US3416300A - Spinning and twisting apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 17, 968. 'E. SCHENKEL I 3,416,300

' SPINNING AND TWISTING APPARATUS Filed April :5, 1967 v -4 sheets-sheet 1 Dec. 1-7, 1968 I '5. SCHENKEL I I 3,416,300,

SPINNING AND TWISTI-NGUAPPARATUS Filed April 5, 1967 4 Sheeis-Sheet 2 I Dec.'17,1968 SCHEQKE L A "13,416,300

SPINNING AND -TWISTING APPARATUS Filed April 5, 1967 4Sheets-Sheet 5 "llllllll United States Patent M 3,416,300 SPINNING AND TWISTIN G APPARATUS Erwin Schenkel, 19 Weinbergstrasse, 7412 Eningen, Germany Filed Apr. 3, 1967, Ser. No. 627,794 Claims priority, application Germany, Apr. 6, 1966, Sch 38,801 6 Claims. (Cl. 5777) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A spinning and twisting apparatus in which a tubular spinning member has directly attached to its circumference the squirrel cage rotor of a high frequency motor and a conical member and is kept aerostatica'lly floating by compressed air in an air bearing formed of a conical air gap extending around said conical member and an axially effective air gap formed at the base of said conical member and communicating with said conical air gap. Both of said air gaps are adapted to be simultaneously adjusted.

The invention relates to a spinning and twisting apparatus provided with a spinning member which is rotatably mounted in a housing and is driven by a high frequency motor and which by means of compressed air is kept aerostatically floating in its bearing together with a radially and axially effective air gap bearing. The rotor of the high frequency motor is of the squirrel cage type and operates without bearings of its own and is directly rigidly connected with the spinning member whose bearing is fixedly connected with the motor stator.

In a prior art device of this kind the spinning can is kept freely floating all around in its bearing by compressed air and a squirrel cage rotor of a high frequency motor is rigidly connected to the bottom of the spinning can, the rotor having no bearing of its own. The purpose of this arrangement is to avoid all mechanical bearing frictions. In the known device the spinning member consists of a spinning can which already in its inoperative position can be put in a floating condition by means of compresed air, whereby it is prevented from coming into contact with any stationary bearing surfaces. From this floating condition the drive motor due to the extremely low frictional resistance is able to impart the required high operating speed to the spinning can. In addition to the .advantage of a low starting power in this arrangement, there is almost no wear on the bearings and the maintenance is minimal.

The rotation of such spinning members by a rotor of a high frequency motor which is directly rigidly connected to the bottom of the spinning can and, having no bearing of its own, is safe in its operation also when there is but a small gap between rotor and stator, is possible only by an extremely small tolerance of the air bearing which allows the spinning member to rotate freely floating all around in its axis and with only minimal geometric motions. It is known that strict adherence to minimal gap widths is of vital significance for safety of operation, carrying capacity, insensitivity to blows and for economic reasons. These requirements are, however, hard to meet particularly in constructions of large dimensions.

It is the object of the invention to find a more practical construction for air cushioned directly driven spinning members of the aforementioned type which will comply easily with the requirements stated above.

According to the invention, the rotor of the high frequency motor is directly attached to the outside wall of the spinning member which in conventional manner may be a tube or a hollow body.

The advantage of this arrangement is that by moving 3,416,300 Patented Dec. 17, 1968 the rotor from the axis of the spinning member to its outside wall into the proximity of the air bearing, the imbalances generated by the spinning member and the motor can be kept down and resulting nutation movements of the operating system can be more easily controlled by the bearing. Not only does this make for more stability of the system, but placing the rotor on the outside of the spinning member in the proximity of the air bearing dispenses with a special motor bearing and according to the invention it is possible to omit the bottom of the spinning member and to construct the spinning member in the form of a tube. By this arrangement, a spinning and twisting member is provided which may be employed in false fiber twisting, but also in endless spinning and in general in all instances where a passing spinning material in the form of a strand, a spinning solution or a fiber suspension in a liquid or a gaseous medium is to be set into rotation.

In order to make the air suspended spinning tube safe and economical, again smallest tolerances for the axial and vertical limitation of the rotor movements are necessary. For this reason it is expedient that the chiefly radially acting air gap bearing with its air gap be of conic shape and be bounded at its base by the axially acting air gap bearing with its air gap.

Both of the air gap bearings, i.e., the essentially radially effective cone bearing as well as the axially effective base bearing, can simultaneously be adjusted by an axial displacement of the base bearing to the narrowest tolerance possible and can be set and adjusted during operation which will substantially facilitate the fine adjustment.

Furthermore, owing to the cone shape of the bearing a rising of the rotor during operation is prevented also at high speed. The conical bearing therefore exerts a stabilizing influence in a twofold 'way.

The axially effective air gap bearing may also be conical. In that case it is expedient to arrange this air gap bearing for the tube in axial direction parallel to itself and continuously adjustable and lockable. The adjustment is effected either directly by a fine screw thread or by means of a separate adjusting ring.

It is further of advantage that by a spherical shaping of the pressure flanges of the adjusting ring serving as a joint no torque is transmitted to the pressure ring but only axially effective forces of greater magnitude.

By attaching the rotor directly to the mantle of the spinning member, the rotor can be cooled by filtered outside air passing through openings in the top section of the rotor head, thus reducing the thermal bridge between the motor and the air bearings.

The stator of the high frequency motor is so built into the outermost bearing member of the base bearing or into an adjusting ring controlling said bearing member that it is cooled at its upper end by filtered air drawn in by suction. This has the concurrent result that by the cool air stream generated by a special fan at the underside of the motor and by keeping the thermal bridges in the cylindrical portion of the base bearing small, the influence of the heat of the motor on the air bearing is to a large extent obviated.

The spinning member may or may not be provided with a pick-up member for the spinning material.

Another feature of the invention is that the spinning member is conically tapered in its lower section or is provided with a conical insert and the tip is preferably left open, whereby the cone surface is provided with openings, slits or suitable pores for facilitating a swift flowing off of the carrier medium due to centrifugal forces. The openings, slits or pores arranged inclined to the direction of rotation will in known manner produce a low pressure in the interior of the cone of the apparatus during operation.

It is also possible to have a low pressure generated outside of the conical surface extend through the openings, slits or pores into the interior of the cone. All these measures assure a satisfactory and quick elimination of the carrier medium in the spinning material.

The spinning member may consist of a conventional spinning can or of a tubular spinning member provided with a bottom.

With these and other objects in view, the invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of an air suspended spinning member in the form of a spinning tube;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the device illustrated in FIG. 1, but equipped with a special adjusting member;

FIG. 3 is an elevation view of a spinning member with an attached spinning can;

FIG. 4 is an elevation view of a spinning member in the form of a spinning can; and

FIG. 5 is an elevation view of a spinning member provided with a conical insert.

Referring to FIG. 1, a casing 1 has rotatably mounted therein a spinning member 2 in the form of a tube which in known manner is provided with a pick-up member 12 for assuring the rotation of the passing spinning material and is fixedly connected to a rotor 3 of an air bearing. The spinning member 2 is driven by a high frequency asynchronous motor the rotor 7 of which is directly attached to the outer circumference of the tubular spinning member 2 and has no bearing of its own. This is possible because the motor stator 6 and its rotor 7 are arranged closely adjacent to the air bearing formed by the parts 1, 3 and 5. The permissible tolerance of few millimeters in axial and radial direction for the functioning of the air bearing makes sure that with this arrangement of the motor with respect to the air bearing the air gap 1' between the stator 6 and the rotor 7 of the asynchronous motor can be kept sufiiciently small Without using separate motor bearings so that there will be no lubrication or maintenance of bearings which is of particular advantage. Furthermore, retarding means for preventing nutation motions of the spinning member 2 are no longer needed because of the rigidity of the air bearing so that a considerable simplification in construction and maintenance for the spinning member 2 and the motor 6, 7 is achieved.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the conical rotor 3 with its plane base extending perpendicularly to the axis of rotation forms together with the upper part of the casing 1 and the concentrically mounted carrier member 5 the air bearing proper with bearing gaps arranged axially at a and radially at b. A pipe 9 extending through the center portion of the casing 1 supplies compressed air to the bearing gaps by way of the openings and d, the annular pressure chamber e formed between the casing 1 and a collar 4 surrounding the latter, and the circumferentially uniformly arranged openings 1'' constructed as throttles on to the conical surface b, on the one hand, while on the other hand the opening 0, the annular chamber g and the throttle openings h symmetrically arranged in the plane supply compressed air to the axially extending gap a.

Owing to the construction of the air bearing as a double cone or, as shown in FIG. 1, as a cone with a base plate, the bearing gaps at a and b can both be adjusted simultaneously and their fine adjustment can be performed during the operation by displacing the carrier in the lower part of the casing 1 in axial direction by means of a fine screw thread i, and the most favorable position can be fixedly adjusted for instance by a clamping of the casing 1 which is axially split at 1b in its lower portion in the region of the screw thread i.

The special advantage of the adjustability during the operation resides in the possibility of determining the narrowest air gap width possible and making operative use of it which is of fundamental importance for a safe operation, the determination of the smallest possible quantity of compressed air required and the highest bearing rigidity. Due to its cone shape the rotor 3 is not only radially supported, but it is also limited in its movement upward which is another advantage of this embodiment.

The windings of the motor 6, 7 are displaced downwardly by the annular distance k from the upper end with respect to the carrier body 5 for the purpose of permitting a cooling of the motor by the air passing by suction from the outside through the ducts 12 due to the action of the fan 8 on the lower portion of the spinning member 2 so as to keep heat away from the air bearing. For this reason the ducts p are spaced along the entire circumference so that only small bars m remain between the same as thermal bridges in the carrier body 5.

The ducts p are provided at their outer ends with filter plugs 10 so as to prevent the motor and its windings from becoming dusty or soiled.

The lower bearing body of the casing 1 is provided with a flange 1a and is mounted on a frame portion 11 of the apparatus on top of an elastic member 11 so that vibrations of the entire aggregate can be absorbed.

FIG. 2 illustrates the manner in which the fine adjustment may be effected by means of an adjusting ring 13 which by itself is axially adjustable by a screw thread 0. The adjusting ring 13 transmits by way of a spherical upper end having the radius r the necessary force effecting an adjustment of the axial bearing 14 without exerting a torque.

The FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate embodiments of the invention in which the spinning member 2 may be converted into a spinning can of the conventional type. This is accomplished either by loosely or fixedly attaching a separate can 15 to the spinning member 2 or by providing the spinning member 2 with a detachable or fixed cover or bottom 16.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of the invention in which the spinning member 2 is employed for separating the fibers from their liquid or gaseous carrier medium, in that the rotating spinning member 2 is provided with a funnel-shaped insert 20 the conical portion of which has openings, slits or pores 17 for permitting the carrying medium in the spinning material to flow off quickly. This procedure is assisted by centrifugal forces, by a vane-like arrangement of the perforations or by an especially generated vacuum extending up into the funnel of the spinning member. The conical section of the funnel is supported by an annular member 18.

What I claim is:

1. A spinning and twisting apparatus comprising a casing provided with a conical bore and an annular wall extending radially inward from the larger diameter of said conical bore, a tubular spinning member extending through said casing and said conical bore, a conical rotor having an annular radial end face at its larger diameter fixedly attached to the outside of said tubular spinning member and disposed within said conical bore with said annular radial end face arranged opposite said annular wall within said casing so as to form between said rotor and said casing a radially and axially effective air gap bearing for aerostatically floatingly supporting said tubular spinning member within said casing, means for supplying said air gap bearing with compressed air, and means for rotating said spinning member, said means comprising a high frequency motor having a stator fixedly mounted in said casing and a rotor fixedly attached to the outside of said tubular spinning member adjacent said conical rotor thereon.

2. A spinning and twisting apparatus according to claim 1, in which said tubular spinning member is arranged vertically so as to be rotatable about a vertical axis, and

that the rotor of said high-frequency motor is disposed below said conical rotor on said tubular spinning member.

3. A spinning and twisting apparatus according to claim 1, in which said annular wall is formed by a separate annular member and including means for axially adjusting said annular member relative to said casing and said tubular spinning member, said adjusting means being accessible for operation from the exterior of said casing.

4. A spinning and twisting apparatus according to claim 3, including a fine screw threaded connection between said axially adjustable annular member and said casing for performing said adjustment.

5. A spinning and twisting apparatus according to claim 3, in which said annular wall is formed by a separate ring (14) provided with a spherical pressure surface which 15 serves as a ball joint and engages the countersurface of a pressure ring (13) which is axially adjustably mounted in said casing.

6. A spinning and twisting apparatus according to claim 1, in which the rotor of said high-frequency motor is provided on one end thereof with openings which are in communication with filter plugs containing passages in said casing for admitting filtered outside air for cooling said stator and rotor.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain. Great Britain.

STANLEY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner.

20 W. H. SCHROEDER, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. R.X.

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