Beloit Corporation

Steven J Siler

Jeffrey H Pulkowski

Inductors for heating rolls especially of the type used in rolling mills for sheet materials such as paper, textiles, plastics and the like, are configured to enhance and concentrate eddy currents in areas along the length of the roll to selectively heat the roll as desired and control moisture and caliper properties of the sheet. The inductors have cores with a center leg around which the exciting coil is wound and an outer leg surrounding the coil and connected at one end to the inner leg. These inductors or electromagnets are mounted immediately adjacent a roll of magnetic flux conducting material, such as iron or steel, to heat the roll surface as desired across the length of the roll as it is rotated through the concentrated electromagnetic field generated by the inductor. The magnetic field or flux is concentrated in an annular zone and passes between the nested inner and outer legs of the core through the roll without travelling through a wide air gap and the desired roll temperatures are achieved with minimum current input to the coil. The air gap may be varied in the cross machine direction and the excitation of the inductors may be varied to induce or compensate for temperature variations across the roll.

Inductor configuration for eddy current heating in the papermaking

An apparatus is disclosed for automatically controlling the position of a plurality of slitters for slitting a moving web. A slitter blade and a slitter band are secured respectively to a first and second housing members such that the slitter band cooperates with the slitter blade for slitting the web between the slitter blade and the band. An electronic control is connected to a first and second motor for selectively positioning the blade and band adjacent to each other. The electronic control includes a first and second control module secured to a first and second motor respectively. A digital control computer is connected to the modules for selectively controlling movement of the modules by sending the modules to a designated location using a predetermined number of stepping increments. A monitor is connected to the computer for displaying the position of the slitter blade and the band and a communication bus sequentially conducts control signals from the computer to the modules and sequentially conducts command signals from the modules to the computer for positioning the slitter blade and the band adjacent to each other. A wear detection switch is disposed adjacent the blade for detecting slitter blade wear, the detection switch being electrically connected to the first control module such that when the slitter blade wears, a wear detection signal is generated and conducted from the first module to the computer for compensating for such slitter blade wear.

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Rockton, IL, United States of America

Steven J Siler