US3448934A - Refining apparatus - Google Patents

Description

June 10, '1969 F. c. VAUGHAN 3, 4

REFINING APPARA TUS Filed Aug. 12, 1966 JNVENTOR.

FRANK c. VAUGHAN I d ZfiM ATTORNEYS United States Patent Office 3,448,934 Patented June 10, 1969 3,448,934 REFINING APPARATUS Frank C. Vaughan, 103 W. Brookland Park Blvd., Richmond, Va. 23222 Filed Aug. 12, 1966, Ser. No. 572,066 Int. Cl. B02c 7/02, 7/14, 23/00 US. Cl. 241-146 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to refining apparatus and more particularly to refining apparatus for paper making stock of the single rotor type, usually double-faced. The apparatus of the present invention while having primary utility in the field of paper stock refining, will nevertheless have utility for the refining of other materials, the only limitation being that the material to be refined must flow readily as a slurry or the like. Thus, while the description which follows hereinafter will be directed primarily to a single rotor double-faced paper stock refining apparatus, it is to be understood that the basic principles involved are capable of substantially broader application.

There is nothing broadly new in the use of single rotor double-faced refiners for paper stock and, in fact, such apparatus in one form or another is in very widespread use throughout the paper-making industry and the art pertaining to machines of this type may fairly be said to be highly developed. Apparatus of this type all basically include within a closed housing defining a refining chamber, a rotor member carrying refining plates or abrading surfaces on opposite radial faces thereof. Sets of non-rotating plates or abrading surfaces which cooperate with those carried by the rotor are supported within the housing, parallel to the rotor surfaces and in close proximity thereto. In general, stock to be refined is fed to the inner radial ends of the cooperating abrading surfaces and proceeds radially outwardly during the refining process. For a great number of years, the prior art machines of this type have included a means for supporting the non-rotating plates in a very rigid manner, the theory being that there should be exact parallelism between the adjacent abrading surfaces. Most of the commercial machines include a means for varying the spacing between adjacent abrading surfaces without destroying the concentricity or parallel relationship therebetween. Obviously, due to problems in machining, tolerances, wear, parts deformation, and the like, it is a very difiicult thing to secure and/or maintain the desired relationship between the abrading surfaces during operation of the machine and the larger the size of the machine, the more acute this problem becomes. This has led to rather massive structures for adjustment of the non-rotating abrading surfaces and other problems which occur including maintaining fluid-tight seals through the adjusting mechanism. In spite of all precautions which have been taken, machines of this type all suffer from one or more of the following defects:

(1) The rotor or runner may have wobble due to inaccuracies of machining or of the assmbly or plates.

(2) Due to varying temperature distribution or use of dissimilar metals, there may be a differential expansion of the bearing supports causing misalignment.

(3) After the machine has been in operation for a period of time, there may be uneven and unequal wear on" the plates, and/or other parts.

(4) There may be deflections and distortions of any one of a number of the machine parts which vary continually during operation of the machine and which therefore produce misalignment of the paired refining plates.

(5) As most existing refiners of this general design employ sliding seals or packing to keep the housing or refining chamber pressure-tight, the force required to move, the non-rotating head or heads must overcome a fbreakaway friction initially and this causes hunting or makes practically impossible minute adjustments of loading pressure or head position. Thus, sensitivity to control demands is poor.

.;-The apparatus of the present invention represents a very marked departure from structures previously proposed for this purpose. In accordance with the present invention, the non-rotating refining plates are resiliently rather than rigidly mounted within the housing so that they have a limited range of axial movement toward and away from the rotary refining plates and limited ability to align themselves permanently or cyclically to the rotating plates. It has been found that by utilizing such a resilient support, that substantially all of the foregoing disadvantages of the prior art apparatus are overcome. In addition, the overall size and weight of the apparatus for a given refining through-put is substantially reduced together with the complexity of the machine as a whole due to the elimination of adjustment, structure and the related rotary seals and the like.

Accordingly, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide in a single rotor double-faced paper pulp refining apparatus, a resilient supporting means for the non-rotating refining plates.

A further object of the present invention is to provide means for urging the non-rotating plates toward the rotary plates by means of fluid pressure applied between the interior of the housing and the non-rotating plates.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a novel means for mounting a rotor member on the machine shaft.

Other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the attached sheet of drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a side elevation partially in section of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of one of the resilient mountings shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is also an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 1 showing details of the connection between the outboard and inboard heads which facilitates disassembly andreassembly of the entire refiner.

In general, the objects of the present invention are achieved by providing a support for the non-rotating plates of the single rotor double-faced refiner which support is resilient and which resiliently connects the inner and outer periphery of the refining plates to the housing defining the refining chamber, all points of connection being fiuid tight. Additionally, a fluid pressure supply line extends through the heads of the machine and into the space between the interior of the housing and the refining plates in order to provide a means for urging the non-rotating plates axially toward the rotating plates carried by the machine rotor.

Referring now to the single sheet of drawings, the main shaft of the machine is indicated at '10 and the housing-within which the refining plates are mounted is shown generally at 12. The housing 12 includes inboard and outboard heads 14 and 16, respectively. The annular area between the inboard and outboard heads 3 houses the refiner proper and therefore defines the refining chamber. The basic element of the refiner is the rotor 18 carried by the shaft 10. The annular rotary refining plates 20 and 22 which are entirely conventional in this art are bolted or otherwise rigidly attached to opposite radial faces of the rotor 18.

The non-rotating plates which cooperate with plates 20 and 22 carried by the rotor are shown at 24 and 26. These plates are also annular and are rigidly attached to inboard and outboard carrier plates 28 and 30, respectively.

The heart of the present invention lies in the manner of supporting these carrier plates resiliently and in fluidtight relationship with the interior of the housing. In order to accomplish this result, a pair of annular diaphragms of flexible material are employed for each carrier plate. The outer inboard diaphragm is shown at 32 and the outer outboard diaphragm at 34. The outer peripheries of the diaphragms 32 and 34 are clamped to the inner surfaces of the inboard and outboard heads 14 and 16, respectively, by means of clamping rings 36 and 38 which are simply bolted to the inboard and outboard heads. The inner edges of diaphragms 32 and 34 are clamped respectively to carrier plates 28 and 30 by means of clamping rings 40 and 42 which are bolted to the carrier plates 28 and 30. The inner inboard and outboard diaphragms are shown respectively at 44 and 46. Conveniently, these diaphragms are U-shape in crosssection as shown in the drawing and the legs of the U are simply bolted to the carrier plate and to the head. With this structure, it will be seen that a fluid-tight annular chamber between each head and its respective carrier plate is thus created. The annular rings 47 and 49 positioned between the legs of the U prevent collapse and possible damage to the diaphragms 47 and 49 due to the existence of a higher housing pressure at the inner end of the refining chamber than the fluid loading pressure between the plates and the heads of the machine which may occur during start ups and shut downs. The carrier plates therefor together with their respective refining plates are free to move within a limited range of axial movement toward and away from the rotary refining plates carried by the rotor, and at the same time the support means carries the weight of and prevents rotation of the non-rotating plates. Such suspension permits practically friction-free axial motion of the nonrotating plates and further permits aligning of the nonrotating to the rotating plates.

Only the outer diaphragms 32 and 34 need have the capacity for supporting the weight of the plates and be sufliciently strong in torsion to prevent rotation of the plates 24 and 26 although conceivably both inner and outer diaphragms could so function or the inner diaphragm could so function alone.

As shown in the drawings, the carrier plates 28 and 30 are in their fully retracted positions, that is, the position corresponding to maximum clearance between the rotary and non-rotating refining plates. The carriers are normally biased toward this position by a plurality of spring devices generally indicated by the reference numeral 48. Preferably, there are three or more such spring biasing assemblies for each carrier plate and they are spaced at appropriate intervals circumferentially of each plate. Only one such device is shown in FIG. 1, but it will be understood that there are preferably three or more for each of the inboard and outboard non-rotating plates.

In order to urge the non-rotating carrier plates toward the rotor and thus reduce the clearance between the respective cooperating refining plate pairs, means are provided for injecting fluid under pressure into the annular space between the carrier plates and their respective machine heads. Such means is shown in FIG. 1 as a pair of fluid pressure fittings 50 and 52 on the inboard and outboard heads, respectively. These fittings are joined by a common conduit 54 connected to a source of pressure not shown.

Turning now to the rotor 18 and the means for attaching the rotor to the shaft 10 for access to change plates and for other maintenance functions, it is obviously desirable to have the rotor removably but rigidly affixed to the shaft by means which on each disassembly and reassembly are easily capable of accurately reproducing the original mounting alignment. To achieve this result, a hub 54 is keyed or otherwise rigidly attached to a cylindrical portion of the shaft 10. The central portion of the hub 54 is welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the disc of the rotor 18. The outer portions 56 and 58 of the hub 54 each taper outwardly to form conical surfaces. The rotor is aligned on the hub and the entire assembly is clamped on the shaft by means of a pair of clamping rings 60 and 62 which have inner conical surfaces mating with the tapering surfaces of the hub 54. A clamping means shown in the drawing as a bolt 64 is used to draw the rings 60 and 62 toward each other and toward the rotor bolt assembly with their conical surfaces in engagement with the conical surfaces of the hub.

Still another feature of the present invention is the fact that the shaft 10 is fixed axially and therefore does not move axially in the packing gland which is indicated generally by reference numeral 66. The structure of this packing gland is such that the packing may be adjusted, added to, or replaced from either the interior or the exterior of the refiner housing.

The main stock inlet for the material to be refined is shown at 68 and it will be noted that the inlet 68 connects with a pair of conduits 70 and 72 which lead to opposite sides of the rotor 18 adjacent the inner radial ends of the refining plates. In order to facilitate disassembly and reassembly of the refiner, it will be noted that the conduit 72 which connects with the stock inlet 68 for conveying stock to be refined to the outboard side of the refiner is rigidly attached to the removable outer head and is connected with a telescopic joint sealed with a ring of elastomeric material having a lip portion which is deflected radially outwardly upon insertion of the conduit 72 therethrough. On disassembly of the outer head from the inner head, the stock conduit 72 may merely be slid outwardly of the sealing assembly, without removal of any bolts or other fastening devices.

Referring to FIG. 3, it will be seen that the outboard head through the flange 75 is secured to the inboard head by a ring member 74 received within a groove 76 in the flange 75. Once the flange 75 has been positioned so that the groove 76 clears the inboard head, the ring 74 is merely inserted and it can then be clamped in place by a ring of clamping studs, one of which is shown at 78.

A stock outlet similar to the stock inlet is also provided but does not appear in the drawings since it is positioned behind the inlet but it has the same tyne of telescoping connection as the inlet conduit 72.

It will be understood that the inboard head is rigidly attached to the machine base which also supports the bearing for the shaft 10 and that the head is mounted so as to be accurately positioned normal to the axis of the shaft 10.

To facilitate disassembly of the machine for maintenance or other reasons, the outboard head is secured to the inboard head by means of the annular ring 74 which snaps into the groove 76. Clamping screws 78 hold the ring in place and removal of these screws permits removal of the ring. The outboard head may then be removed and the stock inlet comes olf with it as well as the stock outlet.

All parts will be made of materials best suited to mechanics of the design except that all surfaces exposed to wetting by process liquids, vapors, splashes, drips, etc., will be made of, faced with, or lined with a non-corrosive metal or alloy, usually one of the stainless steels.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent to those skilled in this art that there is herein shown and disclosed a new and useful refining apparatus. It is contemplated that the flexible mounting of the non-rotating refiner plates will markedly reduce the operating sound level of the refiner in addition to permitting effectively an automatic alignment of the rotating and non-rotating plates to compensate for all possible manufacturing and machining inaccuracies.

While the machine has been described particularly with respect to refining surfaces of a planar nature, it will be further apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention is not in fact so limited and that the broad principles are equally applicable to machines having refining surfaces of conical or partial conical or partial spherical nature, or combinations of both. In fact, the only apparent limitation is that the refining surfaces are revolved relative to each other and in close proximity to each other.

Thus while a preferred embodiment has been herein shown and described, it will be further apparent to those skilled in the art that there will be many mechanical equivalents and variations and accordingly applicant claims the benefit of a full range of mechanical equivalents within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for refining paper pulp or other flowable slurries comprising:

a housing;

a rotor mounted within said housing and having at least one refining plate rigidly atfixed thereto;

at least one non-rotating refining plate cooperating with said rotor refining plate;

means mounting said non-rotating plate within said housing in fluid-tight relation thereto and substantially concentrically with said rotor, said means preventing rotation of said plate relative to said housing but permitting limited axial movement of said plate toward and away from said rotor and further permitting movement of said non-rotating plate to align itself concentrically with and in parallel relation to said refining plate mounted on said rotor;

and means for supplying fluid under pressure between the interior of said housing and said non-rotating plate to urge said plate axially toward said rotor, said fluid being under pressure from a source which is independent of any pressure developed internally of said housing.

2. The combination defined by claim 1 and further including means normally biasing said non-rotating plate axially away from said rotor.

3. A single rotor double faced paper pulp refining aoparatus comprising:

a housing;

a rotor mounted within said housing and having refining plates rigidly affixed to each radial face thereof;

non-rotating annular refining plates cooperating with said rotor refining plates;

means mounting said non-rotating refining plates within said housing in fluid-tight relation thereto, substantially concentric with said rotor, said means preventing rotation of said plates with respect to said housing but permitting limited axial movement toward and away from said rotor and further permitting said non-rotating plates to align themselves concentrically with and in parallel relation to said refining plates mounted on said rotor;

and means for supplying fluid under pressure between the interior of said housing and said non-rotating plates to urge said plates axially toward said rotor, said fluid being under pressure from a source which is independent of any pressure developed internally of said housing.

4. The combination defined by claim 3 and including means normally biasing said non-rotating plates axially away from said rotor.

5. A single rotor double faced paper pulp refining apparatus comprising:

a housing;

a rotor mounted within said housing and having refining plates rigidly afiixed to each radial face thereof;

non-rotating annular refining plates cooperating with said rotor refining plates;

means supporting said non-rotating plates on the interior of said housing, said means including inner and outer annular members of flexible material having one peripheral portion attached to said housing and the other peripheral portion attached to said plates, both in fluid-tight relation whereby said non-rotating plates have a limited freedom of axial movement toward and away from said rotor and a capability of aligning themselves concentrically and in parallel relation to said refining plates carried by said rotor;

and means for supplying fluid under pressure between the interior of said housing and said non-rotating plates to urge said plates axially toward said rotor, said fluid being under pressure from a source which is independent of any pressure developed internally of said housing.

6. The combination defined by claim 5 and including means normally biasing said non-rotating plates axially away from said rotor.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,156,320 5/1939 Sutherland 241-255 X 2,566,949 9/1951 Marco 24l-146 X 3,323,731 6/1967 Asplund et al. 241146 3,371,873 3/1968 Thomas 241-146 X ANDREW R. JUHASZ, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 241-290

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