SPOOL FIXATION DEVICE WITH BI-STABLE MAGNET ASSEMBLIES

摘要

A spool fixation device (100) for use in a wire winding installation such as a steel wire processing installation is disclosed. In this spool fixation device spools having a magnetically attractable flange are held to a rotatable flange (102) by means of magnet assemblies (104, 104', 104", 104"'). Particular about the magnet assemblies is that they can be switched between a 'hold' state and a 'release' state. In a preferred embodiment the magnet assemblies only consume energy when in the 'release' state i.e. when the spool fixation device is not rotating. Alternatively the magnet assemblies can be made to only consume energy when switching states. The benefit is that when the spool is rotating no energy supply is needed. The magnet assemblies comprise permanent magnet arrays and are moveable inside a non-magnetic housing. Also a drive pin to transfer torque between rotatable flange and spool is no longer necessary. Therefore the spool fixation devices allows for a smooth changeover of spools.