EP1980340A1

EP1980340A1 - Roller crimping system

Info

Publication number: EP1980340A1
Application number: EP07704767A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Sergio Alonso Sarmiento; David PIÑAN LLAMAS; Santos Tomás Casas Hoyos
Original assignee: Mb Sistemas Scoop
Current assignee: Mb Sistemas Scoop
Priority date: 2006-01-25
Filing date: 2007-01-10
Publication date: 2008-10-15
Anticipated expiration: 2027-01-10
Also published as: EP1980340A4; WO2007085678A1; ES2381587T3; ATE549108T1; ES2278538A1; EP1980340B1; ES2278538B1

Abstract

Crimping system that comprises a cradle support (4) upon which metal plates (30, 31) are disposed, said metal plates (30,31) being joined together by means of the folding over of a flange (30') comprised on the first metal plate (30). Said system also comprises rollers (21, 22) that are moved in a direction of folding (A) in order to fold said flange (30') over by means of a crimping device. Said device comprises a single robot arm (1) that has a crimping tool (2) on one of its ends, said crimping tool (2) comprising the rollers (21, 22) and a platform (7). Said rollers (21, 22) may be moved, in an independent way, linearly in respect of said platform (7) in a direction of movement (B) perpendicular to the direction of folding (A) by means of a first actuator (8) and a second actuator (9) respectively.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to crimping systems, and more specifically to roller crimping systems.

PRIOR ART

Known crimping systems are used in order to join a first metal plate and a second metal plate by folding over a flange on one of them. In some crimping systems, said folding is performed by at least a roller, said roller being moved all the way along the edge of said flange by means of a crimping device.
The first metal plate is disposed on a work bench or cradle support, the second metal plate being disposed on said first metal plate. The first metal plate comprises a flange all the way along its edge, the roller exerting a pressure on said flange all the way along said edge, with the result that said flange is folded over, being disposed on said second metal plate, said first metal plate and said second metal plate thus being joined together. The crimping device moves said roller all the way along said edge, the folding over of said flange being performed by said roller moving over it successively. US2005086989 and US2005229666 disclose a crimping system in which only one roller may be applied against the flange of said metal plate at any one time.
Patent EP1097759A1 discloses a crimping system in which two rollers act simultaneously on the flange to be folded over, one roller following the path of the preceding roller. Thus, while a first roller exerts pressure on said flange folding it over at a certain angle, the roller that follows said first roller folds said flange over at another certain angle, thereby reducing the time required in order to join the metal plates together. Said crimping system comprises two robot arms, each robot arm comprising a roller. Each robot arm is controlled independently, therefore enabling control of the movement of each roller all the way along said edge independently. Thus, to perform the folding over of said flange the movement of said robot arms is controlled independently.

DISLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

It is the object of the invention to provide a roller crimping system as described in the claims.
The roller crimping system comprises a work bench or cradle support upon which a first metal plate is disposed, a second metal plate being disposed on said first metal plate, said metal plates being joined together by means of a crimping process. Said first metal plate comprises a flange that extends all the way along its edge, said flange being folded over in order to join said metal plates together by means of said crimping process, said flange being disposed on said second metal plate. Said crimping system also comprises a first roller and a second roller that are moved in a folding direction all the way along the edge of the first metal plate in order to fold said flange over, said rollers acting simultaneously on said flange. Said first roller folds said flange over to a certain intermediate angle, said second roller folding said flange over to a folding angle.
The rollers are moved by means of a crimping device, said crimping device comprising a single robot arm that has a crimping tool on one of its ends. Said crimping tool comprises the first roller and the second roller, only one robot arm having to be controlled in order to fold over the flange of the first metal plate
The crimping tool also comprises a platform, said rollers being capable of moving, in a independent way, linearly in respect of said platform in a direction of movement perpendicular to the direction of folding by means of a first actuator and a second actuator respectively.
During the folding, on some curved sections such as those comprising a small radius for example, damage may be caused to said flange if the two rollers move over it simultaneously. Thus, as said rollers are capable of being moved independently in the direction of movement, the risk of causing unwanted damage to said flange is reduced, thereby enabling the passage of only one roller at any one time on said curved section, the force that said roller exerts on said flange all the way along the edge being capable of remaining constant.
These and other advantages and characteristics of the invention will be made evident in the light of the drawings and the detailed description thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the crimping system of the invention.
Figure 2 shows the metal plates disposed on the cradle support of the system of figure 1.
Figure 3 shows the metal plates disposed on the cradle support of the system of figure 1 joined together.
Figure 4 shows the first roller of the system of figure 1 acting on the flange of the first metal plate.
Figure 5 shows the second roller of the system of figure 1 acting on the flange of the first metal plate.
Figure 6 is a view in perspective of the crimping tool of the system of figure 1, the first roller and the second roller being shown.
Figure 7 is a view in perspective of the crimping tool of the system of figure 1, the third roller and the fourth roller being shown.
Figure 8 is a ground view of the crimping tool of the system of figure 1, without the joining piece.
Figure 1 is a bottom view of the crimping tool of the system of figure 1.

DETAILED DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the roller crimping system of the invention. Said crimping system comprises a work bench or cradle support 4 upon which a first metal plate 30 is disposed, a second metal plate 31 being disposed on said first metal plate 30 and said metal plates 30 and 31 being joined together by means of a crimping process. Said first metal plate 30 comprises a flange 30' that extends all the way along its edge, said flange 30' being folded over in order to join said first metal plate 30 to said second metal plate 31, said flange 30' being disposed on said second metal plate 31. Figures 2 and 3 show the arrangement of said metal plates 30 and 31 before and after the crimping process respectively.
The crimping system of the invention also comprises at least a first roller 21 and a second roller 22. Said rollers 21 and 22 are moved in a direction of folding A all the way along the edge of the first metal plate 30 in order to fold the flange 30' over. Said second roller 22 follows the path of said first roller 21, said rollers 21 and 22 being capable of acting simultaneously on said flange 30'. As a result, when said rollers 21 and 22 act simultaneously on said flange 30', said first roller 21 folds said flange 30' over to a certain intermediate angle ∅1 as shown in Figure 4, while said second roller 22 folds said flange 30' over from said intermediate angle ∅1 to a folding angle ∅2 as shown in Figure 5. In a preferred embodiment, said angles ∅1 and ∅2 may be, for example, 30° and 60° respectively, although they may also be, for example, 45° and 90°, thereby completing the crimping process.
The rollers 21 and 22 are moved by means of a crimping device. Said crimping device comprises a single robot arm 1 that has a crimping tool 2, shown in Figures 6 and 7, on one of its ends, said crimping tool 2 being joined to said robot arm 1 by means of a joining piece 27. Said crimping tool 2 comprises said rollers 21 and 22 and a platform 7. Said rollers 21 and 22 are capable of moving, in a independent way, linearly in respect of said platform 7 in a direction of movement B perpendicular to the direction of folding A by means of a first actuator 8 and a second actuator 9 respectively. Said actuators 8 and 9 may be, for example, pneumatic cylinders.
The rollers 21 and 22 are joined to a first moving support and to a second moving support respectively, and the actuators 8 and 9 are joined to said moving supports by fixing means 50 and 60 disposed on said moving supports. The actuators 8 and 9 comprise a moving rod 80, 90 and a static body 81, 91, said actuators 8 and 9 being joined to said moving supports by means of a moving end 82, 92 on said moving rods 80 and 90. The fixing means 50 and 60 also comprise a substantially U-shaped form, the fixing means 50 having two facing walls 54 and 55 and the fixing means 60 having two facing walls 64 y 65. The moving end 82 of said first actuator 8 is disposed between said walls 54 and 55, and an axis 56 passes through said walls 54 and 55 and said moving end 82, said first actuator 8 being joined to said first moving support. The moving end 92 of said second actuator 9 is disposed between said walls 64 and 65, and an axis 66 passes through said walls 64 and 65 and said moving end 92, said second actuator 9 being joined to said second moving support.
The actuators 8 and 9 cause the linear movement of the moving supports and, therefore, of the rollers 21 and 22, in the direction of movement B. Thus, in sections that require greater folding accuracy, like for example curved sections of a small radius on the edge of the first metal plate 30, a roller 21, 22 may be moved linearly in relation to the other roller 21, 22 in said direction of movement B, only one of the rollers 21, 22 acting on the flange 30' of said first metal plate 30.
The platform 7 comprises a first guide groove 70 and a second guide groove 71, shown in Figure 8, which extend in the direction of movement B, each moving support comprising a projection 53, 63. Said projections 53 and 63 cooperate with said first guide groove 70 and said second guide groove 71 respectively when said moving supports are moved linearly in said direction of movement B. Said projections 53 and 63 have a shape substantially equal to the shape of the guide grooves 71 and 72, which may be, for example, substantially rectangular.
The moving supports comprise a substantially L-shaped form, with a guidance segment 51, 61 substantially parallel to the direction of movement B and a fixing segment 52, 62 substantially parallel to the direction of folding A. The fixing segment 52 of the first moving support extends in the direction of folding A, the fixing segment 62 of the second moving support extending in the direction opposite to said direction of fixing A. The fixing means 50 and 60 are disposed on the fixing segment 52, 62 of the corresponding moving support, and the projections 53 and 63 are disposed on the corresponding guidance segment 51 and 61.
The platform 7 also comprises a first base 72 and a second base 73 perpendicular to the direction of movement B. The first actuator 8 is fixed to said first base 72, with the static body 81 of said first actuator 8 being fixed to said first base 72. Similarly, the second actuator 9 is fixed to said second base 73, with the static body 91 of said second actuator 9 being fixed to said second base 73.
With reference to figure 9, the crimping tool 2 comprises at least a first longitudinal axis 10 joined to the first moving support and a second longitudinal axis 11 joined to the second moving support, said longitudinal axes 10 and 11 being parallel to each other and perpendicular to the direction of movement B. The first roller 21 is joined to one end of said first longitudinal axis 10 and the second roller 22 is joined to one end of said second longitudinal axis 11, said rollers 21 and 22 being joined to said moving supports by means of said longitudinal axes 10 and 11. On straight edges, for example, said rollers 21 and 22 act simultaneously on the flange 30' of the first metal plate 30, folding said flange 30' over to the folding angle ∅2 in a single passing movement.
The crimping system also comprises a third roller 23 joined to the second longitudinal axis 11 on the opposite end to that of the second roller 22 and a fourth roller 24 joined to the first longitudinal axis 10 on the opposite end to that of the first roller 21, although said rollers 23 and 24 may also be joined to said first longitudinal axis 10 and to said second longitudinal axis 11 respectively. In the preferred embodiment, the rollers 21 and 22 fold the flange 30' of the first metal plate 30 over to a folding angle ∅2 of 60°, said third and fourth roller 23 and 24 being used to fold said flange 30' over to a final angle of 90°, thereby completing the crimping process. On straight sections of the edge of the first metal plate 30, for example, the third roller 23 folds the flange 30' over from said folding angle ∅2 of 60° to a final angle of 90°, thereby completing the crimping process. On some curved sections, for example, due to the radius of said section the use of a roller with different characteristics to said third roller 23 is necessary, the fourth roller 24 being used to fold the flange 30' over from said folding angle ∅2 of 60° to said final angle of 90°, thereby completing said crimping process. Said fourth roller 24 may have, for example, a substantially conical shaped form so that it may fold said flange 30' over on said curved sections.
The crimping tool 2 also comprises at least an additional first roller 25 that is moved in conjunction with the first longitudinal axis 10 and an additional second roller 26 that is moved in conjunction with the second longitudinal axis 11. Said additional first roller 25 is fixed beneath the fixing segment 52 of the first moving support, said additional first roller 25 being joined to said first longitudinal axis 10 by means of said first moving support. Similarly, said additional second roller 26 is fixed beneath fixing segment 62 of the second moving support, said additional second roller 26 being joined to said second longitudinal axis 11 by means of said second moving support. Said additional rollers 25 and 26 are adapted, for example, so that they may be used on curved sections with different radius to those to which the fourth roller 24 is adapted, the flange 30' being capable of being folded from the folding angle ∅2 of 60° to an angle of 90° by means of one of the additional rollers 25, 26, thereby completing the crimping process by means of said additional roller 25, 26.
To ensure that some of the rollers 23, 24, 25 and 26 act on the flange 30' in order to fold it over, once the rollers 21 and 22 have acted on said flange 30' the robot arm 1 rotates in relation to an axis of coordinates X, the crimping tool 2 rotating in relation to said axis of coordinates X, and the rollers 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 rotating in relation to said axis of coordinates X, thereby enabling said roller 23, 24, 25, 26 to act on said flange 30'.
The cradle support 4 comprises a mechanised track 40, shown in figures 2 and 3, all the way along its edge, said mechanised track 40 being disposed parallel to the flange 30' of the first metal plate 30. The rollers 21, 22, 23 and 24 comprise a transverse groove 21', 22', 23' and 24' disposed on their external surface, adapted to cooperate with said mechanised track 40 during the crimping process. As a result, when the crimping device causes the movement of said rollers 21, 22, 23 and 24 all' the way along the edge of said first metal plate 30 in order to fold said flange 30' over, said grooves 21', 22', 23' and 24' cooperate with said mechanised track 40 to guide said rollers 21, 22, 23 and 24 as they move all the way along said edge.
The robot arm 1 behaves like an elastic element, the "elasticity" or "rigidity" of said robot arm 1 varying according to the position of said robot arm 1 all the way along the edge of the first metal plate 30. These variations may affect the flange 30' of said first metal plate 30, generating, for example, unwanted marks on said flange 30'. With the mechanised track 40, said variations are cushioned by the mechanised track 40, and do not affect said flange 30'.
The mechanised track 40 comprises a support surface 41, the second roller 22 being supported on said support surface 41 when said second roller 22 acts on the flange 30' of the first metal plate 30. As a result, when said second roller 22 folds said flange 30' over, the contact surface of said second roller 22 with said flange 30' is aligned with said support surface 41, said surfaces comprising the same tangential velocity, thereby reducing the risk of deformations being generated on said flange 30'.
The mechanised track 40 also comprises a second support surface 42, the third roller 23 being supported on said second support surface 42 when said third roller 23 acts on the flange 30' of the first metal plate 30. Thus, when said third roller 23 folds the flange 30' over, the contact surface of said third roller 23 with said flange 30' is aligned with said second support surface 42, said surfaces comprising the same tangential velocity, thereby reducing the risk of deformations being generated on said flange 30'. As occurs with said third roller 23, the fourth roller 24 is also supported on said second support surface 42 when said fourth roller 24 acts on said flange 30'.

Claims

Roller crimping system that comprises a work bench or cradle support (4) upon which a first metal plate (30) is disposed, a second metal plate (31) being disposed on said first metal plate (30) and said metal plates (30, 31) being joined together by means of a crimping process, said first metal plate (30) comprising a flange (30') that extends all the way along its edge and said flange (30') being folded over in order to join said metal plates (30, 31) together by means of said crimping process, said flange (30') being disposed on said second metal plate (31), said crimping system also comprising at least a first roller (21) and a second roller (22) that are moved in a direction of folding (A) all the way along the edge of the first metal plate (30) to fold said flange (30') over, said rollers (21, 22) being capable of acting simultaneously on said flange (30') so that said first roller (21) folds said flange (30') over to a certain intermediate angle (∅1), said second roller (22) folding said flange (30') over to a folding angle (∅2), said rollers (21, 22) being moved by means of a crimping device, characterised in that said crimping device comprises a single robot arm (1) that has a crimping tool (2) on one of its ends, said crimping tool (2) comprising the rollers (21, 22) and a platform (7), said rollers (21, 22) being capable of moving, in an independent way, linearly in respect of said platform (7) in a direction of movement (B) perpendicular to the direction of folding (A) by means of a first actuator (8) and a second actuator (9) respectively.
System according to the preceding claim, wherein the rollers (21, 22) are joined to a first moving support and to a second moving support respectively, moving ends (82, 92) of said actuators (8, 9) being joined to the corresponding moving support by fixing means (50, 60) disposed on said moving supports, such that said actuators (8, 9) cause the linear movement of said moving supports and, therefore, of said rollers (21, 22) in the direction of movement (B).
System according to the preceding claim, wherein the platform (7) comprises a first guide groove (70) and a second guide groove (71) that extend in the direction of movement (B), each moving support comprising a projection (53, 63) and said projections (53, 63) cooperating with said first groove (70) and said second groove (72) respectively when said moving supports are moved linearly in the direction of movement (B).
System according to the preceding claim, wherein the moving supports comprise a substantially L-shaped form with a guidance segment (51, 61) substantially parallel to the direction of movement (B) and a fixing segment (52, 62) substantially parallel to the direction of folding (A), the fixing means (50, 60) being disposed on the corresponding fixing segment (52, 62) and the projections (53, 63) being disposed on the corresponding guidance segment (51, 61).
System according to the preceding claim, wherein the fixing segment (51) of the first moving support extends in the direction of folding (A), the fixing segment (61) of the second moving support extending in the direction opposite to said direction of folding (A).
System according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the platform (7) comprises a first base (72) and a second base (73) perpendicular to the direction of movement (B), the first actuator (8) being fixed to said first base (72) and the second actuator (9) being fixed to said second base (73).
System according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the actuators (8, 9) are pneumatic cylinders.
System according to any of claims 2 to 7, wherein the crimping tool (2) comprises at least a first longitudinal axis (10) joined to the first moving support and a second longitudinal axis (11) joined to the second moving support, said longitudinal axes (10, 11) being parallel to each other and perpendicular to the direction of movement (B), the first roller (21) being joined to one end of said first longitudinal axis (10) and the second roller (22) being joined to one end of said second longitudinal axis (11), said rollers (21, 22) being joined to said moving supports by means of said longitudinal axes (10, 11).
System according to the preceding claim, comprising a third roller (23) connected to the second longitudinal axis (11) on the opposite end to the end of the second roller (22), and a fourth roller (24) connected to the first longitudinal axis (10) on the opposite end to the end of the first roller (21).
System according to any of claims 8 or 9, wherein the crimping tool (2) comprises at least an additional first roller (25) that is moved in conjunction with the first longitudinal axis (10), and an additional second roller (26) that is moved in conjunction with the second longitudinal axis (11).
System according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the cradle support (4) comprises a mechanised track (40) all the way along its edge, said mechanised track (40) being disposed parallel to the flange (30') of the first metal plate (30), and wherein the rollers (21, 22) comprise a transverse groove (21', 22') disposed on their external surface, adapted to cooperate with said mechanised track (40), so that when said rollers (21,22) are moved all the way along the edge of said first metal plate (30) in order to fold said flange (30') over in the direction of folding (A), said grooves (21',22') cooperate with said mechanised track (40) to guide said rollers (21,22) as they move all the way along said edge.
System according to the preceding claim, wherein the mechanised track (40) comprises a support surface (41), the second roller (22) being supported on said support surface (41), with the result that when the flange (30') is folded over, the contact surface of said second roller (22) with said flange (30') is aligned with said support surface (41).