylene (PP), or a meltblown nonwoven fabric of bicomponent fibers having a recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) or rPP core and a sheath of virgin PP or virgin polymethylpentene (PMP), or a support layer of recycled plastic fibers having a layer of nanofibers applied thereto.

5. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 1, wherein the air-permeable material comprises at least one support layer and at least one fine filter layer, at least one or all of the support layers or at least one or all of the fine filter layers being nonwoven fabrics made of one or more recycled plastics, or at least one support layer and at least one capacity layer, at least one or all of the support layers being nonwoven fabrics or at least one or all of the capacity layers being nonwoven fabrics or fiber nonwoven fabrics made of one or more recycled plastics, or at least one support layer, at least one fine filter layer and at least one capacity layer, wherein at least one or all of the support layers or at least one or all of the fine filter layers are nonwoven fabrics made of one or more recycled plastics or at least one or all of the capacity layers are nonwoven fabrics or fiber webs made of one or more recycled plastics.

6. The vacuum cleaner filter bags according to claim 5, wherein a) each support layer is a spunbond nonwoven fabric or scrim, b) the air-permeable material comprises 1 to 3 support layers, c) in the case of the presence of at least two support layers, the total grammage of the sum of all support layers is 10 to 240 g/m.sup.2, or (d) all support layers are made of one or more recycled plastics.

7. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 5, wherein a) each fine filter layer is an extrusion nonwoven fabric, b) the air-permeable material comprises 1 to 5 fine filter layers, c) in the case of the presence of at least two fine filter layers, the total grammage of the sum of all fine filter layers is 10 to 300 g/m.sup.2, d) at least one, preferably all fine filter layers are made of one or more recycled plastics, or e) at least one, preferably all fine filter layers are electrostatically charged.

8. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to one of claims 5, wherein a) each capacity layer comprises a staple fiber nonwoven fabric, a fiber web or a nonwoven fabric comprising powdery or fibrous recycled material from textile manufacturing, b) the air-permeable material comprises 1 to 5 capacity layers, or c) in the case of the presence of at least two capacity layers, the total grammage of the total of all capacity layers is 10 to 300 g/m.sup.2.

9. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 1, wherein the air-permeable material is formed in several layers with a layer sequence viewed from an interior of the vacuum cleaner filter bag: one support layer, at least one fine filter layers and another support layer, or one support layer, at least one capacity layers, preferably one further support layer, at least one fine filter layers and one further support layer.

10. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum cleaner filter bag comprises a retaining plate surrounding the inlet opening made of one or more recycled plastics or comprising one or more recycled plastics.

11. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according claim 1, wherein at least one flow distributor or at least one diffuser are arranged in an interior.

12. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 1, wherein a proportion by weight of all recycled materials relative to a total weight of the vacuum cleaner filter bag is at least 25%.

13. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum cleaner filter bag comprises a flat bag, a block bottom bag or a 3D bag.

14. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 2, wherein the recycled polyesters are selected from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET), recycled polybutylene terephthalate (rPBT), recycled polylactic acid (rPLA), recycled polyglycolide or recycled polycaprolactone; and wherein the recycled polyolefins are selected from recycled polypropylene (rPP), recycled polyethylene or recycled polystyrene (rPS).

15. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 6, wherein when each support layer is the spunbond nonwoven fabric or scrim, the spunbond nonwoven fabric or scrim comprises a grammage of 5 to 80 g/m2 or a titer of fibers forming the spunbond nonwoven fabric or scrim is in the range of 0.5 dtex to 1 5 dtex.

16. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 6, wherein when all the support layers are made of one or more recycled plastics, the recycled plastic comprises rPET.

17. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 7, wherein when at least one fine filter layer is made of one or more recycled plastics, the recycled plastic comprises rPET.

18. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 8, wherein when each capacity layer comprises a staple fiber nonwoven fabric, a fiber web or a nonwoven fabric comprising powdery or fibrous recycled material from textile manufacturing, the powdery or fibrous recycled material comprises cotton textiles or seed fibers.

19. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 11, wherein the at least one flow distributor or the at least one diffuser is made of one or more recycled plastics.

20. The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to claim 12, wherein the proportion by weight of all recycled materials relative to the total weight of the vacuum cleaner filter bag is at least 95%.

21. A method of producing a vacuum cleaner filter bag, the vacuum cleaner filter bag comprising an interior-enclosing wall of an air-permeable material and an inlet opening introduced into the wall, the air-permeable material comprising at least one layer of a nonwoven fabric and/or one layer of a fiber web, the method comprising: spinning one or more recycled plastics into fibers by melting the one or more recycled plastics and extruding molten recycled plastics into the fibers; and forming the at least one layer of a nonwoven fabric and/or one layer of a fiber web using the fibers.

Description

EXAMPLE 1

(1) TABLE-US-00001 Grammage Weight per bag Recyclate [g/m.sup.2] [g] content [%] Outer support layers 25 4.2 100 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Inner support layer 17 2.9 100 Retaining plate 5.0 0 Total filter bag 17.1 41.3

(2) The air-permeable material of the vacuum cleaner filter bag, according to Example 1, has a four-layer structure, whereby the outermost layer (on the clean air side) has a support layer with a gram mage of 25 g/m.sup.2. The innermost layer is also a support layer with a grammage of 17 g/m.sup.2. Two layers of a fine filter layer (meltblown nonwoven fabric of virgin polypropylene, each electrostatically charged by corona discharge) with a respective grammage of 15 g/m.sup.2 are arranged between the two support layers. The support layers are each made of 100% recycled PET. The third column indicates the absolute weight of each layer in the vacuum cleaner filter bag. The vacuum cleaner filter bag has a retaining plate that weighs 5.0 g and is sealed to the vacuum cleaner filter bag.

(3) With such a structure, a 41.3% content of recycled material in the total vacuum cleaner filter bag can be achieved.

EXAMPLE 2

(4) TABLE-US-00002 Grammage Weight per bag Recyclate [g/m.sup.2] [g] content [%] Outer support layers 25 4.2 100 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Inner support layer 17 2.9 100 Retaining plate 5.0 100 Total filter bag 17.1 70.5

(5) The vacuum cleaner filter bag in Example 2 has the same design as the vacuum cleaner filter bag in Example 1, but with the difference that the retaining plate is made of 100% recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET). This measure can increase the recyclate content in the total vacuum cleaner filter bag to 70.5%.

EXAMPLE 3

(6) TABLE-US-00003 Grammage Weight per bag Recyclate [g/m.sup.2] [g] content [%] Outer support layers 25 4.2 100 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Meltblown 15 2.5 100 Inner support layer 17 2.9 100 Retaining plate 5.0 100 Total filter bag 17.1 85.3

(7) The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to Example 3 is constructed identically, as in Example 2. A fine filter layer (inner meltblown layer) is formed in contrast to the embodiment of Example 2 or Example 1, this time also made of 100% recycled PET. The rPET used can be metallized or unmetallized. In the event that unmetallized rPET is used, it is also possible to electrostatically charge this meltblown nonwoven fabric, for example by means of corona discharge.

EXAMPLE 4

(8) TABLE-US-00004 Grammage Weight per bag Proportion of [g/m.sup.2] [g] Recyclate [%] Outer support layers 25 4.2 100 Meltblown 15 2.5 85 Meltblown 15 2.5 85 Inner support layers 17 2.9 100 Retaining plate 5.0 100 Total filter bag 17.1 95.6

(9) The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to Example 4 is identical to the vacuum cleaner filter bag according to Example 2, except that the two fine filter layers (meltblown nonwoven fabric) are made of BiCo-filaments. The core of these meltblown filaments is made of recycled PET, the shell of new (virgin) polypropylene. The core accounts for 85 wt. %.

(10) Such measures achieve a recycled content of 95.6 wt. % relative to the total vacuum cleaner filter bag.

EXAMPLE 5

(11) TABLE-US-00005 Grammage Weight per bag Proportion of [g/m.sup.2] [g] recyclate [%] Outer support layers 25 4.2 100 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Middle support layer 17 2.9 100 Capacity layer A 35 5.9 50 Capacity layer B 35 5.9 50 Inner support layers 15 2.5 100 Retaining plate 5.0 0 Total filter bag 31.4 49.3

(12) The wall material of the vacuum cleaner filter bag according to Example 5 has a 7-layer structure. Two fine filter layers (each meltblown nonwoven fabric, as in Example 1) are connected to an outer support layer on the clean air side. A support layer arranged in the middle separates these fine filter layers from two capacity layers A and B, whereby each represents a carded nonwoven fabric of bicomponent staple fibers. For example, 50% of these staple fibers consist of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET), which forms the core of these fibers. The core is surrounded by a sheath of “virgin” PP. Finally, a support layer is arranged on the dirty air side.

(13) In the assembly according to Example 5, all support layers of the air-permeable material are made of recycled PET (rPET). 50% of the capacity layers are made of recycled PET. With such a structure, a content of 49.3 wt. % of recyclate relative to the total vacuum cleaner filter bag is achieved.

EXAMPLE 6

(14) TABLE-US-00006 Grammage Weight per bag Recyclate [g/m.sup.2] [g] Content [%] Outer support layers 25 4.2 100 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Middle support layer 17 2.9 100 Capacity layer A 35 5.9 100 Capacity layer B 35 5.9 100 Inner support layer 15 2.5 100 Retaining plate 5.0 0 Total filter bag 31.4 68.0

(15) The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to Example 6 has the same embodiment as Example 5. Unlike the embodiment according to Example 5, the capacity layers A and B are this time also 100% made of a carded staple fiber nonwoven fabric of rPET staple fibers.

(16) With such an embodiment, a content of 68.0 wt. % of recyclate relative to the entire vacuum cleaner filter bag is achieved.

EXAMPLE 7

(17) TABLE-US-00007 Grammage Weight per bag Recyclate [g/m.sup.2] [g] content [%] Outer support layers 25 4.2 100 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Middle support layer 17 2.9 100 Capacity layer A 35 5.9 100 Capacity layer B 35 5.9 100 Inner support layer 15 2.5 100 Retaining plate 5.0 100 Total filter bag 31.4 83.9

(18) In the vacuum cleaner filter bag according to Example 7, the retaining plate is this time also made of 100% recycled PET. Incidentally, the embodiment of the vacuum cleaner filter bag is identical to that of Example 6.

(19) With such a structure, a total content of 83.9 wt. % of recyclate relative to the total vacuum cleaner filter bag is achieved.

EXAMPLE 8

(20) TABLE-US-00008 Voluminous Nonwoven Fabric 70 Grammage Weight per bag Recyclate 300 mm × 280 mm [g/m.sup.2] [g] content [%] Outer support layers 25 4.2 100 Meltblown 15 2.5 80 Meltblown 15 2.5 80 Middle support layer 17 2.9 100 Capacity layer A 35 5.9 100 Capacity layer B 35 5.9 100 Inner support layer 15 2.5 100 Retaining plate 5.0 100 Total filter bag 31.4 96.8

(21) The embodiment of the vacuum cleaner filter bag according to Example 8 is identical to that of Example 7, except for the fact that the two fine filter layers (meltblown nonwoven fabric layers) are also made to a high proportion of recycled PET. The meltblown is made of a bicomponent meltblown with a core of rPET coated with new polypropylene.

(22) The proportion of rPET is 80 wt. % relative to the total mass of the meltblown nonwoven fabric, which forms the respective fine filter layer.

(23) With such an embodiment, a total content of 96.8 wt. % of recycled materials relative to the total filter bag can be achieved.

EXAMPLE 9

(24) TABLE-US-00009 Grammage Weight per bag Recyclate [g/m.sup.2] [g] content [%] Outer support layers 25 4.2 100 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Middle support layer 17 2.9 100 Capacity layer C 35 5.9 80 Capacity layer D 35 5.9 80 Inner support layer 15 2.5 100 Retaining plate 5.0 0 Total filter bag 31.4 60.5

(25) The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to Example 9 is also made of a 7-layer air-permeable material. The construction of the vacuum cleaner filter bag is similar to that of the vacuum cleaner filter bag shown in Example 5. The support layers and the fine filter layers (meltblown nonwoven fabric layers) are identical to those in Example 5. The capacity layers C and D are made of a nonwoven material, 80 wt. % of which is made of cotton dust or seed fibers and 20% from BiCo bonding fibers. This nonwoven material is described in detail in WO 2011/057641 A1. The proportion of cotton dust or seed fibers in the capacity layers is added to the total proportion of recycled material.

(26) With such a design, a proportion of recycled material, i.e. the sum of recycled plastics, as well as cotton dust or seed fibers of 60.5 wt. % relative to the total vacuum cleaner filter bag is achieved.

EXAMPLE 10

(27) TABLE-US-00010 Grammage Weight per bag Recyclate [g/m.sup.2] [g] content [%] Outer support layers 25 4.2 100 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Middle support layer 17 2.9 100 Capacity layer A 35 5.9 100 Capacity layer D 35 5.9 80 Inner support layer 15 2.5 100 Retaining plate 5.0 0 Total filter bag 31.4 64.3

(28) The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to Example 10 is constructed analogously to the vacuum cleaner filter bag according to Example 9. The outer capacity layer corresponds to a capacity layer according to Examples 6 to 8, i.e. a carded staple fiber nonwoven fabric consisting of 100% recycled PET fibers. The recyclate content of a finished vacuum cleaner filter bag is 64.3 wt. %.

EXAMPLE 11

(29) TABLE-US-00011 Grammage Weight per bag Recyclate [g/m.sup.2] [g] content [%] Outer support layers 25 4.2 100 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Meltblown 15 2.5 0 Middle support layer 17 2.9 100 Capacity layer C 35 5.9 80 Capacity layer D 35 5.9 80 Inner support layer 15 2.5 100 Retaining plate 5.0 100 Total filter bag 31.4 76.4

(30) The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to Example 11 corresponds to a vacuum cleaner filter bag according to Example 9, with the difference that the retaining plate is made of 100% rPET. The total content of recycled materials in this vacuum cleaner filter bag is 76.4 wt. %.

EXAMPLE 12

(31) TABLE-US-00012 Grammage Weight per bag Recyclate [g/m.sup.2] [g] content [%] Outer support layers 25 4.2 100 Meltblown 15 2.5 80 Meltblown 15 2.5 80 Middle support layer 17 2.9 100 Capacity layer C 35 5.9 80 Capacity layer D 35 5.9 80 Internal support layers 15 2.5 100 Retaining plate 5.0 100 Total filter bag 31.4 89.3

(32) The vacuum cleaner filter bag according to Example 12 corresponds to the vacuum cleaner filter bag according to Example 11, with the difference that the two fine filter layers are designed according to the fine filter layers according to Example 8 and are thus made of a bicomponent meltblown nonwoven fabric with a core of rPET and a sheath of polypropylene. The total content of recyclate of such a vacuum cleaner filter bag is 89.3 wt. %.