CN109641254B

CN109641254B - Apparatus for bending a material and system comprising the apparatus

Info

Publication number: CN109641254B
Application number: CN201780038181.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 卡洛·万戈姆佩尔
Original assignee: VLM
Current assignee: VLM
Priority date: 2016-06-24
Filing date: 2017-06-19
Publication date: 2020-12-04
Anticipated expiration: 2037-06-19
Also published as: CN112676391A; US20190201964A1; WO2017221125A1; EP3475007B1; EP3475007A1; BE1024166B1; CN109641254A

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for bending a material and a system comprising the apparatus. The apparatus includes an adjustment device to adjust the width of the die. The adjusting device comprises a plurality of adjusting slats which are movable in the longitudinal direction. The adjusting strips are embodied such that, by displacing a plurality of adjusting strips at a time, one of the adjusting strips forms a stop for the respective outer wall of the respective mold half.

Description

Apparatus for bending a material and system comprising the apparatus

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an apparatus for bending a material and a system comprising the apparatus.

Background

Such a device is known from EP-1513628. The apparatus described herein includes a mold comprising a first mold half and a second mold half, and a holder for supporting the mold. The first mold half and the second mold half each extend in the longitudinal direction of the holder and together enclose a mold cavity extending in the longitudinal direction. The first mold half includes a set of parallel first elements, each first element including a first extension and an outer wall. The second mold half includes a set of parallel second elements, each second element including a second extension and an outer wall. The first and second elements extend in a transverse direction and are arranged alternately in a longitudinal direction of the mould. The first elements are arranged at a first distance from each other to receive said second extension of the second element between the first elements. The second elements are arranged at a second distance from each other to receive said first extension of the first element between the second elements. The outer walls of the first elements of the first mold half together form a first outer wall of the first mold half, and the outer walls of the second elements of the second mold half together form a second outer wall of the second mold half. The first and second mold halves are movably arranged on the holder in said transverse direction such that they are movable relative to each other for adjusting the width of the mold cavity. The apparatus further comprises adjusting means for adjusting the width of the mould cavity.

The adjusting device known from EP- ｃA-1513628 is an adjusting block which is placed manually on ｃA holder. When the material is bent by means of the mould, a force is applied to each mould half, which pushes the mould halves away from each other. The adjustment block acts as a stop for the first and second elements to prevent the mold halves from moving away from each other. Placing these adjustment blocks is a manual operation and time consuming. Furthermore, the required width of the mold cavity is also limited by the number of adjustment blocks available.

Disclosure of Invention

A first object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for bending material, wherein adjusting the width of the mould takes less time.

The first object is achieved by having the following apparatus. The apparatus comprising a mold and a holder for supporting the mold, the mold comprising a first mold half and a second mold half, the first mold half and the second mold half in each case extending in the longitudinal direction of the apparatus and together enclosing a mold cavity extending in the longitudinal direction,

wherein the first mould half comprises a set of parallel first elements, each first element comprising a first extension and an outer wall, the second mould half comprises a set of parallel second elements, the second elements each comprising a second extension and an outer wall, wherein the first elements and the second elements extend in a transverse direction of the apparatus and are alternately arranged in a longitudinal direction, and wherein the first elements are arranged at a first distance with respect to each other for receiving the second extensions of the second elements between the first elements, and the second elements are arranged at a second distance with respect to each other for receiving the first extensions of the first elements between the second elements,

wherein the outer walls of the first elements of the first mold half together form a first outer wall of the first mold half and the outer walls of the second elements of the second mold half together form a second outer wall of the second mold plate,

wherein the first and second mold halves are movably arranged on the holder in a transverse direction such that the first and second mold halves are movable relative to each other for adjusting the width of the mold cavity,

wherein the apparatus further comprises adjusting means for adjusting the width of the mould cavity.

In the apparatus according to the invention, the adjusting device comprises a plurality of adjusting slats, wherein the adjusting slats are movably positioned on the holder in the longitudinal direction at the level of the outer wall of at least one of the mould halves. The adjusting strips are embodied such that, each time by moving a plurality of adjusting strips adjacent to one another, one of the adjusting strips forms a stop for the corresponding outer wall of the corresponding mold half.

In the device according to the invention, the adjusting means further comprise gripping means for gripping and moving the plurality of adjusting slats. Thus, by moving a different number of adjustment slats by means of the clamping device, the stop position can be changed.

The device according to the invention has the advantage that one adjusting strip at a time acts as a stop for the first and second element, respectively. By means of the clamping device, which can move a plurality of adjustment slats, the stop of the first mould half and/or the stop of the second mould half can be adjusted in order to adjust the width of the mould cavity in a less time-consuming manner.

In one embodiment of the device, the clamping means are arranged for displacing the adjusting strip in the height direction. In this embodiment, the stop position is changed by moving a plurality of adjacent adjustment slats in the height direction. Since the width of the mold cavity is proportional to the distance between the first and second outer walls, the width of the mold cavity can be adjusted.

In an embodiment of the device in which the adjusting slats are displaceable in the height direction, the gripping means are, for example, hydraulically driven lifting means, which are provided for lifting a variable number of adjusting slats.

In an advantageous embodiment of the device, the adjustment strip has a groove which is provided for receiving the corresponding outer wall, and the clamping means are provided for moving the adjustment strip in the longitudinal direction. In this embodiment, the stop position is changed by moving a plurality of adjacent adjustment slats in the longitudinal direction. By moving a plurality of adjacent adjustment slats in the longitudinal direction, the grooves of the plurality of adjustment slats can be aligned with the corresponding outer walls of the corresponding mold halves. The corresponding mould half can then be moved in the transverse direction until the corresponding outer wall contacts the adjusting strip which is not moved in the longitudinal direction, which then forms a stop for the corresponding mould plate. In this way, the distance between the first outer wall and the second outer wall can be increased. Conversely, the distance between the first outer wall and the second outer wall may also be reduced. For this purpose, the corresponding mold halves are moved in the transverse direction, after which the plurality of adjusting strips are moved in the longitudinal direction to form new stops. Since the width of the mold cavity is proportional to the distance between the first outer wall and the second outer edge, the width of the mold cavity can be varied.

In an advantageous embodiment of the device, in which the adjusting slats are movable in the longitudinal direction, the clamping means are, for example, pneumatic or electric clamping means, which are provided for clamping and moving a variable number of adjusting slats in the longitudinal direction. This advantageous embodiment has the advantage over the above-described embodiments that it is mechanically simpler and easier to move or lift the adjusting slats.

In one embodiment of the device, the holder is provided with a first wall and a second wall in the longitudinal direction, which act as stops for the first outer wall and the second outer wall, respectively, of the corresponding mould half, if none of the adjusting slats acts as a stop for the corresponding outer wall. Thus, the distance between the first and second walls of the holder determines the maximum width of the mould cavity. In addition, these outer walls may be provided for absorbing the compressive forces exerted by the mould element on the adjustment strip during use.

In a further embodiment of the device, the adjusting slats are divided into two groups, wherein a first group acts as a stop for the first outer wall and a second group acts as a stop for the second outer wall. In this further embodiment, each of the two mold halves may be moved individually.

In another embodiment of the apparatus comprising two groups of conditioning slats, the conditioning slats in the first and second groups are in contact, and the conditioning slats of the first group are in contact with the first wall and the conditioning slats of the second group are in contact with the second wall. The device is embodied such that the respective set of adjusting slats between the adjusting slats acting as a stop for the respective outer wall and the adjusting slats contacting the respective wall is formed in one piece, i.e. the intermediate slats move together with the remaining slats between the slats forming the stop and the wall of the holder. This has the advantage that, when the mould is used to bend the material, the pressure exerted by the mould halves on the stop is transferred to the holder by means of the entire strip.

In an alternative embodiment of the apparatus, the first mould half cannot move relative to the holder and the first outer wall is always in contact with the first wall. In this alternative embodiment, the first mould half can thus be fixedly mounted on the holder and only the second mould half can be moved in said transverse direction. Thus, only the adjusting strip is provided to determine the stop of the second mould half. This has the advantage over the further embodiments described above that only one clamping device is required instead of two clamping devices.

In this alternative embodiment, the device is embodied such that the adjusting strips are in contact and such that the adjusting strips are in contact with said second wall, whereby the adjusting strips between the adjusting strips acting as a stop for the second outer wall and the adjusting strips in contact with the second wall form a whole. When the mould is used to bend the material, the pressure exerted by the second mould half on the stop is thus transferred to the holder by means of the set of slats.

In one embodiment of the device, the holder is a block which is provided with at least one groove in the longitudinal direction, in which groove the adjusting strip is received. The at least one groove ensures that the adjusting strip can be moved in such a way that it does not form a stop for the corresponding mould plate. The mold halves can thus be moved up to the wall of the holder to have the widest possible mold cavity opening.

In a further embodiment of the apparatus, the apparatus further comprises a displacement device for moving the first mold half relative to the second mold half, in particular integrated into the holder and engaging a cavity provided in at least one of the mold halves. This further embodiment allows the mold halves to be moved relative to each other without the need for time consuming manual operations.

In an advantageous embodiment of the apparatus, the first and second mold halves comprise first and second shafts, respectively, the first and second shafts being oriented in the longitudinal direction and configured to attach said first and second mold elements. In this advantageous embodiment, the length of the mould is thus adjustable by mounting more or less mould elements to said first and second shafts.

A second object of the invention is to provide a system for bending a considerable length of material.

This second object is achieved by a system comprising at least two devices according to any of the preceding embodiments and comprising first connecting means for interconnecting the adjustment slats of at least two devices at a time and second connecting means for interconnecting the adjustment slats of at least two devices at a time.

Material longer than the axes of the two mold halves of a single apparatus cannot be bent by the apparatus. Because the system comprises a plurality of devices interconnected by said first and second connecting means, the system allows bending of longer materials than a single device.

In an embodiment of the system, the system further comprises third connecting means to connect the first axis of the first device with the first axis of the second device and to connect the second axis of the first device with the second axis of the second device. In this embodiment, the respective shafts of at least two devices are interconnected by said third connecting means. In this way, it is determined that the corresponding mold halves of the apparatus are aligned and thus the material is bent in the correct manner.

Drawings

The present invention will be explained in further detail below by the following description and the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 to 3 schematically illustrate the operation of a first embodiment of the apparatus according to the present invention.

Fig. 4 to 6 schematically illustrate the operation of a second embodiment of the device according to the invention.

Fig. 7 shows a perspective view of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 8 shows a perspective view of the adjustment slats and the adjustment device of the device of fig. 7.

Fig. 9 shows a detail of fig. 8.

Fig. 10 shows another perspective view of the adjustment slats and the adjustment means of the device of fig. 7.

Fig. 11 shows a detail of fig. 10.

Fig. 12 shows a cross-sectional view of a portion of the apparatus of fig. 7.

Detailed Description

Although the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to particular embodiments and with reference to certain drawings, the invention is not limited thereto but only by the claims. The drawings described herein are diagrammatic and explanatory only and are not restrictive. In the drawings, the size of some of the elements may be exaggerated and not drawn on scale for illustrative purposes. The dimensions and relative dimensions do not necessarily correspond to actual reductions in size for the practice of the invention.

Furthermore, terms such as "first," "second," "third," and the like may be used in the description and in the claims to distinguish between similar elements and not necessarily to indicate a sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that the embodiments of the invention described herein are capable of operation in other sequences than described or illustrated herein.

Furthermore, terms such as "top," "bottom," "over," "under," and the like in the description and in the claims are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that the embodiments of the invention described herein are capable of operation in other orientations than described or illustrated herein.

It is to be noticed that the term 'comprising', used in the claims, should not be interpreted as being limitative to the means listed thereafter; the term does not exclude other elements or steps. It is thus to be interpreted as specifying the presence of the stated features, integers, steps or components as referred to, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps or components, or groups thereof. Therefore, the scope of expressions such as "an apparatus including the apparatuses a and B" should not be limited to an apparatus composed of only the apparatuses a and B. This means that for the present invention, the only corresponding components of the device are a and B.

Fig. 1 to 3 schematically show the operation of a first embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention, in which the adjusting strip is moved in the height direction to adjust the width of the die opening. Fig. 1 and 2 show a part of a holder 3 and an adjusting strip 20 arranged thereon, which in two different cases is situated in a recess 28 and against an inner wall 30 of the holder. Fig. 3 shows a cross section of the situation of fig. 2. In the case of fig. 1, no adjusting strip 20 has been moved and the corresponding mould half can be moved over the upper surface 27 of the holder and over the adjusting strip until abutting against the inner wall 30 of the holder 3. The inner wall 30 of the holder 3 in this case forms a stop for the outer wall of the mold half. In the case of fig. 2 and 3, a number of adjusting slats 20 have been moved in height direction and the stop positions for the outer walls of the mould halves have been moved to the inside.

Fig. 4 to 6 schematically illustrate the operation of a second embodiment of the device according to the invention, in which the adjusting strip is provided with grooves 25 and is moved in the longitudinal direction to adjust the width of the die opening. Fig. 4 and 5 show a part of the holder 3 and the adjusting strip 20 arranged thereon, which in two different cases is located in the recess 28 and against the inner wall 30 of the holder. Fig. 6 shows a cross section of the situation of fig. 5. In the case of fig. 4, no adjusting strip 20 has been moved, which in this embodiment means that the inner adjusting strip forms a stop for the outer wall of the mould half, i.e. has the narrowest mould opening. In the case of fig. 5 and 6, a number of adjusting slats 20 have been moved in the longitudinal direction and the stop positions for the outer walls of the mould halves have been moved to the outside.

Fig. 7 shows a perspective view of a device 1 according to an embodiment of the invention, in which the operating principle according to fig. 4 to 6 is applied. The apparatus 1 comprises a mould 2 and a holder 3 for supporting the mould 2, more particularly a plurality of interconnected mould and holder parts as described elsewhere herein, so that a material having a considerable length, for example a sheet of steel, can be bent with such an apparatus. The mould 2 is described in patent publication EP- ｃA-1513628. The content of this patent publication EP- ｃA-1513628 is hereby incorporated in its entirety into the present patent application. Therefore, each part of the mold 2 will not be described in detail, but only an important part of the present invention will be described.

The mold 2 comprises a first mold half 4 and a second mold half 5. The first mould half 4 and the second mould half 5 each extend in the longitudinal direction 6 and together enclose a mould cavity extending in the longitudinal direction. The first mould half 4 comprises a set of parallel first elements 8, each first element 8 comprising a first extension 9 and an outer wall 17 (see fig. 12). The second mould half 5 comprises a set of parallel second elements, each comprising a second extension and an outer wall. The first and second elements extend in the transverse direction and are arranged alternately in the longitudinal direction of the mould 2. The first elements are arranged at a first distance from each other to receive said second extension of the second element within the first element. The second elements are arranged at a second distance from each other to receive said first extension of the first element between the second elements. Preferably, the first element and the second element have the same length, such that the first distance and the second distance are the same. In this way, the first and second elements are identical and can be produced in the same way.

Said outer walls 17 of the first elements 8 of the first mould half 4 together form a first outer wall 17 of the first mould half 4 and said outer walls of the second elements of the second mould half 5 together form a second outer wall of the second mould half 5. The first and second mold halves 4, 5 are movable relative to each other in the transverse direction to adjust the width of the mold cavity. Moving the mould halves can be done by manual operation, but is preferably done by a displacement device 19, the displacement device 19 being integrated in the holder 3.

Fig. 12 shows an embodiment of the displacement device. The displacement means comprise an electric screw system with which the sliding element 23 can be moved in the transverse direction of the holder. On which a cam 24 is arranged, which cam 24 engages a groove 26 in the lower mould element 8. It should be clear that the displacement means can also be implemented in other ways known to the person skilled in the art in the context of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 8 and 9, the apparatus 1 further comprises a plurality of first adjusting slats 20 and a plurality of second adjusting slats 21, each extending in a longitudinal direction and supported by the holder 3 in the groove 28 (as shown in fig. 6). The first adjusting strip 20 forms a variable stop for the first outer wall 17 and the second adjusting strip 21 forms a variable stop for the second outer wall. The adjusting strips 20, 21 are provided with recesses 25 and can be moved in the longitudinal direction by means of the clamping device 6 in order to adjust the stop position of the respective mold half. These gripping means 6 comprise on both sides cams 7 movable in the transverse direction, the cams 7 moving laterally into grooves below the slats to select the

slats

20, 21 to be moved. The cam is movable back and forth with the aid of an electric system as shown in fig. 6. The gripping device 6 further comprises pneumatic traction elements 10, 11 arranged for moving the cam 7 together with the

slats

20, 21 engaged by the cam in the longitudinal direction (as shown in fig. 5). During the folding or bending operation performed with the device 1, the gripping means 6 are not loaded and can therefore be performed gently. It should be clear that the clamping device can also be implemented in other ways known to the skilled person in the context of the present invention. For example, for the embodiment according to the operating principle of fig. 1 to 3, instead, a hydraulic clamping device is suitable in view of the movement of the slats in the height direction against gravity.

The holder 3 has two inner walls, one of which 30 is shown in fig. 1 to 6. The wall 30 engages the groove 28 in which the

slats

20, 21 are accommodated and serves, on the one hand, to absorb lateral compressive forces during the bending or folding operation and, on the other hand, to act as a stop for the corresponding mould half 4, 5 when all

adjustment slats

20, 21 have been moved "aside". In the embodiments shown in fig. 7 to 12, the adjusting slats are arranged on both sides of the device 1, but it is also possible to arrange the adjusting slats on only one side of the device. An advantage of providing adjustable stops on both sides is that the centre of the mould opening can always remain in the same position, so that in use a pressing element pressing down from above the centre of the mould opening to perform a bending operation can have a fixed position. More specifically, if the width of the die opening has been adjusted, there is no need to move the pressing element and the device 1 laterally with respect to each other.

The apparatus of fig. 7 is a system in which a plurality of holders and mold portions are interconnected to expand the resulting mold opening. The adjusting

slats

20, 21 are interconnected by means of connecting elements 29, as shown in detail in fig. 11. These connecting elements 29 are planar elements which fit into corresponding grooves in the ends of the slats so that the slats and the connecting elements can move along each other. It should be clear that these connecting elements can also be implemented in other ways known to the person skilled in the art within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. An apparatus (1) for bending material, the apparatus (1) comprising a mould (2) and a holder (3) for supporting the mould (2), the mould (2) comprising first and second mould halves (4, 5) which in each case extend in a longitudinal direction of the apparatus and together enclose a mould cavity extending in the longitudinal direction,

wherein the first mould half (4) comprises a set of parallel first elements (8), each of which comprises a first extension (9) and an outer wall (17), the second mould half (5) comprises a set of parallel second elements, each of which comprises a second extension and an outer wall, wherein the first elements and the second elements extend in a transverse direction of the apparatus and are alternately arranged in a longitudinal direction, and wherein the first elements (8) are arranged at a first distance from each other for receiving the second extensions of the second elements between the first elements, and the second elements are arranged at a second distance from each other for receiving the first extensions (9) of the first elements (8) between the second elements,

wherein the outer walls of the first elements (8) of the first mould half (4) together form a first outer wall (17) of the first mould half (4) and the outer walls of the second elements of the second mould half (5) together form a second outer wall of the second mould half (5),

wherein the first mold half (4) and the second mold half (5) are movably arranged on the holder along the transverse direction such that the first mold half and the second mold half are movable relative to each other for adjusting the width of the mold cavity,

wherein the apparatus (1) further comprises adjusting means for adjusting the width of the mould cavity,

wherein the adjusting device comprises a plurality of adjusting slats (20, 21), wherein the adjusting slats (20, 21) are arranged on the holder (3) movably in the longitudinal direction at the level of the outer wall (17) of at least one of the first and second mould halves (4, 5), wherein the adjusting slats (20, 21) are embodied such that, by displacing a plurality of the adjusting slats (20, 21) at a time, one of the adjusting slats (20, 21) forms a stop for the corresponding outer wall (17) of the corresponding mould half (4, 5),

wherein the adjusting device comprises a clamping device (6) for clamping and moving a plurality of adjusting slats (20, 21) and thereby adjusting the position of the stop,

characterized in that the adjustment slats (20, 21) have a groove (25) arranged for receiving the respective outer walls (17) of the first and second elements, and wherein the clamping means are arranged for moving the adjustment slats (20, 21) in the longitudinal direction.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the gripping device is a pneumatic or electric gripping device, which is arranged for gripping a variable number of the adjusting slats and then moving the variable number of the adjusting slats in the longitudinal direction.

3. Device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that said holder (3) is provided with a first and a second inner wall (30) along said longitudinal direction.

4. Device (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that the adjusting slats (20, 21) are divided into two groups, wherein a first group (20) acts as a stop for the first outer wall (17) and a second group (21) acts as a stop for the second outer wall.

5. The apparatus (1) according to claim 4, characterized in that the adjusting slats (20, 21) in the first and second groups are in contact with each other, and the adjusting slats (20) of the first group are in contact with the first inner wall (30), while the adjusting slats (21) of the second group are in contact with the second inner wall.

6. Device (1) according to claim 5, characterized in that the device (1) is embodied such that the corresponding first or second set of adjustment slats (20, 21) between the adjustment slats acting as stops for the corresponding first or second outer wall (17) and the adjustment slats contacting the corresponding first or second inner wall (30) form a whole.

7. The apparatus (1) according to claim 3, wherein the first mould half (4) is not movable relative to the holder (3) and wherein the first outer wall (17) is always in contact with the first inner wall (30).

8. Device (1) according to claim 7, characterized in that the device (1) is implemented such that the adjusting strips (21) are in contact with each other and the adjusting strips are in contact with the second inner wall, whereby the adjusting strips (21) between the adjusting strips acting as a stop for the second outer wall and the adjusting strips in contact with the second inner wall are formed in one piece.

9. The apparatus (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the holder (3) is a block provided with at least one groove (28) in the longitudinal direction, the groove of the block being arranged to receive the adjusting strip (20, 21).

10. The apparatus (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the apparatus (1) comprises a displacement device (19) for moving the first mold half (4) relative to the second mold half (5).

11. The apparatus (1) according to claim 10, characterized in that the displacement device (19) is integrated into the holder (3) and engages a recess (26) provided in a mould element of at least one of the first mould half (4) and the second mould half (5).

12. The apparatus (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that said first mold half (4) and said second mold half (5) comprise a first shaft and a second shaft, respectively, oriented along said longitudinal direction and arranged to attach said first element and said second element.

13. The apparatus (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that the first inner wall and the second inner wall act as stops for the first outer wall and the second outer wall (17) of the corresponding mould half (4, 5), respectively, if none of the adjusting slats (20, 21) acts as a stop for the corresponding first outer wall or second outer wall.

14. A system comprising at least two interconnected devices (1), the devices being according to claim 1, wherein the adjustment slats (20, 21) of at least two of the devices (1) are interconnected by a connecting element (29).