The present document relates in general to fibre dewatering devices in pulp production and in particular to dewatering roll arrangements.
In pulp production, fibres are caused to be suspended in a water solution by means of mechanical and/or chemical processes. The fibres are also washed at different point along the process. Therefore, in many stages along a pulp production line, there is a need for dewatering the pulp suspension. In a typical example, dewatering of the pulp may be performed from an inlet pulp concentration of 2-10% by weight to an output pulp concentration of 20-50% by weight.
One type of dewatering device is the twin-roll dewatering device. In such a device, the fibre suspension is brought into contact with the mantle plate of a roll. The mantle surface is typically perforated with dewatering channels in a relatively dense pattern. Two such rolls are rotated in opposite directions to bring the fibre suspension into a small gap between the rolls. The water is thereby pressed out from the suspension through the dewatering channels of the mantle plate and into flow paths within the structures of the rolls. The majority of the fibres remain outside the mantle and a pulp with much lower water content exits in the small gap on the other side. The dewatered liquid is typically transported axially along the rolls and exits the device in the vicinity of one or both of the roll ends.
The dewatering efficiency depends to a high degree on the nip between the rolls. In order to achieve a well-defined and efficient dewatering, it is advantageous to have the same load along the axial direction of the rolls within the nip section. However, since the force holding the rolls together is applied at the axial ends of the rolls and the load from the fibre suspension dewatering operation is spread over the entire length of the rolls, there will be a certain tendency of a bending of the rolls. The gap at the middle parts of the rolls will therefore be somewhat larger than the gap in the vicinity of the ends of the rolls. For short rolls, such bending of the rolls may be small enough to be neglected or at least acceptable. However, since the tendency is to provide longer and longer rolls in order to increase the put-through, such bending effects may be quite severe. In the middle part of the device, the dewatering efficiency will be reduced, and if the gap is generally decreased to mitigate such effects, the load at the rolls close to the ends becomes very high indeed, which may cause mechanical damage on the rolls. The high load is caused by a highly non-linear compressibility of the pulp.
Similar effects are also present in e.g. paper machines. The typical approach for compensate for such effects is to perform a machining of the rolls in order to give a somewhat smaller roll radius close to the ends of the rolls and a larger radius in the middle. However, paper machine solutions are not applicable for pulp dewatering purposes, since the dewatering process takes place via a relatively thin mantle plate. The volume inside the mantle plate is used for allowing the liquid extracted from the fibre suspension to exit the device. Machining of a mantle plate of a fibre suspension dewatering roll will either decrease the mechanical strength of the mantle at the roll ends or require longer dewatering channels through the mantle plate in particular at the centre of the rolls, which is not acceptable.
A general object of the present technology is to provide devices and method for equalizing the nip against a dewatering roll along the axis of the dewatering roll. This object is achieved by devices and methods according to the attached independent patent claims. Preferred embodiments are defined in dependent claims. In general words, in a first aspect, a dewatering roll comprises a roll body, a mantle support structure and a mantle. The mantle support structure is attached, in a radial direction, around the roll body. The mantle is attached, in the radial direction, against an outer surface of the mantle support structure. The mantle has a plurality of through holes constituting mantle flow paths from an, in the radial direction, outer surface of the mantle to an, in the radial direction, inner surface of the mantle. The mantle support structure presents support flow paths from the outer surface of the mantle support structure. The support flow paths are in fluid contact with the mantle flow paths. The outer surface of the mantle support structure has a static geometric shape defining an envelope having a smaller radius in vicinity of each axial end of the mantle support structure than in vicinity of a centre of the mantle support structure. Thereby, the inner surface of the mantle assumes the shape of the envelope.
In a second aspect, a dewatering press comprises at least one dewatering roll according to the first aspect.
In a third aspect, a method for producing a dewatering roll, comprises providing of a mantle support structure with support flow paths from an, in a radial direction, outer surface of the mantle support structure. The mantle support structure is attached around a roll body. A mantle is provided with a plurality of through holes constituting mantle flow paths from an, in the radial direction, outer surface of the mantle to an, in the radial direction, inner surface of the mantle. The outer surface of the mantle support structure is formed to obtain a static geometric shape defining an envelope having a smaller radius in vicinity of each axial end of the mantle support structure than in vicinity of a centre of the mantle support structure. The mantle is fitted against the outer surface of the mantle support structure. The support flow paths are thereby brought in fluid contact with the mantle flow paths. The forming of the outer surface of the mantle support structure is performed before fitting the mantle against the outer surface of the mantle support structure.
One advantage with the presently presented technology is that a homogeneous load can be obtained along the entire length of a dewatering roll. Further advantages are presented in connection with the detailed description of different embodiments below.
The invention, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by making reference to the following description taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Throughout the drawings, the same reference numbers are used for similar or corresponding elements.
Since the present ideas are closely connected to the dewatering process of a dewatering roll, this process will first be described in somewhat more detail.
The suspension 3 entered into the enclosing volume 11 is transported by the rotation of the dewatering rolls 10 along in the rotation. Most of the free liquids of the suspension 3 entered into the enclosing volume 11 can during this transportation pass through, indicated by arrows 7, the holes of the mantle 40, due to the vat pressure used when entering the suspension 3. When the suspension 3 reaches the nip section 6, the volumes is reduced and the suspension will be exposed for a load, pressing the suspension towards the mantles 40 of the dewatering rolls 10. In order to maintain this load, the dewatering rolls are pushed towards each other with a force F. This pressing squeezes the filtrate out of the fibre suspension. A large portion of the remaining liquids in the suspension is thereby forced through the holes of the mantle 40. Typically, about 70-95% of the input liquids can be removed in this way, leaving a pulp with a consistency of about 30%. A fibre-containing material 8 is provided at the exit from the nip section, which is transported away by suitable transportation means 9.
In embodiments where the dewatering process is required to be combined with a washing procedure, a washing liquid 5 can be introduced through a wash liquid inlet 4 into the enclosing volume 11 for displacing “dirty” liquids from the suspension. Note, however, that this washing step is optional.
In alternative embodiments, the support flow paths could be provided in other ways. The support flow paths 38 could in one alternative e.g. have an axial flow direction in the volumes that are in direct contact with the mantle flow paths. In another alternative embodiment, the support flow paths 38 could have a substantially radial flow direction, delivering the liquids from the mantle inwards towards the axis of the roll body. The roll body could then be arranged for receiving the dewatering liquids, e.g. by channels through the roll body surface, and remove the dewatering liquids from the system, e.g. through a hollow roll body.
Furthermore, the deflection of the dewatering rolls 10 also influences the local load on the dewatering rolls 10. It has been found in experiments that the local load close to the ends 15 of the dewatering rolls 10 increases whereas the local load in the middle 16 of the dewatering rolls 10 decreases. Since the relationship between actual gap size and local load is highly non-linear, the load close to the ends 15 of the dewatering rolls 10 may increase considerably, thereby increasing the risk for overloading the mantle.
A deformation of the dewatering rolls is also present in the cross-sectional direction.
A straight-forward approach in e.g. paper machines to solve analogous problems is to machine the outer surface of the rolls to assume a slightly differing radius along the axis of the roll. However, in dewatering applications, such approach is not easily achieved. The reason is the dewatering process itself. In a dewatering arrangement, the mantle is perforated to provide mantle flow paths. In order to facilitate the dewatering, the aspect ratio of the hole length to hole diameter has to be kept as low as possible. It is therefore advantageous to have a thin mantle plate. A typical thickness is around 3 mm. For long and slender dewatering rolls deflections caused by the load can be in the order of several millimetres. A machining of the mantle plate thereby becomes impossible. Also, using a thick mantle plate that would allow machining depths of a couple of millimetres will instead give rise to mantle flow paths with too high flow resistance.
Within the paper production industry, there are also arrangements providing paper rolls with adjustable mantle shapes. Heat, as in e.g. the published European patent application EP 0 471 655, or hydraulic pressure, as in the published international patent application WO 96/36817, are used for changing the shape of the paper roll. However, such solutions are not possible to transfer to pulp dewatering applications since heat or hydraulic arrangements within the interior of the rolls severely would interfere with the dewatering function and dewatering flow channels.
The basic solution according to the present invention is based on the idea of leaving the mantle thickness essentially unmodified, but instead provide a static mantle support structure that has the required deflection measures.
In order to supply a high throughput, the structure of the mantle support structure 30 should be as open as possible without any unnecessary disturbing parts. The open structure preferably provides flow paths of low flow resistance. As the person skilled in the art understands, the exact geometrical composition of the mantle support structure 30 can, however, be varied in very different manners. The contact area between the mantle support structure 30 and the mantle 40 has to be kept relatively small, in order to allow the connection of the support flow paths 38 and the mantle flow paths 44. In a typical case, the contact surface is less than ⅓ of the mantle surface. However, the actual contact surface pattern can be designed in different ways. In the embodiment of
Similarly, the mantle flow paths 44 can in different embodiments also be designed in different ways. Non-exclusive example can e.g. be different types of slits or holes with circular or non-circular cross-sections.
Again with reference to the embodiment of
Depending on e.g. the distribution of forces, there might be situations where the radius of the envelope 39 is not changing monotonously all the way from the centre 16. However, in most embodiments, the radius of the envelope 39 is changing monotonously over a major part of the distance from the centre 16 of the mantle support structure 30 towards each of the axial ends 15 of the mantle support structure 30.
In the embodiment of
A dewatering press may also be designed only having one dewatering roll. In such a dewatering press, the counteracting surface can be a non-dewatering roll or more or less any relatively flat surface. The same principles about deflection compensation of the dewatering roll can, however, by advantage also be used in such dewatering presses.
In a typical industrial dewatering press, small deviations from a perfect constant gap between the dewatering rolls are acceptable. In typical prior art arrangements, deviations of up to 0.2-1 mm on the gap, i.e. 0.1-0.5 mm in radial difference for each roll in a twin-roll arrangement, are typically considered as neglectable concerning impact on dewatering efficiency and increased end load. The impact of the present ideas on systems having deflection less than 0.5 mm from an ideal straight shape is thus limited. However, envelopes that are given a shape having a radius in the centre, in the axial direction, that is at least 0.5 mm larger than a radius close to an axial end of the mantle support structure, will in many cases have a significant impact on the quality of the dewatering process.
This acceptable deviance from a perfectly compensated deflection also opens up for different shapes of the envelope. The envelope shape can thereby be modified from the ideal deflection compensation shape without causing any significant disadvantages. Typically, in test experiments, if the resulting gap of a twin-roll arrangement varies less than 0.2 mm, almost no reduction in dewatering efficiency can be detected. If the resulting gap varies less than 1 mm, the effect on the dewatering efficiency is still small, however, noticeable. Also resulting gap varying less than 2 mm could be used, at least if the absolute measure of the gap is relatively wide.
These allowed deviances from a perfect compensated shape open up for using simpler shapes for the envelope, which simpler shapes are easier to manufacture and/or control. In particular embodiments, the radius of the envelope is manufactured to vary piecewise linearly in the axial direction. In
In
In this particular embodiment, the step of fitting 218 the mantle against the outer surface of the mantle support structure is performed by shrink-fitting. The mantle is typically provided with an inner radius that is somewhat smaller than the smallest radius of the portion of the mantle support structure it is intended to cover. The mantle is heated, whereby it expands. During this elevated temperature, the mantle is fitted around the mantle support structure and is then allowed to cool down. By means of the accompanied shrinking of the mantle, the mantle will be shrink-fitted onto the mantle support structure. This means that the inner surface of the mantle assumes the shape of the envelope as a result of the shrink-fitting.
In a particular embodiment, the mantle is fitted onto the mantle support structure in sections, whereby the original radius of the mantle is adapted to the respective mantle support structure section. If the changes in radius within such a mantle support structure section is moderate, the mantle can be originally provided before the shrink-fitting with a constant radius, whereby the shrink-fitting will cause the mantle to assume a shape similar to the envelope.
It is in alternative embodiment possible to provide the mantle already from the beginning with the required variation in radius. In other words, the step of providing a mantle then comprises shaping the mantle to by its inner surface assume the shape of the envelope. The mantle can then be stuck onto the mantle support structure and attached by any appropriate means. In such an embodiment, it is preferred to have the mantle divided in at least two part section, which can be slipped onto the mantle support structure from opposite directions, since the mantle support structure is widest in the middle.
The embodiments described above are to be understood as a few illustrative examples of the present invention. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations and changes may be made to the embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. In particular, different part solutions in the different embodiments can be combined in other configurations, where technically possible. The scope of the present invention is, however, defined by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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1351529-1 | Dec 2013 | SE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/SE2014/051495 | 12/15/2014 | WO | 00 |