Abstract:
A refiner plate including a generally planar surface having annular rows of teeth arranged concentrically on the plate, and at least one of said rows includes teeth including a leading edge corner angle of less than 90 degrees. These teeth may include a leading sidewall having a radially outward portion slanted in a direction opposing the rotation of the plate.

Description:
[0001]     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/743,106 filed Jan. 9, 2006, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     This invention relates generally to refiners for removing contaminants from fiber materials, such as recycled or recovered paper and packaging materials. In particular, the present invention relates to teeth on refiner plates and especially to the leading sidewall surfaces and leading edges of such teeth.  
         [0003]     Refiner plates are used for imparting mechanical work on fibrous material. Refiner plates having teeth (in contrast to plates having bars) are typically used in refiners which role is to deflake, disperge or mix fibrous materials with or without addition of chemicals. The refiner plates disclosed herein are generally applicable to all toothed plates for dispergers specifically and refiners in general.  
         [0004]     Disperging is primarily used in de-inking systems to recover used paper and board for reuse as raw material for producing new paper or board. Disperging is used to detach ink from fiber, disperse and reduce ink and dirt particles to a favorable size for downstream removal, and reduce particles to sizes below visible detection. The disperger is also used to break down stickies, coating particles and wax (collectively referred to as “particles”) that are often in the fibrous material fed to refiner. The particles are removed from the fibers by the disperger, become entrained in a suspension of fibrous material and liquid flowing through the refiner and are removed from the suspension as the particles float or are washed out of the suspension. In addition, the disperger may be used to mechanically treat fibers to retain or improve fiber strength and mix bleaching chemicals with fibrous pulp.  
         [0005]     There are typically two types of mechanical dispergers used on recycled fibrous material: kneeders and rotating discs. This disclosure focuses on disc-typed disperger plates that have toothed refiner plates. Disc-type dispergers are similar to pulp and chip refiners. A refiner disc typically has mounted thereon an annular plate or an array of plate segments arranged as a circular disc. In a disc-type disperger, pulp is fed to the center of the refiner using a feed screw and moves peripherally through the disperging zone, which is a gap between the rotating (rotor) disk and stationary (stator) disk, and the pulp is ejected from the disperging zone at the periphery of the discs.  
         [0006]     The general configuration of a disc-type disperger is two circular discs facing each other with one disc (rotor) being rotated at speeds usually up to 1800 ppm, and potentially higher speeds. The other disc is stationary (stator). Alternatively, both discs may rotate in opposite directions.  
         [0007]     On the face of each disc is mounted a plate having teeth (also referred to as pyramids) mounted in tangential rows. A plate may be a single annular plate or an annular array of plate segments mounted on a disc. Each row of teeth is typically at a common radius from the center of the disc. The rows of rotor and stator teeth interleave when the rotor and stator discs are opposite each other in the refiner or disperger. The rows of rotor and stator teeth intersect a plane in the disperging zone that is between the discs. Channels are formed between the interleaved rows of teeth. The channels define the disperging zone between the discs.  
         [0008]     The fibrous pulp flows alternatively between rotor and stator teeth as the pulp moves through successive rows of rotor and stator teeth. The pulp moves from the center inlet of the disc to a peripheral outlet at the outer circumference of the discs. As fibers pass from rotor teeth to stator teeth and vice-versa, the fibers are impacted as the rows of rotor teeth rotate between rows of stator teeth. The clearance between rotor and stator teeth is typically on the order of 1 to 12 mm (millimeters). The fibers are not cut by the impacts of the teeth, but are severely and alternately flexed. The impacts received by the fiber break the ink and toner particles off of the fiber and into smaller particles, and break the stickie particles off of the fibers.  
         [0009]     Two types of plates are commonly used in disc-type dispergers: (1) a pyramidal design (also referred to as a tooth design) having an intermeshing toothed pattern, and (2) a refiner bar design. A novel pyramidal tooth design has been developed for a refiner plate and is disclosed herein.  
         [0010]      FIGS. 1   a ,  1   b  and  1   c  show an exemplary pyramidal plate segment having a conventional tooth pattern. An enhanced exemplary pyramidal toothed plate segment is shown in commonly-owned U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0194482, entitled “Grooved Pyramid Disperger Plate.” For pyramidal plates, fiber stock is forced radially through small channels created between the teeth on opposite plates, as shown in  FIG. 1   c . Pulp fibers experience high shear, e.g., impacts, in their passage through dispergers caused by intense fiber-to-fiber and fiber-to-plate friction.  
         [0011]     With reference to  FIGS. 1   a ,  1   b  and  1   c , the refiner or disperger  10  comprises disperger plates  14 ,  15  which are each securable to the face of one of the opposing disperger discs  12 ,  13 . The discs  12 ,  13 , only portions of which are shown in  FIG. 1   c , each have a center axis  19  about which they rotate, radii  32  and substantially circular peripheries.  
         [0012]     A plate may or may not be segmented. A segmented plate is an annular array of plate segments typically mounted on a disperger disc. A non-segmented plate is a single piece, annular plate. Plate segment  14  is for the rotor disc  12  and plate segment  15  is for the stator disc  13 . The rotor plate segments  14  are attached to the face of rotor disc  12  in an annular array to form a plate. The segments may be fastened to the disc by any convenient or conventional manner, such as by bolts (not shown) passing through bores  17 . The disperger plate segments  14 ,  15  are arranged side-by-side to form plates attached to the face of the each disc  12 ,  13 .  
         [0013]     Each disperger plate segment  14 ,  15  has an inner edge  22  towards the center  19  of its attached disc and an outer edge  24  near the periphery of its disc. Each plate segment  14 ,  15  has, on its substrate face concentric rows  26  of pyramids or teeth  28 . The rotation of the rotor disc  12  and its plate segments  14  apply a centrifugal force to the refined material, e.g., fibers, that cause the material to move radially outward from the inner edge  22  to the outer edge  24  of the plates. The refined material predominantly move through the disperging zone channels  30  formed between adjacent teeth  28  of the opposing plate segments  14 ,  15 . The refined material flows radially out from the disperging zone into a casing  31  of the refiner  10 .  
         [0014]     The concentric rows  26  are each at a common radial distance (see radii  32 ) from the disc center  19  and arranged to intermesh so as to allow the rotor and stator teeth  28  to intersect the plane between the discs. Fiber passing from the center of the stator to the periphery of the discs receive impacts as the rotor teeth  28  pass close to the stator teeth  28 . The channel clearance between the rotor teeth  28  and the stator teeth  28  is on the order of 1 to 12 mm so that the fibers are not cut or pinched, but are severely and alternately flexed as they pass in the channels between the teeth on the rotor disc  12  and the teeth on the stator disc  13 . Flexing the fiber breaks the ink and toner particles on the fibers into smaller particles and breaks off the stickie particles on the fibers.  
         [0015]      FIGS. 2   a  and  2   b  show a top view and a side perspective view, respectively, of a standard tooth geometry  34  used in disperging. The tooth  34  has a pyramidal design including strait sidewalls  36  that taper to the top  38  of the tooth. The sidewalls are planar and flat. The sidewalls of the conventional tooth are each substantially parallel to a radius of the plate.  
         [0016]     A primary role of the disperger plate is to transfer energy pulses (impacts) to the fibers during their passage through the channels between the discs. The widely accepted toothed plate has generally incorporated the square pyramidal tooth geometry with variations in edge length and tooth placement to achieve desired results.  
         [0017]     Refiner material passing through the channels on the plates can erode teeth. Each tooth has a leading edge that faces the pulp flow resulting from the rotation of the rotor plate. The leading edge is formed by the intersection of the front tooth surface and a leading tooth sidewall. The tooth sidewalls are planar, i.e., flat, on conventional teeth. Further, the corner of the sidewall and front surface of a conventional tooth is typically 90°. The leading edges of the teeth wear and become rounded due to the erosion.  
         [0018]     Disperger plates are replaced typically because their teeth become rounded and lose their efficiency for disperging or refining the pulp and lose the ability to feed the pulp through the refining or disperging zone. The rounding of the teeth often results in taking the disperger or refiner offline to replace plate segments. This reduces the efficiency of the disperger and refiner. There is a long felt demand for teeth designs that extend the life of plate segments and reduce the wear on teeth.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0019]     A toothed refiner plate has been developed having teeth with a leading sidewall, wherein the surface of the sidewall on the radially innermost part of the tooth forms an angle with the surface of the leading sidewall on the radially outermost part of the tooth. This angle in the leading sidewall may be formed by a V-shaped sidewall surface, a curvilinear sidewall surface, or other sidewall surface that yields an angle between the radially inward portion of the surface and the radially outward portion of the surface.  
         [0020]     The angle between the radially inward portion of the sidewall surface and the radially outward portion may be in a range of 170 degrees to 75 degrees, and preferably in a range of 165 degrees to 90 degrees. Further, the angle in the sidewall surface results in portions of the sidewall surface forming angles with respect to a radial line of the plate. Preferably, the portions of the sidewall surface form an angle in a range of 0 degrees to 60 degrees with respect to a radial line, and preferably in a range of 5 degrees to 45 degrees.  
         [0021]     A refiner plate is disclosed comprising: a generally planar surface having annular rows of teeth arranged concentrically on the plate, and at least one of said rows includes teeth having a leading edge corner angle of less than 90 degrees. The leading edge corner is formed by a front surface of each tooth and the leading sidewall of the tooth. The interior angle between the leading sidewall and the front surface is the leading edge corner angle. The leading sidewall faces the direction of plate rotation. The front tooth surface may be substantially tangential to its row on the plate.  
         [0022]     The leading sidewall (at least the radially inward portion of the sidewall adjacent the leading corner) forms an angle of 0° to 60° with respect to a radial of the plate and may be in a narrow angular range of 5° to 45°. The leading sidewall may also have a radially outward portion slanted in a direction opposing the rotation of the plate. Further, the leading sidewall may form a V-shape in which a radially inward surface has an edge forming the leading edge corner. The angle of the V-shape may be in a range of 170° to 75° and more narrowly in a range of 165° to 90°.  
         [0023]     The trailing sidewall of the tooth (which is opposite to the leading sidewall) may be symmetrical to the leading sidewall, e.g., includes a V-shape, such that a gap between the trailing side wall and the leading sidewall of the adjacent tooth is substantially constant across the length of the two teeth. Further, the radially outer row of the teeth may include teeth having rear walls normal to a substrate of the plate and front walls that slope upward from the substrate.  
         [0024]     In another embodiment, the disperger plate may comprise: rows of teeth wherein the rows are concentrically arranged; the teeth each include a leading sidewall facing a rotational direction of the plate or of another plate rotating with respect to the plate, and the leading sidewall comprises a V-shape having a radially inner section with a leading edge and a radially outward section slanted with respect to a radial of the disc in a direction opposing the disc rotation. The angle of the V-shape is in a range of 170° to 75° and may be in a narrower range of 165° to 120°. The leading edge may be formed by an intersection of a front surface of the tooth and the leading sidewall, wherein an angle between the front surface and leading sidewall is in a range of 0° to 60° or in a narrower range of 5° to 45°.  
         [0025]     A method has been developed of refining pulp material with opposing discs comprising: feeding the pulp material to an inlet of at least one of the discs, wherein the inlet is at or near a center axis inlet; rotating one disc with respect to the other disc while pulp material is moved between the discs due to centrifugal force; refining the pulp material by subjecting the material to impacts caused by the rows of teeth on the rotating disc intermeshing with the rows of teeth on the other disc, wherein refining further includes feeding the pulp into successive rows of teeth on the discs, wherein at least one of the rows on at least one of the discs includes teeth having a leading edge corner formed by a front tooth surface and a leading sidewall having an angle therebetween of less than 90 degrees. The method may further include deflecting pulp passing through the at least one of the rows on the at least one of the discs with a radial outward surface of the leading sidewall that is slanted in a direction opposing the rotation of at the disc. Further, the leading sidewall may form a V-shape wherein a radially inward edge of the sidewall is the leading edge corner.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0026]     FIGS.  1 ( a ) and  1 ( b ) are a front view and side view, respectively, of a pyramidal toothed plate segment conventionally used in disc-type dispergers.  
         [0027]      FIG. 1 ( c ) is a side partially cross-sectional view of a stator and rotor disperger plates with a gap therebetween.  
         [0028]      FIGS. 2   a  and  2   b  are a top down view and a side perspective view, respectively, of a conventional tooth geometry for a disperger plate segment.  
         [0029]      FIGS. 3   a  and  3   b  are a top down view and a side perspective view, respectively, of an angled tooth for a disperger plate segment.  
         [0030]      FIGS. 4   a  and  4   b  are a front plan view and a side cross-sectional view, respectively, of a disperging rotor plate segment having double angled teeth.  
         [0031]      FIGS. 5   a  and  5   b  are a front plan view and a side cross-sectional view of a disperging stator plate segment having double-angled teeth.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0032]     A novel arrangement of teeth for toothed refiner plates has been developed in which the teeth have sidewalls that are angled to form a V-shape. The V-shaped teeth have a double-angled geometry. In particular, the surface of at least a leading sidewall of a tooth has an inner portion that forms an angle with respect to a radially outward portion. The V-shaped can be applied to the teeth of plate segments for any type of disperger and refiner plate segments with teeth. The V-shaped sidewalls can be applied to teeth located on either or both the rotor and stator plate portions of a disperger or refiner. In a preferred embodiment, both the rotor and stator plate segments include teeth with V-shaped sidewalls.  
         [0033]      FIGS. 3   a  and  3   b  show a top view and a side perspective view, respectively, of an angled stator tooth  40  where the sides of the tooth are angled to form a V-shape. At least the leading sidewall  42  of the tooth  40  has a V-shape geometry. The trailing sidewall  43  may have a V-shape. While the sidewalls  42 ,  43  as shown taper towards the top  46  of the tooth, it is not necessary that the teeth are tapered from the substrate to their top and it may be preferable that there be no taper from the substrate to the top. The base  48  of the tooth is at the substrate of the plate. The front wall  50  of the tooth faces radially inward and the rear wall  52  of the tooth faces radially outward. The front and rear walls may each be substantially perpendicular to a radial of the plate. The front and rear walls may also slope towards the top of the tooth.  
         [0034]     Each V-shape tooth has a leading sidewall  42  that faces the pulp flow resulting from the rotation of the rotor plate. The leading sidewall has an inner surface  54  that is radially inward of an outer surface  56 . The inner and outer surfaces of the leading sidewall are not planar and together form a V-angle that is preferably in a range of 170° to 75°, and more preferably in the range of 165° to 120°. The angle of the V-shaped leading wall  42  is selected depending on disperging and feeding needs. The opposite (trailing) sidewall  43  preferably also has an inverted V-shape that forms a complementary angle to the leading sidewall, such as an angle of from 190° to 285°. A row of teeth with complementary leading and trailing sidewalls may have constant width gaps between the teeth.  
         [0035]     Alternatively, the trailing sidewall may have a sidewall with a convex profile, e.g. a continually curved bulging profile, and have complementary angles to the angles of a convex (continually curved with a bowel profile) profile leading sidewall. A row of teeth having a concave leading sidewall and convex trailing sidewall (in which the angles of the leading and trailing sidewalls are complementary) may have constant width gaps between the teeth in the row.  
         [0036]     The trailing sidewall  43  may or may not have a similar surface geometry to the leading sidewall  42 . The surface profile of the leading sidewall need not be complementary to the surface profile of the trailing sidewall. For example, the trailing sidewall may be entirely planar and straight. Further, a concave surface profile on both leading and trailing sidewalls of all teeth allows a plate to perform equally in both directions of rotation and provides for a reversible plate.  
         [0037]     Further, the V-shaped leading sidewall may have a curved cup shape from the leading edge to a radially outward edge. The angle of the sidewall should change by at least 10° from the leading edge to the radially outward edge. Further, the V-shaped sidewall teeth may be confirmed to one or a few rows of teeth on the rotor or stator plates, or may be on all teeth rows in the rotor or stator plates.  
         [0038]     The V-shaped angle of the leading sidewall  42  forms a concave surface facing the direction of rotation  57  on the rotor plate. The first and second sidewall surfaces  54 ,  56  preferably each form an angle with respect to a radial of the plate. The angles are preferably in a direction opposite to the rotation of the rotor disc. For example, the first and second sidewall surfaces  54 ,  56  may be each at an angle of 0° to 60° with respect to a radial  32  ( FIG. 1   a ). In a preferred embodiment, the first and second  54 ,  56  surfaces may be each at an angle of 5° to 45° with respect to a radial. While the first and second sidewall surfaces  54 ,  56  may each have the same magnitude of angle, they may alternatively have different angles with respect to a radial  32 . For example, the first sidewall surface  54  may form an angle of 7.5° and the second sidewall surface  56  may form an angle 35° with respect to a radial. The angle of the first surface  54  and a radial is a feeding angle.  
         [0039]     The leading edge  60  of the corner of a disperger tooth  40  may be formed by an front edge of the first surface  54  (radially inward) and a leading edge of the front wall of  50 . The angle may be less than 90° between the first surface  54  of the sidewall and the front wall  50 . For example, the leading edge  60  of the tooth may have an angled of 85° to 30°0, and more preferably 82.5° to 65° . The leading edge is sharp as compared to the 90° corners of traditional disperger teeth. The sharp leading corners should retain a sharp edge better as they wear, as compared to traditional 90° edges.  
         [0040]     The second surface  56  may have an angle and length such that it deflects refiner material particle moving radially between the teeth. The deflection slows the refined material radially flowing between the teeth. Slowing refined material reduces the erosion of the leading edges of teeth because the impact against the leading edge is lessened by the slower refined material. The angle and length of the second surface  56  may be such that its length perpendicular to a radial is at least a width of the gap between the tooth and an adjacent tooth. The angle of the second surface  56  to a radial is the holdback angle. Any combination of feeding and holdback angles may be employed depending on the desired dispersing effects.  
         [0041]     The transition  62  between the surfaces  54 ,  56  of the sidewall  42  of the tooth can either be a sharp corner or a radius which may have the same width as the upper surface of the tooth (as shown in  FIG. 3   b ), so that the angle across the whole height of the tooth edge is constant. A smooth radius across the whole sidewall surface (collectively  54 ,  56  and  62 ) would also achieve the same overall goals of a sharp leading edge and a holdback surface, even if the angle at the leading edge is not constant.  
         [0042]     The described rotor plate design can be used with a stator plate with a standard tooth. On the other hand, the stator plate may also have V-shaped sidewalls. The stator design may present the same sharp crossing corner angle, e.g., greater than 90°, to the process to maintain better wear characteristics. The crossing angle is from a tangent line extending in front of the tooth edge and back to the surface of the sidewall adjacent the edge. The stator plate segments may include double-angle teeth having the convex sidewalls that face the rotation, so that the angle of the tooth edge at the crossing interface would be greater than 90°. A crossing angle of greater than 90° is not perceived as a problem for stator wear, because edge rounding mostly occurs on the rotor teeth. It may be desirable to for the crossing angles of rotor and stator tooth surfaces to vary to improve disperging efficiency and feed transfer through the interface of rotor and stator teeth.  
         [0043]      FIGS. 4   a  and  4   b  are a front plan view and a side-cross-sectional view, respectively, of an exemplary disperger rotor plate segment  70  that is to be mounted on a disc and in opposition to a stator plate. The rotational direction for the rotor plate is counter clock-wise as indicated by arrow  72 .  
         [0044]     The disperger plate segment  70  includes rows  74 ,  76 ,  78 ,  80 ,  82  and  84  of teeth  86 . The rows of teeth may be each at a respective radius  88  of the disc, but may also be slanted with respect to the radius. Similarly, the stator plate ( FIGS. 5   a  and  5   b ) has rows of teeth that interleave with the rows of rotor teeth, when the plates are arranged in the disperger.  
         [0045]     To promote feeding and retention of the pulp into the disperging zone, the rotor may include at least one inner row (see row  74 ) of disperging teeth  86 . The stator is not limited to the inlet for feeding and may include disperging teeth, feeding inlets (such as the feed injectors disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,071), breaker bars and other features. These inlet features may be selected for a particular disperger plate depending on the disperging requirements for the plate.  
         [0046]     FIGS.  5 ( a ) and  5 ( b ) show a top down view and a side cross-sectional view, respectively, of an exemplary stator disperger plate segment  100  employing the double angle geometry teeth  102  arranged in rows  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110 ,  112  and  114 . The stator disperger plate segment (when arranged in a plate) is intended to be opposite the rotor plate  70  such that the respective rows of the rotor and stator plates intermesh. The stator plate  100  includes an outermost row  114  of disperger teeth in holdback to prevent wear of the inner portion of the refiner casing. The rear wall of teeth in the outer row  114  may be perpendicular to the substrate of the plate and not tapered as is the near wall of the inner rows of teeth. The holdback angle is the angle with respect to a radial formed by the second section  116  (which is radially outward) of the sidewall of the tooth. The holdback angle may be at least as great as the holdback angle of the last row of teeth  84  on the rotor plate  60 . The angles of the teeth sidewalls of the rows of the stator plate segment  100  are show as being similar to the sidewall angles for corresponding rows on the rotor plate segment  70 . However, the sidewall angles on the stator plate segment need not necessarily correspond to the sidewall angles of the rows of rotor teeth.  
         [0047]     While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.