Fibre-web manufacturing line and a slitter-winder arrangement

The invention relates to manufacturing a fibre web, such as a paper web, more particularly to slitting and winding. The invention relates to a manufacturing line according to the preamble of claim 1.

The invention also relates to a slitter-winder arrangement according to the preamble of claim 15.

As known from prior art, 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 (120 km/h) and the width of the paper web can be more than 11 m.

In paper-manufacturing lines known from prior art, paper making takes place as a continuous process. A paper web completing in a paper machine is wound with a winder around a winding shaft i.e. a reel spool into a machine roll the diameter of which can be more than 3.5 m and the weight of which more than 100 tons. The purpose of winding is to modify the paper web manufactured 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 is tried to be made with efficiency as good as possible in order to not to waste already done work.

The machine-roll 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 to be wound around cores into so-called customer rolls before delivering from the paper mill. These slitting and winding take place as known from prior art in an appropriate separate machine i.e. in a

slitter-winder.

As known from prior art, in the slitter-winder the machine roll 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 cores, such as spools, into customer rolls. When the customer rolls are completed, the slitter- winder is stopped and the rolls i.e. the so-called set is removed from the machine after which the process is continued with the winding of a new set. These stages are repeated periodically until paper runs out of the machine roll, whereby a machine roll change is performed and the operation starts again as the winding of a new machine roll.

In high-speed paper-manufacturing lines known from prior art, the paper machine can produce more paper than a single slitter-winder is able to process, whereby the line requires several slitter- winders which are normally located in the direction of the machine line and side by side at a certain distance from each other. Many times into the space between them is located a control room of the machines or a corresponding arrangement.

In layout arrangements according to prior art, typically the first slitter-winder is usually arranged as a so-called inline slitter-winder, which means that it is located in line with the paper machine i.e. in the principal machine line. The second slitter-winder is a so-called offline slitter-winder i.e. it is not located in the centre line of the paper machine but normally beside the first slitter- winder, in its own so-called aisle i.e. in an extension section of the machine room built for it. Both slitter-winders produce customer rolls which are transported by roll conveyors first e.g. to the roll packaging machine to be packed and finally to the storage before delivering to the customers.

Published application EP 1413538 introduces a slitter- winder layout of the above- described type in which 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 by its side aside from the principal machine line.

Published application JP 2003165654, for its part, also introduces a slitter-winder layout of the above-described type in which in the paper-manufacturing line are located one slitter-winder in the principal machine line and one or more slitter- winders by its side aside from the principal machine line.

Slitter-winders known from prior art become expensive of their costs, because both slitter- winders require their own hoists for transferring empty winding shafts. Furthermore, costs are increased by that a machine-roll carriage is required for transferring the machine rolls onto adjacent slitter- winders. Also for each adjacent slitter-winder is required a pulper for broke, which incurs costs.

In prior-art slitter- winders, onto a slitter- winder being in the paper machine line but not coupled with transfer rails in the paper machine, a machine roll is normally brought with a hoist and lowered onto transfer rails which are typically located so that the height of the centre of the machine roll from the floor level is about 2.5 m. In embodiments in which the winder and the slitter- winder of the paper machine are coupled together with transfer rails inline, the machine roll is transferred along the transfer rails from the winder to the slitter-winder. Onto a prior-art offline slitter-winder, a machine roll carriage brings a machine roll at the end of the transfer rails and transfers the machine roll onto the transfer rails.

The prior-art transfer rails of full machine rolls consist of horizontal or inclined rails with their stand-by stations. On the transfer rails, there are normally one or more rail gates which enable the operator to access the machine rolls. On the transfer rails, the machine roll is transferred from one stand-by station to another until an unwinding station. On horizontal transfer rails, the transfer is done by means of a transfer device and, on inclined transfer rails, by means of gravity by allowing the machine roll to roll along the inclined transfer rails, whereby the

stand-by stations are provided with mechanisms by means of which the machine roll is stopped and released towards the unwinding station.

As known from prior art, the unwinding station typically consists of two unwind stands which carry the machine roll during unwinding. Locking arms are pivoted in the unwind stands by means of which the machine roll is locked in place for the time of unwinding. The machine roll at the unwinding station is coupled to a brake generator which operates as the actuator of the unwinder.

As known from prior art, usually after the unwinding, the emptied reel spool i.e. winding shaft is removed from the unwinding station either manually by lifting with a hoist or automatically by means of a handling apparatus of the reel spool. The handling apparatus of the reel spool consists either of vertical lifting devices or turning lifting arms and upper 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 return rails on which there are normally several return station points, in each fixed return station point can be located one reel spool. Typically, the return station (spool storage) is located above the unwinding or the slitting and winding 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 by means of the stopping and releasing mechanisms. From the return rails, the empty reel spool is removed and transferred onto the winder of the paper machine by the hoist or the machine-roll carriage. 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 onto the winder.

As known from prior art, before the almost empty reel spools can be returned onto the winder, possible broke paper remaining on the roll has to be removed. For this operation, there exists either a separate unloading point or such is arranged on the transfer rails or the return rails. At the unloading point, the rotating device of the

machine roll rotates the bottom layers of the machine roll into a pulper. The same point and apparatus can be used for removing bad paper layers possibly on the machine roll or even for unloading a whole broke machine roll into the pulper. Many times, the lifting devices of the reel spools are dimensioned so that only a little paper can be on the reel spool, whereby in situations in which a reel spool on which there is still a lot of paper or possibly a whole machine roll ends up as broke, the unloading of the roll has been had to perform at the unwinding station, whereby the time used for unloading is absent from the production capacity. On the other hand, unloading performed on the return rails has caused faults in the reel spool traffic.

In arrangements known from prior art, the handling of reel spools i.e. winding shafts has thus required hoists and different other lifting devices. Furthermore, the handling of reel spools has many times been complex and required many different work stages, because the return station points have been fixed and, additionally, the different work stages have been performed at different points.

An object of the invention is to provide a fibre-web manufacturing line in which the above-described problems and disadvantages have been eliminated or at least minimised.

An object of the invention is also to create an arrangement for handling reel spools which is cheap of its costs, well-defined and offers varying possibilities.

In the following description and claims, the term reel spool is used for describing different winding shafts and equivalents around which the machine roll is wound and from which the machine roll is unwound before slitting. Additionally, it should be noted that even though this description primarily refers to paper, the invention is also applicable in connection with manufacturing other fibre webs. Furthermore, it should be noted that 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, and that 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.

To achieve the above-mentioned objects and those that come out later, the invention is principally characterised by what is presented in the characterising part of claim 1.

Again, a slitter-winder arrangement according to the invention is principally characterised by what is presented in the characterising part of claim 15.

The arrangement according to the invention provides a totally new arrangement into connection with the slitting of paper-manufacturing lines in which transits and transfers are constituted by following a totally novel way of thinking.

According to the invention, the slitter- winders of the paper-manufacturing line are located in the machine line successively so that their unwinders are on the machine level and the slitting and winding sections below the machine level downstairs. Between the unwinding stations of the slitter-winders are located return rails of the reel spools which function as a storage point of the reel spools and as an unloading point of machine rolls and/or machine-roll bottom ends.

It should be noted that the term successively does not limit the use, structure or operation direction of the slitter- winders but indicates that the slitter-winders are located substantially in the same principal machine-directional line.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the transfer rails of the machine roll are of the so-called through-winding type i.e. the unwinding station is also through- winding, whereby the handling of machine rolls is simple and straightforward.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the return rails are located substantially on the same level as the transfer rails along which the machine rolls are transferred from a stand-by station of the paper-manufacturing line winder to be unwound at the unwinding station. Then, empty reel spools and broke machine rolls can be transferred by means of a transfer carriage from the unwinding or from the transfer rails onto the return rails for storing or for unloading broke. The return rails are located substantially immediately after the transfer rails. According to another advantageous embodiment of the invention, the transfer rails are coupled in the return rails on an inclined plane.

By means of the invention, return rails are provided in which the return stations are dynamic i.e. the reel spools can be located based on available space at any point on the return rails. Then, storage can take place based on the available space and the unloading of machine-roll bottom ends or a broke machine roll into the pulper can take place at a desired point on the return rails.

According to an advantageous additional characteristic of the invention, in the transfer carriage of the reel spools, there are rotating devices which provide the rotating of the reel spool/broke machine roll when emptying broke from the reel spool and/or brakes by means of which rotating can be braked. When unloading paper from the reel spool/broke machine roll, also a traversing knife etc. can be used by means of which the paper on the reel spool/broke machine roll is cut layer by layer which cut paper layers are guided straight into the pulper, whereby the arrangement does not require a rotating device.

According to an advantageous additional characteristic of the invention, the splicing of unwinding is performed on the side of the emptying reel spool as a so- called back splice utilising e.g. AutoSplice technique known as such, whereby advantageously as the auxiliary device of making the back splice can be used the brakes of the transfer carriage. Then, it is also possible to perform splicing

operations with one AutoSplice apparatus at both unwinding stations. Into connection with the AutoSplice apparatus can also advantageously be arranged the above-described traversing knife etc. by means of which the paper of the reel spool/broke machine roll is cut layer by layer when unloading paper from the reel spool/broke machine roll into the pulper.

The invention also enables the advantageous locating and functioning of a BJS (Back Joint Splicer) apparatus operating in creeping speed.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, between the unwinding stations of the slitter-winders downstairs, there is a shared pulper for both in which paper broke, the bottom ends of the machine roll and broke machine rolls can be conveniently unloaded.

According to an advantageous additional characteristic of the invention, the structure of the cover of the pulper hole is such that the location of the hole opening into the pulper and the number of holes can be altered.

By means of the invention is achieved a considerable advantage because there is no need for a hoist for the return of the reel spools i.e. winding shafts or there is no need for arranging a separate storage for the winding shafts nor an unloading point of machine-roll bottom ends. Because also the unloading point of the machine-roll bottom ends is between the unwindings, the bottom-end broke can advantageously be conveyed into the shared pulper arranged between the unwinding stations.

The present invention and its different embodiments are applicable to be used in connection with both new paper-manufacturing lines and the modernising of paper-manufacturing lines.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawing, to the details of which the invention is, however, by no means intended to be narrowly confined.

Fig. 1 schematically shows an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 schematically shows an arrangement according to an additional characteristic of the invention.

Figs. 3A-3D schematically show an arrangement according to another additional characteristic of the invention.

The following figures schematically describe different embodiments of the invention. In the figures, the same designations are used of parts corresponding each other.

Fig. 1 schematically shows an embodiment of the invention in which a paper machine comprises two slitter-winders 2OA, 2OB which both comprise a slitting and winding section 26 A, 26B of an unwinding station 2 IA, 2 IB. The slitter- winders are located in the machine line successively. In the embodiment of the figure, the unwinding stations 2 IA, 2 IB are on the machine level M opposite each other and the slitting and winding sections 26A, 26B are downstairs N. On a winding drum 11 of a winder 10 of the paper machine, a paper web completing in the paper machine is wound into a machine roll 12 around a winding shaft i.e. a reel spool 13. The completed machine rolls 12 are transferred along transfer rails 40 to a stand-by station 15, from which the machine rolls 12 are further transferred along transfer rails to a stand-by station 16A of the unwinding station 21 A of the first slitter- winder 2OA or to a stand-by station 16B of the unwinding station 2 IB of the second slitter- winder 2OB along the transfer rails 40. If a spool carriage 18 is required in the embodiment, it can be located e.g. in a place shown in the figure. From the stand-by station 16A, 16B, the machine rolls are

transferred to be unwound at the unwinding station 21A, 21B. According to Fig. 1, the slitting and winding sections 26A, 26B of both slitter- winders 2OA, 2OB are located below the machine level M downstairs on a so-called basement level N.

After the unwinding, the reel spool 13 is transferred to a return station 41 which simultaneously operates as storage for empty reel spools 13 and, if paper broke remains on the reel spool 13, as an unloading point of broke layers. From both unwinding stations 2 IA, 2 IB, the reel spools 13 are transferred to the same return station 41 located between the unwinding stations below which is located a pulper 30. Between the unwinding stations of the slitter- winders is located a return station i.e. the return rails 41 of the reel spools which function as a storage point of the reel spools 12 and as an unloading point of machine -roll bottom ends. The return rails 41 are located substantially on the same level as the transfer rails 40 along which the machine rolls 12 are transferred from a stand-by station of the paper-manufacturing line winder to be unwound at the unwinding station. Then, empty reel spools and broke machine rolls can be transferred by means of transfer carriages (not shown) in connection with the rails from the unwinding or from the transfer rails onto the return rails 41 for storing or for unloading broke. At both ends of the reel spool is coupled one transfer carriage moving on rails. On the return rails 41, the return stations are dynamic i.e. the reel spools can be located based on available space at any point on the return rails. Then, storage can take place based on the available space and the unloading of machine-roll bottom ends or a broke machine roll from the reel spools 13 into the pulper 30 can take place at a desired point on the return rails 41. As evident from the figure, the upper surface of the return rails 41 carried by which the ends of the reel spools 13 are located is advantageously substantially even, whereby the reel spools 13 can be located substantially freely on the return rails 41.

Fig. 2 shows a pulper 30 according to an advantageous additional characteristic of the invention which pulper is large and has advantageously many holes.

According to the figure, a pulper hole 31 extends in the whole area of the return

station 41 and can be totally closed, if required, with pivoted cover parts 32A, 32B. The cover of the hole 31 of the pulper 30 comprises at least one part 32A; 32B for constituting a protective guard on the edge of the pulper hole and the cover part constituting this protective guard can be transversed into a maintenance and/or passage plane. Furthermore, the pulper hole 31 advantageously comprises in the machine direction and the opposite direction MS/MR transferable cover parts 33 by means of which partial holes 34 guiding into the pulper 30 can be arranged at a desired point based on at which point broke/bottom ends are unloaded into the pulper 30. The cover parts 33 can be interleaved in relation to each other as shown in the figure.

Figs. 3A-3D show, according to an additional characteristic of the invention, an AutoSplicer apparatus 61 located at the return station 41 by means of which a so- called back splice can be done for machine rolls 12 being unwound at the unwinding stations. In the situation shown in Fig. 3 A, the reel spool 13 at the unwinding station is almost empty. According to Fig. 3B, along the transfer rails 41 is brought the next machine roll 12 towards the unwinding station and the emptying reel spool 13 is coupled in the AutoSplicer apparatus 61. According to Fig. 3C, the new machine roll 12 and the emptying reel spool 13 are transferred along the transfer rails 41 into the immediate vicinity of each other and, according to what is shown in Fig. 3D, a back splice is performed with the AutoSplicer apparatus 61, in which the web coming from the new machine roll 12 is spliced to the web coming from the emptying reel spool 13, after which the unwinding transfers to the new machine roll 12.

It should be noted that in this description and claims, the machine level M and the basement level N refer to, first on the part of the machine level M, the principal machine level and, for the basement level N, the level below the machine level M without limiting these meanings to the floor level of the spaces in question.

The invention was described above only referring to some of its advantageous embodiments, to the details of which the invention is, however, by no means intended to be narrowly confined.