High-frequency thread-guide device for the production of bobbins with modulated traversing
Thread-guide device with modulated traversing with an individual thread-guide having a back-and-forth movement fixed to a flexible element, moved between two pulleys in an alternating clockwise/anticlockwise movement, each driven by its own electric motor, both motors being piloted and coordinated to a control unit.
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The present invention relates to the collection of the thread produced or processed by textile machines for winding onto bobbins. In industrial practice, thread collection onto a bobbin is effected on tubes supported by a bobbin-holder arm and resting on a rotating roll, by pulling the thread to be wound onto it. The rotating roll can be activated by a motor, transmitting the rotation movement to the tube onto which the thread is wound, or, in an alternative solution, the roll is idle and is entrained by the bobbin in formation which in turn is driven by a motor. In both cases the function of the roll is to ensure the pressure necessary for forming a sufficiently compact bobbin and with a correct shape. The thread is spirally wound onto the rotating bobbin as the collecting unit is equipped with a thread-guide device which distributes the thread onto the outer surface of the bobbin, with an axial back-and-forth movement, according to a pre-determined cross angle. In industrial practice, the bobbins can have a conical-truncated or cylindrical shape with substantially flat bases, except in some particular cases in which the bobbins are shaped with a marked flaring in the terminal parts.
In traditional bobbin-winding, and especially in automatic bobbin-winding, the most widely-used device for distributing the yarn onto the surface of the bobbin with an axial back-and-forth, i.e. traversing, movement consists in a spiral groove situated on the surface of the rotating roll which allows the yarn to effect an axial excursion of a prefixed length, for a pre-established number of revs of the roll itself and with a prefixed trend of the cross angle of the yarn being wound. In other words, the thread winding and yarn distribution organs operate according to a fixed velocity ratio.
In the present development tendency of yarn processing machines, the thread distribution device on the bobbin must be produced with an autonomous thread-guide device which is independent of the movement of the winding organs.
The thread-distribution device of the yarn on the bobbin must therefore be moved by its own activation organ, with which the frequency of the back-and-forth movement, its run, the length of the spiral wound and the winding cross angle, etc. can be modulated each time and according to necessity.
The patent EP 311,827 describes an individual thread-guide system for a thread collection unit which envisages moving the thread-guide with a closed toothed transmission belt moved with a step-by-step motor controlled by a microprocessor in the traversing movement. The control of the step-by-step motor with a microprocessor allows the desired winding to be effected, with respect to the cross angle, run and traversing frequency. Patent EP 1,209,114 describes belt-tensioner devices for this type of individual thread-guide.
When the yarn collection on the bobbin is effected under severe conditions with the necessity of high-quality bobbins with respect to shape, density and regular unwinding at high speeds, there are considerable problems, for example especially in the most recently conceived automatic bobbin-winders which operate at extremely high collection rates (even over 2,000 m/min), requiring traversing frequencies in the order of 30 Hz and over.
The main problems under these conditions, with thread-guide devices with an alternating movement, derive from the fact that the overall thread-guide and its activation means in any case have a considerable mass and significant inertia at high frequencies and velocities, even when resorting to all the expedients available for reducing the mass of the organs with alternating movements and also deriving from the fact that the times and spaces for the inversion of the movement must in any case be limited (several milliseconds and a few millimeters), to give the bobbin the quality required by the subsequent use, as far as the structure, form and mechanical stability are concerned.
In the intermediate part of its back-and-forth run, the thread-guide is easily activated at the desired velocity, whether said velocity be constant, as in the case of cylindrical bobbins, or when said velocity is variable, as in the case of conical bobbins. In the end sections, close to inversion, the inertia of the thread-guide complex makes it necessary to operate with a lower average speed, with respect to the intermediate excursion section.
As a result of this lower velocity of the thread-guide, the quantity of yarn wound is greater at the two ends of the bobbin. This leads to a greater density at the ends of the bobbin and an irregular profile.
This is minimum when the thread-guide is half-way through its run and maximum when the thread-guide is at the ends of its run.
In order to overcome this problem, it would be necessary to give the traversing device additional power in the movement inversion phases, to reduce the times and distances for braking and acceleration in the opposite direction and re-establish the movement at regime velocity.
In the bobbin-winding of the known art, the greater density at the ends of the bobbin can be reduced by alternating complete traversing runs with shortened traversing runs, or with fixed traversing runs, but with continuous staggering at the two ends.
Patent EP 311,784 envisages accumulating kinetic energy with mechanical activation systems of the thread-guide during the intermediate part of its run and transferring it to the thread-guide in the movement inversion phases.
Patent EP 453,622 describes a method and a thread-guide device—again activated with constraint to a flexible ring-closed element and driven by a motor piloted with an alternating movement by a control unit which controls the position of the thread-guide and applies the step-by-step motor with an overcurrent close to its inversion points, to guarantee the braking and acceleration time values. This document also envisages further increasing the power transmitted in the movement inversion phases with an elastic system which is engaged and disengaged during the thread-guide run.
In patent EP 838,422 a thread-guide is adopted with an oscillating finger which moves according to a circular section around a pin orthogonal to the axis of the bobbin, activated by an electric motor piloted in alternating clockwise/anticlockwise movement. At the two ends of the oscillations of the thread-guide, energy accumulators are positioned consisting of elastic elements which only operate in the brief inversion section, with a repulsing effect.
Patent application EP 1,498,378 describes an analogous thread-guide with an oscillating finger with an energy accumulator having a repulsing effect obtained by positioning permanent magnets in correspondence with the run-end of the oscillating finger, which repel magnets having the same polarity.
Patent application EP 1,159,217 describes a thread-guide with an oscillating finger of the previous type, again activated by an electric motor piloted in an alternating clockwise/anticlockwise movement, in which a torsion spring is used as energy accumulator, in particular a propeller spring, or two springs, with opposing winding directions.
It has been observed that in thread-guides activated with an alternating movement, with a motor rotating alternatingly in a clockwise/anticlockwise direction, of both the closed belt type and oscillating finger type, the torque and inertia of the motor substantially determine the performances of the whole thread-guide system and more specifically the possibility of effecting inversion even at the highest velocities in the necessary times and spaces. It should in fact be taken into account that to obtain the inversion of the movement, in the extremely limited times and spaces available, the motor must brake and restart not only the thread-guide and its kinematic connection chain, but also itself. Consequently, in addition to resorting to all possible expedients for reducing the mass of the alternative movement organs, it is necessary to use motors which can reach the highest acceleration, i.e. the highest ratio between the maximum torque the motor can give in inversion and its own inertia. Generally speaking, in electric motors used for activating alternating movements piloted by a control unit—for example synchronous brushless motors—an increase in the dimensions of the motor, in order to obtain a certain driving torque value produced to give the thread-guide system the required braking and acceleration values, corresponds to a considerable increase in its inertia and a corresponding significant decrease in its acceleration.
For further clarifications, a group of synchronous brushless motors can be considered and their torque and inertia moment compared. This comparison is provided, for example, in Table 1 below.
From this it derives that the smaller the motor used for the activation of a thread-guide, the higher the acceleration will be, which can be obtained in the inversion and more specifically in the braking and in the subsequent acceleration for moving in an inverse direction.
An objective of the present invention is to produce an individual distribution device of the yarn on the winding bobbin which overcomes the restrictions and drawbacks of the thread-guide devices available in the state of the art and allows extremely high accelerations of the thread-guide in correspondence with the inversion points and consequently to obtain the highest-quality bobbins.
The present invention therefore proposes a thread-guide device for the collection of yarns onto a bobbin, wherein the moving parts are not activated by a single motor which provides the necessary torque, but by at least two motors having smaller dimensions, arranged to as to assist each other in providing the same torque necessary for the moving parts, with an overall lower inertia. The device is also equipped with elastic means which coadjuvate the motors supplying additional energy in correspondence with the inversion points of the movement.
The device according to the invention is defined, in its essential components, in the first claim, whereas its variants and preferred embodiments are specified and defined in the dependent claims.
In order to better illustrate the characteristics and advantages of the present invention, it is described with reference to some of its typical embodiments indicated in the enclosed figures for illustrative and non-limiting purposes.
Said figures refer to an embodiment of the thread-guide device according to the invention, suitable for distributing yarn onto the winding bobbin in a yarn collection unit, of which the further fundamental components: yarn, bobbin, driving roll and mandrels of the bobbin-holder arm with respect to the actual thread-guide, are only shown in
As already specified, the technical solution for activating a thread-guide in a high-frequency alternating movement according to the present invention is illustrated with reference to
The bobbin 10 being wound is supported by the mandrels 11 of a bobbin-holder arm, for rotating around its axis due to the effect of the contact created by resting on its activation roll 12. The yarn F comes from below diverted by the distance rod 14 and is wound onto the bobbin 10, distributed onto the surface of the bobbin by the thread-guide 15 which moves with a back-and-forth movement parallel to the axis of the roll 12 and along two guide-rods 16.
The thread-guide 15 is shown with a continuous line in its central position and with a dashed line in its end positions in which the traversing movement is inverted.
The thread-guide device 18 according to the embodiment of the invention shown with reference to
In the following description the index “a” indicates the element on the left and the index “b” the element on the right, the right and left elements being symmetrical and specularly equal to each other.
The flexible element 19 is typically moved between two driving pulleys 20a, 20b activated in an alternating clockwise/anticlockwise movement according to the arrows, each with its own electric motor 21a, 21b, both of said motors being piloted by a control unit, not shown in the figure for the sake of simplicity, which coordinates the movement of the two motors 21a, 21b of the device 18, in a known way, to create the desired traversing movement. These motors, driven to move with an alternating movement with a piloted angular excursion, are known in the art.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, synchronous motors 21a, 21b are used, of the so-called brushless or step-by step type, coordinatingly piloted by a control unit of the yarn winding station.
In the embodiment shown in
The functioning of the device 18 is effected as follows. In its right-to-left movement, the movement of the thread-guide 15 is determined both by the pulling of the upper part of the flexible element 19 towards the left, exerted by the left driving pulley 20a activated in an anticlockwise direction with respect to the motor 21a, and also by the pulling of the lower part of the flexible element 19 towards the right, exerted by the right driving pulley 20b activated in an anticlockwise direction with respect to the motor 21b.
The synchronous motors 21a, 21b are controlled by means of position detectors, currently called encoders, which allow the control unit of the winding unit to reveal the angular position of the motor: on the basis of the indications of the encoder, the control unit controls and drives the two motors 21a, 21b with the relative activations, currently called inverters.
Torsion springs 25a, 25b are inserted between the driving pulley 20a, 20b and the fixed structure of the relative motor 21a, 21b, which, as illustrated in the left-side view of
During the alternating runs of the thread-guide 15 and flexible element 19, in its right-to-left movement of the thread-guide 15, the spring 25a untwists unloading its torsion and increasing the leftwards pull of the cord 19 and thus assisting the action of the motors, especially during the inversion of the movement. In the meantime, the system is operating in an anticlockwise direction loading the spring 25b which increases its torsion and accumulates elastic energy which is released in the subsequent run from left to right of the cord 19 and thread-guide 15.
As already mentioned,
Two homologous fixed magnets 31a, 31b are assembled on the fixed structure of the machine, in a position corresponding to the two ends L and R so that, in correspondence with the inversion movement, one of the pairs of bodies 30a, 30b and 31a, 31b, having polarities of the same sign, N or S, are facing each other and therefore repelling each other with a force inversely proportional to the square of their distance. A significant repulsing action between one of the two driving pulleys 20a, 20b and its corresponding fixed magnetic body 31a, 31b is thus exerted near the inversion point, which favours the braking and movement inversion, alternatingly in correspondence with the two run-ends of the thread-guide 15.
Analogously to
A pair of fixed magnetic bodies 41a, 41b, for example permanent magnets, are assembled on the fixed structure of the motor chassis, in a position corresponding to the two ends L and R so that, in correspondence with the movement inversion points, both of the moveable magnetic bodies 30a, 30b are facing the corresponding fixed magnetic body 41a, 41b, having polarities of the same sign, N or S, and therefore repelling each other with a force inversely proportional to the square of their distance.
As illustrated in
In the embodiment according to
In
It is in fact known that a solenoid is a cylindrically-shaped bobbin consisting of a series of circular coils very close to each other and produced with a single wire of conductor material. By passing an electric current having an intensity i in the wire, a magnetic field is created, both inside and outside the solenoid, directly proportional to the total number of coils, at the current intensity and with magnetic permeability and inversely proportional to the length of the solenoid. In the case of a solenoid of this type, situated in a physical medium (in the present case, air), the modulus of the magnetic induction vector B proves to be
with N the total number of coils, μ the magnetic permeability of the medium, l the length of the solenoid and i the intensity of the electric current. The magnetic field produced by a solenoid can be schematized as if it were obtained by a continuous distribution of coils, through which the same current passes. Considering the formula for calculating the magnetic field of a coil with respect to a point lying at a distance x from the centre of the coil, on the axis orthogonal to the plane of the coil itself and passing through its centre, it can be seen that the magnetic field drops with an increase in the distance from the coil itself with the quadratic law.
In particular, considering the outer coil of one of the sides of the solenoid, the magnetic field produced with respect to a point outside the solenoid, situated on the axis of the solenoid at a distance x from the centre of the coil, is given by the formula:
wherein μ0 indicates the magnetic permeability in the vacuum, I the intensity of the electric current, R the radius of the coil. The trend of the magnetic field B with respect to x is shown in
A magnetic pole is created in the outer side of the coil of a solenoid through which an electric current passes, whose repulsion force F is given by:
wherein F(x,i) indicates the force of the solenoid in relation to the current i and distance x, with μ indicating the magnetic dipole moment (calculated as a ratio between the intensity of the magnetic field of the magnet on the thread-guide and the volume of the magnet on the thread-guide), g indicates the gravity acceleration (9.8 m/s2) and B0(x,i) indicates the magnetic field on the axis of the solenoid. The trend of the repulsion force F with respect to x is shown in
The repulsion force is considerably high, close to the outer coil, and drops significantly after a few millimetres. By varying the supply current of the coil, the repulsion force of the solenoid can be varied, within certain values. The graph of
For substantial variations in the run according to
With the same arrangement as
In the embodiment illustrated in
Furthermore, the use of separate motors for the two driving pulleys also allows the inertia of the parts moved by the motors to be subdivided, and at the same time to distribute the points in which the torque is supplied, subjecting the system as a whole to less stress.
The action of the elastic means which, when present, assist the motors providing their additional energy in correspondence with the movement inversion points, has the fundamental role of assisting the motors when these are subjected to most stress. The device is consequently able to give the thread-guide greater acceleration, providing the further advantage of obtaining higher production rates.
The present invention is described for illustrative but non-limiting purposes, according to its preferred embodiments, but variations and/or modifications can obviously be applied by experts in the field, all included in the protection scope, as defined in the enclosed claims.
Claims
1. A thread-guide device (18) for the collection of yarns on a bobbin (10), wherein the yarn (F) is distributed on the surface of the bobbin by a thread-guide (15) which moves with a back-and-forth movement parallel to the axis of the supporting roll (12) of the bobbin (10), and the thread-guide device (18) is driven with a back-and-forth movement by means of a flexible element (19), to which the thread-guide (15) is fixed, the flexible element (19) being moved between two pulleys (20a, 20b) which move with an alternating clockwise/anticlockwise movement by the activation of an electric motor piloted by a control unit, characterized in that the pulleys (20a, 20b) are activated by at least two electric motors (21a, 21b), the motors (21a, 21b) being controlled by at least one position detector and piloted by said control unit, which coordinates the piloting of said motors (21a, 21b) to produce the desired traversing movement.
2. The thread-guide device for the collection of yarns on a bobbin according to claim 1, characterized in that said pulleys (20a, 20b) are driving pulleys each activated by at least one of its own electric motors (21a, 21b).
3. The thread-guide device for the collection of yarns on a bobbin according to claim 1, characterized in that the motors (21a, 21b) are synchronous motors of the brushless or step-by-step type.
4. The thread-guide device for the collection of yarns on a bobbin according to claim 1, characterized in that elastic elements for the accumulation of elastic energy, to be returned in the movement inversion points, are inserted between the fixed structure of each motor (21a, 21b) and the corresponding moving parts of the motor itself.
5. The thread-guide device for the collection of yarns on a bobbin according to claim 4, characterized in that said elastic elements are torsion springs (25a, 25b), each of which is constrained with one of its ends (26a, 26b) to the driving shaft (28a, 28b) and with the other end (27a, 27b) to the fixed structure of the motor itself (21a, 21b).
6. The thread-guide device for the collection of yarns on a bobbin according to claim 1, characterized in that the pulleys (20a, 20b) are toothed pulleys and the flexible element (19) consists of a closed toothed belt.
7. The thread-guide device for the collection of yarns on a bobbin according to claim 1, characterized in that the flexible element (19) consists of a cord, which is wound onto two pulleys (20a, 20b), to which it is physically fixed with constraints (22).
8. The thread-guide device for the collection of yarns on a bobbin according to claim 7, characterized in that the flexible element (19) consists of a cord which forms a closed circuit.
9. The thread-guide device for the collection of yarns on a bobbin according to claim 7, characterized in that the flexible element (19) consists of a cord which forms an open circuit.
10. The thread-guide device for the collection of yarns on a bobbin according to claim 1, characterized in that fixed repulsing elements (31a, 31b; 41a, 41b; 42a, 42b; 45a, 45b) are inserted in the device in correspondence with the ends of the traversing run of the thread-guide (15) to favour the movement inversion.
11. The thread-guide device for the collection of yarns on a bobbin according to claim 10, characterized in that fixed repulsing elements are inserted in the device, consisting of permanent moveable magnets (30; 30a, 30b), which integrally follow the alternating movement of the thread-guide (15), and fixed magnetic bodies (31a, 31b, 41a, 41b; 42a, 42b), and said fixed and moveable magnetic bodies face each other in correspondence with the inversion points of the movements, having polarities of the same sign among each other.
12. The thread-guide device for the collection of yarns on a bobbin according to claim 11, characterized in that the fixed magnetic bodies (31a, 31b, 41a, 41b) are permanent magnets.
13. The thread-guide device for the collection of yarns on a bobbin according to claim 11, characterized in that the fixed magnetic bodies (42a, 42b) are bobbins.
14. The thread-guide device for the collection of yarns on a bobbin according to claim 11, characterized in that the variation in the traversing run is effected by modifying the positions of the fixed magnetic bodies (31a, 31b; 41a, 41b; 42a, 42b).
15. The thread-guide device for the collection of yarns on a bobbin according to claim 14, characterized in that the variation in the traversing run is effected by modifying the angular positions of the fixed magnetic bodies (31a, 31b; 41a, 41b), the permanent moveable magnets being constrained to the pulleys (20a, 20b).
16. The thread-guide device for the collection of yarns on a bobbin according to claim 15, characterized in that the variation in the traversing run is effected by modifying the axial positions of the fixed magnetic bodies (31a, 31b; 42a, 42b), the permanent moveable magnet (30) being assembled on the body of the thread-guide (15) integrally following its alternating movement.
17. The thread-guide device for the collection of yarns on a bobbin according to claim 10, characterized in that mechanical shock-absorber elements (45a, 45b) are inserted in the device in a position corresponding to the two ends of the traversing run of the thread-guide (15).
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 11, 2007
Publication Date: Jan 17, 2008
Applicant: SAVIO MACCHINE TESSILI, S.p.A (Pordenone)
Inventors: Armando D'Agnolo (Porcia Pordenone), Luciano Bertoli (Fiume Veneto Pordenone), Mauro Gobbato (Portogruaro Venezia)
Application Number: 11/827,286
International Classification: B65H 75/00 (20060101);