Apparatus and process for surface processing of cylindrical bodies, in particular rolling cylinders

An apparatus for surface processing of a cylindrical body, the apparatus comprising:

• a workstation defining at least one operating location arranged to receive, in an apparatus operating condition, a cylindrical body having a lateral surface, said workstation configured to rotationally support the cylindrical body according to an axis of rotation,
• a laser emitter cooperating with the workstation and configured to emit at least one laser beam in a direction of said cylindrical body, said laser emitter being movable at least along a main axis substantially parallel to the axis of rotation,
• at least one profile detector movable at least along a detection axis substantially parallel to the axis of rotation and configured to detect a detected surface profile of a lateral surface of the cylindrical body,
• a control unit operatively connected with the laser emitter and with the at least one profile detector, said control unit configured to perform a restoration procedure of the lateral surface of the cylindrical body, said restoration procedure including a procedure including:
• detecting, using said profile detector, a detected surface profile of the cylindrical body;
• comparing said detected surface profile with a target surface profile of the cylindrical body;
• and
• emitting the laser beam through the laser emitter toward the lateral surface to locally remove metallic material from the cylindrical body based on the comparison.

An apparatus for surface processing of a cylindrical body comprising:

• a workstation defining an operational location configured to receive the cylindrical body, wherein the cylindrical body has a lateral surface and an axis of rotation,
• a laser emitter cooperating with the workstation and configured to emit pulses of a pulsed laser beam toward the lateral surface of the cylindrical body as the laser emitter moves along a main axis substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the cylindrical body,
• a control unit operatively connected with the laser emitter and configured to perform a restoration procedure of the lateral surface of the cylindrical body, wherein the restoration procedure includes:
• moving the cylindrical body or said laser emitter, and
• commanding the laser emitter to emit the pulses of said pulsed laser beam to remove material from the lateral surface of the cylindrical body, wherein the pulses are temporally staggered,
• wherein each of the pulses directed toward the lateral surface of the cylindrical body forms on the lateral surface a respective laser footprint, and
• wherein each of the footprints at least partially overlap with another of the footprints.