Apparatus For Heat Treatment Of Cables Laid In Folds

Abstract

An apparatus for heat treatment of cables made of endless synthetic fibers and laid in folds which comprises a heat insulated housing, and sieve drum means rotatably mounted in said housing, said sieve drum means having a conveying surface for the cables to be treated and being subjected to a suction draft by fan means whereby a heated gaseous treatment medium is drawn from the housing through the conveying surface of the drum, and means are provided for arranging at least one endless cable of synthetic fibers in layered folds and in a radial alignment, in terms of the width of the cable, corresponding to its particular layering position on the conveying surface of the sieve drum, the cable being held on the conveying surface of said sieve drum by the suction draft.

Description

This invention relates to an apparatus for the heat treatment, for example, drying or fiber fixing, of cables (particularly flat cables) laid in folds and made up of endless synthetic fibers, the apparatus including a heat insulated housing and sieve drum means which rotates in a treatment chamber and which is placed under suction draft by fan means, the covering surface of said drum being covered against suction draft in the area not covered by the cable material by a sheet metal cover or baffle.

Sieve drum apparatus are known for the treatment of many kinds of textile goods or materials. In general, the textile material to be treated is held or retained only by means of the suction draft which prevails inside the sieve drum and which is generated, for example, by fans arranged on the front side or end of the drum means and the material to be treated is also transported through the housing, for example, in a meandering path with alternate placement upon the supporting sieve or perforated surfaces of two or more sieve drums. In order to confine the suction draft only to that part of the drum upon which the textile material rests on the jacket or casing of the drum, covers or guards are arranged in the jacket or casing sector not covered by the material.

By means of sieve drum apparatus, not only can the particular materials be subjected to intensive treatment with a gaseous treatment medium, which can be explained in terms of the thorough-flow ventilation, but the materials can also be exposed to the treatment medium without any tension and without any suction or pressure stress. This is advantageous not only for those goods which should freely shrink during treatment, but also for strand-like goods which are transported or conveyed through the housing of the apparatus in a folded manner for the better utilization of the machine capacity. The strand-like material or goods can come to rest on the drum in tight or dense, flapped lying coils, without any concern or objections. It wwll not fall off, instead, it is steadily passed on from one drum to the next without any trouble.

Cables made of endless synthetic fibers, which have been given the wrinkling or crinkling necessary for the further treatment of fibers, for example, by means of a buckling chamber or wrinkling device, can also be treated in the sieve drum apparatus, e.g., dryers. The cables are either placed on the sieve drum in a buckled or looped fashion in the direction of transport, for example, by overfeeding, or they are guided in zig-zag folds. Both kinds of fiber guidance involve disadvantages because, during the transport of the cable through the dryer additional bends and folds develop in the cable and these bends and folds will, of course, be fixed in forever during the heat treatment.

It is known that the flat or ribbon-like cables can be so deposited that they will come to rest on a support only with their edges and that these cables will otherwise be lined up roughly perpendicularly to the support. By virtue of this position, there will be no bends developing at the turning points of the cable, that is, no bends which could be fixed in during heat treatment. In the arrangement of the cable, which has a certain width, perpendicular to the alignment of the support, the radii at the deflection points are greater and the radii continue to be so also during treatment because they cannot be reduced by the cable material being stacked up in layers. Advantageously, the permanent fixing of bends at these points can in this way be avoided.

So far, only a horizontally guided sieve band or belt has been considered as a support for a cable deposited in this fashion. According to this invention, this band or belt can advantageously be impacted with a suction draft for thorough-flow ventilation.

The purpose of the invention is to develop a sieve or perforated apparatus with the favorable thorough-flow ventilation system and a steam-lined fan arrangement with which cables can be dried or fixed in an economical fashion without any bends being fixed in or retained according to the cable deposition or arrangement.

On the basis of the apparatus mentioned heretofore, the apparatus of the invention is considered to be characterized in that the endless cable is radially arranged on the sieve drum casing or surface in terms of its width, corresponding to the particular layer position. Astonishingly enough, it has been found that the suction draft from the fan means is enough to hold the cable in place.

For added security, it is advantageous to provide guide means for the support of the cable being retained on the sieve drum surface and these means may be designed in the form of guide rods or also as endless sieve or perforated conveyor belts. The endless conveyor belt, which can surround a part of the sieve drum, can then extend roughly horizontally, about from the lower apex of the drum, tangentially with respect to it, over a longer distance, surrounded by the heat insulated housing. The sieve belt, however, can also adjoin slide mechanisms.

This latter device is advantageous particularly when the fixing time or the working speed exceeds a certain duration. It is, of course, also possible to increase the drum circumference, in other words, the drum diameter, but this approach may assume an uneconomical size in its design.

A screen or sieve belt device can be designed in the necessary length, depending upon the required fixing time or the desired production speed without adversely influencing the machine in any way in terms of its economy. But at all times, use is made of the advantage of the sieve drum which is arranged at the beginning of the entire apparatus and this advantage is important in eating up the cable. Once the cable has taken on its temperature, it need be exposed to the fixing temperature only for a certain period of time.

Although, thorough-flow ventilation is not absolutely necessary while the material is exposed to the fixing temperature, it may nevertheless be particularly advantageous to allow a gaseous treatment medium to flow through the material or goods over the entire length of the housing, for example, by associating fan means with the sieve belt extending through the housing. These ventilators will place the underside of the sieve belt under a suction draft. This measure is particularly recommended for uniform temperature distribution over the entire length of the housing.

At the outlet or exit of the heat treatment apparatus, the fixed cable must once again be drawn off the conveyor belt and must, if necessary, be fed or transported to a folding or plaiting device. Here it is impossible to prevent a longitudinal tension from being exerted on the cable. This is not dangerous when the cable has already been cooled off, for which purpose the sieve belt of the device extends outward, beyond the outlet, and for which purpose likewise, a cooling device is provided under the belt outside the housing.

The device according to the invention can be further characterized by a large number of additional features, especially for the fixing of endless cables. For example, a cable filling funnel can be arranged perpendicularly, above the sieve drum, and roughly tangential to it. Depending upon the number ov cables to be treated on the drum, we can provide several filling funnels, next to each other, in the axial direction of the drum. In each of these filling funnels, the arm of a cable folding device or cuttle motion device, swinging back and forth longitudinally and parallel to the drum axis, should reach in so that the cable can be stacked up into the funnel in a uniform position, in order to be able to be moved from there continually toward the drum although now lined up in the radial direction with respect to the drum.

After the treatment of the cable, it is best removed from the sieve drum by means of a cable withdrawal means arranged parallel to the filling funnel at the outlet side of the drum and it is then moved on to the next machine, which is likewise a folding or cuttle motion device.

The interval or spacing between the surface of the sieve drum and the endless belt can be brought about by hoops, rings or the like, made of any desired pieces of curved section steel and arranged around the drum. The hoops or rings or the like should be exchangeable and should be arranged so that they can be moved along the axis of the drum so that the space between the hoops or the like on the drum will roughly correspond to the swing width of the cable folding device in the filling funnel.

It is desirable to place a fresh air suction opening in the area of the outlet of the apparatus in order to conduct fresh air as part of the counter current principle through the dryer or the like. In addition to the exhaust air flap in the area of the inlet, it is also advantageous to provide another air exhaust opening on the drum exit side in the area of the cable withdrawal or discharge opening, and through this additional air exhaust opening it is possible to have cool fresh air blow around the cable for better cooling over a longer period of time.

It is also suggested to provide a piece of covering sheet metal at the portion of the casing of a sieve drum not covered by the material so that the suction draft, generated by the fan, will not take effect at these points. In a further development, the invention provides that an additional piece of sheet metal is provided parallel to this covering sheet metal, said additional piece of sheet metal being capable of moving as required in telescope fashion and thus screening or masking a larger area of the circumferential surface of the drum casing, not covered by the material, against the suction draft. This is particularly advantageous when the treatment time and the duration of time which the cable material spends in the apparatus are to be throttled or choked. Such fixing apparatus depend on the feeding speed of the series-connected units. However, to reduce the time the material spends in the apparatus, it would not be desirable to let the drum revolve faster because it would then be no longer possible to have the cable feeding speed necessary to maintain the position of the cable along the drum in accordance with the invention.

If the device according to the invention is arranged in a chemical fiber treatment assembly line, for example, with a series connected cable wrinkling device, then it may be especially advantageous if the drum axis is lined up parallel to the cable transport direction of the assembly line because this is the only way the cable does not have to be swung around or turned by a certain angle or subjected to any similar operations. The otherwise customary arrangement of the sieve drum device in this case here offers considerable advantages, especially as regards the desired technological properties of the cable.

It will be appreciated that each of the embodiments of the invention described and illustrated are of significance by themselves as well as in combination with each other.

The apparatus of this invention will be further understood from the following detailed description and with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a cross section through an embodiment of an apparatus for treating textile cables including a sieve drum in a heat insulated housing;

FIG. 2 shows a cross section through the apparatus of FIG. 1 taken perpendicularly to the cross section view shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows, on a reduced scale, the apparatus of the invention in a top view as part of a chemical fiber treatment assembly line;

FIG. 4 shows a cross section of another embodiment of the apparatus of the invention including a sieve or perforated belt device with a sieve drum, arranged at the entrance for the purpose of heating up the textile material;

FIG. 5 shows the sieve belt device according to FIG. 4 with another means for guiding the belt; and

FIG. 6 shows a cross section through the sieve drum, arranged at the entrance of the apparatus of FIG. 4 taken along the line III--III.

In FIG. 1 a sieve drum 2 is rotatably positioned in the heat insulated housing 1 of the textile treating apparatus. On the front side, a fan 3, as shown in FIG. 2, is provided in fan chamber 5 which is separated from the treatment chamber 4. The gaseous treatment medium is drawn off from the inside of the sieve drum by means of the fan 3 and is once again transported back into the treatment chamber 4 via the heating means 6 and via a perforated cover sheet 7. In this particular case, the fan blows only against the underside of the chamber 4. Sieve drum 2 is encompassed by rings 8 which serve as spacing members for an endless sieve or preforated conveyor belt 9, preferably a yarn fabric belt, which is guided around the sieve drum and which is elastically tensioned. Rings 8 are exchangeable and their width roughly corresponds to the width of the textile cable just being treated. In place of the rings, bars protruding radially from the sieve drum can also be provided. In the ring space, formed by the belt and the perforated surface of the sieve drum, each of the endless flat cables 10 made of synthetic fibers is guided in a radial alignment, their width corresponding to the layering position. This means that the cable touches the sieve drum sieve or perforated surface only with one edge while otherwise it would be lined up roughly perpendicularly to drum 2. The deflection or bending points, which result along the edge of the sieve drum 2 during folding cannot be fixed in because no pressure is exerted on the radii here due to the special position of the cable.

Filling funnel 11, which is necessary for the stacking of each cable 10 in a layered manner is partly filled with the deposited cable 10. Consequently, the cable is fed to the sieve drum solely due to gravity. Arm 12 of a cable folding or depositing device, swinging back and forth longitudinally and parallel to the drum axis, extends into the filling or charging funnel in order to stack the cable in uniform layer widths, in terms of the width of the funnel. One or more of these folding or deposit devices may be provided as desired (FIG. 2). Rings 8 could also be attached to the casing surface of the drum so that they can be moved parallel to the surface of the drum 2 in order that they may be adjusted to the layer width of the deposited or unwound cable.

Parallel to filling funnel 11, a cable extraction or withdrawal device 13 is arranged on the outlet side of the drum and this device may have an arrangement 14 attached to its underside in order to control the speed of the cable extraction or withdrawal. Depending upon whether the cable is guided to the extraction device in an abundant volume or only slowly, it is possible to control the speed of the cable folding device 15, as indicated in FIG. 3, by means of the arrangement 14, which may, for example, be oscillating elements or light barriers.

In the wall of the housing 1 of the treatment apparatus there is provided, on the exit side, a fresh air suction opening 16 through which fresh air can first of all be drawn in along the direction of the arrows shown laterally, through the cable, into the sieve drum, while a part of the fresh air, however, can escape also through an air exhaust opening 17 provided on the cable exit side. In this way, the fixed cable can be properly cooled off. It is customary to provide, on the cable inlet side, more specifically, on the level of the fan chamber 5, an air exhaust valve 18 in an exhaust duct 19. The gaseous treatment medium which is, for example, filled with vapors of finishing liquid preparations or coatings are evacuated through this duct 19.

In the area of sieve drum 2, not covered by the textile material, in the form of cable layers there is arranged a covering sheet metal baffle 23. To reduce the treatment time with a constant rpm of the drum 2, there is provided an additional covering sheet 24 which can be moved in a telescoping fashion.

Dry air and, if necessary, super-heated steam can be used as the gaseous treatment medium for a fixing operation, i.e., wherein the synthetic fibers are fixed or set. If a steam atmosphere is to be maintained in the housing, the steam required enters the fan chamber through a nozzle 20. The steam is sweeped along by the air circulating in a cycle and is brought to the cable; thus steam-air mixtures are also used.

FIG. 3 shows a special arrangement of the sieve drum apparatus in a chemical fiber treatment assembly line. Here, the drum axis runs parallel to the direction of transportation of cable 10 which is indicated with arrows 21. In this way, cable 10, which is fed from the wrinkling or buckling devices 22, can be passed on directly to arm 12 of the depositing device in an unchanged position. Likewise, the devices 15, which deposit the fixed cable in prepared cardboard boxes, are in the axial direction of the drum behind the sieve drum device.

The treatment device according to FIG. 4 consists of a heat insulated housing in which sieve drum 2 is rotatably positioned and a heat insulated housing 1' through which extends the endless conveyor belt 9 which is placed longitudinally around the sieve drum 2. Fan 3, according to FIG. 6, of the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 blows both upward and downward, whereby the heated air which is blown upward is not directly supplied to the sieve drum but rather, first of all, to the cable material lying on the belt.

The filling funnel 11, which is necessary to feed the cable 10 is, to the extent possible, arranged outside housing 1 with the swinging arm 12 which oscillates back and forth parallel to the drum axis. This arrangement provides better accessibility to the depositing or layering device. The cable, which is first twisted by 90.degree. by means of guide 25, is stacked up in terms of its width in uniform layer widths which can be varied by means of rings 8, so that the cable comes to lie radially on the sieve drum and on the adjoining sieve belt which is lined up roughly perpendicularly to the drum.

After sieve drum 2 has been enveloped by sieve belt 9 for roughly one-quarter of its circumference, it is guided longitudinally through housing 1' by means of deflection rollers 26 to 30. Here, according to the embodiment of FIG. 4, the sieve or perforated conveyor belt is at first guided diagonally upward. Consequently, first of all, compared to the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the gaseous treatment medium flows through the cable material somewhat longer along the sieve drum and, second the cable material layers are inclined somewhat to the rear which, in conclusion, makes it possible to draw the cable off in a better manner. This also makes it possible to use standard sieve drum compartments although, in the area of housing part 1', the conveyor belt 9 should be placed under a suction draft by fans 31 in order, for example, to get a uniform temperature distribution over the length of housing 1'. But the same can also be achieved in the apparatus according to FIG. 5. Outside of the housing 1' there is arranged, below the belt 9, a cooling device 32, through which fresh air is drawn from the outside atmosphere into the housing 1'.

While the novel embodiments of the invention have been described, it will be understood that various omissions, modifications and changes in these embodiments may be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for heat treatment of flat or ribbon-like cables made of endless synthetic fibers and laid in folds which comprises a heat insulated housing, sieve drum means rotatably mounted in said housing, said sieve drum means having a conveying surface for the cables to be treated and being subjected to a suction draft by fan means whereby a heated gaseous treatment medium is drawn from the housing through the conveying surface of the drum, and means for arranging at least one endless ribbon-like cable of synthetic fibers in layered folds having bends therebetween and in a radial alignment, in terms of the width of the cable, corresponding to its particular layering position on the conveying surface of the sieve drum, said means also positioning said at least one endless ribbon-like cable so that a longitudinal edge of said cable contacts the conveying surface of said sieve drum, and said cable being held on the conveying surface of said sieve drum by the suction draft.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein guide means are provided to help support the cable that is being held on the conveying surface of the sieve drum means.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the guide means comprise slide bars provided on said sieve drum means, said slide bars contacting the bends of the layered folds of said cable.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the guide means comprises a sieve-like endless conveyor belt means which runs around a part of the drum circumference of said sieve drum means, with a distance from the conveying surface that corresponds to the width of the cable, one longitudinal edge of the cable contacting said conveyor belt means and the other longitudinal edge of the cable contacting said conveying surface.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the endless conveyor belt means runs around only about one-quarter of the circumference of the sieve drum means approximately to the lower apex of the drum means and at a tangent with the surface of the drum means said conveyor belt means being enclosed over its major length by the housing.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the conveyor belt means, after running off the sieve drum means is first guided obliquely upward and then horizontally by support means.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the gaseous treatment medium flows through the cable over the entire length of the housing.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein additional fan means are associated with the substantially horizontally extending conveyor belt means and said additional fan means subject the underside of the belt means which carries the cable to a suction draft.

9. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said endless conveyor belt extends outward beyond the housing and over a cooling means which imparts cooling to the cable on the belt outside said housing.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said means for arranging the cable on the sieve drum means includes folding means having a cable filling funnel means arranged perpendicularly above the sieve drum means and approximately tangential to the conveying surface of the drum means.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the folding means also includes an arm means which oscillates parallel to a drum axis and which reaches into the filling funnel means.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein several filling funnel means are arranged, with their associated folding means next to each other, along the sieve drum to supply more than one cable in a folded condition to said drum means.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein a cable withdrawal means is arranged parallel to the filling funnel means on the exit side of the drum means.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a space for guiding the cable is provided between an endless conveyor belt means and the conveying surface of the drum means by spacer means which are arranged around the drum means, said cable being disposed with one longitudinal edge contacting said belt means and the other longitudinal edge contacting said conveying surface.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the spacer means are exchangeable and are arranged so that they can be moved longitudinally with respect to the axis of the drum means.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a fresh air suction opening is provided on the cable exit side of the housing for cooling said cable on said sieve drum means, and an exhaust flap means is arranged in an air inlet duct on the cable inlet side of the drum housing.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein an air exhaust opening is provided, in addition to the air exhaust on the drum inlet side, in the housing in the area of an opening for allowing discharge of the cable.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein baffle means are provided on the drum means for interrupting a portion of said suction draft and other baffle means are provided that can be moved as desired in a telescope fashion to mask a larger area of the circumferential surface of the drum means which is not covered by cable material against the suction draft.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the drying performance can be controlled in a continuous single-stage fashion as a function of the speed of the fan means.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, in a chemical fiber treatment in an assembly line with a series-connected cable buckling means, the axis of said sieve drum means being arranged parallel to the cable transport direction of the assembly line.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the cable buckling means and a cable folding means are arranged in the filling funnel means for the sieve drum means approximately in one line behind each other.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein another cable folding means is positioned behind the sieve drum means and the cable withdrawal means is arranged substantially in a line, one behind the other, with the cable folding means.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the speed at which the cable folding device deposits the cable can be controlled as a function of the speed with which the cable is drawn off the sieve drum means.

24. The apparatus of claim 11, in a chemical fiber treatment assembly line with a series-connected cable buckling means, guide means being provided above cable folding means which twists cable by 90.degree..

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein an oscillating arm means and the filling funnel means are arranged outside housing.

26. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein means are provided for interrupting the suction draft over a portion of the sieve drum means which does not contact the cable to be treated.

27. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein guide means are provided on said sieve drum means for positioning the layered folds of cable on the conveying surface of said sieve drum means, one longitudinal edge of the cable contacting the conveying surface and the bends in the layered folds contacting said guide means.