Generally, the invention relates to improved methods and mechanisms for dewatering paper webs. More specifically, the inventions are improved processes and machines, which produce better paper quality at reduced production costs and increased energy efficiencies. The improved methods and machines include devices that are arranged in the forming or wet section of a Fourdrinier paper machine, hereinafter referred to as a “Fourdrinier.” The devices are adjusted via actuators, which may be manually operated by means of manual actuators or with motors controlled through a programmable microprocessor. The term motors should be construed to include electric, pneumatic, hydraulic, and the like.
For purposes of this application, the term “machine direction” with respect to the Fourdrinier extends from the front “wet” end to the rear “dry” end. “Cross-machine direction” extends from one side of the paper machine to the opposite side thereof. In the present invention, a pair of sloped grooves on opposite sides of a moving cam-block is oriented in the cross-machine direction and driven from side-to-side in the cross-machine direction to either adjust an angle or a height of a foil blade for improved dewatering purposes. For purposes of this application, the term “pultrusion” refers to a manufacture of composite materials having a constant cross-section. Likewise, the terms “leading edges” and “trailing edges” used with respect to the term cam-block refers to the left and right sides of the cam-block when viewed from either side of the Fourdrinier and are referenced with the sheet direction of the forming paper.
The forming or wet section of a Fourdrinier consists mainly of the head box and the forming wire, or fabric. Its main purpose is to generate consistent slurry, or paper pulp, for the forming wire. A breast roll, several foils, suction boxes and a couch roll commonly make up the rest of the forming section. The press section and dryer section follow the forming section to further remove water from the paper sheet. The paper pulp is deposited atop the forming wire or a forming fabric. The pulp is then dewatered to create a paper sheet.
Adjustable foils have been utilized previously for dewatering operations in Fourdrinier machines. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,500 to Mejdell, incorporated by reference thereto, discloses an angle adjustable foil for a paper making machine. In Mejdell, a rigid foil member is pivoted by a cam-actuated adjustment mechanism to change the angle of the foil blade. This tends to move the foil blade in the cross-machine direction which opens a gap between the wet paper stock and the foil blade. The opened gap causes a loss of vacuum on the paper sheet. An aim of the present invention is to overcome this inefficiency.
The improved devices of the present mechanism includes an upper pultrusion assembly arranged atop a lower pultrusion assembly to create a recess which contains a plurality of parts arranged therein to yield an adjustment mechanism. The adjustment mechanism includes cam-blocks, an actuator and associated couplers, guide keys, a connecting rod and glide shoes. Each cam-block includes a pair of inclined planar grooves and rides atop a glide shoe such that the cam-blocks may be slid toward a driven end or in an opposite direction to adjust either the height of a respective foil or an angle of a respective foil, according to whether the sloped grooves are utilizing the same angle, or different angles. Each planar groove includes an open side to allow the fasteners of the guide key to pass there through. One of the inclined grooves is provided on a first face of the cam-block; the other inclined groove is arranged on an opposite face of the cam-block. Guide keys are affixed on an interior surface of the upper pultrusion and extend into the inclined grooves to communicate with the cam-blocks and raise/lower or adjust and angle of the upper pultrusion as the cam-blocks move in a respective direction. Thus, the invention may be realized as two separate embodiments; one for adjusting a foil height when the slopes of the inclined grooves present on the sides of the cam-blocks are equal and the other for adjusting a foil angle when the slopes of the inclined grooves on the front and trailing edges of the cam-blocks are unequal. That is, the rate of change of the front and trailing edges are equal when the cam-blocks are driven from one side to the other side of the Fourdrinier. For ease in understanding the invention, it should be recognized that the upper pultrusions 25A, 25B may be referred to as the upper pultrusion 25. Differences and commonalities in operation and working components of each are discussed below.
An actuator forming part of the improved adjustment mechanism is arranged at one end of the lower pultrusion assembly and is linked to a connecting rod that pushes or pulls the cam-blocks in a respective cross-machine direction to effect the height or angle adjustment of a particular foil. In this manner, the inclined planar grooves of each cam-block assist in causing a change in height or angle of the upper pultrusion assembly. An end of the lower pultrusion assembly, opposite to the actuator, is provided with an indicator means for visually observing the angle or height of the foil. This indicator may include a modified rod with measuring rings which indicate a height or angle. Otherwise, the indicator may include marks on an end plate. It should be recognized that certain modifications may be undertaken to the instant invention. For instance, a manual adjustment mechanism may be provided at one end of the lower pultrusion assembly in lieu of the motorized actuator as respectively shown in
As it can be understood from the various drawings, the upper pultrusion assembly includes at least one ceramic surface, which is atop the upper support pultrusion assembly, referenced throughout as upper pultrusion. The upper support pultrusion typically comprises a fiberglass material or fiber reinforced material. A scraper and its associated holder are affixed onto opposite sides or faces of the upper support pultrusion assembly. Each scraper directs fluids and contaminants away from where the upper pultrusion assembles to the lower pultrusion. The upper support pultrusion assembly is formed in an elongated manner, having a complementary shape to accept the upper side of the cam-blocks such that when the cam-blocks are withdrawn to one side of the Fourdrinier, the ceramic foil is aligned at for instance either a zero height in elevation or a −1 degree angle depending on the particular height or angle adjustment application. It is should be noted that the reference points and ranges for the heights and angles may be adjusted according to user needs and that any set forth in this application should be considered for illustrative purposes and not in a limiting sense. When the cam-blocks are forced towards the side opposite the actuator, the inclined grooves of the cam-blocks communicate with guide keys fastened to the interior side of the upper support pultrusion assembly to raise the height of the ceramic foil or change the angle. If the slope of the inclined grooves of the leading and trailing edges are equal then a height adjustment mechanism may be realized. Otherwise, if the included grooves are unequal then an angle adjustment mechanism may be implemented. Raising and lowering the ceramic foil or adjusting the angle of the foil to the paper sheet manipulates the fiber alignment in the paper sheet forming process.
Two separate embodiments are realized by sloping the inclined grooves of the cam-blocks in either direction across the paper machine. That is, a height adjustable foil may be implemented by providing cam-blocks with a front and rear face having inclined grooves formed therein. The inclined grooves slope from one side to the other whilst maintaining the same degree of slope of the inclined groove on both faces. In an angle adjustment embodiment, the inclined grooves formed in the surfaces of the faces of the cam-blocks may incorporate different angled grooves and sloped as shown in the drawings. That is, an angle adjustable foil may be implemented by sloping the inclined grooves on opposite faces of the cam-blocks at different angles causing the rate of change from the front end of the foil to vary from that of the back end. This forces a larger amount of displacement on, for example, the leading edge of the foil to occur thereby allowing an operator to adjust the angle at which the edges of the foil contact the underside of the forming wire or paper sheet. By maintaining a height difference between the leading and trailing edges of the ceramic foil(s), an angle adjustable embodiment is realized.
It is an object of the invention to disclose an improved process and mechanism for controlling the angle of an adjustable angle foil to achieve a better paper quality by adjusting the angle to create a desirable result in the paper forming process.
It is another object of the invention to set forth improved processes and mechanisms for controlling the height of an adjustable height foil to achieve a better paper quality.
It is a further object of the invention to teach a Fourdrinier having adjustable on-the-run mechanisms for adjusting the height and angle of foils or blades to easily switch over operation of the Fourdrinier to produce paper of various qualities and types without shutting down and restarting the machine. This on-the-run adjustment saves substantial energy costs and realizes a more energy efficient paper producing method of the paper machine.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description, which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned from practicing the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention will be obtained by means of instrumentalities in combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
Other objects and purposes of this invention will be apparent to a person acquainted with an apparatus of this general type upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings, in which:
The embodiments of the invention and the various features and advantageous details thereof are more fully explained with reference to the non-limiting embodiments and examples that are described and/or illustrated in the accompanying drawings and set forth in the following description. It should be noted that the features illustrated in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, and the features of one embodiment may be employed with the other embodiments as the skilled artisan recognizes, even if not explicitly stated herein. Descriptions of well-known components and techniques may be omitted to avoid obscuring the invention. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the invention may be practiced and to further enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Accordingly, the examples and embodiments set forth herein should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention, which is defined by the appended claims. Moreover, it is noted that like reference numerals represent similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
For illustrative purposes only, the invention will be described in conjunction with a Fourdrinier papermaking machine although the invention and concept could also be applied to other paper forming machines. The invention is preferably implemented in the wet section of the Fourdrinier which includes a forming board section, a hydrofoil section, and a vacuum section.
As is shown in
In the angle adjustment embodiment, a single ceramic foil 60A is arranged atop the closed top of the upper pultrusion 25A as shown in
The upper pultrusion assemblies 25A, 25B include respective ceramic surfaces 60A, 608 arranged atop the exterior of upper pultrusion support assemblies 25A, 258, as shown in
The lower pultrusion assembly 10 is an elongated member formed to include a T-shaped recess on its underside for accepting T-bar 110 shown in
The manual gear box 26 may be provided in place of the motor 27 for manually adjusting the height or angle of the foil, as shown in
End seals 11 are arranged between the “upper pultrusion” 25 and “lower pultrusion” 10 at opposite ends thereof and fastened there between via fasteners 20 (
Each cam-block 14 includes a pair of sloped grooves on either its face or side as clearly shown in
The motor 27 may be controlled via motor control circuitry or a programmable microprocessor, not shown. As can be understood by the skilled artisan when viewing
It should be understood that it is contemplated that various other drives, pistons or motors including electric and hydraulic ones and their associated supply lines may be employed to practice the invention. In the height adjustment device, the adjustable blades are raised or lowered to cause them to intersect with the underside of the forming fabric at a predetermined height to influence the alignment of the fibers within the paper web. The height of the adjustable blades may be changed to ensure that the paper fibers are aligned in a desired direction. As can be understood, changing the height settings will directly influence the fiber orientation in the paper sheet. Likewise, the angle of certain foils may be adjusted according to a desired characteristic in the paper grade. Moreover, the quantity of parts may vary according to the length of the foil.
It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact construction illustrated and described above, but that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims. While the invention has been described with respect to preferred embodiments, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in limiting sense. From the above disclosure of the general principles of the present invention and the preceding detailed description, those skilled in the art will readily comprehend the various modifications to which the present invention is susceptible. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the following claims and equivalents thereof.
The present application relates to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. 61/849,804 filed on Feb. 4, 2013 and claims priority therefrom. The present application was not subject to federal research and/or development funding.
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