This application claims the priority, under 35 U.S.C. § 119, of Austrian patent application A 344/2017, filed Aug. 28, 2017; the prior application is herewith incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The actual invention further relates to a kit and an installation for producing a paper web.
Known installations for producing a paper web have a closed loop fabric belt which is kept circulating by transport rollers and onto which, at the start of the installation, a fibrous stock is sprayed. In a first region of the installation, the fabric belt is moved over drainage foils and over suction boxes formed with drainage foils, by which liquid that has emerged from the fibrous stock is stripped off and sucked away. In further regions of the installation, the paper web produced on the fabric belt is dried by use of felt belts.
The drainage foils found in such an installation, which are oriented transversely to the direction of movement of the fabric belt, are foils produced from metal or from plastic which, on their upper side which faces the fabric belt in the operating position, can be provided with an overlay of a wear-resistant material, in particular of plane-ground ceramic plates. The ceramic plates consist in particular of Al oxide, of Zr oxide, of Si nitride and of Si carbide. The fabric belt is moved over the drainage foils at a speed of 1 m/s to 40 m/s. By means of the drainage foils, first the fabric belt is supported. Second, the drainage foils serve to strip off from the fabric belt liquid that has escaped from the fibrous stock and is found on the underside of the fabric belt. By means of an oblique position of a first group of drainage foils with respect to the fabric belt, wedge-shaped interspaces can be in this case formed between the surfaces of the drainage foils and the fabric belt, which interspaces enlarge in the direction of movement of the fabric belt, which means that, because of the movement of the fabric belt, a suction action is exerted on the fibrous stock found on the latter, by means of which liquid found in the fibrous stock is sucked away. Underneath a second group of drainage foils there are suction boxes, by which a suction action is likewise exerted on the fibrous stock found on the fabric belt. The liquid that has escaped from the fibrous stock as a result is led away through the suction boxes.
During the movement of the fabric belt over the drainage foils, the fabric belt rests on the surfaces of the drainage foils or on the ceramic plates found on the latter, as a result of which high frictional resistances are caused, which have to be overcome by the transport rolls. In addition, as a result the surfaces of the drainage foils and the fabric belt are subjected to high wear, for which reason the drainage foils and the fabric belt have only short service lives.
The actual invention is based on the object of devising a drainage foil by means of which, during operation of such a fabric belt installation, the frictional resistances occurring between the fabric belt and the individual drainage foils are reduced. According to the invention, this object is achieved in that the surface of the drainage foils is formed with a defined profiling, which has elevations and/or depressions, wherein the vertical extent of the profiling is at least 0.1 mm. Within the scope of the invention, the elevations and the depressions can be implemented and/or distributed randomly or in a non-concretely defined manner. However, in the invention it is preferred if the elevations and the depressions have a defined profiling and/or are distributed in a defined manner on the surface, since more specific influencing of the friction is therefore possible. Preferably but not necessarily, the drainage foil is formed on its surface assigned to the fabric belt in the operating position with a multiplicity of ceramic plates located beside one another which, on their surface, are formed with defined profiling in the form of elevations and/or of depressions, wherein the vertical extent of the profiling is at least 0.1 mm.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the vertical extent is up to 3 mm, preferably up to 2.5 mm or up to 1.6 mm, in particular 0.2 mm up to 0.8 mm.
The surface of the drainage foil can be formed with profiling oriented in the longitudinal extent of the drainage foil or enclosing an acute angle with the latter. The profiling preferably has the shape of ribs that are triangular in cross section, rectangular foils or wave-like foils, other profilings also being possible in the context of the invention, however. Furthermore, the profilings of ceramic plates located beside one another can be offset with respect to one another both in and also transversely to the longitudinal direction of the drainage foil and/or different. In addition, the longitudinal extent of the elevations and/or the depressions can enclose an angle of 0° to 80° with the longitudinal direction of the drainage foil. Furthermore, the profiling can be formed by depressions located at a distance from one another, in particular by cut-outs that are concave in cross section or cylindrical holes.
According to the invention, the surface of the drainage foils can also have a convex curvature in the section transverse to the longitudinal extent of the drainage foil, wherein, in the invention, it is preferred for the curvature to have a radius of 100 mm to 500 mm, preferably of 200 mm to 350 mm.
Finally, it is preferred in the invention if the side edges of the surface of the drainage foil are rounded in cross section with a radius of 0.5 mm to 5 mm, preferably of 1 mm to 3 mm.
In known drainage foils, the surfaces that face the fabric belt in the operating position, which, in particular, are coated with ceramic plates, are plane-ground, having surface roughness values Ra of 0.15 μm to 0.7 μm. Because of the plane grinding of the surfaces of the ceramic plates and the low roughness values achieved hereby, according to the known prior art the frictional resistances occurring between the surfaces of the drainage foils, in particular the surfaces of the ceramic plates, and the fabric belt moved over the latter should be minimized.
By contrast, the actual invention is based on the finding that, with a substantially intensified profiling of the surfaces with defined elevations and depressions, bow waves occur in the liquid which is located in the depressions as a result of the fabric belt moved over the drainage foils, by which waves the fabric belt in the regions of the elevations is raised above the latter, there being a layer of liquid between the fabric belt and the elevations, by which the frictional resistances occurring between the fabric belt and the elevations are reduced significantly.
Further preferred embodiments of the invention are the subject matter of the remaining sub claims.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a drainage foil for use in an installation for producing a paper web with a fabric belt, which can be moved over a multiplicity of drainage foils oriented transversely to its direction of movement, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first, particularly to
The fabric belt 1, which extends over a length of up to about 50 m and can have a width of 2 m up to 12 m, is moved over the drainage foils 3 at a speed of, for example, 1 m/s to 40 m/s by means of transport rolls located in the installation.
The drainage foils 3 are usually but not necessarily produced from acid-resistant stainless steel, from a plastic, e.g. from polyethylene, or from a glass fiber reinforced plastic. The suction box 5 is generally likewise produced from acid-resistant stainless steel. The overlays 4 found on the supporting bars 3 are preferably plates made of a ceramic material, e.g. Al oxide (hardness HV 0.5 18,000 N/mm2), Zr oxide (hardness HV 0.5 12,700 N/mm2), Si nitride (hardness HV 0.5 18,800 N/mm2), Si carbide (hardness HV 0.5 28,150 N/mm2).
As a result of the vacuum prevailing in the interior 51 of the suction box 5, a suction force is exerted on the fibrous stock 2, by which liquid 6 contained in the latter is extracted. The liquid 6 escaping from the fibrous stock 2 passes through the fabric belt 1 and reaches the underside of the fabric belt 1, from which, during the movement of the fabric belt 1 over the drainage foils 3, it is stripped off the latter and reaches the suction box 5, through which it is led away.
During the movement of the fabric belt 1 over the drainage foils 3 in the direction of the arrow M, during which the fabric belt 1 rests on the surface of the overlays 4 of the drainage foils 3, high frictional resistances occur, which have to be overcome by the transport rolls found in the fabric belt installation in order to move the fabric belt 1. In addition, in this case, high wear of the fabric belt 1 and of the drainage foils 3 and of the overlays 4 is caused, which means that the fabric belt 1 and the drainage foils 3 have only short service lives. During the movement of the fabric belt 1 over the drainage foils 3, bow waves 61 are formed in the liquid 6 that has escaped from the fabric belt 1, in front of the weft threads 1b resting on the drainage foils 3.
According to the prior art, the drainage foils 3 can be formed on their upper side, facing the fabric belt 1 in the operating position, with a multiplicity of ceramic plates, which have lengths of, for example, 12 mm to 230 mm in the direction of the drainage foils and widths of, for example, 12 mm to 100 mm transverse to the drainage foils, and also heights of, for example, 2 mm to 10 mm. The hardnesses of the ceramic plates are preferably HVO,5 12,700 N/mm2 to HVO,5 28,150 N/mm2. In order to keep the frictional resistances which occur during the movement of a fabric belt 2 over the drainage foils 3 as low as possible, the surfaces of the drainage foils 3, in particular the ceramic plates 4, are plane-ground according to the prior art, having surface roughness values Ra of 0.15 μm to 0.7 μm.
The described formation of the surface of the drainage foils 3, in particular of the surfaces of the ceramic plates 41, particularly preferably but not necessarily with a defined profiled surface, is based on the finding that, as a result of the relatively large elevations and depressions formed according to the invention, the frictional resistances occurring during the movement of the fabric belt 1 over the drainage foils are reduced down to about 50%, which means firstly that a significant reduction in the drive power for the fabric belt 1 can be achieved and secondly the service lives of the fabric belt 1 and of the drainage foils 3 are substantially prolonged.
As can be seen from
In the further embodiment, illustrated in
In the further embodiment, illustrated in
The elevations 44a, 42b, 42c and depressions 43a, 43b, 43c of the embodiments of the invention illustrated in
In the further embodiment of a ceramic plate 41d according to the invention, illustrated in
In the further embodiments of two ceramic plates 41e, 41f, according to the invention, illustrated in
The cut-outs can also have another shape, both in plan view and also in cross section, in particular an elongate or elliptical shape.
The ceramic plate 41g according to the invention illustrated in
A further embodiment of a drainage foil according to the invention is now explained. According to the known prior art, the surfaces of drainage foils are formed flat and the surfaces of drainage foils found on suction boxes are located in a common plane. However, as a result of the fact that a suction action is exerted by the suction boxes on the fabric belt in the interspaces found between the drainage foils, the fabric belt is drawn into the interspaces found between the drainage foils. In this way, the two lateral regions of the surfaces of the drainage foils, in particular of the overlays of a wear-resistant material found on the latter, for example ceramic plates, are loaded more highly than is the case for the central regions of the surfaces of the drainage foils, located in between.
In order to achieve a uniform pressure distribution over the width of the drainage foils 3a, as can be seen from
As can also be seen from
By means of such a formation of the surfaces of the drainage foils 3a, in particular of ceramic plates 4a found on the latter, a uniform distribution of the pressure exerted by the fabric belt 1 over the width of the drainage foils 3a is effected, which likewise means firstly that the frictional resistances and secondly the wear of the fabric belt 1 and of the drainage foils 3a are reduced.
This further formation of the drainage foils 3a is in particular combined with the profiling of the surface of the drainage foils, which can be provided with a wear-resistant overlay 4a, e.g. with ceramic plates, as is explained above by using
The formation of drainage foils according to the invention is in particular advantageous in those drainage foils which are located on a suction box.
The drainage foils can be provided with overlays of ceramic plates. However, the drainage foils can also be produced overall from polyethylene, not being coated with ceramic plates. In addition, the surfaces, in this case, are formed with a profiling in the form of elevations and/or depressions with a vertical extent of at least 0.1 mm to preferably 3.0 mm.
As soon as the elevations have been ground off by the use of the drainage foils, the surfaces are re-machined to the effect that the height differences between the elevations and depressions required for the specified action are reproduced.
All the embodiments described in conjunction with overlays of a wear-resistant material, in particular ceramic, can also be used within the context of the invention in drainage foils which have overlays of another material, in particular materials not having such good wear properties, and likewise in drainage foils which have no overlays, in which the elevations and depressions are applied to or formed directly on the drainage foils.
All the embodiments illustrated and described can be combined wholly or partly with one another and with embodiments which have not actually been illustrated and described.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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A 344/2017 | Aug 2017 | AT | national |