EP1327030B9 - Sink unit and method for producing a sink unit - Google Patents

Abstract

The aim of the invention is to produce a sink unit, especially a kitchen sink unit, comprising at least one sink and at least one fittings support area for supporting at least one fitting, said sink unit enabling high flexibility in terms of the design of the sink and the fittings support area and being produced simply and with little effort in terms of technical equipment. In order to achieve this, the sink unit is at least partially produced by means of superplastic deformation, from a starting material.

Description

The present invention relates to a sink, in particular a kitchen sink, which comprises at least one sink and at least one armature carrying area for carrying at least one armature.

Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method for producing a sink, in particular a kitchen sink, in which at least one sink and at least one armature carrying area for carrying at least one armature are formed from a starting material.

Such rinses and their manufacturing processes are known in the art, for example from DE 199 07 212 A1 , known.

In particular, it is known to assemble a stainless steel sink from two parts, namely a relatively flat template comprising a bearing edge of the sink and the Annaturetragebereich, and a sink, which is formed separately from the template by a deep-drawing process and subsequent to this forming process the stencil is welded on. In this way it is possible to produce the template from a sheet of comparatively high material thickness, so that the Armaturentragebereich has sufficient mechanical strength to carry the weight of the valve and the forces acting on the valve during their operation, for example, in the operation of the Mixed selector lever to record, while the heavily deformed sink can be formed from a sheet of lower material thickness, resulting in a lower overall weight of the sink and easier moldability of the sink leads. In addition, along the edge at which the sink adjoins the template, can realize kink lines with very small radii of curvature.

In these known rinses, however, has the disadvantage that their production includes several manufacturing steps and requires a variety of manufacturing facilities, as well as various deep drawing presses for the template on the one hand and the sink (and possibly additional pool) on the other hand, a welding device is required to the sink to connect to the template.

A sink with the features of the preamble of claim 1 and claim 14 is known from US-A-3,729,750 known.

From the US-A-5,672,315 It is known to produce articles such as sinks, golf club heads or the like by superplastic forming at a temperature above 1000 ° C.

The present invention has for its object to provide a sink of the type mentioned, which allows a high flexibility with respect to the design of the sink and the Armaturentragebereichs, but it can be produced easily and with little equipment.

This object is achieved by a sink according to claim 1.

Superplastic forming is a metal starting material forming process in which the starting material is heated to a relatively high temperature (typically higher than half the melting temperature of the starting material) and slowly reformed (as compared to a deep-drawing process) by means of a feedstock stream , with very large degrees of deformation can be achieved.

That a sink according to the invention has been produced by superplastic forming from a starting material, can be easily from determine the microstructure of the finished sink. This feature is therefore a structural feature of the finished formed sink.

Processes for producing metallic molded parts by means of superplastic forming are already known per se from the prior art. In particular, it is from the article of Kuniaki Osada: "Use superplastic duplex stainless for strength and resistance to corrosion in Boeing 737 washroom sinks", published in the journal "Nickel", December 1991, page 2 , known to produce a hand basin by superplastic forming of a duplex stainless steel.

However, this known wash hand basin is not a sink, and this wash hand basin also has no Armaturentragebereich, which is intended to carry a fitting. Rather, this hand basin has a substantially vertical rear wall, which is provided with a substantially rectangular passage opening, which serves to let a fixed to a vertical wall of the aircraft faucet pass through the rear wall of the sink through. This known wash hand basin thus has no Armaturentragebereich, which would have sufficient mechanical strength for receiving the weight of a sink fitting, such as a mixer tap, and occurring during operation of the valve forces.

In principle, the armature carrying region of the sink could have any orientation.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention it is provided that the Armaturentragebereich has a mounted in the state of the sink substantially horizontally oriented top. This ensures a particularly uniform distribution of the weight of the fitting to be worn on the Armaturentragebereich.

In order to be able to fix the sink in a simple manner on a worktop, it is advantageously provided that the sink comprises a mounted in the state of the sink substantially horizontally oriented mounting edge.

Preferably, this attachment edge is designed as a support edge, with the underside of the sink rests on the top of the worktop, in which case the attachment edge has sufficient mechanical strength to carry the entire weight of the sink and mounted on the sink fitting can.

The operation of the subsequent connection of the sink and the Armaturentragebereichs deleted together because the sink and the Armaturentragebereich are integrally connected and free of welds.

Particularly time-saving to prepare the sink according to the invention, because it is provided that the sink is formed in one piece and free of welds total up to fastening means of the sink.

The advantage of the invention, to allow a particularly simple and time-saving production of the sink, comes into play particularly when the sink next to the sink still at least one other basin, such as a Restebecken includes.

The sink according to the invention offers a particularly high degree of design flexibility.

Thus, it can be provided, in particular, that the sink has at its upper side at least one outgoing in a smooth surface bending line. Such a design is not possible in the known two-part sinks in which the sink is connected along a welding line with the template, as a sharp kink with a small radius of curvature can only be realized at the weld between the template and the sink and this weld always annular must be closed.

For the purposes of this description, a crease line is to be understood as a line in a surface, the surface having a radius of curvature of less than approximately 10 mm perpendicular to the longitudinal extent of the line.

Furthermore, it can be provided that an intermediate region between two sinks of the sink has a very small extent perpendicular to its longitudinal extension (preferably at most approximately 18 mm, in particular at most approximately 15 mm) and / or no planar intermediate surface between the side walls of the two basins.

In order to provide a sufficient rigidity for receiving the weight of the fitting, it is advantageously provided that the material thickness of the sink in the Armaturentragebereich is at least about 0.8 mm, preferably at least about 1 mm.

On the other hand, in order not to increase the total weight of the sink and the material requirements for the same not too strong, it is advantageously provided that the material thickness of the side walls of the sink is at most about 0.8 mm.

In order to ensure a sufficient bending stiffness of the side walls of the sink, it is further provided that the material thickness of the side walls of the sink is at least about 0.5 mm.

In principle, any material which can be superplasticically formed is suitable for the production of the sink according to the invention.

It has proved to be particularly advantageous if the material of the sink comprises a duplex steel, since this material is both chemically resistant to corrosion and scratch-resistant.

A duplex steel is to be understood as meaning a steel which comprises both austenite and ferrite.

In a preferred embodiment of the sink according to the invention it is provided that the material of the sink comprises the duplex steel with the international designation 1.4462 and / or the duplex steel with the international designation 1.4362.

In order to achieve high degrees of deformation at acceptable forming speeds, it is advantageous if the material of the sink has an average particle size of less than about 10 microns.

It is particularly favorable if the material thickness of the sink in the armature carrying region is at least approximately 2/3 of the initial material thickness in this region before the superplastic forming.

The present invention has the further object of providing a method for producing a sink of the type mentioned, which allows a high degree of flexibility with respect to the design of the sink and the Armaturentragebereichs, but it can be carried out easily and with little equipment.

This object is achieved by a method according to claim 14.

Particular embodiments of the method according to the invention are subject matter of claims 15 to 25, the advantages of which have already been described above in connection with the particular embodiments of the sink according to the invention.

Further features and advantages of the invention are the subject of the following description and drawings of an embodiment.

Fig. 1

eine schematische perspektivische Darstellung eines Spülbeckens mit einem Spülbecken, einem Restebecken, einem Armaturentragebereich und einem Abtropfbereich;

Fig. 2

eine schematische Draufsicht von oben auf die Spüle aus Fig. 1; und

Flg. 3 bis 7

eine schematische Darstellung mehrerer aufeinanderfolgender Phasen eines superplastischen Umformvorgangs zur Herstellung der in den Figuren 1 und 2 dargestellten Spüle.

In the drawings show:

Fig. 1

a schematic perspective view of a sink with a sink, a Restebecken, a Armaturentragebereich and a drip area;

Fig. 2

a schematic plan view from the top of the sink Fig. 1 ; and

Flg. 3 to 7

a schematic representation of several successive phases of a superplastic forming process for the production of in the FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrated sink.

Identical or functionally equivalent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals in all figures.

One in the Fig. 1 and 2 shown as a whole with 100 kitchen sink comprises a sink 102 with (in the assembled state of the kitchen sink 100) substantially vertically oriented side walls 104 and a substantially horizontally oriented pelvic floor 106, which is provided with a drain opening 107.

A first side wall 104a of the sink 102 passes at its upper edge in a (in the assembled state of the kitchen sink 100) substantially horizontally oriented drip area 108 on.

A second side wall 104b of the sink 102, in a first region adjacent to the first side wall 104a, merges at its upper edge into a dash support region 110 (in the installed state of the kitchen sink 100) in a substantially horizontal orientation.

The armature carrying portion 110 carries (in the assembled state of the kitchen sink 100) a fitting, such as a mixer 112 with a water outlet 114 and a mixing selector lever 116th

The mixer tap 112 extends with its lower end through a through opening (not shown) in the Armaturentragebereich 110 and is by means of a (also not shown) screwed to the Armaturentragebereich 110 of the sink 102 releasably fixed.

At the lower end of the mixer tap 112 supply lines for cold water and hot water are also connected.

The weight of the mixer tap 112 is carried by the armature support portion 110 of the sink 102. The Armaturentragebereich 110 also absorbs all other forces that may occur in the operation of the mixer 112, for example, when operating the mixed selector lever 116th

In a second region facing away from the first side wall 104a, the second side wall 104b merges at its upper edge into a (in the mounted state of the kitchen sink 100) substantially horizontally oriented intermediate web 118, which in turn at its longitudinal edge facing away from the sink 102 in a first side wall 120a of a remainder basin 122 passes.

The Restebecken 122 comprises two further side walls 120b and 120c, which together with the first side wall 120a form a downwardly tapering funnel, at the bottom of a drain opening 124 is arranged.

The depth of the residual basin 122 is less than the depth of the sink 102, so that the drain opening 124 of the remaining basin 122 is disposed above the drain opening 107 of the sink 102.

A third side wall 104a of the sink 102 passes at its upper edge in a (in the assembled state of the kitchen sink 100) substantially horizontally oriented fastening edge 126 which annularly surrounds the sink 102, the Restebecken 122 and the drip area 108 of the kitchen sink 100.

With the attachment edge 126, the kitchen sink 100 is in the assembled state on the top of a (not shown) worktop, wherein the kitchen sink 100 extends through a cutout in the worktop and is releasably secured by suitable fasteners on the worktop.

Like from the FIGS. 1 and 2 As can be seen, the top of the mounting edge 126 is at the same height as the top of the Armaturentragebereichs 110 so that the Armaturentragebereich 110 kink and seamlessly merges into the mounting edge 126.

Between the fastening edge 126 and the drip region 108 of the kitchen sink 100, a drain region 128 is further provided, which has a plurality of drainage channels 130 which open onto the upper side of the drip region 108.

The top 125 of the gutter 118 is slightly lower than the Armaturentragebereich 110 and the mounting edge 126 (s. FIG. 1 ) and terminates at the second side wall 104b of the sink 102 in a gusset bounded by an inner crease line 127 and an outer crease line 129, both of which terminate at the point 131 into the smooth, kink-free inner side of the side wall 104b.

The kitchen sink 100 described above is (except for possibly welded fastening means for securing the kitchen sink to the worktop) in one piece, in particular free of welds, formed and produced by means of a superplastic forming process, which will be described with reference to FIGS FIGS. 3 to 7 will be described.

The forming device 132 used for producing the kitchen sink 100 (see FIG. FIG. 3 ) includes an upper punch 134 having a downwardly projecting downwardly from the underside of the upper punch 134, 134 formed downwardly and a lower punch 138, the upper punch 134 facing top 140 corresponds to the shape of the kitchen sink 100 to be produced.

The upper punch 134 and / or the lower punch 138 are made of, for example, nickel or a high temperature resistant ceramic material.

Through the interior of the upper punch 134 extends a working gas supply passage 142 which is connected via a (not shown) working gas supply line to a working gas supply fan and opens at the bottom 144 of the upper punch 134 in a working gas supply port 146.

Through the interior of the lower punch 138 a plurality of Gasabführkanäle 148, which open on the one hand at the top 140 of the lower punch 138 in each case a Gasabführöffnung 150 and open at their respective gas discharge opening 150 end remote into a Gasabführsammelkanal 152.

The Gasabführsammelkanal 152 In the lower punch 138 is connected to a (not shown) Gasabführleitung.

The upper punch 134 and the lower punch 138 are each surrounded by a heating device 154, which may be formed, for example, as electrical resistance heating with heating wires 156.

Each of the heaters 154 is in turn surrounded by a heat insulation 158 in order to minimize the heat losses during the forming process.

The upper punch 134 and the lower punch 138 are movable relative to one another by means of suitable movement means (not shown) along the direction of movement indicated by the arrow 160.

• Zunächst werden der obere Stempel 134 und der untere Stempel 138 der Umformvorrichtung 132 längs der Bewegungsrichtung 160 auseinanderbewegt, so daß eine im wesentlichen ebene Platine 162 eines Ausgangsmaterials zwischen die beiden Stempel 134 und 138 eingeführt werden kann.

With the forming device 132 described above, the superplastic forming process for producing the kitchen sink 100 is carried out as follows:

• First, the upper punch 134 and the lower punch 138 of the forming apparatus 132 are moved apart along the direction of movement 160, so that a substantially flat board 162 of a starting material between the two punches 134 and 138 can be inserted.

As starting material is basically any superplastic deformable material into consideration.

Particularly suitable starting materials have proven to be superplastic deformable duplex stainless steels.

Such duplex steels include both austenite phases and ferrite phases and have high chemical corrosion resistance and mechanical scratch resistance.

Particularly suitable for superplastic forming are duplex steels in which the mean grain size is less than about 10 μm.

Particularly suitable duplex steel has the international designation 1.4462 proven. This duplex steel contains carbon at a level of about 0.02 weight percent, nitrogen at a level of about 0.17 weight percent, chromium at 22 weight percent, nickel at 5.7 weight percent, and molybdenum at a level of 3. 1 weight percent.

Also well suited is the duplex steel with the international designation 1.4362. This duplex steel contains carbon in an amount of about 0.02 weight percent, nitrogen in an amount of about 0.10 weight percent, chromium in an amount of about 23 weight percent, nickel in an amount of about 4.8 weight percent, and molybdenum in a proportion of about 0.3 weight percent.

After insertion of the stock material between the two punches 134 and 138, these punches are moved towards each other along the direction of movement 160 until the blank 162 is clamped between the blank holder 136 of the upper punch 134 and the upper surface 140 of the lower punch 138 (see FIG. FIG. 4 ).

In this closed state of the forming device 132, the gap between the bottom 144 of the upper punch 134 and the top of the board 162 forms an upper working gas space 164 into which the working gas supply channel 142 opens and which is substantially gas-tight with respect to the environment and the lower gas space 166 is completed, which is formed by the gap between the top 140 of the lower punch 138 and the bottom of the board 162.

After the forming device 132 in the In Fig. 4 shown closed position, the heaters 154 are put into operation to bring the two punches 134 and 138 and consequently also the board 162 to a forming temperature which corresponds to at least half the melting temperature of the starting material, but without the melting temperature of the starting material to reach.

When using a duplex stainless steel as the starting material, the preferred forming temperature is in the range of about 800 ° C to about 1000 ° C.

When the desired forming temperature is reached, the working gas supply fan is put into operation to supply the working gas space 164 with the working gas from a working gas reservoir (not shown).

The working gas used is a gas which does not react with the starting material at the selected forming temperature. Preferably, an inert gas such as nitrogen or argon is used.

The pressure at which the working gas is supplied to the working gas space 164 by means of the working gas supply fan is selected so as to obtain a desired forming speed dφ / dt of the starting material.

wobei In den natürlichen Logarithmus (d.h. den Logarithmus zur Basis e), H₀ die Materialstärke vorder Umformung und H₁ die Materialstärke nach erfolgter Umformung bezeichnet.The amount of preferred strain rate is between about 10 ^-1 s ^-1 and about 10 ^-5 s ^-1 . The degree of deformation φ is defined as follows: $$\mathrm{\phi }\mathrm{=}\ln \left({\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{1}}\mathrm{/}{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{0}}\right)\mathrm{.}$$

where In the natural logarithm (ie the logarithm base e), H ₀ denotes the material thickness before forming and H ₁ the material thickness after conversion.

The excess pressure of the working gas, which is required to achieve a forming speed in the above range, is usually between 1 bar and 15 bar.

The pressure of the working gas required to achieve a given forming speed may vary during the forming operation; In a preferred embodiment of the forming process, the pressure of the working gas is controlled or regulated during the forming process so that the forming speed dφ / dt remains substantially constant throughout the forming process.

How out Fig. 5 As can be seen, deforms the starting material at the forming temperature under the pressure of the injected into the working gas chamber 164 working gas in such a way that the not supported by the lower punch 138 areas of the starting material bulge into the gas space 166, while the deformed by the lower punch 138 supported areas of the working material only slightly or not at all.

In the gas space 166 located air or working gas that passes from the working gas chamber 164 in the gas chamber 166 due to leaks, is discharged from the gas space 166 through the Gasabführöffnungen 150, the Gasabführkanäle 148 and the Gasabführsammelkanal 152 so that in the gas space 166 can not build back pressure.

The transformation of the working material is carried out at such a speed that the small grains in the structure of the starting material can easily move past each other, whereby very high degrees of deformation and creases with very small radii of curvature can be achieved.

The superplastic forming of the working material by the (also by heating through the upper punch 134 heated to the forming temperature) working gas is continued until the working material everywhere rests against the top 140 of the lower punch 138 and thus the desired final shape of the kitchen sink 100 is reached (s , FIG. 6 ).

The typically required forming time is in the range of about half an hour to about one hour.

After reaching the final shape of the kitchen sink 100, the working gas supply is interrupted by switching off the working gas supply fan.

Further, the heaters 154 are turned off to allow the dies 13 4 and 138 and the kitchen sink 100 to cool.

In order to accelerate the cooling of the kitchen sink 100, the upper punch 134 and the lower punch 138 are moved apart along the direction of movement 160 to move the forming device 132 into the in Fig. 7 shown to bring open position.

If the kitchen sink 100 has cooled sufficiently, it is removed from the forming device 132.

After removal of the kitchen sink 100 from the forming device 132, the kitchen sink 100 can be post-processed, in particular polished.

Claims (25)

1. Sink unit, in particular kitchen sink unit, comprising at least one sink (102) and at least one fitting support area (110) for supporting at least one fitting (112), wherein the sink unit (100), except for fastening means of the sink unit (100), is formed in one piece and without weld seams,
   characterised in that
   the sink unit (100) is at least partly produced by superplastic shaping from a starting material, and
   that the material thickness of the sink unit (100) in the fitting support area (110) is at least approximately half the initial material thickness.
2. Sink unit according to Claim 1, characterised in that the fitting support area (110) has a top side which is oriented substantially horizontally when the sink unit (100) is in the installed state.
3. Sink unit according to any one of Claims 1 and 2, characterised in that the sink unit (100) comprises a fastening rim (126) which is oriented substantially horizontally when the sink unit (100) is in the installed state.
4. Sink unit according to Claim 3, characterised in that the fastening rim (126) is formed as a bearing rim.
5. Sink unit according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the sink unit (100) comprises at least one further basin (122) in addition to the sink (102).
6. Sink unit according to any one of Claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the sink unit (100) has at least one bending line, which ends in a smooth surface, at its top side.
7. Sink unit according to any one of Claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the material thickness of the sink unit (100) in the fitting support area (110) is at least approximately 0.8 mm, preferably at least approximately 1 mm.
8. Sink unit according to any one of Claims 1 to 7, characterised in that the material thickness of the side walls (104) of the sink is at most approximately 0.8 mm.
9. Sink unit according to any one of Claims 1 to 8, characterised in that the material thickness of the side walls (104) of the sink (102) is at least approximately 0.5 mm.
10. Sink unit according to any one of Claims 1 to 9, characterised in that the material of the sink unit comprises a duplex steel.
11. Sink unit according to Claim 10, characterised in that the material of the sink unit comprises the duplex steel 1.4462 and/or the duplex steel 1.4362.
12. Sink unit according to any one of Claims 1 to 11, characterised in that the material of the sink unit has an average grain size of less than approximately 10 µm.
13. Sink unit according to any one of Claims 1 to 12, characterised in that the material thickness of the sink unit (100) in the fitting support area (110) is at least approximately 2/3 of the initial material thickness.
14. Method for producing a sink unit (100), in particular a kitchen sink unit, in which at least one sink (102) and at least one fitting support area (110) for supporting at least one fitting (112) are formed from a starting material, wherein the sink unit (100), except for fastening means of the sink unit (100), is formed in one piece and without weld seams,
    characterised in that
    the sink unit (100) is at least partly produced by superplastic shaping from the starting material, and
    that the starting material is shaped so that the final material thickness of the sink unit (100) in the fitting support area (110) is at least approximately half the initial material thickness.
15. Method according to Claim 14, characterised in that the fitting support area (110) is formed so that it has a top side which is oriented substantially horizontally when the sink unit (100) is in the installed state.
16. Method according to any one of Claims 14 and 15, characterised in that the sink unit (100) is formed so that it comprises a fastening rim (126) which is oriented substantially horizontally when the sink unit (100) is in the installed state.
17. Method according to any one of Claims 14 to 16, characterised in that the sink unit (100) is formed so that it comprises at least one further basin (122) in addition to the sink (102).
18. Method according to any one of Claims 14 to 17, characterised in that the sink unit (100) is formed so that it has at least one bending line, which ends in a smooth surface, at its top side.
19. Method according to any one of Claims 14 to 18, characterised in that the fitting support area (110) is formed so that its material thickness following the shaping operation is at least approximately 0.8 mm, preferably at least approximately 1 mm.
20. Method according to any one of Claims 14 to 19, characterised in that the starting material is shaped so that the material thickness of the side walls (104) of the sink (102) following the shaping operation is at most approximately 0.8 mm.
21. Method according to any one of Claims 14 to 20, characterised in that the starting material is shaped so that the material thickness of the side walls (104) of the sink (102) following the shaping operation is at least approximately 0.5 mm.
22. Method according to any one of Claims 14 to 21, characterised in that a duplex steel is used as the starting material for the sink unit (100).
23. Method according to Claim 22, characterised in that the duplex steel 1.4462 and/or the duplex steel 1.4362 is used as the starting material for the sink unit (100).
24. Method according to any one of Claims 14 to 23, characterised in that a material with an average grain size of less than approximately 10 µm is used as the starting material for the sink unit (100).
25. Method according to any one of Claims 14 to 24, characterised in that the starting material is shaped so that the final material thickness of the sink unit (100) in the fitting support area (110) is at least approximately 2/3 of the initial material thickness.

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