This application claims priority on Finnish Application No.20031461, Filed Oct. 7, 2003, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Not applicable.
The invention relates to rolls and dryer groups in a paper or board machine.
The use of double fabric run and/or single fabric run arrangements in the dryer groups of multi-cylinder dryer sections of paper or board machines is previously known. In the double fabric run arrangement the dryer cylinder groups have two fabrics pressing the web one from above and the other from below against heated cylinder surfaces. Between the dryer cylinder rows, generally horizontal rows, the web has, in the double fabric run arrangement, free and unsupported draws, which are liable to fluttering, which may cause web breaks, particularly at such drying stages, in which the web is still relatively moist and therefore weak for its strength. Due to this, during several past years there has been increasing use of the said single fabric run arrangement, in which each dryer cylinder group has only one dryer fabric, supported by which the web travels through the entire group, the dryer fabric pressing the web against the cylinder surfaces heated by the dryer cylinders and the web remaining outside the outer curve at the turning cylinders or turning rolls located between the dryer cylinders. Thus, in the single fabric run arrangement, the dryer cylinders are positioned outside the fabric loop and the turning cylinders or turning rolls are located inside the loop. In so called normal single fabric run groups the dryer cylinders are in the top row and the turning cylinders or turning rolls are in the bottom row, and correspondingly, in so called turned single fabric run groups, the dryer cylinders are in the bottom row and the turning cylinders or turning rolls are in the top row.
In known dryer groups adapting the single fabric run arrangement the dryer fabric and the paper web are transferred from the previous drying element, such as a contact dryer cylinder, to a turning or suction cylinder or similar in a common straight run, whereby a closing wedge space, also referred to below as closing nip, is formed between the dryer fabric and the last-mentioned turning cylinder or suction cylinder surface. The dryer fabric and the cylinder surfaces moving towards this nip tend to generate positive pressure in the said wedge space by means of the boundary layer flows conveyed by them. This again produces a pressure difference over the paper web supported by the dryer fabric, the pressure difference having a tendency to detach the paper web from the dryer fabric causing runnability problems, wrinkles, and even web breaks. On the other hand, for improving the efficiency of dryer sections, the need arises for using dryer sections with a more compact construction than heretofore, in which the contact dryer cylinders and the mentioned suction cylinders are as close as possible to each other. All these aspects together with rising web speeds increase the overpressure problems of the said closing nip. It is previously known that the transfer of the paper web in the single fabric run arrangement on the contrary from the turning suction cylinder to the contact dryer cylinder takes place after a so called opening nip, supported by the dryer fabric. In dryer sections suitable for the single fabric run arrangement, the term pocket space is used to refer to the pocket-like space, which is limited by two parallel dryer cylinders and the turning cylinder and dryer fabric between them.
In the solutions known in the prior art technique, attempts have also been made to remove the problems occurring in the area of the closing nip by means of roll suction, roll sector suctions and various types of vacuum-generating boxes as well as by using combinations of rolls and suction boxes, which, however, have not necessarily been able to completely eliminate the problems in this area in an energy-efficient manner. At high machine speeds the requirement of energy used for web stabilization also strongly increases. Typically the power requirement increases to the power of three in relation to the web speed.
A solution for removing the problems in this area is set forth in the FI patent No. 105573 (corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,244), which discloses a roll in a paper machine, particularly in a paper drying device, and a dryer group in a paper machine, in which the roll in the paper drying device comprises a shaft, supported by which the roll is adapted to rotate, and a surface structure, connected to the shaft with support pieces or similar, in which the openness of the surface structure of the roll is more than 10% and the surface structure of the roll is open in a slot-like manner so that during the roll rotation an effect is produced that aspirates air to inside the roll, whereby an air flow-through is created through the roll. In a dryer group of a paper machine, in which dryer group the single fabric run arrangement is adapted, at least one of the turning rolls of the dryer group is an open roll of the type described above.
The object of the present invention is to develop further the above-described corresponding technique in order to principally solve the problems related to the web transfer in the mentioned closing nip area as well as in the turning roll area covered by the web.
Particularly at high speeds, e.g. exceeding 1,400 m/min, an extremely critical area for runnability at the beginning of a dryer section equipped with a single fabric run arrangement is the above-described closing nip area of the turning cylinder, and the object of the invention is therefore to set forth more efficient and more energy-saving new constructions for removing the drawbacks in this area prone to runnability problems.
The object of the invention is to set forth a roll during the use of which runnability problems in the closing nip area of the turning roll are eliminated or at least minimized.
Another object of the invention is to set forth a dryer group of a paper machine that is better for runnability than the known solutions.
The invention is based on a roll having a large open surface area, with its key characteristic being the capability to create a vacuum in the fabric wrap area together with the dryer fabric or the dryer fabric and paper. The generation of vacuum is based on
Although the following description discusses airflows, air space, etc., this is not, however, intended to restrict the invention to such situations only, in which the flow is air. The flow can also be another gas (fluid).
The design of the roll according to the invention also allows increasing the vacuum-producing capacity of the roll along with a rising running speed, since the vacuum of the roll wrap area develops according to the formula
p=ζfvb[b=1.3−2],
According to the invention the roll comprises a surface structure having a large, most preferably groove-like open surface area, such as plate disks, and a center shaft and/or alternatively roll frame with grooves machined in it. According to the invention, both the vacuum produced by the roll and its profile on the roll surface are optimized to the maximum so that a contact exists, if required, between the surface structure, such as the plates, and the center shaft, i.e. there is no free air space between the roll frame and the grooves. According to the invention, a roll construction preferable for efficiency is provided for example by attaching plates with different diameters to a solid frame roll/shaft, the plates forming the grooving when placed at suitable intervals.
In the roll according to the invention the surface structure is so formed that most preferably a grooving is formed, in which the depth of each groove is approximately 10-155 mm, most appropriately 18-85, and the groove width is 1-50 mm, most appropriately 6-10 mm. The proportion of the groove width to the land width is most appropriately 0.6-2.0.
The most common form for the roll surface grooving is the U shape or one very much similar to it. The grooving can be straight or spiral. The grooving can be made by disk cutting and/or turning the frame roll surface. It can also be produced by welding, gluing or mechanically locking separate plate disks, made of metal, polymer or combinations of several materials, to the frame roll surface, in which case the part in contact with the fabric or otherwise the most external part is highly wear-resistant. The grooving can also be produced using a so-called G strip technique, in which the strip is applied directly on top of the smooth frame roll or in special mounting grooves in the frame roll surface. As a special application, the G strip is applied to an old or new frame roll by means of a support strip.
When the roll functions in the application placed against the fabric, the edges in the land supporting the fabric can be rounded, e.g. with a rounding radius of R=1-3 mm, or the whole land can be made to a slight circular arch, say with a radius of curvature of R′=100-500 mm, or the form can be selected in some other way so that the surface pressure between the fabric and the roll is optimal and the fabric wear is reduced.
The roll according to the invention can have a perforation at the bottom of the grooves, or the frame roll can have a perforation independent of the grooving geometry. In addition, according to a special aspect of the invention, the perforation can also appear at the groove peak/land so that the perforation opens to the contact surface of the fabric. This construction is particularly useful in a tail threading situation, since the tail can be stabilized to the fabric surface more efficiently with a higher vacuum.
When using a roll according to the invention, a dryer fabric that is normal for permeability is intended, such as a dryer fabric, whose permeability is 500 m3/(m2h), preferably 1,000-35,000 m3/(m2h), most appropriately 1,000-5,000 m3/(m2h).
The advantages of the invention are its efficiency and simplicity. According to a preferable embodiment of the invention, the roll diameter is for example 1,500 mm. Separate plate disks have been attached for example by welding to a frame construction with a diameter of 1,300 mm, which does not need to be an actual frame roll, but a support construction similar to it. The height of the plate disks is 100 mm and their width is 6 mm. A 7-mm wide open groove remains between the plate disks. The peak of the plate disk is rounded with the radius of curvature R′ =150 mm. A simulation model has provided results according to which the roll generates a good vacuum on its surface both in the closing and in the opening nip as well as a vacuum of almost the same level −500 to −900 Pa in the rest of the fabric-covered area on the roll surface. With the plate arrangement/grooving according to this preferable embodiment of the invention, the vacuum of the roll surface can be brought to a level of −500 to −900 Pa, based on the results achieved from the simulation, depending on the position of the wrap area. These pressure levels are for example of the same class as with the suction roll marketed with the trademark VacRoll™ of Metso Paper, Inc., in which the suction air volume is 400 m3/(hm) (2000 m/min). This vacuum in the fabric wrap area is achieved with the indicated power entirely without external aspiration or without runnability components in the pocket space.
The roll according to the invention, having a groove structure, such as lands of plate, preferably adapted around a solid center shaft or a frame roll, provides an inwardly air pumping phenomenon in the groove construction, which is generated when the air conveyed with the fabric hits against the roll surface and the groove walls, such as the plates. The airflow accelerates in the grooves and then exits from the opening nip. The inwardly pumping phenomenon in the roll according to the invention, providing a vacuum without special roll-external vacuum-providing equipment, is intensified with an increasing rotating speed. Thus, it automatically produces its own vacuum utilizing external boundary layer flows and/or blasting flows starting from the closing nip of the turning cylinder and continuing until to the opening nip, and this enables providing a preferable and efficient paper machine roll, which is particularly useful as a turning roll/cylinder of the dryer groups of a paper machine dryer section.
The roll creates the vacuum effect due to the fact that in the closing nip there occurs a change of angular momentum of the gas (fluid) flowing to the grooves. The gas flow directed to the roll grooves proceeds in the roll grooves to the area of the opening roll nip, whereby a vacuum effect is created, which extends over the entire fabric wrap area.
The roll surface structure is formed in such a manner that the vacuum effect and gas pumping are created by the friction between the structure and the fluid, the boundary layer, and accelerating movement of gas.
In the roll according to the invention, air hits against the surfaces of the groove walls, such as plates, placed around the center shaft, whereby the groove walls tend to pump the air forwardly and particularly in a closing nip, also inwardly towards the shaft. Air circulates around the roll frame until to the opening nip. In this way the vacuum effect is created by a combined effect of three factors, i.e. the impact, flow and opening nip.
In connection with the invention it is possible to use a blow box according to a preferable embodiment of the invention described below in more detail, which is used to intensify the effect of the opening nip for example with trailing side aspiration, or on the other hand, a blow directed to a closing nip is used to intensify the impact and flow effect on the side of the closing nip. In addition, it is preferable to separate these areas of influence of the opening and closing nip from one other with a sealing in the roll axial direction/a blow box wall construction.
According to a preferable further characteristic of the invention, in a drying geometry based on the single fabric run design, besides the roll according to the invention, a box constructed on the leading side is used, built up of a separate blow box including a flexible nozzle solution and a passive box space attached below it, which has aspiration/an ejection blow, if required, and is open at the bottom part.
In this embodiment of the invention, aspiration is directed to the suction zone of the blow box using the passive box section. When this box is realized according to the blow nozzle/flow divider principle, it is possible to achieve a vacuum of approximately −1000 Pa in the high-vacuum zone (2.2 mm nozzle, blow air volume 900 m3/(hm)).
This embodiment of the invention preferably also includes two flow divider/sealing elements in the box on the leading side, and by adjusting their distance to the fabric it is easy to adjust the vacuum of both the high-vacuum zone and the vacuum influencing in the open gap area, which keeps the web on the fabric surface before it comes to the influence area of the roll according to the invention. This allows efficiently preventing excessive bending of the fabric.
The total air volume requirement in the above-described system is 900 m3/hm per blow box, which is 50% of the present blow box/VacRoll™ total air volume. Consequently, the blower power requirement also decreases by 50%, which in practice can mean a decrease of approximately 1 MW in the power consumption in the dryer section of a large modern paper machine. It is remarkable that the roll according to the invention preferably replaces this underpressurized turning roll, in which case runnability components (e.g. blow boxes) that are almost like the present ones are used in the pocket space, designed to improve/intensify the performance of the proposed roll.
The roll according to the invention is also easy to keep clean, because the airflows automatically created by it simultaneously prevent dirtying of the roll surface structure and grooving. Therefore, an advantage of the roll according to the invention is also in its operating principle, the flow direction changes during the rotation cycle whereby each point in the roll grooves is subjected to inflow and outflow, and the roll is then kept clean for a longer time.
According to a preferable further aspect of the invention, it is possible, if required, to arrange, in connection with the roll according to the invention, an adjustment/suction possibility through a connection placed on the roll hub for adjusting the vacuum effect as desired. This kind of connection can also be used in a situation in which at least one part in the roll axial direction is realized according to the known technique. The area of the tail or both edges, for example, could be constructed for this kind of adjustment, because the intensification of the vacuum effect by dividing the blow box in the cross-machine direction is not necessarily as efficient or easy to implement.
According to a preferable further characteristic of the invention, in the roll axial direction there is at least one part in which the air is adapted flowing through the openings in the roll shell to the roll interior.
The invention is described below in more detail by making reference to the figures in the enclosed drawing, to the details of which the invention is not intended to be strictly limited in any way.
According to the invention, regardless of the production method of the grooves, the edges 14, 17 of the land 12 supporting the clothing shown in the partial enlargements A′, A″ can be rounded or shaped so as to reduce wear of the clothing, such as a fabric. In this case the open surface area of the roll can be slightly increased, which improves the roll performance particularly in the closing nip area. When the open surface area increases, the groove depth can be slightly reduced, if required, without deteriorating the roll performance.
To form an open surface structure 10 of the roll according to the invention of the various embodiments shown in
According to a preferable embodiment shown in
In
In the embodiments according to
Via the embodiments of
The solutions illustrated in
The invention is described above by making reference only to some of its preferable embodiments to the details of which the invention is not, however, intended to be strictly limited in any way.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
20031461 | Oct 2003 | FI | national |