JPH0647472A - Method and device for forming ring for steering wheel core metal using metallic pipe of coil material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To manufacture rings having different diameters of wheels respectively in an in-line by reducing diameters of ring forming materials whose end faces are opposed each other by a definite ratio and welding both end faces. CONSTITUTION:The bending peculiarity of a metallic pipe pulled out from a drum supported by an uncoiler 1 is corrected by a leveler 2. While the corrected metallic pipe is formed with a specific curvature by a bending device 3, the running length of the pipe on its traveling way is measured and the pipe is cut by a specific length with a cutting device 4. Thus, ring forming materials having a specific curvature are continuously formed and the diameters of materials whose end faces are opposed each other are reduced by a definite ratio with a diameter reducing device 7. Both end faces of ring forming materials having reduced diameters are connected by welding with a welding device 9. Thus, the versatility of one forging press is extremely enlarged.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for forming a core metal of a steering wheel used in a vehicle or the like or a similar product.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when molding a ring body from a metal pipe, the metal pipe wound around a drum is guided to a leveler, and a number of rollers are brought into contact with the leveler to remove the curling habit. A ring-forming material is formed by shaping the metal pipe into a tubular body, adjusting the diameter of the shaped metal pipe to a predetermined diameter with a bending device, forming a coil body, and cutting one part of the coil body along the axis of the coil. After the twist of the ring-forming material was manually corrected, the end faces of the ring-forming material were welded together to form a torus, so the content could not be produced without human intervention. It was

[0003]

Since the conventional system for molding a ring from a metal pipe is formed only by a bending device, in order to obtain a desired shape,
Adjustments were necessary when changing the material and ring diameter, and we had to deal with rod production with a constant diameter. For this reason,
There was a problem that production that was consistent with the actual usage could not be performed. For this reason, there is a problem that wasteful inventory may be held or necessary product inventory may be insufficient, which not only complicates inventory management but also affects production efficiency.

Further, when an annular body formed of a metal pipe is used as a core metal of a steering wheel, the steering wheel has different wheel diameters depending on the vehicle model even if the vehicles are made by the same manufacturer. It is necessary to prepare several kinds of steering wheels with different wheel diameters. On the other hand, even cars that flow through the automobile assembly line have come to flow randomly with slightly different specifications according to the variety of user preferences. Therefore, in the case of forming the core metal of the steering wheel, there is a problem that the above-mentioned problems occur more remarkably. The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for individually manufacturing in-line rings for steering wheel cores having different wheel diameters.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention corrects the bending tendency of a metal pipe drawn from a drum with a leveler, and then bends the metal pipe to a predetermined curvature with a bending device. At the same time, the running length of the pipe being conveyed is measured and cut into a predetermined length with a cutting device, ring-forming materials having a predetermined curvature are individually and continuously formed, and the end faces of the ring-forming materials are opposed to each other. In this state, the diameter is reduced by a certain ratio by a diameter reducing device, and the end faces of the ring forming material subjected to the diameter reducing process are connected by welding.

[0006]

In the present invention, the bending tendency of the metal pipe drawn out from the drum is corrected by a leveler, and then the metal pipe is curved to a predetermined curvature by a bending device.
Since the running length of the pipe being conveyed is measured and cut into a predetermined length by a cutting device, and ring forming materials having a predetermined curvature are individually and continuously formed, the rings with different circumferences are controlled by the circumference control. Since the forming materials can be formed individually, it is possible to cope with the random production of ring forming materials having different circumferential lengths, which are various kinds of rings.

Further, according to the present invention, each ring forming material is reduced in diameter by a constant ratio by a diameter reducing device in a state where the end faces are opposed to each other, and the end faces of the ring forming material subjected to this diameter reduction are connected by welding. Because of this, the diameter reduction process makes it possible to form the ring-forming material in a perfect circle by forming a constant gap between the end faces of the ring-forming material with different circumferences, and to even out the internal stress. You will be able to.

[0008]

The drawings show an example of an apparatus for carrying out the invention,
FIG. 1 is a schematic layout of a steering wheel core metal production line. This steering wheel core metal production line includes an uncoiler (1) that supports a drum around which a metal pipe that is a core metal of a steering wheel is supported, and a leveler that removes the curl of the metal pipe derived from the uncoiler (1). (2), the bending device (3) arranged on the downstream side of the leveler (2) in the conveying direction, the cutting device (4) incorporated in the bending device (3), and the cutting device (4) A seam positioning device (5) for detecting the cutting position of the ring forming material and positioning it at a predetermined phase, and this seam positioning device
A twist straightening device (6) which corrects the twist of the ring forming material arranged on the downstream side of the conveyance direction of (5), and a diameter reducing device (7) which reduces the diameter of the ring forming material having the twist corrected to make a perfect circle. , A second seam positioning device (8) for detecting the seam position of the reduced ring forming material and positioning it in a predetermined phase, and welding for welding the seam portion of the ring forming material whose seam position is in a predetermined phase The device (9) and the product unloading device (11) for distributing the welded ring body to the product stock cart (10) are arranged in order along the transfer line. And the code (12)
Is a control panel for controlling the drive of each of these devices.

The levelers (2) are a plurality of pairs of rollers arranged to face each other.
The metal pipe running between (R) removes the curl of the metal pipe unwound from the drum. Here, the bending device for the straight metal pipe is a bending device (3). It is configured to be continuously supplied to.

As shown in FIG. 2, the bending device (3) comprises a pair of bending rollers (13) (14) having different diameters.
And the metal pipe (15) on this bending roller (13) (14)
Guide roller (16) for guiding the
(13) Displacement roller (17) that displaces the metal pipe (16) derived from (14) in the direction along the axis of the bending roller shaft.
The metal pipe (15) is formed into a coil by the displacement of the displacement roller (17) in the direction along the axis.

Displacement roller (1) of this bending device (3)
A cutting device (4) is arranged downstream of the moving direction (7). This cutting device (4) is a length measuring means (1) such as a rotary encoder arranged corresponding to the traveling path of the metal pipe (15).
It operates based on the running length of the metal pipe measured in 8). That is, when the running length of the metal pipe measured by the length measuring means (18) reaches a preset length, the cutting device (4) is operated to cut the metal pipe to a predetermined length. As a result, the ring forming material defined by the circumferential length is individually formed.

The ring-forming material formed on the coil pieces of a predetermined length by the cutting device (4) is positioned by the seam positioning device (5) at the non-connection point in a predetermined phase, and then the twist correction device ( In 6), the twist of the coil piece is corrected so that the end faces are located in the same plane. The twist-corrected ring forming material is supplied to the diameter reducing device (7).

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the diameter reducing device (7) is movable up and down with a semi-circular mold (20) respectively supported by a pair of upper and lower elevating stages (19) moving in and out. A ring forming material support base (21) is provided, and the ring forming material support base (21) supports the ring forming material with the twist corrected in a state where both ends thereof are positioned on the support base, and the lifting stage ( 19), the ring forming material is moved from the outer periphery to the mold (20) while the end faces of the ring forming material are in contact with each other.
The ring-forming material is reduced in diameter by being pressed with.

As described above, when the ring forming material is pressed from the outer periphery with the mold (20) to reduce the diameter while the end faces of the ring forming material are in contact with each other, the outer diameter is restricted by the mold (20). Therefore, the shape can be formed into a perfect circle, and the inner stress of the ring-forming material can be made uniform by pinching from the outer periphery with the end faces in contact with each other, and post treatment It is possible to eliminate the distortion caused by welding. When the ring-forming material is removed from the mold (20) after the diameter-reducing treatment, the ring-forming material is separated by springback from its end faces, but the ring-forming material is made uniform in internal stress by the diameter-reducing treatment. Since the distance between the end faces is constant, the welding work in the post-treatment process becomes easier.

The mold (20) of the diameter reducing device (7) is provided with a plurality of holding grooves (22) formed with different curvatures according to the diameter of the steering wheel to be manufactured, and supports the ring forming material. The table (21) is also provided with a plurality of holding grooves (22) formed with different curvatures according to the diameter of the steering wheel to be manufactured. When the ring-forming material support base (21) is supported with both ends of the ring-forming material positioned to perform the diameter-reducing process, the end faces of the ring-forming material do not cross each other during the diameter-reducing process, and the end faces are Can be correctly abutted.

The ring forming material subjected to the diameter reduction is a diameter reducing device.
It is taken out from (7), aligned by the second seam positioning device (8) so that the end face parts are located in a predetermined direction, and supplied to the welding device (9), where the end face parts are welded and joined. To form a ring body. Then, the ring body with the end faces welded together is stored in the product stock cart (10) by the product unloading device (11) by size.

The steering wheel ring production line is constructed so as to be operated in response to a command from the control device (12), and the cutting device (4) can be operated by inputting the production size to the control device (12). ) Cutting length, diameter reduction device
(7) and welding device (9) feeding amount, product unloading device (11)
The transporting point of the product ring taken out in step 6 is automatically adjusted. In addition, the ring body housed in the product stock cart (10) dispenses the required ring by an external signal, and the external signal is input to the control device to automatically dispense the ring body of the dispensed size. I try to produce it.

[0018]

According to the present invention, the bending habit of the metal pipe drawn out from the drum is corrected by a leveler, and then the metal pipe is bent to a predetermined curvature by a bending device, and the running length of the pipe during conveyance is improved. Since the ring forming material having a predetermined curvature is individually and continuously formed by measuring and cutting to a predetermined length with a cutting device, it is possible to individually form ring forming materials having different circumferences by controlling the circumference. As a result, it is possible to manufacture ring forming materials having different circumferences in a required amount when needed.

Further, in the present invention, each ring forming material is reduced in diameter by a constant ratio by a diameter reducing device in a state where the end faces are opposed to each other, and the end faces of the ring forming material subjected to this diameter reduction are connected by welding. Because of this, the diameter reduction process makes it possible to form the ring-forming material in a perfect circle by forming a constant gap between the end faces of the ring-forming material with different circumferences, and to even out the internal stress. can do.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic layout diagram of a steering wheel core metal manufacturing line.

FIG. 2 is a schematic drawing of a main part of a bending device.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a diameter reducing device.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional side view of a main part of the diameter reducing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Leveler, 3 ... Bending device, 4 ... Cutting device, 7 ... Diameter reducing device, 9 ... Welding device, 15 ... Metal pipe, 18 ... Length measuring tool.

Front Page Continuation (71) Applicant 592178602 Shiga Koki Co., Ltd. 13-297 Shimizuyama, Akebama, Arimatsu-cho, Midori-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi Prefecture (72) Inventor, Lighting Kawakami 2-8-7, Minejima, Nishiyodogawa-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Fuji Machine Works Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masaaki Shimotsuma 11-29, Osu, Naka-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture Iwatani Sangyo Co., Ltd.Nagoya branch office (72) Inventor Kaoru Ogawa 229-152, Oiomachi, Yokkaichi-shi, Mie (72 ) Inventor Masamichi Sumitomo 13 Shimizu Koki Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A ring for a steering wheel core metal is formed by bending a metal pipe wound around a drum to a predetermined diameter to form a ring forming material and welding both ends of the ring forming material. In this method, the bending habit of the metal pipe pulled out from the drum is corrected with a leveler, and the bending-corrected metal pipe is bent into a predetermined curvature with a bending device, and the running length of the pipe during transportation is adjusted. By measuring and cutting to a predetermined length with a cutting device, a ring-forming material having a predetermined curvature is continuously formed, and the ring-forming material in a state where the end faces are opposed to each other is reduced in a certain ratio by a diameter reducing device. A ring molding method for a steering wheel core metal, characterized in that the end faces of the ring-forming material subjected to the diameter reduction treatment are connected by welding. 2. A metal pipe (15) wound around a drum.
In a device for forming a ring forming material by curving a ring to a predetermined diameter and welding both ends of this ring forming material to form a ring of a steering wheel core metal, a leveler (2) apparatus
(3), cutting device (4), diameter reducing device (7), welding device (9) are arranged in this order, and the running length of the incoming metal pipe between the outlet of the leveler (2) and the cutting device (4) A measuring tool (18) for measuring the distance is placed, and the cutting device is detected based on the running length detected by this measuring tool (18)
The ring forming material having a predetermined curvature is individually formed by activating (4), and the ring forming material having the predetermined curvature is reduced in diameter by a certain ratio by the diameter reducing device (7), and the ring subjected to the diameter reduction treatment. A ring molding device for a steering wheel core metal, characterized in that both ends of the forming material are welded by a welding device (9).