Object of the invention

The invention relates to a blowing wool machine comprising blowing wool feeding means for bringing blowing wool into a shredding chamber, where the blowing wool is shredded for its application to its use, and into which is received at least one shaft rotatable around its longitudinal axis and extend- ing essentially transversely to the feeding direction of the blowing wool, in conjunction with which shaft are arranged shredding means to be moved by it for shredding the blowing wool. The invention also relates to a method for improving the quality of blowing wool and the performance of the blowing machine.

Prior art

The publication US-8,087,601 B2 discloses a blowing wool distribution machine, wherein a plurality of shredders is provided in a shredding chamber. They are arranged around drive shafts directed essentially transversely with respect to the feeding direction of the blowing wool. The essential parts of the shredding arrangement appear especially from Figures 2 and 4 of the publication. All of the shredders 24a, 24b, 26 and 28 rotate in essentially the same manner around their axis of revolution, fixed to the drive shafts. The shafts are in turn arranged essentially parallel to one another. From this follows, that each shredder element moves along an identical path, and at the same time always in the same direction, perpendicularly to the feeding direction of the blowing wool to be shredded. This is not the best possible situation from the point of view of shredding efficiency and the shredding result. This appears especially from Figure 5. In the publication US-7,971,814 B2 is, in turn, described the shredder and distribution mechanism of the machine disclosed in the above-mentioned publication, where the shredder elements also move by rotating around the axis of rotation. Each axis of rotation is directed essentially parallel to the other axes of rotation, and also here the shredding action is always parallel.

In the publication EP 0358891 Bl is further disclosed an opening device for opening compressed fibre bales, such as cotton and viscose rayon wool bales. Here, too, the shredding of the fibre material in the bales is carried out by shredding means 5a and 6a rotating around parallel axes of rotation. Whereas in the above-mentioned publication, where the individual shredding means move at least in opposite directions with respect to the wool being shredded, depending on the direction of rotation of adjacent axes of rotation, in the solution according to this publication, the shredding means follow an even simpler path with respect to the fibre material to be shredded.

In the publication US-2009/0206105 Al is further disclosed a package of compressed blowing wool, in connection with which Figures 1 to 10 show means intended for shredding the blowing wool. Also here, the shredding of the blowing wool is based largely on shredding means arranged to rotate around axes of rotation directed transversely to the direction of flow of the blowing wool, or on the periphery of the rotary drums similarly performing a movement rotating around the axis. The purpose of the foregoing machines is to shred tightly packed fibrous material used for insulation or other purposes from its compacted state and to pick apart and loosen its structural particles, mainly fibres, into as loose and fluffy a mass as possible, which is then applied with the appropriate means to its use. Problems relating to the prior art

Despite the various implementations of shredding means in use, the shredding of fibrous material is based on the unilateral movement of the shredding means, performed parallel to the fibrous material. Conventionally are used fixed shredding means arranged on the surface of a rotating cylindrical drum or other such tools directed at the material to be shredded, the paths of which are repeatedly the same with respect to the material. From this relatively inefficient material handling method follows the disadvantage that the fibrous material is not properly loosened from its compacted state, but remains as a more or less heterogeneous mixture containing both shredded fibrous material and fibrous material which has partly remained unnecessarily compact. Similarly, the method of implementing the machines used and the shredding technique require an unnecessarily large and heavy machine con- struction, which at the same time results in inconvenient movability.

Here, blowing wool refers generally to different fibrous masses or mixtures used in buildings and the like for thermal insulation purposes and the application of which to the use itself takes place by means of blowing or a similar appropriate manner for bringing the material to its use. Such blowing wools are, for example, mixtures based on the fibrous structure of materials made of cellulose, paper, board and cardboard material and of the recycled masses of the above, cotton and other cultivated fibrous materials, and of combinations of the above, as well as at least partly also of organic fibrous masses consisting of inorganic fibres or supplemented with them or, for example, with incombustible materials.

Purpose and solution of the invention The aim of the invention is to provide a solution by means of which the above-mentioned shortcomings of the prior art could be reduced or com- pletely avoided. A further aim of the invention is to improve the quality and insulating properties of the blowing wool. The invention also aims to provide a machine by means of which these aims can be achieved. The characteristic features of the machine according to the present invention for achieving this aim appear from the characterising part of claim 1. The method according to the invention is in turn characterised by what appears from the characterising part of claim 9. Some preferred embodiments of the invention are in addition disclosed in the dependent claims.

The invention now presented essentially eliminates the disadvantages of the known solutions described above. To avoid the shortcomings described above, a new type of arrangement for moving the shredding means for shredding the blowing wool material to be handled from its packed state and for fluffing it up before application to its use.

The blowing machine according to the invention comprises a device for shredding packed fibrous material, which includes a fibrous material feeding area, more specifically a feed channel or the like, from which the packed fi- brous material is fed in the machine towards the shredders arranged in the shredding chamber.

The shredding means are further arranged to rotate around a shaft directed essentially transversely to the direction of flow of the fibrous material. They are preferably located on the outer shell of a drum coaxial with the shaft. The shredding means move with the drum on the outer shell, corresponding to its rotation and thus travelling along an even path following the circumference, where they at the same time meet the material to be shredded into the blowing wool in the feeding area, simultaneously fluffing it and shredding the bonds in it. In this application, the shredding of the blowing wool thus generally refers to the handling of the wool in such a way that its fibres are separated from one another so that there are no compressed fibre bundles characteristic of the packed state and that the desired fluffiness and insulation properties of the wool and a smooth fibre mass distributed as homogenously as possible are accomplished. The fibres are shredded and picked apart, the fibres are stretched and straightened, re-bent or twisted, the material is fluffed up and mixed and a fluffy and as homogeneous a blowing wool as possible is obtained. This is particularly important in applications where the blowing wool is mixed in water or other liquid at the following stage, in order to transfer the blowing wool to its target by wet spraying. The wet spraying method is known as such, for example, from the publication US5641368 and is not described in greater detail in this connection. A central characteristic feature of the invention now consists in that the shredding means directly taking part in the handling and shredding of the blowing wool and in contact therewith are arranged in such a way that they perform a certain movement or movements with respect to the shredder shaft. This additional movement or path can be performed independently of the shredder shaft. For example, in one embodiment of the invention, where the shredding means are located centrally on the outer shell of a shredder drum rotating around the shredder shaft and thus its longitudinal axis, at least some of them are arranged movably in such a way that both a move ^¬ ment of the shredding means, caused by the rotation of the drum, with re- spect to the fibrous material, and a second relative movement brought about by the movement of the shredding means with respect to the outer shell of the drum are achieved. Due to the latter, the movement of a single shredding means with respect to the blowing wool varies considerably in direction as well as speed. At the same time as the relative movement of the shredding means with respect to the blowing wool material changes continuously, also its processing effect on the wool material to be shredded varies both in intensity and type. Such non-linear movements together with the shredding means at the same time penetrating into the blowing wool material bring about a particularly efficient force effect on the bonds between the fibres in the blowing material and thus their rapid loosening and also complete detachment from one another. Power transmission between the driving motor of the shredding means and the means can be arranged with applicable prior art solutions. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a drive shaft placed essentially coaxially with the axis of rotation of the drum is arranged inside the drum. The shredding means are preferably arranged on the outer shell of the rotary drum, in the disc-like rotary part arranged to rotate around the longitudinal axis of the transmission shaft. The driving of the rotary part of the shredding means can be arranged by means of the transmission shaft provided between the drive shaft and the rotary part. The rotary part's own axis of rotation is thus directed essentially perpendicularly to the axis of rotation of the rotary drum. This is a simple way of bringing about additional movement to the shredding means with respect to the outer shell of the rotary drum. Similarly, any prior art power transmission arrangement can be used to move the shredding means on the outer shell of the rotary drum.

Advantages achieved with the invention

Since the variety of the paths travelled by the shredding means increases, and their types of movement with respect to the blowing wool also increase markedly, the structure of the fibrous material and the bonds between its individual fibres can be loosened and even completely broken up more efficiently and evenly than before.

By means of the arrangement according to the invention is thus achieved a clearly more efficient shredding action for packed blowing wool than before and even more homogeneous and fluffier blowing wool for application. Due to the more efficient shredding effect, it is also possible to make the machine structurally very compact and simpler in overall structure. The machine is thus also more economical to manufacture. At the same time, it also be- comes easy to move, thus facilitating the use of the machine at less accessible sites.

Another advantage of the invention is easy adjustability to comply with the properties of the blowing wool. Further advantages of the solution according to the invention appear from the following, from a preferred embodiment of the invention.

List of figures The invention is described in greater detail in the following, with reference to the drawing. Therein,

Figure 1 shows a diagrammatic side view of a practical implementation of the machine according to the invention.

Figure 2 shows a perspective view of the rotary drum of the machine according to Figure 1 with shredding means. List of reference numerals

The method according to the invention can be implemented with the blowing machine according to the embodiment shown in the Figures, the reference numerals of which are listed in the following:

Blowing machine 1

Feeding area 2

Feed channel 3

Packed blowing wool material 4

Feeding direction of the blowing wool packages 5

Shredding means 6

Shredding branch 6b

Shredder shaft 7

Shredder drum 8

Shredder drum's outer shell 9

Shredding device 10

Shredding chamber 11

Transmission shaft 13

Rotary part 14

Actuator 15

Primary range of shredding means 16a

Secondary range of shredding means 16b

Direction of rotation of shredder shaft 17

Direction of discharge of blowing wool material 18

Detailed description of the invention

The basic constructive idea of the invention appears from Figure 1, which shows a diagrammatic side view of the blowing machine 1 and especially of its shredding device 10. The other parts comprised in the blowing machine, especially the means relating to blowing, are not shown. According to the prior art, the machine comprises a shredding device 10 for packed fibrous material, which includes a fibrous material feeding area 2. More precisely, it comprises a feed channel 3 or similar arrangement by means of which the packed fibrous material 4 is portioned and guided in the feeding direction 5 towards the shredding chamber 11 provided in connection with the feed channel.

Here, the shredding chamber comprises one shredder shaft 7 arranged to extend transversely to the feeding direction 5, by means of which are moved the means 6 provided in connection with it for shredding the blowing wool and for fluffing up the wool for application. The shredding means 6 are thus arranged to rotate around the shaft 7 with it. The shredding means are preferably arranged on the outer shell 9 of a drum 8 or similar cylindrical means located coaxially with the shaft 7. The shredding means 6 move with the drum on the outer shell, corresponding to its rotation and thus travelling along an even path following the circumference. At the same time they meet the material 4 to be shredded in the blowing wool feeding area, simultaneously fluffing it and shredding the bonds in it.

The invention is now characterised, firstly, by the fact that the shredding means 6 are arranged movably with respect to the shaft 7 so that they will be able to perform their own movement with respect to the shredder shaft 7 at the same time, independently of the shredder shaft or the drum 8. Here, the movement takes place also with respect to the outer shell 9 of the rotary drum.

In the embodiment of Figure 1, the shredding means 6 are located in rotary parts 14 supported on the shredder drum, which at the same time rotate at the desired speed around their own axes of rotation 13. This axis 13 is at the same time a transmission shaft 13 which transmits to the rotary parts 14 the power required for their rotation. A desired number of shredding means 6 can be provided for each rotary part 14.

A central idea of the invention lies therein that when the shredding means 6 in addition travel along their own relative path on the outer shell 9 of the rotary drum, an even more diversified combination of paths travelled by the shredding means with respect to the fibrous material to be shredded is obtained, and thus a wider variety of working movements used for fluffing and shredding the blowing wool, and further, a more evenly divided directional distribution of working movements with respect to the orientation of the fibrous material and its individual and bonded fibres, and essential variation in the speed of the shredding means with respect to the wool material in relation to all directional components of the movement. In this way is achieved a particularly compact structure which at the same time both provides an efficient working movement combination for the shredding means and, on the other hand, makes possible high-degree loosening and fluffing of the blowing wool material even in a very small space. At the same time, the dimensioning of the entire blowing machine can be re- duced considerably, which improves the usability of the machine.

Details and preferred embodiments of the invention

In the foregoing is described the central operating concept of the construc- tion according to the invention and its main features. In the following, details of the machine according to the invention are discussed further on the basis of some of its preferred embodiments.

The number of the shredding means 6 shown in Figure 1 in the rotary part 14 may be selected as desired, as may also the size and shape of the shredding means. Different sizes and shapes of the means 6 may also be used in the same or different rotary parts 14. In the range of the shredding means in the radial direction of the shredder shaft 7 and/or the rotary part 14 and in the axial direction of the rotary part can then be arranged mutual deviations to intensify the shredding action. In an individual shredding means 6 can, in addition, be provided one or more handling parts or branches 6b for handling the material 4. Furthermore, their fixing point with respect to the rotary part 14 may be selected controllably or arranged to be adjustable. An applicable prior art fixing method, such as fixing with bolts or the like, can be used. Similarly, each shredding means 6 can be arranged on the rotary part inde- pendently, or several means 6 via the same fixing point. As concerns the shredding means 6, both metal alloys and plastic compounds or similar known materials can be used as their material.

It is also not necessary for the shredder drum 8 to be circular, that is, a cyl- inder but, for example, a shape polygonal in cross-section, as indicated by reference numeral 9b, may also be used, whereupon the shredding means 6 can be arranged on the faces.

Figure 2 shows a perspective view of the shredder drum of Figure 1 with the shredding means.

Although the rotary part 14 has been discussed separately above, it may also be made a fixed part of the transmission shaft. On the other hand, it may be arranged removably, in which case it is possible to replace individual rotary parts 14 and the shredding means 6 fixed to them. The number and location of the transmission shafts 13 with respect to both the shaft 7 and the adjacent transmission shafts 13, and thus also the adjacent rotary parts, can be selected in the desired manner, for example, in accordance with the blowing wool material to be shredded. The rotary parts may be positioned with re- spect to the shaft 7, for example, into single or multiple spiral formations on the periphery of the rotary drum, as well as be essentially evenly distributed in the axial direction of the rotary drum or asymmetrical positioning may be used. The rotary parts 14 and shredding means 6 are preferably arranged in such a way that the ranges of the shredding means 6 cover essentially the entire shredder shaft 7 without a break and the shredder shaft without inter- ruption in the axial direction. The ranges of the axially successive shredding means 6 are, therefore, arranged to overlap to a desired extent. It is also possible to arrange rotary parts in the axial direction completely coaxially.

The speed of rotation of the rotary parts 14 can also be arranged to be ad- justable in the same way as the direction of rotation. The rotation of the shredding means 6 preferably takes place within the revolution range from 0.5 to 30 rpm (revolutions per minute), more preferably within the range from 1 to 10 rpm, most preferably within the range from 2 to 8 rpm. The direction of rotation of adjacent rotary parts can also be arranged to be the same or opposite to one another, as well as of a different magnitude.

Similarly, the speed of rotation of the shredder drum is preferably within the range from 0.1 to 5 rpm, extremely preferably within the range from 0.5 to 2 rpm. Due to the enhanced operation of the shredder drum and the shredding means, it is also possible to reduce the size of the shredder drum and at the same time reduce the size of the entire blowing machine. The outer diameter of the shredder drum 8 can be dimensioned even to a range from 0.2 to 0.5 m. Larger ones can obviously also be used. If, on the other hand, an embodiment is used where there are two or more rotary shafts 7, two adjacent rotary drums can be arranged to rotate either in the same direction or in different directions with respect to each other. Especially if several shafts are used, it is possible to use reduced dimensioning of the shredder drum.

Although the invention has been described in the foregoing with respect to an individual embodiment, it is obvious that the invention is not limited to this description and these Figures, but various modifications are conceivable within the scope of the accompanying claims, and the features described in connection with the different embodiments can likewise be used in connec ^¬ tion with the other embodiments within the scope of the basic idea of the invention and/or the features disclosed can be combined into different enti- ties if so desired and if the technical possibilities for this exist. Any inventive embodiment can, therefore, be implemented within the scope of the inventive idea. Although this application discloses applying the invention to shredding blowing wool, it may obviously also be used for shredding, mixing and fluffing other similar materials.