EP0368686B1 - Automated rolling machine with interlocking rolls - Google Patents

Abstract

A bending machine for shaping a flat sheet into a cylinder or cone by passing the sheet between a support roll and a train crenelated rolls having parallel axes. The crenelated rolls are subjected to pressure by a train of press rolls having axes parallel to those of the crenelated rolls.

Description

The present invention is in the field of working with materials by deformation and it relates more particularly to improvements in machines for bending flat sheets to conform them into cylinders or cones; these machines are commonly called rollers.

It will be recalled that rollers are known in which the bending of the sheet metal results from the passage of the latter between a so-called support roller and a train of crenellated rollers with axes parallel to the axis of the previous one and generally located at- above him; the cylindrical surfaces of the crenellated rollers interpenetrate and the bending radius is defined by the more or less close position of the support roller of all the crenelated rollers.

Also known is a publication FR-A-1 306 612 NOJIMA which describes a vertical roller rolling machine in which the pressing rollers are segmented and distributed in several trains of coaxial rollers; this machine in which the pressure rollers are not crenellated seems intended for rolling in manufacturing from thick sheets of ferrules of fairly large diameter.

The main problem posed by rolling machines is that of the bending of the rollers, and in particular of the support roller whose behavior can be analyzed like that of a necessarily long and thin beam; one solution to this problem consisted in imposing a corresponding flexion on the opposing rollers, in this case the crenellated rollers. It has therefore been proposed as a means of this solution, but also for other reasons, the use of a pressure roller with a diameter comparable to that of the support roller and rollers exerting a differentiated pressure on the pressure roller can be bent and thanks to which still the crenellated rollers only transmit the pressure of the pressure roller without their bearings being subjected to a considerable effort.

This prior art is well described in publications FR-A 2 411 647 and FR-A 2 528 335 (& EP-A-0 096 643), both in the name of the present applicant. The rolling machine, incorporating the improvements of the last publication, has given excellent results as regards the precision of the centering radius obtained; however due to the bi-axial displacement of the crenellated roller trains the machine did not lend itself to high productivity work. In addition and due to the shape of a body, called a harpoon, the positioning, after rolling, of the straight edges of the sheets, was not sufficiently precise.

However, one of the aims of the present invention is to provide a rolling machine with automatic operation, which can be associated with a welder working behind it and also working automatically; another object of the invention is to propose means for more precise adjustment of the flexion imposed on the crenellated rollers to compensate for the flexion of the support roller; another object is to distribute the load imposed on the crenellated rollers while guiding them in rotation in order to further reduce the load on their bearings.

According to the present invention, a machine intended to conform a flat sheet metal into a cone or cylinder, a so-called "rolling machine" or "bending machine", is characterized by the combination of characteristics according to claim 1. Preferably the contact line of the pressure rollers with the crenellated rollers is located approximately 45 ° above the plane defined by the axes of the crenelated rollers.

It results from the abovementioned characteristics, and in particular from the first, a more judicious distribution of the force and a significant discharge of the bearings of the crenellated rollers.

According to another preferred characteristic of the invention, the adjustment of the rolling radius results from a precise vertical displacement of said set of rollers perpendicular to their axes, this displacement being induced by a displacement parallel to the axes of the rollers of a first ramp (at less) bearing on the one hand on a frame of the machine and on the other hand on a second ramp (at least) integral with the bearings of axes of the rollers of the mobile assembly. This characteristic results in better reproducibility of the positioning of the rolled sheet at the end of the operation, which ultimately promotes the automation of operations.

Advantageously also, a plurality of first ramps is formed in the edge of a bar, called ramps, while an identical plurality of second ramps is formed by so-called "sloping" calles integral with said movable beam; a good value for the angle formed by the plane of each ramp and the roller axes is approximately 6 ° (slope of approximately 10%); each sloping wedge comprises independent means of positioning in a direction parallel to that of the axes of the rollers. According to a particular embodiment, the means for positioning a sloping wedge are constituted by a plane slide parallel to the plane of the axes of the crenellated rollers, and oriented at approximately 45 ° relative to the direction of these axes.

It follows from these latter arrangements a possibility of precise and practical adjustment of the bending radius on the one hand and of the compensation of bending of the support roller, on the other hand.

Advantageously, the displacement of the ramp bar in the direction of the axis of the rollers is caused by a jack fixed to the frame, jack whose rod is connected to said bar by pairs of tie rods and crosspieces, the "out" position. of the rod corresponding to the "lowered" position of the roller assembly while a stop limiting the exit of the rod is mounted at the end of a threaded shaft meshing in a nut of a gantry secured to the frame, the threaded shaft with a crank handle.

Other characteristic arrangements apply to the arrangement known in principle of a comb movable in rotation whose teeth are tangent to the support roller, and can by rotation of the comb around the axis of the support roller, penetrate between the crenellated rollers to separate the straight edges from the rolled sheets. According to these characteristic arrangements, the comb serves as a guide surface for the flat sheets before their passage between the rollers; a notch with a width at least equal to that of said bearing support veil is disposed at the end of each tooth on the side opposite to said guide surface; the end of each harpoon has at its upper part a small projecting rim; finally the comb is supported by a frame articulated at each of its ends around the support roller.

• la fig.1 est une représentation schématique en coupe de la disposition des rouleaux dans une rouleuse de l'art antérieur,
• la fig.2 est une élévation d'un rouleau conforme à l'invention,
• la fig.3 illustre comparativement à la fig.1 la disposition des rouleaux conformes à l'invention,
• la fig.4 est une perspective illustrant le rouleau d'appui de la rouleuse de fig.2 associé à des organes d'éjection des tôles roulées,
• la fig.5(5a) est une vue schématique en bout, comparable à la fig.3 et illustrant (5a) le détail de certains organes de la fig.4,
• la fig.6 illustre en plan l'un des moyens de réglage de la compensation de flexion du rouleau d'appui de la rouleuse de la fig.1,
• la fig.7 est une élévation correspondante des moyens de réglage de la fig.6,
• la fig.8 (a,b,c,d) illustre schématiquement le fonctionnement de la rouleuse de l'invention, à différentes étapes.

The present invention will be better understood and details will be apparent from the description which will be made of a rolling machine according to the invention, in relation to the figures of the appended plates in which:

• Fig. 1 is a schematic sectional representation of the arrangement of the rollers in a rolling machine of the prior art,
• FIG. 2 is an elevation of a roller according to the invention,
• Fig. 3 illustrates comparatively in fig. 1 the arrangement of the rollers according to the invention,
• FIG. 4 is a perspective illustrating the support roller of the roller of FIG. 2 associated with bodies for ejecting the rolled sheets,
• fig.5 (5a) is a schematic end view, comparable to fig.3 and illustrating (5a) the detail of certain organs of fig.4,
• FIG. 6 illustrates in plan one of the means for adjusting the bending compensation of the support roller of the rolling machine of FIG. 1,
• fig.7 is a corresponding elevation of the adjustment means of fig.6,
• Fig.8 (a, b, c, d) schematically illustrates the operation of the rolling machine of the invention, at different stages.

In fig.1 a rolling machine of the prior art, such as that described in the publication FR-A-2,528,335 comprises a support roller 1, two serrated rollers 2 and 3 and a single pressure roller 4, at the difference, appearing well by approximation of fig.3, the rolling machine of the present invention.

On fig.2 a rolling machine of the invention consists of a fixed frame comprising mainly a veil-beam upper-5, two gantries, front-6 and rear 7, a veil-support-8 bearing-9, a pair of guide rails 10. It also consists of mobile parts comprising a support roller 11, only mobile in rotation, and a mobile assembly 12 including a beam 21 and the crenellated rollers (13,14) and support ( 15, 16, 17).

It appears clearly in FIG. 2 that the pressure rollers and the crenellated rollers are shaped in a plurality of coaxial trains engaged in bearings of intermediate support plates 18 and of ends 19; It also appears in fig.3 (see also fig.5) that the contact line of the pressure rollers-15,17 with the crenellated rollers-13,14 is located at 45 ° above of the plane 20 defined by the axes of the crenellated rollers.

Still on fig.2, it appears that the beam 21 is suspended from the web-beam 5 by suspensions with springs 23 and rods 24; wedges, called "sloping" 25 are fixed to the upper wing of the beam, which is advantageously an H-beam, facing ramps 26 cut in the edge of a bar 27, called ramps, and are permanently biased against the latter by the springs 23; the ramp bar 27 can slide in slides 28 parallel to the axes of the rollers (ie horizontally in the case of the machine in the figures), the sliding of the bar inducing a sliding of the ramps against the wedges and a vertical movement of the latter and of the mobile assembly 12 to which they are integral; there will be slides 29 for vertical guide of the assembly 12.

On the right side of FIG. 2 is shown on the one hand a motor-reduction unit 30 for driving the support roller 11, and on the other hand a set 31 of means intended for adjusting the bending radius of the sheets; these means 31 comprise a jack 32 whose body is integral with the gantry 7 and whose rod 33 is connected to a first cross member 34 which is itself connected by a couple of tie rods 38 to a second cross member 39 which is itself secured to the bar ramps 27. A threaded shaft 40 coaxial with the rod 33 is supported by a secondary frame 41 secured to the main frame (5,7); a first end of the shaft supports, or forms, a stop 42 to limit the exit of the rod 33, while its other end supports a crank 43 indexable and provided with a position indicator.

On the left-hand side of fig. 2 we have symbolized, in dashes, another machine, such as a welder, which can work in succession and in synchronism with the rolling machine of the figure.

According to the advantageous embodiment of the wedges illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, each wedge is constituted by a prismatic block 50, of anti-friction metal for example, shaped at its base, in dovetail for example, to be able to be guided in sliding in a slide 51 of corresponding shape, formed in a base 52 fixed on the beam 21; the slide, as is clearly visible in fig.6 is oriented at about 45 ° relative to the direction of the axes of the rollers, or even relative to the direction of sliding of the ramp bar; the adjustment of the position of the wedge along its slide is effected by means of two coaxial and antagonistic screws 53, screwed in nuts 54 secured to the base, and the ends of which bear on flats 55 of the block; the upper face of the block forms an inclined plane 56 parallel to the face of the ramps; for reasons of convenience and simplification of machining, the planes of the sides of the ramp are perpendicular to the median longitudinal plane of the ramp bar and, necessarily parallel to one another; it follows from this arrangement that sliding over a distance d of the block in the slide is equivalent to a sliding of value 0.7 d carried out in the plane of the ramp bar; this results in defintive a small reduction favorable to the precision of the adjustment, and a better accessibility of the adjustment means. The inclination of the plane of the ramps and the shims is approximately 6 ° relative to the direction of the axes of the rollers (that is, a slope of approximately 10% relative to the direction of sliding of the ramp bar); it follows from this slope value, that the vertical displacement of the movable assembly 12 is ten times smaller than the movement of the ramp bar 21 which causes it. By way of example, a quarter turn of the crank 43 will have the effect of modifying the stroke of the bar by one millimeter and the stroke of the mobile assembly by one tenth of a millimeter; this precision is not excessive since it conditions the obtaining of the desired bending radius, and therefore the proper functioning of the subsequent automations.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, improved means participating in the loading (introduction of the sheet between the rollers) and in the unloading include a set, called comb 60, of teeth 61, also called harpoons because of their shape and their function , supported by a U-shaped frame 62, the arms 63 of which are articulated on and at the ends of the support roller 11; jacks 64 are engaged on extensions 65 of arms 63 to impart to them a pivoting movement around the axis of the roller 11 (arrows 70). Each tooth, or harpoon 61, has a notch 66 at the bottom and at the rims of its end and, at the upper part of its end, a protruding rim 67. The width 1 ′ of the notches 66 is equal to or slightly greater than l thickness 1 ˝ of the support veil 8 of the bearing 9. It will be noted, in FIG. 5, that the plane 68 formed by the upper face of the harpoons is substantially tangent to the roller 11 and that the line of tangency is very close to the contact line of the serrated rollers 14 when the chassis 62 is in the low position, while the notches, also tangent to the roller 11, are aligned with the support web 8 when the chassis is in the raised position.

Thus, in the low position and at the start of the cycle (fig.8a), the comb serves as a table for guiding the sheets T in the direction of the rollers; thus again, in the high position and at the end of the cycle (fig. 8c and 8d) the notches keep the straight edges of the rolled sheets separate and align these edges on each side of the support veil. The pivoting of the chassis, limited by adjustable stops 71,72 (fig.4), is very precise and this precision allows the automatic extraction of the sheet after rolling. This extraction is carried out by a pusher 75 grazing the underside of the support roller 11; the pusher is supported by a carriage 76 driven back and forth by a pair of chains 77 in the rails 10; the standby position of the extractor is that shown in fig.1.

So thanks to the provisions of the invention it is possible to adjust the bending radius of the sheets by the operation of a single member (the ramp bar) which eliminates the need for very empirical know-how.

In addition, the rolling machine of the invention operates the bending in a single pass, and the consecutive automatic ejection, thanks to the precise positioning of the harpoons, leads to a duration of the cycle of an operation, considerably reduced; the precision of the bending radius and that of the parallelism of the straight edges facing (edges) makes it possible to couple directly to the machine (that is to say without intermediate handling) any automatic welder of ferrules.

It will be noted that the means 31 (FIG. 2) intended for adjusting the bending radius could be automatic means indexed to the angular position in rotation of the support roller 11 which is also a driving roller, whereby the bending radius can vary during a cycle to obtain a more or less elliptical or working cylinder. These means can be, for example, of the cylinder type supplied through servo-valves, or else with ball screws for the operation of the ramp bar and DC motor; the control of the adjustment means will then preferably be of the digital type. Obviously the control could also be of analog type by a mechanical transmission of the movement of the support roller to the ramp bar.

Claims (9)

1. A machine for shaping a flat sheet into a cone or cylinder, said machine being a "rolling machine" or "bending machine", of the type of machine in which the bending of the sheet takes place by passing it between a roll called support and an assembly of two crenellated rolls having parallel axes, charcterised in that the crenellated rolls (13,14) are subjected to the pressure of a train of three press rolls having axes parallel to the axes of the crenellated rolls, namely a central press roll (16) which simultaneously presses on each of the crenellated rolls (13,14), and so-called lateral rolls (15,17), the line of contact between the latter (13,14,16,17) being located above the plane (20) defined by the axes of the crenellated rolls, the axes of the rolls of the assembly, called mobile, of the press rolls and crenellated rolls being substantially fixed with respect to each other, and in that the press rolls (15,16) and the crenellated rolls (13) are arranged in a plurality of coaxial trains, the ends of the rolls of each train being engaged in bearings of intermediate (18) and end support plates which are integral with a vertically movable beam (21).
2. A machine according to Claim 1, characterised in that the line of contact is located at approximately 45° above the said plane.
3. A machine according to Claim 1, characterised in that the range of the radius of rolling is the result of the precise movement of the said assembly of rolls perpendicular to their axes, this movement being induced by a movement parallel to the axes of the rolls on a first ramp (26,27) (at least) being supported on the one hand on a frame (5,6,7) of the machine and on the other hand on a second ramp (5,6) (at least) integral with the bearings (18) of the axes of the rolls (13 to 17) of the mobile assembly.
4. A machine according to Claims 1 and 3, characterised in that a plurality of first ramps (26) is provided in the edge of a bar (27) called the ramp bar, whereas an identical plurality of second ramps (56) is formed by so-called "sloped" wedges which are an integral part with the said moving part.
5. A machine according to Claim 4, characterised in that the angle formed by the plane of each ramp and the axes of the roll is approximately 6° (slope of approximately 10%).
6. A machine according to Claim 4, characterised in that each sloped wedge (50) has independent means for positioning in a direction parallel to that of the axes of the rolls.
7. A machine according to Claim 6, characterised in that the said means for positioning a sloped wedge is formed by a slideway (51) having a plane parallel to the plane of the axes of the crenellated rolls and oriented at about 45° with respect to the direction of these axes.
8. A machine according to Claim 1, the said machine having a rotary mobile comb the teeth of which are tangential to the support roll, and which can by rotation of the comb around the axes of the support roll penetrate between the crenellated rolls in order to separate the rectilinear edges of the rolled sheets, characterised in that the said comb (60) serves as a guide surface for the flat sheets before their passage between the rolls, in that a notch (66) of a width (1') at least equal to that (1'') of the said support web (8) is disposed at the end of each tooth (6') of the side opposite to the said guide surface, in that the end of each tooth has at its upper part a small protruding rim (67), and in that the said comb is supported by a frame (62) articulated at each of its ends around the support roll.
9. A machine according to Claim 1, characterised in that the means (31) for adjusting the radius of bending of the sheets are automatic means indexed at the angular position of the support roll (11) which is also a drive roll.

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