High consistency damless refiner plate for wood fibers
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A refiner disk in a refiner for refining a stock slurry comprising:
- a disk member which extends radially about an axis, the disk having a refining surface;
a plurality of pairs of interlocking, aligned refiner elements covering a majority of the refining surface, substantially all the refiner elements having a shape selected from the group of shapes consisting of letters I, S, E, and H, the refiner elements being projections which extend axially from the disk member and define a plurality of grooves therebetween; and
wherein the plurality of grooves are connected, and wherein the plurality of pairs of the refiner elements are not connected.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The refiner plate of this invention has a pattern of interlocking or nested elements having a "I"s "T"s, "S"s, "L"s, "F"s, "E"s, or "H"s shape which form channels. The body of the elements forms the refiner bars which hold the fibers as they move between the refiner plates in a disk refiner. The pattern of elements retarded the flow of fibers while at the same time providing a large open area for steam to pass through the refiner disks. The segments making up the elements producing a refiner bar which is reinforced for higher strength. The shape of the elements has a increased edge length exposed to the flow of fibers.
13 Citations
63 Claims
-
1. A refiner disk in a refiner for refining a stock slurry comprising:
-
a disk member which extends radially about an axis, the disk having a refining surface; a plurality of pairs of interlocking, aligned refiner elements covering a majority of the refining surface, substantially all the refiner elements having a shape selected from the group of shapes consisting of letters I, S, E, and H, the refiner elements being projections which extend axially from the disk member and define a plurality of grooves therebetween; and wherein the plurality of grooves are connected, and wherein the plurality of pairs of the refiner elements are not connected. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A disk refiner and pair of opposed refiner disks that mount on the disk refiner comprising:
-
at least one refiner disk segment making up one of the refiner disks mounted on the refiner to form a substantially annular refining region having an inner edge near an axis about which the disk rotates and an outer edge near the periphery of the refiner disk; each refiner disk segment extending substantially radially from the axis and having a pattern of upraised refiner elements and grooves between the refiner elements, wherein material being refined and steam produced during refining flows in the grooves in the general direction from the inner edge towards the outer edge of the refining region, the pattern including; a plurality of pairs of the refiner elements covering a substantial portion of the entire surface of the plate and arranged in a plurality of pairs of generally parallel rows with each of the rows having a plurality of pairs of the refiner elements; wherein each refiner element has at least two joined straight segments with one of the segments being longest relative to another of the segments such that the ratio of the length of the longest segment relative to the length of a segment that is shorter is no greater than about 2.5;
1;wherein the longest segment of each refiner element in one of the generally parallel rows overlaps, but does not contact, the longest segment of an adjacent one of the refiner elements in an adjacent one of the generally parallel rows along a direction generally transverse to the longest segment and the shorter segment of each refiner element in the one of the generally parallel rows overlaps, but does not contact, the shorter segment of an adjacent one of the refiner elements in the adjacent one of the generally parallel rows along a direction generally parallel to the longest segment. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
-
-
32. A refiner that refines matter in a slurry comprising:
-
a pair of opposed refiner disks capable of relative rotation therebetween wherein each of the refiner disks has a refining surface, with the refining surface of one of the refiner disks facing the refining surface of the other of the refiner disks and spaced apart by a gap; wherein the refining surface of at least one of the refiner disks includes a plurality of pairs of substantially parallel rows of axially upraised and spaced apart refiner elements that define a plurality of flow channels therebetween and have a plurality of pairs of the refiner elements in each of the rows; wherein each refiner element has a first segment joined at an angle to a second segment; wherein one of the segments of each of the refiner elements of one of the rows overlaps, but is spaced apart from, one of the segments of one of the refiner elements of another of the substantially parallel rows along a direction generally parallel to the direction of the one of the rows; and wherein the other of the segments of each of the refiner elements of the one of the rows overlaps, but is spaced apart from, the other of the segments of one of the refiner elements of the another of the substantially parallel rows along a direction generally transverse to the direction of the one of the rows. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
-
-
50. A refiner that refines wood or fiber in a slurry comprising:
-
a pair of opposed refiner disks capable of relative rotation therebetween wherein each of the refiner disks has a refining surface, with the refining surface of one of the refiner disks facing the refining surface of the other of the refiner disks; wherein the refining surface of at least one of the refiner disks has a multiplicity of axially upraised and spaced apart refining elements that define grooves therebetween through which the slurry and steam generated during operation of the refiner can travel; wherein
1) the refiner elements are arranged in a plurality of pairs of rows with each of the rows having a plurality of pairs of the refiner elements,
2) each of the plurality of pairs of the refiner elements in each of the plurality of pairs of the rows are made up of a plurality of pairs of segments that are arranged to form a pair of connected U-shaped portions with each one of the U-shaped portions having an opening and an end segment, and
3) the plurality of pairs of refiner elements in each one of the rows are arranged such that each one of the plurality of pairs of refiner elements has i) one end segment received in one of the openings in one of the U-shaped portions of one of the refiner elements in an adjacent one of the rows and ii) another end segment received in one of the U-shaped portions of one of the refiner elements in an adjacent other one of the rows. - View Dependent Claims (51)
-
-
52. A refiner that refines wood or fiber in a slurry comprising:
-
a pair of opposed refiner disks capable of relative rotation therebetween wherein each of the refiner disks has a refining surface, with the refining surface of one of the refiner disks facing the refining surface of the other of the refiner disks; wherein the refining surface of at least one of the refiner disks has a plurality of pairs of upraised and spaced apart refiner elements that define grooves therebetween through which the slurry and steam generated during operation of the refiner can travel; wherein each of the plurality of pairs of the refiner elements has at least a pair of segments with one of the segments joined to the other of the segments forming an angle therebetween; and
the one segment of each of the plurality of pairs of the refiner elements overlaps the one segment of an adjacent one of the refiner elements along a first direction relative to the direction of the one segment, and the other segment of each of the plurality of pairs of the refiner elements overlaps the other segment of the adjacent one of the refiner elements along a second direction relative to the direction of the one segment;wherein there are a plurality of pairs of interlocked refiner element pairs with each of the refiner elements of each of the interlocked refiner element pairs being spaced apart by a portion of one of the grooves; and wherein the portion of each groove that spaces apart interlocked refiner element pairs is not straight. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56, 57)
-
-
58. A refiner that refines wood or fiber in a slurry comprising:
-
a pair of opposed refiner disks capable of relative rotation therebetween wherein each of the refiner disks has a refining surface, with the refining surface of one of the refiner disks facing the refining surface of the other of the refiner disks; wherein the refining surface of at least one of the refiner disks has a multiplicity of axially upraised and spaced apart refiner elements that define grooves therebetween through which the slurry and steam generated during operation of the refiner can travel; wherein
1) the refiner elements are arranged in a plurality of pairs of rows with each of the rows having a plurality of pairs of the refiner elements;
2) each of the plurality of pairs of the refiner elements has at least two joined segments with one of the segments being longer than another of the segments; and
3)i) the longest segment of each of the plurality of pairs of the refiner elements in one of the rows overlaps the longest segment of an adjacent one of the refiner elements in an adjacent one of the rows along a direction generally transverse to the longest segment and ii) the shorter segment of each of the refiner elements in the one of the rows overlaps the shorter segment of an adjacent one of the refiner elements in the adjacent one of the rows along a direction generally parallel to the longest segment; andwherein the grooves define a plurality of pairs of paths that extend from adjacent a radially inner periphery of the refiner disk to adjacent a radially outer periphery of the refiner disk such that steam generated during operation of the refiner travels radially outwardly relative to the refiner disk to escape from between the refiner disks and wherein each of the paths is
1) obstructed in a radial direction by one or more the refiner elements and
2) made up of i) a plurality of pairs of straight portions and ii) a plurality of pairs of curved portions. - View Dependent Claims (59)
-
-
60. A refiner that refines wood or fiber in a slurry comprising:
-
a pair of opposed refiner disks capable of relative rotation therebetween wherein each of the refiner disks has a refining surface, with the refining surface of one of the refiner disks facing the refining surface of the other of the refiner disks; wherein the refining surface of at least one of the refiner disks has a a plurality of pairs of upraised and spaced apart refiner elements that define grooves therebetween through which the slurry can travel during operation of the refiner; wherein
1) the refiner elements are arranged in an array of refiner elements that includes i) a plurality of pairs rows of generally aligned and radially spaced apart refiner elements that extend generally radially outwardly with each of the rows having a plurality of pairs of the refiner elements and ii) a plurality of pairs of columns of generally aligned and spaced apart refiner elements that are disposed at an angle relative to the rows with each of the columns having a plurality of pairs of the refiner elements,
2) the refiner elements in one of the rows is radially staggered with respect to the refiner elements in an adjacent one of the rows such that a portion of each one of the refiner elements in the one of the rows overlaps an adjacent one of the refiner elements in the adjacent one of the rows along a direction generally transverse to the direction of the one of the rows, and
3) each of the refiner elements in the one of the rows overlaps a portion of an adjacent one of the refiner elements in the adjacent one of the rows along a direction generally parallel to the direction of the one of the rows; andwherein a plurality of the refiner elements in one of the rows interlock with a plurality of refiner elements in another one of the rows without contacting each other. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62)
-
-
63. A refiner that refines stock comprised of between 18% and 60% of one of wood chips, fiber, and wood chips and fiber in a liquid comprising:
-
a pair of opposed refiner disks having at least one of the refiner disks rotated relative to the other of the refiner disks at a relative rotational speed of between 900 and 1800 revolutions per minute wherein each of the refiner disks has a refining surface, with the refining surface of one of the refiner disks facing the refining surface of the other of the refiner disks and spaced apart by a gap of between 0.003 inches and 0.008 inches; wherein the refining surface of at least one of the refiner disks has a multiplicity of axially upraised refiner elements that define grooves therebetween through which the stock and steam generated during operation of the refiner can travel with the refiner elements spaced apart such that no dams of a lesser axial height extend therebetween; wherein
1) the refiner elements are arranged in an array of refiner elements that includes i) a plurality of pairs rows of aligned and radially spaced apart refiner elements that extend radially outwardly with each of the rows having a plurality of pairs of the refiner elements and ii) a plurality of pairs of columns of aligned and spaced apart refiner elements that are disposed at an angle relative to the rows with each of the columns having a plurality of pairs of the refiner elements,
2) the refiner elements in one of the rows are radially staggered with respect to the refiner elements in an adjacent one of the rows such that a portion of each one of the refiner elements in the one of the rows overlaps a portion of an adjacent one of the refiner elements in the adjacent one of the rows along a direction generally transverse to the direction of the one of the rows, and
3) a portion of each of the refiner elements in the one of the rows overlaps a portion of an adjacent one of the refiner elements in the adjacent one of the rows along a direction generally parallel to the direction of the one of the rows; andwherein the grooves make up a plurality of pairs of meandering paths that extend from adjacent a radially inner periphery of the refiner disk to adjacent a radially outer periphery of the refiner disk such that steam generated during operation of the refiner travels generally radially outwardly relative to the refiner disk to escape from between the opposed refiner disks and wherein each of the paths is obstructed in a radial direction by one or more the refiner elements such that each of the paths is made up of i) a plurality of pairs of straight portions and ii) a plurality of pairs of curved portions.
-
Specification