The present invention relates to a suction box as defined in the preamble of claim 1.

In the following, both the invention and prior art are described mainly in connection with pa¬ per machines, yet without limiting the invention ex¬ clusively to paper machines. Therefore, the term ^Λ paper machine' in this application refers to paper or cardboard machines in general or machines used in pulp manufacture to produce webs containing cellulose fi¬ bres.

In paper machines, suction rolls are used for the dewatering of the web being produced, both after the head box and in the press section. A suction roll is a roller with perforations in the whole area of its jacket and with a suction box inside it, the suction box being attached or pressed to the interior surface of the suction roll, with a sealing between them. The purpose of the suction box is to suck water from the web and to draw air through the web to remove moisture from it with the air.

As the machines are operated at increasing speeds, i.e. with increasing speeds of rotation of the rolls, the operation of the suction rolls has become ineffective. A vacuum draws water into the perfora¬ tions in the suction roll and somewhat into the roll, but the centrifugal force prevents most of the water from entering the suction box itself. The centrifugal force even returns some of the water back into the perforations in the suction rolls and to the outside of the suction roll. For this reason, the water re¬ moved from the web remains on the underside of the web, keeping it wet. After the suction stage, the wa¬ ter splashing out from inside the roll again wets the web or, in the press section, the felt. The perfora¬ tions in the roll contain plenty of water rotating

with the roll, and some of this water is also passed to the supply side of the web, wetting the web or the felt. Moreover, the water remaining in the perfora¬ tions of the roll and the particles contained in the water tend to block the perforations, increasing the power requirement of the suction pumps.

In an attempt to enhance the operation of the suction rolls, the vacuum level in the suction box has been increased, which naturally means an increased power required by the vacuum pumps. This is about the only effect this measure has produced. The increase in the speed of the machines has been achieved by in¬ creasing the efficiency of the drying section or by increasing the machine length or the steam consump- tion.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks described above. A specific object of the invention is to present a new type of suction box structure which allows more efficient de- watering of a wet web by a suction roll and more effi¬ cient drainage of the water from the suction roll into the suction box.

As for the features characteristic of the in¬ vention, reference is made to the claims. The suction box of the invention in a machine for manufacturing a web containing cellulose fibres is inside a rotating suction roll provided with a perfo¬ rated jacket. The suction box comprises a suction chamber having a suction inlet placed against the in- terior surface of the suction roll and a suction con¬ nection for creating a negative pressure in the suc¬ tion chamber and drawing water through the perfora¬ tions in the suction roll into the suction chamber. According to the invention, the suction inlet of the suction box is provided with ribs or slats forming suction slits placed longitudinally relative to the suction roll near its interior surface. Thus, the in-

vention is based on the observation that by reducing the cross-sectional flow area of the suction inlet, the velocity of flow can be increased so that the wa¬ ter drawn through the perforations in the suction roll will continue flowing in the same direction even after the perforations, getting into the slits of the lat¬ tice and further into the suction box. Ribs or slats correctly directed also direct the water drops emerg¬ ing from the perforations towards the suction box. The ribs preferably form a lattice extending across the whole length and width of the suction in¬ let, in which lattice the rib comprises a sharp front edge pointing towards the interior surface of the suc¬ tion roll, which front edge cuts or grabs the water drops emerging from the perforations in the suction roll.

Preferably the sharp front edge of the rib is at a distance from the interior surface of the suction roll; this distance may be e.g. 1 - 4 mm, preferably 2 - 3mm. In another embodiment of the invention, the front edge of the rib is in direct contact with the interior surface of the suction roll, i.e. rubbing the interior surface. This can be implemented via a suit¬ able choice of materials so that the ribs will not damage the interior surface of the suction roll as they rub against it. Thus, the ribs can be provided with front edges made of a softer material which can be replaced and renewed when necessary, or the whole rib may be made of a suitable material that does not damage the interior surface of the suction roll.

The front surface of the rib, which starts from the sharp front edge of the rib and meets the wa¬ ter drops, preferably forms an angle exceeding 90° to the interior surface of the suction roll. In this way, the water drops will not hit the ribs from a perpen¬ dicular direction, but instead they meet the ribs at an oblique angle, which means that, while the kinetic

energy of the water drops is partially maintained, their direction of movement is turned towards the suc¬ tion box.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the suction inlet of the suction box is provided with a cooling device which cools down the water and vapour drawn by the suction, naturally resulting in a pres¬ sure drop and an increased suction effect in the suc¬ tion inlet of the suction box. Preferably the cooling device is formed by water spraying jets placed near the ribs, by means of which a fine water jet is directed in a desired direc¬ tion, preferably in a direction away from the jacket of the suction roll and mainly towards the suction chamber of the suction box.

The suction box of the invention has signifi¬ cant advantages as compared with prior art. By apply¬ ing the invention, water can be removed with consider¬ able efficiency from a web to be dried, and the water absorbed into the suction roll can be removed from it without letting the water get back into the web being dried. According to preliminary tests carried out, it is possible to increase the solids content of the web after the suction roll by about 2% by using a lattice without a cooling device. Thus, the suction box of the invention has a significant positive effect on the en¬ ergy consumption of a paper machine, on the quality and properties of the paper and on the speed of the machine. In the following, the invention is described in detail by referring to the attached drawing, which presents a diagrammatic cross-section of a suction box as provided by the invention.

The drawing presents a sectional view of a suction roll 2, which is formed by a round jacket 1 which may have a length of several metres, e.g. 5 - 10 . The whole jacket 1 is provided with perforations 8

placed at even distances throughout its circumference and length, although the drawing shows perforations only in a part of the jacket. Inside the suction roll is a suction box 3, which comprises a suction chamber 4, a suction inlet 6 open against the interior surface of the suction roll, and a suction connection 7 for creating a vacuum in the suction chamber .

The edges of the suction inlet 6 are provided seals 16 and 17 which are pressed against the interior surface 5, and the ends of the suction inlet are also provided with corresponding seals, so the suction in¬ let as a whole is pressed relatively tightly against the interior surface 5 of the suction roll. Therefore, the vacuum present in the suction chamber 4 can only cause a suction through the perforations 8 in the suc¬ tion roll. The seals 16 and 17 may consist of sealing structures known in themselves, e.g. sealing struc¬ tures tightened against the interior surface 5 by means of compressed air. Disposed at a distance from each other in the suction inlet 6 are a number of elongated ribs 10, laid in a direction transverse to the direction 9 of rotation of the suction roll and extending through the whole length of the suction inlet. The ribs form a lattice covering the entire suction inlet, so there are a large number of elongated suction slits 11 side by side in the suction inlet. The ribs are attached to a common support 18 and they have sharp front edges 12 pointing towards the interior surface 5 of the suction roll. The sharp edges are at a short distance from the interior surface 5. In addition, the ribs are mounted in an oblique position so that the front surface 13 starting from the sharp front edge 12 forms an angle of over 90° to the interior surface 5 of the suction roll.

Moreover, the suction box is provided with two pipes extending through the whole length of the

suction inlet 6, placed near the suction inlet 6 below the lattice formed by the ribs, said pipes constitut¬ ing a cooling device 14. The pipes are provided with jets or holes, directed away from the suction roll 2 and the lattice formed by the ribs 10, i.e. mainly to¬ wards the suction chamber 4.

The action of the suction box illustrated by the drawing is as follows. The wire, and on top of it the web to be dewatered by the suction roll, moves around the rotating suction roll. The negative pres¬ sure in the suction box 3 produces a suction in the perforations 8 via the suction inlet 6, causing water to be absorbed from the web and the wire into the per¬ forations 8 opposite to the suction inlet 6. The water flows through the perforations onto the interior sur¬ face 5 of the suction roll, where the lattice formed by the ribs 10 reduces the cross-sectional flow area of the suction inlet 6 so that a relatively intensive suction flow continues further through the suction slits 11 towards the suction chamber 4. As the water drops on the interior surface 5 of the suction roll simultaneously hit the sharp front edges 12 of the ribs, the water drops, directed by the ribs in the suction flow, are passed on into the suction box. As the web being treated is relatively warm and the negative pressure is relatively high, a sig¬ nificant proportion of the water to be removed by suc¬ tion is in the form of steam. For this reason, a cool¬ ing device 14 is provided below the ribs to cool down the steam flow, thus condensing the steam into water and producing a considerable pressure drop in the suc¬ tion inlet below the ribs. This further enhances the suction effect on the suction roll in the suction in¬ let area and therefore also the dewatering effect. In the foregoing, the invention has been de¬ scribed via an example by referring to the attached drawing, but different embodiments of the invention

are possible within the scope of the inventive idea defined by the claims.