FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention relates to fibrous-web machines, such as paper machines. More particularly, the invention relates to the manufacturing lines of a paper web.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

As known, paper is manufactured in machines which together constitute a paper- manufacturing line which can be hundreds of metres long. Modern paper machines can produce more than 450,000 tons of paper a year. The speed of the paper machine can exceed 2,000 m/min and the width of the paper web can be more than 11 metres.

In paper-manufacturing lines, paper-making takes place as a continuous process. A paper web completing in the paper machine is wound with a winder around a winding shaft i.e. a reel spool into a machine reel the diameter of which can be over 5 m and the weight of which over 160 tons. The purpose of winding is to modify the paper web made as planar into a more easily processable form. On the winder, the continuous process of the paper machine breaks for the first time and shifts into periodic operation. This periodicity tries to employ as good efficiency as possible in order not to waste already performed work.

The machine-reel web produced in paper-making is full-width and even more than 100 km long so it must be slit into partial webs with suitable width and length for the customers of the paper mill and wound around cores into so-called customer reels before delivering from the paper mill. These slitting and winding take place as known in an appropriate separate machine i.e. a slitter-winder.

On the slitter-winder, the machine reel is unwound, the wide web is slit on the slitting section into several narrower partial webs which are wound up on the winding section around winding spools, such as cores, into customer reels. When customer reels are completed, the slitter-winder is stopped and the reels i.e. the so-called set is removed from the machine. After this, the process is continued as the winding of a new set. These steps are repeated periodically until paper runs out of the machine reel, whereby the machine reel is replaced and the operation starts again as the winding of a new machine reel.

In known high-speed paper-manufacturing lines, the paper machine can produce more paper than a single slitter-winder is able to process, whereby the paper- manufacturing line requires several slitter-winders. The slitter-winders are normally located in the direction of the machine line and side by side at a certain distance from each other.

In prior-art space arrangements i.e. layout arrangements of paper-manufacturing lines, typically the first slitter-winder is arranged as a so-called inline slitter-winder, which means that it is located in line with the paper machine i.e. in the main machine line. The second slitter-winder is a so-called offline slitter-winder i.e. it is located aside from the centre line of the paper machine, usually beside the first slitter-winder, in its own so-called aisle of the building i.e. in an extension of the machine room built for this slitter-winder. Both slitter-winders produce customer reels which are transported by conveyors first e.g. to the reel packaging machine to be packed and finally to the storage before delivering to the customers.

Published application EP1413538 introduces a slitter-winder layout of the above type where in the paper-manufacturing line are located two slitter-winders side by side, one of which is in the machine line and the other is located on its side aside from the main machine line.

The costs of prior-art space arrangements of paper-manufacturing lines become expensive when an aisle mentioned above is required in the machine room for more than one slitter-winder. Furthermore, costs are incurred of the fact that each slitter-winder requires its own hoist for transferring empty winding shafts and its own heavy transfer capacity for transferring machine reels to the unwinding section of the slitter-winder. In the slitter-winders of known paper-machine lines, a machine reel is normally brought to such a slitter-winder, which is not connected with transfer rails to the paper machine, with a hoist and lowered on transfer rails which are typically located such that the height of the centre of the machine reel from the floor surface is about 2.5 metres. In embodiments, in which the winder and the slitter-winder of the paper machine are coupled together with transfer rails inline, the machine reel is transferred along the transfer rails from the winder to the slitter-winder.

In the simplest implementation, particularly in the case of small machine reels, the machine reel can also be brought directly with the hoist to an unwind stand.

As known, the transfer rails of full machine reels consist of horizontal or inclined rails with their stand-by stations. On the transfer rails, the machine reel is transferred from one stand-by station to another until the unwinding station. The machine reel is transferred from the stand-by station to another on the horizontal transfer rails by means of a transfer device and on the inclined transfer rails by means of gravity by rolling it with stopping and releasing mechanisms.

As known, the unwinding station typically consists of an unwind stand which supports the machine reel during unwinding. The unwind stand comprises a first unwind stand on the driving side and a second unwind stand on the tending side. The ends of the machine reel are on these unwind stands during unwinding. Locking arms are pivoted in the unwind stand by means of which the machine reel is locked in place during unwinding. The machine reel at the unwinding station is coupled to a brake generator which operates as the actuator of the unwinder.

Usually after the unwinding, the emptied reel spool i.e. winding shaft is removed from the unwinding station either manually by lifting with the hoist or automatically by means of a reel-spool handling apparatus. The reel-spool handling apparatus consists either of vertical lifting devices or rotating lifting arms and above return rails of empty reel spools. An empty or nearly empty reel spool is lifted with the lifting device or with the lifting arms onto the return rails on which there are usually several return station positions. Typically, the return station (spool storage) is located above the unwinding or the slitting and winding-up section. On the return rails, the reel spool is transferred from one station to another either by means of the transfer device or by means of gravity by rolling it with the stopping and releasing mechanisms. From the return rails, the empty reel spool is removed and transferred to the winder of the paper machine by the hoist. In the inline slitter- winder, the return rails can also be coupled directly to the storage rails of the reel spools of the winder, whereby the reel spool can be directly transferred from the slitter-winder to the winder.

In modern paper, board and finishing machines, hoist transfers are required for transferring heavy machine reels from the windup forward and at least for returning empty winding shafts i.e. reel spools from the unwinder of the slitter- winder to the reel-spool storage. The load of the hoist can damage other devices and it is necessary to give way to the hoist for the operation to be safe. The heavy hoist and its bridge moving high require a tall building, which involves large and expensive building investments.

SUMMARY

According to the invention is implemented a manufacturing line of a fibrous web, which comprises a windup of the fibrous web and at least one slitter-winder or finishing machine and means for transferring machine reels and/or winding shafts to said windup and said at least one slitter-winder or finishing machine. In the manufacturing line, the direction of the manufacturing process of the fibrous web is substantially reversed at 180° after the windup in relation to the process direction of the windup before the slitter-winder or finishing machine.

According to an extremely advantageous embodiment of the invention, the manufacturing line comprises at least one slitter-winder in the same building aisle substantially reversed at 180° in relation to the process direction of the windup, whereby the process direction is arranged reversed within the same building aisle at least if the manufacturing line comprises only one slitter-winder. According to an embodiment of the invention, the manufacturing line comprises one first slitter-winder or finishing machine which is arranged into connection with the windup such that its process direction is substantially reversed at 180° after the windup.

Advantageously, the manufacturing line comprises at least one second slitter- winder or finishing machine which is arranged into connection with the windup such that it has the same process direction as the first slitter-winder or finishing machine.

Advantageously, the manufacturing line further comprises at least one second slitter-winder or finishing machine which is arranged into connection with the windup such that its process direction is substantially in the direction of the process of the windup.

Advantageously, the first slitter-winder or finishing machine is beside the windup.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the manufacturing line comprises two slitter-winders which are arranged into connection with the windup such that their process direction is substantially reversed at 180° after the windup.

Advantageously in the manufacturing line, at least one machine-reel storage is arranged between the winding-up and the unwinding preceding the slitting.

Advantageously in the manufacturing line, the storage and transfers of reel spools and machine reels are implemented substantially on one level.

Advantageously in the manufacturing line, the transfers of machine reels and winding shafts are mainly implemented with transfer devices supported on the floor, such as with at least one transfer carriage and/or at least one transfer conveyor, advantageously with substantially linear transfers. According to an embodiment of the invention, at least one slitter-winder or finishing machine in the manufacturing line is arranged into connection with the windup being in the actual machine line via the transfer devices of machine reels and winding shafts such that the process direction of said at least one slitter-winder or finishing machine is substantially reversed at 180° in relation to the actual machine line.

Advantageously in the manufacturing line, at least one slitter-winder or finishing machine is arranged on the side of the actual machine line determined by the windup via the transfer devices of machine reels and winding shafts such that the process direction of said at least one slitter-winder or finishing machine is substantially opposite to the machine direction of the actual machine line.

Advantageously for the manufacturing line, only one hoist is arranged the location of which is advantageously at the dry end of the manufacturing line determined by the windup and the slitter-winder or finishing machine. The hoist can be utilised at the dry end for transferring winding shafts directly back to the windup in special situations in which e.g. the windup produces a lot of breaks of the fibrous web and so-called bottom-ends which cannot be processed on the slitter-winder.

Advantageously in the manufacturing line, a pulper of the windup is arranged as the shared pulper of the winding-up area, the slitter-winder area and the bottom- ends of winding shafts i.e. residual web.

According to the invention is also implemented a method for manufacturing a fibrous web in a manufacturing line, which comprises a windup and at least one slitter-winder or finishing machine, in which method, the direction of the manufacturing process of the fibrous web is substantially reversed at 180° after the winding-up in relation to the process direction of the windup before the slitting or finishing.

The specifications "substantially at the angle of 180°", "direction is substantially reversed at 180°" and equivalents mean in this description and claims that the direction does not have to be reversed exactly at the angle of 180°, but also values close to this value are suitable.

The arrangement according to the invention provides a totally new space arrangement of a manufacturing line of a paper machine, in which the transports and transfers of winding shafts and machine reels in connection with the winding- up and the slitting can be constituted utilising a totally new way of thinking, whereby the transfer lengths of winding shafts and machine reels are short and the transfers can be implemented in a streamlined way.

By means of the invention, it is possible to gain financial benefit in the form of decreased building costs, because it is possible to locate the manufacturing line of a fibrous web in a smaller building (without the aisle). Then, the volume of the building can be reduced. Advantageously, the manufacturing line of a fibrous web can be located in a short and/or narrow building. Advantageously, the manufacturing line of a fibrous web can be located in a low and/or light-structured building for the part of the winder and/or the slitter-winders. Advantageously, there is no requirement for an extra aisle for the second slitter-winder in addition to the machine room of the fibrous-web machine.

Furthermore, it is possible to save in the costs of the manufacturing line such that, in addition to the hoist of the wet end, no hoist of its own is necessarily required for transferring empty winding shafts. Then, it is advantageous to increase the operating capacity of the wet-end hoist of the manufacturing line of the fibrous web to perform lifting also in the range of the slitter-winder at the dry end, because this hoist would be in many cases otherwise employed only shortly, as the time of the hoist is spent mostly waiting for required maintenance works, such as roll changes. Alternatively, it is possible to limit the operating range of the wet-end hoist away from the range of the slitter-winder, whereby the dry end including the range of the slitter-winder can be constituted of a more cost-effective, light- structured room and provided with cheaper and lighter lifting devices. When transferring reel spools and machine reels, the straight transfer motions enabled by the invention are a clear advantage. As the transfer carriages, it is possible to use reliable and cost-effective transfer carriages provided with fixed electric conductors which travel on a straight path. As the transfer conveyors of reel spools, it is possible to use e.g. slat conveyors.

When particularly implementing the transfers of reel spools and machine reels substantially on one level in the manufacturing line of the fibrous web according to some embodiments of the invention, it is possible to avoid building a full-size basement level below the machine level or the equipment of the machine level does not have to correspond e.g. process spaces full-sized of their carrying capacity. When implementing the traffic of reel spools and machine reels substantially on one level in some embodiments of the invention, the share of extra and energy-consuming lifting decreases e.g. as the rail height on the windup and unwinder is the same as the storage height, whereby lifting can be performed with something else than the heavy hoist, advantageously supported on the floor. For instance, pulpers and other additional devices or the handling of customer reels can be located below the actual machine level.

In this description and claims, the term reel spool is used for describing different winding shafts or equivalents around which the machine reel is wound and from which the machine reel is unwound before slitting. Even though this description primarily refers to paper, the invention is also applicable in connection with manufacturing other fibrous webs. The slitting and winding section of the slitter- winder can be constituted of one apparatus unit which comprises both a slitting section and a winding section, or the slitting and winding section can be constituted of two separate apparatus units of which one comprises a slitting section and the other a winding section.

Different embodiments of the present invention are or were described only in connection with some aspect or aspects of the invention. It is understood by those skilled in the art that any embodiment of an aspect of the invention can be applied by oneself in the same aspect and other aspects of the invention or as a combination with other embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

The invention will now be described by way of examples with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figs. 1 and 2 schematically show a first embodiment of the invention.

Figs. 3 and 4 schematically show a second embodiment of the invention.

Figs. 5 and 6 schematically show variations of the first embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 7 schematically shows a third embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, similar designations refer to similar parts. It should be noted that the presented figures are not to scale and they mostly serve only for the purpose of illustrating the embodiments of the invention.

A manufacturing line for a fibrous web shown in Figs. 1-7 comprises a fibrous-web machine, such as a paper machine, 30 and a windup 10 being in line with it. On the windup 10 of the paper machine, a paper web W completing in the paper machine 30 is wound by means of a winding drum into a machine reel 12 around a winding shaft i.e. a reel spool 13. The windup 10 advantageously comprises in connection with transfer rails 40 (cf. Fig. 2) a collecting station 15 of the machine reel 12 from which the completed machine reels 12 are further transferred to a machine-reel storage 18, 18', 18" or a stand-by station 16A, 16B of at least one slitter-winder 2OA, 2OB or some other finishing machine not shown. Into connection with the windup 10 on its side at the wet end is arranged a return station 41 of empty winding shafts 13 which advantageously extended to the transfer rails 40 operates as a storage 42 of empty winding shafts 13.

Completed machine reels 12 are advantageously transferred substantially on one level advantageously supported on the floor. For transferring these heavy machine reels 12 sideways in relation to the machine line formed by the paper machine 30 and the windup 10 is used a transfer arrangement advantageously supported on the floor which advantageously is a transfer carriage 50 substantially moving on one level which is advantageously a transfer carriage travelling on a straight carriage path. The transfer carriage 50 is advantageously provided with a fixed electric conductor. According to an advantageous embodiment, the transfer rails 40 in connection with the windup 10 and the collecting station 15 of machine reels 12, the transfer carriage 50 of machine reels, the machine-reel storage 18, 18', 18", the stand-by station 16A, 16B of the unwinding station 21A, 21 B of the slitter- winder 2OA, 2OB, the collecting station 17A, 17B of (empty) winding shafts 13 of the slitter-winder, the return station 41 of empty winding shafts 13, and the storage 42 of empty winding shafts are arranged such that the processed winding shafts 13 of machine reels 12 and the empty winding shafts 13 are transferred and positioned substantially on the same level. An advantage of this minimisation of as many as possible vertical transfer events is saving energy and streamlining transfer work. For transferring lightweight emptied winding shafts 13 from the collecting station of the slitter-winder back to the return station 41 of empty winding shafts 13, a conveyor supported on the floor, such as a slat or cart conveyor 60, is used. Advantageously, the slat or cart conveyor 60 is arranged to transport winding shafts 13 substantially on the same level as they are on the collecting station 17A, 17B of the winding shafts 13 of the slitter-winder and on the return station 41 of the empty winding shafts 13 of the windup 10. A slitting and winding- up station 22 of the slitter-winder 2OA, 2OB (cf. Figs. 1 and 2) and handling customer reels 19 slit and wound up on the slitter-winder 2OA, 2OB will not be described here in more detail.

It should be noted that part of the slitter-winder 2OA, 2OB advantageously beside and on the side of the actual machine line and advantageously processing in the opposite direction in relation to the machine direction can be located below the machine level, but still such that the transfers of winding shafts 13 and machine reels 12 mainly take place advantageously supported on the floor and advantageously substantially on the same level in the machine room.

Figs. 1 and 2 schematically show an embodiment of the invention in which the manufacturing line comprises the windup 10 and one slitter-winder 2OA which comprises an unwinding station 21A and a slitting and winding-up station 22. The slitter-winder 2OA is located beside the machine line the direction of the process being reversed in the opposite direction than in the machine line i.e. the direction of the process is reversed at 180°. The machine-reel storage 18 is located on the second side of the line of the transfer carriage 50 opposite the stand-by station 16A of the slitter-winder 2OA. Alternatively or additionally, the machine-reel storage can be located in an otherwise suitable area in the building along the advantageously straight path of the transfer carriage 50 of machine reels 12. An advantageous location of the machine-reel storage opposite the collecting station 15 of machine reels 12 is designated with 18'.

In the embodiments in accordance with Figs. 1 and 2, the windup 10 in the direction of the main direction of the manufacturing line and the slitter-winder 2OA or finishing machine substantially at the angle of 180° in relation to the main direction of the manufacturing line constitute a so-called 'J' shape.

Figs. 3 and 4 schematically show embodiments of the invention in which the manufacturing line comprises the windup 10 and two slitter-winders 2OA and 2OB which comprise unwinding stations 21 A and 21 B.

In Fig. 3, the first slitter-winder 2OA is located on the first side of the machine line beside the windup 10 the direction of the process being reversed in the opposite direction than in the machine line i.e. the direction of the process is reversed at about 180°. The second slitter-winder 2OB is located on the second side of the machine line beside the windup 10 the direction of the process being reversed in the opposite direction than in the machine line i.e. the direction of the process is reversed at 180°. The first machine-reel storage 18 is located on the second side of the line of the transfer carriage 50 opposite the stand-by station 16A of the first slitter-winder 2OA. Alternatively or additionally, the machine-reel storage can be located in an otherwise suitable area in the building along the advantageously straight path of the transfer carriage 50 of machine reels 12. Additionally or alternatively used advantageous locations of the machine-reel storage are the location opposite the collecting station 15 of machine reels 12, which is designated with reference number 18', and the location designated with 18" on the second side of the line of the transfer carriage 50 opposite the stand-by station 16B of the second slitter-winder 2OB.

In Fig. 4, the first slitter-winder 2OA is located beside the windup 10 the direction of the process being reversed in the opposite direction than in the machine line i.e. the direction of the process is reversed at 180°. The second slitter-winder 2OB is located on the same side with the windup 10 in the machine line beside the first slitter-winder 2OA the direction of the process being reversed in the opposite direction than in the machine line i.e. the direction of the process is reversed at 180°. The first machine-reel storage 18 is located on the second side of the line of the transfer carriage 50 opposite the collecting station 15 of machine reels 12. Alternatively or additionally, the machine-reel storage can be located in an otherwise suitable area in the building along the advantageously straight path of the transfer carriage 50 of machine reels 12. Additionally or alternatively used advantageous locations of the machine-reel storage are the location opposite the stand-by station 16A of the first slitter-winder 2OA, which is designated with reference number 18', and the location designated with 18" on the second side of the line of the transfer carriage 50 opposite the stand-by station 16B of the second slitter-winder 2OB.

In the embodiments in accordance with Figs. 3 and 4, the windup 10 in the direction of the main direction of the manufacturing line and the first slitter-winder 2OA and the second slitter-winder 2OB (or finishing machine) substantially at the angle of 180° in relation to the main direction of the manufacturing line constitute a so-called ¹ E' shape. Fig. 5 schematically shows a first variation of the first embodiment of the invention which comprises in addition to the windup 10 and the first slitter-winder 2OA arranged in the 'J' shape also the second slitter-winder 2OB. The second slitter- winder 2OB is located in the example of Fig. 5 on the second side of the path of the transfer carriage 50 opposite the collecting station 15 of the machine reel 12 of the windup 10. If required, it is possible to arrange in addition to the first machine- reel storage 18 a second machine-reel storage 18' e.g. such that there is a machine-reel storage on both sides of the second slitter-winder 2OB along the path of the transfer carriage 50. If desired, the second slitter-winder 2OB can be located at the point of whichever shown machine-reel storage or somewhere along the path of the transfer carriage 50.

Fig. 6 schematically shows a second variation of the first embodiment of the invention which comprises in addition to the windup 10 and the first slitter-winder

2OA arranged in the 'J' shape also the second slitter-winder 2OB. In this space arrangement of the manufacturing line, the second slitter-winder 2OB is located in line with the first slitter-winder 2OA, whereby the first slitter-winder 2OA being at an angle of 180° in relation to the main direction of the manufacturing line and the second slitter-winder 2OB (or finishing machine) being in line with it, which is advantageously on the same rail height or advantageously even provided with the same transfer rails, constitute a so-called 'long J' shape. It should be noted that in the illustration of Fig. 6 the second slitter-winder 2OB is arranged in the manufacturing line at the opposite direction with the process direction of the first slitter-winder 2OA, whereby an advantage is a shared return path 60 of reel spools i.e. winding shafts 13 after the stand-by station 17A of empty winding shafts to the windup 10. Then, no hoist is required for the return.

If required in the example of Fig. 6, it is possible to arrange on the second side of the path of the transfer carriage 50 advantageously opposite the collecting station 15 of the machine reel 12 of the windup 10 or advantageously opposite the first slitter-winder 2OA at least one storage 18, 18' for machine reels 12. Fig. 7 schematically shows a third embodiment of the invention which comprises the windup 10 and the slitter-winder 2OA arranged in the 'J' shape. Here, the travel of the machine reel 12 is arranged to reverse at 180° immediately after the windup 10 into the machine-reel storage 18 arranged beside the windup 10 from which the travel of the machine reel 12 continues to the unwinding station 21 A of the slitter- winder 2OA. From the unwinding station 21 A, the emptied winding shaft 13 is transferred with the winding-shaft handling apparatus to the collecting station 17A of the empty winding shafts 13 of the slitter-winder 2OA.

In the embodiments of the invention, residual paper remaining on the winding shaft 13 is emptied e.g. to a pulper in the unwinding of the slitter-winder before transferring to the windup or it is possible to arrange a separate emptying of residual paper for the windup along the travel.

The situation shown in Fig. 7 is possible e.g. when the storage 42 of winding shafts 13 is arranged higher than the winding level in a way of the traditional slitter-winder and windup concept or in a windup case in which the winding-shaft storage 42 is on the winding level. According to some embodiments, the emptied winding shaft 13 is brought with an automatic winding-shaft handling apparatus first down, after which the winding shaft 13 is advantageously transferred supported on the floor, advantageously with the light conveyor 60 to the winding- shaft storage 42 of the windup 10.

In Fig. 7, the machine reel 12 is transferred from the windup 10 with a transfer means advantageously supported on the floor, such as the machine-reel transfer carriage 50, sideways into the machine-reel storage 18 which is advantageously connected by means of the transfer rails to the slitter-winder 2OA beside the windup 10. When the machine reel 12 has been transferred to the machine-reel storage 18, the process direction has reversed at 180° after the windup 10. After that on the slitter-winder 2OA, the direction of the process of the manufacturing line of the fibrous web remains reversed at 180° in relation to the main machine line travelling in the direction of the paper machine 30 and the windup 10. It should be noted that, in advantageous arrangements according to the invention, the machine reel and winding shaft traffic is implemented substantially horizontally, with linear transfers, without the continuous operation of a hoist. Then, the winding shaft traffic is smooth and the transfer distance is short. When something other than a hoist is mainly used for the transfer, the number of loads to be given way to is minimised. The required safety areas do not block the passages. It is possible to utilise the pulper of the windup 10 in shared use for pulping the slitter-winder area and the bottom-ends of the winding shafts i.e. residual web, whereby the existing pulper is utilised as well as possible. On the process section after the windup, the hoist is advantageously only required for maintenance, whereby the classification of the hoist can be decreased or the number of lifting cycles of the hoist can substantially be reduced (utilisation rate e.g. from 70% to 5%) or a hoist of smaller classification can be employed. The hoist does not advantageously require a process hoist classification. An advantage of this is, inter alia, cheaper maintenance costs as the maintenance interval increases.

According to the invention is also implemented a method for manufacturing a fibrous web in a manufacturing line, which comprises a windup and at least one slitter-winder or finishing machine, in which method, the direction of the manufacturing process of the fibrous web is reversed at 180° after the winding-up before the slitting or finishing.

Advantageously is implemented an embodiment of the invention in which the manufacturing line of the fibrous web W comprises at least one slitter-winder 2OA, 2OB in the same building aisle substantially reversed at 180° in relation to the process direction of the windup 10.

The present invention and its various embodiments are applicable to be used in connection with different types of slitter-winder concepts of paper-manufacturing lines. The invention is implementable in connection with both new paper- manufacturing lines and the modernising of paper-manufacturing lines. The above description offers non-limiting examples of some embodiments of the invention. It is evident to those skilled in the art that the invention is not still limited to the described details but the invention can also be implemented with other equivalent ways.

Some features of the described embodiments can be utilised without using other features. The above description should be considered as such only a depiction of the principles of the invention and not limiting the invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention is limited only by the enclosed claims.