Bulletin 2/2010 - Siempelkamp NIS

Finished mineral wool panel leaving the double belt press
The double belt press: the core machine of the plant
Strip trimming to control the tolerances
Automatic strip cutting of mineral wool boards
SIEMPELKAMP | MACHINERY AND PLANTS
At the same time the correct type of mineral wool is retrieved
from the high-bay storage system and transported to a cutting
system where the wool is cut into strips. During this process, a
newly developed double feeder for mineral wool slabs is used.
The feeder‘s cycle times are short enough to ensure that enough
slabs can be fed to the production line even for the production
of thick fi nal products for which a mineral wool slab can only be
cut into three to four strips. “Compared to production lines for
panels made of Polyurethane, production lines for mineral wool
panels produce at the same speed irrespective from the product
thickness. For thicker products, less strips can be cut from one
mineral wool slab which results in a lower cycle time per slab,”
explains Wolfgang Inhof.
Due to exchangeable saw shafts, the strip cutter allows quick
product changeovers. Following the strip cutter, the strips are
turned in a star turner. The customer benefi t: The turning of
the strips allows for a signifi cantly higher functional reliability
compared to the generally used unguided tilting of the strips
along a transport belt. The old process oftentimes resulted
in many malfunctions and consequently, plant shutdowns,
especially when producing thick end products.
From the beginning on, Ruukki attached great importance to
product quality. Therefore, the plant contains several systems
that help adjust the tolerances of the mineral wool strips in order
to achieve a continuous mineral wool strand without gaps.
After turning of the strips, the longitudinal edges are cut in order
to even out the length tolerances. The main line is equipped with
a surface milling machine to even out surface irregularities. A
sophisticated system of speed-controlled transport belts ensures
that the strips are continuously joined without a gap and without
interlocking.