GB2090172A - Device for disposing of end portions of lead wires in automatic winding machines - Google Patents

Abstract

A device, in an automatic winding machine, for disposing of terminal portions of fine lead wires wound on electrical components such as coils and the like comprises a rotatable winding rod 9 movable toward and away from a coil and guiding a lead wire 6a around the root of a terminal pin p fixed to the coil, and a wire holding assembly 22, 24 capable of holding and releasing the lead wire and revolving around the winding rod while holding the end portion of the lead wire, and being pulled towards the coil (compressing weak spring 19) by tension in lead 6a as terminal winding proceeds. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Device for disposing of end portions of lead wires in automatic winding machines Background of the Invention This invention relates to a device for disposing of the end portions of fine lead wires wound on electrical components such as high-frequency coils, pulse transformers, and the like having terminal pins and more particularly to a device for winding the terminal portions of the lead wires on the terminal pins of the coils or the like and automatically cutting off the ends after such winding.

Such a device is used in an automatic winding machine. A conventional device of this character has a rotatable winding rod for winding the terminal portion of a lead wire on a terminal pin, which moves toward and away from the terminal pin and is provided, at its front end, with a hole for coaxially receiving the terminal pin and a sleeve slidably engaged with the winding rod and having two projections for holding the lead wire on its outer circumferential surface.

In a typical electrical component whose coil is to be wound by this device, a number of terminal pins are embeddedly fixed to a base plate having a bobbin on which an electroconductive wire (hereinafter referred to simply as wire) is to be wound and two terminal portions of the wire wound on the bobbin must be fixedly connected respectively to two different terminal pins to form a coil. When a terminal portion of the coil is to be wound around its terminal pin, the winding rod is moved toward the terminal pin so as to cause the pin to be inserted into the hole of the rod with the above mentioned two projections on the sleeve holding the lead wire.

In such a state, the rotation of the winding rod and the sleeve causes the lead wire to be wound around the root portion of the pin as the sleeve slides toward the pin, and a certain length of the wire extending from the projections toward a wire-supplying source such as a wire drum is wound around the sleeve because of the projections. When a specific number of winding turns of the lead wire have been formed on the root portion of the pin, the sleeve reaches the limit of its movement because it is pulled by the lead wire being wound. At this time, the tension applied to the lead wire stretched between the sleeve and the root portion of the pin exceeds the tensile strength of the wire, which results in breaking of the stretched wire with the sleeve holding the remaining wire from the wiresupplying source.The winding rod is thereafter moved to make a succeeding coil to a proper position with the sleeve holding the leading portion of the wire led from the wire drum.

In such a device, two winding rods must be used in a winding operation during which two kinds of wires with different diameters are wound around the same bobbin in turn because the sleeve of the winding rod always holds the leading end of the wire led from the wire drum when two terminal portions of the lead wire on one coil have been disposed of and one winding rod can dispose of only one wire. Furthermore, the conventional device is not useful in a winding operation during which the two wires are double wound on the same bobbin and two terminal portions of the wires projecting outwardly from the bobbin after the winding of the wires on the bobbin are connected to two different terminal pins respectively to form a so-called bifilar winding.

During one winding operation by such a device, some windings of the wires remain on the sleeve of the winding rod, and the amount of the remaining winding gradually increases as the winding operation proceeds. Therefore, many pieces of the wire are wasted, and, moreover, the winding operation must be stopped to remove the wasted pieces of the wire from the sleeve. This decreases the efficiency of the winding operation.

Summary of the Invention It is an object of this invention, in view of the above described circumstance, to provide a device for disposing of the terminal portions of fine wires, which device can wind a plurality of wires around one coil bobbin in turn or at the same time, which produces little waste pieces of the wire, and which has a highly efficient winding operation because the waste pieces of wire can be removed automatically.

According to this invention, there is provided a device for disposing of terminal portions of fine lead wires wound on an electrical component such as a coil, transformer, or the like in an automatic winding machine in which the device is movable in all directions by a controller and the electrical component is rotatably supported by a chuck, characterized in that the device comprises a rotatable winding rod movable toward and away from the component and guiding, at its front end, the lead wire around one of terminal pins fixed to the component, and a wire holding assembly releasably holding the lead wire, revolving around the winding rod in the same direction as the winding rod and being movable toward the component within a range of distance by being pulled by the lead wire being wound around the root portion of the terminal pin when the wire holding assembly revolves around the rotating winding rod while holding the end portion of the lead wire.

The nature, utility, and further features of this invention will be more clearly apparent from the following detailed description with respect to a preferred embodiment of the invention when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings briefly described below.

Brief Description of the Drawings In the drawings: FIG. 1 is a side view showing essential parts of an automatic winding machine, including an example of a device according to this invention; FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a holding assembly; FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a holder in its release state;; FIGS. 4 through 12 are diagrammatic illustrations indicating progressive steps in the winding operation of the device of the present invention, FIG. 4 being a side view showing a holding assembly catching an electric wire held by a holder, FIG. 5 being a side view showing the holding assembly leading the wire to a coil bobbin, FIG. 6(a) being a side view showing the holding assembly leading the terminal portion of the wire to a groove of a coil base, FIG. 6(b) being a perspective view showing the same state as FIG. 6(a), FIG. 7 being a side view showing the device ready for the winding of the terminal portion on a terminal pin of the coil, FIG. 8 being a side view showing the device winding the terminal portion thereon, FIG. 9 being a side view showing the device retreating during the winding of the wire on the bobbin, FIG. 10 being a side view showing the device catching the wire stretched between the bobbin and the holder after the winding of the wire on the bobbin, FIG. 11 being a side view showing the device leading the terminal portion cut by the cutter of the holder to another terminal pin, and FIG. 12 being a side view showing the device ready for the winding of the terminal portion on the other terminal pin; FIG. 1 3 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the front portion of a winding rod in another embodiment of the invention; and FIG. 14 is a diagrammatic view showing the disposition of two wires during a bifilarwinding operation.

Detailed Description of the Invention Referring first to FIG. 1, an automatic winding machine 1 is provided with a device 2 according to this invention for disposing of the terminal portion of a fine wire which device is movable in all directions by means of a controller not shown in drawings. On the left side (as viewed in FIG. 1) of the device 2 are provided a rotatable chuck 3 for holding a coil 4, a holder 5 for holding and cutting a fine wire 6, and a guide plate 7 having a guide hole 7a to guide the wire 6 supplied from a wire drum (not shown). These three members 3, 5 and 7 are disposed at appropriate intervals in the vertical direction.

The device 2 has a moving frame 8 movable in the left-right directions (as viewed in FIG. 1) and in directions perpendicular thereto by means of the controller, a winding rod 9 rotatable by a driving motor (not shown) and slidable in a sleeve 10 in the left-right directions, a wire holding assembly 11 for holding and releasing the wire 6, and an operating plate assembly 12 operating the holding assembly 11 and being movable by means of an air-actuated cylinder (not shown) in the same directions as the winding rod 9.

The winding rod 9 extends through the sleeve 10, the right end of which abuts against a pusher 1 3 for pushing the rod 9. Around the right-hand portion of the rod 9, there is provided a coil spring 14 urging it toward the right, and the left end of the rod 9 is tapered to constitute a pin receiving portion 1 5, the front (left) end of which is round and smooth. In the pin receiving portion 1 5 is formed a coaxial receiving hole 1 6 for receiving a terminal pin p of the coil 4 supported by the chuck 3.

The sleeve 10 is rotatably supported by two bearings b and b in the moving frame 8 and rotated by a driving motor (not shown).

Furthermore, the sleeve 10 is prevented from moving axially in the left-right directions by two stop rings r and r provided on two sides of the frame 8. To the left end portion of the sleeve 10 is fixed a connecting block 1 7 supporting the holding assembly 11 which revolves around the winding rod 9 with the sleeve 10.

In the connecting block 1 7 is provided a circular hole 1 7a for fixedly receiving the right end portion of a fixed sleeve 1 8 in which a moving sleeve 1 9 is slidably accommodated. To the right end of the moving sleeve 1 9 is fixed a retaining flange 20 for retaining the right end of a weak coil spring 21 which is provided around the sleeve 1 9 and urges it toward the right. To the left end of the sleeve 1 9 is fixed a holding disk 22, as shown in FIG. 2, the diameter of which is equal to the outer diameter of the fixed sleeve 1 8. A holding rod 23 slidably extends through the sleeve 1 9 and the disk 22 in unrotating state.This holding rod 23 has a retaining flange 23a fixed to its right end, and a relatively strong coil spring 25a is provided between the flanges 20 and 23a and urges the rod 23 toward the right with respect to the sleeve 1 9.

To the left end of the rod 23 is fixed a holding cylinder 24 with its axis perpendicular to that of the rod 23 so as to form a letter T with the rod 23.

The wire 6 can be held between the flat surface 22a of the disk 22 and the opposing outer cylindrical surface 24a of the cylinder 24, at its left and right sides in relation to the rod 23, with the force of the strong coil spring 25a.

The flange 23a of the rod 23 confronts a pushing plate 25 of the operating assembly 1 2, which is supported at the ends of two guide bars 26 and 26 slidably passing through two guide holes 27 and 27 of the frame 8, in parallel, in the left-right direction. The right ends of the bars 26 and 26 are connected to a connecting plate 28 having a hole, at its central position, through which the winding rod 9 and the coil spring 14 freely pass in the left-right direction.

The spring force exerted by the spring 25a placed around the rod 23 is much greater than that of the spring 21 placed around the sleeve 1 9, and the tensile strength of the wire 6 is higher than the force of the spring 21.

The holder 5 comprises, as shown in FIG. 3, a central stem 29 having a circular holding plate 29a fixed to its front end, a holding sleeve 30 slidably fitted around the stem 29 and adapted to support the wire 6 between its front end face 30a and the inner surface of the plate 29a, and a cutting sleeve 31 slidably fitted around the holding sleeve 30. At the front end of the cutting sleeve 31, a cutting edge 31 a is formed to cut the wire 6 held by the sleeve 30 and the plate 29a.

The coil 4 supported by the chuck 3 has a bobbin 4a on which the wire 6 is wound. The bobbin 4 is fixed at its one end to a base plate 4b to which a plurality of terminal pins p are embeddedly fixed. An end plate 4c formed at the other end of the bobbin 4a is held by the chuck 3.

The base plate 4b is provided with a number of guide grooves g on its outer peripheral surface for guiding a lead wire portion 6a when the terminal portion of the lead wire portion 6a is wound on the root portion of one terminal pin as indicated in FIG. 6(b).

The operation of the device of the above described construction according to this invention is as follows.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the lower end (as viewed therein) of the wire 6 is held by a holder 5 with the cutting sleeve 31 retracted from the front end of the holder 5, while the coil 4 being wound is held by the chuck 3. With these parts in this state, the device 2 is moved toward the wire 6 by the operation of the controller so that the holding assembly 11 can catch the wire with the pushing plate 25 pushing the flange 23a of the rod 23 toward the left to cause the sleeve 21 and the rod 23 to move together in the same direction.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, first, the coil spring 21 disposed on the moving sleeve 1 9 is compressed to permit the sleeve 1 9 to move to the left until the flange 20 abuts against the end surface of the connecting block 1 7 with the strong coil spring 25a being retained without change.

After the flange 20 abuts against it, the strong coil spring 25a begins to be compressed to cause the holding cylinder 24 to separate from the holding disk 22 to create a space for receiving the wire 6.

When the holding assembly 11 is moved to a position where the wire 6 can be received in the space between the cylinder 24 and the disk 22 in such a manner, the operating plate assembly 12 is retracted to the former position so that the rod 23 is moved to the right under the repulsive force of the coil spring 25a to steadily hold the wire 6. At the same time that the holding assembly 11 catches the wire 6, the holding sleeve 30 of the holder 5 retracts rearwards from the plate 29a to release the lower end of the wire 6. Thereafter, the holder 5 retracts to a position where it will not interfere with the feed of the wire 6 during the winding operation as shown in FIG. 5.

After the holding assembly 11 has grasped the wire 6, the device 1 is turned around the coil 4 by the controller so that the wire 6 is hung on the bobbin 4a and the lead wire portion 6a is pulled upwardly by the holding assembly 11 which is positioned above the coil 4.

Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the holding assembly 11 is moved downwardly and obliquely to cause the lead wire portion 6a to pass in and along one of the grooves g and to pass alongside one of the pins p, around the root portion of which the terminal portion of the wire 6 is to be wound.

Thereafter, the device 2 is moved to a position where the receiving hole 1 6 of the winding rod 9 can receive the pin p with the leading wire portion 6a hung on the root portion of the pin p and pulled by the assembly 11 under the relatively weak repulsive force of the coil spring 21. Then, the pusher 1 3 pushes the winding rod 9 to the left to the extent that a clearance for winding the wire on the root part of the pin p is left between the front end of the pin receiving portion 1 5 and the base plate 4b of the coil 4. Thus, the device 2 is ready for winding the lead wire on the root part of the pin p as shown in FIG. 7.

With the machine and device in this state, the winding rod 9 and the sleeve 10 are rotated, as shown in FIG. 8, in the same direction, and, accordingly, the holding assembly 11 is revolved around the winding rod 9, the holding assembly catching the end of the lead wire 6a. The revolution of the holding assembly 11 causes the lead wire 6a go around the root part of the pin p with the lead wire 6a sliding on the smooth surface of the front end of the pin receiving portion 1 5. As the pin receiving portion 1 5 is rotated in the same direction as that of the holding assembly 11 , the lead wire 6a being wound on the root portion of the pin p does not stick to the front end of the rod 9.The rotational velocity of the winding rod 9 may be equal to that of the sleeve 10 or the holding assembly 11, but the winding rod 9 may be rotated faster than the holding assembly 11. In this case, the feed of the lead wire 6a toward the root part of the pin p becomes smoother.

As the winding of the lead wire 6a around the pin root part progresses, the length of the lead wire 6a between the pin root part and the front end of the holding assembly 11 decreases to cause the assembly 11 to be pulled toward the coil 4, and the coil spring 21 on the sleeve 1 9 is pushed by the retaining flange 20 of the sleeve 1 9. However, as spring force of the coil spring 25a on the rod 23 is large, the disk 22 and cylinder 24 do not separate from each other.

When the sleeve 1 9 is moved toward the coil 4 to the extent that the retaining flange 20 abuts against the side face of the connecting block 1 7, the lead wire 6a is subjected to maximum tensile stress and in a short time the lead wire 6a is automatically cut at a point thereof close to the root part of the pin p. The number of winding turns of the wire on the root is determined by the length between the retaining flange 20 and the connecting block 1 7 in the state of the device as shown in FIG. 1 and the spring force of the coil spring 21.

After the lead wire 6a is cut, the device 2 retracts to the former position as shown in FIG. 9, and the pusher 1 3 is moved to the right to move the winding rod 9 in the same direction under the repulsive force of the coil spring 1 4. During the retracting movement of the device 2, the pushing plate 25 pushes the winding rod to the left to separate the cylinder 24 from the disk 22 thereby to release the piece of wire 6b held therebetween.

In order to facilitate the release of a piece of waste wire 6b, air may be blown against the front portion of the holding assembly 11 from an air nozzle (not shown) provided above the coil 4.

Then, the chuck 3 holding the coil 4 is rotated to wind a specific number of winding turns on the bobbin 4b. When a specific number of winding turns has been thus wound, the chuck 3 is stopped, and the holder 5 is advanced from the retracted position to hold the wire 6 again as shown in FIG. 1 0. Thereafter, the disposal of another terminal portion of the wire 6 is begun.

In FIG. 1 0, the device 2 is moved toward the wire 6 by the controller to catch the lead wire portion 6c stretched between the coil 4 and the holder 5. At the same time that the holding assembly 11 catches the lead wire portion 6c, the cutting sleeve 31 is moved to the front end of the holder 5 to cut the wire portion 6c with the cutting edge 31 a. Then the device 2 is moved to a position similar to that of FIG. 6 to lead the lead wire portion 6c to another terminal pin p with the lead wire portion 6c passing in and along another groove g as shown in FIG. 11. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 12, the winding rod 9 is advanced so as to cause the hole 1 6 to receive the other pin p, and the winding rod 9 and the holding assembly 11 are rotated.When a specific number of winding turns has been made around the root part of the other pin p, the lead wire portion 6c is automatically cut in the same manner as indicated in FIG. 8.

After the lead wire portion 6c has been cut, the device 2 retracts in the same manner as indicated in FIG. 9, a piece of waste wire being released.

Thus, one cycle of winding operation has been completed.

As mentioned above, the device 2 has a holding assembly 11 which can steadily hold the wire at any position and release it easily, and which revolves around the winding rod 9. Therefore, the wire 6 can be wound on the bobbin 4a in any direction, and the device 2 can be used in the case of a winding operation during which two different wires are wound around the same bobbin in turn in addition to a so-called i,ifilar winding operation.

That is, as shown in FIG. 14, in the case of the former winding operation, one of two wires 6 and 6 held in parallel by two holders 5 and 5, respectively, is first wound around the coil 4 by the device 2. After the terminal portion of this wire 6 has been disposed of, the other wire 6 is wound and its terminal portion is disposed of. In the case of the latter winding operation, the two wires 6 and 6 are wound around the coil 4 at the same time, and then one of two terminal portions is first wound on one of terminal pins p, and secondly the other is wound separately on the other pin p.

As the holding assembly 11 is ready for holding another wire without holding any wire upon the completion of winding operation for one of two wires, these operations can be rnade. In the conventional device described hereinbefore, the winding rod corresponding to the winding rod 9 according to this invention always holds the wire around it upon the completion of one cycle of winding operation. Therefore, these two winding operations cannot be made with the conventional device.

Furthermore, according to this invention, the length of a wasted wire is considerably short, and, as a piece of wasted wire can be easily released from the holding assembly 11, successive cycles of winding operation are possible without stopping the movement of each member of the device 2.

FIG. 13 shows another example of the pin receiving portion 30 of the winding rod 9. The portion 30 has a vertical flat surface 30a formed by cutting off one lateral half thereof along a vertical cutting plane in the longitudinal direction of the pin receiving portion 30. The pin p at one side thereof touches the flat surface 30a and, at the front end of the portion 30, a guide groove 30b is formed for guiding the wire 6 to the holding assembly 11. In this case, the holding assembly 11 must be rotated at the same speed as the rotational speed of the winding rod 9 to prevent the wire 6 from sticking to the front end of the portion 30, including the guide groove 30b.

On the surface 30a, there may be provided a receiving groove (not shown) extending along the pin p in order to receive and position the pin p.

Claims (6)

1. A device for disposing of terminal portions of fine lead wires wound on an electrical component such as a coil, transformer, or the like in an automatic winding machine in which the device is movable in all directions by a controller and the electrical component is rotatably supported by a chuck, characterized in that the device (2) comprises a rotatable winding rod (9) movable toward and away from the component (4) and guiding, at its front end (15), the lead wire (6a, 6c) around one of terminal pins (p) fixed to the component, and a wire holding assembly (11) releasably holding the lead wire, revolving around the winding rod in the same direction as the winding rod (9), and being movable toward the component within a range of distance by being pulled by the lead wire being wound around the root portion of the terminal pin when the wire holding assembly (11) revolves around the rotating winding rod while holding the end portion of the lead wire.

2. A device according to claim 1 wherein said device comprises a rotatable sleeve (10) supported by a moving frame (8) movable in all directions, in which said winding rod (9) is received slidably and rotatably, said winding rod (9) having a pin receiving hole (16) at its front end for receiving the terminal pin (p) when the lead wire is wound on and around the root portion of the pin, said wire holding assembly (11) being connected to the rotatable sleeve (10) via a connecting member (17), whereby the assembly is revolved around the winding rod with the rotatable sleeve (10).

3. A device according to claim 1 or2 wherein said winding rod (9) is rotated at the same speed as said wire holding assembly (11).

4. A device according to claim 1 or 2 wherein said winding rod (9) is rotated faster than said wire holding assembly (11).

5. A device according to claim 1 or 2 wherein said wire holding assembly (11) has a moving sleeve (19) slidably passing through a fixed sleeve (18) fixed to said connecting member (17), being urged so as to move away from the component (4) by a first spring (21) and having a first holding member (22) for holding the lead wire at its front end, and a sliding rod (23) passing through said moving sleeve (19), having a second holding member (24) at its front end, and being urged in the same direction as the moving sleeve (19) in relation to the moving sleeve by a second spring (25a), said lead wire being held between the two holding members (22, 24), the spring force exerted by the second spring (25a) being much greater than that of the first spring (21) and much greater than the tensile strength of the lead wire, which is higher than the force of the first spring (21).

6. A device according to claim 5 wherein said first holding member (22) and said second holding member (24) consist of a holding disk and a holding cylinder respectively to form a letter T with said sliding rod (23) received in unrotating state in said moving sleeve (19).