Claims:We Claim:

1. A system 100 of manufacturing cured membrane/pond liner, the system 100 comprising:
a cold feed extruder 101;
calendar equipment 102;
an online vulcanizing mechanism 103;
an edge cutting device 104
grinding-gluing equipment 105;
welding equipment 106;
feeding polymer compound premixture to cold feed extruder;
extruding the polymer compound premixture by passing through the die of the extruder;
calendaring the extruded polymer compound premixture in order to form polymer sheet of predefined thickness;
curing the polymer sheet by online vulcanizing mechanism comprising of one or more infrared chambers and one or more hot air chambers followed by passing the cured polymer sheet through cooling means to bring down the temperature of the cured polymer sheet to room temperature;
cutting one or more edges of the polymer sheet in order to form predefined width of the polymer sheet;
buffing the one or more edges of the polymer sheet;
welding the two or more polymer sheets at the buffed edges by using thermoplastic material, thereby manufacturing the cured membrane/pond liner.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the polymer compound is cold un-vulcanized rubber compound.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the rubber compound is at least one of Ethylene Propylene Diene (EPDM), Butyl, Chloro-Sulphonated Polyethylene (CSPE) and a combination thereof.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the cold feed extruder is a pin barrel type extruder.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the calendar equipment is two roller head calendar.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the polymer sheet formed by the calendaring is a single-ply sheet, having thickness in a predefined range of 0.6 mm to 6 mm.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein each chamber of the online vulcanizing mechanism is set at different predefined temperature.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the cooling means is one or more cooling drums.

9. A method 200 of manufacturing cured membrane/pond liner, the method comprising:
feeding, polymer compound premixture to cold feed extruder;
extruding, by the cold feed extruder, the polymer compound premixture by passing through the die of the extruder;
calendaring, by calendar equipment, the extruded polymer compound premixture in order to form polymer sheet of predefined thickness;
curing, via online vulcanizing mechanism, the polymer sheet wherein the online vulcanizing mechanism comprises of one or more infrared chambers and one or more hot air chambers followed by passing the cured polymer sheet through cooling means to bring down the temperature of the cured polymer sheet to room temperature;
cutting, by an edge cutting device, one or more edges of the polymer sheet in order to form predefined width of the polymer sheet;
buffing, by a grinding-gluing equipment, the one or more edges of the polymer sheet;
welding, by welding equipment, the two or more polymer sheets at the buffed edges by using thermoplastic material, thereby manufacturing the cured membrane/pond liner.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprises spraying of a water soluble anti-tack solution on the polymer sheet, after passing the polymer sheet through the cooling means.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the cured membrane/pond liner has width up to 16 meters.

Dated this 19th Day of January, 2017.

, Description:FORM 2

THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENT RULES, 2003
(As Amended by Patents Amendment Rules-2006)

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(See Section 10 and Rule 13)

Title of invention:
SYSTEM AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING CURED
MEMBRANE / POND LINER

APPLICANT:
POLYGOMMA INDUSTRIES PRIVATE LIMITED
An Indian Entity having address:
A-229, Antop Hill Warehousing Complex,
Vidyalankar College Road, Wadala (East),
Mumbai – 400037, Maharashtra, India

The following specification describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS AND PRIORITY
The present application does not claim priority from any other patent application.

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention in general relates to a field of polymers. More particularly, the invention relates to a manufacturing process by which various polymeric membranes and pond liners are manufactured.

BACKGROUND
The construction industry has reached new heights in designing and building various marvelous structures all over the world. These manmade structures are also surrounded with beautiful and numerous facilities such as basements, podium, terraces, roofs, artificial ponds, etc. Even today, construction industry is still on the lookout for a reliable product for waterproofing. There are water leakages in various areas of buildings such as basements, podium, terraces, roofs, artificial ponds, etc. The said water leakages can single handed decide the fate of a structure. The industry uses multiple products in various areas for preventing water leakages.

Membranes or pond liners (in form of sheets) are manufactured using various types of rubbers. Generally manufacturing of rubber products causes air pollution because of autoclaves used for vulcanizing the rubber products. During the manufacturing process, membranes are wound around a mandrill and are subjected to steam. The steam is applied from the core of the mandrill and from the autoclave. This tendency may lead to inconsistent curing as the sheet/membrane closest to the steam source is cured first and is over cured by the time the heat reaches the innermost part. The manufactured membrane may also be suitable for some applications. There is a need of manufacturing process that ensures that the sheet/membrane manufactured is evenly heated, thus achieving uniform performance in the service condition/application.

SUMMARY
Before the present apparatuses, methods and systems along with components related thereto are described, it is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to the particular methods, apparatuses, systems and their arrangement as described, as there can be multiple possible embodiments which are not expressly illustrated in the present disclosure but may still be practicable within the scope of the invention. It is also to be understood that the terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing the particular versions or embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present application. This summary is not intended to identify essential features of the subject matter nor it is intended for use in detecting or limiting the scope of the subject matter.

In one embodiment, a system of manufacturing cured membrane/pond liner is described. The system may comprise a cold feed extruder, calendar equipment, an online vulcanizing mechanism, an edge cutting device, grinding-gluing equipment and welding equipment. The system may comprise feeding polymer compound premixture to cold feed extruder. The system may comprise extruding the polymer compound premixture by passing through the die of the extruder. The system may comprise calendaring the extruded polymer compound premixture in order to form polymer sheet of predefined thickness. The system may comprise curing the polymer sheet by online vulcanizing mechanism comprising of one or more infrared chambers and one or more hot air chambers followed by passing the cured polymer sheet through cooling means to bring down the temperature of the cured polymer sheet to room temperature. The system may comprise cutting one or more edges of the polymer sheet in order to form predefined width of the polymer sheet. The system may comprise buffing the one or more edges of the polymer sheet. The system may comprise welding the two or more polymer sheets at the buffed edges by using thermoplastic material, thereby manufacturing the cured membrane/pond liner..

In one embodiment, a method of manufacturing cured membrane/pond liner is described. The method may comprise feeding polymer compound premixture to cold feed extruder. The method may comprise extruding the polymer compound premixture by passing through the die of the extruder. The method may comprise calendaring the extruded polymer compound in order to form polymer sheet of predefined thickness. The method may comprise curing the polymer sheet by online vulcanizing mechanism comprising of one or more infrared chambers and one or more hot air chambers followed by passing the cured polymer sheet through cooling means to bring down the temperature of the cured polymer sheet to room temperature. The method may further comprise buffing one or more edges of the polymer sheets. The method may comprise welding the two or more polymer sheets at the buffed edges, thereby manufacturing the cured membrane/pond liner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying Figures. In the Figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the Figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer like features and components.

Figure 1 illustrates a method of manufacturing cured membrane or pond liner, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Some embodiments of this disclosure, illustrating all its features, will now be discussed in detail. The words "comprising," "having," "containing," and "including," and other forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items.

It must also be noted that, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Although any methods similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments of the present disclosure, the exemplary methods are now described. The disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the disclosure, which may be embodied in various forms.

Various modifications to the embodiment will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and the generic principles herein may be applied to other embodiments. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments illustrated, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein.

The present disclosure describes a method of manufacturing cured membrane/pond liner. The method comprises a combination of cold feed roller head technology and an online curing/vulcanizing mechanism. The sheets may be vulcanized/cured using an online curing mechanism. The online curing mechanism is a combination of one or more infrared chambers and one or more hot air chambers. The method eliminates use of autoclaves, hence no pollution of any type (air, water, or solid) is emitted during the manufacturing. The method is eco-friendly process and does not emit any pollution.

Referring figure 1, a system 100 for manufacturing cured membrane/pond liner is described. The system may comprise a cold feed extruder 101, calendar equipment 102, an online vulcanizing mechanism 103, an edge cutting device 104, grinding-gluing equipment 105 and welding equipment 106. The online vulcanizing mechanism may comprise of one or more infrared chambers and one or more hot air chambers. The system 100 may comprise feeding polymer compound premixture to the cold feed extruder 101. The cold feed extruder 101 may be pin barrel type. The polymer compound may be a cold un-vulcanized rubber compound. The rubber compound may be at least one of Ethylene Propylene Diene (EPDM), Butyl, Chloro-Sulphonated Polyethylene (CSPE) and a combination thereof. The cold feed extruder 101 may enhance the mixing and dispersion of the rubber compound. The rubber compound may be fed into the cold feed extruder 101 at a prescribed speed. The rubber compound may be squeezed between barrel and screw of the cold feed extruder 101. The rubber compound may pass through various zones of the cold feed extruder 101 having pins and special screw designs. The pins and special screw may enable producing a highly compact and dense material. The rubber compound may be further passed through the specially designed die-head of the cold feed extruder 101.

The system may comprise calendaring equipment 102 to calendar extruded polymer compound in order to form polymer sheet of predefined thickness. The calendaring equipment 102 may be a two-roller head calendar. The extruded polymer compound may form a single-ply sheet by calendaring. The thickness of the formed polymer sheet may be in the predefined range of 0.6 mm to 6 mm. The distance between the two roller heads may be adjusted in order to obtain the desired thickness of the polymer sheet.

The system may comprise the online vulcanizing mechanism 103 for curing the polymer sheet. The online vulcanizing mechanism 103 may comprise of one or more infrared chambers 103a and one or more hot air chambers 103b. The one or more infrared chambers may provide dimensional stability of the polymer sheet with heat penetration throughout the polymer sheet that helps in achieving required level of vulcanization using subsequent hot air chambers. Each chamber may be set at different temperature to achieve the required level of vulcanization. The polymer sheet may be subjected to uniform heat source in order to ensure whole area of the polymer sheet is evenly cured.

The cured polymer sheet may further pass through cooling means. The cooling means may be used to bring down the temperature of the cured polymer sheet to room temperature. The cooling means may be one or more cooling drums. Further, a water soluble anti-tack solution may be sprayed on the cured polymer sheet. The spraying may facilitate easy unwinding of roll of the polymer sheet.

The sprayed polymer sheet may further be passed through a self-centering device. The self-centering device may ensure the polymer sheet in-line with equipment. The in-line polymer sheet may be passed through edge cutting device 104. The edges of the polymer sheet may be cut in order to obtain desired width of the polymer sheet.

The polymer sheet may be passed through grinding-gluing equipment. The system 100 may comprise the grinding-gluing equipment 105. The grinding-gluing equipment 105 may grind or buff opposite edges of the polymer sheet. The grinding-gluing equipment 105 may also apply glue at the edges of the polymer sheet. The Top side of one edge may be grinded/buffed, and bottom side of the other edge of the polymer sheet. The one or more grinded polymer sheets may be overlapped such that the bottom grinded/buffed edge of the polymer sheet is above the subsequent polymer sheet having the top grinded/buffed edge. The overlapped sheets may be wound using winding means.

The wounded polymer sheets may undergo unwinding in order to carry out welding of the polymer sheets. The system 100 may comprise the welding equipment 106 that may weld the two or more polymer sheets at the grinded/buffed edges along length of polymer sheet. The two or more polymer sheets may be welded by used of thermoplastic material. The welded polymer sheets may further be turned as width of the winding roll of polymer sheet. The polymer sheets may be cut at 16 meters, as desired, to form the width of the polymer sheet for membrane/pond liner. The winding roll of polymer sheet may be moved perpendicular to the welding equipment 106 such that the grinded/buffed edge may be placed on hydraulic press. A sealing/joining/wielding tape or solution may be applied on the buffed/grinded edges. Another polymer sheet of the same length may be unwounded and buffed/grinded edge of another polymer sheet may be overlapped as required on the first polymer sheet, which is placed on the heated plate of the hydraulic press. The overlapping/joint portion may then be pressed for a specific time, pressure and temperature thereby forming the cured membrane/pond liner. The cured membrane/pond liner may have width up to 16 meters

Referring figure 2, the method 200 of manufacturing cured membrane and pond liner is illustrated in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. At step 201, feeding of polymer compound premixture is done to the cold feed extruder 101. The polymer compound may be a cold vulcanized rubber compound. The rubber compound may be fed into the cold feed extruder 101 at a prescribed speed.

At step 202, the method may comprise extruding the rubber compound. The rubber compound may pass through various zones of the cold feed extruder 101 having pins and special screw designs. The rubber compound may be further passed through the specially designed die-head of the cold feed extruder 101.

At step 203, the method may comprise calendaring of the extruded polymer compound. The extruded polymer compound is calendared in order to form polymer sheet of predefined thickness. The extruded polymer compound may form a single-ply sheet. The thickness of the formed polymer sheet may be in the predefined range of 0.6 mm to 6 mm.

At step 204, the method may comprise curing the polymer sheet by an online vulcanizing mechanism 103. The online vulcanizing mechanism 103 may comprise of one or more infrared chambers 103a and one or more hot air chambers 103b. The polymer sheet may be subjected to uniform heat source in order to ensure whole area of the polymer sheet is evenly cured. The cured polymer sheet may further pass through cooling means. The cooling means may be used to bring down the temperature of the cured polymer sheet to room temperature. The cooling means may be one or more cooling drums. Further, a water soluble anti-tack solution may be sprayed on the polymer sheet. The spraying may facilitate easy unwinding of roll of the polymer sheet. The sprayed polymer sheet may be passed through a self-centering device. The self-centering device may ensure the polymer sheet in-line with equipment. The in-line polymer sheet may be passed through edge cutting device.

At step 205, the method may comprise cutting the one or more edges of the polymer sheet. The one or more edges of the polymer sheet may be cut by edge cutting device 104. The edges of the polymer sheet may be cut in order to obtain desired width of the polymer sheet.

At step 206, the method may comprise grinding/buffing of the edges of the polymer sheet. The grinding/buffing of the edges of the polymer sheet may be carried out by grinding-gluing equipment 105. The grinding-gluing equipment 105 may also apply glue at the edges of the polymer sheet. Top side of one edge may be grinded/buffed, and bottom side of the other edge of the polymer sheet. The one or more grinded polymer sheets may be overlapped such that the bottom grinded/buffed edge of the polymer sheet is above the subsequent polymer sheet having the top grinded/buffed edge. The overlapped sheets may be wound using winding means.

At step 207, the method may comprise welding of the two or more polymer sheets. The wounded polymer sheets may undergo unwinding in order to carry out welding of the polymer sheets. The welding of the polymer sheets may be carried by welding equipment 106 that welds the two or more polymer sheets at the grinded/buffed edges along length of the polymer sheet. The two or more polymer sheets may be welded by used of thermoplastic material.

The length of the welded polymer sheets may further be turned as width of the winding roll of polymer sheet. The polymer sheets may be cut at 16 meters, as desired, to form the width of the polymer sheet for membrane/pond liner. The winding roll of polymer sheet may be moved perpendicular to the welding equipment 106 such that the grinded/buffed edge may be placed on hydraulic press. A sealing/joining/wielding tape or solution may be applied on the buffed/grinded edges. Another polymer sheet of the same length may be unwounded and buffed/grinded edge of another polymer sheet may be overlapped as required on the first polymer sheet, which is placed on the heated plate of the hydraulic press. The overlapping/joint portion may then be pressed for a specific time, pressure and temperature thereby forming the cured membrane/pond liner. The cured membrane/pond liner may have width up to 16 meters.

The system and method of manufacturing cured membrane/ pond liner has the following advantages such as:
• Online Manufacturing Process.
• Only two roller heads in calendaring compared to three or four in conventional calendaring process.
• Thicker single-ply polymer sheets up to 6 mm can be obtained.
• Evenly cured/vulcanized polymer sheets i.e. good longevity.
• Eco friendly process, eliminating use of autoclaves
• Polymer sheets of higher width up to 16 meters and infinite length can be obtained.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the method of manufacturing cured membrane and pond liner described above may be utilized in multiple applications including but not limited to:
• Construction Industry
• Water Storage/Pond Lining
• Waterproofing, preventing seepage and wastage of water, in various areas like roofs, terraces, podiums, etc.

The embodiments, examples and alternatives of the preceding paragraphs or the description and drawings, including any of their various aspects or respective individual features, may be taken independently or in any combination. Features described in connection with one embodiment are applicable to all embodiments, unless such features are incompatible.