EP2397287B1 - Removable machining tool - Google Patents

Description

Technical area

The present invention relates to a disposable processing unit for a Bearbeitungsüngszentrum for processing plate-shaped workpieces, which preferably at least partially made of wood, wood materials, plastic or the like.

State of the art

Processing units, which are einwechselbar in the main spindle of a machining center, for example, from DE 100 39 413 A1 and the DE 102 29 775 C1 known. For a desired processing operation to be performed, a corresponding processing unit can be loaded from a storage device manually or automatically into the spindle unit of the processing center.

Machining centers for processing plate-shaped workpieces, in particular of wood or wood-based materials, often have a coating unit, for example a gluing unit for gluing an edge material to a narrow surface of the workpiece. As a result, a machining operation, for example a narrow surface or an edge of the workpiece, can be combined with a gluing of the edge material, so that a new clamping of the workpiece in a separate edge banding machine is not required. Various techniques are used for the gluing units, for example, glue is applied to a workpiece surface by means of rolling and then edge material is placed on the workpiece surface and then pressed for example using pressure rollers to the workpiece surface. A subsequent curing of the glue allows a firm fit of the edge material. Other gluing units work with a laser to irradiate and soften a coating already provided on the edge material used in order to achieve a connection between the edge material and the workpiece surface by subsequent pressing of the edge material to the workpiece. Machining centers with gluing unit are for example from the DE 10 2005 018 885 B3 and the EP 0 728 561 A1 known.

The coating units mentioned have in common that for the coating process for softening or activating the coating material or an adhesive layer on the coating material, energy must be introduced into the edge material or the adhesive layer. The liquid adhesives or glues used for gluing edge material are also usually applied in a heated state and harden after application. Therefore, the coating units have an electrical interface or cable connection in order to supply the energy required for the heating of the coating material as electrical energy to the coating unit. A mere mechanical connection of a coating unit is therefore far from sufficient to operate a coating unit at the machining center. In addition, an electrical interface or cable connection must be provided. As a result, the flexible use of said coating units at different machining centers is made more difficult due to the interface requirements. The flexible use of coating units is thus given only inadequate with the coating units of the prior art.

Another document is the DE 10 2006 022 588 A1 which discloses an apparatus for removing contaminants from a surface of a machine tool.

Furthermore, the US2004 / 0169016 A1 which may be considered as the closest prior art and shows a tool attached to a spindle of a machining tool which can be driven without being connected to an external power supply.

Another document is the DE 40 25 932 A1 to name, which shows an adjusting tool for use in machine tools. The adjusting tool is provided with a relative to the rotating body of the tool head transversely to the axis of rotation adjustable, equipped with at least one cutting slide. Further, this device is provided for direct measurement of the adjustment with a, equipped with an electronically scanned measuring scale slider having a located within the rotating body, battery-powered evaluation. The Veschiebeweg can be read on a digital display, which is also located in the tool head.

Presentation of the invention

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a disposable coating unit for a machining center for machining workpieces, which are preferably at least partially made of wood, wood materials, plastic or the like available, which can be used particularly flexible on various machining centers by the power supply of the coating unit is simplified in terms of its interface requirements.

This object is achieved by a einwechselbares processing unit, which is a coating unit, with the features of claim 1. In the subclaims there are advantageous embodiments and improvements of the invention.

The term "generator" as used in this application means an energy converter in general. With this, a different form of energy is gained from mechanical energy, ie the rotational movement of the main spindle. By way of example, electric, hydraulic, pneumatic, thermal energy as well as radiation and vibration energy have already been mentioned in this connection.

Furthermore, said means is an energy-consuming means. In particular, can be heated by the consumption of energy, an adhesive.

In this context, the term "energy" should be interpreted as meaning purely mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, thermal energy as well as radiation and vibration energy.

According to the invention, the generator is set up to be driven by means of the torque. The energy used to heat the coating material is thus supplied, for example, as mechanical energy to the processing unit. In this case, a torque is transmitted to the processing unit, which drives a generator. According to the invention, the processing unit in one embodiment has no cable connection to the machine.

The generator, in turn, generates electrical energy that is used to energize a means for heating coating material. The middle for heating coating material thus converts the electrical energy generated by the generator into heat energy.

The transmission of electrical energy to the processing unit for heating the coating material can be omitted, since the processing unit generates the electrical energy by means of the generator from the transferred to the processing unit mechanical energy itself. As a result, the connection of the exchangeable processing unit to a machining center is particularly simple, since only a mechanical connection is required and the electrical connection in the form of cables and connectors and a control connection of the processing unit can be omitted. This makes it particularly easy to integrate the processing unit into existing machining centers.

The torque interface for transmitting the torque from the outside to the processing unit is preferably detachable designed to accommodate the desire for flexible attachment of the processing unit to a machining center. As detachable torque interface common interface systems, such as releasable shaft-hub connections, couplings and corresponding gear elements are used.

According to the invention, therefore, no additional preparation of the machine in the form of an implementation of an electrical interface is required for replacement of the processing unit. It is therefore possible to retrofit any conventional machining center with relatively little effort for a replacement of the processing unit according to the invention. Due to the low interface costs for replacement of a processing unit according to the invention, the costs for extending a existing machining center with a processing unit low.

According to a preferred embodiment of the exchangeable processing unit according to the invention, the torque interface is set up to receive the torque from the processing spindle of the processing unit. As a result, the generator can be driven by the torque of the drive spindle. An additional energy input into the processing unit for heating the coating material is then not required. Preferably, a torque split is provided which transfers a portion of the torque of the drive spindle into the torque interface for driving the generator and leaves the remaining torque for the machining task. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the exchangeable processing unit has a heatable container for the coating material. By means of the container, heated coating material can be made available and stored. Particularly preferably, the means for heating the coating material is integrated into the container. This results in a technically particularly simple structure with few system interfaces.

According to a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention, the means for heating the coating material is arranged to heat the coating material on already coated with coating material workpieces. This makes it possible to use coating material or workpieces which have a glue or adhesive layer which can be activated by means of heat. The means for heating the coating material for this purpose has a suitable energy source, with which energy can be generated for transferring to the coating material. For the transfer of energy to the coating material can therefore according to the invention different methods are used. Thus, for heating the coating material, for example by means of a laser, an infrared radiation source, an ultrasonic source, a microwave source or a plasma source, energy is transferred to the coating material. It is also possible to use a hot air source or a gassing source for heating the coating material. An essential feature of these energy transfer techniques by the means for heating the coating material is that the energy can be transferred to the coating material over a distance from the energy source.

According to the invention, the interchangeable processing unit has a contactless data transmission interface for transmitting status data of the interchangeable processing unit to a machine control. For the use of the interchangeable processing unit, it is advantageous to capture certain state data from the interchangeable processing unit, for example in a machine control. For example, the temperature of the coating material or the amount of the coating material temporarily stored in the exchangeable processing unit is relevant for the process control. Preferably, the data transmission interface is also powered by the generator with energy and the transfer of data is done without contact to a controller, such as the control of the machining center. As a result, a plug-in connection for transmitting the data can then also be omitted for the data transmission on the replaceable processing unit. As a result, the interface of the exchangeable processing unit remain limited to the mechanical interface, which keeps the structure of the replaceable processing unit with regard to its interface requirements simple. Preference is given to Data transmission on replaceable processing unit a standard data transmission interface, such as wireless Ethernet, Bluetooth or wireless LAN (Wireless Local Area Network) provided.

According to a further preferred embodiment, an additional drive unit is provided on the processing unit, and the torque interface is adapted to receive the torque from the drive unit.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to embodiments with reference to the accompanying figures of the drawings.

Fig. 1

eine perspektivische Darstellung eines an einem Bearbeitungszentrum angebrachten erfindungsgemäßen einwechselbaren Beschichtungsaggregats gemäß einer ersten Ausführungsform; und

Fig. 2

eine schematische Darstellung des Aufbaus eines erfindungsgemäßen einwechselbaren Beschichtungsaggregats gemäß einer zweiten Ausführungsform.

From the figures show.

Fig. 1

a perspective view of a mounted on a machining center inventive disposable coating unit according to a first embodiment; and

Fig. 2

a schematic representation of the structure of a disposable coating unit according to the invention according to a second embodiment.

In the figures, the same reference numerals designate the same or functionally identical components, unless indicated otherwise.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a mounted on a machining center 2 invention disposable coating unit. 1 (Processing unit) according to a first embodiment. The coating unit 1 is shown in the picture below and attached to the machining center 2 shown in detail above. The coating unit 1 according to this exemplary embodiment has the task of applying edges 4, which are coated with coating material 6, to the workpiece 5. The coating unit 1 is driven by a drive spindle 3 of the machining center 2. The coating unit also has a means 12 for heating the coating material 6. The means 12 for heating the coating material 6 has a generator 10, which is driven by a torque interface 14 of the work spindle 3 of the machining center 2.

In operation, the coating material 6 is heated by a means 12 for heating the coating material 6 and thereby activated in its adhesive action. Subsequently, the edge 4 is pressed with the coating material 6 to the workpiece 5. After cooling, the compound cures from edge 4 with coating material 6 and workpiece 5. The machining center 2 is a 5-axis machining center in this embodiment. The coating unit 1 according to the invention can be operated on machining centers 2 with other kinematics.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic representation of the structure of a disposable coating unit 1 according to the invention according to a second embodiment. As in Fig. 1 At the top of the picture, the machining center 2 and at the bottom a replaceable coating unit 1 are shown. At the machining center 2, a drive spindle 3 is provided, which is connected to a torque interface 14 of the coating unit 1. The torque interface 14 of the coating unit 1 is connected to a generator 10 for the generation of electrical energy the coating unit 1 connected. An electric wire 8 shown as a dotted line connects the generator 10 to a means 12 for heating coating material 12 to supply electrical energy to the means 12 for heating coating material 12. By means of an energy source 9 on the means 12 for heating coating material 12, the coating material 6, which is arranged in this embodiment in a container 7 on the means 12 for heating coating material 12, are heated. By means of a data transmission interface 11, state data, for example the temperature of the coating material 12, is transmitted to a controller, for example the control of the processing center 2, in order to allow optimum process control of the heating of the coating material 6.

The disposable coating unit 1 according to the invention makes it possible to equip a machining center 2 with the coating unit without having to realize an electrical power supply between the machining center 2 and the coating unit 1 for heating the coating material 6. For this purpose, the energy required for heating the coating material 6 can be generated by means of a generator 10 of the coating unit 1 from the mechanical energy transferred from the machining center 2 to the coating unit 1. As a result, the coating unit 1 can be used particularly flexibly on the machining center 2. Furthermore, the coating unit 1 can also be used universally on machining centers 2, at which corresponding electrical interfaces for transmitting energy to the coating unit 1 are not provided.

Although the present invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments herein, it is not limited thereto, but modifiable in many ways.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

Replaceable coating unit

2

machining center

3

drive spindle

4

edge

5

workpiece

6

coating material

7

container

8th

management

9

energy

10

generator

11

Data transmission interface

12

Means for heating coating material

14

Torque interface

Claims (7)

1. Exchangeable machining unit for a machining centre (2) for machining workpieces (5) which preferably consist at least in sections of wood, derived timber products, plastic or the like, having a generator (10) for producing energy selected from the group of electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, thermal energy and radiation energy and oscillation energy, from mechanical rotational energy of a main spindle, a means (12) which is supplied with energy by means of the generator (10), and converts this energy for machining the workpiece, and an in particular releasable torque interface (14) for transferring a torque from the outside to the coating unit (1), wherein the generator (10) is equipped to be driven by means of the torque, characterised in that the machining unit (1) is a coating unit (1), in that the means (12) for heating coating material (6) is provided, and in that the exchangeable machining unit (1) has a contact-less data-transmission interface (11) for transmitting status data of the exchangeable coating unit (1) to a machine control.
2. Exchangeable machining unit according to claim 1, characterised in that the torque interface (14) is equipped to absorb the torque from the drive spindle (3) of the machining centre (2).
3. Exchangeable machining unit according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the exchangeable coating unit (1) has a heatable container (7) for the coating material (6).
4. Exchangeable machining unit according to claim 3, characterised in that the machining unit for heating the coating material (6) has a container (7), which container (7) is provided in particular on the means (12).
5. Exchangeable machining unit according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the means (12) for heating of the coating material (6) is equipped to heat the coating material (6) on workpieces (5) already with coating material (6).
6. Exchangeable machining unit according to claim 5, characterised in that an energy source (9), which is selected from the group consisting of: laser, hot-air source, infrared source, ultrasound source, magnetic field source, microwave source, plasma source, and gassing source, is provided on the exchangeable machining unit (1).
7. Exchangeable machining unit according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that an additional drive unit is provided and the torque interface (14) is equipped to absorb the torque from the drive unit.

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