WO1993014891A1

WO1993014891A1 - A roller section with individually adjustable roller holders, for longitudinally profiling sheet material, and profiling roller mill comprising such sections

Info

Publication number: WO1993014891A1
Application number: PCT/DK1993/000027
Authority: WO
Inventors: Per Bjørn CHRISTENSEN
Original assignee: Christensen Per Bjoern
Priority date: 1992-01-30
Filing date: 1993-01-27
Publication date: 1993-08-05
Also published as: CN1076389A; DK111092D0; AU3492293A; MX9300524A

Abstract

The roller section comprises two juxtaposed transverse beams parallel to each other, displaceable towards each other and carrying laterally adjustable holders (14, 15) for profiling rollers (13). At least one of the transverse beams (2, 3) carries a holder (19) for a hold-down roller (18) adjustably in the lateral direction and in the direction towards and away from the other transverse beam.

Description

A roller section with individually adjustable roller holders, for longitudinally profiling sheet material, and profiling roller mill comprising such sections

The invention relates to a roller section for longitudinally profiling sheet material, in particular sheet metal, comprising two juxtaposed transverse beams parallel to each other, displaceable towards each other and carrying laterally adjustable holders for the pro¬ filing rollers. The invention further relates to a pro¬ filing roller mill for longitudinally profiling sheet material, in particular sheet metal, comprising a plurality of roller sections according to the inven- tion.

Such roller sections and profiling roller mills are known, e.g. from NO-B-160 287 and US patent No. 4 986 105.

NO-B-160 287 discloses a profiling roller mill comprising a series of roller sections and intermediate sections with driving pulleys effecting the advancing of the sheet material through the roller mill. The roller sections comprise edge pulleys mounted on holders beside the extreme profiling rollers. The edge pulleys comprise a cylindrical part acting as hold-down roller on the adjacent extreme profiling roller, and a conical part in axial alignment of the cylindrical part and the conicity of which increases gradually through the roller mill. As the edge pulley is mounted on a holder beside the holder for the adjacent profiling roller, there is provided between the profiling roller and the edge pulley a slit with a permanent, unad- justable width.

US patent No. 4 986 105 discloses roller sec- tions with driving pulleys or passing the sheet material through the roller section and the profiling rollers are constituted of wheels corresponding to roller end faces and may be displaced in the direction towards each other, thereby obtaining an effect corresponding to changing the rollers for rollers of different width. DK-B-125 962 relates to a roller section in which the profiling rollers and the hold-down rollers are mounted directly on common shafts driven by means of a motor, thereby feeding the sheet material through the section either by the profiling rollers of one shaft or by the profiling rollers of both shafts. A roller section of this type suffers from the deficiency that it has no possibilities of adjusting and that it makes heavy demands on the shafts as to strength.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a roller section with abundant adjusting possibilities and low building height and which is more effective than prior art roller sections.

This is obtained in that at least one of the transverse beams carries a holder for a hold-down roller in an adjustable manner laterally and in the direction towards and away from the other transverse beam. A roller section is thus obtained possessing all the adjusting possibilities to be expected from a modern roller section, cf. the above NO and US refer- ences, but which by means of the abutment rollers ensures a more marked profiling effect due to an inferior possibility of flexible bulging in the sheet material.

A simple construction in which the hold-down rollers may be adjusted as a whole in the direction against the other transverse beam is obtained by a pre¬ ferred embodiment in which at least one of the trans¬ verse beams is divided into a primary beam and a secon¬ dary beam of which the primary beam carries the holders for the profiling rollers and the secondary beam carries the holders for the hold-down rollers, and the primary beam and the secondary beam are adjustable in relation to each other in the plane of the transverse beams in the direction towards the other transverse beam.

In a further preferred embodiment the primary beam is shaped as a double beam and the secondary beam is accommodated within the primary beam, thereby causing the abutment rollers to be inserted wholly or partly in the primary beam by displacement of the secondary beam in relation to the primary beam. A particularly low building height is thus obtained for the roller section because the hold-down roller may be inserted in the primary beam when the roller section in a late roller step in a profiling roller mill is set at a large level difference between the profiling rollers on two different transverse beams.

In a further embodiment at least one of the pro¬ filing rollers or hold-down rollers is intended to be driven and the roller section may further include a motor for operating the driven rollers. It is thus obtained that separate driving sections or driving pulleys are avoided and a high degree of flexibility in a roller mill comprising such roller sections is like¬ wise obtained, because they may be designed and placed without regard to a common drive for the entire roller mill.

In a further embodiment the roller section comprises at least one edge pulley mounted obliquely in the plane of the transverse beams in relation to an extreme hold-down roller. By disposing the edge pulley in relation to a hold-down roller instead of a pro¬ filing roller it is obtained that the edge pulley follows the hold-down roller, thereby allowing to adjust the width of the roller slit between the pro¬ filing roller and hold-down roller/edge pulley and thus to determine the thickness of the sheet material.

In an alternative embodiment at least one of the holders for the profiling rollers includes a section extending forwards towards the infeed direction of the sheet material and inclining backwards towards the periphery of the profiling roller facing away from the carrying transverse beam, said section being designed to guide an arriving sheet material towards the roller slit between the profiling roller and the corresponding hold-down roller.

In a still further embodiment a group of pro¬ filing rollers in the middle of the roller section and associated hold-down rollers is displaced in relation to a transverse plane for the roller section towards the infeed direction of the sheet material while the extremely positioned profiling rollers with associated hold-down rollers are displaced to the rear in relation to said group in said infeed direction. Two, preferably symmetrically positioned, profiling rollers with asso¬ ciated hold-down rollers are thus each individually bipartite and the part positioned closest to the centre of the roller section belongs to the forwards displaced centre group whereas the extremely positioned part is rearwards displaced. It is so obtained that the retrac¬ tion of the lateral edges of the sheet material necess¬ ary for profiling the sheet material is effected gra¬ dually and thus in an easier way. Moreover, at least one of the two transverse beams may be suspended in a suspension rotary about a substantially horizontal axis.

A profiling roller mill comprising various roller sections having each a motor is according to the invention characterized in that the pair of transverse beams of each roller section as a whole is adjustable in the plane common to the transverse beams and trans¬ verse to their longitudinal axes. The profiling may thus be carried out symmetrically about a central plane, in relation to which some sections of the sheet material are profiled up while the sections that are intermediate in relation thereto are profiled down. This results in a profile sheet material with the smallest possible tendency to skewness in relation to the central plane. A profiling roller mill comprising a number of roller sections having an edge pulley mounted obliquely in the plane of the transverse beams in relation to an extreme abutment roller is according to the invention characterized in that the first edge pulley on the path of the sheet material is extremely conical and that the edge rollers along the path of the sheet material are stepwise more cylindrical. Edge pulleys shaped as truncated cones may thus be used, the base diameter of which is constant whereas the top diameter increases and therefore the successive edge pulleys will not exceed a determined largest diameter, thereby allowing the edge pulleys to wholly or partly follow the abut¬ ment rollers into the primary beam.

The invention will now be explained in detail in the following with reference to the drawings, in which Fig. 1 illustrates a roller section according to the invention,

Fig, 2 is a sectional perspective view of a roller section, of which some parts are left out, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the driving pulleys in Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is an alternative embodiment of a holder for a profiling roller.

Figs 5a to 5h are schematical views illustrating the changing of an edge pulley through a profiling roller mill.

Fig. 6 is an alternative mounting of an edge pulley.

Fig. 7 is a view corresponding to a section of Fig. 2 with displaced rollers,

Fig. 8 is a schematical view of the displacement of the rollers in a horizontal plane, Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a holder for a bipartite profiling roller,

Fig. 10 is a view corresponding to a section of Fig. 1, illustrating a bipartite profiling roller with associated hold-down roller,

Fig. 11 is a schematical vertical section trans¬ verse to the profiling direction through an embodiment in which the transverse beams are suspended in rota- table suspensions, and Fig. 12 is a section along the line XII-XII in Fig. 9.

The roller section illustrated in Figs 1 and 2 of which merely one is shown, comprises support pillars 1 carrying an upper and a lower support beam 2 and 3, resp. The two support beams 2 and 3 comprise side plates 4 and 5, resp., constituting primary beams and which receive between them carrying rods 6 and 7, resp., constituting secondary beams. The second¬ ary beams are vertically displaceable in relation to the primary beams of which the upper constituted by the side plates 4 is welded firmly to the supporting pillar 1. The side plates 5 of the lower support beam 3 are kept together by means of holders 8 which, as shown in Fig. 2, grasp over the folded edges of the side plates 5. The holders 8 are kept together by a stay bolt 9 extending up to a holder 8A correspond-ing as to shape to the holders 8 and resting on the upper side of the side plates 4 of the upper support beam 2. The stay bolt 9 and thus the lower support beam 3 are kept lifted by means of a nut 10 at the top side of the holder 8A and a counter nut 10A at the underside of the holder 8A prevents the nut 10 from moving when the roller sec¬ tion is in operation. The lower support beam 3 is kept in place in the lateral direction in that the ends of the side plates 5 protrude beyond the lateral faces of the supporting pillar 1. The lower support beam 3 may be adjusted upwards and downwards by means of the stay bolt 9 and the nut 10, as shown by the double arrow 12. In Fig. 1 which shows the roller section viewed in the rolling direction, the closest side plates 4 and 5 being removed for the sake of clearness, the same elements will appear as hitherto described with reference to Fig. 2. Fig. 1 further shows a row of profiling rollers and hold-down rollers with associated holders and an edge pulley, while Fig. 2 for the sake of clearness only shows the next-to-the-outermost pair consisting of a profiling roller 13 and a hold-down roller 18. Still with reference to Fig. 2, the profiling roller 13 is mounted on the primary beam of the lower support beam 3 by means of an upper and a lower holder 14 and 15, respectively, in the following called briquettes, which in the same manner as the holders 8 grasp over the bent edges of the side plates 5 and are kept together by a stay bolt 16.

As it appears from the above, the primary beam of the lower support beam 3 is carried by the holder 8A, whereas no means need to be available to keep said primary beam down. This is effected by the gravitation¬ al force and, in operation by the roller pressure. Similarly, the carrying rods 6 and 7 are secured against displacement in the direction away from the opposite support beam 2, 3 by means of a nut 17 on the stay bolt 16. It should be understood that all the profiling rollers are secured by means of corresponding stay bolts with corresponding nuts. By placing the nut 17 at a higher or lower level on the stay bolt 16 the carrying rods 7 of the secondary beam may be placed at a higher or lower level in relation to the side plates 5 of the primary beam. The same applies to the carrying rods 6 and the side plates 4 of the upper support beam.

The hold-down roller 18 is mounted above the profiling roller 13. The hold-down roller is mounted at one end of a holder 19 which at its other end is designed to be mounted on the secondary beam, in the illustrated case the carrying rods 6. In respect of this mounting the holder 19 is provided at its upper end in Fig. 2 with four legs 20 between which the carrying rods 6 are received, as well as a block 21 secured to the holder 19. A bolt 22 inserted between the carrying rods 6 is screwed down in block 21, thereby securing the holder 19 to the carrying rods 6 which are again secured in relation to each other by the holder 19 and the bolt 22.

The holder 19 has such a size in the direction transverse to the support beam 2 that it may slide between the two side plates 4.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, two of the hold-down rollers 18 that are symmetrically positioned in rela¬ tion to the longitudinal centre plane of the roller section are designed as driving pulleys 23. Said pulleys are mounted in holders 24 which on the part located above and around the carrying rods 7 corres- pond to the holders 19. In relation to the holders 19 the holders 24 are, however, extended with the view of carrying gearwheels at their end opposite the driving pulleys, said gearwheels being mounted on a common shaft 26 which may be operated by a motor, not shown. The gearwheels 25 are secured on the shaft 26 with the possibility of effecting adjustment in rela¬ tion to its longitudinal direction. The driving pulleys 23 are provided at their centre with a gearwheel part 27 the diameter of which is smaller than the remainder of that of the driving pulley. A toothed belt 28 by means of which the motor, not shown, is capable of operating the driving pulleys 23 through the shaft 26 and the gearwheels 25 travels over the gearwheels 25 and the gearwheel parts 27.

The design of the driving pulleys 23 with holders 24, shaft 26 and toothed belt 28 is illus¬ trated in Fig. 3.

The apparatus as described in the preceding operates in the following manner. With the view of pro¬ viding a profiling roller mill for longitudinally pro- filing sheet material, various roller sections as that described above are arranged in series in successive order to constitute individual rolling steps, as known. Fig. 1 shows a comparatively early step in which a metallic sheet 29 has obtained some profiling. As it will be seen, the profiling rollers 13 deform the metallic plate 29 from its central plane towards the hold-down rollers 18. The function thereof is thus to prevent the metallic sheet 29 from rising in an arc up over the profiling rollers 13 but so that it fol- lows the contour of the profiling rollers 13. This ensures that the entire deformation applied to the metallic plate 29 in one rolling step is effected outside the rollers, thereby obtaining a stronger pro¬ filing effect in each rolling step compared to the case where no hold-down rollers are available. This effect may further be fortified by designing the profiling rollers 13 concave and the hold-down rollers 18 convex, thereby enhancing the fold in the plate 29 at the edge of the rollers. In order to obtain gradually larger profiling through the profiling roller mill the lower support beams 3 in successive rolling sections are set on a higher and higher level by means of the respective stay bolts 9 and nuts 10. This causes the profiling rollers 13 on the lower support beam 3 to be arranged higher and higher up between the profiling rollers 13 on the upper support beam 2. In a similar manner the hold-down rollers 18 and their holders 19 are disposed together with the secondary beams on which they are mounted, farther and farther into the support beams 2, 3 by adjusting the nuts 17. The hold-down rollers 18 are so dimensioned that in the last rolling steps they may be inserted partially between the side plates 4, 5 of the respective primary beam.

A sheet to be profiled is pulled through the profiling roller mill by means of the driving pulleys 23 in the individual roller sections.

As shown in Fig. 1, there is placed beside the extreme hold-down roller 18 a holder 30 for an edge pulley 31. The holder 30 is by means of a bolt 32 secured on the carrying rods 7, as is the case with the holder 19 for the adjacent hold-down roller 18. The holder 30 is provided with a shaft pin for receiving the edge pulley 31, said shaft pin having an axis positioned in the plane of the roller section (the plane of Fig. 1) but which is inclined in relation to vertical and horizontal, preferably at an angle of 60° in relation to horizontal. Wheels shaped as truncated cones are used as edge pulleys 31, the angle between the base and the side being varied stepwise from roller section to roller section on passing through the pro¬ filing roller mill so as to using at first a very acute wheel providing_, only a small bending of the edge of plate 29, while using at last an actually cylindrical wheel causing the edge of the plate 29 after the last edge wheel 31 in the profiling roller mill to point in the same direction as the shaft pin of the holders 30. The development of the edge pulleys 31 is partly shown by dash lines in Fig. l and appears partly from Figs 5a to 5h illustrating successive edge pulleys 31 in a profiling roller mill.

As shown in Fig. 6, the edge pulley 31 may alternatively be mounted on a lobe 30A of the holder 19 of the extreme hold-down roller 18. All profiling rollers, hold-down rollers and edge pulleys are displaceable along the support beams

2, 3 owing to the mounting of their holders by fastening by bolts on the longitudinal side plates 4, 5 and carrying rods 6, 7.

In the above described roller section the pro¬ filing rollers and the hold-down rollers are located centrally in relation to the vertical, transverse centre plane of the roller section. In this case "transverse" means transversely to the feed direction of sheet material to be profiled. In an advantageous embodiment, schematically illustrated in Fig. 8, a group 40 of the middle rollers is displaced forwards against the feed direction of sheet material, whereas the extreme rollers are displaced rearwards in the feed direction. Fig. 7 shows a pair of rollers displaced to one side in their respective holders. Thus a profiling roller 113 is mounted between briquettes 114 pro¬ vided each with two holes 50 for the penetration of a cross shaft for the profiling roller 113 in such a manner that said roller may be displaced forwards or rearwards according to desire. The same applies to the hold-down roller 118.

As it appears from Fig. 8 two symmetrically positioned rollers are divided into two, and the roller part 118A closest to the centre is displaced forwards together with the centre rollers, and the extremely positioned roller part 118B is displaced rearwards together with the remaining extremely positioned rollers. Fig. 9 shows a holder 114A for profiling roller 113A, 113B thus divided into two. It will be seen how the roller part 113A is mounted by means of the holes 50 in one side of the holder while the other roller part 113B is mounted by means of holes 50 in the other side of the holder. The bipartition of the profiling rollers 113A and 113B and the hold- down rollers 118A and 118B and their respective holders, moreover, appears from Fig. 10, from which it appears how the respective holders are each of them designed as two independent holders with a common side plate 114C and 119C, respectively.

In the hitherto described setting of the roller sections the profiling rollers 13 of the upper sup¬ port beam 2 remains on the same level. This might result in that a completely rolled plate has a tendency to bulge in the middle due to an asymmetrical profiling in the vertical direction in relation to a horizontal centre plane. The roller section shown in Fig. 2 with its upper and lower support beam 2 and 3 is there¬ fore on the whole adjustable as to height. This is obtained in that the roller section at its ends is sus¬ pended in rails 33 having a cross-section like a lying U and extending substantially horizontally throughout the length of the roller mill. It should be observed that Fig. 2 only shows one end of a roller section and likewise only shows one 33 of the rails. The roller section is suspended by means of a bolt 34 having a length of about 0.5 m. By rotating this bolt the height positioning of the roller section may be adjusted or the roller section may be lowered to a non-active position below the feed path of a sheet to be profiled. The supporting pillar 1 of the roller section is controlled in relation to the lower part of the rail 33 by means of guide blocks 36.

Said suspension, the fact that for such roller mills in operation there is used distance of about 90 cm between adjacent roller sections, and the small width of a roller section according to the invention makes it possible to have four different sets of roller sections suspended in the rails to obtain four differ- ent profiles, three of the sets being suspended in the lower, non-active position whereas the last set is lifted to the use position shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 shows an alternative embodiment of the profiling roller 13 with the upper briquette 14a.

The briquette 14a is designed so that it extends far forwards and backwards in relation to the rolling direction and has inclined surfaces 35 designed to receive an arriving sheet and pass it on to the pro¬ filing roller 13 close to the roller slit. It is thus possible to make use of a profiling roller 13 with a small diameter and to drive the profiling roller mill comparatively fast without too heavily charging the profiling rollers 13 when hit by an arriving sheet 29.

Each roller section may as mentioned be pro¬ vided with an electric motor for operating the driving pulleys through the shaft 26, the toothed wheels 25 and the toothed belts 28. Alternatively, a central motor for the entire profiling mill may by known trans¬ mission means, such as shafts and chains, be used for driving the individual driving shafts 26. It is pre- ferred, however, that each roller section has its own motor, in particular when the roller sections are adjustable as to height, because there would otherwise be a need for relatively complicated transmission equipments in the form of telescopic shafts and uni- versal shafts for the transfer of effect from a central motor to the individual roller sections.

Even though the transverse beams in the above are described as comprising carrying rods 6, 7 sus¬ pended in relation to the side plates 4, 5 of the transverse beams and carrying the holders 19 for the hold-down rollers 18, it must be understood that the holders 19 may be mounted directly on the side plates 4, 5. If so, this would make it possible to adjust the holders 19 separately in the direction towards the secondary transverse beam.

Figs 11 and 12 show how the transverse beams 2, 3 instead of being mounted on support pillars 1 may be mounted each on their rotatable suspension 50 on which a number of transverse beams may be mounted about the rotational axis 51 of the suspension 50. The rotatable suspensions 50 are by means of shafts 52 suspended in bearings 53 that are again mounted on the rail 33.

As illustrated in Fig. 12 there may in each suspension 50 be mounted for instance five transverse beams 2, 3 that are mounted so that they may be dis- placed forwards and backwards in the direction towards the rotational axis 51 of the suspension, as shown by double-arrows. An electric motor 54 which by means of driving belts drive the driving pulleys 23 may further be mounted in each suspension 50. Such rotatable suspensions are moreover known from the published EP Patent Specification No. 0 457 556.

Claims

P A T E N T C L A I M S

1. A roller section for longitudinally profiling sheet material, in particular sheet metal, comprising two juxtaposed transverse beams (2, 3) parallel to each other, displaceable towards each other and carrying laterally adjustable holders (14, 15) for profiling rollers (13), characterized in that at least one of the transverse beams (2, 3) carries a holder (19) for a hold-down roller (18) adjustably in the lateral direc¬ tion and in the direction towards and away from the other transverse beam.

2. A roller section according to claim 1, char¬ acterized in that at least one of the transverse beams (2, 3) is divided into a primary beam (4, 5) and a secondary beam (6, 7), of which the primary beam (4, 5) carries the holders (14, 15) for the profiling rollers (13), and the secondary beam (6, 7) carries the holders (19) for the hold-down rollers (18) and that the prima¬ ry beam (4, 5) and the secondary beam (6, 7) are adjustable in relation to each other in the plane of the transverse beams (2, 3) in a direction towards the other transverse beam.

3. A roller section according to claim 2, char¬ acterized in that the primary beam (4, 5) is shaped as a double beam, and the secondary beam (6, 7) is accom- modated within the primary beam (4, 5), and that the hold-down rollers (18) are intended to be inserted wholly or partly in the primary beam (4, 5) by dis¬ placement of the secondary beam (6, 7) in relation to the primary beam (4, 5).

4. A roller section according to claims 1 to 3, characterized in that at least one of the profiling rollers or hold-down rollers (23) is arranged so as to be driven.

5. A roller section according to claim 4, char- acterized by including a motor for operating the driven rollers (23).

6. A roller section according to claims 1 to 5, characterized by comprising at least one edge pulley (31) mounted obliquely in the plane of the transverse beams (2, 3) in relation to an extreme hold-down roller.

7. A roller section as claimed in claims 1 to 6, characterized in that at least one of the holders (14A) for the profiling rollers (13) includes a section (35) extending forwards towards the infeed direction of the sheet material and inclining backwards against the periphery of the profiling roller (13) facing away from the carrying transverse beam (2, 3) , said section being designed to guide an arriving sheet material towards the roller slit between the profiling roller and the corresponding hold-down roller.

8. A roller section according to claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the profiling rollers (13) are concave and that the hold-down rollers (18) are convex.

9. A roller section according to claims 1 to 8, characterized in that a group (40) of profiling rollers in the middle of the roller section and associated hold-down rollers is displaced in relation to a trans¬ verse plane for the roller section towards the infeed direction of the sheet material while the extremely positioned profiling rollers with associated hold-down rollers are displaced to the rear in relation to said group in said inlet direction.

10. A roller section according to claim 9, characterized in that two symmetrically positioned, profiling rollers (118A, 118B) with associated hold- down rollers are each individually bipartite and that the part (118A) positioned closest to the centre of the roller section belongs to the forwards displaced centre group (40) whereas the extremely positioned part (118B) is rearwards displaced.

11. A roller section according to claims l to 10, characterized in that at least one of the two transverse beams is suspended in a suspension rotatable about a substantially horizontal axis.

12. A profiling roller mill for longitudinally profiling sheet material, in particular sheet metal, comprising various roller sections according to claim 4, characterized in that the pair of transverse beams (2, 3) of each roller section as a whole is adjustable in the plane common to the transverse beams and trans¬ verse to their longitudinal axes.

13. A profiling roller mill for longitudinally profiling sheet material, in particular sheet metal, comprising a number of roller sections according to claim 6, characterized in that the first edge pulley (31) on the path of the sheet material is extremely conical and that the edge rollers (31) along the path of the sheet material are stepwise more cylindrical.