10360/E
TITLE: "Method and equipment for the dynamic balancing of the rims of wheels of motor vehicles"
DESCRIPTION The invention relates to a process and equipment for the dynamic balancing, during the production cycle, of the rims, particularly light alloy rims for the wheels of motor vehicles, or for the dynamic balancing of other parts having similar requirements.
At the present time, rims are subjected to final machining on numerically controlled machine tools, which turn them and finish their surfaces and which make holes for the passage of bolts for subsequent fixing to the motor vehicle and the perimetric hole for the passage of the future wheel inflation valve. On the machine tools, the rim is mounted in two different positions, so that it has first one of its faces and then the other facing upwards, for example. After the said step of final machining, the rim is placed on a balancing machine, which has the function of indicating and determining quantitatively in which area or areas of the round angle, which are marked visibly, material has to be removed from the rim to dynamically balance it. In a subsequent step of machining, the rim is mounted on another machine tool which removes the material from the said areas identified by the balancing machine, and this operation is usually carried out with milling or piercing operations, frequently in areas of the rim which are not visible, for example on the inner side, or possibly by localized turning operations, for which the rim is normally made to rotate in an eccentric position.
The balancing machining of the rims must be very precise. At the present time, for example, tolerances of approximately 14 g/mm are permitted on the vibration vector, as against the former tolerances of approximately 70 g/mm, in order to provide greater safety for users, even at the higher speeds which rubber-tyred wheels of motor vehicles can reach at present.
After machining, the rims are rechecked individually or by sampling, using the
10360/E
balancer, and if necessary they are remachined with the machine tool. Clearly, the present method of dynamic balancing of motor vehicle wheel rims is lengthy, wasteful and expensive, and it requires the use of a plurality of machines, with consequent problems due to the need for large working areas and major financial investment, especially when automatic systems have to be devised for transferring the rim between the various machines. The different ways of positioning the rim on the different machines can inevitably limit the precision of the machining to be carried out.
The invention is intended to overcome all these drawbacks of the known art with the following proposed solution. The whole process of checking and executing the balancing of the rim is carried out by the numerically controlled machine tool which also carried out the final step of final machining of the said rim, with the evident major financial advantages derived from this condition. The said finishing machine tool is provided with sensors for detecting the vibrations produced on the mandrel by the imbalance of the rim. The mandrel which carries the rim is driven in the usual way by a motor with electronic speed and phase control. The rim is positioned with the valve hole in a predetermined angular position which is known to the logic circuit, which, by means of the said sensors, determines the angular position and the extent of the dynamic imbalance, and the final balancing machining is carried out by eccentric and/or localized turning, with the rim continuing to rotate normally about its axis, at the correct velocity, while the turning tool is moved by the numerical control system in such a way as to remove the quantified amount of material only in the area or areas identified by means of the said sensors.
Further characteristics of the invention and the advantages derived therefrom will be revealed more fully in the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, illustrated purely by way of example, without restrictive intent, in the figures of the three attached sheets of drawings, in which: - Figure 1 shows, with parts in section, the rim mounted on the mandrel of the
10360/E
finishing machine tool and shows a block diagram of the parts which enable this machine to operate additionally as a dynamic balancer; Figure 2 is a lateral elevation of a rim of the type in question, and shows a possible eccentric turning operation carried out to achieve the dynamic balancing of the said rim; Figure 3 shows a flow chart of the balancing function of the machine.
In Figure 1 , the letter M indicates the mandrel of the numerically controlled finishing machine tool, whose shaft 1 is supported rotatably by bearings 2 and is driven by a motor 3 with electronic speed and phase control, for example a brushless motor, with brake. The number 4 indicates the platform of the mandrel, having an axial pin 5 which interacts, for the purposes of centring, with the axial hole of the rim C, the said platform being provided with perimetric self-centring brackets 6 which secure the said rim C. The number 7 indicates the electronic numerical control unit which interfaces with a programming and interrogation system 8, with the mandrel drive motor 3 and with the system of machining tools 9 which are mounted, for example, on a revolver unit positioned on means 10 for movement along at least two orthogonal axes, motorized to carry out not only turning operations but also other operations such as drilling.
According to the invention, the finishing machine tool is provided with one or more sensors 11 , of the accelerometer type for example, for detecting the radial vibrations and possibly also axial vibrations of the shaft 1 of the mandrel M, for example the vibrations generated by this shaft in the outer ring of at least one of its support bearings 2. Clearly, the location of the sensors shown in Figure 1 is shown purely by way of example and is not restrictive. If a plurality of sensors is used, they can for example be spaced apart angularly at intervals of ninety degrees.
The electrical signals produced by the sensors 11 are sent to an amplification, calculation and processing unit 12 which interfaces with the numerical control unit 7 and with the aforementioned operating logic, and which can be programmed and
10360/E
interrogated, for example, by means of the unit 8 or another special-purpose unit.
The final machining of the rim is normally carried out in two successive steps, for example in a first step in which the inner face of the said rim is machined, and a second step in which the outer face is machined, with the formation of the fixing holes FF and the valve hole FV of the rim. During these steps of operation, the outer lateral surface of the rim, on which the tyre is to be placed, is also finished. After the final step of finishing, the machine which has carried this out automatically proceeds to the step of balancing the finished rim, as indicated henceforth with reference to the flow chart in Figure 3, the said rim being kept with its outer face orientated upwards. However, it is to be understood that the scope of the invention also includes the variant in which, on completion of the final machining of the rim, the said rim is repositioned on the mandrel M with its inner face directed upwards, in such a way that the aforesaid eccentric turning operations are carried out on the inner face of the rim, with the advantage of being executable with a limited degree of finishing, since they are not visible from the outside.
For the correct operation of the equipment, automatic manipulation means (not shown) are provided, these means positioning the rim on the mandrel M of the machine tool with the area intended for the valve hole FV in a constant and predetermined position which is known to the unit 7 and/or 12. The said units can also be provided with information, for example by means of the programming unit 8, about the dimensional characteristics and the eccentric position of the hole FV, so that the system can discriminate the size and the position in the round angle of the vibrations caused by the said hole FV.
In Figure 3, step 13 shows the start of the balancing. Step 14 shows the checking and quantification, by the unit 12 of Figure 1 , of the vibrations produced by the mandrel M carrying the rim C to be balanced, with allowance for the vibrations caused by the valve hole FV, which will later be substantially compensated by the inflation valve which will
10360/E
be fitted in the said hole FV when the rim is in use. Step 15 shows the determination of the actual values and coordinates of the dynamic imbalance of the rim, by means of the unit 12 which executes an operation of subtracting the vibrations produced with the mandrel unloaded from the vibrations deduced in step 14 (see below).
Step 16 shows the execution of the eccentric and/or localized turning operation by the machine tool, for carrying out the dynamic balancing of the rim to the predetermined tolerances. In this step, as shown in Figure 2, the rim is made to rotate about its axis at a predetermined velocity, in the region of 400-700 rpm, for example approximately 500 rpm, while the unit 12 orders the numeric controller 7 to control the predetermined tools 9 in such a way that they carry out a turning operation on a predetermined area 17, which is usually eccentric, on any suitable part of the surface of the rim, for example on the strongest lateral part on which the tyre will be fitted (Figs 1 and 2). The turning 17 can be carried out with a good level of finishing and can be integrated harmoniously into the external appearance of the rim, in such a way that it would not be significantly visible to the naked eye, even if, by contrast with the previous suggestion, it were carried out on the visible face of the rim. The areas on which the eccentric turning operation or operations are carried out are to be selected in advance in a suitable step in which the system is programmed.
Step 16 is followed by step 18 which checks whether or not the balancing has been carried out correctly. If the result is negative, the values of the residual imbalance are identified and quantified, and, as indicated by the path 19 in Figure 3, a return is made to step 16 for another eccentric turning operation. However, if the rim is found to be correctly balanced, step 18 is followed by step 20 which constitutes the end of the balancing and the removal of the finished and balanced rim from the mandrel M of the machine.
Step 20 is followed by step 21 in which the unloaded imbalance of the mandrel M is checked and quantified, this value being used as indicated by the path 22 in the
10360/E
aforesaid subtraction step 15 for the next balancing cycle.
It will be evident that considerable financial advantages are gained by the concentration in a single machine of the functions which are currently performed by a plurality of machines, and it will also be evident that advantages in terms of precision are gained by machining the rim while it is still secured on the same mandrel as that on which it was subjected to the final step of final machining.
It is to be understood that the method described is also to be considered as protected for the dynamic balancing of parts which are different from wheel rims, but which have similar requirements. Finally, it is to be understood that the description refers to a preferred embodiment of the invention, with the omission of the details of construction of the sensors 11 , the unit 12 and the means of manipulating the rims for loading them on to the machine and removing them from it, since these details will be understood and easily implemented by persons skilled in the art.