Arrangement in a coating apparatus for a paper/board web
This invention relates to an arrangement in a curtain coater for a paper/board web for precluding the drying of a coating mix on a lip portion of the application bar. Solutions in relation to coating methods of a paper/board web, which apply curtain coating, have been described e.g. in publications WO 01/16427 Al, US 5,773,093 and US 5,885,659.
Curtain coating provides obvious advantages over other methods used for coating a paper/board web. A curtain coater is particularly conceivable as a replacement for air-brush coating. Curtain coating provides a coverage comparable with air-brush coating, and it further enables much higher coating speeds. Moreover, there is no waste of mix in curtain coating, as the coating agent is not sprayed the same way as in air-brush or spray coating. On the other hand, when compared to blade coating, the web is subjected to a much lesser stress by curtain coating, which thus causes less downtime from breaks of the paper web and, hence, results in a better runnability. Curtain coating is not able to provide a smoothness equal to blade coating, yet the coverage achieved thereby is better than that obtained by blade coating.
However, the problem with a curtain coater thus far has been the drying of a coating mix on a lip portion of the application bar. In a slot-fed curtain coater the lip portion is formed by the edges of a coating mix discharge opening, while in a slide-fed curtain coater the lip portion is formed by a feeding lip of the outermost nozzle element, from which the coating mix disengages and forms a coating curtain. The flowing rate of a coating mix being low at a lip portion, the mix has a tendency to dry along the lip portion's edge. Drying occurs particularly in the proximity of a static contact point, at which the coating mix disengages from the lip portion. In a slot-fed curtain coater the static contact point is located on either side of a coating curtain, while in a slide-fed coater it exists on just one side of a coating curtain. As a result of
drying at the lip portion's edge, the mix causes trouble in a coating curtain and, hence, in a coating itself. This manifests itself in streaks and even in "tearing" of a coating curtain.
In conventional prior art solutions, attempts have been made to avoid drying by means of cooling channels. The cooling channels are intended for cooling a lip, such that ambient moisture condenses on the lip and prevents the mix from drying. A problem in such a method is, however, that cooling water has to be kept quite cold, which in turn affects the opening size of a feeding slot and, thus, the coating profile.
It is an object of this invention to provide a novel type of arrangement in relation to a curtain-coating process, whereby the foregoing problems can be overcome.
The object is fulfilled with an arrangement, which is characterized in that the arrangement comprises means for feeding steam and/or moist air at a desired temperature and moisture to the proximity of the lip portion and a down-flowing coating curtain, whereby the moisture content and/or temperature of air surrounding the lip portion and the coating curtain are/is adjustable for controlling the drying of the mix.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the coating curtain is fed from a slot, said steam or moist air feeding means being located in the vicinity of the feeding slot's lip portion, most preferably on either side of the coating curtain.
In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the coating curtain is fed from an inclined platform established by nozzle elements, said steam or moist air feeding means being located in a space between the coating curtain and the outermost nozzle element underneath a lip portion.
In one further embodiment of the invention, the coating curtain is provided with shield elements on either side thereof, by means of which the coating curtain can be surrounded with a confined working space, said feeding means being located thereinside.
The inventive arrangement offers substantial benefits. By including a supply of steam or moist air in the proximity of a coating curtain and the lip portion of a feeding slot, the moisture content and temperature of ambient air can be preferably increased, and in a readily regulable fashion at that. Hence, the drying of a coating mix on the lip portion of an application bar can be precluded for thus eliminating the defects caused thereby in a coating curtain.
Also avoided is the above-mentioned powerful cooling of the application bar's lip portion. The temperature of a lip portion and a coating curtain is brought by means of the inventive arrangement to become lower than the temperature of the ambient space, the condensation of ambient moisture preventing the coating mix from drying.
Another benefit offered by the inventive solution, attributed particularly to the use of said shield panels, is that the stability of a coating curtain can be improved, especially with small amounts of coating. The reason for this is that, if the boundary surface of a coating curtain is formed by dry air, it is expected to be more sensitive to surface tension than in the case of steam or moist air. In the case of a curtain coater, the surface tension of a flowing substance, in this case a coating mix, is often detrimental to the stability of a curtain. A high surface tension requires a faster feed rate for continued stability of the curtain and for producing any curtain at all between limiting edge guides. Thus, it has often been necessary to decrease surface tension by means of chemicals in an effort towards small amounts of coating.
Instead, by providing the coating curtain with a working space surrounding the same and containing steam or moist air, the effect of surface tension,
and hence the stability of a coating curtain, can be more effectively controlled.
The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:
Fig. 1 shows a slot-fed curtain coater in cross-section, and
Fig. 2 shows a slide-fed curtain coater in cross-section.
Fig. 1 depicts a curtain coater 1 of the invention, wherein the application of a coating onto a paper web 35 is effected from a feeding slot 20 arranged laterally of the paper web 35. Coating mix is delivered into the feeding slot 20 generally by means of pressure. The boundary surface between a lip portion 13, formed by a lower section of the feeding slot 20, and the coating mix develops static contact points 8, whereat the coating mix assumes the form of a coating curtain 32.
The coating curtain flows under gravity towards the paper web 35 moving in the direction indicated by the arrow in fig. 1. The point of application between the coating curtain 32 and the paper web 35 develops a second boundary surface, i.e. a dynamic contact point 9, whereat the coating curtain spreads as a coating layer 34 on top of the paper web 35.
Steam or moist air feeding means 3 are located near the lip portion 13 of the feeding slot 20 and exist in this embodiment preferably on either side of the coating curtain 32, the static contact point 8 also developing on either side of the coating curtain 32.
A preferred embodiment of the invention shown in fig. 1 further includes shield elements 2 and 2a for stabilizing the coating curtain 32 and provided on either side of the coating curtain 32, which enable confining a working
space, said feeding means 3 being located thereinside and said shield elements 2 and 2a facilitating the supply of steam or moist air into the working space. On the other hand, the injection of steam or moist air is also preferably achievable by not applying it directly to the coating curtain 32 in order not to disturb its stability thereby. In this case, the shield panels 2 and 2a are not necessary. There may also be a shield panel 2 on just one side of the coating curtain 32.
By including a supply of steam or moist air in the proximity of the coating curtain 32 and the lip portion 8 of the feeding slot 20, the moisture content and temperature of ambient air can be increased as desired. Thus, the temperature of cooling water used for cooling the vicinity of the lip portion 13 need not be low. In addition, since the temperature of the lip portion 13 and the coating mix is now lower than that of surrounding steam or moist air, condensation occurs even without cooling and, hence, cooling and cooling elements, designated by numeral 4 in fig. 1 for illustrative purposes, are not absolutely necessary at all.
Fig. 2 shows another preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein the curtain coater comprises a slide-fed curtain coater. It has nozzle elements 11 and an outermost nozzle element 12 together constituting a nozzle block, a coating mix layer 15 delivered by way of its feeding slots 20 being run along an inclined platform established by the nozzle block's top surface and the coating curtain 32 forming as the coating mix is falling under gravity towards the paper web 35 from the lip portion 13 formed by the final nozzle element 12. In this embodiment, the steam or moist air feeding means 3 are located in a space between the down-flowing coating curtain 32 and the outermost nozzle element 12 underneath the feeding lip 13.
In this situation, shown in fig. 2, the feeding means 3 are located to the left of the coating curtain 32, the static contact point 8 developing in this case at
only a single point in a boundary surface between the lip portion 13 of the outermost nozzle element 12 and the coating curtain 32.