Fibre producing machine with improved maintenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fiberizing machines for mineral wool require complex and time-consuming maintenance due to direct engagement of connecting shafts with the drive, limiting speed increases and incurring high costs for upgrading drives.
Innovation Solution
Incorporation of intermediary transmission boxes between the drive unit and transmission shafts, allowing for simplified maintenance and adjustable speed without direct connection, using coupling elements like belts, chains, or pinions to connect rods to the drive and shafts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If direct engagement of connecting shaft with drive is used, then structure is simple, but maintenance becomes complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The transmission system is segmented into modular components: drive unit, intermediary transmission box, and transmission shaft with rotor. The intermediary transmission box acts as a separable module that can be removed independently for maintenance, allowing the transmission shaft and rotor to remain in place while still enabling access to drive components.
Solution Approach 2:
An intermediary transmission box is introduced between the drive unit and the transmission shaft. This intermediary component serves as a mediator that decouples the direct engagement, allowing maintenance operations on the drive without requiring removal of the transmission shaft or rotor, thus simplifying maintenance while preserving structural integrity.
2Device complexity
If direct engagement of connecting shaft with drive is used, then device complexity is low, but speed increase possibilities are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The transmission system is made dynamically adjustable through the intermediary transmission box, which can incorporate variable ratio mechanisms such as pulleys with adjustable belt positioning or gear sets that can be reconfigured. This allows the rotor speed to be increased or decreased independently of the drive unit's maximum speed capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The transmission ratio parameter can be changed by modifying the intermediary transmission box configuration (e.g., changing pulley diameters, gear ratios, or belt positioning). This enables the rotor to operate at higher speeds than the drive unit's direct output would permit, while keeping the overall device complexity manageable through standardized components.
3Speed
If drive speed is increased to increase rotor speed, then rotor speed increases, but drive cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The intermediary transmission box serves as a cost-effective mediator that allows rotor speed to exceed drive unit speed without requiring a more expensive high-speed drive. The intermediary component can use simpler, lower-cost mechanisms (belts, chains, gears) to achieve the speed multiplication effect that would otherwise require an expensive high-performance drive unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The intermediary transmission components (belts, chains, gear sets) are chosen to be lower-cost, replaceable elements rather than investing in an expensive high-speed drive unit. These cheaper intermediary components can be replaced or adjusted as needed to achieve desired rotor speeds without the high capital cost of upgrading the entire drive system.
Data Source
AI summary
A machine for fiberizing mineral wool by free centrifugation, includes a frame on which is mounted at least one centrifugation wheel; a transmission shaft connected to the at least one centrifugation wheel and configured to rotate the centrifugation wheel; a drive unit including an output rod; and an intermediary transmission box connected at least by one input to the output rod of the drive unit and by at least one output to the transmission shaft, wherein the intermediary transmission box includes a coupling mechanism operatively arranged between the output rod and the transmission shaft, the coupling mechanism being configured to transmit rotational movement from the drive unit to the transmission shaft including one or more rotary engagement elements.