US2819130A - Bearings for rotary cylinders, drums and the like - Google Patents

Description

F. KAMINSKY Jan. 7, 1958 BEARINGS FOR ROTARY QYLINDERS, DRUMS AND THE LIKE Filed May 17, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l Inveman FR/TZ KAM/N KY GENT Jan. 7, 1958 F. KAMINSKY 2,319,130

. BEARINGS F OR ROTARY CYLINDERS, DRUMS AND THE LIKE Filed May 17, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FRI T Z KAMM/S/(y nited BEARINGS non ROTARY CYLINDERS, DRUMS AND THE LIKE Fritz Kaminsky, .Leverkusen Germany,- assignor-to :Fell

ner & Ziegler G. in. b. H.,. Frankfurt am Main, Germany APPIica'tiOn May 17, 1955; Serial No; 509 081 Claiins priority,- applicatiomGermany March lz, 1955 Claiins. (Cl; 308 -234)" Thisinventionrelatestoiimprovements in rotary treatment cylinders," drums:and the like, inc1udingrotary,cy-.

lindrical or tubularfurnaces; drying drums, mixing,

drums; pre-h'eatingand cooling drums and so on. The

cylindrical bodies of these machines are. mounted 1 on.

support rollers'by means of raceringsyprovided on such bodies; Rotary furnaces are generally. arranged somewhat inclined relatively to the horizontal, andthe position of arotary furnacewithjits :racerings is maintained onthe"associated support rollers by means of additional pressure-rollers which bear againstithe appropriate side face ofa racering.

Themechanical stresses to which the support rollers and the racerings are subjected is .very considerable. In most'cases no material is'hardand homogeneous enough to" be-capable of withstanding without structural damage the high pressures "whichoccur 'in non-stop day and night.

operation withapproximately line contact between the rollers and associate surfaces. Thus scale peelings, grooving fractures and deformations oftenoccur at the surfacesof the support'rollers'andat the surfaces of the racerings;

According to the present day stateof the rotary. furs nace art, precautions have been takento allow the furnace drurn 'with the associated racerings to be displaced longitudinally with respect to the supportrollers. In fact it h'as it been conventional practice for decades to position the support'rollers with their axles slightlyinclined with" respect to the axis of the rotary furnace instead of straight. If the racerings of the rotary furnace press against the inclinedsupportrollers under the influence of theconsiderabledead weight' components dueto the drum casing, furnace lining andfuel, the inclinedfurnaceibody is subjected-to a kindof screwaction tending to moveit slowly in'an upward direction. Dependingon the size of 1 the-rotary furnace; a longitudinal distance of approximately 20-to-40 mm. willbechosenbetween the rigidly mounted upper and lower pressure rollerswhich are "adapted to the furnace inclination;

roller surfaces wheneverthe furnace drum presses with its -racering flank against theupper pressure roller in the course of the'movement which said drum is forced to perform by the helicalforce'; With reduced surface friction; thefurnacedrum then slides slowly downwards. Whenit moves subsequently into the bottom position determined by the bottom pressure roller,a new upward movement is initiated when augmented frictional engagement occurs owing to the small quantities of oil' on the roller surfaces drying out ordeteriorating.

Ifthe operators are careless, it can easily happen that the application ofoil is overlooked. The dry support rollersiwould then cause'the furnace drum to be moved bya helical force ofextremely great' force against-the Aspersons skilled in the art will' upper pressure roller. know, there would then bea great danger ofbreakage ofthe rnounting=of are upper pressure roller and also, of" thirftirnacelining bricks. Consequently, theoperating The operating personnelmust poura few dropsof oil ontothe support "atent Patented Jan. 7, 1958.

efiiciency of a *rotaryfurnace installation according te: the present state of the" art is. greatly dependentconthe:

reliability; of its attendants.

In order toobviate as much as possible the wear of-the": bearing. surfaces-between theracerings and the support rollers, it is also known to try; to obtain a suspended con:

dition, i. e. to achieve a balance between thetende'ncy;

of the-rotary furnace body to slide downwards andthe ability of the inclined 'support rollers 'tovexerta helical;

forces Owing. to varying thermal expansion, in the longivv tudinal sense, of. the rotary-furnace body, a-slight shifting of-the rotary furnace body then occurs to a. certain: extent in the axial direction, which is desirable if strip. damage is to be prevented. But these measures, which.

can.only betregarded-las measures of expediency, are

quite unsatisfactory. It is very easyfor bearings to be damaged-owing tOzthC inclined setting of the support rollers, and this .would have a very detrimental effect on the.:expensive. furnace lining and on the operatingefficiency; of the-:whole installation.

Theobject of .the present invention is to obviate the.

aforesaid disadvantagesw The presentinvention is characterised in'that two pressurev rollers. are provided one at each side of a racering;

the lower ends of theaxles of these pressure rollers being mounted in a cross-member. to which a reciprocating movement. substantially parallel to the longitudinalaxis of .the .rotary cylindrical body, is imparted by automaticallycontrolleddriving means. The latter may be mechani-.- cal, electrical hydraulic, or hydroelectric. By this means.

it is' ensured that the longitudinal movement of the rotary cylindrical body in the two opposite directions is effected positively and therefore uniformly at pre-determined. in n In fact,.the power means is double-act-- tervals of time. ing in thatit positively forces the cylindrical body up the inclination at which saidbody is set and thenapositively forces or controls said body downwards.

The cross-member carrying the pressure-rollers can be; mounted byan arrangement of parallel links on a baseplate, and the drive for producing the reciprocating movea ment then acts either directly or through a leverageuponv thiscross-member. Lessfriction is -thereby produced than would be the case with a slide guide arrangement.

for th-CIOSS-II11TllJEI-Whl0h is also possible. important since the great dead weight .of,,for example; a

This. is:

rotary furnace could result in considerable frictional.

forces. If it is a question of a particularly long rotary or so-called'tubular furnace, it is expedientto arrangea.

twin pressure roller system of this kind not only at one racering but at two or more racerings, thereby-scone.

spondingly reducing the driving force required. for; 0137 the automatic operation .of the drive of the aforesaid cross-member. With such a drive the reciprocatingcrossmember may be arranged to actuate an electzicswitchi. which, by way of a lifting magnet arrangement, controls] a valve, for examplea rotary valve, in such manner. as. to produce the alternate to and fro movements of the. ram in the working cylinderand thusthe to and. fromovements of the cross-member coupled thereto. In

this case it is of advantage to employ'a vertically work-1 ing cylinder having its lower end pivotally mounted on.

the base plate, its associate ram or pistonhavingthe up:

per end of' itsrod pivotally connected to the. armof the.

triangular lever.

The requisite driving energy for the to andfro displacement of the twin pressure roller arrangement can be considerably reduced if the mounting of the pressure roller operative against the dead weight of the rotary furnace or the like is associated with a counter-balance arrangement. For example, one of two links supporting this pressure roller on the base plate may take the form of a lever presenting an arm for suspension of the counter-weight. The-counter-weight itself can be varied, depending on the given circumstances, but it is also possible to shift the point of application of the counter-weight on the said lever arm.

This counterweight arrangement can be provided in association with the pressure roller of one racering, whilst the movable and positively reciprocated twin pressure roller arrangement is situated at a second racering. Alternatively, this counterweight arrangement can be associated with the movable and positively reciprocated twin pressure roller arrangement.

The bearing surfaces of the pressure rollers, and possibly also of the support rollers, are advantageously slightly rounded and although suchrounded surfaces, when unloaded, make a point or line contact, on the other hand when pressure is exerted a rounded surface which originally was part circular will now be distorted so as to form part of a shallow ellipse; T heresult is that no edge contacts can occur between the rollers and the bearing surfaces of the racerings, a feature which not only contributes to further reducing the driving'power necessary, but which strain-hardens the surface structure both of the rollers and also of the racerings and which, particularly with the use of grease or oil, conserves the said surfaces. Instead of scale peeling, grooving, fractures or deformations being brought about by particularly high pressures, as in the case of known rotary furnaces, thev means according to the invention produce a completely uniform and controllable longitudinal movement in both directions of, for example, a rotary tube furnace, and the rounded construction of the bearing surfaces of the pressure rollers also results in a roll polishing effect, as it were, which imparts a particularly long life to the parts despite the positively effected reciprocatory movement. It is thus a decisive advantage, from the operational point of view, if the surfaces of all supporting rollers as well as pressure rollers themselves are provided with rounded surfaces.

In order to enable the invention to be readily understood, reference is made to the accompanying drawings illustrating embodiments of the invention, in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of a cylindrical rotary furnace with two racerings, one in association with counterbalance means and the other in association with driving means for positively reciprocating the furnace longitudinally.

Figure 2 is a view, partly in section and to a larger scale, of the means associated with the racering on the right-hand in Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a view, partly in section and to a larger scale, of the counterbalance means associated with the racering on the left-hand in Fig. l, and

Figure 4 is a diagram of an electrically controlled hydraulic drive for the automatic and positive production of the reciprocating movement.

According to Fig. 1, the tubular body 1 of a rotary furnace is mounted in the usual manner ata slight inclinationof approximately 2 relatively to the horizontal by means of its racerings 2 and 3 bearing upon support rollers 4 and 5. The inclination of the cylindrical rotary furnace is such that the racering 3 lies somewhat lower than the racering 2. In order to take up the pressure load component caused by the dead weight of the furnace body, a pressure roller 6 which bears against one side face 7 of the racering 2 is mounted on a movable support. This support, as hereinafter explained, is carried upon two vertical parallel links, one of which is formed as a lever presenting an arm 8 on the end of which a counter weight 9 is suspended.

Pressure rollers 12 and 13 bear against respective side faces 10 and 11 of the racering The lower ends of the shafts of these pressure rollers are mounted in a guide member 14 and the latter is reciprocated by suitable driving means as indicated by the double arrow in the Figure 1, the path of such reciprocationbeing substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis 15 of the rotary furnace. The details of 'the' twin pressure roller arrangement on the one hand and the pressure roller arrangement with counterweight compensation on the other hand will be explained shape presenting a laterally extending arm formed at its outer end with an eye 23. A pivot pin inserted in the eye 23 is engaged by the driving means so as to swing the triangular link element 18 about the pivot pin 20a to a certain extent, whereby the cross member 16 with the pressure rollers 12 and 13 carries out a reciprocating movement substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the furnace body. With this movement there also occurs a vertical displacement of the bearing surfaces of the pressure rollers 12 and 13 which are rounded as indicated by the reference numerals 24 and 25, relatively to the fiat side faces 10 and 11 of the racering 3.

The driving up and down of the pin having a bearing ,inthe eye 23 can be effected, for example, mechanically 'by an eccentric or cam drive, lever drive or the like. In

the present example, however, a hydraulic drive is provided, a ram cylinder 26 having itsv lower end pivotally mounted in'a bearing bracket 28by means of, the pin 27.

The upwardly extending piston rod or ram 29 is pivotally connected at its upper end with the eye 23 of the triangular link 18. The reference numeral 30 designates a pipe line for oil under pressure. draulic driving apparatus, the reciprocation of the ram or piston in the cylinder 26 on the one hand causes the cylinder to pivot about the pin 27 and on the other hand causes the triangular link 18 to pivot about the bolt 20a.

The pistonv strokes in the cylinder 26 can be controlled by known means, many ditferent kinds of which are known with hydraulic drives. One such control is illustrated in Fig. 4. The cross-member 16 with its two pressure rollers 12 and 13 is reciprocated in the manner aforesaid and as indicated by the double arrow in Fig. 4.

In this diagram, however, the ram or piston rod 29 of the cylinder 26 is shown in a horizontal position acting directly upon the cross member 16 at one end of the latter. At the other end, a rod 31 acts upon a switching arrangement 32 which is adapted to switch on and off an auxiliary current for a relay-device 33 which acts upon a switch 34 which opens and closes the main circuit. When the main circuit is closed, a lifting magnet 35 is energised and operates a toothed rack 36. This toothed rack 36 meshes wtih a pinion 37 which is mounted on the spindle 38 of a rotary valve 39. The pressure fluid for the working cylinder 26 with its associate piston 26a is delivered by a pump 40 driven from an electric motor 41 which is likewise connected in the main current line.

The actuation of the rotary valve 39 by way of the lifting magnet 35, being controlled by the switching oper- 1 ations initiated by the switch 32, causes the pressure fluid to flow via the rotary valve 39 either by way of the pipe line 42 or the pipe line 43, to the one or the other side of the piston 26a. The rotary valve 39 is connected to the pump 40 by means of the pipe 44.

This electrical and hydraulic control arrangement is only indicated. in a purely schematic fashion in Fig. 4.

As is customary with hydraulic drives, a return pipe for Thus, with this hythe pressure fluid, a venting arrangement, a pressure relief valve and the like would be provided in the piping system.

In Figure 3 the pressure roller 6 bears against a side face 7 of the racering 2, as in Figure 1. The pressure roller 6 is mounted in a guide-member 45 which is supported on a base plate 48 by vertical parallel links 46 and 47. The link pair 46 has connecting pivots 46a and 46b, and the link pair 47 has pivots 47a and 47b. The links of the pair 47 are fashioned as lever arms 49 mo tending laterally for a suitable length. The outer end of each of these lever arms 49 is formed with a slot 50 into which is mounted a suspension pin 51 which can be adjusted along the slots by means of a threaded rod 52 which comprises suitable eyes 53 engaging the pin 51. A rod 54 suspended from the pin 51 carries counter weights 55, 55a, 5512. Therefore, by means of these counterweights 55, 55a and 55b acting by way of the lever arms of the links 47, the pressure roller 6 is additionally pressed against the bearing surface 7 of the meeting 2. The dimensions of the lever on the one hand and the value of the counterweights on the other hand are so calculated that this counter-pressure of the pressure roller 6 can substantially compensate the components of the load produced by the deadweight of the furnace and constantly tending to move the latter in a downward direction. This pressure compensation can also be effected by arranging a plurality of such systems according to Fig. 3 at difierent racerings on the cylindrical rotary furnace.

The position of the lever 49 shown in Fig. 3 is that in which this lever settles when the furnace is in the hot operating condition, when the said furnace is in its highest position. When the furnace movement in one direction away from this highest position amounts to ap' proximately 40 mm. and the furnace has moved from its highest position into the lowest position, the lever 49 then rises into the position shown in chain lines in Figure 3.

According to Fig. 3 the lever 49 is also provided with a hand-wheel 56 and spindle 57. One purpose of this hand wheel-spindle arrangement is, when necessary, to swing the lever 49 relatively to the base plate 58 in such a manner that the pressure roller 6 no longer bears against the running surface 7 of the racering 2. Another purpose of this hand- wheel adjustment arrangement 56, 57 is to regulate exactly the appropriate application of the pressure roller 6 against the bearing surface 7 of the racering 2.

I claim:

1. Rotary treatment cylinder fitted with race-rings run ning on support rollers for radial support and operatively engaged by cooperating pressure rollers bearing laterally against said rings for the axial support of said rotary cylinder, wherein two pressure rollers are provided one at each side of a racering each mounted for rotation on a shaft or the like, the lower end of said shafts of said pressure rollers being supported on a guide-member mounted for reciprocating movement substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of said rotary cylinder and automatically controlled driving means operative to impart reciprocating movement to said guide member, whereby said rotary cylinder is positively forced and controlled in both axial directions.

2. Rotary treatment cylinder according to claim 1, wherein said guide-member carrying said pressure rollers is supported on a base plate by a parallel link arrangement, and said driven means for producing the reciprocation of said cylinder is operatively connected to said guidemember.

3. Rotary treatment cylinder according to claim 2, wherein one member of the parallel link arrangement is defined by a triangular lever pivotally mounted on said base plate and presenting a laterally extending arm operatively engaged by said driving means.

4. Rotary treatment cylinder according to claim 1, wherein said guide-member carrying said pressure rollers is driven by hydraulic means including a piston, and said guide member is fitted with means for actuating switch contacts for the electrical control of a distributor valve controlling the alternate to and fro movement of said piston operative upon said guide-member.

5. Rotary treatment cylinder according to claim 4, wherein the lower end of the working cylinder for said piston is pivotally mounted on a base plate, and said piston is pivotally connected at its upper end with means actuating said guide member.

6. Rotary treatment cylinder according to claim 1, wherein a pressure roller which takes the load resulting from the dead weight component of said cylinder is mounted on a movable base provided with a counter-balance arrangement adapted for compensating said load.

7. Rotary treatment cylinder according to claim 6, wherein said movable base is supported by a link presenting a lever arm adapted for the suspension of a counterweight.

8. Rotary treatment cylinder according to claim 6, in which said counter-balance arrangement is provided at the pressure roller of one racering while said cooperating pressure rollers are situated at a second racering.

9. Rotary treatment cylinder according to claim 1, wherein the bearing surfaces of said pressure rollers are rounded.

10. Rotary treatment cylinder in accordance with claim 9 wherein the bearing surfaces of said support rollers for said racering are rounded.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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