3/2009

BlackBelt investments in full use this spring

The delivery reliability and speed of BlackBelts will improve significantly this spring as the new investments are in full use. The additional capacity meets a pressing need because in spite of the recession and the fairly short time the BlackBelt has been on the market, we have already received 100 BlackBelt orders.

Over 50 BlackBelts have already been delivered to customers, nine have been run or are running at present, some at 1400 kN/m loads.

The first running results have been received and they confirm that the BlackBelt is virtually non-wearing. On an OptiPress newsprint machine the BlackBelt did not wear at all during run. Usually on this machine, traditional belts would lose about 50% of their groove depth during similar running life.

The inner surfaces of BlackBelts removed from paper machines have been like new. The new technology low-friction surface coating has been intact.

The BlackBelts can run longer than traditional belts which helps to lower unit costs on a paper machine.

Ecomaster and Starmaster - the new generation hybrids

In addition to the Aquamaster presented earlier this year, Tamfelt has developed new members in the hybrid felt family: Ecomaster and Starmaster.

The Ecomaster felt combines the smooth surface familiar from Ecostar, and Aquamaster's stable and fast starting non-woven structure. This base fabric structure provides good start-up, and the felt is very stable for various press concepts. Together the fine, woven Ecostar base and the new non-woven Ecomaster base yield uniform pressure which helps to produce good profiles. The Ecomaster felt can also be run without conditioning, thus reducing energy consumption and allowing longer running life.

The Starmaster felt has a non-woven Aquamaster surface and a woven 1, 2, or 3-layer base in the bottom. This provides adequate void volume in the felt and allows using the felt in positions where nip drainage alone is not possible. Still, the felt will start up well, thanks to the non-woven Aquamaster component. The Starmaster will provide good contact to the sheet with the compressible Aquamaster and good profiles thanks to uniform pressure distribution. The woven component gives void volume and running life in demanding positions.

Aquamaster and Starmaster hybrids - active water removal in demanding presses!

Goldstar successful in a start-up

A new OptiDry impingement drying group started up successfully in Western Europe with Tamfelt's Goldstar dryer fabric. The customer complimented the easy installation of the fabric. The start-up was a success, and tail threading went through on the first try.

The Goldstar is a 100-% PPS special fabric designed for impingement drying. The fabric structure is similar to Tamstar, a double cloth structure known for its wear resistance.

Durable Tamstar loop seam contributes to long running life

Paper grades containing a lot of fillers wear the dryer fabrics especially towards the end of the drying section where the dry content of paper is already high. The sheet area wears usually the most in unirun groups but sometimes this occurs also in traditional groups with two fabrics. In these positions, the dryer fabric seam strength weakens quickly and may cause fabric change. Normal running lives extend from 3 to 6 months, on coating units they are still shorter. All dryer fabric seams are strong enough when new but there are significant differences as the fabric wears on a paper machine.

The seam structure is important in terms of strength loss caused by wear. The loop seam used in Tamstar fabrics differs from those used by the competition in that the seam looms are formed of the lengthwise yarns of the fabric itself, instead of a separate spiral tied to the fabric end. This allows using the yarns between the loops to protect the seam loops. In spiral seams, these yarns would be used to bind the spiral, leaving them higher than the fabric surface, thus exposing them to wear.

The attached picture shows Tamstar seam from the 10^th group of a fine paper machine after 187 days run. The seam strength was 15 kN/m at its weakest, about one meter from each edge (shown in picture). In the center of the fabric, there had been less sliding and seam strength was 27 kN/m. The fabric edges outside the sheet area were about 48 kN/m (new fabric 50 kN/m). The smooth seam area protecting the actual seam loops from wear is durable and safe to use throughout the running life. This helps to avoid unscheduled fabric changes and to achieve as long running life as possible.

Tamstar running lives have been followed up on Finnish paper machines since the year 2000, fabric by fabric. The statistics do not include accidents and running lives shorter than one month. Thanks to its good runnability, the Tamstar "double cloth" fabric has longer life than traditional dryer fabrics. Depending on the paper grade, Tamstar yields running lives 16-30% longer than traditional fabrics. See the attached graph.

Reliable Optistar fabric

Anhui PM 3 in China started up with Tamfelt fabrics in February 2009 (earlier the machine was called PM 9 but they changed the numbering a couple of months after the machine started up).

Tamfelt's reliable Optistar fabric worked to expectations.  The satisfied customer gave us a reorder for one bottom layer fabric and two surface layer fabrics. The reorders are 2.5-layer Optistar fabrics, as well.

Tamfelt was chosen for the start-up as a reliable supplier because the machine was the first larger machine of a Chinese machine manufacturer. The machine is a double-layer fourdrinier fabric making liner and fluting grades. The bottom wire width is 6.25 m and design speed 1100 m/min. The back-up fabric is 71.3 m in length.

Start-up order from China

Nanping Paper PM 6, a new fine paper machine in China will start up in October 2009. The customer ordered two sets of press felts from Tamfelt for the start-up. All felts are non-woven Aquamasters. Tamfelt's reputation in China as a good felt supplier to other modern machines in the country convinced the customer and they chose Tamfelt as one of their start-up suppliers.

The machine will be supplied by Metso Paper. It has an Opti-Press press section with two shoe presses. Design speed is 1400 m/min. Metso's delivery also includes two BlackBelts made by Tamfelt.