DEVICE AND METHOD FOR FEEDING MATERIAL WEBS TO A PROCESSING DEVICE

Abstract

A delivery device for feeding planar material webs, for example airlaids, wetlaids, non-wovens, or films/foils, to a processing installation is proposed, said delivery device having a splicing unit and a multiple-web unwinding device. The splicing unit is configured for connecting a fibrous-web end of a preceding individual fibrous web to a fibrous-web lead of a subsequent individual fibrous web, so as to in this way feed a non-interrupted fibrous web to the processing installation. The splicing unit is moreover configured for processing airlaid fibrous webs that are wound on winding cores and are thus made up as roll goods. The multiple-web unwinding device has at least two winding-core mounts that are capable of being loaded in a mutually independent manner. Each of the winding-core mounts may receive a plurality of comparatively narrow rolls having narrower individual fibrous webs, or alternatively also a comparatively wider roll having a wider multiple fibrous web that is perforated in the unwinding direction. By virtue of the perforation, the wider multiple fibrous web may be detached so as to form a plurality of individual fibrous webs by severing along the perforation, such that as a result narrow fibrous webs may likewise be fed to the splicing unit, as is possible in the case of correspondingly narrow rolls having narrower individual fibrous webs.

Description

The invention relates to a delivery device for feeding material webs such as films/foils, for example, and in particular fibrous webs of wet-laid or dry-laid fibrous material (non-wovens), such as wetlaid, paper, or airlaid fibrous webs, to a processing installation, and to a method for feeding airlaid fibrous webs to a processing installation.

Airlaid fibrous webs are used in the production of diapers, incontinence articles, sanitary napkins, panty liners, and the like, for example. To this end, the airlaid fibrous webs are supplied in the form of rolls or bales (blocks), and for processing by a respective processing installation are then cut off from the roll or from the fibrous web that has been folded to a bale, and processed, for example laminated or the like.

Airlaid fibrous webs are a non-woven-like material in which the fibers with the aid of an air stream are laid up in an (almost) dry manner on a belt, so as to form a fibrous web. In the case of wetlaid fibrous webs, the fibers are made available so as to be distributed for example in liquid and are scooped from the liquid, for example water.

For example, airlaid fibrous webs are produced as a non-woven in a dry-laid process as is described for example in WO 86/000097 A1 or EP 0 194 607 A2.

In the case of the material web being supplied in rolls, that is to say as roll goods, the roll has to be changed whenever the fibrous web from a respective roll has been fully unwound. The issue arises herein that an individual roll typically contains 800 to 1000 linear meters of fibrous web and is unwound at a drawing-in speed of up to 400 m/min, so that a respective roll is completely unwound already after 2 to 3 minutes, and the remaining empty winding core of the roll then has to be replaced by a full roll and be connected by splicing. A further disadvantage of roll goods is that the risk of “telescoping” exists in particular in the case of narrow fibrous webs and of accordingly narrow rolls, that is to say that the wound layers of the wound fibrous web may laterally slide from the roll.

In order for the issues that are associated with individual rolls to be alleviated, material webs prior to being processed may be wound on spools (“spooling”). Herein, also narrow fibrous webs may be processed, and the running length per spool is significantly larger than in the case of individual rolls, on account of which the frequency of replacement of the rolls is substantially reduced. It is disadvantageous that the production of the spools requires a further separate process step, on account of which the production costs are significantly increased (10 to 30%).

Alternatively, the material web may also be supplied in bale form as a block which is generated by reciprocating deposition of the material web. This reciprocating deposition is also referred to as festooning and leads to compact blocks or bales which, compared to roll goods of similar storage volume, contain a longer length of material web. The production of such block goods is described in DE 102 27 653, for example. The retrieval of the fibrous web is then performed by so-called defestooning or by deplaiting. In a manner similar to spooling, the block goods offer the advantage of offering a longer length of fibrous web at a given packing volume. This is offset by higher production costs, since block goods (compared to roll goods), in a manner similar to spooling, require an additional production step of making up by means of a festooner (production costs increased by approx. 10 to 30%). Moreover, in the case of block goods there is the risk of twisting of the fibrous web during depositing. Block goods are also unsuitable for layered material, that is to say when the fibrous web is a non-woven which as an upper ply (upper layer) has another material composition or embossing than in a lower ply (lower layer). Due to the festoon-shaped deposition process, the mechanical stress on the fibrous web is relatively high, requiring a minimum strength and a minimum elongation. Festooning is also problematic in the case of materials that are relatively rigid in terms of kinking, since the point of kinking is not completely removed during deplaiting, leading to issues in processing.

Against this background, it is an objective of the invention to offer a solution that offers the advantages of spooling and festooning, that avoids the additional process steps (costs) associated with spooling and festooning, and moreover is suitable for processing narrow fibrous webs and rigid materials, or materials having low strength and elongation, respectively. According to the invention, a delivery device, having a splicing unit and a multiple-web unwinding device, for feeding material webs to a processing installation is proposed, on the one hand. The splicing unit is configured for connecting a material-web end of a preceding individual material web to a material-web lead of a subsequent individual material web, so as in this way to be able to feed a non-interrupted material web to the processing installation. Moreover, the splicing unit is configured for processing material webs such as film/foils, and in particular material webs of non-wovens such as wetlaid or airlaid fibrous webs that are wound on winding cores and thus are made up as roll goods. The multiple-web unwinding device has at least two winding-core mounts which are capable of being loaded in a mutually independent manner. Each of the winding-core mounts may receive a plurality of comparatively narrow rolls having narrower individual material webs or else, alternatively, a comparatively wider roll having a wider multiple material web that is perforated in the unwinding direction. The wider multiple material web by virtue of the perforation may be detached to form a plurality of individual material webs by severing along the perforation such that as a result, material webs are fed to the splicing unit that are just as narrow as is possible in the case of correspondingly narrow rolls having narrower individual material webs. When perforated multiple material webs are used, the advantage lies in that the former in the production process of the (for example, airlaid, carded, spun-bonded web, or film/foil) material web may be made without any additional process step in line, or during rewinding, respectively, on account of which an additional effort such as arises when festooning or spooling, is avoided.

A delivery device of this type offers the advantage that the multiple-web unwinding device has two winding-core mounts that are capable of being loaded in a mutually independent manner and that each may be loaded such that each winding-core mount in the case of being fully loaded carries a plurality of wound-up individual material webs beside one another. The individual material webs that are disposed beside one another herein may be present in the form of separate individual rolls, or preferably in the form of a perforated multiple material web. Once an individual material web has been consumed, the splicing unit may thus always be fed the lead of a new individual material web from the respective other winding-core mount in an extremely short time such that an extremely rapid changeover from one individual material web to another individual material web of all the individual material webs that are provided on the two winding-core mounts of the multiple-web unwinding device is possible.

Once all the provided individual material webs on a respective winding-core mount have been consumed, new individual material webs may be rapidly provided, specifically and preferably in the form of a correspondingly wider multiple material web. Depending on the capacity of the winding-core mounts, reloading of this type of the winding-core mount has to be carried out in a correspondingly less frequent manner than is the case with the replacement of the individual rolls in the prior art. It is thus possible for the roll goods that are to be preferred for technological and production reasons to be employed without bearing the disadvantages (frequent roll changeovers) that are otherwise associated therewith in the prior art.

In order for the aforementioned objective to be achieved, a method for feeding airlaid material webs to a processing installation is also proposed, according to which method on at least two winding-core mounts in each case a plurality of airlaid material webs that are wound on winding cores and thus are made up as roll goods are provided either in the form of in each case a plurality of comparatively narrow rolls having narrow individual material webs, or in the form of a comparatively wider roll having a wider multiple material web that is perforated in the unwinding direction, wherein the wider multiple material web is capable of being detached by severing along the perforations of a plurality of individual material webs. The use of the wider perforated multiple material web offers the advantage that also very narrow webs which cannot be produced as an individual roll may be processed. According to this method, the individual material webs are alternatingly unwound from one or the other winding-core mount, and a respective material web end of a preceding individual material web is connected to a material web lead and a subsequent individual material web by splicing such that a non-interrupted material web is fed to the processing installation.

The delivery device preferably has more than two winding-core mounts, and one material-web accumulator that is assigned to each winding-core mount. A respective winding-core mount and the material-web accumulator assigned thereto, optionally jointly with further components, form in each case an unwinding unit, and are a component part of a respective unwinding device. The material-web accumulator may have one or a plurality of tension rollers as significant component parts, for example. One delivery device may thus be formed in each case by one splicing unit and a plurality of unwinding units that are assigned to said splicing unit.

The multiple-web unwinding device preferably has a total of four winding-core mounts that are capable of being loaded in a mutually independent manner. In this way, it is possible for the splicing unit to be fed in each case one individual material web in an alternating manner from two of the winding-core mounts, while the other two winding-core mounts are able to be loaded with new full material web rolls, for example. Thus, the continuous, that is to say non-interrupted, delivery procedure to the processing installation may be further extended, because individual material webs from the two other material web rolls are able to already be fed to the splicing unit before the empty winding cores and the empty material web rolls have been retrieved from the respective two winding-core mounts and have been replaced by new full material web rolls. Replacing the empty winding cores with full material web rolls may thus be performed while the splicing unit is fed individual material webs also from the other two material web rolls on the two additional winding-core mounts. The time interval for the multiple-material web changeover procedure is significantly extended in comparison to the running time of an individual material web, since the running time of the last individual material web on one side no longer determines the maximum changeover interval.

The winding-core mounts are in each case preferably disposed in pairs so as to be mutually aligned and so as to be mutually opposite in a parallel manner, that is to say that two mutually aligned winding-core mounts are opposite so as to be parallel with two further likewise mutually aligned winding-core mounts. The splicing unit is preferably disposed so as to be approximately centric between all winding-core mounts.

Alternatively, it is also possible for the delivery device to have a central splicing unit, in combination with another, in particular an odd, number of winding-core mounts.

Moreover, the winding-core mounts and respective unwinding devices may also be disposed so as to be mutually parallel.

The multiple-web unwinding device preferably has a plurality of tension rollers which are disposed such that the latter hold a respective individual material web to be unwound so as to be tensioned by a defined force. This is particularly advantageous because the individual material webs that are disposed beside one another on one material web roll are interconnected such that, overall, an initially relative large rotating mass that is reduced in the course of production results, and because the material web rolls have to be regularly decelerated and accelerated again, depending on which material web roll an individual material web is being removed from at a given time. Since irregularities in terms of the circumferential speed of a respective individual material web reel may arise herein, tension rollers which absorb these variations are advantageous. Tension rollers and the associated winding-core mount in each case form one unwinding device.

The invention is now to be explained in more detail by means of an exemplary embodiment with reference to the figures in which:

FIG. 1: shows a side view of a delivery device according to the invention;

FIG. 2: shows a plan view of a delivery device according to the invention; and

FIG. 3: shows a plan view of a delivery device having a separately positioned splicing unit, enabling a parallel arrangement of a plurality of unwinding units.

The delivery device 10 depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2 has a splicing unit 12 and a multiple-web unwinding device 14 with winding-core mounts 16 and 18, the latter in the depicted example in each case being loaded with one fibrous-web roll 20 and 22. Each of the fibrous-web rolls 20 and 22 has one winding core 24 and 26, respectively, a perforated multiple fibrous web 28 or 30, respectively, being wound on each of said cores 24 and 26. Each of the multiple fibrous webs 28 and 30, respectively, is provided with perforations 32 along which the respective multiple fibrous web 28 or 30, respectively, may be detached so as to form a plurality of individual fibrous webs 34. Thus, the fibrous webs 34 are present as roll goods in the form of a perforated, wider multiple fibrous web.

The exemplary embodiments each refer to a delivery device for feeding airlaid fibrous webs to a processing installation. The material webs in the exemplary embodiments are thus airlaid fibrous webs. However, the exemplary embodiments apply in a corresponding manner to delivery devices for films/foils or other planar fibrous webs, for example wetlaid fibrous webs, or paper.

As can be derived from FIG. 2, the fibrous-web roll 20 that is to the left in the image carries fourteen individual fibrous webs, while the fibrous-web roll 22 that is to the right in the image carries (now only) thirteen individual fibrous webs. Accordingly, part of the winding core 26 of the fibrous-web roll 22 may be identified.

As can also be identified, the splicing unit 12 during operation is simultaneously being fed an individual fibrous web 34 from that fibrous-web roll 20 that is to the left in the image, and a second individual fibrous web 34 from that fibrous-web roll 22 that is to the right in the image. In the state that is schematically illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, an individual fibrous web 34 is just being unwound from that fibrous-web roll 20 that is to the left in the image and is being fed to the processing installation, while a lead of the next individual fibrous web of that fibrous-web roll 22 that is to the right in the image has indeed already been fed to the splicing unit 12, but is connected to an end of the individual fibrous web 34 that is presently being unwound from the left fibrous-web roll 20 only once this end of the individual fibrous web 34 has been reached. Subsequently, the next individual fibrous web of that fibrous-web roll 22 that is to the right in the image is completely unwound, while a lead of the subsequent individual fibrous web of that fibrous-web roll 20 that is to the left in the image is available in the splicing unit 12, should the respective end of the individual fibrous web of that fibrous-web roll 22 that is to the right in the image be reached.

Once an individual fibrous web 34 of the multiple fibrous webs 28 and 30 has been unwound from the respective winding core 24 and 26, the winding cores 24 and 26 have to be retrieved from the winding-core mounts 16 and 18 and to be replaced by full fibrous-web rolls

Since this takes time, it is advantageous for the delivery device 10 to not only have two winding-core mounts 16 and 18 but instead four winding-core mounts (that is to say two times two winding-core mounts) which then are disposed on the other side of the splicing unit 12. Should the two fibrous-web rolls 20 and 22 be consumed, individual fibrous webs may be retrieved from those fibrous-web rolls that are made available on the additional winding-core mounts, while the winding-core mounts 16 and 18 are being reloaded. In this way, an interruption of production when reloading the winding-core mounts may be minimized, that is to say that the non-interrupted delivery procedure to the processing installation is further extended.

It is indicated in FIG. 2 how two additional winding-core mounts may be disposed, specifically such that those fibrous-web rolls that are disposed on the additional winding-core mounts each are aligned with one of the two fibrous-web rolls 20 or 22, respectively.

According to the exemplary embodiment, the roll goods are present in the form of a perforated wider multiple fibrous web which is wound onto a correspondingly wide winding core and which is provided with perforations 32 along which the multiple fibrous web may be detached so as to form a plurality of individual fibrous webs.

As shown in FIG. 1, the multiple-web unwinding device 14 has a plurality of tension rollers 36 which are tasked with keeping the respective individual fibrous web 34 taut, and with absorbing and equalizing the variations in the circumferential speed of the respective individual fibrous-web reel, which variations have been described at the outset. As mentioned at the outset, one fibrous-web roll contains a plurality of individual fibrous-web reels that are disposed beside one another and which by way of a perforation and by way of a common winding core are interconnected and in total have a large centrifugal mass that is reduced in the course of the individual fibrous web being drawn off. In order for the issues associated therewith to be minimized, it is advantageous for the internal radius (the external diameter of the winding core) to be enlarged in relation to that of usual fibrous-web rolls.

In the examples, the winding cores 24 and 26 are illustrated as continuous winding cores which extend approximately across the entire width of the fibrous-web rolls 20 or 22, respectively, and consequently across a plurality of individual fibrous webs 34. Alternatively, it is also possible for a separate winding-core portion to be provided for each individual fibrous web 34, wherein the winding-core portions preferably have a mutual spacing, of 5 or 10 mm, for example. This facilitates the disposal of the winding-core portion that is associated with a respective individual fibrous web 34, when a respective individual fibrous web 34 has been consumed. A winding core that is composed of a plurality of mutually segregated winding-core portions, wherein each individual fibrous web 34 has a dedicated winding-core portion, is not illustrated in the figures.

It is illustrated in FIG. 3 that in principle any arbitrary number of unwinding units, each having one winding-core mount and one fibrous-web accumulator, may be assigned to a respective splicing unit 12. In the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 3, there are three winding-core mounts which each are loaded with one fibrous-web roll, and correspondingly three material-web accumulators 38 having respective tension rollers, that is to say three unwinding units, that are assigned to one splicing unit 12 and jointly with the latter form one delivery device 10′. The three unwinding units jointly form one unwinding device.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

10, 10′ Delivery device

12 Splicing unit

14 Multiple-web unwinding device

16, 18 Winding-core mounts

20, 22 Fibrous-web rolls

24, 26 Winding cores

28, 30 Multiple fibrous webs

32 Perforations

34 Individual fibrous webs

36 Tension rollers

38 Material-web accumulator

Claims

1. A delivery device for feeding planar material webs to a processing installation, characterized in that the delivery device has a splicing unit for connecting a material-web end of a preceding individual material web to a material-web lead of a subsequent individual material web, so as to feed a non-interrupted material web to the processing installation, wherein the splicing unit is configured for processing material webs that are wound on winding cores and are thus made up as rolls, and wherein the delivery device has a multiple-web unwinding device having at least two winding-core mounts that are capable of being loaded in a mutually independent manner and that each may receive a plurality of comparatively narrow rolls having narrower individual material webs or a comparatively wider roll having a wider multiple material web that is perforated in the unwinding direction, wherein the wider multiple material web may be detached so as to form a plurality of individual material webs by severing along the perforation.

2. The delivery device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the delivery device has more than two winding-core mounts and one material-web accumulator that is assigned to each winding-core mount.

3. The delivery device as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that the multiple-web unwinding device has a total of four winding-core mounts that are capable of being loaded in a mutually independent manner.

4. The delivery device as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the winding-core mounts are in each case disposed in pairs so as to be mutually aligned and so as to be mutually opposite in a parallel manner.

5. The delivery device as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the splicing unit is disposed so as to be approximately centric between all four winding-core mounts.

6. The delivery device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the multiple-web unwinding device has a plurality of tension rollers which are disposed such that the latter hold a respective individual material web to be unwound so as to be tensioned by a defined force.

7. The delivery device as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that the tension rollers are a composite part of a material-web accumulator, wherein one dedicated material-web accumulator is assigned to each winding-core mount.

8. A method for feeding material webs to a processing installation, the method being characterized in that

on at least two winding-core mounts in each case a plurality of material webs that are wound on winding cores and thus are made up as rolls are provided either in the form of in each case a plurality of comparatively narrow rolls having narrower individual material webs, or in the form of a comparatively wider roll having a wider multiple material web that is perforated in the unwinding direction, wherein the wider multiple material web is capable of being detached by severing along the perforation into a plurality of individual material webs; and

that individual material webs are alternatingly unwound from one or the other winding-core mount, and a respective material web end of a preceding individual material web is connected to a material web lead of a subsequent individual material web by splicing such that a non-interrupted material web is fed to the processing installation.