NZ512558A - Apparatus for the alignment and depositing of elongate particles such as wood chips, wood fibers or the like parallel to a continuously moved support - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for the alignment and depositing of elongate particles containing lignocellulose and/or cellulose such as wood chips, wood fibres or the like provided with a binder, to form a mat for the subsequent manufacture of boards comprising a metering hopper (1), a unit (2,3) for the transfer of the particles onto an orientation unit (4) which is arranged above a continuously moving support (10). The spacing between the orientation unit (4) and the continuously moving support (10) lies higher than the upper side of the mat to be formed. The orientation unit (4) has a plurality of separation rolls (5), which extend over the width of the moving support (10), a first group rotating clockwise and the other group counterclockwise. The particles fall onto compartmented rolls (7) arranged beneath the separation rolls (5) and are rotationally driven opposite to the direction of the moving support (10).

Description

125 PATENTS FORM 5 Number PATENTS ACT 1953 Dated COMPLETE SPECIFICATION APPARATUS FOR THE ALIGNMENT AND DEPOSITING OF ELONGATE PARTICLES SUCH AS WOOD CHIPS, WOOD FIBERS OR THE LIKE ON A CONTINUOUSLY MOVED SUPPORT We, KVAERNER PANEL SYSTEMS GMBH, of Maschinen- und Anlagenbau, Industriestrasse 17-21, D-31832 Springe, Germany, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement. l-'.JEZiufil PROPERTY OrF.Cc Or N.Z. 7 2 JH 2001 intellectual property office of n.z. 2 3 OCT 2001 received APPARATUS FOR THE ALIGNMENT AND DEPOSITING OF ELONGATE PARTICLES SUCH AS WOOD CHIPS, WOOD FIBERS OR THE LIKE ON 5 A CONTINUOUSLY MOVED SUPPORT The invention relates to an apparatus for the alignment and depositing of elongate particles containing lignocellulose and/or cellulose such as wood chips, wood fibers or the like, and provided with at least one binder, on a continuously moved support to form a mat for the subsequent manufacture of boards, comprising a metering hopper containing such particles, a unit for the transfer of the particles to an orientation unit which is arranged above a continuously moved support, with the spacing between the orientation unit and the continuously moved support lying 15 higher than the upper side of the mat to be formed.

An apparatus is known from the German patent specification 27 34 403 which serves for the alignment of particles (strands) containing lignocellulose such as wood chips, wood fibres or the like, and provided with 20 at least one binder, which, having been brought onto a continuously moved support, form a mat, the particles of which are aligned substantially parallel to one another and also extend in the direction of movement or transverse to the direction of movement of the continuously moved support, the apparatus comprising a plurality of thin guide surfaces the 25 mutual, equal spacings of which are smaller than the length of the particles to be aligned and the lower edges of which lie higher than the upper side of the mat to be formed and which are movable such that each guide surface is movable in the opposite direction relative to the two adjacent guide surfaces. A plurality of mutually spaced apart projections protrudes beyond the upper marginal edge of each guide surface m the same plane, with the thickness of the projections being the same as the thickness of the guide surface These projections are formed as regular squares with two parallel edges and an upwardly disposed upper edge parallel to the marginal edge and/or as triangles with an upwardly disposed point. In this way a situation is admittedly achieved m which those particles which first bridge the upper edges of two or more moving guide surfaces are turned m an arc and then drop onto the continuously moved support aligned parallel to one another between the guide surfaces; however, there exists at least the danger of blockages and the danger of damage to the particles.

A differently constructed device for the alignment of wood particles (strands) over the transverse width of a moved support is known from the German laying open print 2 523 515. This device includes a pre-orientation unit which has a plurality of upright ribs and also a drum with wooden strand orientation guides mounted on its outer sheet metal periphery and a capture device which holds the wooden strands captured between an arc-like jacket and a plurality of spaces-, each formed by the peripheral surface of the drum and a pair of sheet metal guide surfaces, until they are released at a predetermined point m order to be able to fall aligned parallel to one another onto a moved support on which they are deposited transverse to its direction of movement. The throughput and the degree of orientation of the particles are however not satisfactory with this arrangement.

The invention is based on the object of so designing an alignment apparatus of the initially named kind that the degree of orientation of the particles can be improved with a high throughput and without damaging the particles, with disturbance-free operation or at least provide the public with a useful choice.

In accordance with a first embodiment of the invention provision is made for solving the underlying object that the orientation unit consists of a plurality of compartmented rolls arranged spaced apart at right angles to the direcuon of the movement of the continuously moved support m an at least substantially horizontal plane and rotating opposite to the direction of movement of the continuously moved support, the alignment surfaces of the compartmented rolls which bound the individual compartments and are made air-impermeable being of curved and/or angled design opposite to the direction of movement of the continuously moved support at least m the region of their free ends In accordance with the second embodiment of the invention the solution of the underlying object takes place in that the orientation unit has a plurality of mutually parallel vertical alignment surfaces arranged over the width of the support in the direction of movement of the continuously moved support, with projections projecting beyond their upper marginal edges and with respective neighbouring alignment surfaces being dnvable m the opposite direction m such a way that each alignment surface executes superimposed movements both with respect to their longitudinal extent and also perpendicular thereto In broad terms in one aspect the invention comprises an apparatus for the alignment and depositing of elongate particles containing lignocellulose and/or cellulose such as wood chips, wood fibres or the like, and provided with at least one binder, on a continuously moved support to form a mat for the subsequent manufacture of boards, comprising a metering hopper containing such particles, a unit for the transfer of the particles to an orientation unit which is arranged above a continuously moved support, with the spacing between the orientation unit and the continuously moved support lying higher than the upper side of the mat to be formed and with the orientation unit having a plurality of mutually parallel vertical alignment surfaces arranged over the width of the support and the direction of movement of the continuously moved support, with projections projecting beyond their upper marginal edges and with respect of neighbouring alignment surfaces being drivable in the opposite direction in such a way that each alignment surface executes superimposed movements both with respect to their longitudinal extend and also perpendicular thereto.

New Zealand patent specification 500290 from which the present application is divided, describes and claims an apparatus for the alignment and depositing of elongate particles containing lignocellulose and/or cellulose including a plurality of curved compartmented rolls.

Particularly advantageous embodiments of the subject of the invention are set forth in the subordinate claims and will be explained with reference to the following description of embodiments and to the drawing in which are shown: intellectual property office of n.z 2 3 ocr 2001 RECEIVED Fig 1 a schematic representation of a first embodiment of the invention with a plurality of compartmented rolls, and Fig 2 a schematic illustration of a second embodiment of the invention with a plurality of flat strip-like alignment surfaces Fig 1 shows a metering hopper 1 which can be executed m conventional manner and has, in addition to a floor-side transport belt and rearward scraping rolls, a supply unit 2 by means of which the glued elongate particles containing lignocellulose and/or cellulose are supplied via pendulum flaps 3 to a group of separation rolls 5 provided m an orientation unit 4 surrounded by a housing.

The separation rolls 5 extend over the width of a moved support 10 on which the respective mat is formed. A first group of the separation rolls 5 is driven m the counter-clockwise sense and a second group in the clockwise sense so that the particle material supplied via the supply unit 2 is uniformly distributed and falls correspondingly uniformly onto a group of compartmented rolls 7 which are arranged beneath the group of separation rolls 5 and are rotationally driven opposite to the direction of movement of the moved support 10. Sheet metal guides 6 extending obliquely relative to the vertical are provided between the separation rolls 5 and the compartmented rolls 7 and ensure that the compartmented rolls 7 are intentionally supplied m their upper region where the compartments 9 open towards the separation rolls 5.

The compartmented rolls 7 have a plurality of alignment surfaces 8 which are made impermeable to air and which have a mutual spacing such that only so much parade material can be accommodated m a compartment 9 that a full alignment of the elongate particles can be ensured.

The alignment surfaces 8 are so designed that they first give up the picked-up elongate particles from the compartments 9 again, the particles having been aligned as a result of the compartmental structure transverse to the direction of movement of the support 10 when the drop path of the particles between the compartmented roller 7 and the moved support 10 or the mat formed on this moved support 10 is minimized.

This is achieved by the special shaping of the alignment surfaces 8 which brings about a retention effect with respect to the elongate particles and only allows the elongate aligned particles to leave the respective compartment 9, i.e. to slide out of this compartment, when the relevant compartment 9 is located m a lower position or a position close to the mat. For this purpose the alignment surfaces 8 are curved and/or angled, at least in the region of their free ends, opposite to the direction of rotation of the compartmented rolls 7. Depending on the practical circumstances the alignment surfaces can be continuously curved, curved with the radius of curvature reducing towards the free end or also only curved in the region of the free ends. Instead of a continuous curvature provision can also be made for the alignment surfaces 8 to be kinked, especially muluply kinked so that a plurality of flat part surfaces is present which are connected together via kink positions and which resemble a curved structure in polygon-like manner.

The orientation unit 4 surrounded by a housing is preferably made vertically adjustable with respect to the moved support 10, as indicated by double arrows. The axes of the compartmented rolls 7, which are made 6 identical to one another, preferably lie in a plane which has a course relative to the moved support 10 which at least substantially corresponds to the rising angle of the mat formed on the support 10 The embodiment of Fig. 2 is distinguished from the embodiment of Fig 1 m that a group of alignment surfaces 11 is arranged beneath the separation rolls 5 instead of the group of compartmented rolls 7. These alignment surfaces 11 have a mutual spacing relative to one another which is smaller than the longitudinal extent of the particles to be aligned. 10 In this connection so many alignment surfaces 11 arranged parallel to one another are provided that particles coming from the supply unit 2 can only reach the support 10 via the arrangement of alignment surfaces 11 which extends over the full width of the moved support 10 The alignment surfaces 11 must ensure that the particles which reach the alignment surfaces 11 without orientation via the separating rolls 5 are so orientated that they extend parallel to the direction of movement of the support 10 and reach this support 10 correspondingly aligned. For this purpose the alignment surfaces 11 are, on the one hand, set in motion 20 and are, on the other hand, provided with projections 12 at their upper side so that corresponding alignment forces can be exerted onto the particles.

In the context with the invention it is of importance in this connection that 25 the alignment surfaces 11 not only execute a movement parallel to the moved support 10 but rather these alignment surfaces 11 always also have components of movement perpendicular to this support 10, since in this manner the alignment effect, i.e. the degree of orientation can be 7 decisively improved and the performance of the overall apparatus is also correspondingly increased.

In accordance with the embodiment shown m Fig. 2 the alignment surfaces 11 arranged alongside one another, of which the neighbouring alignment surfaces 11 are always driven m opposite senses, are pivotally connected at their ends to pivot arms 13 and this pivotal arrangement lead to the alignment surfaces 11 executing a swing-like movement, i.e a movement with honzontal and vertical components of movement. In order to allow the movements of the alignment surfaces 11 which bring about the alignment of the particles to become ideally effective the alignment surfaces 11 are provided with friction increasing projections 12 at their upper side.

These projections 12 can be made wave-like or arcuate, but can also have the shape of triangles, rectangles, trapeziums and the like, with edges of the projections preferably being rounded m order to ensure a careful and damage-free treatment of the particles.

Claims (4)

Claims

1. Apparatus for the alignment and depositing of elongate particles containing lignocellulose and/or cellulose such as wood chips, wood fibers or the like, and provided with at least one binder, on a continuously moved support to form a mat for the subsequent manufacture of boards, comprising a metering hopper containing such particles, a unit for the transfer of the particles to an orientation unit which is arranged above a continuously moved support, with the spacing between the orientation unit and the continuously moved support lying higher than the upper side of the mat to be formed and with the orientation unit having a plurality of mutually parallel vertical alignment surfaces arranged over the width of the support in the direction of movement of the continuously moved support, with projections projecting beyond their upper marginal edges and with respective neighbouring alignment surfaces being drivable in the opposite direction in such a way that each alignment surface executes superimposed movements both with respect to their longitudinal extent and also perpendicular thereto.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the alignment surfaces are in each case pivoted at both ends on pivot arms and are drivable in swing-like manner.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2, characterized in that the projections provided at the upper side of the alignment surfaces consist of an alternating sequence of raised portions and recesses.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2, characterized in that the projections lead to a wave-like or arcuate structure at the top side of the alignment surfaces. intellectual property office of n.z. 2 3 OCT 2001 RECEIVED 4 £ } <Q> Apparatus in accordance with claim 2, characterized in that the projections have triangular, rectangular or diamond-shape with preferably rounded corners. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 characterized in that the alignment surfaces are mounted such that they extend at an angle corresponding to their longitudinal extent relative to the moved support, the angle corresponding essentially to the course of the mat surface building up on the support. Apparatus in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the housing surrounding the orientation unit and carrying all the functional units arranged in it is made vertically adjustable relative to the moved support. intellectual property office of n.z. 2 3 OCT 2001 received