The proposed technology generally relates to a refiner segment for a refiner of lignocellulosic material. It relates more specifically to a refiner segment comprising bars and dams, a refiner disc of a refiner comprising such a refiner segment and a refiner comprising a refiner disc equipped with a refiner segment comprising bars and dams.
A commonly used refiner of e.g., lignocellulosic material comprises two relatively rotating discs between which the material is refined or defibrated. The pair of relatively rotating discs may in particular comprise one rotating disc, referred to as a rotor, and a static disc, referred to as a stator. These discs, or at least one of them, are often provided with segments, referred to as refiner segments, whose purpose is obtain a more efficient refining of the material. A specific type of refiner segments are provided with a set of bars and dams. The bars are radially extending and protruding structures that are arranged on the active surface of the segment, i.e., the surface of the segment over which the material flows, and are mainly used to achieve an efficient refining of the lignocellulosic material. The dams are also protruding structures provided on the active surface of the refiner segment, but they are not generally provided in a radial direction. The dams are instead provided on the refiner segment in such a way that a particular dam contacts, or connects, two neighboring bars. That is, a dam is provided so that it spans over a direction that connects two adjacent bars. The direction may be approximately orthogonal to the bars but it can also be provided at an angle with regard to the radial direction. A particular purpose with the dams is to lift the material that flows in the area between the bars in an upward direction, towards a disc gap defined as the gap between two opposing refiner discs, e.g., the disc gap between a rotor and a stator or the disc gap that separates the two relatively rotating discs. It is in the disc gap between the discs that the material is refined or defibrated. In the common case where each bar connects to one or several dams, a natural consequence of the geometry is that a number of partially enclosed or bounded areas are created between adjacent bars. The main part of the refining material will flow in these areas.
A particular problem associated with refiner segments equipped with bars and dams is that the bars and dams, being structures protruding from the surface of the refiner segment, will be worn down due to the abrasive contact they have with the material to be refined. The efficiency of the refiner segment will as a consequence decrease over time and there will be a need to replace the refiner segment in order to achieve a satisfactory quality of the refined material, e.g., pulp. The proposed technology aims to provide mechanisms that at least alleviate some of the problem that are associated with the wear experienced by refiner segments that are provided with bars and dams.
It is an object to provide a refiner segment having improved robustness against wear caused by material flow on the refiner segment.
It is a particular object to provide a refiner segment having features that make the dams provided on the refiner segment more resilient against the wear caused by material flow.
It is an additional object to provide a refiner disc comprising a refiner segment that has improved resilience against wear caused by materials flow.
It is yet another object to provide a refiner comprising a refiner disc with improved refiner segments.
These and other objects are met by embodiments of the proposed technology.
According to a first aspect, there is provided a refiner segment for refining of lignocellulosic material. The refiner segment have a surface comprising a plurality of bars extending along a direction between an inner periphery of the refining segment and an outer periphery of the refining segment, and a plurality of dams, each of the dams extending between a corresponding pair of adjacent bars. At least one of the dams is a three-dimensionally extending body comprising three sides, the three dimensionally extending body extend between the corresponding pair of adjacent bars and comprises a curved side, forming one of said three sides, facing the inner periphery of the refiner segment. The curved side have a concave curvature with regard to the inner periphery to thereby form a rounded section in an area defined by the dam and the corresponding pair of adjacent bars.
According to a second aspect of the proposed technology there is provided a refiner disc comprising a refiner segment according to the first aspect.
According to a third aspect of the proposed technology there is provided a refiner comprising a refiner disc according to the second aspect.
Embodiments of the proposed technology provides for a refiner segment, and a corresponding refiner disc and refiner, that better withstands the wear caused by the abrasive contact between dams and the material flowing on the refiner segment. This will in turn prolong the effective lifetime of the refiner segment.
Additional advantages will be appreciated when reading the detailed description.
The embodiments, 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 designations are used for similar or corresponding elements.
Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context in which it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methods disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following or preceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may apply to any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the following description.
For a better understanding of the proposed technology, it may be useful to begin with a brief description of a general refiner and a short analysis of the technical problems that the proposed technology aims to alleviate.
To this end reference is made to
During use, lignocellulosic material such as wood chips or prepared wood, e.g., pulp, will be fed by means of a feeding mechanism, not shown, through the feeding channel 14. The material will pass through the hole 32 in the stator 30* and enter an area 19. The area 19 is essentially defined by the open area between the rotor 30 and the stator 30* and this area can be quite small during operation. The lignocellulosic material flowing into the area 19 will be incident on the center plate 17 on the rotor 30. The center plate 17 acts to steer the lignocellulosic material out towards the refiner segments on the rotor and/stator.
In order to provide a more detailed description of a rotor-stator arrangement in which the proposed technology may be used reference is made to
Having described in detail a general refiner that can utilize the proposed technology, we will proceed and describe in detail a particular known refiner segment that is relevant for the proposed technology. To this end reference is made to
The proposed technology provides a refiner segment 1 for refining of lignocellulosic material. The refiner segment 1 having a surface comprising a plurality of bars 10j extending along a direction between an inner periphery 17b of the refining segment and an outer periphery 17a of the refining segment 1, and a plurality of dams 11i, where each of the dams extend between a corresponding pair of adjacent bars 10k, 10k+1. At least one of the dams 11p is a three-dimensionally extending body comprising three sides. The three dimensionally extending body extend between the corresponding pair of adjacent bars 10k, 10k+1 and comprises a curved side 11c, forming one of the three sides, and facing the inner periphery 17b of the refiner segment 1. The curved side 11c have a concave curvature with regard to the inner periphery 17b, i.e., as viewed from said periphery 17b, to thereby form a rounded section in an area 20 defined by the dam 11p and the corresponding pair of adjacent bars 10k, 10k+1.
The proposed refiner segment is provided with a dam construction where a dam is provided as a three dimensionally extending body that comprises three sides where one side, i.e., the side facing the incoming material, is curved or rounded with regard to the periphery 17b. That is, it is curved in a concave fashion when viewed from the periphery 17b, this can be seen in e.g.,
Taken together these features ensures that a dam is very robust against wearing caused by the interaction between the flowing material and the dam.
The three dimensionally extending dam 11p is provided on the refining surface of the refiner segment and may be provided in various shapes, it may for example have the shape of a three dimensional wedge or block where one of the sides, the side facing the incoming material, is curved or rounded. Such a three dimensionally extending dam 11p is illustrated in
Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.
A particular embodiment of the proposed technology provides a refiner segment 1 wherein a first end 11c1 of the curved side 11c connects to a bar 10k at a radial position that is closer to the inner periphery 17b of the refiner segment 1 than the radial position where a second end 11c2 of the curved side 11c connects to an adjacent bar 10k+1 to thereby form a rounded section in the form of a rounded corner.
Still another embodiment of the proposed technology provides a refiner segment 1 wherein the dam comprises a three dimensionally extended body and the curved side 11c of the dam comprises an outer surface of the three dimensional body facing the inner periphery of the segment. A particular version of this embodiment provides a refiner segment 1, wherein at least one dam 11p is a three-sided body extending between the corresponding pair of adjacent bars 10k, 10k+1 and wherein the curved side 11c form one side of the three-sided body.
Yet another embodiment of the proposed technology provides a refiner segment 10 wherein each pair of adjacent bars 10k, 10k+1 comprises a plurality of dams 11p, each having a curved side, where individual dams 11p are arranged at different radial positions along the pair of adjacent bars 10k, 10k+1.
It should be noted that all of the dams on a refiner segment may be provided in the curved form proposed in the present disclosure, but it is also possible to provide only a subset of the dams with this feature. A particular example is provided by a refiner segment 1, wherein at least a radial midsection of the refiner segment 1 is equipped with dams 11p having a curved side 11c. This embodiment provides a refiner segment where dams arranged in a central band of the segment is provided with a curved side in order to at least provide additional resilience against wear in this active area of the refiner segment. The radial midsection or the central band of the refiner segment may for example be defined in relation to the inner periphery 17b of the refiner segment.
According to an additional aspect of the proposed technology there is provided a refiner segment 1 that is to be attached to a circular refiner disc 30 of a refiner so that the curved side 11c faces the center of the circular refiner disc 30 and have a concave curvature with regard to the center C of the refiner disc whereby a rounded section is facing a material flow directed from the center C of the refiner disc towards the periphery of the refiner disc 30. The refiner disc 30 may in particular be either a rotor disc or a stator disc.
According to yet another aspect of the proposed technology there is provided a refiner 100 for refining of lignocellulosic material, the refiner comprising at least one refiner disc 30 comprising a refiner segment 1 according to what has been described earlier.
The embodiments described above are merely given as examples, and it should be understood that the proposed technology is not limited thereto. 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 present scope as defined by the appended claims. In particular, different part solutions in the different embodiments can be combined in other configurations, where technically possible.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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1850674-1 | Jun 2018 | SE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/SE2019/050388 | 5/2/2019 | WO |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2019/235987 | 12/12/2019 | WO | A |
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