E108 P2PCT UH/ASL

Method and arrangement in rollinq-off and rolling-on a web of material

Technical Field The present invention relates to a method and a device in order to simplify and as far as possible automate loading and unloading and avoid spindle handling, respectively, in a machine for the reeling of a web-formed material, such as paper, cardboard, plastic, metal or laminates of the same to a reel preferably on a core of cardboard material, which machine comprises at least one shaft spindle for the carrying of a reel as well as at least two reel holding arms in order to in each such pair mount a reeling spindle shaft having expandable means against the reel having web-formed material for with or without internal core locking the reeled material at the shaft. The method and the device according to the invention minimize or optimize undesired sag of reeling up spindles and of each reel, respectively, (weight/width relation).

Background

Such reelers are used in many applications, such as in the production, conversion, lamination, coating etc., of paper, cardboard tissue, non-woven, foil (plastic, metal) etc., as well as laminates of these web-bound materials.

The principal task for a device of the kind in question is to reel up the web-bound material - on core or coreless - to a reel having sufficient hardness at the same time as it is given such properties that it can be handled in succeeding use without the material being destroyed or the reel collapsing.

Winders may be manual, i.e., the reeling up ceases when the reel is full, there usually only being one reeling up position in the machine. Winders may also be automatic, i.e., that a shift from full reel to empty core takes place at working speed (without stop). In such a case, at least two reel positions are required, which simplest is realised by means of a reel arm turnable more than 360°, which can index out the full reel in connection with the change of reel.

The invention is particularly applicable in connection with division of a greater or wider reel for forming at least two smaller or thinner ditto, the material first being reeled off from a greater reel and in conjunction with that is cut according to desire as well as after that afresh being reeled up in desired number and/or on thinner reels with or without core/cores.

A winder may be solitary or a part of, e.g., a rewinding machine. A winder is often supplemented with other equipment, such as such for length cutting of the web, web edge control etc.

In conjunction with reeling up, the most often heavy reels are arranged on shafts, shaft spigots, chucks etc., which either extend along the entire length of the respective reel or only along a part thereof as well as all variants there between. Common to these solutions is that the respective reel or the core thereof is gripped rotationally fixed by means of means projectable on shafts, shaft spigots or chucks, which shafts, spigots or chucks by means of disc clutches or sliding clutches rotationally fixed are coupled to the respective driving device for enabling, during the course of reeling up, a compensation for, for instance, thickness variations of the web-formed material. The reeling up is a sensitive operation for obtaining reels of good quality.

In very wide reels or reels cut in the longitudinal direction a deflection in the cross- direction of the reel shaft may become worries. This has led to the fact that it is desirable that each reel is mounted on an entirely through shaft. In connection with chuck mounting, i.e., mounting of the reel with a shaft part from each end of the same, of great heavy reels, this deflection is so critical that the reel, at the high speeds concerned here, often about 1000 m/min, when the reel is small, as a consequence of the deflection risks exploding. Thus also for this reason, a whole shaft would be preferable. Another important reason for using an entirely through shaft on winders is that it is then possible to place/clamp empty cores before the reeling up is commenced/started.

In addition, after reeling up on a long shaft > 1 m, in connection with the fact that the reel should be taken out from the winder, handling technical problems arise, which are connected with the great weight of the respective reel as well as the great weight of the respective shaft. Simultaneously, it is desirable to bring down the number of "degrees of freedom of movement" of the reel and the spindle, on one hand depending on normally seen high packing density in machines of this type, and on the other hand depending on the fact that it is desirable to automate the emptying and the loading routine, respectively, of the machine as far as possible, even so far that this routine can take place at full production speed.

The Invention in Brief

The invention has the object of providing, in a winder for a material web of the type mentioned above, a method and a device in order to simplify/facilitate unloading and spindle handling, respectively, at the same time as it is guaranteed that the high quality that the web from the beginning represents is maintained as well as above all that the material is not damaged.

The object of the invention is attained by a method and a device in which the reeling spindle shaft included in the machine is made in such a way that it extends along the entire length of a reeled up reel, that each such shaft is made in such a way that it, when the expandable means have been released and the mass of the reel have been unloaded from the same, becomes axially displaceable a distance which at least corresponds to the width of a reel arranged on the shaft.

By means of the method and the device according to the invention, the need of manual handling of reel shafts is eliminated.

In accordance with a further developed embodiment of the invention, the reeling spindle shaft is, at the respective ends thereof, mounted in reel holding arms, which are pivotably mounted around a shaft being parallel to the reeling spindle shaft. By the fact that the shaft/shafts as well as the reel holding arms are drivable in the described way, a reel can be detached without loose shafts needing to be handled.

This also facilitates an automated process for loading with loading and unloading, respectively.

The ready-reeled up reel may after completed reeling up handling-wise easily be brought away either after direct drawing out of the spindle shaft and in that connection straight out or sideward, the latter in case one of the reel holding arms is turned away. By the fact that the reel holding arms are drivable in the direction of the reel shaft at least a distance corresponding to the width of a reel, the unloading can take place either to the left or right or straight on in some one of the end positions of the drivable reel holding arms.

In accordance with an additionally further developed embodiment of the invention, the spindle shaft may, depending on if it is whole or divided into two parts, be docked stiffly with slight gliding fit in either one of the reel holding arms or with itself in such a manner that a good joint having good stiffness is attained whereby a deflection at the centre of the shaft is minimized.

The shaft length may by the fact that the shaft is divided into two parts be varied within a wide range.

It is in the method and the device according to the invention a substantial advantage that it is ensured that a reel of material of the kind in question is prevented, under the impact of the self-mass thereof, from being deflected out along the reeling shaft thereof, irrespective of the degree of reeling-on thereof so that the risk of quality losses is eliminated. The machine can in this way be optimized for the driving of maximally great reels for different types of drivings. The machine becomes much more flexible and can be utilized considerably better in view of reel width, reel mass, core diameter, reel diameter, number of cuttings as well as type of material, in other words that it is possible to mount/use suitable shaft length for the relation reel width/reel weight.

According to an additional further developed embodiment of the invention, the spindle shaft is rotationally fixed, rotatably driven, mounted in at least one of the reel holding arms in such a way that a continuous pressurizing of pressurized manoeuvrably expandable means along the length of the shaft is enabled.

The fact that this is enabled has to be considered advantageous in the light of feeding with pressurized medium almost being necessary if change of reel should be possible to take place at full production speed.

It is in addition a great advantage that, by means of the present invention, means are provided that makes it possible to carry out reeling up in a continuous process including occasionally requisite moves of completed reels in said process without for that reason this affecting the quality of the reeled material or the final product that this is meant to form.

Furthermore, it is advantageous that a method and a device are provided by means of which the production speed can be kept constantly high irrespective of the degree of reeling up of the web-formed material.

An additional advantage of the method and the device according to the invention is that similar or the like part system/components that are used in different parts of a reeling process can be used in several positions in one or more machines, such as e.g., in a reeling-off unit, which is arranged before the reeling up unit. This decreases, for obvious reasons, the cost of development and construction, manufacture as well as keeping of spare parts. In addition, required maintenance service is facilitated.

By the invention, the advantages are attained of the chuck principle as well as of the principle including a whole shaft spindle, i.e., to be able to detach the reel without handling any loose shafts, which in turn facilitates an automatization, at the same time as the deflection at the centre of a reel is minimized.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will in the following be described in more detail, reference being made to embodiment examples of the same shown in the appended drawings, where

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a winder in which a method and a device according to the invention have been implemented;

Fig. 2 shows the same machine as fig. 1 as a side view,

Fig. 3 shows the machine as seen from above in a re-winding state without cutting;

Fig. 4 shows the same machine as fig. 3, from above in an unloading position;

Fig. 5 shows a machine in an unloading position, which concerning the construction of the reeling up spindle thereof differs from the embodiment according to figs. 3 and 4, and

Fig. 6 shows a machine in an unloading position corresponding to fig. 5, here however with a wider reel.

Detailed Description

Of the picture shown in fig. 1 , a machine layout 1 is seen as a perspective view having a reeling-off unit 3 arranged in a stand 2. The reeling-off unit 3 has a reel 5 driven by electrical motors 4 arranged on chuck shaft spigots (not shown), on which a reeled-on web-formed material (not shown) is found, which should be reeled-off for the purposes of work up and in conjunction with that or immediately after that again be reeled up by means of a reeling up unit 6. This is arranged in close connection to the reeling-off unit 3.

Said reeling up unit 6 is in figure 1 shown arranged on a separate stand 7 and comprises in the example shown here a cutter device 10 tumable under the impact of

an actuating cylinder 8 and provided with three reel cutters 9 being adjustable in respect of the cutting positions thereof. The arrangement, as here with three cutters 9, means that the web-formed material will be divided into five parts, equal or different depending on the lateral setting of the cutters. The cutter device 10 may also be provided with edge cutting devices (not shown), for the cutting away of such edges that for some reason need to be cut away (for instance damaged edges). Figure 1 shows the layout of a reeling up unit 6 in combination with a reeling-off unit 3, where the web-formed material for the sake of clarity not yet has been arranged in the reeling up unit 6 for reeling up. Therefore, it is seen how the shaft of the reeling up product here on one hand consists of an entirely through shaft spindle 11 of the eventually reeled up web-formed material, and on the other hand that the latter is motor driven drivable by means of motors (not shown) in and out of the reeled up web-formed product. The possibility of pulling out is enabled by the fact that the shaft spindle is arranged in one, or as will be clear from the below, both the reel holding arms 12 of the reeling up unit, which in turn is/are arranged motor driven on one or two carriages 19. This together with the fact that the shaft spindle 11 in a known way per se is compulsory lockable inside the web-formed product against either the web- formed material or against a core carrying the same as well as the fact that the reel holding arms 12 are turnable around a shaft 13, which is parallel to the shaft spindle 11 , makes that unloading of the reeling up product can take place very smoothly and entirely without the reeling up product being damaged in any manner.

Using a bit of engineering thinking, it is seen from figure 1 that also the reeling-off unit 3 easily may be modified so that it will be constructed in a similar or rather like way in order to facilitate the loading thereof as well as decrease or even eliminate the risk of damage of the web-formed material to be reeled off. Common to the reeling off unit as well as the reeling up unit 3 and 6, respectively, is that their chuck shaft spigots 18 and shaft spindle 11 , respectively, which are stiffly rotatably mounted in the reel holding arms 12, by these under the impact of actuating cylinders (not shown) may be turned around shafts 13, 13'. In this way, the respective reel can always be rotated to a location in which the reel holding arms 12 as well as the respective shaft spindle 11 , by the fact that the reel is placed on an expedient support, can be unloaded from

impact of gravity. By the fact that the shaft spindle 11 in the reel holding arm thereof is carriage-carried motor driven, the spindle shaft can, when the locking thereof has been released, be pulled out by activation of the motor driven carriage in which the shaft is fixedly arranged.

Reference being made to fig. 2, a combined reeling off unit/reeling up unit 14 is shown as a side view, in which the two units in contrast to the embodiment shown in fig. 1 have a common stand 15. From this figure, the path of the web-formed material 16 through the unit 14 is also seen, which is sophisticatedly chosen to go via different kinds of shifting and press rolls in consideration of maintaining required tension of the web for the achievement of requisite reeling quality. Such as was mentioned above concerning the turnability of the reeling arms, this can, as is shown here, be realised on the reeling off side as well as on the reeling up side. In other respects, concerning the embodiment according to fig. 2, it may be said that this at the axes of rotation comprises controlled, preferably electrically driven, motors 4.

Reference being made to figs. 3 and 4, a combined reeling off unit/reeling up unit 14 is shown, corresponding to the one according to fig. 2, as a view from above. In that connection, the positions of the reeling off/reeling up units are seen in fig. 3 during a reeling off/reeling up course in progress, i.e., an arbitrary situation during the reeling course. For this reason, the reel 5 is symbolically reproduced by dashed and dotted lines, as well as a reel 17 on the reeling up side. As hidden contours, shaft chucks 18 are shown, which penetrate the end portions on the reel 5 of the reeling off side as well as the shaft spindle 11 , which entirely penetrates the reel or alternatively the reels 17 on the reeling up side. Figure 4 intends to show how the shaft spindle 11 has been released from the engagement thereof with the reel 17 of the reeling up device, and the shaft spindle 11 , when it has been unloaded the mass of the reel 17, has been drawn out in the entire length thereof. The reeling up reel is after that, as is seen of the figure, entirely free to be moved.

In figures 5 and 6, an alternative embodiment in comparison with the recently described embodiment is seen. The stand is also here common to the reeling off and

reeling up units 3 and 6, respectively, however as is seen a bit differently formed. The single substantial deviation in other respects in comparison with previous embodiment is that the shaft spindle 11 in this embodiment is made in two pieces. The two parts 11a, 11 b of the shaft spindle is in this connection made in such a way that they are telescopically insertable into each other during slightly running slip fit so that the parts 11a, 11b, when they are brought together, together form a stable unit. It is further seen in fig. 6 that the reeling off/reeling up unit is flexible width-wise by, depending on the width of the web-formed material that it is desired to roll of and roll on, respectively, shaft spigot and the respective appurtenant core are easily replaceable to fitting length. The same thing applies concerning the embodiment according to figs. 3 and 4, according to which embodiment the spindle shaft however is in one piece. For all embodiments applies that the of the spindle shaft docking in, in either the opposite reel holding arm or in an opposite shaft part is made so that a good joint having good stiffness is obtained.