DE29714343U1 - Double-head pipe bending machine - Google Patents

Description

Applicant:

megatronic

Schweißmaschinenbau GmbH Dieselstrasse 5
86356 Neusäß

Representative:

Patent attorneys
Dipl.-Ing. H.-D. Ernicke Dipl.-Ing. Klaus Ernicke Schwibbogenplatz 2b
D-86153 Augsburg

Date:

File:

14.08.1997 936-3 ern/sw

- th -

DESCRIPTION Double head pipe bending machine

The invention relates to a double-head pipe bending machine which is installed in connection with a pipe end processing machine, consisting of two bending heads equipped with forming and bending rollers which bend against a centrally held pipe of

&iacgr;&ogr; both outer sides can be adjusted towards the middle of the pipe and thereby carry out controlled bending deformations, whereby an input device brings the pipe to be bent into the bending position and a boom device holds the pipe in the bending position and transfers it to a conveyor in the bent state.

Such a double-head pipe bending machine is already known from the applicant's "Technology-Innovation-Quality-Know-How" brochure and from obvious prior use. The pipe bending technology is based on the state of the art according to DE-A 38 11 891.

Such double-head pipe bending machines are preferably used for bending pipes that are used in vehicle construction. The bending heads are moved step by step along the pipe from the outside to the inside in order to bend the pipe at any given point in the desired direction and at the desired bending angle.

When bending shorter pipes, the previously known pipe bending machine is uneconomical. This is the reason why DE-A 42 42 002 proposes bending two pipes in the machine simultaneously or independently of each other, with each pipe being assigned a clamping device. When bending long pipes, the clamps arranged in the middle of the pipe are

- 2a -

Clamping devices are assigned different functions. In the interest of an accelerated workflow, one clamping device should hold and release the bent long pipe, while the other clamping device takes up a still unbent pipe.

The problem that the invention addresses is how to bend both long pipes and shorter pipes with such a double-head pipe bending machine. In particular, the aim is to bend pipes of the same shape, i.e., pipes that are identically short to one another, at the same time.

This object of the invention is solved with the features of claim 1.

The invention therefore deviates from the functional principle of the previously known double-head pipe bending machine, which consists in bending a pipe with two bending heads from the outside towards the middle. Instead, two pipes are introduced into the pipe bending machine, which are to have the same final shape after the bending process. Since the pipes are held at their ends facing each other, the bending heads cannot be driven - as in the prior art. Instead, one of the bending heads must be controlled in its drive movement as a mirror image of the other.

If this modified double-head pipe bending machine is to be used again for its original purpose, namely bending a longer pipe, one of the two boom devices is brought into a position according to the invention that is out of reach of the individual units of the double-head pipe bending machine during conventional bending of a long pipe. For this purpose, the two boom devices are adjustable relative to one another according to the invention.

These and other features of the invention are shown schematically and by way of example in the drawing. Shown are: [

Figure 1: a top view of a

Double-head pipe bending machine with upstream
Pipe end processing machine and

Figure 2: a side view of the arrangement according to

Figure 1.

In the example in Figure 1, it is assumed that the pipe processed by a pipe end processing machine (2) is transferred by means of an input device (6) to a double-head pipe bending machine (1) in which there are two bending heads (3, 4) that can be moved step by step along the pipe axis in the bending position (8).

In the current state of technology, this

Double-head pipe bending machine (1) used for bending long pipes. The bending heads (3,4) are brought up to the respective pipe ends, whereupon the pipe is brought into the bending position (8) by the input device (6). In this bending position (8), a boom device (9) which engages in the middle of the pipe holds the pipe, after which the bending heads (3,4) are gradually moved against each other from the outside. At predetermined points, the feed of the bending heads (3,4) is stopped and the bend is carried out using forming and bending rollers, which are described in detail in the prior art (DE-A 38 11 891). This makes it possible to bend the pipe in a specific direction and at a specific angle.

If you want to use such a double-head pipe bending machine (1) to bend shorter pipes, the first problem that arises is that the extension device (9), which grips the middle of the pipe, gets in the way of the bending process. If you were to grip the end of the shorter pipe with this extension device (9) and only carry out deformation work with one bending head (3 or 4), the performance of this machine would be far too low.

The drawing shows the relatively simple measures that can be used to convert the previously known double-head pipe bending machine in order to be able to bend two shorter pipes of the same shape at the same time.

For this purpose, it is first assumed that the input device (6) is adjustable along the slide guide (7) and is able to remove each individual pipe from the pipe end processing machine (2) and transfer it to the bending position (8).

In the bending position (8), the two pipes are now gripped by two boom devices (9,10), whereby it is recommended that the ends of the two pipes facing each other be fixed by the boom devices (9,10) and that the bending heads (3,4) be moved far enough apart that they can carry out the bending process on each pipe from the other sides. However, since the pipes to be bent must have the same final shape, the drive device of one of the bending heads (3 or 4) must be controlled in a mirror image of the drive device of the other bending head (3 or 4). This makes it possible to obtain pipes that are ultimately bent the same while the two bending heads (3,4) are gradually brought closer together.

The double-head pipe bending machine (1) is therefore equipped with a second boom device (10) for the purpose of the invention. However, this is not required if the double-head pipe bending machine

(1) pipes of greater length are to be bent again. For this reason, the boom devices (9, 10) are adjustable relative to each other. In the example in Figure 1, the boom device (10) is moved to the end position (12) provided on the left, where it does not interfere when processing a single, longer pipe.

From the side view of Figure 2, it can be seen that the input device (6) can be moved around the pivot axis (14) and the boom device (9,10) can be moved around the pivot axis (15) according to the dot-dash lines. Each boom device (9,10) can also be assigned its own conveyor (11), which is taken out of the operating area when only one longer pipe is to be bent at a time.

PARTS LIST

1 double-head pipe bending machine

2 Pipe end processing machine 5 3 Bending head

4 Bending head

5 Slide guide

6 Input device

7 Slide guide &iacgr;&ogr; 8 Bending position

9 Boom device

10 boom device

11 Sponsors

12 End position 13 Pipe

14 Swivel axis

15 Swivel axis

Claims (2)

- 8a PROTECTION CLAIMS 1.) Double-head pipe bending machine (1) which is set up in connection with a pipe end processing machine (2), consisting of two bending heads (3, 4) equipped with forming and bending rollers which can be adjusted against a pipe held in the middle from both outer sides in the direction of the pipe center and thereby carry out controlled bending deformations, whereby an input device (6) brings the pipe to be bent into the bending position (8) and either a boom device (9) holds a long pipe in the bending position (8) and transfers it to a conveyor (11) in the bent state, or two boom devices (9) each hold a short pipe in the bending position and transfer it to a conveyor (11) in the bent state, characterized in that the double-head pipe bending machine (1) can be reconfigured for the simultaneous bending of two shorter pipes or alternatively for a long pipe, whereby in the case of bending two pipes, the The drive device of one of the bending heads (3) is controlled in a mirror image manner compared to that of the other bending head (4). 2.) Double-head pipe bending machine (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the two boom devices (9, 10) are adjustable relative to one another, with an end position (12) being provided for a boom device (10) which is out of reach of the individual units of the double-head pipe bending machine (1) during conventional bending of a long pipe.