DE29516426U1 - Knife folding machine - Google Patents

Description

DIPL-ING. DIETER JANDER U·' ^*-GR.-IN<£.*f/ANFK£B"SÖNING

PATENT ATTORNEYS

European Patent Attorneys

LEISTIKOWSTRASSE 2 14050 BERLIN Telephone 030/305 10 29 Fax 030/304 31 91

PATMARK'

05.10.1995

1314/21 983 EN

Registration
the company
Karl Rabofsky GmbH
Motzener Str. 10 a

12277 Berlin

Knife folding machine

The invention relates to a knife folding machine with up and down movable and tiltable knife bars to which folding knives are attached, with which standing folds of different sizes can be produced by changing the folding knife stroke.

Knife pleating machines are used in particular to produce pleats for filters. They are also used in the production of blinds, lampshades, flower pot collars, bottle covers and many other things, whereby the batch sizes of the products to be manufactured vary within wide limits.

Knife folding machines of the type in question are known, which are only suitable for producing a relatively small number of fold combinations, because the lifting and tilting movements of the folding knives are controlled purely mechanically using curved tracks. In particular, combinations of folds of different heights are difficult to produce. Converting the known machines is very complex and therefore extremely uneconomical, especially for small quantities.

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DIPL-ING. DIETER JANDER **ßR.-ING.*RiAftPl?ED BÖtölfts " ·· ··«

PATENT ATTORNEYS

Another disadvantage of the known knife folding machines is that the working speed depends on the masses to be moved. These masses always travel the same distance, regardless of whether the machine is producing the smallest or largest possible fold, which is also detrimental to the working speed. Finally, the folding force of the knives depends on the height of the folds and is limited, especially when producing small folds, in a way that does not allow the processing of thicker, especially multi-layered material.

The invention is based on the object of creating a knife folding machine of the type under consideration, in which cam disks for controlling the up and down movements of the knife bars and a forced coupling of these movements to one another and in relation to the knife bar tilting movements are dispensed with. This object is achieved in a knife folding machine of this type in that it has at least three drive motors designed as servo motors with a low mass moment of inertia, one of which serves to initiate the up and down movement in the knife bars and one of which causes the tilting movements of the knife bars, and that the individual servo motors can be controlled independently of one another by at least one computer.

The knife folding machine according to the invention offers the advantage that it can be used to produce different types of folds in a particularly economical manner without complex conversion work, whereby the omission of drive cam disks for the up and down movements of the knife bars and of the known mechanical coupling systems also has a positive effect on the design effort.

In a further embodiment of the knife folding machine according to the invention, further functions, such as the build-up of a counter pressure exerted on the fold stack against folding knives, can be controlled with the aid of servo motors.

DIPL-ING, DIETER JANDER ^s *iR.-ING.*RjASfl^D BÖtil&S ** *" ***

PATENT ATTORNEYS

Corresponding details and features emerge from the subclaims and the following description of a particularly advantageous embodiment of a knife folding machine shown in the attached drawing. They show:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a knife folding machine; Fig. 2 is a section along the line II/II in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top view of the knife folding machine according to Figs. 1 and 2.

The knife folding machine shown in the figures has a base frame 1 with two side walls 2, 3 and a cross member 4. The side walls 2, 3, the cross member 4 and the base frame 1 serve to accommodate the essential parts of the machine.

An upper knife bar 5 and a lower knife bar 6 with upper and lower folding knives 7 and 8 attached to them are guided on the side walls 2, 3. Filter material 10 coming from a material inlet table 9 can be inserted between the folding knives 7 and 8.

The knife bars 5,6 can perform both lifting movements in the direction of the double arrow 11 and tilting movements in the direction of the double arrows 12 and 13 in order to fold the filter material 10. The lifting movements are generated by servo motors 14,15. The reversing rotary movements of these motors can be converted via shafts 16,17 and spindle lifting gears 18,19,20,21 into linear lifting movements, which are transferred to the knife bars 5,6.

A servo motor 22 is used to generate the tilting movements of the knife bar 6. The reversing rotary movements of this servo motor are also converted into linear movements. For this purpose, a connecting shaft 23 with a cam 24 is used, which moves a carriage 27 equipped with rollers 25, 26 back and forth in the direction of the double arrow 28. The roller 26 of the carriage 27 lies against a

DIPL-ING. DIETER JANDER **D*R.-ING.*ßiAßFR*ED BORING

PATENT ATTORNEYS

The blade bar 6 is attached to the bar 29 and initiates the tilting movements into it.

The tilting movements of the knife bar 5 are also generated by the servo motor 22. For this purpose, the connecting shaft 23 is connected to a connecting shaft 31 via a toothed belt drive 30, the movements of which are converted into linear movements in the same way as previously described via a cam attached to it by means of a slide and are transmitted to the pivotably mounted knife bar 5.

The material inlet table 9, due to its height adjustability, allows for optimal introduction of the filter material 10 to be folded between the folding knives 7 and 8. The height change is carried out with the aid of a servo motor 32, the shaft of which is connected via a toothed belt 33 to an intermediate shaft, which drives spindles 37, 38 via angular gears 35, 36, which engage with spindle nuts 39, 40 on the table side.

Immediately behind the folding knives 8 and 9, in the direction of material movement, an upper guide plate 41 is mounted on the crossbeam 4. It can in turn be adjusted in height in the direction of the double arrow 50 using a servo motor via gears 43, 44, an intermediate shaft 45, two worm gears 46 and 47 and spindles 48, 49 attached to it. The guide plate 41 holds down the material folded by the folding knives 7, 8. The guide plate 41 can also be designed to be heatable if required.

Above a material discharge table 51 there is an upper pressure plate 52 which can be driven via a spindle 53 by a servo motor 55 attached to a frame 54. With the help of the pressure plate 52, an adjustable or controllable defined contact pressure can be exerted on the pleat tips 56. This contact pressure is constantly maintained during pleat production and is of exceptional importance for the

DIPL-ING. DIETER JANDER **l5R.-ING.*I^ANftiED BÖtilSlG ** ** **

PATENT ATTORNEYS

consistent quality of the folds to be produced, since it builds up a continuous counterpressure to the pressure exerted by the folding knives 7,8 in the fold stacks located behind them.

Each servo motor 14, 15, 22, 32, 42 and 55 is assigned a computer 57, 58, 59, 60, 61 and 62. The computers used to control the servo motors are managed by a higher-level computer 63 with monitor 64 and keyboard 65. All important settings of the machine can be programmed, archived, selected and reproduced using the higher-level computer 63.

Claims (4)

DIPL.-ING. DIETER JANDER * 1UR1-ING. *täANtt?ED BÖNIGS " ** **' PATENT ATTORNEYS Claims: 1. Knife folding machine with up and down movable and tiltable knife bars to which folding knives are attached, with which standing folds of different sizes can be produced by changing the folding knife stroke, characterized in that it has at least three drive motors designed as servo motors (14, 15, 22) with a low mass moment of inertia, one of which (14 or 15) serves to initiate the up and down movements in the knife bars (5, 6) and one (22) causes the tilting movements of the knife bars (5, 6) and that the individual servo motors (14, 15, 16) can be controlled independently of one another by at least one computer. 2. Knife folding machine according to claim 1, characterized in that it has a material inlet table (9) which can be moved up and down by at least one further computer-controlled drive motor designed as a servo motor (32), 3. Knife folding machine according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it is provided with an upper heatable guide plate (41) immediately downstream of the folding knives (7 and 8) for holding down the material folded by the folding knives (7, 8), which can be moved up and down by at least one further computer-controlled drive motor designed as a servo motor (42). 4. Knife folding machine according to one or more of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it has a material discharge table (51) with at least one upper pressure plate (52), the contact pressure exerted on the fold tips (56) facing it can be adjusted in at least one further computer-aided servo motor (55). DIPL-INS. DIETER JANDER *iJk.-ING.*fflAtitt?£D BÖNWS ·· ·· ··· PATENT ATTORNEYS - 7 - 5, knife folding machines according to one or more of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that each servo motor (14, 15, 22, 32, 42, 55) is assigned its own computer (57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62) and the computers of the servo motors are managed by a higher-level computer (63).