RU2440207C2 - Method of feeding bars to machine tool and device to this end - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: process engineering. ^ SUBSTANCE: invention relates to machine building, namely, to feeding bars to machine tool incorporating at least of drawing assembly. Feed device comprises first and second magnetic appliances, and collector assembly. First magnetic appliance separates at least one end segment from bundle of bars and arranging said segment in plane spaced from said bundle. Second magnetic appliance grips at least one bar from multiple bars to unload it at required position. Collector assembly receives required amount of bars from second magnetic appliance and feed them to machine tool, drawing assembly. ^ EFFECT: higher efficiency of bars feed. ^ 15 cl, 7 dwg

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method for supplying rods to a machine tool and to a corresponding feeding device.

The machine to which the invention relates is preferably a clamp making machine, a bending machine, a cross-planer, a strapping machine, or another type of similar or comparable machine.

The feed device according to the present invention is mainly suitable for automatically grabbing at least one bar from a bunch of bars at a time and unloading it in a preliminary position before loading to form a reserve with the required number of bars, and then load, mainly in one an operation, possibly including one or more movements, all the rods that make up the part, in the node for pulling the machine, so as to then direct them to the processing, while the feed device can begin be a new cycle gripping bars from the bundle and form reserve.

State of the art

Known machines for processing rods that simultaneously process one or more rods, for example, to obtain profile parts for the construction industry or other type of product. Machines that use pre-cut rods typically have one or more feed zones in which a bundle is prepared, from which the rods to be sent to the machine are captured whenever possible.

The operation of capturing and removing individual rods from the bundle is often complicated, because the rods, which can reach 12 m or more in length, are all intermixed, twisted and tangled together. To remove the bar from the beam, taking it at one end, the worker needs to make a lot of effort, with a risk to his safety and slowing down the work cycle, which reduces the productivity of the machine.

International patent application WO 2005/090021 addressed to the applicant describes a feeding device comprising first magnetic means that separates the end segment of the plurality of rods from the beam and places the end segments on a plane raised relative to the beam, and the second magnetic means which captures from the first magnetic means at the same time one bar from a plurality of bars and unloads it to the desired unloading position, and more specifically, to the unit for pulling the machine, so that the bar can be sent for processing ku.

This device, although it is very effective, has limitations in those quite frequent cases when the machine must process several rods at the same time, for example from 5 to 10 rods, and for this it is equipped with a unit for pulling, for example, with rollers or grippers, made with the possibility of placement many bars and then send them for processing at the same time.

In these cases, the known device must sequentially carry out several cycles in order to simultaneously capture one bar and put it in the unit for pulling, but then the device should obviously stop for the entire time while the bars are moved by the unit for pulling to the machine.

This entails a decrease in the operating efficiency and a decrease in the productivity of the machine, because when the machine cycle is completed, it is necessary to wait, with the machine stopped, until the feeder starts its cycle of capturing one bar at a time and placing all the required bars in the unit for pulling the machine.

Therefore, the aim of the present invention is to increase the efficiency of the feeding device of the above type in such a way as to reduce the waiting time for loading the required number of rods in the corresponding node for pulling the device.

The applicant has developed, tested and implemented the present invention to achieve this goal and other advantages, as shown below.

Disclosure of invention

The present invention is set forth and described in the independent claims, while the dependent claims reveal other innovative features of the invention.

The feed device according to the present invention comprises first magnetic means arranged substantially in cooperation with an end portion or adjacent to the end of a bundle of rods from which the rod or rods are gripped; and second magnetic means configured to interact with the first magnetic means to selectively capture the bar or rods to guide them to the machine.

More specifically, the first magnetic means is connected to the first means of movement, made with the possibility of moving it with the lifting end parts of the plurality of rods relative to the beam.

The second magnetic means is connected to the second means of movement, made with the possibility of moving it in a parallel, inclined or curved direction relative to the rods, the ends of which are held up by the first magnetic means; the second magnetic means is capable of selectively capturing from the first magnetic means the end parts of one or a plurality of rods, preferably one bar at a time, moving it and then releasing it in the required position to prepare the bar for feeding to the machine.

According to one feature of the invention, the second magnetic means is arranged to sequentially unload a plurality of rods, one at a time captured from the first magnetic means, into a preload position to form a reserve of the plurality of rods.

The preloading and backfilling position is preferably adjacent to the loading position defined by the space between the rollers of the pull unit.

The rods are then loaded all together, essentially in one operation, into the pull unit, which is then driven to remove the rods from the bundle and direct them for processing.

Thanks to this procedure, for the formation of the backlog and essentially simultaneous loading of a plurality of rods into the pulling unit, the advantage is provided that since the pulling unit is working and loading into the machine, the feeding device can again start its bar gripping and formation cycle touched.

Thus, when the machine has finished its cycle of processing the first loaded rods, the stock can already be formed, so that a new set of rods, already ready, can be immediately loaded into the node for pulling, essentially, without any waiting time.

In a preferred embodiment, the position of the formation of the backlog of the rods, which should be loaded into the node for pulling, essentially parallel, but is below the loading position in the node for pulling.

This solution defines the advantage of much less mutual interference between the rear segments of the rods already inserted in the pull unit and the rear segments of the rods that form the backlog, since the rods inserted in the unit for pulling, at least as regards the front segments of the bars lie on a plane different from the plane where the front segments of the rods that form the backlog lie.

In this case, the loading of the rods that form the backlog into the pulling unit takes place first by moving upwards to place the bars in a aligned but external position relative to the position at which the bars are introduced into the pulling unit, and then lateral movement to load the bars into the knot for pulling.

According to another solution, the backlog is formed in a aligned and external position, relative to the position of the load in the node for pulling, and the introduction of rods in the node for pulling is performed only due to lateral movement.

Brief Description of the Drawings

These and other features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of some preferred embodiments, given as non-limiting examples, and references to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figures 1-4 are front views of one embodiment of a bar feeder in the sequence of its duty cycle according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the feed device shown in FIGS. 1-4 used to remove the rods from the bundle;

6 is a front view of another embodiment of a bar feeder according to the present invention;

Fig.7 is a side view of the device shown in Fig.6, used to extract the rods from the beam.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Based on the attached drawings, the feeding device 10 for the rods 11 according to the present invention is arranged to be placed on top of a machine, such as: a machine for making clamps, a bending machine, a cross-planer, a strapping machine, or any other machine of a similar type or even another type.

The attached drawings of the machine show a pulling unit or a pulling device 27, which in this case consists of a pair of roller tables, respectively, of the upper roller table 26a and the lower roller table 26b. The scope of the invention encompasses a pull unit 27 consisting of an alternative motion grip, or may be of any other type.

The feeding device 10 can work with the rods 11 of essentially any length and / or diameter, ensuring in any case the gripping of the rods in an appropriate and efficient manner, as well as their error-free counting.

The device 10 is used to capture from the beam of rods 11 lying at least partially in the housing 30 (see Fig. 7), at the same time, one or more rods 11 for directing them to the machine. The housing 30 may include two, three or more hoppers, possibly movable in the lateral direction, inside each of which there are bars 11 of the same size, but different from the bars in other hoppers.

It also falls within the scope of the invention that the feed device 10 is movable relative to the hoppers or other housing for the rods 11 for selectively moving in accordance with the type or size of the rods, the rods 11 to be gripped.

The possibility of movement of the hoppers relative to the feeding device 10 or vice versa allows you to sequentially load the machine even with rods 11 having different diameters, if required by the processing program, essentially without interrupting the further processing cycle of the machine.

In this case, the supply device 10 is mounted on the support frame 18 and comprises the first magnetic means 13, consisting of a first magnetic or electromagnetic element 14, preferably located during use near one end of the rod 11 of the beam 12.

It is within the scope of the invention that the first magnetic means 13 comprises two or more magnetic or electromagnetic elements 14 located at several different points along the length of the rods 11, preferably near their front ends.

The first magnetic element 14 is located in a direction substantially transverse to the longitudinal direction of the rods 11 lying in the corresponding housing 30, and preferably has a width such as to cover a significant portion of the width of the beam 12. The first magnetic element 14 is mounted on a lever 31 connected to the first drive 15, for example, of the hydrodynamic type, which performs its movement, in this case, essentially circular movement in the direction 72 (Figure 1).

Thanks to the linear actuator 15, the magnetic element 14 can be correctly installed in accordance with the position of the beam 12, from which the rods 11 should be removed.

At the beginning of the capture cycle, the magnetic element 14 is lowered using the first drive 15 to the beam 12 to capture its lower surface, which is the surface of attraction, to such a position that the effect of magnetic attraction is manifested relative to the ends of the rods 11 located in the uppermost part of the beam 12. Sequentially the magnetic element 14 returns upward, lifting with the magnet the ends of one layer of rods 11 located next to each other so as to form essentially a plane (Figure 1).

The first magnetic element 14 is mounted on the corresponding lever 31 using a swivel joint 42, which provides it with some freedom of oscillation to facilitate the capture of the rods 11, even if the hoppers have a rounded and / or profile bottom and even if only a few residual rods 11 remain at the bottom of the hoppers.

When the ends of the rods 11 were raised by moving up the first magnetic means 13, the second magnetic means 21 is brought into operation, which comprises a second magnetic element 22 mounted on the end of the second drive 23, which in turn is mounted on the supporting frame 18 (Figure 2) .

In this case, it also falls within the scope of the invention that the second magnetic means 21 comprises two or more magnetic elements 22 capable of operating at two or more different points along the length of the rods 11.

The second actuator 23 can act in a direction 71 essentially perpendicular to the longitudinal movement of the rods 11, so as to move, in this case horizontally, the second magnetic element 22 from the first, forward grip position, in which it moves with the attractive surface of the first magnetic element 14 to capture one or more rods 11 of the element, preferably one rod 11 at a time, to the second retracted discharge position. In the second position according to the feature of the present invention, the element releases the end of the individual bar 11, which was grabbed from the first magnetic element 14, matching with the supporting surface 61 of the pushing element 65 of the storage unit 60.

In this case, the rods 11 are released by acting on the bar 11 exerted by the locking element 50 while moving the second magnetic element 22 backward. The position of the locking element 50 can preferably be adjusted at least in height according to the diameter of the processed rod 11 to create a niche formed to sort the bars 11.

The pushing member 65 comprises a leading edge 62 facing upward, the upper end of which 63 is made in the form of a guide carriage to facilitate the arrangement of the rods 11 themselves on the supporting surface 61, which in this case is essentially horizontal.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 1-4, the supporting surface 61 of the pushing member 65 is substantially parallel, but lies on a plane below the position of the loading plane of the rods 11 into the pull unit 27, which essentially corresponds to the upper surface lower roller table 26b.

When the first bar 11 is released, the pushing member 65 first moves forward inward - in a direction 70 to move the bar 11 to the internal standby position formed by the position of the substantially vertical support plate 64, and then returns to its position in which it ready to accept a new bar 11. The base plate 64 is essentially flush with the side edge of the roller table 26a, 26b of the pull unit 27.

The locking element 50 is then moved vertically to form a niche designed to sort the rods 11.

The driving of the pushing member 65 is effected by actuating the substantially horizontal drive 66.

Simultaneously with the movement of the pushing element 65 or immediately after it, the second magnetic element 22 carries out a new cycle of gripping the bar 11 and unloading it onto the supporting surface 61 of the pushing element 65 when this element returns to its external position of the beginning of the cycle.

Then, the pushing member 65 returns back inward, in other words, to the roller tables 26a, 26b so as to place the new bar 11 in the backlog position next to the support plate 64 and next to the first bar 11.

The cycle of gripping, unloading and lateral movement of the rods 11 can be repeated the required number of times so as to form the desired backlog also in accordance with the diameter of the bar 11, the design of the roller tables 26a, 26b, as well as the requirements of the machine and the processing cycle.

When the formation has been completed, the entire accumulation unit 60 first moves upward in the direction 73 so as to place the rods 11 in a position aligned with the upper surface of the lower roller table 26b, directly above the upper end face of the support plate 64.

The upper roller table 26a is then placed in a proper position to create a guide channel according to the diameter of the rods 11. Alternatively, a movable stop is provided that can create a guide channel.

The accumulation unit 60 then performs lateral movement to the roller tables 26a, 26b so as to push all the rods 11 together between the roller tables 26a, 26b.

On the opposite side of the roller tables 26a, 26b with respect to the position of the collecting unit 60, there is preferably a support roller table 67 which prevents the rods 11 from slipping beyond the loading position between the two roller tables 26a, 26b.

When the accumulation unit 60 returns to its idle external position, the upper roller table 26a is lowered to the lower roller table 26b, and the operation of removing the loaded rods 11 begins, and they are sent for processing.

While the rods 11 are removed from the beam and processed, the accumulation unit 60 returns to its lower end position of the cycle (Figure 1), and the feeding device 10 can start a new backlog formation cycle, as described above.

Due to the lower position in which the backlog is formed, compared with the position in which the rods are fed to the machine by the knot 27 for drawing, the corresponding rear segments of the rods 11 overlap with each other less, thereby creating fewer problems of mutual friction during the removal of the rods 11 from the corresponding beam.

Thanks to this procedure, when the processing of the rods 11 supplied by the pull unit 27 is completed, the stock with the required number of rods 11 is substantially ready for immediate loading between the roller tables 26a, 26b of the draw unit 27.

The form of an embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, where the same reference numbers indicate the same elements or equivalent elements, which are already described with reference to FIGS. 1-5 and which will not be described again, concerns that the bars 11 is formed in a position aligned and external with respect to the loading position formed by the upper surface of the lower roller table 2 6b.

In this embodiment, when the formation with the required number of rods 11 is completed, the accumulation unit 60 makes only one lateral movement for introducing the rods 11 between the roller tables 26a, 26b and then returns to its external position to ensure that, on the one hand, the unit 27 for pulling with the supply of rods 11 into the machine, and on the other hand, to prepare for the start of a new cycle of formation of the backlog.

In this embodiment of the invention, a guide roller 39 is shown, which in this case is integrated with the locking element 50 and is located directly above the lower roller table 26a of the pulling unit and whose function is to guide the rods 11 when they are moved by the collecting unit 60 to the loading position between the roller tables 26a , 26b.

The position of the guide roller table 39 can be adjusted at least in length in accordance with the diameter of the rods 11, which are processed.

In this embodiment of the invention, the support plate 164 is connected to the positioning drive and remains stationary during the entire cycle of the formation of the backlog of the rods 11, so as to form a stop position of the drive near the gap between the roller tables 26a, 26b of the pulling unit 27; during the loading step, the support plate 164 rises or lowers, allowing the rods 11 to be inserted into the ejection position between the roller tables 26a, 26b.

5 and 7 you can see the alignment element 37 connected to the actuator 38. The function of the alignment element 37 is to align the rods 11 with respect to each other, re-working with the respective ends after they are captured by the first magnetic element 14 and left raised relative to the beam .

The leveling element 37, by selectively actuating the drive 38, carries out several cycles of ramming the ends of the rods 11, aligning their longitudinal placement in such a way as to facilitate the subsequent step of loading into the drawing unit 27 and performing subsequent processing.

Alignment can be carried out both when the rods 11 are held up by the first magnetic means 13 and also when the rods 11 have already been unloaded into the storage unit 60.

It is understood, however, that modifications and / or additions to parts or steps can be performed in a method for supplying rods to a machine and in a corresponding feeding device 10, as described above, without departing from the scope of the present invention defined in the attached claims.

For example, a sensor may be provided that gives a signal when the second magnetic element 22 makes useless movement without capturing the rods 11, allowing a new descent of the first magnetic element 14 to the bundle of rods 11 for a new capture.

Another option may be provided in which fixed locking elements are provided, located above the first magnetic element 14, which provide for the unloading of the rods 11 and their fall into the corresponding bundles, which remain captured on the first magnetic element 14, as soon as the processing cycle on the machine has stopped. This discharge is obtained by lifting the first magnetic element 14 due to the additional movement of the locking elements. The unloading of the rods 11 can also be carried out in the case of the use of electromagnetic elements due to temporary disconnection of the electrical power of the first magnetic element 14.

Claims (15)

1. The feeding device for the rods, made with the possibility of selective capture and extraction from the beam (12) of at least one rod (11) to prepare it for use in a machine containing at least one node (27) for pulling, while the device contains the first magnetic means (13), configured to separate from the beam (12) at least one end segment of the plurality of rods (11) and arrange at least the end segments of the plurality of rods (11) on a plane located at a distance about the beam (12), and the second magnetic means (21), configured to capture from the first magnetic means (13) simultaneously at least one rod (11) from a plurality of bars (11) and unload at least one rod (11) in the desired unloading position, characterized in that it contains a storage unit (60), configured to sequentially accept from the second magnetic means (21) the required number of rods (11) with the formation of a reserve and simultaneously move the required number of rods (11) to the node ( 27) for prot lagging. 2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the storage unit (60) contains at least one pushing element (65), forming a supporting surface (61), essentially parallel to the loading plane of the node (27) for pulling. 3. The device according to claim 2, characterized in that the supporting surface (61) has a position of the beginning of the cycle, essentially parallel and located lower relative to the loading plane of the node (27) for pulling. 4. The device according to claim 2, characterized in that the supporting surface (61) has a position of the beginning of the cycle, essentially parallel and is a continuation of the loading plane of the node (27) for pulling. 5. Device according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that the pushing element (65) contains a leading edge (62) facing upward, the upper end of which is made in the form of a guide carriage to ensure the location of the rods (11) on the supporting surface ( 61). 6. Device according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that the storage unit (60) comprises a support plate (64) located essentially between the support surface (61) and the node (27) for pulling and made with the possibility the formation of the reserve position of the rods (11), forming a backlog before loading them into the node (27) for pulling. 7. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that the support plate (64) is movable so as not to interfere with the pushing element (65) at least during the step of loading the rods (11) into the node (27) for pulling. 8. Device according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that it contains at least one guide element (39), configured to interact with the node (27) for pulling and with the pushing element (65) when placing the rods ( 11) inside the assembly (27) for pulling. 9. A device according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that it comprises at least one leveling element (37), configured to selectively actuate at least when a plurality of rods (11) are captured by the first magnetic means ( 13) and / or located on the supporting surface (61). 10. The method of supplying rods (11) used to selectively capture and extract from the beam (12) at least one rod (11) to prepare it for processing in a machine containing at least one node (27) for pulling, including:
the first stage, which brings the first magnetic means (13) close to the beam (12) for attracting with the help of a magnet the end segment of a plurality of rods (11) and leading them to a distance from the beam (12),
the second stage, which brings the second magnetic means (21) close to the first magnetic means (13) to capture from it at least one of the many rods (11) and then located at a distance from it with the placement of at least one rod (11 ) in the required unloading position,
characterized in that a plurality of capture cycles are carried out sequentially by the second magnetic means (21) for unloading the required number of rods (11) to the preload position with the formation of a reserve in the position next to the node (27) for pulling. 11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that it includes at least one step in which the rods (11) that form the backlog are simultaneously moved to the loading position in the node (27) for pulling. 12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the simultaneous loading is carried out by a leveling upward movement between the preload position and the loading position in the assembly (27) for pulling, and then by lateral movement for introducing the rods (11) into the assembly (27) for stretching. 13. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the simultaneous loading is carried out by lateral movement to introduce the rods (11) into the node (27) for pulling. 14. A method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, characterized in that it includes at least one step of aligning the ends of the rods (11) held by the raised first magnetic means (13) and / or located in the preload position. 15. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, characterized in that during the stage of preloading the rods (11) to the preload position, the node (27) for pulling delivers the rods (11) loaded in the previous cycle to the machine.

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