CH685984A5 - Device for closing the tube ends by flat tubes. - Google Patents

Description

1

CH 685 984 A5

2nd

description

The present invention relates to a device for closing the tube ends of flat tubes, with two flanging rollers, which are guided one after the other over a section of the tube end to be closed, in order to thereby close the tube end by flanging the opposite tube edges, and with means for hold the tube in place while flaring.

In the manufacture of flat tubes for radiators, the cut flat tubes are closed at both ends. The closed pipe ends are usually welded because the pipes have to withstand predetermined operating pressures.

Various methods are known for closing the pipe ends. One of these is to flare the opposing pipe edges, which extend across the pipe width, to lay them against each other and to weld the resulting joint. The pipe must of course be held in place during the flanging of the opposite pipe edges.

In the known method mentioned above, two flanging rollers are provided, each of which is successively guided over a section of the pipe end to be sealed, so that it can be ensured that the ends of the closing joint are also sufficiently guided. For this purpose, the two flanging rollers are connected to one another via a rigid link. First the one flanging roller is guided over a section to flare the corresponding tube edges and then this roller is retracted, with the second flanging roller, after a certain distance, simultaneously flanging the remaining tube edges. As a precaution, this second flanging roller is guided over a section which partially overlaps the first section.

As soon as the pipe end has been processed in the manner described, it is fed to a welding station and the closing gap is welded.

Thanks to this method, good quality pipe closures are achieved. The disadvantage of this method is that the sequence of the two flaring processes is relatively time-consuming. In addition, basically only a linear movement can be carried out with the associated device, i.e. it is only possible with great effort to design one edge of the pipe end differently than the other end edge, for example it is difficult to make curves on one side only.

The object of the present invention is now to create a device of the type defined at the outset, which makes it possible to save time and, if necessary, to follow more complex paths of the individual crimping rolls in order, for example, Only add curves to one side.

This object is achieved according to the invention in a device of the type mentioned in that each of the two flanging rollers is equipped with its own drive for the forward or return flow.

A hydraulic drive, e.g. a double-acting hydraulic cylinder is provided.

Thanks to these constructive measures, it is now possible to impose different or different forward and return speeds on the flanging rollers.

Because each of the flanging rollers is held in side guides, any desired forward or return paths can be determined thanks to these guides, so that, for example, one roller performs a more complex route than the second, which e.g. only performs a linear movement.

Of course, control means can be provided in order to individually adjust and coordinate the timing of the drives for the flanging rollers. So it is possible, depending on the size of the flanging rollers, that the second roller will take action as long as the first roller is still working or is on the return path. Thanks to this measure, considerable time can be saved.

The holding means for the pipes during the flanging can on the one hand have a device which lifts the pipe to be processed out of the transport drivers and then clamps it in place for the flanging process, e.g. by means of hydraulic clamping elements.

The device can preferably be followed directly by a welding station, this welding station advantageously containing a laser welding device (this works very quickly and thus only leads to locally narrowly limited heat generation).

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to exemplary embodiments shown in the drawing. It shows:

1 shows the end of a flat tube to be closed;

FIG. 2 shows the pipe end according to FIG. 1 with flanged pipe edges;

Fig. 3 purely schematically, a known device for closing pipe ends with two coupled flanging rollers;

Fig. 4 also purely schematically, a device according to the invention;

FIG. 5 shows a representation similar to FIG. 4 with the flanging rollers in different possible positions;

Fig. 6 is a schematic view of a flanging roller, which is displaceable in lateral guides, and

Fig. 7 is a guide cheek for the flanging rollers of a device according to the invention.

1 and 2 of the drawing show the end of a flat tube 1, the opposite tube edges 2, 3 of which are to be flanged against one another to form a closure seam 4. This closing seam 4, in which the edges 2, 3 form a joint, is then welded to one another in a liquid-tight and pressure-tight manner.

Fig. 3 of the drawing shows purely schematically a known device to the edges on

5

10th

15

20th

25th

30th

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

2nd

3rd

CH 685 984 A5

4th

To close the tube end of a flat tube by flanging them together. The device essentially consists of two flanging rollers A, B, which are mechanically coupled to one another in order to be guided along a line X over the fixed flat tube end 1 and in the process to flare the tube edges and place them against one another. The flanging roller A is guided downwards into the position A ', thereby covering the section 1i. The flanging roller D is carried along and reaches the position D "when the roller A is in the position A '. Now the mechanism is moved in the opposite direction, the flanging roller B in turn flanging the remaining tube edges over the distance 12. From the The drawing shows that the two paths 1i and 12 partially overlap to ensure that the entire pipe end is flanged completely and cleanly.

4 of the drawing now shows a device according to the present invention. This differs from the prior art essentially in that each flanging roller A, B is provided with its own drive Hi or H2. The drives preferably consist of double-acting hydraulic cylinders that work according to a pre-selected program. Basically, each of the conveyor rollers A, B also performs a movement over a partial distance 1i or I2, which partially overlap. Thanks to the individual drive, it is now possible to set the second flanging roller B in motion when the first flanging roller A is still above the pipe end. As shown in FIG. 5 in particular, the flanging roller B can already be set in motion when the flanging roller A moves back out of the position A '(this may depend on the size of the flanging rollers). In any case, coordinated movements can save a lot of time.

In principle, a mechanical drive can also be selected for driving the flanging rollers A, B in the device according to the invention. However, the advantage of the hydraulic drive compared to the mechanical drive is that a different speed can be selected on predetermined sections than in the other sections. This is particularly advantageous where corner reshaping has to take place. Thanks to the hydraulic drive, when large deformation forces occur, e.g. when making corner curves, automatically set a lower speed than on the sections with lower deformation forces.

Fig. 6 of the drawing shows purely schematically an embodiment of a flanging roller A with a drive rod 5 and two lateral guide cheeks 6 before it is guided over the latter to close a pipe end.

Finally, FIG. 7 shows, purely schematically, a guide cheek 6 with a guide slot 7, which does not define a purely linear course. This makes it possible to roll A to form a corner rounding on a curve which ensures the formation of this rounding. In the second part of the route, driving is linear, for example with the flanging roller B.

Of course, additional routes are conceivable, particularly in the guide cheek mentioned. For example, the flanging roller B can be designed similarly to the roller A to form a corner rounding.

Claims (9)

Claims 1. Device for closing the tube ends of flat tubes, with two flanging rollers (A; B), which are successively guided over a section of the tube end to be sealed, in order to close the tube end by flanging the opposite tube edges (2; 3), and with means for holding the tube in place during flanging, characterized in that each of the two flanging rollers (A; B) is equipped with its own forward or return drive (Hi; H2). 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that for each of the flanging rollers a hydraulic drive, e.g. a hydraulic cylinder (Hi; H2) is provided as a forward or reverse drive. 3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that each of the flanging rollers (A; B) is held in lateral guides (6) in order to follow a predetermined path during the forward or backward movement. 4. Device according to one of claims 1-3, characterized in that means are provided to individually control the propulsion speeds of the drives for the flanging rollers. 5. Device according to one of claims 1-4, characterized in that control means are provided to control the timing of the flaring processes. 6. The device according to claim 3, characterized in that the lateral guides consist of the flanging rollers (A; B) side cheeks (6) with guide slots for laterally projecting roller journals or their bearings. 7. Device according to one of claims 1-6, characterized in that the holding means for the pipes consist of a device which lifts the pipe to be processed (1) from transport drivers and then for the flanging process, e.g. by means of a hydraulic clamping device. 8. Device according to one of claims 1-7, characterized in that the flanging rollers (A; B) is a part of the device forming welding station downstream for welding the flanged pipe ends. 9. The device according to claim 8, characterized in that the welding station contains at least one laser welding device. 5 10th 15 20th 25th 30th 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 3rd