Title of Invention

SQUEEZE ROLLER

Abstract 57) Abstract:- A squeeze roller wherein shortening of the life of the roller due to heat deterioration, burning of bearings due to heating of the inside of the roller and entry of liquid into the roller are prevented and the roller can be run stably for a long time is of a hollow structure having two or more openings passing through from the exterior of the roller to the interior of the roller and gas is blown into the roller through at least one opening and at the same time gas is discharged through the remaining openings and heat from inside the roller is thereby removed to outside the roller. The gas blown into the roller is pre-cooled to below room temperature to improve the cooling effect of the gas and the pressure inside the roller is kept above atmospheric pressure to prevent any liquid from entering inside the roller. PRICE: THIRTY RUPEES.
Full Text




This invention relates to a squeeze roller used mainly for squeezing a fiber tow, and particularly to a squeeze roller wherein shortening of the life of the roller due to heat deterioration, burning of bearings due to heating of the inside of the roller and entry of liquid into the roller are prevented and the roller can be run stably for a long time.
For squeezing synthetic fiber tow, squeeze rollers comprising rubber are generally used. It is desired of such squeeze rollers that they have excellent squeezing effect and at the same time can be run stably for a long time.
With conventional squeeze rollers, when the pressing force is raised in order to increase tl e squeezing effect, repeated strain of the rubber, slipping with respect to the tow and heat produced by the bearings cause the temperature of the surface of the roller to increase, and trouble such as flaking and cracking of the rubber due to heat fatigue and burning of the bearings due to heating of the inside of the roller has consequently tended to occur. For these reasons the pressing force of the roller has been standardized and not raised above a standard level; however, the degree of squeezing (that is, the moisture regain after squeezing) has not been entirely satisfactory.

Also, conventional squeeze rollers have been fitted with oil seals so that squeezed liquid does not enter inside the squeeze roller, but filaments breaking away from the tow and scum have dug into the oil seals and liquid has entered inside the roller through gaps thus created and caused poor bearing rotation and frequent trouble. Measures such as changing the type of the oil seals and using double oil seals or providing a step in the shaft of the roller to make it difficult for liquid to enter the roller have been taken to avoid this problem, but they have not been satisfactory.
Because trouble thus occurs easily with conventional squeeze rollers and there is variation in roller life of from one week to three months in the time taken for trouble to occur,it is difficult to set a fixed exchange period for a squeeze roller and it has inevitably been necessary to carry out maintenance after trouble occurs, and this has caused trouble during production and been a cause of reduced productivity. Summary of the invention
This invention was devised in view of these problems associated with the conventional technology, and an object of the invention is to provide a squeeze roller wherein shortening of the life of the roller due to heat deterioration, burning of bearings due to heating of the inside of the roller and entry of liquid into the roller are

prevented and the roller can be run stably for a long time.
The present inventors have arrived at completion of the invention as a result of assiduous research aimed at achieving the above-mentioned object.
That is, the invention is a squeeze roller of a hollow structure having two or more openings passing through to the interior of the roller wherein a gas is blown into the roller through at least one opening and at the same time gas is discharged through the remaining openings and heat from inside the roller is thereby removed to outside the roller.
In a squeeze roller of the invention it is preferable that the pressure inside the roller be set higher than atmospheric pressure. This is to prevent squeezed liquid from entering inside the roller.
Also, to more effectively remove heat from inside the roller it is preferable that the gas blown into the roller be pre-cooled to below room temperatiure.
In a squeeze roller of the; invention constructed as described above, gas is blown into the roller through at least one opening and at the same time gas is discharged through the other openings and thereby heat from inside the roller is quickly removed to outside the roller; consequently, it is possible effiectively to avoid trouble accompanying increasing of the temperature of the surface of the roller and heat produced by the bearings, and as a result

the life of the squeeze roller can be greatly extended. This result is even more effectively achieved if the gas blown into the roller is cooled to below room temperature.
Also, because in a squeeze roller of the invention it is possible to set the pressure inside the roller to above atmospheric pressure, even when squeezed liquid tries to enter inside the roller, the difference between the pressure inside the roller and the atmospheric pressure outside acts to push the squeezed liquid out of the roller and bearing trouble caused by squeezed liquid entering inside the roller is substantially eliminated.
Accordingly the present invention provides a squeeze roller comprising a roller shaft and a roller which is held rotatably at both ends of the roller shaft, wherein the roller shaft and the roller defines a hollow area between them, characterized in that the roller shaft is provided with a gas introducing opening which elongates from one end or both ends of the roller shaft to central portion of the roller shaft and with a gas discharging opening which communicates with the gas introducing opening at central portion of the roller shaft and which opens to the surface of the roller shaft, that the roller part is provided with plurality of outlet openings which communicate with said hollow area and which opens to both ends of the roller.

With reference to the accompanying drawings, in which;
Fig. 1 is a front view of a squeeze roller according to the invention mounted in a squeezing apparatus;
Fig. 2 is a sectional front view of a squeeze roll^ according to the invention mounted in a squeezing apparatus;
Fig. 3 is a left side view of a squeeze roller according to the invention mounted in a squeezing apparatus;
Fig. 4 is a view showing a roller shaft part of a squeeze roller according to the invention; and
Fig. 5 is a view showing a roller part of a squeeze roller according to the invention.
In the figures, numerals are as follows:
1 aircylinder 2 squeeze roller
3 bottom roller 4 tow
5 bearing 6 oilseal
7 inletopening 8 outlet opening
9 urethane rubber

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments
A preferred embodiment of a squeeze roller according to the Invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings; however, the Invention Is not limited to this preferred embodiment.
Fig. 1 is a front view of a squeeze roller according to the invention mounted in a squeezing apparatus. As shown in Fig. 1, when a squeeze roller according to the Invention is mounted in a squeezing apparatus a tow 4 is squeezed between the squeeze roller 2 and a bottom roller 3; the squeeze roller 2 is moved up and down by two air cylinders 1 and the press load on the bottom roller 3 is thereby adjusted, and the bottom roller 3 is driven by a motor to push out the tow 4.
When the press load exerted lay the squeeze roller 2 is assumed to act evenly in the width direction on the tow being squeezed, the load acting per 1cm of the width of the tow being squeezed is 100 (kgf).
Fig. 2 is a sectional front! view of a squeeze roller according to the invention mounted in a squeezing apparatus.
The squeeze roller shown in Fig. 2 has seventeen openings passing through from t|ie outside to inside the roller made up of an inlet opening 7 through which gas is blown into the roller provided in the right hand end surface of the roller shaft and eight outlet openings 8 through which
the gas is discharged provided in each end of the roller
symmetrically as shown in the sidei view of the squeeze roller of Fig. 3.

In this preferred embodiment, the diameter of the inlet opening 7 is 16mm and the diameter of the outlet openings 8 is 5mm.
In a squeeze roller according to the invention, because to blow gas into the roller a pipe is attached to the inlet opening using a rotary joint, it is preferable that an inlet opening be disposed at one end or at both ends of the shaft of the roller.
Also, to prevent uneven cooling due to one-way flow it is preferable that outlet openings be provided in both ends of the roller and that two or more outlet openings in each end of the roller be disposed symmetrically (360° equal division) around the ends of the roller.
Explaining the flow of gas inside the roller with reference to the sectional view of the roller of Fig. 2, gas blown in through the inlet opening 7 in the right hand end of the roller flows leftward to the central portion of the roller and when it arrives at the central portion of the roller the gas is divided and directed toward the inside surface of the roller in eight directions parallel to the ends of the roller and equally distributed about 360°, the gas is then divided into leftward and rightward flows so that it cools the inside surface of the roller evenly and is discharged through the outlet openings 8 provided in the left and right ends of the squeeze roller.

There are no particular restrictions on the method by which the gas is supplied to inside the roller, and for example dehumidified and dried compressed air can be supplied using a compressor. From the cost point of view air is most suitable as the supplied gas, but other noncombustible gases such as nitrogen may alternatively be used.
A squeeze roller according to the invention mainly consists of a roller shaft part, a roller part, bearings and oil seals; as shown in Fig. 4, a gas passage from the inlet opening 7 via the central part of the roller to the surface of the roller is provided in the roller shaft part, and as shown in Fig. 5 a passage for the gas to flow to the outlet openings 8 in the left and right ends of the roller while cooling the surface of the roller is provided in the roller part. The bearings are provided so that- the roller part rotates smoothly, following the bottom roller, without friction. The oil seals are provided as in a conventional squeeze roller to prevent liquid from entering the roller.
Because they are easy on fibers, nitrile, butadiene and urethane rubbers are suitable for the surface material of the squeeze roller, but when something other than fiber is to be squeezed rollers made of metal or resin can also be used. The optimum rubber surface temperature; of the roller part and the temperature of the adhesion surface where the rubber is adhered to the roller part basically depend on the heat-

resistances of the rubber and the adhesive, but taking into account stability with respect to heat-resistance below GCC is preferable. In conventional squeeze rollers the rubber surface temperature and the rubber adhesion surface temperature have been extremely high, at 90°C and 80'C respectively, but with a squeeze roller of the invention both these temperatures can be set to below 60°C.
The temperature of the gas blown into the roller is generally about 25 °C in summer and 8°C in winter (room temperature), but to effectively reduce the temperature of the surface of the roller part it is preferable that the gas blown into the roller be pre-cooled to below room temperature.
There are no particular restrictions on the method used to cool the gas, but for example after cooling using a tubular heat exchanger (including some dehumidification when the cooling effect lowers the gas temperature to below the dew point.temperature) a dehumidifier may be further used.
In a squeeze roller according to this invention, to prevent squeezed liquid from entering inside the roller the pressure inside the roller can be set higher than atmospheric pressure.
In this case, the pressure inside the roller is preferably approximately from 0.01 to 0.1 kg/cm^ by gauge pressure, but this value depends on the passage resistance of

the gas and can be decided in consideration of the relationship between the gas supply flowrate and the cross-sectional area of the outlet openings. For example, for a constant gas supply flowrate the smaller the total cross-sectional area of the outlet openings is the higher the pressure inside the roller is, and for a constant total cross-sectional area of the outlet openings the greater the gas supply flowrate is the higher the pressure inside the roller can be set. The gas supply flowrate varies according to the cross-sectional area of the outlet openings, but is 20 to 40 m3 per hour.
Because in a squeeze roller according to the invention by means of the construction described above heat from inside the roller is carried to outside the roller, it is possible to suppress increasing of the temperature of the surface of the roller due to heat accumulation and heating of the bearings and trouble accompanying this can be avoided. This result can be achieved even more effectively if the gas blown into the roller is cooled to below room temperature.
Also, because in a squeeze roller of the invention it is possible to raise the pressure inside the roller to above atmospheric pressure, squeezed liquid can be prevented from entering inside the roller by the pressure difference between inside and outside the roller and bearing trouble can be substantially eliminated.

Furthermore, at the same time as it being possible to effectively prevent the kinds of trouble described above, the life of the squeeze roller becomes fixed and it becomes possible to exchange parts based on planned maintenance and improvements in productivity can be achieved.


WE CLAIM:
1. A squeeze roller comprising a roller shaft and a roller which is held
rotatably at both ends of the roller shaft, wherein the roller shaft and the
roller defines a hollow area between them, characterized in that the roller
shaft is provided with a gas introducing opening which elongates from one
end or both ends of the roller shaft to central portion of the roller shaft and
with a gas discharging opening which communicates with the gas
introducing opening at central portion of the roller shaft and which opens to
the surface of the roller shaft, that the roller part is provided with plurality of
outlet openings which communicate with said hollow area and which opens
to both ends of the roller.
2. A squeeze roller, substantially as herein described with reference to the
accompanying drawings.


Documents:

1520-mas-1995 abstract.jpg

1520-mas-1995 abstract.pdf

1520-mas-1995 claims.pdf

1520-mas-1995 correspondence-others.pdf

1520-mas-1995 correspondence-po.pdf

1520-mas-1995 description (complete).pdf

1520-mas-1995 drawings.pdf

1520-mas-1995 form-1.pdf

1520-mas-1995 form-26.pdf

1520-mas-1995 form-4.pdf

1520-mas-1995 petition.pdf


Patent Number 191868
Indian Patent Application Number 1520/MAS/1995
PG Journal Number 30/2009
Publication Date 24-Jul-2009
Grant Date 16-Jul-2004
Date of Filing 23-Nov-1995
Name of Patentee JAPAN EXLAN COMPANY LIMITED
Applicant Address 2-8, DOJIMA HAMA 2-CHOME, KITA-KU OSAKA,
Inventors:
# Inventor's Name Inventor's Address
1 YOUSUKE KOBAYASHI 755, GION, OKAYAMA-SHI, OKAYAMA-KEN
2 TAKATOSHI MANO 26, KANADA, OKAYAMA-SHI, OKAYAMA-KEN
3 TAKAHISA KIDA 8-43-8, 3-CHOME, FUKUTOMINISHI, OKAYAMA-SHI, OKAYAMA-KEN
PCT International Classification Number D06B23/02
PCT International Application Number N/A
PCT International Filing date
PCT Conventions:
# PCT Application Number Date of Convention Priority Country
1 NA