RU2431536C2 - Metal bar accumulation and feed device - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: process engineering.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to machine building and may be used for producing mesh reinforcement. Proposed device may be coupled with metal bar automatic machine tool and comprises at least receiving appliances to extract one or several metal bars from cutting unit and transfer unit with at least one rack arranged between said cutting unit and automatic machine tool. Said transfer unit is equipped with set of independent retainers to accumulated said metal bars. Said retainers comprise multiple independent retaining shafts arranged in fact parallel with each other and displaced in parallel planes to form vertical parallel lines. Every retaining shaft has multiple thrust ribs running radially from shaft to make clearance between them to receive metal bars.

EFFECT: higher efficiency.

9 cl, 9 dwg

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a storage and feeding device for metal rods configured to be used in conjunction with an automatic machine, for example, for the manufacture of reinforcing metal meshes. More precisely, the invention allows to create a dynamic accumulated stock of a certain amount of metal rods so that they can be first accumulated in a certain amount and then fed to the corresponding automatic machine, essentially eliminating possible equipment downtime while waiting for loading and increasing the productivity of the machine itself.

State of the art

Automatic machines are known which place and mutually weld a plurality of transverse metal bars with corresponding longitudinal metal bars in order to produce an ordered, for example, metal reinforcing mesh, or other type of product for the construction industry.

In the above-mentioned automatic machines, while the transverse rods are usually fed continuously from the rolls and cut to size just before welding, it is usually provided that the longitudinal rods, in contrast, are cut to size in advance, and picked up in each case when they need to be placed at a distance from each other away from each other, and sent simultaneously to the automatic machine.

An example of known feed devices for longitudinal bars in this type of machine is disclosed in EP-A-1110642 and in US-A-4328409.

However, devices that perform cutting and spacing operations on separate longitudinal bars very often have downtime and operating frequencies that differ from those of automatic machines for which longitudinal bars are intended.

This disadvantage entails, firstly, keeping the machine inoperative, at least for the time necessary to cut off a sufficient number of rods and placing them at a distance from each other, and, secondly, stopping the cutting devices to ensure that all longitudinal bars are fed to the automatic machine.

An additional simple machine-tool and cutting elements obviously entails a significant reduction in the performance of individual functioning parts.

Also known are storage devices or storage spaces located between the cutting elements and the automatic machine, which usually provide one or more places for storing pre-cut rods and a plurality of receiving elements, for example with a chain or screw, which take pre-cut rods from the place for storage to position them at a distance from each other on the supply surface of the machine.

However, the known feeding devices allow only hard pre-loaded and pre-cut bars to be started for processing, i.e. without the ability to change in each case the speed and / or frequency of their accumulation, and, thus, then the feed, to compensate for possible differences in the times and frequencies of operation between the cutting elements and the automatic machine, or a temporary lack of supply of rods.

In addition, the known devices are adapted essentially to a certain method, according to the diameter of the supplied rods, so that each time it was necessary to feed a number of rods with different diameters to the automatic machine, labor-intensive steps are necessary to equip and prepare the device.

The purpose of the present invention is to thus provide a device for the accumulation and supply of metal rods, which will minimize downtime and equip the existing machine, essentially without interruption, regardless of differences in the times and frequencies of operation of the machine and the elements that cut the rods, or temporarily interrupt the feed.

The applicant has developed, tested and implemented the present invention to eliminate the disadvantages of the existing prior art and to obtain these and other goals and advantages.

Disclosure of invention

The present invention is formulated and the differences are described in the main claim, while the dependent claims describe other differences of the invention or variants of the main idea of the invention.

In accordance with the aforementioned goal, the storage and supply device for metal rods according to the present invention is configured to connect to any automatic machine, for example for the manufacture of metal reinforcing meshes, and contains at least receiving means configured to extract one or more metal rods from a cutting unit, in which metal rods are pre-cut to the desired length.

According to one difference of the present invention, the device also comprises a transfer unit provided with at least one rack located in an intermediate position between the cutting unit and the automatic machine, and provided with a plurality of holding elements kinematically independent from each other and configured to transmit in each the case of one or more metal rods from the cutting unit to the automatic machine, while the dynamic-type accumulative reserve for metal rods is practically ensured.

According to the present invention, the kinematic independence of the holding elements of the rack allows you to selectively change in each case and, according to certain operational requirements, the times and frequency of movement of the rods from the entrance to the exit from the rack.

In fact, the holding elements can be moved independently at different speeds and at different times so as to increase and / or reduce the transfer speed of individual rods in a segment that is guided from the cutting unit to the automatic machine, and can thus accumulate rods so as to pre-form armfuls or bundles formed by the desired number of said rods, in accordance with the type of work to be performed by the automatic machine, and therefore will supply the latter, essentially in continuously.

In one embodiment, the transfer unit also comprises a moving surface located downstream of the rack and on which metal rods emerging from the rack are spaced apart from each other before they are finally fed to the automatic machine.

According to a preferred embodiment, at least two independent rows of positioning means are provided on the moving surface, which prepare metal rods located at a desired distance from each other for feeding to the machine.

The presence of at least two rows of positioning means allows you to prepare the first set of bars that will be immediately fed to the machine, and at least one second set of bars that will be prepared for delivery to the machine as soon as the first set of bars is issued.

Thus, it is possible to further free up time and operating frequencies of the automatic machine relative to the time for receiving and preparing the rods.

In addition, since the rack according to the invention is adapted to assemble the desired sets of rods and then distribute them on the moving surface on different positioning means, it is possible, although by intermittently removing the rods from the cutting unit, to feed the rods essentially continuously machine.

According to a preferred embodiment, the rack has a substantially vertical arrangement and comprises a plurality of retaining shafts located one above the other, which are kinematically independent of each other and substantially parallel to each other, and are alternately offset in two substantially vertical parallel planes to form two essentially vertical parallel rows. A plurality of support ribs are provided on each shaft, which extend radially from the shaft and form grooves between themselves to accommodate metal rods. Advantageously, the grooves can accommodate rods of substantially any diameter.

This advantage allows you to change the type of metal bars without the need for any specific conversion of the device.

By inserting the first metal rod from above between two rows of shafts and parallel to them, the rod is placed in the corresponding groove of the first shaft and, thus, rests on the corresponding support rib.

By forcing the first shaft to rotate a certain angle, the first bar is forced to fall lower on the supporting ribs of the second shaft, and a new accommodating groove appears, free to accommodate the second bar on the ribs of the first shaft. Then, by coordinated rotation of the first and second shafts, the first bar is forced to fall on the ribs of the third shaft and the second bar on the ribs of the second shaft, and so on, until the ribs of each shaft hold the metal bar.

Advantageously, at the respective ends of each of the shafts, independent locking devices are provided, for example with a mechanical or hydrodynamic brake, and independent rotary devices in order to coordinate the rotation of each individual shaft, and therefore the fall of the rods from the edges of the shafts located above the shafts located below .

Brief Description of the Drawings

These and other differences of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment given as a non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 - schematic view of the location of the machine for the manufacture of metal reinforcing mesh, which is connected to the storage device and feed according to the present invention;

Figure 2 depicts a side view of the storage device and feed in figure 1;

Figure 3 is a three-dimensional image of the first part of the storage and supply device of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an enlarged image of the first surface of the storage and supply device of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is an enlarged image of the second surface of the storage and supply device of Figure 1;

6 is a section from VI to VI in figure 2;

Figures 7, 8 and 9 are a schematic view of a series of sequential actions of the storage and supply device of Figure 1.

The implementation of the invention

With reference to the attached drawings, the accumulation and supply device 10 is made according to the present invention in order to first accumulate and then feed a plurality of pre-cut metal bars 11 to the automatic machine 13 shown only schematically in FIG. 1, for example, a machine for manufacturing metal reinforcing meshes 111 by welding the rods 11, which in this case are longitudinal rods, to the respective transverse rods 11a, or to another similar or comparable machine.

More precisely, the storage and supply device 10, according to the invention, is adapted to receive the rods 11 directly from two cutting units 15, configured to cut the rods 11 of a given length, and to supply the cut rods 11 to the automatic machine 13.

The device 10 contains, from top to bottom (FIGS. 2 and 3), a receiving element 16 located in cooperation with the cutting nodes 15, and a transfer device 40, which allows you to transfer the cut rods 11 from the cutting nodes 15 to the machine, in the same time reaching dynamic accumulation and loading stock.

In this case, the transfer device 40 comprises a rack 12 having a substantially vertical arrangement, inside which a receiving element 16 accommodates each rod 11 exiting the cutting unit 15, and a supporting surface 17 that is substantially horizontal and provided with means of installation in a predetermined position , in this case, consisting of two rows of installation chains 30 connected to the base 27.

Two cutting nodes 15 are located above the receiving element 16 of the rack 12, and both are essentially of a known type, and therefore will not be described in detail here.

The receiving element 16 comprises a pair of receiving chains 19 located opposite and rotating in opposite directions, which continue in a direction substantially transverse to the arrangement of the rods 11.

Each receiving chain 19 is located lower relative to the cutting unit 15 and is provided with receiving teeth 20 (Figs. 4, 5 and 6) so as to transfer the rods 11 to the central loading area 14 of the rack 12, or to the corresponding side zones 18, to reject the rods 11.

Advantageously, two cutting units 15 alternately issue pre-cut rods 11 to the respective receiving chains 19 so as to increase the feed frequency of the rack 12 by means of the receiving element 16.

In cooperation with the loading zone 14 along the length of the rack 12 there are many stabilizing stops 24 of an inclined type, which damp out possible vibrations and impacts of the rods 11 as soon as they are issued by the receiving element 16, and thus ensure the correct arrangement of the rods 11 in the subsequent processing stages.

The rack 12 in this case comprises a plurality of holding shafts 21 mounted kinematically independently of each other.

More specifically, the holding shafts 21 are arranged substantially vertically and parallel to each other and are alternately offset on two substantially vertical parallel planes to form two parallel and vertical rows of holding shafts 21.

Each holding shaft 21 contains a plurality of star-shaped elements (Fig. 6) located along its length at a predetermined distance, each of which has a plurality of support ribs 23 that extend radially and form corresponding accommodating grooves 25 between them. Support ribs 23 and accommodating grooves 25 are sized and configured to, for example, support and accommodate at least one rod 11 of substantially any diameter, for example between about 4 mm and about 20 mm.

Each holding shaft 21 also contains at one end (FIG. 4) a corresponding locking protrusion 26, shaped in accordance with the number of supporting ribs 23 and accommodating grooves 25 of the star-shaped elements 22 and configured to interact with the corresponding locking actuator 29, in this case pneumatic type, which is made with the possibility of interaction in the transverse radial direction with the locking protrusion 26 to prevent rotation relative to the holding shaft 21.

At the other end of each holding shaft 21 (FIG. 5), a corresponding pivot protrusion 36 is mounted, made essentially equivalent to the corresponding locking protrusion 26, but oriented with an angular offset of half a step relative to the latter. Each pivot ledge 36 interacts with a corresponding pivot drive 39, in this case pneumatic, moved vertically by means of a corresponding moving element 37 and configured to interact across both the radial direction and the tangential direction with the pivot ledge 36 to effect rotation of the corresponding holding shaft 21.

Below the holding shafts 21, the rack 12 also contains a plurality of moving screws 31, which are oriented across the holding shafts 21 and allow the rods 11, issued by the last holding shaft 21, to move onto the supporting surface 17.

In this case, the supporting surface 17 comprises a table 38 (FIGS. 1 and 2), on which two rows of guide chains 30 are provided, in this case arranged essentially in pairs and oriented orthogonally to the extent of the supporting surface 17 to form two sets of rods 11 placed at the desired distance and essentially parallel to each other according to the technical requirements of the design of the metal mesh.

A plurality of respective support profiles 32 protruding from the support surface 17 are connected to the guide chains 30 and form and move each set of rods 11 along the support surface 17.

Each row of guide chains 30 is independently connected to respective gears, respectively, a drive 33 and a follower 35, of a substantially known type and not described in detail here. Also, in a substantially known manner, in order to coordinate the movement of two rows of guide chains 30, each pinion gear 33 is attached to a respective drive shaft 34, which in turn is driven by its own drive element.

The base 27 also supports, from the side of the automatic machine 13, a pulling device with shafts 28, which enables the prepared sets of rods 11 to be transferred sequentially to the automatic machine 13, where they will usually be welded to the transverse rods 11a to form the desired reinforcing metal mesh 111.

The storage and supply device 10, as described above, operates as follows.

When it is necessary to feed a certain number of rods 11 to the automatic machine 13 to form a metal mesh 111, the rods 11 are preliminarily cut to size by means of a cutting unit 15 and loaded through the loading area 14 into the rack 12 by means of receiving chains 16. The rods 11 thus fed initially capture stabilizing stops 24, after which the stabilizing stops 24 are tilted to allow the rods 11 to fall between two vertical rows of holding shafts 21.

Thus, by inserting the first rod 11 between two rows of shafts 21 and parallel to them, the rod 11 is placed in the accommodating grooves 25 of the star-shaped elements 22 of the first shaft 21, thus relying on the corresponding support ribs 23.

After such placement and at a predetermined consecutive time, the corresponding locking actuator 29 is released from the corresponding locking protrusion 26, and the corresponding rotary actuator 39 is started, driving the controlled rotation of the first holding shaft 21 by a predetermined angle.

The longitudinal bar 11 is thus placed on the supporting ribs 23 of the second shaft 21 located under the first and placed on an adjacent row.

As a result of the controlled rotation of the first holding shaft 21 by a predetermined angle, when the first bar 11 is supported by the supporting ribs 23 of the second shaft 21, the first shaft 21 provides a new free accommodating groove 25 for the loading area 14 so as to place the second bar 11 on its supporting ribs 23 .

In the same sequence as described above, the locking actuators 29 of the first two holding shafts 21 are released and the actuators 39 are relatively coordinated to rotate in order to provide a controlled rotation of both the first and second shaft 21, thereby causing the first the rod 11 falls on the supporting ribs 23 of the third shaft 21, and the second rod 11 falls on the supporting ribs of the second shaft 21.

These rotations and locking actions are selectively repeated in each case and independently for each individual holding shaft 21 until the supporting ribs 23 of each shaft 21 hold the corresponding rod 11.

For example, as shown schematically sequentially in Figs. 7, 8 and 9, when it is necessary to apply to the automatic machine 13 a set consisting of six rods 11, and when there are initially only two rods 11 on the last two shafts 21, the latter are kept constant angle, while the other shafts 21 of the rack 12 are individually and selectively actuated until they reach the final location of these six rods 11 on the last six shafts 21 of the rack 12.

With the present invention, in this way, only those holding shafts 21 can be selectively rotated, which are actually necessary in order to compensate for a possible shortage or equalize different operating times between different mechanical elements, until the rack 12 is filled in the desired manner.

As soon as the desired filling of the rack 12 has been achieved, dynamic accumulation and supply have been made, which make it possible to substantially continuously supply the support surface 17 and, therefore, substantially continuously of the automatic machine 13, irrespective of the speed of the receiving element 16 and the cutting cutting frequency elements 15.

As soon as the last holding shaft 21 issues the corresponding bar 11, the screw 31 transfers the aforementioned bar 11 to the first support profile 32 of the first guide chain 30.

Advantageously, the screw 31 also guides the rods 11 in a substantially known manner.

The first chain 30 is then advanced one step, in accordance with the distance that should be between the rods 11, and the last holding shaft 21 gives out the second bar 11, and so on, until a set consisting of the desired quantity is formed, in this case from six, rods 11.

The first chain 30 transfers the formed set perpendicular to the axis of the rods 11 to the pulling device with shafts 28, and then, from here, to the automatic machine 13.

At the same time, the last holding shaft 21 gives the other rods 11 to the second chain 30 to make up the second set and, therefore, to form another dynamic margin for supply to the automatic machine 13.

This solution provides greater independence between the movement of the receiving element 16 and the movement of the supply of rods 11 to the machine 13.

However, it is obvious that modifications and / or additions of parts to the storage and supply device 10 as described above can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

For example, in the framework of the present invention, it is possible to provide, instead of two rows of arrangement of chains 30, two or more rows of any other known transfer mechanism, such as, for example, a step-by-step movement mechanism, with drives, vibration, cascade or others, suitable to provide the formation of various sets of rods eleven.

In other equivalent solutions, instead of the receiving circuits 19, the receiving element 16 may be equipped with magnetic loading devices or gripping devices, a manipulator, rolls or other mechanism of a known type and suitable for this purpose.

It is also within the scope of the present invention that at least one supply of pre-cut bars 11 can be provided between the cutting units 15 and the receiving element 16.

In another embodiment, more than two cutting units 15 may even be provided.

According to another embodiment, the transfer unit 40 may provide two or more racks 12 located on one side or on opposite sides relative to the supporting surface 17.

It is also obvious that, although the present invention has been described with reference to specific examples, a qualified specialist in this field will be able to implement many other equivalent versions of the storage and supply device for metal bars, having differences in the claims and, therefore, all within the scope protection of the invention thus defined.

Claims (9)

1. A device for the accumulation and supply of metal rods (11), made with the possibility of connection with an automatic machine (13) for processing said metal rods, said device comprising at least receiving means (16) configured to simultaneously extract one or more metal rods (11) from a cutting unit (15), wherein said metal rods (11) are preliminarily cut to a desired length, and it also comprises a transfer unit (40) containing sequentially arranged at least one rack (12) located in an intermediate position between said cutting unit (15) and an automatic machine (13) and provided with a plurality of holding elements (21, 22) kinematically independent of each other and made with the possibility of transfer in each case one or more of said metal rods (11) from said cutting unit (15) to said automatic machine (13) while providing an active reserve for accumulating said metal rods (11), characterized in that said holding electrodes cops contain many holding shafts (21), kinematically independent of each other, located essentially parallel to each other and alternately offset in two essentially vertical parallel planes with the formation of two essentially vertical parallel rows, with each of which The holding shaft (21) has a plurality of support ribs extending radially from the shaft and forming corresponding grooves (25) between them to accommodate the said metal rods (11). 2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that said transfer unit (40) is further provided with a supporting surface (17) located downstream of said rack (12), and on which said metal rods (11) are located before they will be finally fed to the said automatic machine (13). 3. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that each of the said retaining shafts (21) is connected at one end to a locking assembly (26, 29), and at the other end to a rotating assembly (36, 39) adapted to coordinate interaction to ensure rotation of the corresponding holding shaft (21) with a given frequency and a given angle. 4. The device according to claim 3, characterized in that said locking assembly comprises at least a locking actuator (29) mounted on said rack (12) and configured to selectively interact with an associated locking protrusion (26) mounted on end of corresponding holding shaft (21). 5. The device according to claim 3, characterized in that said rotary assembly comprises at least a rotary drive (29) mounted on said rack (12) and configured to selectively rotate an associated rotary protrusion (26) mounted on an end corresponding holding shaft (21). 6. A device according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that said abutment surface (17) comprises a base (27) with which at least two independent rows of positioning means (30) are located, arranged essentially in the orthogonal direction to the length of the supporting surface and configured to form the respective sets of the said metal bars (11), essentially parallel and located at a distance from each other. 7. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that each of the said rows of positioning means comprises a plurality of chains (30). 8. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that said transfer unit (40) is further provided with a plurality of stabilizing means (24) located immediately in front of said holding elements (21, 22) and configured to dampen possible vibrations and impacts of said metal rods (11). 9. A device according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that said transfer unit (40) is further provided with screw means (31) oriented across said metal rods (11) and configured to direct said metal rods (11), issued by said holding elements (21, 22) to said abutment surface (17).

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