# US 2022/0034035 A1 · Refiner plate having inter-bar wear protrusions > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2022/0034035 A1 - Document ID: US20220034035A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 17/277,205 - Filed: 2019-10-07 - Published: 2022-02-03 - Earliest claimed: 2018-10-11 - Assignees: Andritz Inc. - Applicants: Andritz Inc. - Inventors: Luc Gingras; Tobias Michel - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20220034035A1 ## CPC - D21D 1/306: {Discs} - B02C 7/12: Shape or construction of discs - B02C 7/06: with horizontal axis (B02C7/04 takes precedence) - D21D: TREATMENT OF THE MATERIALS BEFORE PASSING TO THE PAPER-MAKING MACHINE - B02C: CRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING IN GENERAL; MILLING GRAIN ({household tools and machines for pulverising foodstuffs, e.g. coffee and spice mills A47J42/00; pharmaceutical mortars A61J3/02; mechanical processing of refuse and garbage B03B9/06; dressing mould materials by grinding B22C5/04}; obtaining metallic powder by crushing, grinding or milling B22F9/04; {recovery of plastics by disintegrating B29B17/00; crushing raw materials in starch making C08B30/02; beaters for papermaking D21D1/02; crushing devices specially for transport in mines E21F13/002; slag crushing devices F23J1/00; fuel milling devices in combustion apparatus F23K1/00; household devices for crushing coal F24B15/02; ice disintegrating devices F25C5/02}) ## Abstract The problem of increased energy usage in refiners over the working life of a refining assembly is mitigated by the use of a refiner plate segment having a refiner side and a back side distally disposed from the refiner side, refiner bars engaged to a substrate of the refiner side, wherein the refiner bars have a refiner bar height, and wherein adjacent refiner bars and the substrate define grooves between the adjacent bars, and protrusions disposed in the grooves, wherein the protrusions have a protrusion height, wherein the protrusion height is 30% or less of the refiner bar height. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A refiner plate segment comprising: an inner arc; an outer arc distally disposed from the inner arc; a first end distally disposed from a second end, the first end and second end extending between the inner arc and the outer arc; a substrate disposed between the inner arc, first end, second end, and the outer arc; a refiner side and a backside distally disposed from the refiner side; refiner bars engaged to the substrate on the refiner side, wherein the refiner bars have a refiner bar height, and wherein adjacent refiner bars and the substrate define a groove between the adjacent refiner bars; and a protrusion disposed in the groove, the protrusions having a protrusion height, wherein the protrusion height is no more than 30% of the refiner bar height. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The refiner plate segment of claim 1, wherein the protrusion has a shape and the shape is selected from the group consisting of: a rectangle, a rectangular prism, a rectangular prism segment, a triangular prism, a triangular prism segment, a prism where the a number of sides exposed to feed material is four or more or a segment thereof, a polyhedron, a polyhedral segment, a triangular pyramid, a triangular pyramid segment, a quadrilateral pyramid, a quadrilateral pyramid segment, a pyramid having five or more faces exposed to feed material or a segment thereof, a pyramidal frustum, a pyramidal frustum segment, a spherical dome, a spherical dome segment, a spheroid dome, a spheroid dome segment, a parabolic prism, a parabolic prism segment, a frustum parabolic prism, a frustum parabolic prism segment, a cone, a cone segment, a spheroid cone, a spheroid cone segment, an elliptical cone, an elliptical cone segment, a conical frustum, a capsule, a cylindrical segment, an ellipsoid conical frustum, an ellipsoid conical frustum segment, a cylinder, a cylinder segment, an elliptic cylinder, an elliptic cylinder segment, a sphere, a sphere segment, a spheroid, a spheroid segment, or combinations thereof. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The refiner plate segment of claim 1 further comprising multiple protrusions, wherein the protrusions are disposed at regular intervals of between 6 millimeters to 25 millimeters within the groove. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The refiner plate segment of claim 1 further comprising multiple protrusions, wherein the protrusions are disposed at irregular intervals. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The refiner plate segment of claim 1, wherein the protrusion has a shape of a rectangular prism, wherein the protrusion has a leading face disposed at an angle relative to the substrate on the refiner side of the refiner plate segment, and wherein the angle is an obtuse angle. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The refiner plate segment of any of claim 1, wherein the protrusion comprises a material selected from the group consisting of: aluminum, copper, brass, steel, plastic, wood, and epoxy resin. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The refiner plate segment of claim 1, wherein the refiner bars have an initial bar height of 10 mm-20 mm and the protrusion has an initial protrusion height of 2 mm-5 mm. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The refiner plate segment of claim 1, wherein each refiner bar further comprises a reference bar volume comprising a volume of a portion of the refiner bar sharing a length with a longest length of a protrusion and a reference bar base coextending with an adjacent protrusion base along the longest protrusion length, wherein the protrusion further comprise a protrusion volume, and wherein the protrusion volume is less than 40% of the reference bar volume. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The refiner plate segment of claim 1, wherein the refiner bars have an initial bar height of 12 mm-15 mm and the protrusion has an initial protrusion height of 2 mm-3.5 mm. ### Claim 10 A refiner plate segment comprising: an inner arc; an outer arc distally disposed from the inner arc; a first end distally disposed from a second end, the first end and the second end extending between the inner arc and the outer arc; a substrate disposed between the inner arc, first end, second end, and the outer arc; a refiner side of the substrate and a back side of the substrate distally disposed from the refiner side; refiner bars engaged to the substrate on the refiner side, wherein the refiner bars have a refiner bar height, and wherein adjacent refiner bars and the substrate define a groove between the adjacent refiner bars; and protrusions disposed in the groove, the protrusions having a protrusion top, a protrusion base, and a protrusion height between the protrusion top and the protrusion base, and a side connecting the protrusion top and the protrusion base, wherein a protrusion of the protrusions has a longitudinal cross-sectional area measured from a plane disposed along a longest length of the protrusion as measured from a portion of the protrusion disposed closest to the inner arc to a portion of the protrusion disposed closest to the outer arc, wherein an adjacent refiner bar of the refiner bars has a lateral cross-sectional area measured from a plane intersecting a refining section transversely to a refiner bar length, and wherein protrusion longitudinal cross-sectional area is less than 20% of a lateral cross-sectional area of an adjacent refiner bar. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The refiner plate segment of claim 10 further comprising a difference between the protrusion height and the refiner bar height, wherein the difference between the protrusion height and the refiner bar height is an effective groove depth. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The refiner plate segment of claim 10 further comprising dams, wherein the dams have a dam longitudinal cross-sectional area and wherein the dam longitudinal cross-sectional area is greater than 20% of a reference bar longitudinal area, wherein the reference bar longitudinal area comprises a length and a height, wherein the reference bar length coextends with a longest length of the dam. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The refiner plate segment of claim 10, wherein the protrusions have a shape and the shape is selected from the group consisting of a rectangular prism, a rectangular prism segment, a triangular prism, a triangular prism segment, a prism where a number of sides exposed to feed material is four or more or a segment thereof, a polyhedron, a polyhedral segment, a triangular pyramid, a triangular pyramid segment, a quadrilateral pyramid, a quadrilateral pyramid segment, a pyramid having five or more faces exposed to feed material or a segment thereof, a pyramidal frustum, a pyramidal frustum segment, a spherical dome, a spherical dome segment, a spheroid dome, a spheroid dome segment, a parabolic prism, a parabolic prism segment, a frustum parabolic prism, a frustum parabolic prism segment, a cone, a cone segment, a spheroid cone, a spheroid cone segment, an elliptical cone, an elliptical cone segment, a conical frustum, a capsule, a cylindrical segment, an ellipsoid conical frustum, an ellipsoid conical frustum segment, a cylinder, a cylinder segment, an elliptic cylinder, an elliptic cylinder segment, a sphere, a sphere segment, a spheroid, a spheroid segment, or combinations thereof. ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The refiner plate segment of claim 10, wherein the protrusions are disposed at regular intervals of between 6 millimeters to 25 millimeters within the groove. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The refiner plate segment of claim 10, wherein the protrusions are disposed at irregular intervals. ### Claim 16 (depends on 10) The refiner plate segment of claim 10, wherein a protrusion of the protrusions has a shape of a trapezoidal prism, wherein the protrusion has a leading face disposed at an angle relative to the substrate on the refiner side of the refiner plate segment, and wherein angle is an obtuse angle. ### Claim 17 A refiner plate segment comprising: an inner arc; an outer arc distally disposed from the inner arc; a first end distally disposed from a second end, the first end and the second end extending between the inner arc and the outer arc; a substrate disposed between the inner arc, first end, second end, and the outer arc; a refiner side of the substrate and a backside of the substrate distally disposed from the refiner side; refiner bars engaged to the substrate on the refiner side, wherein the refiner bars have a refiner bar height, and wherein adjacent refiner bars and the substrate define a groove between adjacent refiner bars; and a protrusion disposed in the groove between two adjacent refiner bars, wherein the protrusion is a flow restrictor having a first restrictor end distally disposed from a second restrictor end, wherein the first restrictor end engages a leading face of a first refiner bar of the two adjacent refiner bars, and wherein the flow restrictor is disposed above the substrate of the groove. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The refiner plate segment of claim 17, wherein the flow restrictor has a longitudinal cross-sectional area measured from a plane disposed along a longest length of the flow restrictor as measured from a portion of the flow restrictor disposed closest to the inner arc to a portion of the flow restrictor disposed closest to the outer arc, wherein the first refiner bar of the two adjacent refiner bars has a lateral cross-sectional area measured from a plane intersecting a refining section transversely to a refiner bar length, and wherein flow restrictor longitudinal cross-sectional area is less than 20% of adjacent a lateral cross-sectional area of an adjacent refiner bar. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The refiner plate segment of claim 17, wherein a second restrictor end engages a trailing face of a second refiner bar of the two adjacent refiner bars. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The refiner plate segment of claim 17, further comprising multiple protrusions, wherein the multiple protrusions are multiple flow restrictors. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The refiner plate segment of claim 20, wherein a first flow restrictor of the multiple flow restrictors is disposed at a first flow restrictor height, and wherein a second flow restrictor of the multiple flow restrictors is disposed at a second flow restrictor height. ### Claim 22 (depends on 17) The refiner plate segment of claim 17, wherein the first restrictor end is disposed at a different elevation than the second restrictor end. ### Claim 23 A method comprising: arranging protrusions in positive grooves of a casting mold to define inlaid protrusions, the protrusions having a protrusion height, wherein the protrusion height is no more than 25% of a negative refiner bar height in the casting mold; pouring molten metal into the casting mold; fusing the inlaid protrusions with the molten metal; permitting the molten metal to cool to define a cast refiner plate segment; and removing the cast refiner plate segment from the casting mold. ### Claim 24 (depends on 23) The method of claim 23 further comprising: machining cast refining bars and cast refining protrusions on a refiner side of the cast refiner plate segment.