Quick-change calender with movable magazine for rapid roller replacement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing calenders for treating nonwoven, textile, plastic, or paper webs face significant downtimes and constructional challenges during roller replacement, requiring extensive manual labor and time due to the need to cool and heat rolls, leading to prolonged production stoppages.
Innovation Solution
A quick-change calender design featuring a movable magazine that shifts the center of gravity, allowing for the easy replacement of rolls without manual intervention, with lubrication and heating systems integrated to facilitate rapid roll changes, enabling rolls to be moved perpendicularly to the nip direction, reducing the need for support rollers and allowing for automated operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional manual roller replacement is used, then the calender can be manufactured with simple structure, but the replacement process requires extensive manual labor and results in long production downtime
Solution Approach 1:
The magazine is designed to automatically perform the replacement function through its own movement. When the magazine moves between positions, it automatically brings the alternative roller into the working position and removes the used roller, eliminating the need for external changing devices or manual intervention. The system serves itself by using the magazine's positional change to accomplish the replacement task.
Solution Approach 2:
The magazine serves multiple functions: it holds both the working roller and alternative roller, provides the changing mechanism through its movement, and acts as the mounting structure. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate changing devices, support rollers, and mounting mechanisms, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining high replacement speed.
2Productivity
If heated rollers are used for continuous production, then production efficiency is maintained, but the roller replacement requires cooling down and heating up time which increases downtime
Solution Approach 1:
The alternative roller is pre-heated while stored in the magazine during normal production operation. When replacement is needed, the pre-heated alternative roller is already at the required temperature, eliminating the heating-up time that would normally be required. This preliminary preparation of the alternative roller maintains continuous production capability without replacement downtime.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating system continues to operate on the alternative roller even during normal production, maintaining its temperature in advance. This ensures that when the roller needs to be replaced, the heating action has already been completed on the standby roller, allowing immediate replacement without interruption to the heating process or production flow.
3Productivity
If multiple rollers are stored for quick replacement, then replacement speed is improved, but the magazine becomes heavier and more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The magazine is designed to hold exactly two rollers: one working roller and one alternative roller. This minimal configuration extracts only the essential number of rollers needed for quick replacement, avoiding the weight penalty of storing multiple unnecessary rollers. The system achieves quick replacement capability with the minimum required inventory.
Solution Approach 2:
The magazine's weight is optimized by designing it to hold only the necessary two rollers rather than a fixed large capacity. The magazine dynamically adapts its content to match the immediate replacement needs, holding one working and one alternative roller, which reduces overall weight compared to static designs that must accommodate maximum possible roller storage.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design significantly reduces production downtime and manual labor, enabling quick and efficient roller replacement, maintaining continuous operation while allowing for different surface qualities and temperatures to be achieved by moving the magazine, thus enhancing production flexibility.
Implementation Method 1
the magazine can be moved in such a way that its center of gravity shifts
Implementation Method 2
the roller, which is arranged in a movable magazine together with at least one alternative roller, is a roller involved in the nip and very particularly preferably one of two rollers forming the nip... at least one of the two rolls of the calender forming the nip is arranged together with at least one alternative roll in a movable magazine
Implementation Method 3
If the roll is heated, the roll to be replaced must first be cooled down, which is time-consuming, and the new roll must be heated up before the start of production
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
The invention relates to a quick-change calender (100), in particular for the treatment of non-woven fabric, textiles, plastic or paper webs, comprising at least one roll nip (3), at least one roller (1) being arranged in a movable magazine (6) together with at least one alternative roller (4, 5).