METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR HANDLING PARENT REELS

Abstract: In this publication it is described a method and an arrangement for moving parent reels (1) between at least two handling stations with the aid of a parent reel cart (2, 3), wherein at least on one of the stations a parent reel (1) is carried on carrier rails (15). At the first handling station, the parent reel is transferred to the parent reel cart (2, 3), the parent reel (1) is locked to the cart (2, 3), and the parent reel (1) is moved to the next handling station. The parent reel (1) is transferred to the next station and the parent reel (1) locking is released. According to the invention the parent reel is moved between the station and the cart by means of transfer carriages (8), which grip the ends of the parent reel and move independently over the junction between the carrier rails (15) of the station and the parent reel cart's means (13, 14) for carrying parent reels.

Description: Method and Arrangement for Handling Parent Reels The present invention relates to a method and arrangement, according to the preamble to claim 1. for handling after reeling, machine-width parent reels reeled onto a reeling core, which come from a paper or board machine or are manufactured on a separate finishing line A. parent reel refers to a machine-width reel manufactured on a paper machine or a board machine, which is wrapped around a reeling core, I e a parent reel iron Parent reels are used to take manufactured paper or board to an intermediate store, pπor to the paper being taken to a winder or the next processing stage Usually, parent reels are used with off-line machinery, between the finishing equipment and the paper machine, and before the winder after finishing As larger paper machines are nearly 10 m wide, parent reels are extremely heavy and require massive devices to move them Parent reel diameters are about 3 5 - 4 m, so that wide parent reels weigh 120 - 160 t The parent reels must sometimes be moved over long distances between the vaπous production devices and store locations Parent reel carts and quite often gantry cranes are used to move parent reels One problem associated with moving parent reels is taking them from the cart to the store and transferring them to the cart This transfer generally takes place using rails tilted at 0 3 - 0 4°, along which the reels roll The parent reels rest on such rails at the storage locations Because the parent reels are very heavy and wide, this form of transfer causes many difficulties The wide reels easily turn sideways as they roll This can easily lead to their bearings dropping from the storage rails, which can damage the parent reel and the parent reel iron, while using a gantry crane to lift the parent reel back onto the rails is both difficult and interrupts other reel handling When parent reels are rolled along sloping rails from the parent reel cart to the storage irons or vice versa, a difference in height may occur between the ends of the rolling surfaces, allowing the heavy parent reel to drop onto the lower surface at these ends This stepping wears the rails and the beaπngs of the parent reel and leads to their early replacement When parent reels are moved by rolling, their movement onto and off the cart is difficult to control in other ways too The speed of movement always depends on the slope used and cannot be altered At the same time the parent reels can only be stopped at set stations, which have stops to arrest the movement To avoid the drawbacks referred to abo\ e, parent rolls can be moved using active transfer devices In one such solution, double transfer cradles are arranged in connection with the storage irons In this system, there is a double transfer cradle on the side of both storage rails, the transfer cradle having two transfer forks to be attached to the parent reels Thus, a single transfer cart can be used to handle two parent reels The transfer cradles are moved by means of a rack and pinion dπve, the cradle dπves being synchronized to prevent the parent reels from turning at an angle The parent reel cart in turn has similar double transfer cradles, which are arranged to move in such a way that the parent reel is always received by the nearest transfer fork and correspondingly removed from the exit side using the nearest transfer fork This makes the transfer cradle sufficiently long for it to be able to support the parent reel while it is moving from the side of the free end of the transfer cradle while the path of the cradle is made to extend from the parent reel cart to the reception point In this solution, parent reels can be moved in a controlled manner, but at a storage station, for instance, the parent reel must be transferred from the transfer cradle of the parent reel cart to the cradles of the storage station, so that the transfer of the parent reel is considerably slower If sloping rails are used to transfer the parent reel at the storage station, the system will have the weaknesses referred to above Another significant drawback of this solution is that mechanically highly complicated and expensive devices are required both in the cart and at the storage location In particular, the racks required by the transfer cradles and suitable rack and pinion dπves for them increase costs, as does the synchronization of the parallel dπves Though the double-cradle solution of the parent reel cart permits an extremely strong construction, this same construction also becomes extremely heavy As the transfer cradles are permanently attached to the cart, their paths are limited and the cart s cradles can only be used to transfer parent reels to and from the cart, but not, for example, to transfer the parent reels to a desired location at the storage station The fact that separate transfer devices are required at both the receiving station and in the parent reel cart also contπbutes to the high cost of the solution The invention is intended to eliminate the defects of the state of the art disclosed above and for this purpose create an entirely new type of system for transferring parent reels, by means of which parent reels can be moved in a controlled and manageable manner The invention is based on fitting the parent reel cart with transfer carnages equipped with transfer forks for the ends of the parent reel iron, which carnages have means for moving the carnage along a track that does not form part of the parent reel cart, so that parent reels can be moved with the parent reel cart's transfer carnages at processing stations too and particularly along the rails of a storage station According to one preferred embodiment of the invention, the transfer carnages have a friction dπve wheel, dπven by a motor with frequency control In this case, data on the location of the transfer carnage is obtained by measurement with a pulse sensor. More specifically, the parent reel transfer method according to the invention is characteπzed by what is stated in the characteπzmg section of claim 1 The arrangement according to the invention is, in turn, characteπzed by what is stated in the characteπzmg section of claim 5 Considerable advantages are gained with the aid of the invention. The most important advantage of the invention is that the devices incorporated in the parent reel cart can be used to control the parent reels dunng their transfer at a handling station too The movement of the parent reels is then continuously controlled and they cannot move freely by rolling, so that it is also not necessary to stop the rolling movement In pπnciple, the operational area of the transfer carnages is m no way limited, permitting them to be used to earn out even long transfer and positioning tasks As the transfer carnages are only m the parent reel carts, there is no need for separate transfer devices at the handling locations to control the movement of the parent reels, so that loading and unloading mechanisms are only required in one place The transfer rails at the storage stations and other transfer locations can be honzontal. allowing the parent reels to move safely and avoiding the problems associated with freely rolling parent reels Wear m the beaπngs and transfer rails due to the parent reels turning at an angle and to stepping are eliminated, giving the parent reel irons a longer operating life and possibly allowing the use of parent reel iron beaπngs with smaller dimensions and thus a more economical pπce The invention can be used to control the parent reel traffic to such an extent that the entire traffic can be automated, if desired In the following, the invention is examined with the aid of examples and with reference to the accompanying drawings Figure 1 shows a schematic side view of a parent reel transfer cart applying the invention Figure 2 shows a side view of one end of the cart of Figure 1 Figure 3 shows a top view of the end of the cart of Figure 2 Figure 4 shows a diagram of one embodiment of the invention dunng one transfer stage Figure 5 shows a diagram of the embodiment of Figure 1 dunng a second transfer stage Figure 6 shows a diagram of one part of the embodiment of Figures 1 and 2 Figure 7 shows a top view of one possible operating environment of the invention The parent reel cart according to the invention includes two cart ends, which carry the parent reel 1 One of the carts is a master cart 2 and the other is a slave cart 3 that follows the master cart The master and slave carts are coupled together by means of a bar 4, master cart 2 controlling the movement of the parent reel cart and slave cart 3 following the control of the master cart The parent reel cart is arranged to move on wheels 6 along rails 5, because rails give the system an adequate load-beanng capacity and allow both the path of the carts to be set reliably and the use of simple sensors when applying automatic control Both the master and slave carts 2, 3 have transfer forks 7 and transfer carnages 8 to gnp the ends of parent reel 1 and move parent reel 1 In addition, there are gates 11, 12 on both sides of carts 2, 3, along which the parent reels can be moved As Figure 2 shows, the transfer forks 7 gnps the parent reels 1 at the beanngs in their ends, the actual reeling core 10 remaining between the master and slave carts Figures 4 and 5 show a parent reel being transfened from the parent reel cart to storage. In both positions, the parent reels 1 are shown with broken lines. In Figure 4 the parent reel cart is in the transportation position In that case, the gates 1 1, 12 are raised to form a V angle Transfer carnage 8 is in the centre of the end of cart 2, 3, on the centreline of the parent reel cart and the transfer forks 7 are in the raised position In this position, transfer forks 7 are secured to the parent reel end beaπngs 9 and lock the parent reel 1 to the parent reel cart The raised gates 1 1. 12 provide additional secuπty and prevent parent reel 1 from falling off the cart, even if transfer fork 7 or its locking fails As transfer fork 7 can be turned to a protected position below the level of the parent reel cart's earner rail 13, for example dunng loading with a crane, it is. however, unlikely to be damaged, which can in pnnciple only occur if it is struck by some external object or a corresponding external impact The length of the gates 11. 12 and the rails 14 m their upper surface is set m such a way that they extend to the end of the rail 15 of the handling station, when the cart is next to the handling station In this case, the handling station is a storage station, which is formed w ith the aid of earner rails 15 In the storage station, the parent reels he on two parallel earner rails 15. At the end of earner rails 15 next to the path of the parent reel cart there is a guide slot 16, the ends of gates 11, 12 being shaped to correspond to the shape of slot 16. The end of gate 11, 12 and slot 16 are shaped in such a way that gate 11 , 12 locks into the slot, m both the longitudinal and transverse direction of rails 14. 15. Locking can be earned out, for example, by means of a groove 17 m gates 1 1. 12 and a corresponding ndge A locking wedge that fits into a hole in the floor is the mam means used to ensure that the parent reel cart remains stopped and in the correct position at the handling station Transfer carnage 8 is arranged to travel independently in both the parent reel cart and at the handling station along two rails 18, 19 The upper of these rails 18 can be termed the guide rail and supports the guide wheels 20, 21 of the transfer carnage laterally and vertically The lower rail 19 can be termed the dπve rail and supports the dπve wheel 22 and its counter-wheels 23 Figure 6 shows one way of implementing transfer carnage 8 and transfer forks 7 Transfer carnage 8 is assembled on a frame 24 A planet-gear motor 25, with dnve wheel 22 on its shaft, is attached to the underside of frame 24 A frequency converter, for example, can be used to control the motor, the distance of movement of which can be used to measure the position of the transfer carnage, for instance, using a pulse sensor Other types of motor can also be used to dπve the carnage The only requirement for the motor is that its control must be possible with sufficient precision to achieve the necessary accuracy of positioning Though hydraulic or compressed-air motors can be used instead of an electnc motor, is easier to lead electncal current to the motor than compressed air or fluid pressure The necessary friction force of dnve wheel 22 is created by pressing the wheel against dnve rail 18 To achieve the pressing force, counter-wheels 23 are fitted to the transfer carnage frame on the opposite side of the rail to dπve wheel 22 when transfer carnage 8 is located on the parent reel cart or moving on the handling station's rails Above counter- wheels 23 m frame 24 there are guide wheels 20, 21 to guide transfer carnage 8 accurately along guide rail 18 of the parent reel cart or the handling station The guide wheels include honzontal guide wheels 21 set honzontally on an axle and lateral guide wheels 20 fitted to a vertical axle By means of these wheels, the transfer carnage is made to travel along the desired path laterally and vertically Transfer carnage 8 gnps the parent reels by means of transfer forks 7 Transfer fork 7 includes a pair of rocker levers 26 pivoted opposite to each other in the upper part of the frame and operated by means of lever arms The operating device is a screw 27 dnven by an electnc motor, which produces the linear motion required by the lever arms The positions of the lever arms are monitored with sensors 28, 29 The sensors show the extreme positions of transfer fork 7, and in this case any kind of electnc motor can be used for the dnve, because positioning or position data in the intermediate positions are not needed At the ends of the rocker levers, there are rollers 30, which support the parent reel while permitting it to rotate Between the pair of rocker levers 26, there is a sensor, which is used to monitor whether there is a parent reel between the rocker levers One versed m the art can implement the operation of rocker levers 26 many ways, so the construction of the linkage is not descπbed m greater detail here The system according to the invention for handling parent reels operates as follows Parent reels can be loaded onto or unloaded from the cart either automatically using the transfer forks and carnages, or else with a crane If a crane is used for loading or unloading, the operation does not differ from the normal handling of parent reels with a crane When loading, however, it must ensured that rocker levers 26 of transfer forks 7 are turned to the lowered position, so that they are protected beneath the surface of earner rail 13 of the parent reel cart Once the parent reel has been lowered onto the cart, the transfer fork rocker levers are raised and the parent reel is secured and locked with the transfer forks In automatic loading, the parent reels are picked up from the handling station using the transfer carnages The home position of the transfer carnages in on the centreline of the parent reel cart m the middle of earner rail 13 and movement starts from this position When the parent reel cart has arπved next to the handling station, l e at the storage station in the example according to Figures 4 and 5, the gates 11 on the storage station side are lowered, so that they settle into the slots 16 of the storage station The earner rails 14 of gates 11 then connect the parent reel cart's earner rails 13 and the storage station's earner rails 15 to form a single earner rail, along which the parent reels can be rolled The earner rail thus formed is preferably honzontal, so that the parent reel will not move by itself It can be envisaged, however, that there might be, for example, a slight incline m the storage station rails, so that gravity can be used to roll the parent reel brought to the station into place The transfer of the parent reel is, however, preferably earned out controllably with the aid of transfer carnages. When the gates 11 on the handling station side are lowered, the transfer carnage rails in them form a unified transfer route with the rails 18, 19 of the handling station, along which the transfer carnages can run When the parent reels are moved with the aid of transfer carnages 8, rocker levers 26 of transfer forks 7 are kept raised, so that they retain parent reel 1 There are approach switches m gates 11 and the handling station, and transfer carnage is only permitted to start moving once the lowenng of gate 11 has been detected Transfer carnage 8 moves between a home position in the centre of the parent reel cart and, in this case, the storage station The carnage is moved by means of a frequency-converter-controlled geared motor while a pulse sensor detects the position of the transfer carnages The measurement of the position of the carnages is used to ensure that both ends of the parent reel mo\ e simultaneously and to guide the transfer carnage to the desired location m the storage station The extreme and home positions of the carnage are also detected using approach switches or other suitable sensors Once the parent reel has been moved to the desired position, transfer forks 7 are lowered and the transfer carnages are returned to the parent reel cart and their home position Next, the gates are raised and the parent reel cart can be moved to the station where the next parent reel is loaded onto it. Loading takes place similarly to unloading, except that the order of the operations is reversed. In both loading and unloading, a check is first made that the parent reel cart is at a handling station and is connected to the station. Data transfer between the cart and the station takes place using a data-transmitting photoelectric cell, but any other method of data transfer can be used instead. Before the transfer carriage begins to move, sensor 31 is used to check that there is no parent reel in the transfer forks and the forks are lowered, to ensure that they can move freely under the bearings of the parent reel irons 10. This also prevents the moving forks possibly striking obstacles in their path and being damaged. The movement of the transfer carriages is controlled through the parent reel cart and they move independently on the rails of the storage station. Once the transfer carriages 8 are at a given pick-up point, sensor 31 is used to check that there is a parent reel at the forks and rocker levers 26 of transfer forks 7 are raised, in which case they grip parent reel 1. Transfer carriages 8 are now guided back to their home positions in the parent reel cart, the transfer forks forcing the parent reel to move with them. Once transfer carriages 8 are in the home position, the gates can be raised and the loaded parent reel cart can be moved to the following desired handling station. The parent reel cart must be positioned at precisely the correct point at the handling station when the parent reels are transferred through the gates, so that gates 11, 12 can be lowered into the slots of the handling station. The arrival of a cart at the station is detected at the station limits. For this purpose, marks located on the floor or detectors read by the cart's sensors or reading devices are used. The station limits are intended to show the position of the cart at the station, while the floor also has station indicator pins, which are used to check which station the cart has arrived at. As such, the implementation of such a system of detectors and limits is known from the cart control of various piece-handling systems. Once a cart has stopped at a desired location, the parking wedge in the master cart drops into a hole in the floor and locks the cart in place and loading or unloading can commence. Embodiments of the invention, differing from those disclosed above, can also be envisaged within the scope of the invention. The most important feature of the invention is the independently moving transfer carnages forming part of the parent reel cart, by means of which the parent reel can be independently moved over the junction between the parent reel cart and the handling station, 1 e in the example above, over the joint in the rail between the gate and the handling station Thus, when the transfer carnage is separated from the parent reel cart, it must be able to move mechanically along the guide means of the handling station The power supply to, and control of the parent reel cart can perhaps be implemented with the least cost by means of cables attached to the parent reel cart, but it can be envisaged that the power supply and control can. for example, be arranged using current-supply rails or similar, when a data transfer system will be required between the transfer carnage and the control of the parent reel cart On the other hand, to create the movement of the transfer carnages from the parent reel cart to the handling station, a transfer route, preferably a rail system along which the carnage moves, must be formed for the transfer carnages Nanous kinds of guiding wheel/rail pairs are known, allowing this aspect of the invention to be implemented in many ways. The mechanical construction of the transfer carnage and the transfer forks can vary greatly. However, one important charactenstic is that when the transfer forks are empty, they can be turned under the surface of the earner rails of the parent reel cart or handling station dunng a transfer or crane loading, thus avoiding accidental damage to them. The control and construction of the parent reel cart itself can be easily adapted to the vanous existing systems at the mill, without deviating from the idea of the invention The handling stations, between which the parent reels are moved, can be stores, winders and unwinders, cutters, or other devices used to process paper

Claims: Claims 1 A method for moving parent reels (1) between at least two handling stations with the aid of a parent reel cart (2, 3), wherein at least on one of the stations a parent reel (1) is earned on earner rails (15), m which method - at the first handling station, the parent reel is transferred to the parent reel cart (2, 3), - the parent reel (1) is locked to the cart (2, 3), - the parent reel (1) is moved to the next handling station, - the parent reel (1) is transferred to the next station, and - the parent reel (1) locking is released, characterized m that - the parent reel is moved between the station and the cart by means of transfer carnages (8), which gnp the ends of the parent reel and move independently over the junction between the earner rails (15) of the station and the parent reel cart's means (13. 14) for carrying parent reels 2 A method according to Claim 1, characterized in that - the position of each transfer carnage (8) is measured continuously dunng the transfer, and - the movement of each transfer carnage (8) is controlled by connecting the movement of the transfer carnages (8) to each other on the basis of measured position data 3 A method according to Claim 1, characterized in that, when the parent reel cart (2, 3) arnves at a handling station, a unified earner rail (13, 14, 15) is formed with the aid of at least one pair of turning gates (1 1), to carry the parent reel (1) dunng its transfer between the parent reel cart (2, 3) and the handling station 4 A method according to Claim 3 characterized m that, when the parent reel cart (2, 3) arrr es at a handling station, a unified rail arrangement (18, 19) is formed with the aid of at least one turning gate (1 1), for guiding the transfer carnages (8) by means of these rails (18, 19) dunng the transfer 5 An arrangement for transferπng parent reels (1) between a parent reel cart (2, 3) and such a handling station, by means of which the parent reels (1) are earned by means of earner rails (15) in a system, which includes - earner means (15) of the handling station for carrying a parent reel (1), - earner means (13, 14) of the parent reel cart (13, 14) for carrying a parent reel (1), - means (7) for locking a parent reel (1) to the parent reel cart (2, 3), - means (8) for transferπng a parent reel (1) between the handling station and the parent reel cart (2, 3), characterized by - a transfer carnage (8) for gnpping the ends of the parent reel, which transfer carnage is arranged to move independently over the junction between the earner rails (15) of the station and the parent reel cart's means for carrying the parent reel 6 An arrangement according to Claim 5 characterized by at least one pair of turning gates (11) for forming a unified earner rail (13, 14, 15) and for carrying the parent reel (1) dunng a transfer taking place between the parent reel cart (2, 3) and the handling station 7 An arrangement according to Claim 6. characterized by a means of the gate (11) for forming a unified rail arrangement (18. 19) for controlling the transfer carnages (8) on these rails (18, 19) dunng a transfer 8 An arrangement according to Claim 6. characterized in that the means for gnpping the ends of the parent reel (1) are transfer forks (7), implemented by means of rocker levers (26) and fitted to the transfer carnages (8) the extreme positions of the movement of which are selected so that in one position the transfer forks (7) lie beneath the level of the unified carrier rail. 9. An arrangement according to Claim 7, characterized by an arrangement, including at least one friction drive wheel (22) and at least one counter wheel, for moving the transfer carriage (8) guided and carried by the rail arrangement. SUBSTΠTΠΈ SHEET (RULE 26)

Inventors: HILLO MAURI, KUNTTU PEKKA, MIELONEN EERO, HILLO, MAURI, KUNTTU, PEKKA, MIELONEN, EERO
Applicants: HILLO MAURI, KUNTTU PEKKA, METSO PAPER INC, MIELONEN EERO, HILLO, MAURI, KUNTTU, PEKKA, METSO PAPER, INC., MIELONEN, EERO
Application year: 2001
Main classification: D21G9
IPC codes: B65H19