Comaintel's president, Rene Larive worked for 37 years in Pulp and Paper R&D.
While employed by a paper company, he contributed to a number of innovations in
the field of calender stack control. Staring in 1970, his name is associated with
the world's first Cross-Direction paper machine control, using his development
of the Backtender's Friend sensor to control reel hardness on calender stacks.
After developing the Backtender's Beacon, a standard digital calender stack control
actuators interface, René invented the Calcoil, an induction heating system
accepted worldwide as the reference in caliper control on paper machines. Since
retiring, he and his close family associated to launch Comaintel.
While working in the R&D lab of Abitibi-Consolidated, a major paper company,
René Larivé, now president of Comaintel was leading the project
team, which pioneered the development of elevated temperature calendering. Traditionally,
paper is calendered on cast iron rolls at a surface temperature around 85°C;
this operation imparts to the paper web its final thickness along with its surface
smoothness and gloss. It has been demonstrated that as calendering temperature
increases, gloss, smoothness and bulk improve. At constant bulk, web strength
improves with calendering temperature.
Heated metal rolls are an important element for many manufacturing processes.
The paper industry use metal rolls for pressing, drying and calendering of paper
webs.
For the paper industry, ABB Industrial Systems of Columbus, Ohio hold the exclusive
rights to Comaintel technology and know-how. All requests for information on ABB
Induction Profiler should be directed to ABB.
