Patent Publication Number: US-11649127-B2

Title: Apparatus for exchanging paper rolls

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a paper roll supply mechanism, and particularly to a paper roll exchange mechanism for exchanging a working paper roll about to be used up with a fresh paper roll in the paper roll supply mechanism. 
     2. The Related Arts 
     In a rolled material supplying process, a rolled material in a cylindrical form, such as a paper roll, paper towel, and fabric roll, must be supplied in an unhindered manner to subsequent processing equipment. In the existing technology, a roll material supply mechanism is installed in front of the processing equipment to receive and carry the cylindrical material roll for feeding material from the cylindrical material roll. 
     A structure of the cylindrical paper roll is such that a thin piece of paper is wound, in a layer-by-layer manner, around a tube or core to form a cylindrical paper roll of a predetermined diameter. To feed the paper, the cylindrical paper roll is caused to rotate with the tube as a rotating center, and an end of the paper is guided to the subsequent processing equipment. 
     In the existing technology, once a paper roll is used up, human intervention is required for exchange with a fresh paper roll in order to continue the feeding of material. To ensure non-interrupted feeding of material from the cylindrical paper roll or to shorten the time for roll exchange, a roll exchange apparatus is adopted. In an existing roll exchange mechanism, a swing arm structure or a pneumatic cylinder driven roll switching mechanism is used. 
     For example, Chinese Patent No. CN111056345 proposes a roll exchange process that involves two conveyors, respectively set up at a left side and a right side, to operate in collaboration with a swing arm structure. Due to the swing arm arrangement, a conveyance path of paper rolls is generally of an arc form, such that it might be difficult to ensure stability of the paper rolls. 
     Further, the known swing arm structure and the pneumatic cylinder driving paper roll structure suffer drawbacks of mechanism being complicated and the swing arm requiring a large space for swinging. When the diameter of the paper roll is large, the swing arm has to be lengthened, and under such a condition, the height and the length have to be both enlarged. Since a space is requiring for the swing arm to swing, there is waste of space, and further, the swing arm suffers reduced rigidity if the length is increased, and further, the output power of the hydraulic cylinder or pneumatic cylinder has to be increased. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the above, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a paper roll exchange apparatus that adopts a simplified mechanism arrangement and an easy operation to exchange paper rolls. 
     The technical solution adopted by the present invention to achieve the above objective a paper supply mechanism including an inclined arm and a clamp assembly, the inclined arm having a free end and a positioning end fixed to a machine frame, a recess being formed on the positioning end to receive and support a first paper roll therein; a second-roll hanger assembly arranged at a position above the paper supply mechanism and spaced from the paper supply mechanism in a vertical direction, including a second paper roll hanger to receive and support a second paper roll thereon; a slide rail arranged between the paper supply mechanism and the second-roll hanger assembly in the vertical direction, a feeding position being defined at a bottom end of the slide rail adjacent to the paper supply mechanism, a pick-up position being defined at a top end of the slide rail adjacent to the second-roll hanger assembly, and a standby position being defined between the feeding position and the pick-up position; an elevating assembly movably mounted to the slide rail and including an elevating hanger; and a driving assembly coupled to the elevating assembly and operable to drive the elevating assembly to move upward or downward along the slide rail in the vertical direction to one of the feeding position, the pick-up position and the standby position. 
     Preferably, the free end of the inclined arm defines a collecting position to receive and hold the first paper roll ejected and pushed out of the recess of the inclined arm by the clamp assembly. 
     Preferably, the clamp assembly is coupled by a clamp axle to the inclined arm at a location beside the recess, and the clamp assembly is drivable by a clamp driver to rotate about a rotation center defined by the clamp axle. 
     Preferably, the second paper roll hanger is coupled by a second paper roll hanger axle to the machine frame, and the second paper roll hanger is drivable by a second paper roll hanger driver to rotate about a rotation center defined by the second paper roll hanger axle. 
     Preferably, the elevating assembly comprises a slide block, the elevating hanger being coupled by an elevating hanger axle to the slide block, the slide block being drivable by the driving assembly to move in the vertical direction along the slide rail to one of the pick-up position, the standby position, and the feeding position. 
     Preferably, the elevating assembly comprises an elevating hanger driver coupled to the elevating hanger, and the elevating hanger is drivable by the elevating hanger driver to cause the elevating hanger to rotate by an angle about a rotation center defined by the elevating hanger axle. 
     Preferably, the driving assembly comprises a screw rod which is in screwing engagement with a screw guide hole formed in the slide block; and a screw rod driving unit coupled to the screw rod to drive the screw rod to rotate in order to cause the slide block to move along the slide rail in the vertical direction. 
     Preferably, a paper roll rotating mechanism is operable to drive the first paper roll to rotate about a rotation center defined by the recess. 
     Preferably, the paper roll rotating mechanism comprises a lifting rack including an axle and a lifting end; a belt motor coupled to the axle of the lifting frame; a guide roller coupled to the lifting end of the lifting frame; and a belt arranged between the guide roller and the belt motor, the belt being set in contact engagement with a paper roll surface of the first paper roll; wherein the belt is drivable by the belt motor to rotate so as to drive the first paper roll to rotate. 
     Preferably, the paper roll rotating mechanism further comprises a lifting driver coupled to the lifting rack to drive the lifting rack to rotate about a rotation center defined by the axle, so as to cause the lifting end of the lifting rack to lift upward to set the belt in contact engagement with the paper roll surface of the first paper roll. 
     In respect of efficacy, the present invention realizes a function of paper roll exchange by adopting a simple exchange mechanism and achieves the following advantages:
     (1) The drawbacks of the prior art based on swing arm and pneumatic cylinder driving that involves a complicated structure, and requires a large space for swinging of the swing arm, leading to a waste of space, and the rigidity of the swing arm is lowered once the length of the swing arm is increased, and the output power of the pneumatic cylinder needs to increase, can be effectively alleviated.   (2) The prior art swing arm based device involves a swing arm that require a circular arc paper roll moving path and it is hard to ensure stability during the process of movement. The present invention adopts vertical movement arrangement, which prevents the paper roll from oscillate or swing frontward and rearward so that the mechanism is kept in a more stable condition.   (3) The present invention is implemented with screw rod based transmission, which does not need extra floor area and space and requires only a sufficient vertical height.   (4) The present invention provides an arrangement that provides a space for temporarily holding a paper roll, so that an old paper roll (that is being in use) and a new paper roll (that is put in stand-by) are allowed to simultaneously deposited on the machine as being arranged in a vertical direction, so that storage space on the floor can be reduced.   (5) The present invention includes an elevating assembly having a hanger that is positioned by an axle and is drivable by a driver to have the hanger reaching out and retracting back, and such a mechanism is simple and stable.   (6) The prior art is operated to move the paper roll with a horizontal movement, which is carried out with a slide rail based mechanism. However, the paper roll has a substantial gravity that acts as a sideway force to the horizontal slide rail, so that the slide rail, as well as the slide block, may be damaged easily. The present invention adopts an elevating hanger movement arrangement to replace the known horizontal movement arrangement and the gravity of the paper roll is supported by the hanger, and the torque generated by the gravity is supported by a power cylinder, so that the structure is made stable.   (7) The present invention involves an arrangement of a fixed hanger that provides temporary storage for a fresh paper roll, so as to help shorten the operator standby time.   (8) The present invention includes an axle clamp provided in the paper supply mechanism. Such an axle clamp is combined with a driver to provide a simplified mechanism that is sufficiently operable to carry out operations of holding the axle of a paper roll in position and selectively ejecting and pushing the axle of the paper roll out of the recess of the paper supply mechanism.   (9) The present invention provides an arrangement that, in collaboration with a simple control device, enables automatic exchange operation to be executed once the paper roll is used up, and the operator just needs to place a fresh paper roll on the fixed hanger before the old paper roll has been used up. Since the fresh paper roll has already been put in standby on the elevating hanger, so that when the old paper roll is used up and removed out, the fresh paper roll can immediately lower down into the paper supply mechanism to continue with the old paper roll, thereby greatly reducing the time required for hanging the paper roll during paper roll exchange and the operation performance is greatly enhanced.   

     The present invention is applicable to cylindrical roll product, such as toilet tissue rolls, paper towels, and fabric rolls, and allows material feeding to reach the best performance. 
     A specific technical solution adopted in the present invention will be described in more details in respect of the following embodiments and the attached drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a perspective view showing a paper roll exchange apparatus according to the present invention; 
         FIG.  2    is a front view showing the paper roll exchange apparatus according to the present invention; 
         FIG.  3    is a side elevational view showing the paper roll exchange apparatus according to the present invention; 
         FIG.  4    is a side elevational view illustrating the paper roll exchange apparatus according to the present invention carrying and supporting a first paper roll and a second paper roll; 
         FIG.  5    is a cross-sectional view showing, partly, a combination relationship of related components of the paper roll exchange apparatus according to the present invention; and 
         FIGS.  6 A- 6 J  are schematic views illustrating processes of paper roll exchange according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to  FIGS.  1 - 3   , a paper roll exchange apparatus  100  according to the present invention generally comprises a paper supply mechanism  1 , a second-roll hanger assembly  2 , a slide rail  3 , an elevating assembly  4 , a driving assembly  5  and a paper roll rotating mechanism  6 . The paper supply mechanism  1  carries and supports a first paper roll A 1 , and the second-roll hanger assembly  2  carries and support a second paper roll A 2 . 
     The paper supply mechanism  1  comprises a machine frame  10  that is arranged in a left-right corresponding form and a pair of inclined arms  11  coupled to the machine frame  10 . Each of the inclined arms  11  has a positioning end at a right side thereof and fixed to the machine frame  10 , and is formed with a recess  111  to receive, hold, and support a first reeling core A 11  of the first paper roll A 1 . The inclined arm  11  has a free end at a left side thereof and extending for a length to define a collecting position  112 . 
     A clamp assembly  12  comprises a clamp axle  121  coupled to the inclined arms  11  at a location beside the recess  111 . The clamp assembly  12  is provided with an ejecting part  122  projecting therefrom and is coupled to a clamp driver  13 . The clamp driver  13  can be for example a hydraulic cylinder, a pneumatic cylinder, or any other equivalent driving device. 
     Also referring to  FIG.  4   , the second-roll hanger assembly  2  is arranged above disposed the paper supply mechanism  1  at a location corresponding thereto, such that the two are spaced from each other by a height-wise in a vertical direction. The second-roll hanger assembly  2  comprises a second paper roll hanger  21  and a second paper roll hanger driver  22 . The second paper roll hanger  21  is coupled by a second paper roll hanger axle  211  to the machine frame  10 . The second paper roll hanger driver  22  can be for example a hydraulic cylinder, a pneumatic cylinder, or any other equivalent driving device. A rubber pad  212  is provided at the site where the second paper roll hanger  21  is mounted, in order to reduce potential risk of structure damage caused by undesired collision occurring during hanging and depositing paper rolls. 
     Also referring to  FIG.  5   , it is a cross-sectional view showing, partly, a combination relationship of related components of the paper roll exchange apparatus according to the present invention. A slide rail  3  is arranged between the paper supply mechanism  1  and the second-roll hanger assembly  2 . A feeding position P 1  is defined at a bottom end of the slide rail  3  adjacent to the paper supply mechanism  1 , a pick-up position P 2  is defined at a top end of the slide rail  3  adjacent to the second-roll hanger assembly  2 , and a standby position P 3  is defined between the feeding position P 1  and the pick-up position P 2 . 
     The elevating assembly  4  is movably coupled to the slide rail  3 . The elevating assembly  4  comprises a slide block  41 , an elevating hanger  42 , and an elevating hanger driver  43 . The elevating hanger  42  is coupled by an elevating hanger axle  421  to the slide block  41 . The elevating hanger driver  43  can be for example a hydraulic cylinder, a pneumatic cylinder, or any other equivalent driving device. 
     The driving assembly  5  is coupled to the elevating assembly  4  to drive the elevating assembly  4  to move, in a vertical direction M 1  along the slide rail  3 , to one of the pick-up position P 2 , the standby position P 3 , and the feeding position P 1 . 
     The driving assembly  5  comprises a screw rod  51  and a screw rod driving unit  52 . The screw rod  51  is set in screwing engagement with a screw guide hole  411  formed in the slide block  41  (as shown in  FIG.  1   ). When the screw rod  51  is rotating as being driven by the screw rod driving unit  52 , the slide block  41  is caused to elevate or lower down along the slide rail  3  in the vertical direction M 1 . 
     The paper roll rotating mechanism  6  is arranged at a location below the paper supply mechanism  1  to drive the first paper roll A 1  to rotate about a rotation center defined by the recess  111 , or an axle thereof is rotating within the recess. The paper roll rotating mechanism  6  comprises a lifting rack  61 , which has an axle  611  and a lifting end  612 . A belt motor  62  is coupled to the axle  611 . A guide roller  63  is coupled to the lifting end  612 . A belt  64  is arranged between the belt motor  62  and the guide roller  63 . The belt  64  is driven by the belt motor  62  to rotate. 
     The lifting rack  61  is coupled to a lifting driver  65 , and is driven by the lifting driver  65  to rotate about a rotation center defined by the axle  611  for a lifting angle about, in order to keep the belt  64  in contact with a paper roll surface A 12  of the first paper roll A 1  to thereby drive the first paper roll A 1  to rotate clockwise. 
       FIGS.  6 A- 6 J  are schematic views illustrating processes of roll exchange according to the present invention. For clearly illustrating the structures of the components and a relationship among such components, the first paper roll A 1  and the second paper roll A 2  are outlined with phantom lines in each of these drawings. As shown in  FIG.  6 A , the height-wise distance between the paper supply mechanism  1  and the second-roll hanger assembly  2  is sufficient to accommodate two paper rolls of identical diameters, namely the first paper roll A 1  and the second paper roll A 2 . The first paper roll A 1  is driven by the paper roll rotating mechanism  6  to rotate for feeding toward subsequent processing equipment (not shown). During the process of feeding paper from the first paper roll A 1 , an operator may hang and deposit, in a manner of manual operation or automatic operation, the second paper roll A 2  on the second paper roll hanger  21  of the second-roll hanger assembly  2 . 
     When the first paper roll A 1  of which paper has been fed out reaches a predetermined diameter (as shown in  FIG.  6 B ), through detection and control by a controlling device (not shown), the driving assembly  5  drives the elevating assembly  4  to move upward along the slide rail  3  to the pick-up position P 2  (as shown in  FIG.  6 C ) to lift the second paper roll A 2  that is hung on the second-roll hanger assembly  2  for a height. Then, the second paper roll hanger  21  is driven by the second paper roll hanger driver  22  to retract backward in a counterclockwise direction (also see  FIG.  6 D ) to deliver and transfer the second paper roll A 2  to the elevating hanger  42 , such that the elevating assembly  4  may lower the second paper roll A 2  along the slide rail  3  to the standby position P 3  (as shown in  FIG.  6 E ). 
     When the first paper roll A 1  is completely used up, the belt  64  of the paper roll rotating mechanism  6  is caused to slow down and the lifting rack  61  is driven by the lifting driver  65  to move in a counterclockwise direction back to a horizontal position (as shown in  FIG.  6 F ). 
     Afterwards, the clamp driver  13  drives the clamp assembly  12  to rotate, about a rotation center defined by the clamp axle  121 , in a clockwise direction by an angle (as shown in  FIG.  6 G ), such that the ejecting part  122  of the clamp assembly  12  pushes and ejects the first reeling core A 11  of the first paper roll A 1  in an upward inclining direction. As such, the first reeling core A 11  is caused to move out of the recess  111  of the inclined arms  11  and roll along the inclined arms  11  to reach the collecting position  112  to be temporarily kept there for subsequent collection. 
     When the first paper roll A 1  retracts and moves out, the elevating assembly  4  is lowered down to the feeding position P 1  (as shown in  FIG.  6 H ), such that the second reeling core A 21  of the second paper roll A 2  is moved into and deposited in the recess  111  of the inclined arms  11  to be supported therein, and then, the clamp driver  13  drives the clamp assembly  12  to press down and hold the second reeling core A 21  of the second paper roll A 2  to keep the second paper roll A 2  is position and not separating therefrom. 
     When the second paper roll A 2  is deposited in the recess  111  of the inclined arms  11 , the elevating hanger  42  of the elevating assembly  4  is driven by the elevating hanger driver  43  to rotate counterclockwise about a rotation center defined by the elevating hanger axle  421  for an angle to a retraction position (as shown in  FIG.  6 I ) to complete the operation of transferring the second paper roll A 2  to the paper supply mechanism  1 . Afterwards, the elevating assembly  4  elevates back to the standby position P 3  (as shown in  FIG.  6 J ) to complete the operation of roll exchange. 
     After the completion of the roll exchange operation, the second paper roll A 2  is driven by the belt  64  of the paper roll rotating mechanism  6  for paper feeding. Finally, the operator may hang and deposit a fresh paper roll on the second paper roll hanger  21  for a next roll exchange operation. 
     The embodiment discussed above is provided only for illustrating the present invention and is not intended to limit the scope of embodiment of the present invention. Equivalent modifications and substitutions that fall within the spirit of the present invention are considered within the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.