The present invention relates to a converting machine, i.e., a machine for winding or unwinding a strip of material on coils, particularly configured to process a delicate material.
The field of converting relates to all machines performing a process of winding and unwinding a strip of material onto and from coils. Such machines perform the function of transporting the strip between one coil and another of generally different sizes in a fast and defect-free manner.
Such converting operations can consist in i) producing coils of small widths and diameters from parent coils produced in large sizes for reasons of process economy; ii) processing the material to add certain features, such as printing, lamination, or film deposition; and iii) rewinding a previously produced coil to eliminate defects.
The end product of the process is an intermediate step in the processing chains of all materials, such as paper, plastics, aluminum, and laminates, made in the form of films, generally of a thickness between a few microns and one millimeter. Converting machines are used in multiple industrial fields, including the food packaging and automotive industries, for example.
However, in some application fields, a highly delicate and/or brittle, very thin and/or loosely cohesive, and thus easily flaky, material needs to be subjected to converting. In these cases, managing the converting activity can be problematic and negatively affect the operational speed of the entire process.
A problem generally characterizing the converting machines is the difficulty in automating the change of the rewinding coil, which, being smaller than the feeding reel, must be changed during the processing. Such a change can occur without interrupting the process when a buffer section is arranged upstream, but still normally requires substantial human intervention. The same problem occurs when the strip tears (as is the case when the material is particularly brittle or delicate), so the winder must be changed and the rewinding must be restarted.
The need is thus felt to provide a machine for converting coils, especially but not solely coils of delicate and/or brittle material, which preserves high productivity and minimizes possible interruptions caused by material breakage and performs all the converting steps automatically.
Such a problem is solved by a machine for converting coils of delicate and/or brittle material as defined in the appended claims, the definitions of which are an integral part of the present description.
In particular, the invention relates to:
Further features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the description of some exemplary embodiments thereof, given below by way of non-limiting indication, with reference to the enclosed figures.
The converting machine according to the invention, indicated by reference numeral 1 as a whole, comprises a loading unit 2 of the strip N of material, an accumulation unit 3 of the strip N being processed, and a winding unit 4 of the strip N on a winding shaft 5, 5′ to form respective coils B. The loading unit 2 of the strip N comprises the accompanying system 6 for the strip N along the various working steps of the machine 1, i.e., from the loading unit 2 to the accumulation unit 3 and the winding unit 4. The accompanying system 6, shown in
The accompanying bar 9 is preferably cylindrical in shape, i.e., it has a circular section or at least comprises a surface with an arc-of-a-circle-shaped section facing the sliding direction of the double chain. The accompanying bar 9 is also made of, or comprises parts made of, a ferromagnetic material so as to be subjected to attraction by a magnet.
The accompanying system 6 also comprises a non-motorized magnetic bar, which idly slides along the path P on appropriate guides and is configured to bP coupled to the accompanying bar 9 during the operating steps of the method of loading a new strip N.
in a first step of loading a new strip N, the strip N from a large coil upstream (not shown) is fed to the loading unit 2 of the machine 1 by means of a conveyor T and falls vertically positioning itself in the space between the accompanying bar 9 and the magnetic bar.
In the next step, the double chain is set in motion along the direction of the arrow, so that the accompanying bar 9 comes into contact with an end portion of the strip N until it is sandwiched between the accompanying bar 9 and the magnetic bar. The magnetic attraction between the magnetic bar and the accompanying bar 9 allows holding the strip N firmly close to one end thereof and leading it along the path P in a gentle manner, i.e., without the use of gripper systems which would damage the strip N and cause it to break.
The accompanying bar 9—magnetic bar assembly together with the strip N continues to travel along said path P. In practice, the strip N is driven by the accompanying bar 9 and the magnetic bar through the accumulation unit 3, then into the winding unit 4, where the end portion of the strip N is separated from the rest of the strip N, which then begins to be wound on a winding shaft 5, 5′, thus performing the converting operation. The accompanying bar 9 and the magnetic bar, associated with the piece S of strip N, continue along the path P to return to the loading unit 2, where the accompanying bar 9 is disassociated from the magnetic bar and returns to its initial position. The automatic loading system summarized above is described in detail in the co-pending Italian patent application n. 102022000014710 del 13/7/2022.
The accumulation unit 3 is placed between the loading unit 2 and the winding unit 4 of the strip N on a winding shaft 5, 5′. The accumulation unit 3 acts as a buffer store when it is necessary to replace a fully wound coil B in the winding unit 4 with a winding shaft 5′ to be wound. Such an operation requires a temporary stop of the winding, therefore the accumulation unit allows not interrupting the feeding of strip N from the conveyor T during such a stop.
The accumulation unit 3 comprises a first movable supporting structure 20 for a first series of movable rollers 21 and a second movable supporting structure 20′ for a second series of movable rollers 21′. Each series of movable rollers 21, 21′ comprises a plurality of vertically aligned rollers in a plane parallel to a first and a second straight path stretch. Said first and second straight path stretches are connected by a third upper path stretch, to form as a whole a substantially n-shaped stretch of path P, which encloses said movable supporting structures 20, 20′ of the movable rollers 21, 21′ underneath.
Each of the movable supporting structures 20, comprises a pair of comb-shaped supports arranged parallel to each other and each comprising a plurality of horizontal arms 26, 26′, where the horizontal arms 26, 26′ of the first pair of comb-shaped supports face the first straight stretch of path P and the horizontal arms 26′ of the second pair of comb-shaped supports face the second straight stretch of the path P.
The movable supporting structures 20, 20′ slide horizontally on appropriate shoes by means of an appropriate drive (not shown). The movable supporting structures 20, 20′ are movable in a mutually opposite direction between a retracted position, in which the movable rollers 21, 21′ are not in contact with the strip N, and a plurality of extended positions, in which the movable rollers 21, 21′ are in contact with the strip N.
The accumulation unit 3 further comprises a first series of fixed rollers 19 and a second series of fixed rollers 19′, facing the first and second series of movable rollers 21, 21′, respectively, but vertically staggered with respect thereto. Each series of fixed rollers 19, 19′ comprises a plurality of vertically aligned rollers, respectively, in a plane parallel to said first stretch and second stretch of the path P and facing one side of said path stretches opposite to the first and second series of movable rollers 21, 21′, i.e., outside of the n-shaped path stretch P, so that said path stretches are placed between said fixed rollers 19, 19′ and said movable rollers 21, 21′.
A particular embodiment of the accumulation unit 4 is described in detail in the co-pending Italian patent application N. 102022000014725 dated 13 Jul. 2022.
The winding unit 4 comprises a rotatable disc 29, which supports two winding shafts 5, 5′ of the coils B. In turn, the winding shafts 5, 5′ are rotatable by means of an appropriate motorization.
The winding unit 4 further comprises a feeding roller 30 of the strip N to a winding position, with which a movable member 31 accompanying the strip N and a cutting member 32 are operatively associated.
The winding shafts 5, 5′ are placed in opposite positions along a diameter of the disc 29, so that 180° rotation of the disc 29 allows taking the first winding shaft 5 or the second winding shaft 5′ alternatively to said winding position.
The feeding roller 30, the movable accompanying member 31, and the cutting member 32 are placed on a carriage 33, movable horizontally (as shown by the arrow in
A longitudinal cutting assembly 34 of the strip N, also shown in
The longitudinal cutting assembly 34 comprises a crosswise supporting bar 35, to which a plurality of vertical supports 36 is fixed, with each of which a cutting device 37 can be associated. The number of cutting devices 37 is dictated by the number of width reductions of the strip N to be achieved.
The cutting device 37 comprises a blade 38 vertically sliding by means of a pneumatic actuator (not shown) inside the cutting device 37. The blade 38 is a discoidal blade idly rotating on a supporting pin.
The crosswise supporting bar 35 is movable, by a pneumatic actuator 35a, along a track 39 arranged diagonally on the carriage 33, between a raised position and a lowered position.
The longitudinal cutting unit 34 further comprises a contrast cylinder 40, on which the strip
N slides and which, in operating condition, is tangential with the blade 38 of the cutting device 37. Such an operating condition is achieved by sliding the crosswise supporting bar 35 diagonally from the raised position to the lowered position and by sliding the blade 38 downward.
The movable accompanying member 31 comprises a body 31a having an arc-of-circle-shaped recess 31b of shape and size such as to be coupled to an at least semi-cylindrical portion of the surface of a winding shaft 5, 5′.
The recess 31b comprises a housing which develops along its entire extension and in which an accompanying element 41 of the strip N slides. The accompanying element 41 is movable between a retracted position and an extended position, in which, by sliding in said housing, it performs a rotation of about 180° about a rotation axis parallel to the rotation axis of the winding shafts 5, 5′.
As better shown in
A holding roller 44 is placed at the junction point between said arc-of-circle-shaped portion 60a and said protruding portion 60b, while an idle roller is placed at the distal end of the protruding portion 60b.
The protruding portion 60b further comprises a suction/blowing grille 46, which can be alternately put into flow communication with suction means (not shown) or with a fan or compressed air source (not shown) by means of an appropriate two-way valve.
The retaining element 60 is tiltable between a retracted position (for example, shown in
A tilting arm 48, which distally comprises a holding roller 49, is also hinged on a hinge 47 of the body 31a of the accompanying member 31. The tilting arm 48 is movable between a non-operating position (for example, shown in
The cutting member 32 is tiltable between a non-operating position (for example, shown in
The cutting member 32 is also hinged on the axis of the feeding roller 30 by means of a connecting element 32a which extends in a substantially perpendicular direction to the body 32b. The body 32b extends along a longitudinal axis and comprises a holding roller 50 at one end, and adjacent thereto, a cutting device 51, which protrudes along a direction substantially perpendicular to the body 32b and carries a blade 51a at the distal end thereof. The cutting device 51 is placed on the side of the body 32b which, in the operating condition, faces the movable accompanying member 31 and is configured to abut against a surface of the latter when cutting the strip N.
Moreover, a tilting arm 52 hinged at one end 52a and carrying a holding roller 52b at the opposite end is also placed on the carriage 33, below the feeding roller 30. The tilting arm 52 is movable between a non-operating position (for example, shown in
The feeding roller 30 and the winding shafts 5, are motorized. The movements of accompanying member 31, accompanying element 41, tilting arm 48, retaining element 60, and cutting member 32 are actuated by suitable electric or pneumatic actuators.
The strip N of material to be rewound, coming from the accumulation unit 3 and reduced in width by passing through the longitudinal cutting unit 34, is slid at an idle roller 108 placed laterally and at a higher position with respect to the feeding roller 30. The strip N, possibly divided in width into two or more strips, thus faces the accompanying member 31 and is included between the latter and the cutting member 32.
As described above, the strip N is driven by the accompanying system 6 into the rewinding unit 4.
The next step, shown in
As shown in
The strip N (i.e., the plurality of strips resulting from its longitudinal cut) is thus accompanied in the initial winding thereof around the winding shaft 5′, being held against its surface by the holding rollers 44, 49, and by the suction of the free end thereof by means of the suction grille 46.
Finally,
The converting machine according to the present invention thus allows achieving the initially set objects since the winding system described above, in the case of a change of coil or breakage of the strip to be wound, allows for complete automation, without any human intervention, and is also particularly suitable if the strip is made of a particularly brittle material, especially by virtue of the accompanying member.
The machine 1 according to the invention allows for an automatic restarti g after breakage or cr change without us dhesive tape or glue (of any nature). By avoidi j the Use of adhesives (thus chemical contaminants), it is also possible to process materials intended for the food industry.
It is apparent that only some particular embodiments of the present invention have been described, to which those skilled in the art will bP able to make all changes required for the adaptation thereof to particular applications, without departing from the scope of protection of the present invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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102022000015687 | Jul 2022 | IT | national |