Unwind system with flying-splice roll changing
AssigneeKimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.
InventorLeslie T. Long
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A roll unwinding system having a kitchen rail, a primary drive assembly, and an elevator assembly is disclosed. The unwinding system stages and positions multiple rolls, which are spliced together on the fly. A method for unwinding sequential rolls of web material that eliminates machine down time for positioning new parent rolls is disclosed. A method for unwinding and splicing the rolls is also disclosed.
Claims100
A roll unwinding system comprising:
- a kitchen rail configured for positioning at least one parent roll;
- a drive assembly operably disposed proximate the kitchen rail, the drive assembly configured for controllably unwinding a first material from the at least one parent roll;
- and
- an elevator assembly operably disposed adjacent the kitchen rail and the drive assembly, the elevator assembly configured to reposition the at least one parent roll at a predetermined time and receive a second parent roll with a second material, the drive assembly and the elevator assembly cooperable to splice the first and second materials together on the fly.
An unwinding system comprising:
- a positioning device configured for staging and operably positioning a parent roll;
- a drive assembly operably disposed adjacent the positioning device and configured for controllably unwinding the parent roll during an unwinding process;
- an elevator assembly operably disposed adjacent the positioning device and drive assembly and configured to reposition the parent roll at a predetermined stage in the unwinding process;
- and
- a secondary unwind drive assembly configured to further unwind the parent roll at the predetermined stage.
A method of unwinding a roll of web material with a flying-splice, the method comprising the steps of:
- a. positioning a first roll of web material in a run position;
- b. rotating the first roll to unwind the web material with an unwinder;
- c. removing the first roll at a predetermined stage from the run position while continuously unwinding the web material from the first roll with a secondary unwinder;
- d. positioning a second roll of web material proximate the removed first roll;
- e. rotating the second roll to unwind the web material from the second roll;
- f. splicing the web material of the first roll to the web material of the second roll at a machine speed;
- and
- g. removing the first roll from the unwinder.
A method of unwinding sequential rolls of web material to eliminate machine down time for positioning parent rolls, the method comprising the steps of:
- a. positioning a first roll of web material in a run position of a machine;
- b. rotating the first roll to unwind the web material with an unwinder;
- c. removing the first roll at a predetermined stage from the run position while continuously unwinding the web material from the first roll with the unwinder;
- d. positioning a second roll of web material proximate the removed first roll;
- e. stopping the machine to splice web material from the first roll to the second roll;
- f. raising the unwinder to remove the first roll;
- and
- g. lowering the unwinder to drive the second roll of web material.
An unwinding system comprising:
- a surface belt unwind drive assembly configured to unwind a parent roll at a primary run position;
- and
- an elevator assembly operably disposed proximate the unwind drive assembly and primary run position, the elevator assembly configured to reposition the parent roll at a predetermined stage, the surface belt unwind drive assembly further configured to reposition and continuously drive the parent roll as the elevator assembly moves the parent roll from the primary run position to an end of the elevator assembly disposed above the primary run position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.