Plant and process for handling cardboard reels

1) Plant for handling cardboard reels for feeding tube-forming machines, comprising a reel pick-up station (P) configured to receive a stack (2) of superimposed cardboard reels (1), a station (U) for unwinding the reels (1) comprising at least an unwinding unit (UU) adapted to support the reels to be unwound in a position which favors their unwinding, in the unwinding station (U) being also provided splice means configured to splice a tail portion (TY) of a running out reel (1Y) with a new reel (1W) to continuously unwind the reels progressively arranged in the unwinding station (U), and handling means (D) for moving the reels (1) along a path comprised between the reel pick-up station (P) and the unwinding station (U), characterized in that it comprises a programmable control unit (CU) configured and programmed for controlling the reel pick-up means, the at least one unwinding unit and the splice means according to a continuous cycle wherein, while a reel is unwound on a relative support of said at least one unwinding unit, another reel is positioned on another support of the same unwinding unit and said supports are cyclically moved by respective mechanical moving means to occupy at least a predetermined loading position (W) and at least one different predetermined exhaustion position (Y), and wherein the splice means cyclically perform the splice of an end portion of a reel in the run-out phase with an initial portion of another reel arranged in the loading position, and in that the means (D) for handling the reels comprise pneumatic means adapted to pressurize a space (S) inside the stack of reels, in which said space includes the interface between an uppermost reel of the stack and the underlying reel, and mechanical or pneumatic gripping means configured and controlled for gripping and respectively releasing the uppermost reel of the stack.