The invention relates to a method of lifting a winding shaft from the lifting position of the winding shaft located on rails or the like at a distance from one another, in which method the winding shaft is lifted from the rails or the like by means of at least two gripping members of a lifting device so that the winding shaft will be supported by the gripping members of the lifting device.

The invention also relates to a method of lowering and positioning a winding shaft onto the lowering position of the winding shaft located on rails or the like at a distance from one another, in which method the winding shaft carried by a lifting device that is provided with at least two gripping members is lowered onto the rails or the like.

The invention also relates to an arrangement for lifting a winding shaft from the lifting position of the winding shaft located on rails or the like at a distance from one another, or for lowering it onto the lowering position of the winding shaft located on rails or the like at a distance from one another, which arrangement comprises a lifting and lowering device provided with gripping members, by means of which the winding shaft can be lifted and carried, and from which the winding shaft can be lowered onto rails or the like.

When handling and storing thin and planar materials, such as a membrane, folio or paper, it is known to wind up the material on a winding shaft. Particularly, when the roll is large, the handling of the roll by lifting requires certain accuracy.

A heavy roll cannot be lowered onto the support of the winding shaft too fast or incorrectly positioned, since this may cause damage to the roll of material itself.

For the same reason, also the lifting of the roll from the support needs to be performed in a controlled manner. Further, the lifting device may experience damage, if the lifting is performed too fast or otherwise poorly controlled and guided. In the producing lines of a fibrous web, such as paper, the paper manufacture is carried out as a continuous process. A paper web being completed in a paper machine is wound by a reel-up onto a winding shaft, i.e. a reel spool, to form a machine reel, the diameter of which may exceed 3.5 m and the weight be more than 1 00 tons. When the diameter of the machine reel has reached a predetermined dimension, the winding onto an empty reel spool is started without interrupting the paper manufacturing process preceding the winding. The purpose of the winding is to convert the produced planar paper web into a more easily treatable form. On the reel-up the continuous process of the paper machine is broken for the first time and a cyclic operation is introduced. The aim is to perform this cyclic operation at as high efficiency as possible in order not to loose any work already done. Rolls or the like, the ends of which are mounted in bearings and the shaft of which passes through the bearings and is provided with a coupling for connecting the winding shaft to the drive, are generally used as winding shafts. The bearing system comprises typically a bearing housing, the periphery of which is shaped so as to comprise a groove so that the winding shaft may either roll with positive mode actuation or be stored on rails or the like.

On a paper production line certain grades may be subjected to treatments after the production process, such as coating or a handling that affects the surface features of the paper, e.g. calendering. These processes may comprise treatments performed either in a separate apparatus or in conjunction with the production process. The web on a machine reel produced in paper production is of full width and even more than 100 km long, whereby it needs to be slit into partial webs of suitable width and length for the customers of the paper mill and wound onto core tubes to form so-called customer reels before being delivered from the paper mill.

Thus, the processes taking place on paper production lines require transfer of machine reels and empty winding shafts from one process to another. Due to the heavy weight of a machine reel, the transfer of machine reels in conjunction with the process is carried out, according to prior art, typically along rails assisted and supported by machine elements arranged therein.

The lowering of a winding shaft onto rails, especially when a full machine reel is wound on it, is a very precision-demanding process stage. If the winding shaft/machine reel is not lowered in the transverse direction of the machine (in the longitudinal direction of the winding shaft) to an exactly correct position, it often happens that the machine reel/winding shaft falls during its rolling movement as much as 30 mm down to correct grooves, which causes damage to the machine reel in the form of deflection.

The cranes are usually provided with measurement of the vertical position of the lifting hook taking the strain of the hoisting wire rope into consideration, whereby the lowering height of the load can be controlled relatively precisely. A blow force is exerted on the winding shaft/machine reel when it is being lowered. In order to minimise this blow in practise, the lowering speed should be very low, but a low lowering speed decelerates the sequences and prolongs the work cycle time of the crane. Thus, one object is to min imise the final deceleration during the lowering of the winding shafts to be handled.

The accurate position of the crane hook is dependent of a number of things, such as the precision of the crane rail, the flexibility of the structures, the dimensional changes of the building as a function of time.

The handling of machine reels and winding shafts is thus of great significance for the operation of the production line. Further, the number of winding shafts is generally such that they need to be stored temporarily in the production line, while they are empty. Also full machine reels, i.e. winding shafts when they form cores of the machine reel, are stored temporarily during the production process.

One object of the invention is to provide a method of lowering and positioning a winding shaft onto the lowering position of the winding shaft located on rails or the like at a distance from one another, in which method the winding shaft carried by a lifting device provided with at least two gripping members is lowered onto the rails or the like, whereby the lowering takes place into an exactly correct position.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method of lifting a winding shaft from the lifting position of the winding shaft located on rails or the like at a distance from one another, in which method the winding shaft is lifted from the rails or the like by means of at least two gripping members of a lifting device so that the winding shaft will be supported by the gripping members, and by which method the guiding of the gripping members over to the winding shaft is performed in a reliable and dependable manner.

The objects of the invention are mainly achieved so that the positioning of at least one gripping member in the lifting or lowering situation is guided by controlling the position of the gripping member with respect to the rail or the like.

One object of the invention is also to provide an arrangement for lifting a winding shaft from the lifting position of the winding shaft located on rails or the like at a distance from one another, or for lowering the winding shaft to the lowering position of the winding shaft located on rails or the like at a distance from one another, which arrangement comprises a lifting and lowering device provided with gripping members, by means of which the winding shaft can be lifted and carried, and from which the winding shaft can be lowered onto rails or the like, and which arrangement ensures a precise and dependable lowering of the winding shaft onto rails or the like.

The objects of the invention are mainly achieved so that the arrangement comprises members arranged to affect the position of the gripping members in order to position the gripping members in their lifting and lowering positions.

Thus, the winding shaft according to the present invention may be empty or a fibrous web or another material may be wound onto it. Preferably, the positioning of the winding shaft onto rails or the like is guided by controlling the position of the gripping member carrying the winding shaft with respect to both rails. Then, the arrangement comprises members, arranged in conjunction with both rails or the like to affect the position of the gripping members, for positioning the winding shaft.

Preferably, a positioning device arranged in the lowering position guides mechanically the movement of the gripping members with respect to the rail or the like in the vicinity of the rail.

According to one embodiment, the position of the gripping member with respect to the rail is controlled by means of a positioning device arranged in at least one gripping member.

According to another embodiment, the position of the gripping member with respect to the rail or the like is controlled as cooperation of a mechanical positioning device arranged in the gripping member and in the lowering/lifting position.

The positioning device arranged in the gripping member comprises, according to another embodiment, preferably a distance measuring device, by which the distance between the gripping member and a reference point is determined. In the method, according to one preferable embodiment, the position of the gripping member with respect to the reference point is controlled on the basis of the determined distance.

In the method, according to another preferable embodiment, the kinetic speed of the gripping member with respect to the reference point is controlled on the basis of the distance.

The mechanical positioning device comprises preferably a guide surface for the gripping member on the surface facing the gripping member, which guide surface approaches the gripping member in the lifting situation in the lowering direction of the gripping member.

Preferably, the guide surface is chamfered in vertical direction so that its upper edge is closer to its mounting surface than its central area.

Preferably, the guide surface is chamfered in vertical direction also so that its lower edge is closer to its mounting surface than its central area.

According to one embodiment, the mechanical positioning device comprises a groove or the like on its guide surface, the transverse dimension of which in regard to the longitudinal direction of the winding shaft decreases at least in the direction downwards.

Additional characteristic features of the invention are disclosed in the appended claims and in the following description of the embodiments shown in the figures.

Numerous advantages are achieved by the present invention. By means of the invention, the winding shafts are lowered dependably into a correct position and thus for instance a damage to the bottom of the machine reel and a deflection damage to the winding shaft that may occur even in a short uncontrolled fall, are avoided. In addition, the gripping member can be directed over to the winding shaft very accurately and reliably in the lifting situation.

In the following, the invention and its operation will be explained with reference to the appended schematic drawings, of which

Figure 1 shows an arrangement according to one embodiment of the invention,

Figure 2a shows the section M-Il of Figure 1 according to one embodiment;

Figure 2b shows the section M-Il of Figure 1 according to another embodiment; Figure 2c shows the section M-Il of Figure 1 according to yet another embodiment;

Figure 2d shows the section M-Il of Figure 1 in a lifting situation according to yet another embodiment; - Figure 3 shows an arrangement according to another embodiment of the invention, and

Figure 4 shows the section M-Il of Figure 3 according to one embodiment.

Figure 1 shows one embodiment of the arrangement 10 according to the invention for lowering and positioning of a winding shaft 15 to the lowering/lifting position 20 of the winding shaft or for lifting the winding shaft from the lowering/lifting position. Figure 2a shows the section M-Il of Figure 1. In the situation shown in Figure 1 , the winding shaft 15 is empty and it is being lowered onto rails or the like 25. A full machine reel might as well be wound up on the winding shaft. Figure 1 is shown in the longitudinal direction L of the winding shaft, and although not shown in the figure, the rails 25 may in practise be quite long in the perpendicular direction with respect to the longitudinal direction L of the winding shaft. On the other hand, the rails or the like may also be relatively short, for instance when the lowering/lifting position 20 consists of the storage pedestal of the winding shaft. In other words, the rails or the like may at the shortest be only long enough to receive the winding shaft 15 lowered on top of them.

The outer surface of the winding shaft 15 comprises a mainly cylindrical body part 15.1 and shaft journals 15.2 arranged at the ends thereof. The ends of the shaft journals are provided with couplings 15.3 for connecting the drives to the winding shaft. Typically, the winding shaft is supported onto the base, such as the rails 25, by means of bearing housings 30. Supported by means of the bearing housings 30 the winding shaft 15 is rotatably supported onto the base. Between the bearing housings 30 and the body part 15.1 the shaft journal is provided with an area, from which the winding shaft can be lifted by means of the gripping members, such as hooks 40, of a lifting and lowering device 45, i.e. a crane. Then, the rotary motion of the winding shaft 15 is locked up in the hook 40 during the lift, and the machine reel wound up on the winding shaft cannot start to unwind during the lift.

In order to be able to lower the winding shaft into an exactly correct lowering position and in order to direct the gripping members, i.e. the hooks 40, to an exactly correct lifting position with respect to the winding shaft, the arrangement according to the invention comprises members 100 that affect the position of the gripping members, i.e. the hooks 40, in order to position the gripping members 40 with respect to the rails or the like 25 for use in both lifting and lowering situations.

In the embodiment according to Figure 1 , the outer surfaces s of the hooks 40 are essentially planar, at least in the lower part of the hook, which extends to a distance d from the outer surface of the bearing housing 30, while the winding shaft is carried by the hook. Both rails 25 comprise members 100 arranged to affect the position of the hooks 40 for positioning the gripping members 40, and thereby the winding shaft 15, onto the rails or the like 25 during the lowering process. The members also guide the hooks 40 to a correct lifting position 20 during the lifting process. In this embodiment, the members 100 comprise a mechanical positioning device 1 10, which extends from the inner edge of the rail 25 to a further distance L1 than the bearing housing 30 of the winding shaft 15 towards the area between the rails. The positioning device 110 controls mechanically the position of the hook 40 with respect to the rail 25 during the lowering. This is embodied in Figure 1 so that the positioning device comprises a guide surface 115, which in the lowering situation approaches the surface 41 of the gripping member in the lowering direction of the gripping member. This is achieved by locating the positioning device 110 in the upper part of the guide surface 115 at a shorter distance L1 from the inner edge of the rail 25 than the distance L2 determined in the central area of the guide surface 115. The distance L2 is longer than the distance the bearing housing 30 of the winding shaft 15 extends from the groove acting as a support point 35 of the bearing housing 30 in said direction. Thus, the positioning device comprises a chamfered guide surface, the upper edge of which is closer to the mounting surface of the positioning device and the rail body than the central area 116 thereof. Further, the positioning device 110 is in the lower part of the guide surface 115 located at a shorter distance L1 from the inner edge of the rail 25 than the distance L2 determined in the central area 116 of the guide surface 115. This makes the guidance of the hooks 40 accurate, when the hooks 40 are taken towards the shaft journals 17 of the winding shaft at the lifting stage. Thus, the positioning device decreases the allowance of the gripping members concurrently with the gripping members approaching the final lowering/lifting position.

The arrangement is used in the lowering situation so that the winding shaft carried by a lifting device provided with two gripping members is lowered onto rails or the like so that the winding shaft will be supported by the bearing housings located essentially at the ends of the winding shaft, and the positioning of the winding shaft onto the rails or the like is guided by controlling the position of at least one gripping member carrying the winding shaft with respect to the rail. This is accomplished according to one embodiment by affecting essentially directly on the position of the gripping members.

The arrangement is used in the lifting situation so that the winding shaft is lifted by the two gripping members of the lifting device from the rails or the like so that the winding shaft will be supported by the gripping members of the lifting device, and before the lifting of the winding shaft from the rails or the like the gripping members are taken to the winding shaft at the same time as the positioning of at least one gripping member to the lifting position is controlled by adjusting the position of the gripping member with respect to the rail or the like by affecting the gripping member.

The positioning device may be a separate part, i.e. a guiding member, attached to a specific point/points in the frame structure of the rail 25, or it may be arranged as an integral part of the frame structure of the rail or as a shape of the frame structure. The positioning device 110 may be made of partially or totally flexible material and it may also be arranged movably so that it may be led away from the path of the gripping members, if so required. Preferably, a positioning device 110 is arranged in conjunction with both rails 25, whereby the longitudinal L positioning of the winding shaft for the lowering position is symmetric and thus also more precise. Thus, the position of both gripping members 40 carrying the winding shaft 15 with respect to the rails is controlled at the final stage of the lowering situation.

The rails 25 are located at a distance from one another in the longitudinal direction L of the winding shaft so that the distance between the rails corresponds to the distance between the support points 35 of the bearing housings 30 in the winding shaft to be driven.

The arrangement according to Figure 1 operates in the lowering situation so that the positioning device 110 in the rails is in direct contact with the hook at the final stage of the lowering movement of the winding shaft.

The invention also includes an arrangement for lifting the winding shaft from the lowering position of the winding shaft, i.e. from rails or the like at a distance from one another, which arrangement comprises a lifting device provided with gripping members, whereby the arrangement comprises members arranged to affect the position of the gripping members for lifting the winding shaft. In this manner, the position of the gripping members on the shaft journal 17 of the winding shaft 15, while it starts the lifting, is positioned more precisely to be correct. Preferably, the members arranged to affect the position of the gripping members affect the position of the gripping members with respect to the winding shaft during the lifting/lowering.

The size and height of the positioning device 110 is such that the release and removal of the hook 40 is unobstructed after the lowering.

Figure 2b shows another embodiment of the members 100 according to the invention. Here, the members for positioning the gripping members also comprise a mechanical positioning device 125 arranged in conjunction with the gripping member, i.e. the hook 40, for controlling the position of the gripping member with respect to the rail 25 at least in the transverse direction with respect to the longitudinal direction L of the winding shaft. In addition, in this embodiment the mechanical positioning device 110 in conjunction with the rails comprises a groove or the like 126 on its guide surface 1 15, the transverse dimension of which in regard to the longitudinal direction L of the winding shaft decreases from the upper edge downwards, i.e. in the lowering direction of the winding shaft 15. In the same way, the transverse dimension of the groove or the like 126 in regard to the longitudinal direction L of the winding shaft decreases from the lower edge of the positioning device upwards. The groove extends in the vertical direction through the entire positioning device 110, whereby the hook can be taken low enough for releasing the winding shaft from the hook in the lowering situation. The transverse dimension of the groove 126 with respect to the longitudinal direction L of the winding shaft and the dimension of the positioning device 125 arranged in conjunction with the gripping member, i.e. the hook 40, and the shapes of these are such that while lowering the winding shaft onto a rail, the positioning device 125 on the hook is guided into the groove or the like 126 and thus it positions the winding shaft in transverse direction with respect to its longitudinal direction L, while the guide surface 1 15 simultaneously guides the hook by affecting its outer surface and positions the winding shaft in its longitudinal direction L.

As illustrated in Figure 2d, the winding shaft 15 is lifted by the two gripping members 40 of the lifting device from the rails or the like 25 so that before the lifting of the winding shaft 15 from the rails or the like the gripping members 40 are taken to the winding shaft at the same time as the positioning of at least one gripping member 40 to the lifting position is controlled by adjusting the position of the gripping member with respect to the rail or the like by affecting the gripping member. In the lifting situation, the positioning device 125 for the gripping member 40 is guided into the groove or the like 126 and thus the hook 40 is positioned in transverse direction with respect to the longitudinal direction L of the winding shaft, while the guide surface 115 simultaneously guides the hook to a correct lifting position on the shaft journal 17 of the winding shaft by affecting its outer surface.

Figure 2c shows a similar situation as in Figure 2a with the exception that the winding shaft is lowered on pedestals or a trolley 26, whereby the rails are very short.

Figure 3 shows another embodiment of the arrangement 10 according to the invention for lowering and positioning a winding shaft 15 to the lowering/lifting position 20 of the winding shaft or for lifting the winding shaft from the lowering/lifting position 20. Figure 4 shows the section M-Il of Figure 3. This embodiment corresponds to the embodiment shown in Figure 1 , and also here, both rails 25 comprise members 100 arranged to affect the position of the hooks 40 for positioning the gripping members 40 onto the rails or the like 25. The members 100 comprise in this embodiment an electronic positioning device 120, which is arranged to determine the distance of the hook 40 to the rail 25 and/or its frame structure. The electronic positioning device 120 is arranged to communicate with the control device of the crane (not shown). In practise, the electronic positioning device 120 is preferably a distance-measuring device, which determines the distance of the hook 40 from the rail 25 and/or its frame structure, and the movement of the crane hooks 40 is controlled on the basis of the measured distance at least during the final deceleration of the lowering / during the lifting just before the hooks 40 grip onto the winding shaft. According to one embodiment, the operation of the crane is arranged to be dependent on the distance-measuring at the final stage of the lowering. Preferably, the operation of the crane is arranged to be dependent on the distance-measuring at the final stage of the lowering so that the lowering speed of the hook 40 is dependent on the distance-measuring especially so that the shorter the distance between the hook and the frame structure of the rail or a specific other reference point 121 is, the lower the speed is. Figure 3 shows (left side) that the reference point 121 may be a mechanical positioning device 110 or that (right side) the reference point can be arranged in a separate reference piece. By means of this kind of control, the final deceleration can be activated later than before, whereby the whole lifting process can take place within a shorter time than before. As shown in Figure 3, the positioning device 120 is located on both hooks 40. In this manner, possible dissymmetry effects can be minimised and the winding shaft 15 lowered onto the rails in a correct position more precisely than before. Figure 3 also shows that the arrangement can at the same time be provided with both an electronic positioning device 120 and a mechanical positioning device 110.

It is to be noted that only a few most advantageous embodiments of the invention are described in the above. Thus, it is clear that the invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but may be applied in many ways within the frame of the appended claims. The features described in conjunction with the different embodiments may be used in conjunction with other embodiments as well, and/or various combinations of the described features may be made within the frame of the basic idea of the invention, if so desired and if technical feasibility for this exists.