COMBING MACHINE

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a combing machine for spinning preparation according to the preamble of claim 1.

[0002] For example, DE 10 2012 011 030 A1 discloses a combing head of a combing machine for use in spinning preparation. The combing head has, as an essential structural component, a drive input shaft that drives a pincer gear. The pincer gear serves to drive a pincer device. Furthermore, the gear unit has detaching cylinders, and the detaching cylinders are arranged at the gear output of a planetary gear. Via a rocker crank and a cam gear, the rotary motion of a central shaft is coupled to the pincer shaft, causing the latter to execute an oscillating motion. At the same time, the central shaft also drives the planetary gear for the detaching cylinders. The central shaft is coupled to the drive input shaft via a gear stage.

[0003] The combing head therefore comprises shafts and working cylinders coupled to the shafts, which act in various ways and perform an oscillating motion. The detaching cylinders, in particular, perform a so-called pilgrim-step motion. Furthermore, there are shafts and thus working cylinders that perform a continuous rotary motion. For example, the circular comb shaft with a circular comb roller mounted on it, as well as a brush roller for cleaning the circular comb roller, perform a continuous motion, resulting in discontinuous power consumption for a main drive motor consisting of additional, discontinuously rotating working cylinders with acceleration and deceleration phases across the comb clearance and the gear shafts that drive or receive these.

[0004] Modern combing machines, for example, have eight combing heads arranged in a row next to each other in or on a machine frame. The combing heads operate synchronously, so that some shafts, especially those operated discontinuously, can be coupled together, creating a kind of continuous design, so that several combing heads share common shafts. This reduces the design effort and ensures synchronous operation of the combing heads. The same can be done for the detaching cylinders.

[0005] For example, EP 2 397 584 B1 shows a combing head with detachable cylinders, each driven by two synchronously operated electric motors. This allows for increased dynamics in the discontinuous rotary motion of the detachable cylinders. On each side of the detachable cylinders, there is a gear unit through which the respective electric motor is operatively connected to the detachable cylinder.

[0006] Due to the pilgrim step motion, the shearing cylinders, and the oscillating motion of the nipper shaft, the power consumption of the main drive motor is characterized by a discontinuous curve, which, however, repeats in the same way for each combing cycle. In particular, the deceleration and acceleration of the shafts and the differently acting working cylinders mounted on them, generally referred to as such here, results in a characteristic curve, with the power consumption being required both to generate a torque in a first direction of rotation and to generate a torque in an opposite direction of rotation of the motor. This results in an overall high power consumption and a high energy requirement for operating a combing machine, especially one with multiple combing heads.The reason for a poor power balance is also the inability to operate the main drive motor at an optimum operating speed and torque, since the output torque changes periodically over each gear play.

[0007] EP 1 586 682 B1 discloses a combing machine in which a drive or drive elements for initiating the reciprocating movement of the nipper unit are designed such that at least one nipper unit performs a pivoting movement offset in time from the other nipper units. This is intended to ensure that at least the vibration amplitude of the oppositely vibrating nipper unit is opposite to the other vibration amplitudes of the other nipper units, so that the vibrations partially compensate each other.

[0008] JP H07 26254 B2 discloses a combing machine intended for small-batch production of various types of yarn. For this purpose, a working unit, in which several combing heads are arranged in parallel, is arranged symmetrically on either side of a drive unit that transmits the drive force of a main motor to each of the combing heads. The product storage unit, equipped with a reeling device for arranging and drawing a plurality of slivers produced by the respective combing heads of the two working units, and then placing the slivers into a can, is to be arranged at a position equidistant from the respective working units.

[0009] The object of the invention is to optimize the operation of a combing machine with the lowest possible power consumption. Several combing heads should be arranged side by side in a row without increasing the design effort for coupling the combing heads together. Furthermore, the combing machine should operate smoothly and with low vibration and oscillation.

[0010] This object is achieved by a combing machine according to the preamble of claim 1 in conjunction with the characterizing features. Advantageous developments of the invention are specified in the dependent claims.

[0011] To achieve this object, the invention provides that a first group of combing heads is operatively connected to the main drive motor by means of a first drive connection and can be driven in a first phase position, and that at least a second group of combing heads is operatively connected to the main drive motor by means of a second drive connection and can be driven in a second phase position, wherein the combing heads operable in the first phase position and the combing heads operable in the second phase position are arranged alternately and / or from a center of the row of combing heads symmetrically to one another, so that during operation of the main drive motor the combing play of the combing heads of the first and at least second group run out of phase with one another.

[0012] The core idea of ​​the invention is a phase shift in the combing play of at least two combing heads or of a first group of combing heads to the combing play of a second group of combing heads, so that a power flow can result via the active connections between the groups, which can at least partially compensate for one another. The acceleration phase and thus the proportion of power consumption for accelerating the first combing head or the first group of combing heads can be partially fed by a torque generated by a deceleration phase of the combing play of the second combing head or the second group of combing heads. The result is a smoothing of the power curve, so that the overall power requirement for operating the combing machine is reduced and the main drive motor can be operated at or close to an operating optimum.

[0013] In addition to reducing power, the nested phase shift of the adjacent combing heads during combing machine operation enables particularly smooth operation of the combing machine. The first group of combing heads is nested with the second group of combing heads in such a way that neighboring combing heads exhibit a total or predominantly phase shift from one another, resulting in the combing cycles of the neighboring combing heads being out of phase. However, in a bilaterally symmetrical design, the two middle combing heads can, as an exception, be operated in phase with their combing cycles.

[0014] The phase shift can be easily set up alternately within the row of combing heads within the machine frame. As already mentioned above, with an even number of combing heads, which is usually the case in a combing machine, it is also possible to operate the combing heads alternately with a phase shift from the symmetrical center. Thus, two combing heads positioned laterally to the symmetrical center of the row of combing heads can operate in phase, and each adjacent combing head can be operated with a phase shift.In this case, there does not have to be just two phase positions for the combing play of the combing heads, and more than two phase positions can also be provided, which are particularly arranged in such a way that the resulting symmetry balances out dynamic forces during operation of the combing machine, comparable to a reciprocating piston engine with a higher number of cylinders, which naturally runs more smoothly than a reciprocating piston engine with a lower number of cylinders. For example, with eight to sixteen combing heads on a combing machine, each combing head can be operated out of phase with the other combing head. Or two combing heads can be operated as a group out of phase with the other four to eight groups of combing heads. In the extreme case of a combing machine with eight combing heads, the group of combing heads can consist of a single combing head, two or four combing heads.In a combing machine with up to 16 combing heads, the group of combing heads can consist of a single combing head, two, four or eight combing heads, each operated out of phase with each other.

[0015] The drive connections between the main drive motor and the groups of combing heads can therefore allow for two or more different phase positions. The drive connection to each individual combing head can be configured in different ways, and two options for setting up the drive connection between the groups of combing heads and the main drive motor are shown below.

[0016] The first group of combing heads and the second group of combing heads are driven via a common control shaft, wherein the first drive connection is established between the control shaft and the combing heads of the first group and the second drive connection is established between the control shaft and the combing heads of the second group, whereby when the main drive motor is operated, the combing cycles of the combing heads of the first group are operated in a phase-shifted manner to the combing cycles of the combing heads of the second group.

[0017] The common control shaft can extend parallel to the row of combing heads, either laterally adjacent to the combing heads or the common control shaft extends through the combing heads, and the control movement of the control shaft is picked up via a corresponding pick-up means formed by the respective first and second drive connection.

[0018] The drive connection is established by cam disks. The cam disks are configured to drive a function of the combing heads relevant to the combing play. The first drive connection comprises a cam disk operatively connected to the control shaft in a first phase position for driving a function of the combing head. The second drive connection comprises a cam disk operatively connected to the control shaft in the second phase position, which is also configured to drive a function of the combing head. The cam disks drive a nipper device having at least one oscillating nipper shaft, via which, in turn, an upper nipper and a lower nipper are driven.

[0019] It is also conceivable for a circular comb or at least one tear-off roller to be operatively connected in an oscillating manner to the corresponding cam disk or to a further cam disk on each of the combing heads. In this respect, it is of secondary but not unimportant for the invention which functional shaft or functional roller of the combing head is driven via the cam disk by means of the common control shaft. However, the phase offset of at least one main function of the combing head should be selected so that optimal energy savings can be achieved. In particular, however, a main input shaft of a combing head can be driven accordingly with the cam disk, so that the further gear connection of the functional shafts can be used to set the corresponding phase position in the comb play of each individual functional shaft of the combing head.The drive does not have to be carried out directly via the cam disc, but the cam disc can initiate an oscillating movement, for example in the nipper shaft or by a superimposed oscillation movement in the tear-off rollers, without the cam disc itself being set up in the power train to drive the combing head.

[0020] Further measures improving the invention are described in more detail below together with the description of a preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to the figures.

[0021] They show: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a gear unit with a combing machine, wherein only the essential components of the gear unit for forming a combing head are numerically designated, Figure 2 is a schematic view of parts of a nipper apparatus which can be driven by means of a cam disk, Figure 3 is a schematic view of two drive shafts not according to the invention which can be operated out of phase with one another and are connected to respective functional shafts, and Figure 4 is a diagram showing the power consumption of the groups of combing heads of the main drive motor during operation of the combing machine designed according to the invention over time.

[0022] The combing head 11 according to Figure 1is driven via a drive input shaft 31 by means of a main drive motor 12, and the connection between the drive input shaft 31 and the main drive motor 12 is carried out by means of a drive connection 13, 14, which can be designed in various ways so that the phase position of combing heads 11 operated adjacent to one another is offset.

[0023] The combing head 11 has another central shaft 32, which is driven by the drive input shaft 31 via a gear stage. The drive input shaft 31 is continuously rotated. A pincer gear 26 is located on the central shaft 32, to which a pincer shaft 23 driven by a crank arm 33 is connected, which ultimately drives an upper pincer gear 30. By means of the upper pincer gear 30, an upper pincer of the pincer apparatus of the combing head 11 can be operated via a pincer output shaft 29, and a lower pincer on the pincer shaft 23 can be operated.

[0024] Connected to the drive input shaft 31 are additional gear shafts of a secondary gear 27, via which additional shafts or rollers can be driven, particularly for transporting the fiber web after the combing process. For example, a table calender roller, a delivery roller, and the like can be driven via the secondary gear 27, so that the drive power of the main drive motor 12 can also be used for these purposes. Furthermore, the rotational mass moment of inertia increases, making the gear operation smoother. In particular, the central drive allows the dynamics of the oscillating masses to be better balanced.

[0025] The combing head 11 further comprises a planetary gear 28, via which the tear-off rollers 19 are driven to perform a pilgrim step movement.

[0026] Fig. 2shows a schematic representation of a nipper apparatus 17 of a combing head, and to generate the oscillating movements in the nipper apparatus 17, a cam disk 16 is connected to a control shaft 15, which is designed with a curved path that deviates from a circular contour. Depending on the rotational position of the control shaft 15 and thus of the cam disk 16, a tapping element 38 can initiate a movement in the lower nipper 35 of the nipper apparatus 17, from which movement can also be derived on the upper nipper 34 via a coupling rod 37 and an eccentric 36. For this purpose, the lower nipper 35 is initially held by linkages 25, whereby the circular comb 18 is simultaneously set up with the linkage 25 shown on the left.

[0027] In a manner not shown in detail, the control shaft 15, in conjunction with the cam disk 16, can form the drive connections 13, 14 that are arranged between the main drive motor 12 and the combing heads 11. The drive connections 13 and 14 are designed to differ from one another due to the rotational position of the cam disk 16, such that adjacent combing heads and, for example, adjacent tong apparatuses 17 are phase-shifted from one another. The phase positions of each subsequent combing head 11 are again designed to be identical to one another. Thus, for example, two or more phase positions can alternate with one another during operation of the combing machine, whereby an equal number of combing heads can be operated with the same phase position.The phase positions can be offset in groups, for example in a combing machine with eight combing heads with groups of one, two or four combing heads, each operated offset from the other groups of combing heads. In a combing machine with, for example, ten combing heads, the groups of combing heads can consist of one combing head, two or five combing heads, each operated in groups with a phase offset from one another. In principle, the groups of combing heads operated in different phase positions do not have to be the same size. In a ten-head combing machine, the groups of combing heads can consist of two groups of two combing heads each and two groups of three combing heads each, which can be arranged symmetrically to one another (2, 3, 3, 2 or 2, 3, 2, 3 or 3, 2, 2, 3).In a combing machine with, for example, twelve combing heads, the groups of combing heads can consist of one, two, three, four, or six combing heads, each operating in groups with a phase shift relative to each other. The interleaved phase positions during operation of the combing heads result in particularly low-oscillation, low-vibration operation of the combing machine.

[0028] Fig. 3shows an alternative embodiment for forming the drive connections 13, 14 by means of rotating or oscillating drive shafts 20 and 21, which are drivingly connected to the main drive motor in a phase-offset manner by means of a common gear or each by means of a gear mechanism. For example, the first drive shaft 20 shown forms the first drive connection 13 for driving a first group of combing heads, and the drive shaft 21 forms a second drive connection 14 for driving a second group of combing heads. Rotation arrows indicate that the drive shafts 20 and 21 are operated in different phase positions α1 and α2. Depending on the number of drive shafts, the different phase positions αn can increase up to the number of combing heads, i.e. preferably eight, ten, twelve, or sixteen.

[0029] The drive shafts 20, 21 are connected to functional shafts 22 via coupling elements 24, wherein the connections are designed such that adjacent functional shafts 22 are connected to the respective other drive shaft 20, 21. The functional shafts 22 can represent a shaft or axis of a combing head; for example, the functional shafts 22 of the combing heads 11 can form a nipper shaft 23 or be operatively connected to the circular comb 18 or to the tear-off roller 19.

[0030] Finally, Figure 4For example, the power consumption P of the main drive motor 12 over time t. The graphs show two power consumptions P1 and P2, with power consumption P1 corresponding to the first group of combing heads 11 and power consumption P2 corresponding to the second group of combing heads 11. As previously described, up to n power consumptions Pn can be present, where n can correspond to a maximum of the number of combing heads or a portion thereof. All power consumptions Pn are operated out of phase over time t.

[0031] As the curve of power consumption P1 and P2 shows, they compensate each other above and below the zero line, so that, for example, acceleration phases of the first group of combing heads 11 can compensate for deceleration phases of the second group of combing heads 11. This results in a significant reduction in overall power consumption, since the movement phases of the combing heads can mutually compensate for their power requirements, both in terms of power consumption and power output (acceleration and deceleration). Reference symbol

[0032] 11Combing head 12Main drive motor 13First drive connection 14Second drive connection 15Control shaft 16Cam disc 17Clamping device 18Circular comb 19Tear-off roller 20Drive shaft 21Drive shaft 22Functional shaft 23Clamping shaft 24Coupling element 25Linkage 26Clamping gear 27Auxiliary gear 28Planetary gear 29Clamping output shaft 30Upper clamping gear 31Drive input shaft 32Central shaft 33Crankshaft 34Upper clamp 35Lower clamp 36Eccentric 37Coupling rod 38Tapping element α1first phase position α2second phase position αnn phase positions PPower consumption P1Power consumption of the first group of combing heads P2Power consumption of the second group of combing heads PnPower consumption of n groups of combing heads tTime

Claims

1. Combing machine for spinning preparation, having a machine frame in which a plurality of combing heads (11) are disposed in a row, and having a main drive motor (12) for driving the combing heads (11), wherein - a first group of combing heads (11) is in operative connection with the main drive motor (12) by means of a first drive connection (13) and can be driven in a first phase position (α1), and - at least a second group of combing heads (11) is in operative connection with the main drive motor (12) by means of a second drive connection (14) and can be driven in a second phase position (α2), - the combing heads (11) that can be operated in the first phase position (α1) and the combing heads (11) that can be operated in the second phase position (α2) being disposed alternately and / or symmetrically to one another starting from the centre of the row of combing heads (11), - so that, when the main drive motor (12) is in operation, the combing cycles of the combing heads (11) of the first and at least second groups are phase-shifted relative to one another, characterised in that the first group of combing heads (11) and the second group of combing heads (11) are driven by way of a common control shaft (15), the first drive connection (13) being disposed between the control shaft (15) and the combing heads (11) of the first group and the second drive connection (14) being disposed between the control shaft (15) and the combing heads (11) of the second group, with the result that, when the main drive motor (12) is in operation, the combing cycles of the combing heads (11) of the first group are phase-shifted relative to the combing cycles of the combing heads (11) of the second group, and that cams (16) are provided for driving a function of the combing heads (11) that is relevant for the combing cycle, the first drive connection (13) having a cam (16) for driving a function of the combing head (11) which is in operative connection with the control shaft (15) in a first phase position (α1), and the second drive connection (14) having a cam (16) which is in operative connection with the control shaft (15) in a second phase position (α2), wherein a nipper unit (17) is connected to the cam (16) so as to be drivable in an oscillating manner.

2. Combing machine according to claim 1, characterised in that the number of phase positions (αn) can correspond to the number of combing heads (11) or a part of the combing heads (11).

3. Combing machine according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that a circular comb (18) and / or at least one detaching roll (19) is in operative connection with the or a further cam (16) at each of the combing heads (11) so as to be drivable in an oscillating manner.

4. Combing machine according to claim 3, characterised in that the cam (16) is configured with a cam path which differs from a circular contour, and that a pick-up element (38) is provided, which in dependence upon the rotational position of the control shaft (15) and thus of the cam (16) introduces a movement into the lower nipper (35) of the nipper unit (17), from which at the same time the movement on the upper nipper (34) can also be derived by way of a coupling rod (37) and an eccentric cam (36), for this purpose a mounting of the lower nipper (35) serves by way of linkages 25, the circular comb (18) at the same time being configured with one of the linkages (25).