The present invention is directed to cylinders for machines that process continuous lengths of material. The cylinder includes a non-rotating shaft or axle and a casing or jacket which is rotatably supported by a plurality of bearings on the shaft. A sleeve can be slid onto the casing or jacket.
The basic structure of a cylinder of this general type, which type of cylinder is preferably used in gravure printing presses, can be taken, for example, from EP 0 047 435 B1. In this publication, the principal arrangement of the impression cylinder in a gravure printing press is also described. Options are also presented which allow the impression cylinder to be bent in adjustment to a line of bending of the printing cylinder which is opposite to it. One particular difficulty of known cylinder configurations consists in effectively lubricating and, if necessary, in also effectively cooling the bearings and other movable parts of the impression cylinder, while at the same time providing a suitable structure for facilitating the pulling of various sleeves onto the outer casing or jacket of the impression cylinder.
A cylinder for use in machines that process continuous lengths of material is known from EP 0 179 363 B1. This cylinder comprises a non-rotatably mounted spindle and a tubular casing, which casing is rotatably mounted on the underlying spindle. The casing of the impression cylinder is made, for example, of steel and bears a sheathing, or covering, which is also called a sleeve, of rubber-like material. At high printing speeds, and thus at high rates of rotation of the cylinder, the flexing work that is performed causes a substantial warming of the sleeve. To efficiently draw off the heat that is produced by this flexation, the cylinder which is described in this prior art document uses a heat exchanger, which is integrated into the cylinder. However, this results in a complicated, and a maintenance-intensive configuration of the cylinder. The particular problems of a simultaneously efficient lubrication of the movable parts of the cylinder cannot be solved by the provision of an integrated heat exchanger.
In WO 01/85454 A1 a cylinder is shown, in which a lubricant circuit and cooling circuit is constructed. For effective lubrication, and for simultaneous cooling of all of the cylinder movable elements, a fluid flow is generated inside the cylinder, and especially in the space between a stationary support for the cylinder and the tubular casing. However, further difficulties arise with the sealing of the flow area at high rotational speeds and with a desirable optional bending of the cylinder. Furthermore, this prior art configuration provides no solution as to how the exchange of the sleeve to be applied to the casing of the cylinder can be facilitated and/or supported. The conventional use of a running-in layer which is generated on the casing using compressed air is excluded in this prior art cylinder because the lubricant circuit that is provided in the cylinder no longer allows the compressed air to flow out through the cylinder casing.
The object of the present invention is to provide cylinders for machines that process continuous lengths of material.
The object is attained in accordance with the present invention with the provision of a cylinder that includes a non-rotatable shaft or axle and a casing or jacket that is rotatably supported on the shaft or axle using a plurality of bearings. A flexible sleeve can be slid over the casing or jacket. A lubricant chamber is provided between the shaft and the casing or jacket and extends, in sections, in an axial direction. A compressed gas chamber, with outlet openings, and which extends in a cylinder axial direction, is provided on the casing. The lubricant chamber and the compressed gas chamber may be in fluid communication with lubricant channels and gas bores in the shaft.
The benefits to be achieved with the present invention consist especially in that with this cylinder, both an effective lubrication of the movable components and an easy exchange of the sheathing or sleeve is possible using compressed air.
With the adjacent arrangement of two sealing rings, the sealing edges of which are turned away from one another, and which sealing edges thus are respectively turned toward the lubricant chamber on one side and toward the compressed gas chamber on the other side, an improved sealing between these two chambers, which conduct different media, is achieved. It is thereby ensured that no lubricant can be lost via the compressed gas chamber, nor can any lubricant escape with the compressed gas from the cylinder. The two sealing rings can be made of different materials and can have different shapes, thereby allowing them to each be optimally adjusted to the respective medium contained in the chamber being sealed by each such sealing ring.
It is particularly advantageous for the compressed gas chamber to be supplied with compressed gas, and especially with compressed air, via a compressed gas bore that extends at least partially in the shaft. A compressed gas supply line can be particularly easily connected at the end-surface opening of the compressed gas bore in the non-rotating shaft. Starting from the compressed gas bore extending in the shaft, multiple supply bores can lead from that bore to the compressed gas chamber.
To accomplish an efficient lubrication of the bearing, and to accomplish a simultaneous adequate cooling of the cylinder casing, it is advantageous for the lubricant, such as, for example, oil, to be brought to a specific volume rate of flow during the rotation of the casing. The heat that is generated by the flexing action of the sleeve or the jacket or casing can be rapidly drawn off from the interior side of the casing. Furthermore, the lubricant flow can preferably extend through the individual bearings, which bearings are arranged between the shaft and the casing, in order to ensure optimal lubrication conditions there as well. Because the individual bearings each acts to inhibit a free flow of lubricant in an axial direction, the lubricant must be purposely accelerated in an axial direction. Once the lubricant has passed through such a bearing, it must also be returned to the starting side of the chamber. For this purpose, it is advantageous to pass a lubricant channel through the shaft, and extending at an angle with respect to the longitudinal or axial direction of the shaft, with the ends of the lubricant channel lying in areas of the lubricant chamber that are separated from each other by the bearing that is to be lubricated.
To purposely accelerate the lubricant, so that it is able to pass through a rotating bearing, and particularly through roller bearing which is the type of bearing being especially used here, an oil deflector, which is arranged at an angle, is preferably positioned near the interior surface of the casing. When the casing is rotated, this first oil deflector scrapes off the oil which has been adhering to the interior surface of the casing, and accelerates it in an axial direction. It is also advantageous for a second oil deflector to be provided, which second oil deflector, once the stream of lubricant has passed through a bearing, diverts that stream, which is initially running in an axial direction, essentially to a radial direction, to both complete the lubricant circuit and to minimize the oil pressure that is acting on the sealing ring on the lubricant side. To accomplish this result, the second oil deflector is preferably positioned very close to the lubricant-side sealing ring.
One preferred embodiment of the cylinder in accordance with the present invention is depicted in the set of drawings and will be described in greater detail below.
The drawings show in
As may be seen by initially referring to the longitudinal cross-section representation of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, as seen in
A compressed gas inlet bore 04 extends, axially in shaft 01 in the first preferred embodiment depicted in
In each of the end areas of the cylinder, a lubricant chamber 08 is provided for lubricating the bearings 03 and the rotatable casing or jacket 02. As is shown more clearly in
Referring now particularly to the detailed drawing of the cylinder in accordance with the present invention, as presented in
To achieve an effective, sealed separation between the compressed gas chamber 06 and the lubricant chamber 08, these two chambers are separated from one another by a lubricant-side sealing ring 09 and by a compressed gas-side sealing ring 10, as may be seen in
In a second preferred embodiment of the present invention, which is shown in
To achieve an efficient lubrication in the lubricant chamber 08, during the rotation of the casing or jacket 02, a directed lubricant flow is accomplished as follows. In an idle state of the cylinder, the lubricating oil collects in the lower portion 8a of the lubricant chamber 08, as seen in
To keep the pressure of the oil acting on the lubricant-side sealing ring 09 low, a second, inner oil deflector 12 is provided in the interior lubricant chamber, which second, inner oil deflector 12 scrapes the lubricating oil off of the interior surface of the casing 02 and directs it toward the shaft 01.
In the embodiment of the present invention which is depicted in
Because the lubricant channel 13 extends through the center of the shaft 01, and thus is intersecting with the axially centrally located compressed gas bore 04, a seal must be provided between the lubricant channel 13 and the compressed gas bore 04. This is accomplished, for example, by inserting a tube 14 into a corresponding bore in the shaft 01. It would also be within the scope of the present invention for the lubricant channel 13 to extend offset radially, in relation to the compressed gas bore 04, thereby avoiding an intersection of these two hollow conduits.
To seal the outer side of lubricant chamber 08 toward the outside of the cylinder, additional end sealing elements 15 are provided in the end areas of the cylinder. To be able to fill the oil into the lubricant chamber 08 and to be able to measure the oil fill level, an oil fill bore 16 that is accessible from the outside of the cylinder is provided. This oil fill bore 16 extends, for example, through the shaft 01. It must also be sealed by a tube 14 if it intersects with the compressed gas bore 04. The oil fill bore 16 extends from an oil fill opening 17, at the exterior of the shaft 01, to the lubricant chamber 08. The oil fill bore 16 can also be used to vent the lubricant chamber 08. In addition, an oil level gauge, which is not specifically shown can be inserted into the oil fill bore 16 and, with which oil level gauge the oil fill level of the lubricant chamber 08 can be checked.
It should be noted that, in accordance with the present invention and based upon the intended use of the cylinder, multiple lubricant chambers 08 and, as needed, multiple compressed gas chambers 06 can be constructed in the cylinder. These lubricant chambers 08 and gas chambers 06 would be configured and sealed against one another in a comparable manner, as has been described above.
While preferred embodiments of cylinders of machines that process continuous lengths of material, in accordance with the present invention, have been described fully and completely hereinabove, it will be apparent to one of skill in the art that various change in, for example, the type of sleeve positionable on the cylinder casing or jacket, the source of the compressed gas, and the like could be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention which is accordingly to be limited only by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 2004 030 702.4 | Jun 2004 | DE | national |
This application is the U.S. national phase, under 35 USC 371, of PCT/EP2005/052557, filed Jun. 3, 2005; published as WO 2006/000516 A1 on Jan. 5, 2006; and claiming priority to DE 10 2004 030 702.4, filed Jun. 25, 2004, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP2005/052557 | 6/3/2005 | WO | 00 | 12/26/2006 |