Winding – tensioning – or guiding – Unidirectional winding and unwinding – Partial wrap around plural rotatable supports
Patent
1995-06-01
1996-11-19
Jillions, John M.
Winding, tensioning, or guiding
Unidirectional winding and unwinding
Partial wrap around plural rotatable supports
B65H 2026
Patent
active
055754341
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a strip accumulator comprising an outer circular set of carrying rollers, which extend radially with respect to a vertical axis of the set and serve to carry an upright outer strip coil, which receives strip on the outside from a strip feeder, a concentric inner circular set of freely rotatably mounted, radially extending inner carrying rollers for carrying an inner strip coil, which is connected to the outer strip coil by a reversing loop, and a roller cage, which constitutes a core for the inner strip coil and comprises axially parallel rollers, one of which serves as a payout roller for guiding the strip to an inclined delivery roller disposed within the roller cage.
In a known apparatus of that kind (U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,662) the metal strip which enters the strip accumulator is wound from the outside of an upright outer strip coil, which rests on a rotatable annular deck or on an outer circular set of drivable, preferably tapered carrying rollers. Because that outer strip coil does not require a roller cage as a core, the inside diameter of the outer strip coil is defined only by the relationship between the velocity of the incoming strip and the speed of the deck. From that outer strip coil the strip moves through a reversing loop to an inner strip coil, which is carried by an inner circular set of freely rotatably mounted carrying rollers, which are disposed within the rotatable annular deck, and said inner strip coil is backed by a core consisting of a roller cage, which surrounds an inclined delivery roller. From the inside of the inner strip coil the strip is delivered opposite to the direction of rotation of the incoming strip by a pay-out roller of the cage to the delivery roller, by which the strip is delivered from the accumulator. Because the two concentric strip coils are connected by a reversing loop, which revolves at a velocity that is one-half of the difference between the velocities of the incoming and outgoing strips, the incoming strip will be wound up on the two strip coils in equal numbers of turns. As the strip is delivered from the accumulator, equal numbers of turns are unwound from the two strip coils so that the capacity of the accumulator can desirably be utilized regardless of the actual velocities at which the strip is being received and delivered, respectively. A disadvantage resides in that the size of the reversing loop will depend on the thickness of the strip and particularly in the case of relatively thick strip will require large radii of curvature at the bend so that the rotary deck must have a correspondingly large outside diameter. A disadvantage involved in the handling of relatively thin strip resides in that the strip may buckles under the pressure forces exerted on the strip on that side of the reversing loop which faces the outer strip coil. Besides, the position of the outer coil strip on the rotary deck will not be stabilized because it depends on various influences.
In a vertical-axis strip accumulator comprising two concentric roller cages for respectively supporting outer and inner strip coils, it is desirable to permit the strip to be moved in the empty accumulator from the strip feeder to an inclined delivery roller disposed within the inner roller cage without a formation of a turn. To that end it is known (Published German Application 33 21 786) to use one of the rollers of the rotatably mounted outer roller cage as a looping roller. As a result, in the empty accumulator the strip can move through the outer roller cage between that looping roller and the adjacent roller of the outer cage and may then move between two rollers of the inner roller cage to the delivery roller without forming a turn. When it is desired to accumulate strip, the outer roller cage is rotated and the looping roller causes the strip to form a reversing loop, from which the strip is wound up on the two roller cages in the same numbers of turns. That known strip accumulator has mainly the disadvantage that the rollers of the roller cages must be radially
REFERENCES:
patent: 3341139 (1967-09-01), La Tour
patent: 3782662 (1974-01-01), Miller
patent: 3860188 (1975-01-01), Bradshaw
patent: 4441661 (1984-04-01), Steinmair
patent: 4473193 (1984-09-01), Cooper et al.
patent: 4569487 (1986-02-01), Sluzallek
Jillions John M.
Voest-Alpine Industriean-lagenbau GmbH
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