Method For Producing Or Machining A Roller, Roller And Functional Layer Of A Roller

Abstract

A method produces or machines a roller which is suitable to be used in a machine for producing or processing a fibrous web. The roller contains a roller core and at least one functional layer. The method is characterized in that the method includes the application of a functional layer. The application of the functional layer is performed by applying a coating substrate to the surface of a roller core. The application takes place simultaneously over at least half the roller width, preferably over 75% of the roller width, particularly preferably over the entire roller width. The entire applied coating substrate or parts thereof are hardened, forming a solidified structure.

Claims

1-17. (canceled)

18. A method for producing or processing a roller suitable to be used in a machine for producing or processing a fibrous web, the roller having a roller core, which comprises the steps of: applying at least one functional layer to the roller core, by the further steps of: applying a coating substrate to a surface of the roller core, wherein an application takes place simultaneously over at least half a roller width; and hardening the coating substrate entirely or parts of the coating substrate applied, forming a solidified structure.

19. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises forming the coating substrate as one of a powder or a liquid.

20. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises forming the coating substrate to contain at least one of a plastic or a metal.

21. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises carrying out the application of the coating substrate by dipping the roller core in a storage volume which is filled with the coating substrate.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the coating substrate adheres to the roller core by electrostatic attraction.

23. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises applying the coating substrate in layers over one another, wherein the application of a following layer of the coating substrate is carried out on a wholly or partly solidified structure of a previous layer.

24. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises adjusting a thickness of an applied layer of the coating substrate by means of a doctor blade which, seen in a direction of rotation of the roller, is disposed after the application of the coating substrate to the roller but before a device for hardening the coating substrate.

25. The method according to claim 18, wherein regions of non-hardened coating substrate are covered wholly or partly by regions of hardened coating substrate of a following layer.

26. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises removing the coating substrate which was not hardened.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein after a removal of non-hardened coating substrate, regions of hardened coating substrate form solidified structures in a form of three-dimensional functional structures.

28. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises carrying out the hardening of the coating substrate wholly or partly by irradiation with light.

29. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises controlling the hardening via a computer system.

30. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises forming the functional layer to have a thickness of more than 6 mm.

31. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises applying the coating substrate over an entire roller width of the roller core.

32. The method according to claim 21, which further comprises rotatably mounting the roller core for carrying out the application of the coating substrate by dipping the roller core in the storage volume.

33. The method according to claim 18, which further comprises forming the functional layer to have a thickness between 10 mm and 20 mm.

34. A method for producing or processing a roller being suitable to be used in a machine for producing or processing a fibrous web, the roller having a roller core, which comprises the steps of: applying at least one functional layer to the roller core, by the further steps of: a) applying a layer of a coating substrate to a surface of the roller core; b) hardening the coating substrate entirely or parts of the coating substrate applied, forming a solidified predefined structure; and c) repeating steps a) and b), so that multiple layers are applied over one another, wherein an application of a following layer of the coating substrate is carried out to a wholly or partly solidified predefined structure of a previous layer, until the at least one functional layer is completed.

35. A roller being suitable to be used in a machine for producing or processing a fibrous web, the roller comprising: a roller core; and at least one functional layer disposed on said roller core according to the method of claim 1.

36. A functional layer of a roller being suitable for use in a machine for producing or processing a fibrous web, the functional layer being applied according to claim 1.

Description

[0034] The invention will be described in detail below, without restricting generality, by using the figures, in which:

[0035] FIG. 1 shows a schematic section, not to scale, of a roll during the machining by means of a method according to the invention.

[0036] FIG. 2 shows a schematic section, not to scale, of a roll during the machining by means of a further method according to the invention.

[0037] FIG. 3 shows a development of the subject matter on FIG. 3.

[0038] FIG. 1 shows a cross section of a roll 1, wherein the roll core 2 is provided with the functional layer 3. Here, the roll 1, which is rotatably mounted, dips with its entire width into a storage volume 6 which is filled with a coating substrate 4. The coating substrate in the example shown in FIG. 1 is a powder, preferably a metal powder or plastic powder. This coating substrate 4 adheres to the roll blank here as a result of electrostatic force. As a result of the immersion in the storage volume 6, a largely undefined quantity of coating substrate 4 adheres to the roll blank. Said substrate is transported forward in the direction of rotation of the roll 1. By means of a doctor 7, the excess of coating substrate 4 can be scraped off, and an exactly defined layer of coating substrate 4 can be conveyed onward. The excess of coating substrate 4 can preferably be led into the storage volume 6 again. This layer is transported onward in the direction of rotation of the roll and, after that, is hardened by means of a laser 5a. This is preferably done by means of the process of selective laser sintering. Here, selective means that it is not the whole of the coating substrate 4 that is sintered and therefore hardened. Instead, by means of computer control, virtually any desired pattern of hardened coating substrate 4a and non-hardened coating substrate 4b can be produced. In order to harden the entire width of the roll surface, use can be made of one or more lasers, and these can, if appropriate, be applied in a manner traversing over the width of the roll.

[0039] This process of the application and hardening of a layer of coating substrate 4 can in principle be repeated as often as desired until the desired thickness of the functional layer 3 is reached. The finished functional layer 3 is preferably thicker than 6 mm, particularly preferably thicker than 10 mm, quite particularly preferably between 10 mm and 20 mm thick. During the layer by layer application and hardening of the coating substrate 4, regions of non-hardened coating substrate 4a can be covered wholly or partly by regions of hardened coating substrate 4b of the following layer wholly or partly. The non-hardened coating substrate 4a, that is to say the powder here, is removed from the functional layer 3 in a further method step. As a result, cavities are produced in the functional layer. In terms of number and shape of these cavities, there is virtually full freedom in the method according to the invention. Even complicated patterns and, for example, channels which extend largely in the interior of the functional layer 3 can thus be implemented. The data for describing the three-dimensional functional structure of the cavities can be read into the computer system of the control, for example from a CAD system.

[0040] FIG. 2 also shows a cross section of a roll 1, wherein the roll core 2 is provided with a functional layer 3. Here, too, the rotatably mounted roll 1 is dipped over its entire width in a storage volume 6 which is filled with coating substrate 4. In the method shown in FIG. 2, the coating substrate 4 consists of a liquid, preferably a liquid plastic. It can be imagined that the plastic is a polyurethane or rubber or another polymer. Otherwise, the method proceeds in principle in exactly the same way as already described in relation to FIG. 1. A doctor 7 scrapes off the excess liquid of the coating substrate 4, which is preferably led into the storage volume 6 again. The hardening of the layered substrate is again carried out by means of irradiation, for example with a laser 5. In this embodiment of the method also, once more multiple layers of coating substrate 4 applied over one another can result in a functional layer 3. In this embodiment of the method according to the invention, too, once more the non-hardened liquid coating substrate 4a is removed, by which means cavities are produced in the functional layer 3. Furthermore, of course, that stated in relation to FIG. 1 also applies with respect to the three-dimensional structure of the cavities.

[0041] FIG. 3 shows a development of the subject matter of FIG. 2, so that that already stated in relation to FIG. 2 applies. The illustration is purely schematic here and therefore not to scale. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the storage volume 6 has a bottom and walls connected to the bottom to receive the coating substrate 4. Furthermore, the level of the coating substrate 4 illustrated in the figures, based on the bottom of the storage volume 6, can also be chosen to be greater, so that the roll 1 dips into the latter more deeply than shown.

[0042] In the present case, the device for hardening the coating substrate 4 is arranged in such a way that the irradiation, for example by means of laser, is carried out through the liquid coating substrate 4, in addition or as an alternative to the arrangement in FIG. 2. That means the beam path extends through the coating substrate 4. Accordingly, the coating substrate 4 can be formed in such a way that it permits such at least partial transmission through the same. The device illustrated for hardening the coating substrate 4, such as the laser radiation source, can be arranged outside, underneath or inside the storage volume 6. If two laser beams are provided, these can be generated by one and the same device.

[0043] Furthermore, the distance s between the bottom of the storage volume 6 and the radially outermost surface of the roll 1 can be chosen in such a way that it corresponds substantially to the thickness of a layer of coating substrate 4 to be applied—seen in the radial direction of the roll 1. Here, substantially means that more than exactly this thickness is possible as the distance s. The distance s can also be adjustable continuously, in particular capable of continuous tracking, and is preferably kept constant during the production method of the roll 1. For this purpose, the roll 1 can be displaceable relative to the storage volume along the drawing plane illustrated, in particular displaceable only translationally (apart from its direction of rotation about the actual axis). The distance s can also be the smallest distance between the aforementioned elements and preferably extends parallel or along a normal to the bottom of the storage volume 6.

[0044] The laser beam shining through the coating substrate 4 can also be focused such that it is incident in the coating substrate 4 in the region of the distance s, that is to say in the region of the thickness of the layer to be produced.