The invention also relates, for instance, to a shoe roll as defined in the preamble of claim 7.

In shoe calenders, the nip pressure is usually in the range from 2-15 Mpa and the nip pressure is controlled by means of the tilt of the shoe element combined with loading. A shoe calender has a relatively long shoe element in the machine direc- tion, often of up to 270 mm or more, thus allowing good surface smoothness of the fibre web while preserving the bulk, because despite the relatively high loading pressure of the shoe element, the maximum pressure in the roll nip will remain rela- tively low.

However, especially in pre-calendering of the fibre web, surface thickness profiling is often required in addition to surface smoothness profiling of the fibre web. Cur- rent shoe calenders are not suitable for surface thickness profiling, because the maximum compression load achieved in the roll nip with these is relatively low de- spite the high loading pressure of the shoe element. If a shoe calender is used for pre-calendering a fibre web such as a cardboard web, one has nowadays to carry out thickness profiling of the fibre web surface with a separate hard profiling roll. A separate calender for thickness profiling increases the machine direction space re- quirement regarding the shoe calender alone, and also increases the purchasing an operating costs of the paper and cardboard making machine. If a hard roll for sur- face thickness profiling is brought into contact with the counter-roll of the shoe roll (thermo-roll), the machine direction space requirement will decrease, but the operat- ing and purchasing costs of the installation are still higher than they would be, could a shoe calender alone be used for pre-calendering. In some cases, the fibre web feed may also cause problems.

The arrangement of the invention and the shoe roll used in it are intended to over- come the shortcomings in prior art.

Thus the main purpose of the invention is to achieve a shoe roll that allows smooth- ness, glaze, humidity and thickness profiling of the fibre web surface to be per- formed.

The invention relates more particularly to an arrangement as defined in claim 1, for instance, for profiling a fibre web with a shoe roll.

The invention also relates to the shoe roll defined in claim 7, for instance, by means of which profiling of the fibre web surface can be performed.

The invention is based on the fundamental idea that, underneath an endless belt ro- tating about the shoe roll, a narrow continuous profiling strip is provided to extend substantially from one end to the other in the longitudinal direction of the shoe roll.

The profiling strip is preferably located in the roll nip, in the immediate vicinity of the shoe of the shoe roll (also referred to as shoe element below). Due to the narrow profiling strip, the area of the roll nip between the profiling strip and the counter roll will be small, and then the compression load required for surface thickness profiling in the roll nip (nip pressure) can be provided at a sufficiently high level even with relatively low loading pressures of the profiling strip.

In the arrangement of the invention for profiling a fibre web, the shoe roll has an opposite counter-roll and the shoe roll and the counter-roll are separated by the roll nip, whereby - the shoe roll has a static roll frame, a shoe element at the roll nip and an endless belt rotating around the shoe element and the static roll frame, - a lubricating cycle is provided between the endless belt and the shoe element, - as the fibre web is passing through the roll nip, its surface is profiled by loading the shoe element with loading elements, - the shoe roll also comprises a profiling strip extending substantially from one end to the other of the roll in the longitudinal direction, - the profiling strip can be pressurised so as to be able to perform thickness profiling of the fibre web surface and

- the endless belt rotates around the profiling strip in addition to the static roll frame of the shoe roll and the shoe element.

The profiling strip is preferably located in the roll nip, immediately after the shoe element, with the roll nip viewed from the input direction of the fibre web.

The shoe roll of the invention has a fibre web profiling strip which is narrow in the machine direction and which achieves the significant advantage over known calen- daring and press installations that smoothness, glaze and thickness profiling of the fibre web and humidity and thickness profiling in shoe presses can now be per- formed with one single shoe calendar. Using the shoe element of the shoe calender, it is possible to achieve good surface smoothness of the fibre web while preserving the fibre web bulk. A profiling strip disposed in connection with the shoe of the shoe calender (shoe element), in turn, allows efficient thickness profiling of the fi- bre web.

Using one single shoe calender for thickness and smoothness profiling of the fibre web achieves notable savings in service, purchasing and operating costs compared to a situation, where thickness and smoothness profiling of the fibre web are per- formed by two separate calenders. At the same time, the machine direction space requirement is reduced, which is a benefit when a calendering line is installed on confined sites. Compared to the situation where calendering is performed with a shoe roll and a hard chilled roll mounted in connection with the same thermo-roll (counter-roll), benefits are gained in the form of reduced operating, service and pur- chasing costs. The fibre web feeding also becomes simpler when one single shoe calender is used for calendering instead of using a shoe roll and a hard profiling roll mounted in connection with the same thermo-roll.

The shoe roll of the invention, which is equipped with a profiling strip, can be used also in connection with presses for thickness profiling of a fibre web. Presses are used in paper and cardboard making machines for mechanical dewatering of the fi- bre web. Such presses have press shoe fixed to a stationary frame, about which and endless belt rotates. Opposite the press shoe, a hard press roll is disposed. On one or usually both sides of the fibre web, a water-absorbing press fabric is provided to ab- sorb water in the roll nip between the press shoe and its opposite press roll. Between the press shoe and the belt, a lubricating cycle is arranged in the roll nip in order to reduce the friction between these. Humidity and thickness profiling of the fibre web surface takes place between the press shoe and the press roll.

In such a press equipped with a shoe roll, the term shoe element implies the press shoe of the press. Accordingly, a roll frame implies the static press frame, to which the press shoe is attached.

In this application, the shoe element length and the roll nip length stand for the ma- chine direction length of the shoe element and the roll nip, respectively.

US patent specifications 5 645 691 and 4 741 905 disclose wet presses equipped with shoe elements, comprising various supplementary parts for enhancing dewater- ing action. However, these inventions do not allow the pre-calendering result of a fibre web, especially that of a cardboard web, to be improved as does the arrange- ment of the invention and the shoe roll used in this.

The invention is described more in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawing.

Figure 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a part of the shoe roll of the in- vention, viewed from the end of the pair of rolls between the shoe roll and its op- posed counter-roll.

The shoe calender 9 shown in figure 1 has a shoe roll 10, having an opposite heated hard roll, i. e. thermo-roll 3. Regarding the shoe element of the shoe roll and its load- ing and lubricating systems, the shoe calender 9 has a conventional design per se, and hence the figure shows only part of the shoe roll in order to illustrate the inven- tive idea. The shoe roll 10 has a static frame 5, with only its upper part shown in the figure, a loading element 8 bearing against the static frame 5 with its lower surface, and a shoe element 2 on top of the loading element. The first part 4a of the roll nip 4 is located between the shoe element 2 and the counter-roll 3. Adjacent to the shoe element 2 of the shoe roll, there is a profiling strip 1, which in this case is located after the first part 4; 4a of the roll nip, with the roll nip 4 viewed in the input direc- tion of the fibre web W. The input direction of the fibre web has been indicated in the figure with an arrow with a full head. The second part 4b of the roll nip 4 is be- tween the profiling strip 1 and the counter-roll 3. An endless belt 6 slides in the roll nip 4; 4a, 4b on the upper, i. e. slide surface 2a of the shoe element 2 and on the up- per surface la of the profiling strip 1. This endless belt rotates about the static frame 5 of the shoe roll, the shoe element 2 and the profiling strip 1. A lubricating oil cy- cle 71 has been provided with a lubricating system 7 in the roll nip 4, between the slide surface 2; 2a of the shoe element and the upper surface la of the profiling strip

and the endless belt. The slide surface 2a of the shoe element forms a concave pocket when the roll nip 4; 4a is viewed from the direction of the counter-roll 3. By contrast, the upper surface la of the profiling strip has a concave shape when the roll nip 4; 4b is viewed from the direction of the counter-roll 3, so that the nip pres- sure between the thermo-roll and the profiling strip will rise sufficiently with a view to thickness profiling of the fibre web. The profiling strip 1 has a width parallel to the longitudinal axis of the shoe element, i. e. in a direction perpendicular to the pa- per plane, which is roughly the same as the width of the shoe element. Thus the pro- filing strip extends substantially from on end to the other of the shoe roll in its lon- gitudinal direction. The profiling strip 1 is substantially continuous and has a length in the longitudinal direction of the shoe element, i. e. in the machine direction, which is significantly smaller than the length of the shoe element. With the roll nip 4 viewed from the direction indicated by the arrow with a full head, i. e. in the input direction of the fibre web W, the roll nip 4 first comprises a conventional roll nip 4; 4a between the shoe element 2 the shoe roll and the thermo-roll 3, followed by a roll nip 4; 4b between the profiling strip 1 and the thermo-roll 3. Viewed from the direc- tion of the counter-roll 3, the roll nip 4 first comprises a fibre web W and an endless belt 6 underneath this. Underneath the endless belt rotating on the axial frame 5 of the shoe roll 10, in turn, the shoe element 2 and the profiling strip 1 are disposed.

Different nip pressures are usually exerted on the first part 4a and the second part 4b of the roll nip 4. The nip pressure is generated in the first part 4a of the roll nip 4 with rows of press cylinders 81; 81a ; 81b provided underneath the shoe element 2 and with which the shoe element 2 is pressed (loaded) against the counter-roll 3.

The rows of press cylinders 8 la and 8 1 b bear against the frame 5 at their lower part.

The rows of press cylinders 81a and 81b may generate the same or different com- pression loads on the front part 21 and the rear part 22 of the shoe element. The nip pressure of the second part 4; 4b of the roll nip, again, is generated with a press cyl- inder 8; 82 provided underneath the profiling strip, the press cylinder bearing on the frame 5 at its lower part. Although the profiling strap is loaded, i. e. pressed against the counter-roll by the pressure cylinder 8; 82 usually at lower pressure than is the shoe element by the press cylinder 8; 81, the nip pressure formed between the pro- filing strip and the counter-roll will become appreciably higher than the nip pressure formed between the shoe element and the counter-roll, owing to the smaller area of the upper surface la of the profiling strip in the roll nip.

As the roll nip is closed by loading the shoe element of the shoe roll and/or profiling strip with loading elements 8; 81,82, the fibre web W, such as a heated cardboard web, will be pressed in the two-part roll nip 4; 4a, 4b between the heated counter-

roll (thermo-roll) 3 and the shoe roll 10 and the profiling strip 1, while its surface is being calendered. As a specific part of the fibre web W enters the first part 4a of the roll nip between the shoe element and the counter-roll, the fibre web surface is smoothness profiled while the bulk level is preserved at a high level. Smoothness profiling occurs owing to the relatively low nip pressure prevailing in the roll nip 4a. The nip pressure will remain low, even if the total loading pressure generated with the loading elements 8; 81 on the shoe element, i. e. the linear pressure, were relatively high, because the shoe element area is relatively large (the shoe element may have a machine direction length of up to 270 mm or more). After this, the same fibre web W part reaches the second part 4b of the roll nip 4 between the thermo- roll and the profiling strip. The compression load in the roll nip 4; 4b now depends mainly on two factors; the area of the upper surface of the profiling strip and the loading pressure of the profiling strip. Since the profiling strip 1 should have a width roughly equal to that of the shoe element 2, the machine direction length of the upper surface la of the profiling strip should be dimensioned for a shoe calender of a given width such that a given loading pressure of the profiling strip allows a sufficiently high compression load (nip pressure) to be achieved between the profil- ing strip and the counter-roll in the roll nip 4; 4b. The loading pressure of the profil- ing strip can be kept relatively low (5-15 Mpa), while the nip pressure achieved in the second part 4; 4b of the roll nip still rises to a high level. This is due to the fact that the profiling strip 1 is considerably shorter in the machine direction than the shoe element 2, and in addition, it may have a convexly shaped upper surface, so that the area of the upper surface la of the profiling strip 1 is but small in the roll nip. Owing to the high nip pressures, the surface of the fibre web is profiled as de- sired in the thickness direction of the fibre web.

The example above exemplifies only one embodiment of the shoe calender 9 of the invention, and the inventive idea can be carried out in several other ways as well, without departing from the scope of the inventive idea defined in the claims.

Usually the profiling strip is located in the immediate vicinity of the shoe element in the roll nip. However, it is also conceivable to dispose the profiling strip elsewhere underneath the endless belt rotating about the shoe roll. In one option, the profiling strip is disposed on the opposite side of the shoe roll viewed from the roll nip, i. e. at a distance of 180 degrees from the roll nip in the cross-sectional circle of the shoe roll.

In some cases, the profiling strip 1 may be disposed before the shoe element 2 when the roll nip is viewed from the input direction of the fibre web W.

In the example above, the shoe element of the shoe calender was pressurised by means of two rows of hydraulic cylinders. Both in shoe calenders and in shoe presses, however, the shoe element can be pressurised with e. g. one row of hydrau- lic cylinders or with any other loading elements known in connection with shoe cal- enders and shoe presses.