FR2759393A1 - SATELLITE ROLLER FOR IRONING DRYER, AND IRONING DRYER EQUIPPED WITH SUCH ROLLERS - Google Patents

Abstract

In an ironing dryer with a heated ironing cylinder, in which at least one endless ironing strip (16) is mounted on satellite rollers (18), the latter are formed by a thin metal tube (22) the ends of which are mounted rotating on the chassis (20) by removable mechanisms. Each mechanism comprises a split outer ring (24) and an inner ring (26) which cooperate by complementary frustoconical surfaces (34, 36). The inner ring (26) is fixed in the outer ring (24) by screws (48). A ball bearing (42) is mounted on a fixed axis (44) in the inner ring (26).

Description

SATELLITE ROLLER FOR IRONING DRYER AND DRYER

  IRONER EQUIPPED WITH SUCH ROLLS.

DESCRIPTION

  Technical Field The invention relates mainly to a satellite roller, designed to support at least one endless ironing band in a dryer

  ironer with heated ironing cylinder.

  The invention also relates to a dryer.

  ironer equipped with satellite rollers of this type.

  The invention can be used in all ironing dryers with a heated ironing cylinder which are usually found in establishments where a large quantity of laundry is processed daily. By way of non-limiting examples, mention will be made of hospitals, clinics, retirement homes,

restaurants, etc.

  STATE OF THE ART In ironing dryers equipped with a rotating ironing cylinder, heated from the inside, the laundry is ironed between this cylinder and one or more endless ironing bands supported by satellite rollers. One of the satellite rollers is driven in rotation by a geared motor, so as to set in motion the endless ironing bands. These in turn drive the other satellite rollers in rotation.

as well as the ironing cylinder.

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  In a machine of this type, each of the satellite rollers is generally constituted by a tube at the ends of which are welded end pieces. In its center, each of the end pieces carries an axis which projects outwards, beyond the corresponding end of the tube, to enter a bearing at

  balls housed in a part of the machine chassis.

  This classic configuration of the rollers

  satellites have a number of drawbacks.

  One of these drawbacks lies in the very difficult disassembly of the satellite rollers. This makes the disassembly and assembly operations of the machine particularly long and tedious, which must frequently be carried out during its installation at the user's place. This also makes any subsequent intervention very delicate, for example when a ball bearing has to be replaced. Furthermore, the traditional design of the satellite rollers gives them a relatively large mass. This results in a relatively high thermal inertia, which is not compatible with intensive use of the machine. In addition, this leads to the use of large ball bearings and a chassis having a robust structure, which is not without consequences for the cost of the machine. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The main object of the invention is a satellite roll, the original design of which allows particularly rapid disassembly and reassembly.

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  of the roller, as well as a reduction in mass which leads in particular to a reduction in the dimensioning and, consequently, in the cost of the ball bearings and of the chassis

of the machine.

  According to the invention, this result is obtained by means of a satellite roller, capable of supporting at least one endless ironing strip in a dryer ironer with heated ironing cylinder, characterized in that it comprises: - a tube; - a split outer ring, fixed in each end of the tube and comprising a frustoconical inner surface; - An inner ring capable of being mounted on a fixed axis by means of a bearing and comprising a frustoconical outer surface, complementary to the frustoconical inner surface; and - removable fixing means for the inner rings in the outer rings, capable of exerting between them an axial force allowing the outer ring to be pressed against the tube, by means of the frustoconical inner and outer surfaces. Since the inner and outer rings can be easily dissociated from one another by acting on the removable fixing means, the disassembly of the satellite roller, as well as its subsequent reassembly can be carried out easily. Installation of the machine at the user's site as well as subsequent interventions

  maintenance are significantly facilitated.

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  In addition, the location of the bearings directly in the ends of the satellite roller makes it possible to reduce their sizing, as well as that

from the adjacent part of the chassis.

  This arrangement also makes it possible to use standardized ball bearings, despite the differences in diameters that may exist between the tubes, in particular

  due to manufacturing tolerances.

  In a preferred embodiment of the invention, each of the split outer rings is fixed in the tube by gluing, for example by means of a silicone adhesive. The manufacture of the satellite rollers is then particularly simple, since the bonding of the outer rings split inside the tube can be carried out directly by fixing the inner rings

  in the split outer rings.

  In this case, the split outer ring preferably has an annular groove forming an adhesive reservoir on its outer peripheral surface. In the case where the satellite roller is used for driving the endless ironing bands, it further comprises a drive pinion which is fixed directly to the inner ring by the means of

removable fasteners.

  In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the inner ring has an outer portion in the form of a disc, which extends the frustoconical outer surface on the side of the larger diameter thereof. The removable fixing means then include at least two screws which pass through

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  freely formed holes in the outer part and are screwed into tapped holes formed in the

outer ring.

  To facilitate the separation of the two rings, which can be difficult due to the low conicity of the two complementary frustoconical surfaces, the external part preferably comprises at least two other tapped holes, into which screws capable of coming in can be screwed

  abutment against an end face of the outer ring.

  The bearing is advantageously housed in a relatively large diameter section, turned towards the outside of the tube, of a bore passing through the ring

interior along its axis.

  The invention also relates to an ironing dryer comprising a frame, a heated ironing cylinder supported by the frame, and at least one endless ironing band mounted on satellite rollers, so as to be in contact with the cylinder on a part of its circumference. In this case, the satellite rollers are supported by the

  chassis and produced in the manner described above.

Brief description of the drawings

  A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of nonlimiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: - Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view very schematically illustrating a dryer ironer capable of being fitted with satellite rollers according to the invention; and

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  - Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view on a larger scale, along the line

II-II of Figure 1.

  Detailed description of a preferred embodiment In Figure 1, there is shown very schematically an ironer dryer according to the invention, deliberately omitting all the elements whose representation would not contribute to

  a good understanding of the invention.

  The ironing dryer illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises a rotating ironing cylinder 10 which rests on rollers 12, so that it can

  freely rotate around its geometric axis 14.

  The ironing dryer further comprises endless belts 16 which are mounted on satellite rollers 18 whose geometric axes are

  all parallel to the geometric axis 14 of the cylinder 10.

  The endless bands 16 are in contact with the exterior surface of the ironing cylinder 10, over its entire

  length and over most of its circumference.

  The satellite rollers 18 and the rollers 12 are mounted on a frame 20 of which only one

  small part appears in figure 2.

  All the satellite rollers 18 are mounted to rotate freely on the chassis 20, with the exception of one of them, which is driven in rotation by a geared motor (not shown). When this geared motor is actuated, the endless bands 16 move in the direction of the arrows F1 in FIG. 1,

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  by driving with them the ironing cylinder 10,

as illustrated by arrow F2.

  In the part of the ironing cylinder 10 which is not in contact with the endless belts 16, a display 22 facilitates the introduction of pieces of ironing linen (not shown) between the endless bands 16 and the cylinder 10, so that the laundry items are automatically drawn between these

organs, to be ironed there.

  To ensure ironing of the linen, the cylinder 10 is heated internally by heating means (not shown) generally electric or gas, and it is coated externally with a fleece.

(not shown).

  According to the invention, each of the satellite rollers 18 has an original structure which will now be described in detail with reference to

in Figure 2.

  Essentially, each satellite roller 18 comprises a thin tube 22 made of stainless steel. In addition, the satellite roller 18 comprises, at each of its ends, identical mechanisms by which it is rotatably mounted on the adjacent parts of the chassis 20. Only one of

  these mechanisms are shown in Figure 2.

  More specifically, this mechanism includes a split outer ring 24, an inner ring 26, as well as removable fixing means for the inner ring 26 in the outer ring 24. The outer 24 and inner rings

26 are made of steel.

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  The split outer ring 24 has a slot 28 which passes completely through it, substantially along a generatrix, so as to allow a certain increase in its diameter from a given minimum value. The outer ring 24 has a cylindrical outer surface 30 intended to be applied against the inner surface of the tube 22, at the end of the latter. An annular groove 32 is formed in the cylindrical outer surface 30 of the outer ring 24, so as to constitute an adhesive reservoir. This glue tank can receive a silicone glue, or any other temperature-resistant adhesive, allowing the ring to be fixed by gluing

outside 24 in the tube 22.

  The outer ring 24 also has a frustoconical inner surface 34, the diameter of which increases while going towards the outside of the tube 22, when the ring 24 is placed in

the end of it.

  The inner ring 26 is a rigid ring, which has a frustoconical outer surface 36 complementary to the frustoconical inner surface

34 of the outer ring 24.

  Furthermore, the inner ring 26 is traversed along its axis by a cylindrical inner bore 38, a section 40 of relatively large diameter, faces the outside of the tube 22 when the inner ring 26 is placed in the outer ring 24, as illustrated in FIG. 2. This section of the bore 38 is provided for housing the outer ring of a ball bearing 42, the ring of which

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  interior is mounted on a fixed axis 44 carried by the adjacent part of the chassis 20. The fixing of the axis 40 on the chassis 20 can be carried out in any manner, removable or not, without departing from the scope of the invention. The inner ring 26 further comprises an outer part 46, in the form of a disc, which extends the frustoconical outer surface 36 on the side of its largest diameter. When the inner ring 26 is placed in the outer ring 24, the outer part 46 of the inner ring 26 is located opposite and slightly spaced from the flat end face 47 of the outer ring 24 facing outward.

of tube 22.

  In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the removable fixing means by which the inner ring 26 is fixed in the outer ring 24, are constituted by screws 48 which freely pass through holes 50 formed in the shaped outer part 46 disc of the inner ring 26. These screws 48 are screwed into tapped holes 52 machined in the split outer ring 24. The holes 50 and the tapped holes 52 are formed parallel to the axis common to the rings 26 and 24 and placed in face them

  each other when the two rings are fitted.

  Tightening the screws 48 has the effect of securing the

rings 24 and 26.

  As shown in broken lines in Figure 2, when the satellite roller 18 is used to drive the endless ironing bands 16, the screws 48 are also used to fix a drive pinion 54

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  directly on the flat end face 47 of the inner ring 26. The drive pinion 54 is then interposed between the heads of the screws 48 and the face

  end plane 47 of the inner ring 26.

  In practice, the number of screws 48 is at least two and the screws are regularly

  distributed over the entire periphery of the rings.

  As illustrated in dashed lines in FIG. 2, the disc-shaped outer portion 46 of the inner ring 26 also includes at least two tapped holes 56, into which screws 58 can be screwed. These screws 58, which may be constituted by the screws 48 after their dismantling, or by other screws, allow the inner ring 26 to be separated from the outer ring 24, coming to bear by their ends against the flat end face 47 of

the outer ring 24.

  In the arrangement of the satellite rollers 18 which has just been described with reference to FIG. 2, the assembly and disassembly of the rollers can be carried out easily by acting on the screws 48 using a wrench. It is thus possible to easily dismantle and then reassemble the satellite rollers when the installation of the machine so requires, without the need for long and tedious operations. The removable nature of the satellite rollers 18 also makes it easy to replace

  the ball bearings 42 when necessary.

  Furthermore, the structure described facilitates the manufacture of the satellite rollers. In fact, the use of the split outer ring 24

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  allows to be mounted in tubes 22 having slightly different internal diameters. This allows to take into account the differences in diameter that inevitably exist from one tube to another, due to manufacturing tolerances. These differences in diameter of the tubes 22 are however without consequence on the dimensioning of the ball bearings 42, since this dimensioning is determined in advance by the diameter of the section 40 of the bore 38 machined in the inner ring 26. This characteristic allows to standardize the bearings to

balls used on machines.

  The screws 48 and the inner ring 26 also allow the bonding of the split outer ring 24, without requiring special tools. Indeed, after the groove 32 has been filled with glue, the inner ring 26 is put in place and the screws 48 are tightened. Effective maintenance of the outer ring 24 is thus ensured during the

collage.

  Finally, it is recalled that the mounting of the ball bearings 42 in the inner ring 26 makes it possible to reduce the dimensioning, and therefore the cost. Savings can also be made on the chassis, the

structure is simplified.

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Claims (9)

  1. Satellite roller (18), capable of supporting at least one endless ironing strip (16) in an ironing dryer with heated ironing cylinder (10), characterized in that it comprises: - a tube (22) ; - a split outer ring (24), fixed in each end of the tube and comprising a frustoconical inner surface (34); - an inner ring (26) able to be mounted on a fixed axis (44) by means of a bearing (42) and comprising a frustoconical outer surface (36), complementary to the frustoconical inner surface (34); and - removable fixing means (48) of the inner rings in the outer rings, capable of exerting between them an axial force allowing the outer ring (24) to be pressed against the tube (22), via the surfaces interior and frustoconical exterior (34,36).   2. Satellite roller according to claim 1, in which each of the split outer rings   (24) is fixed in the tube (22) by gluing.   3. satellite roller according to claim 2, in which the split outer ring (24) has an annular groove (32) forming an adhesive reservoir,   on its outer peripheral surface (30).   4. Roll according to any one of   claims 2 and 3, wherein the rings   outer (24) are fixed in the tube (22) by means silicone glue. SP 13315 GP   5. Roll according to any one of   previous claims, further comprising a   drive pinion (54) fixed directly on the inner ring (26) by the removable fixing means (48). 6. Roll according to any one of   previous claims wherein the ring   inner (26) has an outer part (46) in the form of a disc, extending the frustoconical outer surface (36) on the side of larger diameter, the removable fixing means including at least two screws (48) which pass freely through holes ( 50) formed in the outer part (46) and are screwed into tapped holes (52) formed in the outer ring (24).   7. Roller according to claim 6, wherein the outer part (46) is traversed by at least two other tapped holes (56) into which can be screwed screws (58) adapted to come into abutment against an end face (47) of the outer ring (24), to separate the latter from the latter interior (26).   8. Roll according to any one of   previous claims, wherein the bearing (42)   is housed in a relatively large diameter section (40), turned towards the outside of the tube (22), of a bore (38) passing along its ring along its axis interior (26).   9. An ironing dryer comprising a frame (20), a heated ironing cylinder (10) supported by the frame, and at least one endless ironing band (16) mounted on satellite rollers (18), so as to be in contact with SP 13315 GP   cylinder on a part of its circumference, in which the satellite rollers (18) are supported by the chassis (20) and produced according to any one of the preceding claims. SP 13315 GP