JP2003320422A - Apparatus for forming pipe flange - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a motor-driven apparatus for forming pipe flange capable of stopping only the advancing action while maintaining the rotational force of a forming member at finish machining. <P>SOLUTION: A flange 56 is formed at the end part of a metal pipe 13. A main shaft 12 whose one side has a cone 11 is driven by a motor 3 and whose the other side forms a male screw part 34. Inside a housing 26 of a forming apparatus body 5, a nut member 37 equipped with a female screw part 39 screwed with the male screw part 34, a spring 48, a spring holder 38 and a guide member 42 are housed. The nut member 37 is locked to turn by the guide member 42 and movably supported in the axial direction. When the movement of the main shaft 12 in the axial direction is controlled, followed by the rotation of the motor 3, the nut member 37 is moved in the axial direction against the pressing force of the spring 48. The cone 11 is rotated in a state of being pressed to the end of the pipe, and the finish machining is performed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for forming a flange for a pipe joint on a steel pipe such as a carbon steel pipe or a stainless steel pipe and a pipe end of copper or copper alloy.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As means and devices for forming a flange on the end of a pipe such as a stainless steel pipe, it has been known to use a conical molding member to expand the end of the pipe. For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-228540, the end of the pipe is expanded to an angle of 35 to 40 ° in the first step, and then expanded to an angle of about 90 ° in the second step to form a flange. A device for doing so is disclosed. In the first step, a conical shaped member is used, in the second step, a separate conical shaped member is used, and in the apparatus of the above publication, the support member having the respective molded members at both ends is rotated, Eliminates the hassle of exchanging molded parts.

On the other hand, in the conventional pipe flange forming apparatus, the forming member is attached to a rotary head which is rotated by a hydraulic motor or an electric motor. The forming member is pressed against the end of the pipe by the hydraulic cylinder. Then, while the molding member is pressed against the pipe end portion, it circulates along the pipe end edge, and the pipe end portion is expanded so as to follow the conical surface.

[0004]

By the way, in such a conventional molding apparatus, since the molding member is hydraulically driven, the apparatus requires a hydraulic pump and a hydraulic circuit. For this reason, the device tends to increase in size, and even a device for processing a pipe having a small diameter is inevitably large in size, and there is a demand for downsizing of the device. Therefore, including the forward and backward movement of the molding member,
A device for performing all the operations by a motor (electric motor) has been developed, and a device for moving a molding member forward and backward by a motor-driven feed screw has been studied.

However, when the molding member is driven by a motor, if the end of the pipe expands 90 ° and the movement of the molding member in the axial direction is restricted, the rotation of the shaft is also restricted at the same time, and the motor is locked. There is a problem that an overcurrent may flow and damage the motor. In the flange forming process, in general, in order to suppress springback, a finishing process is performed after the end of the pipe is widened to 90 ° to idle the forming member for a while and lick the flange surface. However, as described above, in the motor-driven device,
When the movement of the molding member in the axial direction is stopped, the rotation also stops there, and the final finishing process cannot be performed. In addition, such a process causes a failure of the device.

In the case of hydraulic drive, the pressing force (propulsion force) and the rotational force of the molding member are applied from different systems, so that the pressing force is maintained by the hydraulic control and the compressibility of the oil itself. Finishing is easy to do. Even in a device that applies a rotational force by a motor, a motor that can exert a torque that exceeds the load due to the pressing force may be used, and there is no problem in the drive form during finishing. On the other hand, in the motor-driven device, since the pressing force and the rotational force are applied simultaneously by the feed screw, it is difficult to stop only the propulsion operation while maintaining the rotational force, and improvement thereof has been demanded.

An object of the present invention is to provide a motor-driven pipe flange forming apparatus capable of stopping only its propulsion operation while maintaining the rotational force of a forming member during finishing.

[0008]

A pipe flange forming apparatus of the present invention is a pipe flange forming apparatus for forming a radially extending flange on a metal pipe end portion, the pipe flange forming device being in contact with the pipe end portion, A molding member that expands the pipe end portion in the radial direction, and the molding member is attached to one end side,
A main shaft having a drive shaft on the other end of which a male screw portion is formed on the outer circumference; an electric motor that is connected to the drive shaft and drives the main shaft to rotate; and a female screw portion that engages with the male screw portion of the drive shaft. A nut member whose axial positional relationship with the drive shaft changes relative to the rotation of the main shaft, and a spring whose one end contacts the nut member and axially presses the nut member. When,
A spring holding member that supports the other end side of the spring, and a spring holding member that is attached to the spring holding member and supports the nut member so as to be movable in the axial direction while preventing the nut member from rotating, and restricts movement of the main shaft in the axial direction. Then, the nut member has a guide member that allows the nut member to move in the axial direction against the pressing force of the spring as the electric motor rotates.

In the present invention, when the end portion of the pipe is expanded and the movement of the main shaft in the axial direction is restricted, the nut member moves in the axial direction against the biasing force of the spring. As a result, the main shaft can rotate while the molding member is being pressed against the end of the pipe, and the pipe having the flange can be finished. Therefore, in a pipe flange forming device driven by an electric motor, it is possible to perform finishing processing,
A hydraulic pump and a hydraulic circuit, which are required in a conventional hydraulically driven device, are not required, and the device can be downsized and the cost can be reduced.

In the pipe flange forming apparatus, the guide member may be fixed to the spring holding member, and the main shaft may be housed in the housing so as to be movable back and forth along the axial direction. It may be fixed to the housing. further,
The pipe flange forming apparatus may be provided with a sensor means for detecting the amount of movement of the main shaft in the axial direction, whereby the finishing process can be automatically performed.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional plan view showing the configuration of a pipe flange forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 and 2
The pipe flange forming device 1 (hereinafter abbreviated as device 1) is a device that expands the end of a stainless steel pipe to form a flange extending in the radial direction. The apparatus 1 is exclusively for processing a steel pipe having a pipe outer diameter of about 20 mm to 60 mm.

As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus 1 has a structure in which a motor (electric motor) 3, a bearing device 4, a molding device body 5 and a pipe support device 6 are arranged in series on a metal base 2. ing. The molding apparatus main body 5 includes a cone (molding member) 1
The main shaft 12 to which 1 is attached is inserted. The main shaft 12 is rotated and driven forward and backward by the motor 3. As shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 1, the cone 11 comes into contact with the pipe 13 fixed to the pipe supporting device 6 and expands its end portion in the radial direction. Cone 11
The primary molding for expanding the pipe end to about 40 ° and the secondary molding for expanding the pipe end at a right angle are used interchangeably. In addition, in FIG. 1, the cone 11a for primary molding is used.
Is attached.

The motor 3 is an ordinary electromagnetic motor, and the rotational driving force is output from the output shaft 15 via the speed reduction mechanism 14. A rotation sensor (not shown) is attached to the motor 3. The output of the rotation sensor is sent to a control device (not shown), and the rotation speed of the output shaft 15 is detected by multiplying it by the reduction ratio. A flange member 17 is attached to the output shaft 15 via a key 16. The flange member 17 is
It is fixed to another facing flange member 19 with a bolt 18. The flange member 19 is connected to the main shaft 12 via a key 21. The flange member 19 is
It is rotatably supported by bearings 22a and 22b arranged in the bearing device 4.

Between the bearing device 4 and the molding device body 5,
Proximity switches (sensor means) 23a to 23c are provided. The proximity switches 23a to 23c are provided laterally of the main shaft 12 so as to face the outer surface of the shaft. A ring-shaped detection unit 24 is attached to the main shaft 12. The detection unit 24 is the proximity switch 23a
When approaching 23c to 23c, detection signals are output from the proximity switches 23a to 23c and sent to the control device. Detector 2
4, the cone 11 faces the proximity switch 23a at the retracted position X where the cone 11 is separated from the pipe 13 as shown in FIG. When the main shaft 12 moves forward and the end of the pipe expands to 40 ° in the primary processing, the detection unit 24 faces the proximity switch 23b. When the processing further progresses, the end of the pipe is expanded at a right angle by the secondary molding, and when the main shaft 12 reaches the forward movement position Y, the detection unit 24 faces the proximity switch 23c. In the device 1, the backward position X and the forward position Y
And the stroke S of the main shaft 12 is set to 60 mm.

The molding apparatus main body 5 includes a housing 26 mounted on the base 2, the main shaft 12 is rotatably supported, and a nut member 37, a spring holder 38, and a guide member 42 are provided therein. Etc. are housed. FIG. 3 is a front view showing a cross section of a part of the main shaft 12. The main shaft 12 is a metal stepped shaft member, and has a large-diameter head portion 25 formed at one end side (the left end side in FIG. 3) as shown in FIG. The head portion 25 is rotatably supported by a bearing 27 mounted in a housing 26.

On the end surface 25a of the head portion 25, a cone mounting portion 28 is recessed. The cone mounting portion 28 is shown in FIG.
2 with respect to the central axis of the main shaft 12
The cone mounting member 29 is formed so as to be inclined by 0 °, and is housed in a state in which the cone mounting member 29 is rotatably supported by a radial bearing 31 and a thrust bearing 32. The cone 11 is detachably attached to the tip of the cone attaching member 29 by a set screw or the like (not shown). The cone 11 is formed with a conical processing surface 33 whose diameter decreases toward the tip,
In the case of the cone 11a, its apex angle is set to 40 °.

On the other end side (right end side in FIG. 3) of the main shaft 12, there is provided a drive shaft 35 having an outer diameter formed with a male screw portion 34. A key groove 36 to which the key 21 is attached is formed at the end of the drive shaft 35. The drive shaft 35 extends through the center of the nut member 37 and the spring holder 38 (spring holding member) mounted in the housing 26 toward the bearing device 4 side.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the nut member 37, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. The nut member 37 is a disc-shaped member made of metal, and has an internal thread 39 on its inner periphery.
Are formed. The female screw portion 39 is screwed into the male screw portion 34, and when the drive shaft 35 rotates, the positional relationship between the drive shaft 35 and the nut member 37 relatively moves. That is, when the drive shaft 35 rotates with the nut member 37 fixed, the main shaft 12 moves in the axial direction.
On the contrary, when the drive shaft 35 rotates while the movement of the main shaft 12 in the axial direction is restricted, the nut member 37 moves in the axial direction when the nut member 37 is stopped.

Four U-shaped guide grooves 41 are formed on the outer peripheral portion of the nut member 37. A guide member 42 is inserted into each guide groove 41. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5 (one-dot chain line), the guide member 42 includes a head portion 43 having a diameter larger than the guide groove 41, a guide pin portion 44 having a diameter smaller than the guide groove 41 and having a straight pin shape, and a mounting screw portion 45. It consists of The mounting screw portion 45 is screwed and fixed in a screw hole 46 formed in the end portion of the spring holder 38.
The nut member 37 is attached to the end of the spring holder 38 while being prevented from rotating by the guide member 42. At this time, the guide pin portion 44 is longer than the thickness of the nut member 37, and a gap 47 of about 10 mm is formed between the nut member 37 and the spring holder 38. The nut member 37 is supported along the guide member 42 so as to be axially movable in the gap 47.

The spring holder 38 is a metal member having a bottomed cylindrical shape, and a spring 48 is housed inside. The nut member 37 is attached to the opening on one end side of the spring holder 38 as described above. An insertion hole 51 through which the drive shaft 35 is inserted is formed in the bottom wall portion 49 on the other end side. A flange portion 52 is formed on the bottom wall portion 49, and the flange portion 52 is fixed to the end of the housing 26 by a bolt 53. The spring 48 is housed in the spring holder 38 with one end abutting against the nut member 37 and the other end abutting against the bottom wall 49. Before the main shaft 12 reaches the retracted position Y, the nut member 37 is biased in the axial direction by the spring 48.
It is pressed against the head portion 43 side of the guide member 42.

A pipe support device 6 is disposed on the left side of the molding device body 5 in FIG. The pipe support device 6 includes a support portion 54 fixed on the base 2 and a pipe holder 55 held in the support portion 54. Pipe holder 5
The pipe 13 is inserted into the pipe 5, and the pipe holder 55 is attached to the inside of the support portion 54, whereby the pipe 13 is held in a state where movement in the axial direction and the radial direction is restricted.

Next, in such a device 1, the pipe 1
The process of forming the flange at the end of No. 3 will be described. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a flange forming process. First, with the main shaft 12 lowered to the retracted position X, the cone 11a for primary molding is attached to the cone attachment member 29.
On the other hand, the pipe 13 is fixed to the pipe supporting device 6. In this state, the motor 3 is driven to start the flange forming process. When the motor 3 is driven, the main shaft 12 rotates, and the drive shaft 35 with which the nut member 37 is screwed also rotates.
At this stage, the nut member 37 is pressed against the head portion 43 side of the guide member 42 by the spring 48. The pressing force of the spring 48 is set to be larger than the force applied to the nut member 37 by the rotation of the drive shaft 35 in the axial direction.
Is sent to the left of.

When the main shaft 12 advances, the conical processing surface 33 of the cone 11a comes into contact with the inner diameter of the end of the pipe 13 before long. Continue driving the motor 3 and main shaft 1
When 2 further advances, the end portion of the pipe 13 is expanded by the conical processing surface 33, as shown in FIG. When the end of the pipe expands and the opening angle becomes 40 °, the primary processing ends, and the detection unit 24 faces the proximity switch 23b, the motor 3 is temporarily stopped, and the detection unit 24 is reversed. Then, the main shaft 1 is moved to the position where the detection unit 24 faces the proximity switch 23a.
2 moves backward and stops.

When the main shaft 12 once returns to the retracted position X, the cone 11a is removed from the cone mounting member 29, and the cone 11b for secondary processing is mounted. As shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 6, the cone 11b is provided with a conical processing surface 33 having an apex angle of 140 °. After mounting the cone 11b, the motor 3 is driven again. When the main shaft 12 moves forward, the conical processing surface 33 of the cone 11b comes into contact with the inner diameter of the end portion of the pipe 13 which is expanded to 40 °. When the main shaft 12 further advances, the conical working surface 33 eventually causes the pipe 1 to move, as shown in FIG.
The end of 3 is expanded 90 ° to form a flange 56.

When the end portion of the pipe 13 is expanded to 90 °, the secondary processing is completed, and the detection unit 24 is moved to the proximity switch 23.
It faces c. At this time, the cone processing surface 3 of the cone 11b
3 is in contact with the flange 56 and the pipe holder 55, and the main shaft 12 cannot advance any further, and the movement in the axial direction is restricted. When the drive of the motor 3 is continued in this state, the main shaft 12 rotates but its forward movement is blocked, so the nut member 37 tends to move in the axial direction as the male screw portion 34 rotates. Nut member 37
When the moving force in the axial direction of exceeds the pressing force of the spring 48, the nut member 37 moves in the axial direction (rightward in FIG. 1) against the urging force of the spring 48. At this time, the main shaft 12 rotates with the cone 11b pressed against the flange 56. That is, the cone 11b runs idle to finish the flange 56.

On the other hand, on the control device side, the proximity switch 23
After receiving the signal from c, based on the signal from the rotation sensor,
Number of rotations of the output shaft 15 after receiving the signal (= main shaft 1
2) is calculated. In this case, the gap 47 is set to a dimension that becomes 0 when the main shaft 12 rotates 15 times, for example.
The drive of the motor 3 is continued until the 2 turns 10 times. That is, the finishing process is automatically performed for 10 rotations under the control of the control device. Then, after receiving the signal from the proximity switch 23c, the motor 3 is stopped and rotated in the reverse direction when the main shaft 12 rotates 10 times.

When the main shaft 12 is rotated in the reverse direction, the nut member 37 moves leftward in FIG. 1 due to the pressing force of the spring 48, and returns to the position where it abuts against the head portion 43 of the guide member 42. After stopping the nut member 37, the main shaft 12 retracts along with its rotation, and the detection unit 24 returns to a position facing the proximity switch 23a. As a result, a series of processes including the finishing process is completed, and the pipe 13 on which the flange 56 is formed is removed from the pipe support device 6.

As described above, in the device 1, the pipe 13
When the end of the main shaft 12 is expanded to 90 ° and the movement of the main shaft 12 in the axial direction is restricted, the nut member 37 moves in the axial direction against the urging force of the spring 48. This allows
The main shaft 12 rotates while the cone 11b is pressed against the flange 56, so that the pipe 13 having the flange 56 can be finished. That is, although it is an all-electric drive device that feeds and rotates the main shaft 12 by a motor, it is possible to perform finishing processing without imposing a load on the motor. Therefore, a hydraulic pump and a hydraulic circuit are not required, the size and cost of the device can be reduced, and the device for processing a small-diameter pipe can be downsized according to the pipe diameter.

It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the apparatus 1 can process not only stainless steel pipes but also various steel pipes such as carbon steel pipes and pipes made of non-ferrous metal such as copper and copper alloys. The diameter of the pipe to be processed is also 2
It is not limited to about 0 mm to 60 mm, less than 20 mm or 60 mm
It can also be applied to pipes with an outside diameter of more than. Further, the size of the gap 47 (10 mm) and the distance between the retracted position X and the advanced position Y (60 mm) are not limited to the above-mentioned numerical values. In addition, it goes without saying that the number of revolutions (10 revolutions) of the main shaft 12 in the finishing process is an example, and the number of revolutions in the finishing process is not limited to this.

On the other hand, in the above-described embodiment, the guide member 4
Although the example in which 2 is fixed to the spring holder 38 is shown, it is possible to omit the spring holder 38 by fixing the guide member 42 to the housing 26 and receiving the spring 48 at the end of the housing 26.

[0031]

According to the pipe flange forming apparatus of the present invention, the main shaft driven by the electric motor is provided with the male screw portion, and the nut member having the female screw portion screwed with the male screw portion is axially used as the spring. And the guide member supports the nut member so that it can move in the axial direction while preventing the nut member from rotating.When the axial movement of the main shaft is restricted, the nut member pushes the spring as the motor rotates. Since it is allowed to move in the axial direction against the pressure, when the end of the pipe is expanded and the axial movement of the main shaft is restricted, the nut member resists the biasing force of the spring. Move in the axial direction. As a result, the main shaft can rotate while the molding member is being pressed against the end of the pipe, and the pipe having the flange can be finished. Therefore, in a pipe flange forming device driven by an electric motor, it is possible to perform finishing, and there is no need for a hydraulic pump or hydraulic circuit, which is required in conventional hydraulic drive devices, and the size and cost of the device can be reduced. To be

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a partial cross section showing the configuration of a pipe flange forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a front view of the pipe flange forming apparatus of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a cross section of a part of a main shaft.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a nut member.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a flange forming process.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Pipe flange forming equipment 2 bases 3 motor (electric motor) 4 Bearing device 5 Molding device body 6 Pipe support device 11 cones 11a Cone for primary molding 11b Cone for secondary molding 12 Main shaft 13 pipes 14 Reduction mechanism 15 Output shaft 16 keys 17 Flange member 18 volt 19 Flange member 21 key 22a, 22b bearings 23a-23c Proximity switch 24 Detector 25 head 25a end face 26 Housing 27 bearings 28 Cone mount 29 Cone mounting member 31 radial bearing 32 thrust bearing 33 Conical surface 34 Male thread 35 drive shaft 36 keyway 37 Nut member 38 Spring holder 39 Female thread 41 Guide groove 42 Guide member 43 head 44 Guide pin part 45 Mounting thread 46 screw holes 47 Gap 48 springs 49 Bottom wall 51 insertion hole 52 Flange 53 volts 54 Support 55 Pipe holder 56 flange X retracted position Y Forward position

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A pipe flange forming apparatus for forming a radially extending flange on a metal pipe end, the forming member contacting the pipe end and expanding the pipe end in the radial direction. A main shaft having a drive shaft having the molded member attached to one end side and a male screw portion formed on the outer periphery at the other end side; and an electric motor connected to the drive shaft to drive the main shaft to rotate. A nut member that has a female screw portion that is screwed into the male screw portion of the shaft, and the positional relationship in the axial direction relative to the drive shaft changes relative to the rotation of the main shaft; A spring for pressing the nut member in the axial direction, a spring holding member for supporting the other end of the spring, and a support for movably in the axial direction while preventing the nut member from rotating, Note that when the movement of the main shaft in the axial direction is restricted, the nut member has a guide member that allows the nut member to move in the axial direction against the pressing force of the spring as the motor rotates. Pipe flange forming equipment. 2. The pipe flange forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide member is fixed to the spring holding member. 3. The pipe flange forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the main shaft is housed in a housing so as to be movable back and forth along an axial direction, and the spring holding member is fixed to the housing. Pipe flange forming equipment. 4. The pipe flange forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising sensor means for detecting an axial movement amount of the main shaft. apparatus.