Helical screw conveyor unit, worm shaft, worm extruder, and method for providing a worm shaft

{
  "publication_number": "US12304167B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Helical screw conveyor unit, worm shaft, worm extruder, and method for providing a worm shaft",
  "abstract": "A helical screw conveyor unit, worm shaft, worm extruder and method for providing a worm shaft, wherein the helical screw conveyor unit is an exchangeable element for a helicoidally or spirally winding helix of a worm shaft, having a main body with a helicoidally winding helix element, wherein the helical screw conveyor unit is serviced with little outlay on servicing, the top side of the lateral surface is concavely curved in shell-like form about the longitudinal axis, and the main body has a radial opening for the leadthrough of a fastening region of a worm shaft shank, the helix element has at most one half of one helix turn, the the main body lateral surface has an inner surface for being seated on the fastening region, and the helical screw conveyor unit has at least one fastening element for detachably fastening the main body to the fastening region.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A worm shaft for use in a worm extruder, comprising a shank which extends along a longitudinal axis and which has a helicoidally or spirally winding helix, a helical screw conveyor unit configured as an exchangeable element for the helicoidally or spirally winding helix, the helical screw conveyor unit comprising a main body extending along the longitudinal axis, the main body having two axial end regions and a lateral surface that connects the end regions to one another, at least one helicoidally winding helix element being arranged on a top side of the lateral surface and extending radially outward away from the top side wherein the top side of the lateral surface is concavely curved in shell-like form about the longitudinal axis, and the main body has a radial opening, the radial opening being configured such that a fastening region of the shank can be led through the opening in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis and can be arranged in a cavity formed by the main body, the helix element has at most one half of one helix turn, the lateral surface of the main body has an inner surface configured for being seated on the fastening region, and the helical screw conveyor unit has at least one first fastener configured for detachably fastening the main body to the fastening region, the worm shaft further comprising at least one second fastener configured for detachably fastening the first fastener, and wherein the shank has a cylindrical shaft body and the fastening region, the fastening region being assigned to a support region, configured for supporting the main body of the helical screw conveyor unit of the shank, and having a cross-sectional diameter smaller than that of the cylindrical shaft body.",
    "2. The worm shaft as claimed in claim 1, wherein the support region is arranged eccentrically.",
    "3. The worm shaft as claimed in claim 1, wherein the support region has at least two helical screw conveyor units each having a configuration of the helical screw conveyor unit, the helical screw conveyor units being arranged such that the helical elements of the helical screw conveyor units continue the course of the helicoidally or spirally winding helix of the cylindrical shaft body and, with this, form a common shaft body helix unit.",
    "4. The worm shaft as claimed in claim 1, wherein the worm shaft has at least two helical screw conveyor units each having a configuration of the helical screw conveyor unit which are in each case arranged adjacent to one another and together form one full helix turn that fully encircles the shank once.",
    "5. The worm shaft as claimed in claim 2, wherein the support region has at least two helical screw conveyor units each having a configuration of the helical screw conveyor unit, the helical screw conveyor units being arranged such that the helical elements of the helical screw conveyor units continue the course of the helicoidally or spirally winding helix of the cylindrical shaft body and, with this, form a common shaft body helix unit.",
    "6. The worm shaft as claimed in claim 1, wherein the worm shaft has at least two helical screw conveyor units each having a configuration of the helical screw conveyor unit which are in each case arranged adjacent to one another and together form one full helix turn that fully encircles the shank once.",
    "7. The worm shaft as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second fastener is configured to interact with the first fastener of the helical screw conveyor unit such that the helical screw conveyor unit is detachably fastenable to the fastening region of the worm shaft.",
    "8. The worm shaft as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fastening region of the worm shaft is shaped such that a radial movement of the main body seated on the fastening region is at least restricted.",
    "9. The worm shaft as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least two of the fastening regions which are formed by at least one recess or at least one groove of the otherwise cylindrical shaft body and which are arranged so as to be radially and axially offset with respect to one another.",
    "10. The worm shaft as claimed in claim 1, wherein the main body runs in a shape of a semicircle or in a shape of a half-shell about the longitudinal axis, and the helix element has one half of one helix turn.",
    "11. The worm shaft as claimed in claim 1, wherein the inner surface of the main body is shaped such that, as a result of the inner surface of the main body being seated on the fastening region of the worm shaft, an orientation of the helix element of the helical screw conveyor unit on the worm shaft is defined, and radial mobility of the main body on the worm shaft is at least restricted.",
    "12. The worm shaft as claimed in claim 11, wherein, for an orientation of the helix element on the worm shaft, the inner surface of the lateral surface has a contour of a complementary shape with respect to the fastening region of the shank.",
    "13. The worm shaft as claimed in claim 10, wherein the helix element is shaped such that, as a result of the inner surface of the main body being seated on the fastening region of the worm shaft, the helix element is at least substantially oriented so as to continue the course of the helicoidally or spirally winding helix of the worm shaft.",
    "14. A worm extruder for dewatering a suspension comprising an extruder chamber in which a worm shaft having a helicoidally winding helix element is mounted so as to be rotatable about its longitudinal axis, wherein the worm shaft is comprises: a shank which extends along a longitudinal axis and which has a helicoidally or spirally winding helix, a helical screw conveyor unit configured as an exchangeable element for the helicoidally or spirally winding helix, the helical screw conveyor unit comprising a main body extending along the longitudinal axis, the main body having two axial end regions and a lateral surface that connects the end regions to one another, at least one helicoidally winding helix element being arranged on a top side of the lateral surface and extending radially outward away from the top side, wherein the top side of the lateral surface is concavely curved in shell-like form about the longitudinal axis, and the main body has a radial opening, the radial opening being configured such that a fastening region of the shank can be led through the opening in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis and can be arranged in a cavity formed by the main body, the helix element has at most one half of one helix turn, the lateral surface of the main body has an inner surface configured for being seated on the fastening region, and the helical screw conveyor unit has at least one first fastener configured for detachably fastening the main body to the fastening region, the worm shaft further comprising at least one second fastener configured for detachably fastening the first fastener, and wherein the shank has a cylindrical shaft body and the fastening region, the fastening region being assigned to a support region, configured for supporting the main body of the helical screw conveyor unit of the shank, and having a cross-sectional diameter smaller than that of the cylindrical shaft body, and wherein the shank of the worm shaft having at least two helical screw conveyor units, and the helical screw conveyor units each having a configuration of the helical screw conveyor unit."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The present invention relates to a helical screw conveyor unit.\n\nThe present invention furthermore relates to a worm shaft, in other words a conveyor worm.\n\nThe present invention furthermore relates to a worm extruder.\n\nThe present invention finally relates to a method for providing a worm shaft.\n\nThe general construction of a worm shaft for use in a worm extruder, and of a worm extruder for dewatering a suspension, is described for example in the documents EP 1 072 574 A2, US 2017/08778 A1 and EP 2 792 739 A1.\n\nThe document EP 1 072 574 A2 discloses a fermentation plant with a fermenter and with a dewatering device in the form of a cylindrical worm conveyor. Said worm conveyor extends along a linear axis. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the helix elements form a fixed unit with the worm shaft.\n\nThe document US 2017/08778 A1 discloses a worm extruder for dewatering an aqueous suspension of organic material. The device has an extruder chamber in which an extruder worm with helix elements winds in helicoidal form and is mounted so as to be rotatable about its longitudinal axis. In order to allow easy and fast servicing of the worm extruder, US 2017/08778 A1 discloses the provision of multi-part screen baskets which can be pivoted up and which allow easy accessibility to the extruder chamber and allow a screen exchange to be performed by a single person.\n\nThe document EP 2 792 739 A1 discloses a double worm shaft in an extruder chamber, as is known for example for cell breakdown extruders. The helical screw conveyor units have so-called clearing tines on the mutually adjacently situated worm shafts.",
  "cpc": [
    "B30B 9/121",
    "B30B 11/246",
    "B65G 2207/30",
    "B65G 33/14",
    "B65G 33/24",
    "C02F 11/121",
    "C02F 11/125",
    "C12M 33/16",
    "C12M 47/10",
    "F16C 3/023"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "B30B 11/24",
    "B30B 9/12",
    "B65G 33/14",
    "B65G 33/24",
    "C02F 11/121"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Kanadevia Inova AG"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Marc EUGSTER",
    "Adrian SCHATZ",
    "Marc GSPONER",
    "Patrik GSPONER",
    "Daniel Schmidt"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2022-10-12",
  "publication_date": "2025-05-20",
  "grant_date": "2025-05-20",
  "priority_date": "2021-10-15",
  "application_number": "US-202218700541-A",
  "family_id": "78483147",
  "cited_by_count": 2,
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  ]
}