Calender for the treatment of web-like materials

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11946202-B2
Application number	US-202017425785-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 18, 2020
Priority date	Mar 14, 2019
Publication date	Apr 2, 2024
Grant date	Apr 2, 2024

Abstract

A calender for the treatment of web-like materials, including a fixed structure adapted to support two heated rollers shaped to be connected to the fixed structure, to a drive unit and to a heating system. The calender includes automatic elements for engaging and respectively for disengaging the rollers to and from the fixed structure, the drive unit and the heating system; the automatic elements are controlled by a programmable control unit and each of the rollers has an engaging surface shaped to be engaged by mechanical elements for moving the rollers which move the rollers between the calender and one or more waiting or parking stations while the rollers are at a temperature between 50° C. and 200° C.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A calender for the treatment of web-like material, comprising:
a fixed structure to support two heated rollers of the calender, the rollers reciprocally arranged so as to form a nip traversable by web-like materials, wherein each of the rollers has a right pin that is provided with bearings and a left pin provided with bearings, with each of the bearings adapted to engage with a respective lever of the structure, and wherein each of the rollers is shaped to be connected to said fixed structure, to a drive unit of the calender, and to a heated fluid feeding means of the calender to bring the outer surface of each of the rollers to a predetermined operating temperature, each of the rollers comprising a heated fluid feeding conduit fed with a heated fluid supplied by the heated fluid feeding means, the calender further comprising automatic hooking means for hooking the rollers to said fixed structure and respectively releasing the rollers from the structure, automatic engaging-disengaging means for engaging the rollers to said drive unit and respectively for disengaging the rollers from the drive unit, and automatic feeding means for connecting the rollers to said heating system and respectively disconnecting the rollers from the heating system, the heated fluid feeding means comprising a valve unit provided at an inlet of the fluid feeding conduit of each of the rollers, said automatic hooking means, said engaging-disengaging means, and said automatic feeding means controlled by a programmable control unit of the calender, each of said rollers having an engaging surface shaped to be engaged by mechanical means for moving the rollers which move the rollers between the calender and one or more waiting or parking stations while the rollers are at a temperature comprised between 50° C. and 200° C. after having been released from said structure, disconnected from said drive unit, and disconnected from said heated fluid feeding means by said automatic hooking means, engaging-disengaging means, and automatic feeding means, respectively, via control by the programmable control unit.

2. The calender according to claim 1 , wherein said mechanical means for moving the rollers comprise a bridge crane.

3. The calender according to claim 1 , wherein one of said pins on each of the rollers is provided with a power take-off which is connected to the drive unit by a joint having a side that is connected with said power take-off by an actuator which also controls disconnection, said joint being connected to an electric motor, said actuator being controlled by the programmable unit to automatically control the connection of the joint to the power take-off and respectively the disconnection.

4. The calender according to claim 3 , wherein said actuator is mounted on a vertical wall of said fixed structure.

5. The calender according to claim 1 , wherein both said rollers are provided with internal ducts in which the heated fluid can circulate.

6. The calender according to claim 5 , wherein on said ducts respective valves are provided, the opening and closing of said valves are controlled by respective actuators, and wherein the actuators are controlled by said programmable unit that controls actuation thereof to automatically control the opening and closing of the said valves.

7. The calender according to claim 6 , wherein said actuators are mounted on a vertical wall of said fixed structure.

8. The calender according to claim 1 , wherein said right pins and said left pins of each of the rollers are provided with an internal channel extending through the bearings.

9. The calender according to claim 8 , wherein in said channels air can circulate through a first series of holes communicating with an area outside of said right pins and said left pins and formed near an end head of each of the rollers and through a second series of holes communicating with the outside and formed at a predetermined distance from the first series of holes, said internal channels extending between said bearings of the respective right and left pins, and said distance being greater than the distance between the bearings.

10. The calender according to claim 9 , wherein the holes of the first series are radial holes and the holes of the second series are holes whose axes converge on a respective axis of rotation of the respective rollers, the second series of holes featuring an inlet more distant from a relative one of the end heads with respect to side holes of the second series and an exit closer to the relative head.

11. The calender according to claim 9 , wherein holes of the first series are formed in an area of said right pins and said left pins of greater diameter than another area of the same pin where holes of the second series are formed.

12. The calender according to claim 1 , wherein the heated fluid feeding conduit is a first conduit, and wherein the rollers further comprise a second conduit coaxial and external to the first conduit.

13. The calender according to claim 1 , wherein said structure comprises two lower levers and two upper levers placed at a predetermined distance from each other and able to enter in contact each with a respective one of the bearings for exerting on said bearings forces oriented along non coinciding directions.

14. The calender according to claim 13 , wherein all of said levers have a concave part to interact with a respective one of the bearings.

15. The calender according to claim 14 , wherein the programmable unit automatically controls movement of the levers by means of actuators.

16. The calender according to claim 13 , wherein all of said levers are individually moved by respective actuators that control their rotation around respective, individual horizontal pins thereof.

17. The calender according to claim 13 , wherein one of said upper levers and one of said lower levers are individually connected to four vertical side walls of said structure, said vertical side walls being arranged so as to form a pair of internal vertical side walls and a pair of external vertical side walls.

18. The calender according to claim 17 , wherein on each of the external walls of the fixed structure are applied:
a first of the lower levers controlled by an actuator that controls rotation of the first lower lever around a pin thereof with a horizontal axis and by means of which the first lower lever is connected to the respective wall, a free front end of said first lower lever being concave with the concavity facing downwards;
a first of the upper levers controlled by an actuator that controls rotation of the first upper lever around a pin thereof with a horizontal axis and by means of which the first upper lever is connected to the respective wall, a free front end of said first upper lever being concave with the concavity facing upwards,
and, on each of the internal walls of the fixed structure are applied:
a second of the lower levers controlled by an actuator that controls rotation of the second lower lever around a pin thereof with a horizontal axis and by means of which the second lower lever is connected to the respective wall, an intermediate part of said second lower lever being concave with the concavity facing upwards; and
a second of the upper levers controlled by an actuator that controls rotation of the second upper lever around a pin thereof with a horizontal axis and by means of which the second upper lever is connected to the respective wall, a front part of said second upper lever being concave with the concavity facing a rear part of the said wal

Assignees

• Futura Spa

Inventors

• Giurlani Giovacchino
• Mazzoni Gionata

Classifications

• D21G1/0293 Primary

  Provisions or constructions to facilitate the removal of the rolls · CPC title

• B29C33/026

  in rolls, calenders or drums · CPC title

• B29C43/24

  Calendering · CPC title

• B29C43/52

  Heating or cooling · CPC title

• B29C33/044

  in rolls calenders or drums · CPC title