NO325145B1 - Apparatus and method for coating a slotted or grooved wood fiber sheet with a metal foil layer continuously bathed in elongated slots or grooves in the slab and on the surface of the slab between the slots. - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus and method for metal coating a slotted wood fiber board with a foil laminate continuously both down into elongate slots in the board and on the boards of the board between the slots. The board is advanced in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the slots using a planar conveyor on a frame. foil laminate material is fed continuously from a foil laminate feeder, a rotatable roller attached to the frame and immediately above the conveyor is rotated so that the roller surface upon rotation of the roller follows the surface of the plate being advanced on and by the conveyor and presses the foil laminate material against the plate. cam arranged in the longitudinal direction of the roller is positioned synchronously with the slot and presses the foil laminate material into the slot. An underlying adhesive layer is heated to melt the adhesive layer. Subsequent rapid cooling of the metal layer avoids thermal deformation of the coated plate.

Description

The present invention relates to a lamination method and device for the same. In particular, the invention relates to a method and a device for coating a slotted or grooved wooden fiberboard with a metal foil layer continuously both down into oblong slots or grooves in the board and on the board's surfaces between the slots.

There are wooden fiberboards on the market with grooves for installing heating cables or pipes for waterborne heating. The boards can be made of a porous wood fiber material to provide good insulation and to have an acoustic dampening effect, particularly to dampen footsteps where they are included as part of a floor construction. Sheets of this type are widely used in the building industry, and the market is growing.

Among the above-mentioned building board types, there is known a type of fiberboard with grooves which can preferably be arranged in the longitudinal direction of the board, across the longitudinal direction of the board, or can include grooves in different directions, where the board is coated with metal. Aluminum is for a number of applications, particularly in connection with building purposes, preferred as a metal for plate covering.

Metal coating of sheets with grooves in a continuous production has proven to present great challenges, both with regard to achieving a favorable groove shape after the metal coating that makes it practically possible to place heating cables or pipes in the grooves and to ensure that they stay on space after installation, and with regard to producing coated plates with the metal coating carried down into the grooves with a good production yield and a consistent and predictable quality.

The publication FR-A1-2837742 shows a device and method for coating plates with metal foil material from a metal foil feeding device, where the plates follow a plane conveyor, as well as a rotatable roller which presses the foil material against the plate.

The publication FR-A-1582284 shows a device and method for coating plate with two different layers, one of which comes from a metal foil feeding device, and where rollers press the layers together, followed by a corrugation device and a cooling device.

The publication FR-A-1402212 shows a device and method for laminating at least two layers, cf. fig. 7, where the final lamination is seen to take place between the rollers 82, 84, where the roller 82 comprises at least one cone which presses an upper layer down in a corresponding cone-shaped recesses, while the roller presses together the layers between each cone. Against the background of the above and other problems and purposes, the present invention provides a device for coating a slotted or grooved plate with a foil laminate continuously both down into oblong slits or grooves in the plate and on the plate's surfaces between the slits or grooves, characterized by the features that appear of the attached patent claim 1.

Further advantageous features of the invention's device for coating a slotted or grooved wood fiber board with a foil laminate continuously both down into oblong slots or grooves in the board and on the board's surfaces between the slots or grooves, appear from the accompanying patent claims 2 to 19 inclusive.

The present invention further provides a method for coating a slotted or grooved wood fiber board with a foil laminate continuously both down into oblong slots or grooves in the board and on the board's surfaces between the slots or grooves, characterized by the features that appear in the accompanying patent claim 20.

Further advantageous features of the invention's method for coating a slotted or grooved wood fiber board with a foil laminate continuously both down into elongated slots or grooves in the board and on the board's surfaces between the slots or grooves, appear from the accompanying patent claims 21 to 25 inclusive.

In the following, the invention will be explained in more detail with the help of examples and the accompanying drawings, where: figure la is a perspective drawing of a realization example of a device according to the invention,

Figure 1b is a perspective drawing of the implementation example shown in Figure 1b in use for the production of coated fiberboard,

figure 2a is a perspective drawing of a realization example of a press roller for a device according to the invention,

figure 2b shows in elevation the realization example of the press roll shown in figure 2a,

figure 2c shows in section and partially measured the realization example of the press roll shown in figures 2a and 2b,

figure 3 a shows in elevation and dimensioned a realization example of an elongated press comb for placement in a groove in the press roller shown in figures 2a, 2b and 2c,

figures 3b and 3c show in section and partly measured the realization example of the elongated pressing comb shown in figure 3a,

figure 4a shows in section the positioning of the press roller with chamber, plate with grooves and lamination foil material in a first phase during a continuous production of metal-coated plate, and

figure 4b shows in section the positioning of the press roller with chamber, plate with grooves and lamination foil material in a second phase during a continuous production of metal-coated plate.

By practicing the device and method of the invention, for example, a metal-coated sheet product is produced, preferably consisting of an Al foil, from a foil lamination material 50 on a roll of width 800mm which includes 40 microns (110g/m<2>) aluminium, a glass fiber net reinforcement (19g/m< 2>) and LDPE plastic for laminating glass fiber mesh to aluminum (50 g/m<2>), and a porous wood fiber board 40 of the type natural porous wood fiber board 790x590x8 mm (LxWxH) with a plurality of grooves or slots. The board is typically manufactured and delivered by a board manufacturer to fixed measurements and with pre-milled grooves or slots in the board's full length. In a preferred embodiment of a metal-coated plate product, the plate also includes grooves located along the edge of the plate but at some distance from the plate edge, which are referred to here as side grooves. Side track recesses can be laid along one or more of the board's edges. The pre-milled grooves where the metal coating is to be inserted can be dimensioned to a width of 4mm +/-0.1 and offer 5mm +0/-0.5. The side grooves (for overlaying a metal coating that can be perforated) are preferably dimensioned to a width of 15mm and a depth of 5mm +0/-0.5.

Another preferred dimension for a porous wooden fiber board 40 to be produced by the device and/or method of the invention, which board is particularly suitable as a step sound-absorbing floor construction element for carrying a heating cable or a pipe for transporting a heating medium, where the heating medium is preferably hot water, is 790x1183x12 mm (LxWxH).

In a variant of the invention, the invention is adapted to produce a metal-coated plate of the above-mentioned kind where the grooves the metal foil is driven down into are dimensioned to a width of 4mm +/-0.1 and a width of 5mm +0.2/-0.3. The tolerances in this variant can give a more optimal yield when using the device and method of the invention.

An aluminum foil which is provided with a reinforcing layer of a fiber net, or equivalent reinforcement, in combination with a fusible plastic material, such as a polyethylene plastic material, is preferably used for the production of the metal-coated plate according to the device and method of the invention. The present inventors have found that an adaptation of the invention to reinforced metal foil of a type supplied by WalkiWisa (the UPM group in Finland) designated "Alu foil w/plastic", 165GSM ALU/COEX Plast, or a type supplied by Meuweissen Industrie, The Netherlands, designated "5117908021 LDPE Reinforced Alu-foil", gives a very good yield and an outstanding end product quality. These materials, which include a layer of fusible plastic material which according to the invention acts as a hot-melt adhesive, do not, however, exclude other foils and/or combinations of foils, foil reinforcers, and means for binding or gluing the metal coating to the plate.

The manufacturing device of the invention preferably uses a plastic material which is included as a component in an amplifier set for an aluminum foil. With the device or method of the invention, this plastic is melted "again", i.e. after the metal foil 50 has been placed against the plate 40, thus forming a connection between the wood fiber plate 40 and the aluminum foil 50.

In continuous production, the plates are fed into the machine, preferably fixed butt-in-butt. The aluminum foil 50 is pressed and shaped with the help of a roller 18 provided with "rulers" 28, and is thus laid down on the plate, and down into the grooves with the help of the "rulers". Then a "heat strip" 4 is used to melt the plastic so that the reinforced aluminum foil binds to and

is stuck in the plate in the areas between the grooves.

Immediately after the heating strip, there is a cooling zone with air cooling to quickly bring the temperature in the aluminum foil down, whereby it is achieved that the wood fiber boards are not curved as a result of thermally generated stresses, or at least get minimal curvature.

At the end of the production line, the boards are then divided again and cleaned as required, and placed on pallets for further transport or storage.

The new automatic line built according to the invention will consist of a laminating machine as described here, preferably built together with processing equipment for milling out the grooves in the plate. It has been shown that the tolerance limits that a wood fiber board with pre-milled grooves can have are large, and that machining the grooves right in front of the laminating machine will be very beneficial for the production yield and the quality of the product.

The roller 18 itself, which shapes the aluminum into the grooves, is designed so that it has a diameter D which means that it holds the foil in place before the "pressing knife" 28 (here also referred to as "ruler" 28, "embossing steel" 28 or "comb" 28 ), guides and presses or drives the metal foil 50 down into the groove. With the invention's design of roller 18 and "pressing knife" 28, it is achieved that the foil is given a favorable filling shape, which will be explained in more detail in the following, and so that the foil is held properly in place and is not pulled up by the last forming groove until the subsequent fastening process is completed.

For the relevant dimensions of plate and groove, the diameter of the roller 18 is adapted to a total of six grooves 17, in which the aforementioned "rulers" 28, here also referred to as "press knives" 28, are to be placed, as the "rulers" 28 by their mutual distance in the roller 18 matches the division of the tracks in the plate 40, i.e. the distances between the relevant tracks in the plate 40. Reference is made to fig. 2a, 2b and 2c for an example of roller 18 with six grooves. The accompanying illustrations also show devices for using set screws to hold "press knives" 28 in place in respective slots 17.

Typically, the slots for the above product specifications are spaced 98.33 millimeters center-to-center apart. The roller's diameter D then becomes 187.8 millimeters for six "rulers". The length Ly of the roller is 800 millimeters which is adjusted so that the plate's one dimension (length dimension) is 790 millimeters, as stated above for the two currently preferred dimensions of plate for metal coating. 6 grooves with a depth of 15 mm + 1 and a width of 4 mm + 0.1 are milled out in the roller. The depth tolerance allows adjustments by placing a "shim" in the groove so that the "ruler" 17 will project forward at the correct distance from the roller's surface.

In the grooves in the roller, "rulers" 17 are mounted which are preferably made of Teflon material, or at least of suitable material with Teflon-like properties, which are designed with a "tooth shape" to press the aluminum foil down into the groove without it being brought in firm contact with the edges of the groove in the plate. A preferred "tooth shape" appears in figures 3b and 3c, where the full height of the comb is indicated by HK as 20mm, the tooth height is indicated by Ht as 5mm, the tooth angle is indicated by Vt as 11 degrees, and the tooth radius is indicated by Rr. The surface quality of the tooth surface is indicated by Sk about 1.6. The comb's length Lk indicated in Figure 3a is 800mm.

When placing the metal foil down into a slot, it is preferred to drive the foil sufficiently down into the slot into a filling shape so that a metal layer is formed in the slot which mainly follows the side edges of the slot and where the metal layer does not come into contact with the bottom of the slot. It is particularly preferred that the device and method of the invention are adapted in such a way that the foil is placed down in the groove in the plate at a distance of around 0.5 millimeters from the bottom of the groove. In order to achieve such a filling shape of the metal layer down in the groove, the "ruler" must be placed in the roller so that it protrudes a distance that corresponds to the depth of the groove minus around 0.5 millimetres.

In a preferred plate product coated with metal which can be attributed to a standard product group with a number of groove widths which are adapted to respective typical variants of heating cable or heating pipe for placement in the groove of the plate, and where the metal coating in the groove has the above-mentioned filling shape, the groove is produced with a depth which is equal to the track width with an addition that is in the range of 0.5 to 1.0 millimetres. By placing the "rulers" in the roller so that they protrude from the roller surface at a distance that is from 0.0 millimeter +0.1/0.0 to 0.5 millimeter +0.l/-0.0 less than the groove depth is achieved that the metal foil after placement according to the invention will be at a distance from and without being in contact with the bottom of the track.

A frequently used heating cable has a diameter of around 4 millimeters, and a metal-coated plate suitable for the purpose is produced by the invention from a plate with a groove width of 4 millimeters and a groove depth of 5 millimeters, the "rulers" in the roller being mounted so that the point on

the rulers which protrude farthest from the roller are at a distance from the surface of the roller which is from about 4.3 millimeters to about 4.5 millimeters. However, the preferred distance from the surface of the roller to the point on the rulers that protrudes furthest from the roller is around 4.5 millimeters, to ensure a distance between the foil in the groove and the bottom of the groove and at the same time to allow for variations in the depth of the groove.

In the case of other product specifications, measurements for roll diameter, roll width and groove pitch, and the height, width and length of the "press knives" are modified.

When the roller rotates, the ruler will clamp the Al foil against the front of the groove so that the pull in the foil comes against the Al foil roll, together with the pressure from the roller causing the already laid Al foil to lie still. Reference is made to figures 4a and 4b, which illustrate a process, where the plate in the lower part of the illustrations is moved forward to the right and the roller simultaneously rotates counter-clockwise in the direction of rotation R around a stationary axis of rotation 25.

The roller lies with a pressure of 1 bar by means of an air cylinder down against the porous plate.

Where the plate comes free from the roller, the heating rail is as close as possible to the outer edge of the roller, so that the melting process of the plastic on the aluminum foil begins as quickly as possible after the forming and pressing of the aluminum foil to the porous plate.

The heating zone itself is adapted to the above-mentioned dimensions of 100 x 800 mm, and controlled with temperature regulation. The temperature is preferably around 220 degrees C with the materials and dimensions described here. However, the temperature can be adjusted somewhat according to the speed of the production line, and adapted so that the best possible adhesion between the aluminum foil and the porous plate is achieved. More specifically, the best adhesion is achieved when the plastic has melted and penetrated into the porous plate. The heating element is mounted floating so that the best possible contact between element and plate is achieved at all times. At 25 g/m<2> PE plastic, the operation is at a temperature of around 220 degrees C and at 50 g/m<2> PE plastic, the operation is at a temperature of around 280 degrees C. This with feeding plates of 1.1 m/min. By increasing the width of the heating rail to 200mm, it is possible to operate with a forward speed for the plates of around 2.2 m/min at the same temperatures.

Directly after the heating zone, the Al foil is cooled so that it does not build up stresses in the plate which could lead to plate curvature. The aluminum foil is quickly cooled, and the molten plastic that acts as a bond will have some later cooling and retain its formability. This avoids a possible curvature of the plate which can otherwise occur as a result of heating/cooling of Al foil.

An example of a manufacturing machine, which will be explained in the following with reference to Figure 1, comprises runway 1, which is preferably a belt conveyor of 800mm width. The track is a standard belt conveyor, which has a frequency-controlled operation for the transport of plates through the lamination zone, a frame 2 which constitutes a machine stand on which the belt conveyor and lamination roller, heating rail and cooling zone are mounted, foot bearings in the number of 4, for example type SKF SY 25TF, of which two foot bearings on which the forming roller itself is mounted. These can be adjusted so that parallelism can be ensured between fitted rulers in the roller and grooves in the plate. Two other foot bearings are for attaching the heating rail. The heating rail can be placed up/down against the laminated plate using a handle (Swiehandtak) as shown at 12.

The manufacturing machine further comprises a heating station 4, preferably formed by an aluminum heating rail 800 mm long and 100 mm wide with a plurality of heating elements attached. This is mounted floating so that it lies down against the aluminum foil so that it is pressed down against the sheet at the same time as the heat melts the PE plastic on the back of the aluminum so that this forms the lamination screen between the sheet and the aluminum foil. This heating rail is placed as close to the press roll as possible to prevent possible deformation of the aluminum foil after it has been shaped into the plate. Immediately adjacent to the heating station, we have also installed a steel cooling plate with air nozzles which is located directly behind the heating rail. Here, with the help of an adjustable valve, we have the opportunity to release compressed air through these nozzles to create an air layer between the laminated plate and the cooling plate. This is to quickly cool down the aluminum after lamination. This cooling plate does not appear on the drawing as it has been installed as a result of a test run.

The manufacturing machine further comprises a threaded rod 5, for adjusting the perforation wheel 9. Four nuts 6, preferably locking nuts, are arranged for locking the fastening bracket for the perforation wheel. Two attachments 7 for wheels form attachment brackets for the perforation wheels. Four washers 8 are used for fixing the perforation wheels. Two perforation wheels 9 for perforating 15mm longitudinal grooves in the aluminum in the laminating foil to mark and facilitate the placement of the supply cable in the finished plate. This perforation is so that the consumer has this to cut when there is a need to use this slot for turning/supplying electric cable during installation. It is very important that you have the aluminum under the cable when reversing/supplying the electric cable.

These perforation wheels are round knives that have a notch cut in them. Furthermore, two Allen screws 10 and two nuts 11 are included for fixing the perforation wheel.

The manufacturing machine further comprises a lifting device 12 for the heating station 4.

Two spherical bearing brackets 13 and two swivel flanges 14 are included for suspension of pressure cylinders. Two cylinders 15, for example of type 1 633 70 DNC 50 Festo, to adjust pressure on the forming roller and to be able to lift the roller when setting the roller/plate/aluminium. As indicated above, it has been found that at 1 bar pressure in the hydraulic/pneumatic cylinders of the above-mentioned type, a roller pressure is established against the foil and plate, whereby a very good result is achieved with the shaping and coating of a porous wood fiber plate of the previously mentioned type. Two flex couplings 16, for example type 6142 FK M 16x1 5 Festo, are used to attach the lift supply to cylinders.

To drive the foil into the plate's groove, six "embossing steels" 28 are used in the construction shown. These are preferably made of plastic so that they gently shape the aluminum foil into grooves in the plates. They are partly tapered and rounded in cross-section, as shown in figures 3a, 3b and 3c, because this provides gentle treatment of the foil and because this is done so that they do not damage the edge of the groove on the plate.

The roller 18, which in Figures 4a and 4b is not drawn to any particular scale but is only intended as an illustration of the principle, the axis of rotation 25 and the direction of rotation indicated by the arrow R, is arranged with a groove 17 for attaching embossing steel 28 for forming the aluminum into a plate . The roller circumference is, as stated above, preferably equal to the plate width, and thus for a preferred plate dimension the circumference is equal to 590mm. In the embodiment shown in the drawings and described above, the roller weighs 92.4 kg, which is preferred for pressing the plates down against the band 1 to ensure good quality and progress through the laminating station. We can here also, as stated above, with the help of the cylinders 15 add extra pressure if necessary by means of adjustable pressure on the cylinders.

Laminate foil is preferably supplied from a roll. Two blocks 19 for the roll are preferably made of nylon to fit into the sleeve on the aluminum roll. This is for correct fixing of the roll on the stand. Two bearings 20, for example of type 6006 2Z SKF, are used to ensure that the aluminum roller runs easily on the suspension roller 24. We have also installed adjustable brakes between the stand and nylon blocks for optimal control/tightening of the extraction from the aluminum roller. Two circlips 21 are used to lock the bearing 20. For the correct positioning of the roll with aluminum lamination material in relation to the feeding of sheets, two spacer sleeves 22 are used. Two stop rings 23 are used to prevent the aluminum roll from moving on the suspension roller 24. for hanging aluminum rolls.

Furthermore, guide rollers (not shown) are fitted for the aluminum foil, so that it does not wander in relation to the plates that are fed in. These are currently manually adjustable, but will be converted to automatic lane control. A total of two guide rollers are installed, one of which is right after the aluminum is rolled out on the stand and one right before the Al foil is pressed against the plate.

Claims (25)

1. Device for coating a slotted or grooved wood fiber board (40) with a metal foil layer continuously both down into oblong slots or grooves in the board and on the board's surfaces between the slots, which device includes a conveyor (1) on a frame (2), arranged to carry and advance the plate in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the slots, a feeding device (19-24) for feeding a metal foil material (50), and a rotatable roller (18) attached to the frame and immediately above the conveyor so that the surface of the roller when the roller rotates follows the surface of a plate which is advanced on and off the conveyor and so that the roller will press the foil material against the plate, characterized by the roller is provided with at least one elongated cam (28) in the longitudinal direction of the roller and a roller driving means for turning the roller so that the cam is positioned synchronously with the slot to press the foil material down into the slot. 2. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the foil material includes a metal foil. 3. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the foil material includes a reinforcing fiber material. 4. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the foil material includes an adhesive material. 5. Device according to claim 4, where the adhesive material is a fusible material with a hot-melt adhesive property, preferably a plastic material of the polyethylene type. 6. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, where the elongated comb (28) exhibits at least partly a wedge-shaped cross-section (29) with a rounded wedge tip (30). 7. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the comb projects from the surface of the roll by a distance which is less than a slot depth. 8. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the comb projects from the surface of the roll a distance less than nine-tenths of a slot depth. 9. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the comb projects from the surface of the roller by a distance of about 4 mm for a slot depth of about 4.5 mm to about 5 mm. 10. Device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the comb protrudes from the surface of the roller at a distance which is around 0.5 millimeters less than a slot or groove width in a plate to be metal coated. 11. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, where part of the comb has a wedge-shaped cross-section with a rounded wedge tip. 12. Device according to claims 10 and 11, where the wedge-shaped cross-section with a rounded wedge tip exhibits a greatest width of around 4 mm, a height of around 5 mm, and a half angle of the wedge tip which is around 11 degrees. 13. Device according to claim 11 or 12, the rounded wedge tip exhibits a surface roughness equal to or less than 1.6. 14. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a heating device (4) positioned close to the roller and immediately above the plane conveyor for melting a fusible layer of foil laminate material after pressing the foil laminate material against the plate by means of the roller. 15. Device according to claim 14, where the heating device comprises a heating surface arranged in a floating suspension so that the heating surface is placed in sliding contact with a rolled foil laminate material when the plate is moved forward. 16. Device according to claim 14 or 15, further including a cooling device for cooling the foil laminate material after heating the foil laminate material with the help of the heating device, which cooling device is positioned immediately above the flat conveyor and after the heating device in the plate's forward direction. 17. Device according to claim 16, where the cooling device is arranged to quickly cool down an overlying metal foil in the foil laminate material and to retain heat in a heated underlying adhesive layer in the foil laminate material as a plate with rolled foil laminate material is advanced after heating by passing a cooling device. 18. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, further including a pressure device arranged to press with a predetermined pressure the roller against a plate which is advanced under the roller by means of the plane conveyor. 19. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a perforating device arranged to continuously perforate a band-shaped foil laminate material along side edges of the foil laminate material. 20. Method for coating a slotted wood fiber board (40) with a metal foil laminate continuously both down into oblong slots in the board and on the board's surfaces between the slots, which method includes to carry and advance the plate in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the slots using a plane conveyor (1) on a frame (2), to feed foil laminate material (50) continuously from a foil laminate feeder (19-24), to rotate a rotatable roller (18) attached to the frame (2) and immediately above the conveyor (1) so that the surface of the roller, when the roller rotates, follows the surface of a plate (40) which is advanced on and off the conveyor and presses the foil laminate material against the plate, and characterized in that the method includes driving the rotation of the roller (18) so that at least one elongated comb (28) arranged in the roller in the longitudinal direction of the roller is positioned synchronously with the slot and presses the foil laminate material down into the slot. 21. Method according to claim 20, further including bringing a heating surface (4) into sliding contact with a foil laminate material rolled onto the plate while moving the plate forward, and heating the rolled foil laminate material to melt a fusible adhesive layer in the foil laminate material. 22. Method according to claim 21, further comprising rapidly cooling down only an overlying metal foil of the rolled foil laminate material, in order to retain heat in a heated underlying adhesive layer in the foil laminate material, the plate with the rolled foil laminate material being moved forward after heating by passing a cooling device. 23. Method according to one of claims 20 to 22, further including producing the slits in the plate immediately prior to feeding and pressing on the foil laminate material. 24. Method according to one of claims 20 to 23, wherein the foil laminate material includes a metal foil layer and a plastic layer, which plastic layer is preferably formed from a polyethylene material. 25. Method according to claim 24, where the plastic layer includes a fiber reinforcement.