WO2012030244A2

WO2012030244A2 - Method and system proposed for the manufacturing of hollow profile objects

Info

Publication number: WO2012030244A2
Application number: PCT/RO2011/000014
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mircea Tudor; Adrian Bizgan; Andrei Iacobita; George Calarasanu; Dumitru Calarasanu
Original assignee: Mb Telecom Ltd.
Priority date: 2010-09-03
Filing date: 2011-04-06
Publication date: 2012-03-08
Also published as: WO2012030244A4; WO2012030244A3; RO127383A2

Abstract

For the manufacture of hollow and profiled bodies a mould (1) equipped with a vibration system (2) is provided and is mounted on a guiding and driving system ( 3 ) capable of rotation and translation. A heated billet ( 5 ) placed in the mould (1) is pushed by a pressing device (4) towards a deformation mandrel (6) lubricated by a lubrication system (8), and connected to a mandrel driving and positioning system (7) which on its turn may have a relative rotation and translation motion compared to the machine's body, which ultimately gives a combined movement when deforming the billet. Following metal working, a hollow or profiled body (10) will result with an outer profile according to the profile given by the inner profile and motion of the mould and an interior profile corresponding to the profile generated by the outer profile and motion of the mandrel.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM PROPOSED FOR THE MANUFACTURING OF

HOLLOW PROFILE OBJECTS

This invention proposes a method and system addressing the manufacturing of hollow or profiled bodies from billets having the proper temperature for plastic deformation.

The invention may be used on production lines for hollow bodies such as pipes, bottomed pipes and profiled bodies such as geared wheels, grooved bodies, cylindrical profiled bodies whose manufacturing requires the operation of several machines and special devices to move half-products in-between machinery and specific auxiliary production equipment.

With the purpose of producing hollow profile bodies, several manufacturing methods are known according each type of specific factory processes such as: rolling, piercing, extrusion, drawing, pressing, forging, turning, threading and welding, that combined in certain sequences result in hollow or profiled bodies in an initial gross shape. Following primary processing, a finishing is executed according to the type of the final product, with variable tolerances and quality standards.

The methods presented above may be combined in different set-ups for each type of body to be produced, which presents a number of disadvantages.

One of these methods is the rolling mill producing hollow bodies which is equipped with electric power systems, automation and control systems, methane gas system, lubrication system, industrial water processing facilities and air compressing systems, cooling and ventilation. Rolling machines are large consumers of electricity and material, are heavy, need special civil works and large operating facilities, overhead cranes and many other auxiliary facilities. Production is not possible without qualified personnel, in large numbers. In addition, the long time operations during the process, like the replacement of tools and devices for verification, their adjustment and the adjustment of production lines, the finishing and alignment operations, make this process to be time consuming. One of the technologies used to manufacture profiled products like geared wheels, requires starting from cylindrical metal half-products and processing by special cutting tools on specialized machine-tools, using various geared wheels processing methods, using milling, shaping, planing, grinding, shaving and lapping. The disadvantages of this technology for geared wheels manufacture, is that the cutting machines cut from the crude material to obtain the targeted profile, losing material. The technology requires special tools and a number of specialized machine-tools, long time for execution and loss of material in the form of the cuttings resulted from profile hollows leading to a higher cost for the final product.

The technical issue that is dealt by the present invention is the design of a method and system to manufacture hollow and profiled bodies that uses billets at the proper deformation temperature which are processed in a mould which may be provided with a vibration system, mould which can be mounted and placed on a mobile system, whose movement is driven in the direction of the deformation, while the billet is pushed by a pressing device towards a deformation mandrel equipped with a lubrication installation and a mandrel drive and positioning system, to finally produce a hollow or profiled body with an external profile according to the internal profile of the mould and an internal profile according with the external profile of the mandrel.

The method for the manufacturing of hollow and profiled bodies, according to the invention, eliminates the disadvantages mentioned above by requiring the use of a single machine to produce the hollow or profiled body in a mould equipped with a vibration system, mould mounted on a guiding and driving system capable of rotation and translation motion following the deformation direction, using a billet heated to the temperature required for deformation which is pushed by a pressing device towards a deformation mandrel lubricated by a lubrication system, mandrel which can have many shapes and is connected to the mandrel driving and positioning system which on its turn may have a relative rotation and translation motion compared to the machine's body, which ultimately gives a combined movement when deforming the billet. Following metal working, a hollow or profiled body will result with an outer profile according to the profile given by the inner profile and motion of the mould and an interior profile corresponding to the profile generated by the outer profile and motion of the mandrel.

The system that implements the method presented above consists in a mould with its own vibration system mounted on a guide and drive system, a pressing system pushing the billet towards a deformation mandrel provided with a lubrication system and mounted on a mandrel drive and positioning system and a central command and control unit.

The invention has the following advantages:

The method consists in a deformation that is spatially and cinematically driven and controlled, of the material in a mould

A single machine is needed to manufacture the final product from billets heated at the proper deformation temperature

The weight of the single machine is significantly lower than all the manufacturing line used for the manufacturing of similar products using current methods (production lines for hollow or profiled bodies)

This machine needs no civil works since it is conceived to have a closed-frame structure Energy consumption is significantly lower than any other traditional method for the production of the same hollow or profiled bodies

Hollow and profiled bodies may be obtained from various materials such as steel, stainless steel, billet iron, aluminum, titanium and zirconium, without actually changing the production line.

Billets of any geometry may be used as raw material: round-shaped, square-shaped or bars of sizes which differ significantly from those of the final products.

Final products may have any size and thickness according to the size of the mould and of the deforming mandrel. - Hollow or profiled bodies longer than the current industry standard may be obtained as size is given by the length of the machine.

- The finished products are of the highest quality and accuracy of inner and outer sizes, of the wall thickness, of eccentricity, of inner and outer wall surface without a separate finishing operation.

- Any hollow or profiled body of any size may result according to the shape of the mould and of the deforming mandrel: square, rectangular, oval, honeycomb, hexagonal, with fenders, with inner grooves, with outer grooves.

- No milling and facing machine tools or special tools are needed, no cuttings are produced, a significant economy of costly material is made and a much lower production time compared to traditional processes is attained.

By rapid switch of mould and mandrel compared with the numerous tools and devices of traditional systems, products with various inner and outer profile and overall size may be successively obtained in faster pace.

Maintenance and repair costs are much lower than for traditional methods

Manpower is much reduced compared to traditional methods

The production process may be fully automated

The high temperature of the material after the end of the processing allows for further metal working (end-process heat treatment, internal/external coating) without reheating the product, thus saving energy

The operation area for such equipment is much reduced than for traditional technologies

Further is presented an example of implementing of the invention in connection with the figures from 1 to 6 that describe:

Fig. 1. Cross-section view of the machine - initial start position

Fig. 2. Cross-section view of the machine during processing

Fig. 3. Cross-section view of the machine after the end of processing.

Fig. 4. Perspective of the cone-shaped deformation mandrel

Fig. 5 Perspective of the profile deformation mandrel

Fig. 6 Block diagram of the hollow or profiled body manufacturing system

The process for the manufacture of hollow or profiled bodies method has the following steps:

The mould equipped with the vibration system is mounted on the motion and guiding system which on its turn is placed towards the pressing device; a billet is placed near the mould and the deformation mandrel connected to the lubrication system is mounted on the driving system.

The mould moves and embeds the billet which is fixed between the pressing system and the deformation mandrel mounted on the driving system.

- The pressing system pushes on the billet in the mould upon which the vibration system operates

- The motion and guiding system ensures the proper movement of the mould, - The deformation mandrel is operated by the driving system, is lubricated by the lubrication system and insures the proper deformation of the billet until all raw material is processed and the hollow or profiled body product is produced.

- The final product may be taken out along with the mould, the deformation plug and

fixtures or directly.

The deformation mandrel withdraws with the driving system and the mould containing the hollow or profiled body may be extracted off the motion and guiding system from above and transferred to a special cooling place

- To reinitiate the cycle, another mould may be mounted on the motion and guiding system and connected to the vibration system or the existing one may be reused.

The system for the manufacturing of hollow and profiled bodies, according to the invention, consists in a mould 1 equipped with its own vibration system 2 and connected to a motion and guiding system 3, a pressing system 4 pressing on the billet 5 towards the deformation mandrel 6 mounted on the driving system 7, a lubrication system 8 and a central command and control unit 9, to obtain the hollow or profiled bodies 10 after processing.

The mould 1 can have any geometry according to the intended hollow or profiled body needed. Moulds have an outer mounting diameter for the machine and the negative of the outer profile of the intended body to the interior. To manufacture the mould, a base mould 11 is used and a deformation mandrel 6 having the outer profile according to the inner profile of the intended mould. A billet 5 is processed to obtain the mould 1 with the same outer diameter as the inner diameter of the base mould 11 and an inner profile obtained with the deformation mandrel 6. The resulting mould 1 is first cooled and then taken out of the base mould 11. The resulting mould shall be used to manufacture the type of product it was intended for.

By repeating the production process to obtain moulds 1, multilayered hollow bodies can be obtained from various materials by using the hollow or profiled body 10 resulted from the process before cooling as mould 1, for another billet 5 and of another deformation mandrel 6 with a smaller diameter.

The vibration system 2 is connected to the mould to generate controlled-frequency vibrations according to the type of material and processing method. The operation is ensured by an electro-mechanical system controlled by the central command and control unit 9. The vibration system 2 used on the mould 1 ensures the uniformity of material and reduces the overall power needed for material processing.

The motion and guiding system 3 is composed from a mobile assembly moving on motion guides with precise and controlled speed. The mould 1 with the vibration system 2 is accurately mounted on this system.

The pressing system 4 provides the required translation and rotation of the pressing head 12 of negative profile for the corresponding side of the desired body, centered and driven by a mechanical device operating with controlled precise speed and power, determined and commanded by the central command and control unit 9.

The deformation mandrel 6 is built in cone-shape with a variable angle according to the relative strength needed for plastic deformation of the type of processed material, which allows hollow objects to be molded. According to the shape and dynamics of the deformation mandrel bottomed pipes, hollow products of complex geometry and other) and profiled bodies (geared wheels with inner denting and outer denting - straight or tilted denting, grooved items and other) can be manufactured.

In another implementing variant, the deformation mandrel 6 is cone-shaped with parallel or tilted grooves according to the shape intended for the inner profile of the body. By rotating the deformation mandrel 6, geared wheels are obtained with inner straight or tilted denting.

The driving system 7 of the deformation mandrel has a guiding and alignment system with proper accuracy level for the finite product, allows for accurate translation and rotation of the deformation mandrel 6 and is dynamically and cinematically controlled by the central command and control unit 9.

The lubrication system 8 ensures the proper flow of lubricant at the right pressure by using a variable flow pumping system 13 to ensure the lubrication of the deformation mandrel during processing; this pumping system is driven by the central command and control unit 9. The chemical composition of the lubricant also ensures a chemical and heat treatment of the resulting surface due to the level of temperature at which the process takes place. The various substances composing the lubricant react with the highly heated material and thus determining a change of the border layer, in its hardness, roughness levels and special qualities that are preserved after cooling.

The central command and control unit 9 controls and monitors the process using the static, dynamic and cinematic model of the system, model that relies on the information received from position, temperature, pressure and strain sensors mounted on each system. The cinematic model of the process is built from position, speed, acceleration, strain, pressure and temperature data measured on the elements involved in the process. The cinematic model of the process generates working cyclograms for each type of processing and final product, cyclograms that convey the behavior of the pressing system 4, of the motion and guiding system of the mould 3, of the vibration system 2, of the mould 1, of the deformation mandrel drive 6 and of the lubrication system 8.

Claims

1. A manufacturing method for hollow and profiled bodies, characterized in that it requires the use of a single machine to produce the hollow or profiled body in a mould (1) equipped with a vibration system (2) mounted on a guiding and driving system (3) capable of rotation and translation motion following the deformation direction, using a billet (5) heated to the temperature required for deformation which is pushed by a pressing device (4) towards a deformation mandrel (6) lubricated by a lubrication system (8), mandrel which can have many shapes and is connected to the mandrel driving and positioning system (7) which on its turn may have a relative rotation and translation motion compared to the machine's body, which ultimately gives a combined movement when deforming the billet (5). Following metal working, a hollow or profiled body will result with an outer profile according to the profile given by the inner profile and motion of the mould (1) and an interior profile corresponding to the profile generated by the outer profile and motion of the mandrel (6).

2. The system for manufacturing of hollow or profiled bodies, that implements the method described in claim 1 and produces after processing a hollow or profiled body (10) characterized in that it consists in a mould (1) with its own vibration system (2) mounted on a guiding and driving system (3), a pressing system (4) pushing the billet (5) towards a deformation mandrel (6) provided with a lubrication system (8) and mounted on a mandrel drive and positioning system (7) and a central command and control unit (9), that.

3. The system used for the manufacturing of hollow or profiled bodies, according to claim 2, characterized in that any hollow or profiled body (10) deriving from the process may be used as a mould (1) for another process.

4. The system used for the manufacturing of hollow or profiled bodies, according to claim 2 and 3, characterized in that it can produce multilayered hollow or profiled bodies (10) by using the hollow or profiled body (10) resulting from the process before cooling as mould (1), for another billet (5) and another deformation mandrel (6) with a smaller diameter.

5. The system used for the manufacturing of hollow or profiled bodies, according to claim 2, characterized in that, in an implementing variant, the deformation mandrel (6) is built in cone-shape with a variable angle, generating in accordance to the shape and dynamics of the deformation mandrel (6), of mould (1) and pressing head (12), various classes of hollow bodies.

6. The system used for the manufacturing of hollow or profiled bodies, according to claim 2, characterized in that, in another implementing variant, the deformation mandrel (6) is cone-shaped with straight or tilted denting generating profiled bodies (10) with an outer profile according to the profile given by the inner profile and motion of the mould (1) and an interior profile corresponding to the profile generated by the outer profile and motion of the mandrel (6).

7. The system used for the manufacturing of hollow or profiled bodies, according to claim 2, characterized in that, the lubrication system (8) ensures the lubrication of the deformation mandrel (6) during processing and allows for chemical and thermal treatment of the resulting surface due to the level of temperature at which the process takes place.

8. The system used for the manufacturing of hollow or profiled bodies, according to claim 2, characterized in that, the vibration system (2) is connected to the mould (1) ensuring the uniformity of material and reducing the overall power needed for material processing.