Vacuum in printing and paper handling

Vacuum on the paper machine

The EU Best Available Techniques reference document (BREF) for the production of pulp, paper and board, published in 2015, describes forming, the core process of papermaking, as using energy for the drives of the wire section and for the production of mostly low vacuums for web dewatering. In the press section, where press rolls dewater the paper web mechanically, energy goes to the hydraulic units, the drives and the generation of high vacuums.

Water and energy in the vacuum system

• Sealing water: the BREF counts sealing water for vacuum pumps among common fresh water uses, and mentions the sealing water flow of liquid ring pumps; vacuum systems with variable speed turbo blowers need no sealing water and are more energy-efficient than conventional liquid ring pumps or fixed speed blowers.
• Energy: energy-efficient vacuum systems achieve electrical power savings of approximately 20% to 45% in the vacuum system and water savings of around 95%, with automatic speed control to adapt to changes in speed, grammage and felt age.
• Heat recovery: radial blowers are used for wire and felt dewatering, normally in larger paper machines; their exhaust air reaches 130 to 160 °C, and heat exchangers can recover up to 75% of the power absorbed by the vacuum blowers.

Sheet feeders on printing presses

In its background, US patent 3,931,964 (1976) describes known sheet feeder suction heads controlled mechanically by rotating cams and pneumatically by suction air applied to the separating nozzles in a timed sequence. In its background, US patent 5,092,578 (1992), for the sheet feeder of a sheet-fed rotary printing press, describes a separating device that lifts the top sheet from the pile with a separator sucker, and blower nozzles that fan the sheets and blow supporting air under the top sheet.

In its background, US patent 11,815,105 (2023), on regenerative blowers, also referred to as side channel blowers, lists printing presses among their applications; see side channel blowers.

Vacuum pumps that Ultra Controlo distributes

Ultra Controlo distributes and services Elmo Rietschle and Thomas, two of its five partner brands. Its Industrial 2026 catalogue lists Elmo Rietschle rotary vane vacuum pumps in dry or lubricated versions, dry-running screw vacuum pumps, non-contact oil-free claw vacuum pumps, oil-free air- or water-cooled vacuum pumps, liquid-ring vacuum pumps in stainless steel and ceramic, and side-channel blowers, and Thomas rotary vane pumps for vacuum and gas sampling.