High speed granule delivery system and method

Abstract

A high speed granule delivery system and method is disclosed for dispensing granules in intermittent patterns onto a moving asphalt coated strip in the manufacture of roofing shingles. The system includes a granule hopper and a rotationally indexable pocket wheel having an alternating series of pockets and lands formed into the circumference thereof, and which is positioned adjacent a nozzle in the bottom of the hopper. Upper and lower side portions of the pocket wheel define and are exposed to upper and lower extents of a store of granules. A seal on the bottom of the lower extent of the store of granules seals against the raised lands as the wheel is indexed. In use, the pockets of the pocket wheel drive through and are filled with granules in the store of granules. As each pocket is indexed beyond the seal, it is exposed to the moving asphalt coated strip below and its granules fall onto the strip to be embedded in the hot tacky asphalt.

Claims

1. A method of depositing granules in a preselected pattern onto a moving web, the method comprising the steps of: (a) establishing a store of granules having an upper extent and a lower extent above a moving web; (b) obtaining a pocket wheel having an axis of rotation and at least one granule pocket formed in a peripheral surface of the pocket wheel; (c) locating the pocket wheel above the moving web such that the axis of rotation of the pocket wheel is between the upper extent and the lower extent of the store of granules and a portion of the peripheral surface of the pocket wheel is exposed to the store of granules; (d) rotating the pocket wheel to move the at least one pocket into the upper extent of the store of granules such that the pocket collects a charge of granules from the store; (e) further rotating the pocket wheel to move the at least one pocket downward into the lower extent of the store of granules such that the granules within the store maintain the charge of granules within the at least one pocket; (f) further rotating the pocket wheel until the at least one pocket begins to emerge from the lower extent of the store of granules and as a result of emerging from the lower extent of the store of granules, begins to become exposed to the moving web below; (g) further rotating the pocket wheel to move the pocket containing the charge of granules through an inverted orientation above the moving web; (h) allowing the charge of granules to fall from the pocket onto the moving web as the pocket moves through the inverted orientation; and (i) repeating steps (d) through (h) to deposit successive charges of granules onto the moving web.

2. The method of claim 1 where in step (g) the pocket is moved through the inverted orientation at a speed that matches or that is a predetermined ratio of the speed of the moving web below.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising leveling the charge of granules in the pocket as the pocket emerges from the lower extent of the store in step (f) to insure a substantially uniform volume of the charge prior to step (h).

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of leveling comprises progressively moving the pocket past a seal as the pocket emerges from the lower extent of the store.

5. A method of depositing granules onto a moving asphalt coated web in the manufacturing of roofing shingles, the method comprising the steps of: (a) establishing a store of granules with the store having an upper extent and a lower extent located above the moving asphalt coated web; (b) moving a pocket in a downward direction through the upper extent of the store of granules such that the pocket collects a charge of granules from the store; (c) further moving the pocket in a downward direction through the lower extent of the store of granules such that the granules within the store maintain the charge of granules within the pocket; (d) further moving the pocket in a downward direction until the pocket and granules collected therein progressively emerge from the lower extent of the store of granules and as a result of emerging begin to be exposed to the moving asphalt coated web; (e) further moving the pocket progressively through an inverted orientation to allow the granules collected in the pocket to fall from the pocket onto the moving asphalt coated web below; and (f) repeating steps (b) through (e) to deposit additional successive collections of granules onto the moving asphalt coated web below.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the pocket is formed on a peripheral surface of a rotatable pocket wheel and wherein steps (b) through (e) comprise rotating the pocket wheel.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein multiple pockets are formed on the peripheral surface of the pocket wheel and wherein steps (b) through (e) are carried out with each pocket.

8. The method of claim 5 further comprising a step of metering a volume of granules in the pocket as the pocket emerges from the lower extent of the store of granules.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of metering the volume of granules comprises moving the pocket past a seal situated at the lower extent of the store of granules.

10. The method of claim 5 where in step (e) the pocket is moved at a speed that is substantially the same as the speed of the moving asphalt web.

11. The method of claim 5 were in step (e) the pocket is moved at a speed that is faster than the speed of the moving asphalt web.

12. The method of claim 5 where in step (e) the pocket is moved at a speed that is slower that the speed of the moving asphalt web.

13. The method of claim 5 wherein steps (b) through (e) are carried out during a continuous movement of the pocket.

14. The method of claim 5 wherein steps (b) through (e) are carried out through intermittent movements of the pocket.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 shows granule patterns on strips of material resulting from a traditional prior art granule delivery system run at various increasing production speeds.

(2) FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a prototype apparatus that embodies principles of the system.

(3) FIG. 3 is a partially sectioned perspective view of a system that embodies principles of the present invention showing operation of the system to deliver granules to a asphalt coated strip.

(4) FIG. 4 shows granule patterns on a strip of material resulting from use of the system of this invention to deliver granules on the strip.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(5) Reference will now be made in more detail to the drawing figures, wherein like reference numerals, where appropriate, indicate like parts throughout the several views. FIG. 1 illustrates the production speed limitations of a traditional prior art granule blender type granule delivery system. Five webs of material 11, 12, 13, 14, and 16 were advanced along a shingle production line at five different production rates. As illustrated, web 11 was advanced at 450 FPM, web 12 at 600 FPM, web 13 at 700 FPM, web 14 at 720 FPM, and web 16 was advanced at 750 FPM. As each web moved beneath the granule blender, the blender dropped granules onto the moving web in the traditional prior art manner. In FIG. 1, the machine direction in which the strips of material moved is indicated by arrow M. In each case, a pattern of granules 17, 18, 19, 21, and 22 was deposited onto the respective strip of material by the granule blender. The leading edges of each granule pattern are at the top of FIG. 1 and indicated by numeral 23. Trailing edges are near the bottom of FIG. 1 and are indicated by numeral 24.

(6) As can be seen from FIG. 1, at a production or web speed of 450 FPM, which is a common production speed in the industry, a reasonably tight and well defined pattern of granules is deposited onto the strip 11. There is some trailing edge patterning, but within acceptable limits. This pattern is acceptable and common for commercial shingle production. As the production speed is increased, the pattern of granules deposited by the prior art granule blender delivery system becomes more and more degraded. At 600 FPM, for instance, the pattern appears a bit more indistinct, the trailing edge 24 is thinned and spread more in the non-machine direction, and the leading edge 23 is less distinct. The same phenomenon continues with increasing production speeds until at 750 FPM production speed, the deposited granules are unacceptably patterned throughout, and the leading and trailing edges of the pattern are unacceptably indistinct. It will thus be seen that traditional prior art granule delivery systems limit the practical production speed of a shingle manufacturing operation to somewhat less than 750 FPM.

(7) FIG. 2 shows a prototype apparatus that was built to test the methodology of the present invention. The prototype apparatus comprises a housing at least partially defined by side walls 25. A hopper wall 30 is mounted between the side walls 25 and extends downwardly at an angle toward the bottom rear portion of the housing. A rear wall 35 closes the back side of the housing and together with the angled hopper wall 30 defines an open top hopper 29 for receiving and holding a store of granules to be dispensed by the apparatus. A pocket wheel 36 is mounted in the bottom portion of the housing via a shaft 38 journaled in bearings 39 such that the pocket wheel is rotatable in the direction of arrow 41. The shaft 38 is coupled through coupler 40 to an indexing drive mechanism including indexer 26, which, in turn, is driven by a servo motor through a gear box 27.

(8) The pocket wheel 36 in this embodiment is generally cylindrical in shape and its peripheral surface is formed with a series of depressed pockets 42 separated by raised lands 43. In the prototype shown in FIG. 2, a total of six pockets 42 are formed around the periphery of the pocket wheel 36; however, more or fewer than six pockets are possible within the scope of the invention. Further, the pockets of the prototype are generally rectangular, but they may have other configurations for depositing granule charges in different patters as described in more detail below. In operation, the drive mechanism is controlled by the indexer in this case to cause the pocket wheel 36 to rotate in direction 41 in incremental steps of one-sixth of a circle, or 60 degrees. In other words, the pocket wheel is incremented through 60 degrees and then stops for a predetermined time before being incremented again through 60 degrees and so on. The time between incremental rotations as well as the speed of rotation during incremental rotations can be controlled to correspond to a given production rate.

(9) FIG. 3 illustrates in more detail the high speed granule delivery system 28 for depositing a charge of granules onto a moving asphalt coated strip 32. The system 28 comprises a granule hopper 29 (only the lower portion of which is visible in FIG. 2) having a nozzle or mouth 34. The mouth 34 of the hopper is generally defined by the rear wall 35 on the right and the angled hopper wall 30 on the left so that granules 31 in the hopper are constrained to flow downwardly to the relatively narrow mouth 34 of the hopper 29 under the influence of gravity. The granules continue to flow downward into the portion of the upper extent of the store of granules defined by the upper side portion of the pocket wheel 36 and the portion of the rear wall 35 of the hopper 29 that extends downwardly below the mouth 34 of the hopper 29.

(10) The pocket wheel 36 is rotatably mounted at the bottom of the hopper adjacent the mouth 34. The pocket wheel 36 in the illustrated embodiment is formed with a hub 37 that is mounted on an axle 38, which, in turn, is journaled for rotation within a bearing assembly 39. The bearing assembly 39 is mounted a side wall 25 (FIG. 2) of the system, which is not visible in the partial cross sectional view of FIG. 2. In operation, as described in more detailed below, the pocket wheel 36 is rotated in direction 41 in indexed increments by the drive mechanism.

(11) The pocket wheel 36 is generally cylindrical in shape except that its peripheral portion is formed or otherwise configured in this embodiment to define a series of pockets 42 separated by raised lands 43. There are a total of six pockets in the embodiment of FIG. 3, but it will be understood by the skilled artisan that this is not a limitation of the invention and that more or fewer than six pockets may be provided. In any event, the pockets are sized such that they define a volume between opposing lands and the sides of the pockets that is substantially equal to the desired volume of a charge of granules to be deposited onto the moving asphalt coated strip 32 below.

(12) A baffle 44 extends downwardly from the rear wall 35 of the hopper to a lower extent of the store of granules 31 that is below the axis of rotation of the pocket wheel, and a seal mount fixture 46 is attached to the lower end of the baffle 44 and extends downwardly therefrom. Secured within the seal mount fixture 46 is an elongated seal 48 that is held by the seal mount fixture at a position such that the seal 48 engages against the raised lands 43 of the pocket wheel 36 as the lands move past the seal 48. Similarly, the seal 48 rides across the open pockets of the pocket when as the pockets rotate past the seal. In the illustrated embodiment, the seal 48 comprises a set of brushes 49 fixed within the seal mount fixture 46 and extending to engage the passing lands, thereby forming a brush seal. It is not necessary that the seal between the seal 48 and the raised lands be water tight. It is only necessary that the seal 48 seal substantially against migration of granules past the seal as the pocket wheel rotates. The brush seal created by the set of brushes 49 has proven adequate to meet this need. Further, the brush seal shown in this embodiment have proven to function well for leveling a charge of granules in the pockets as the pockets rotate past the seal.

(13) Although brush seals are shown and described above, seals other than brush seals, such as, for instance, rubber fins, a solid gate, a movable gate, a rotary gate, or any other mechanism that prevents unwanted granules from migrating past the periphery of the pocket wheel may be substituted for the illustrated brush seals. Any and all sealing mechanisms should be construed to be equivalent to the illustrated brush seals in FIG. 2. Further, the location or position of the seal around the periphery of the pocket wheel also may be adjusted by an adjustment slot 47 or other appropriate mechanism to change the angle of attack and other characteristics of granules dispensed during operation of the system, as described in more detail below.

(14) Operation of the system 28 to perform the method of the invention will now be described in more detail with continuing reference to FIG. 3. The system 28 is mounted along a shingle fabrication line just above a conveyor, along which a strip 32 of substrate material coated with hot liquid asphalt is conveyed in a downstream or machine direction 33 at a production speed of S feet per minute. The hopper 29 of the system is filled with granules 31 to be dispensed intermittently onto the surface of the strip 32 in substantially rectangular patterns as the strip 32 moves past and below the granule delivery system 28. As the sticky asphalt coated strip 32 moves past the granule delivery system, the drive mechanism rotates the pocket wheel through an increment of rotation and then stops before rotating the wheel through a next successive increment of rotation.

(15) In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 3, the increment of rotation, indicated by arrow 51, is one-sixth of a full circle since the pocket wheel 36 of this particular embodiment has six pockets. Further an increment begins with the seal 48 engaging and sealing against the top of one of the lands that separate the pockets and ends with the seal 48 engaging and sealing against the top of the next successive land. Preferably, any acceleration or deceleration of the pocket wheel occurs while the seal is still riding on the land such that the pockets are moving at their full linear speed when they begin to be exposed beyond the seal. In the process, the pocket 42 between the two lands progressively rotates beyond the seal 48 and is exposed to the moving asphalt coated strip below.

(16) With continued reference to FIG. 3, and with the forgoing description in mind, it will be seen that when the pocket wheel is rotated, each pocket drives through the portion of the store of granules 31 that is below the mouth 34 of the hopper 29 before encountering and moving beyond the seal 48. This fills the volume of the pocket with granules. As the pocket begins to rotate beyond the seal 48, the seal rides across the open pocket to level off the granule charge in the pocket at about the location of the tops of the lands so that the volume of the granule charge is about the same as the volume of the pocket.

(17) As soon as the pocket begins to move past the seal 48, the granules in the pocket begin to fall toward the moving strip below under the influence of gravity, as indicated generally by arrow 48. At the same time, the granules leave the pocket with a forward speed imparted to them by the rotational momentum of the pocket wheel in direction 51. The downward and forward motion causes the charge of granules to approach the moving asphalt coated strip 32 at an angle 13, which is referred to herein as the angle of attack or angular discharge. The angular discharge of the granule charge can be varied according to need through adjustment of the circumferential location where the seal 48 engages the lands 43 of the pocket wheel. The stop position of the pocket wheel between intermittent rotations also can be adjusted to affect the angular discharge of the charge of granules as needed.

(18) In one embodiment it may be desired that the forward speed of the granules as the charge of granules leaves the pocket be approximately the same as the production speed S of the asphalt coated strip below to deposit a highly defined crisp pattern of granules. This forward speed is established by the rate at which the pocket wheel is rotated by the drive mechanism and can be varied to match a particular production speed by varying this rate of rotation. In this way, the granules fall in this embodiment straight down into the sticky asphalt from the perspective of the moving strip so that they are less likely to bounce or otherwise be scattered when they hit the surface of the strip. Such scattering is further reduced since the granules can be released with the present invention, unlike prior art devices, very close to the surface of the strip. The granules therefore have less momentum to dissipate when they strike the asphalt and are less likely to bounce and otherwise scatter. The ultimate result is that the charge of granules are deposited on the asphalt in a sharply defined grouping with crisp edges and very little if any patterning across the grouping.

(19) In another embodiment, it may be desired that the forward speed of the granules as they leave the pocket, and thus the rotational speed of the pocket wheel, be greater than or less than the production speed S. As one example, the rotational rate of the pocket wheel may be controlled so that it is, say, one-third of the production speed S such that the speed of the asphalt coated strip below is three times the forward speed of the granules when the granules fall onto the sheet. The result is a deposit of granules onto the asphalt coated sheet that is approximately three times the circumferential length of a pocket of the pocket wheel. Although some granule scattering may occur under these conditions, it is expected to be well within acceptable limits so that a well defined deposit of granules is maintained.

(20) Using such a ratioed indexing methodology, higher production speeds can be accommodated easily with the present invention. For instance, a production speed of 1500 FPM, far higher than the current norm, should be able to be accommodated with acceptable results with the linear speed of the pocket wheel set to 500 FPM. Of course, the depth of the pockets are predetermined or adjusted with an insert or the like such that the appropriate volume of granules for the desired pattern and thickness of the deposit is delivered with each indexed rotation of the pocket wheel, accounting for the fact that the granules are deposited in a more spread out pattern on the moving sheet. It will be appreciated by the skilled artisan that ratios other than three to one are possible according to production specific requirements.

EXAMPLE

(21) A prototype of the present invention, shown in FIG. 2, was constructed for testing the methodology of the invention to deposit granules at high speeds. A strip of cardboard was obtained to mimic an asphalt coated strip and the strip was placed beneath the prototype system, which was filled with granules. The pocket wheel was then indexed as described above to deposit a charge of granules onto the cardboard. In this example, the linear speed of rotation at the pockets of the pocket wheel was about 50 FPM and for this test, the cardboard strip was stationary. The test was repeated three times at different locations on the cardboard strip and results are illustrated in the photograph of FIG. 4. In this photograph, the three deposits of granules 62, 63, and 64 are shown with respective leading edges 66, 67, and 68; respective trailing edges 69, 71, and 72; and side edges 74. It can be seen that the trailing edges 69, 71, and 72 are sharp and well defined and also that the side edges (less important in reality) also are well defined.

(22) In this example, the forward throw of granules at the leading edges 66, 67, and 68 is clearly visible, but it is believed that this is due to the fact that the cardboard strip of the experiment was stationary and not moving. Thus, the forward momentum of the granules relative to the stationary strip of cardboard tended to throw them forward on the strip. When operating on a production line, the linear speed of the production line likely will be approximately the same as or faster by a selected ratio than the linear speed of rotation of the pocket wheel. Thus, the granules will fall either straight down onto the asphalt coating from the perspective of the moving strip or will tend to be scattered backward into the deposited pattern rather than forward on the asphalt coated strip. This should result in a clear well defined pattern (rectangular in this example) without tailings due to acceleration and deceleration profiles. The desired placement of the granules onto the asphalt of the moving sheet can be accomplished largely by appropriate programming of the drive mechanism. As a result, it is believed that crisply patterned deposits of granules can be placed onto a moving asphalt coated strip at production speeds heretofore not achievable.

(23) The invention has been described herein in terms of preferred embodiments and methodologies considered by the inventor to represent the best mode of carrying out the invention. It will be understood by the skilled artisan; however, that a wide range of additions, deletions, and modifications, both subtle and gross, may be made to the illustrated and exemplary embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention set forth in the claims. For example, while the pockets of the illustrated embodiment are generally rectangular for depositing rectangular patterns of granules onto an asphalt coated strip, this is not a limitation of the invention. The pockets can, in fact, be formed with any shape that results in a corresponding desired pattern of granules on the strip. Such custom shaped patterns of deposited granules have heretofore not been feasible with prior art techniques. The pockets may be trapezoidal in shape, for instance, to deposit wedge-shaped patterns of granules.

(24) The edges of the pockets formed by the lands need not be straight but may instead be irregularly shaped to affect the deposited patterns of granules in a desired way. The number of pockets shown in the illustrated embodiment is not a limitation and more or fewer can be provided within the scope of the invention. The pockets in the illustrated embodiment are fixed in size and equal in size. However, it is contemplated that the pockets may be adjustable in size or shape by, for example, implementation of inserts and/or they may be of different sizes and/or shapes to obtain new and previously unobtainable granule patterns on shingle products.

(25) While the linear speed of rotation in the disclosed embodiment is fixed at some ratio of the production speed, it is within the scope of the invention that the linear speed of rotation may be varied during a granule deposit. This raises the possibility of creating unique patterns such as fading strips along the length of the asphalt coated strip.

(26) While the apparatus has been described as being driven by a servo motor, a gear reducer or gear train, and an indexer, the system also can be driven by other drive mechanisms such as a servo motor and gear reducer alone and other appropriate drive mechanisms. When using a servo motor and gear reducer alone, the servo motor would be relied upon for very fast acceleration and deceleration profiles. The disclosed configuration, however, provides for improved adjustability and control. Also, in a production setting, several units as disclosed herein are used in unison to deposit patterns of granules at different locations across a web at different triggering times to generate the patterns desired for a particular shingle design. These and other modifications might well be made by one of skill in this art within the scope of the invention, which is delineated only by the claims.