Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Surface bonding means and/or assembly means therefor – With testing – measuring – and/or indicating means
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-09
2004-06-15
Aftergut, Jeff H. (Department: 1733)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Surface bonding means and/or assembly means therefor
With testing, measuring, and/or indicating means
C156S463000, C156S466000, C156S500000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06748992
ABSTRACT:
The invention concerns an installation for producing multi-layer composite tubes, comprising a shaping device for shaping a metal strip into a metal tube with overlapping longitudinal edges, a welding device for welding the overlapping longitudinal edges, an extruder station with an extrusion head which adjoins the shaping device and which is connected to a first extruder for applying an inner plastic layer and a second extruder for applying an outer plastic layer to the metal tube, and a cooling device for cooling the multi-layer composite tube, which are arranged in succession in a production line.
Installations of that kind are known per se. In those known installations, the extrusion head is fixedly connected to the first extruder for the inner plastic layer. The second extruder which is provided for the outer plastic layer is spatially separated from the unit consisting of the extrusion head and the first extruder and is suitably connected in flow relationship to the extrusion head. That structure adversely affects both the accuracy of assembly and also the production speed for producing the multi-layer composite tubes. A further deficiency of those known installations is that a change in the composite tube nominal size, that is to say converting the installation from one composite tube diameter to a desired different composite tube diameter, is possible only at the cost of a considerable amount of time and assembly complication.
In consideration of those factors the object of the present invention is to provide an installation of the kind set forth in the opening part of this specification, which, with a comparatively high production speed, permits optimum composite tube quality, while a change in composite tube nominal size is also possible relatively easily and without taking up a great deal of time.
In accordance with the invention, in an installation of the kind set forth in the opening part of this specification, that object is attained in that the extrusion head of the extruder station is disposed stationarily and that the first and the second extruders are arranged facing towards each other in mutual alignment in a line laterally beside the extrusion head in parallel relationship with the production line, wherein the extrusion head in the production line is provided between the first and the second extruders.
In this respect the term ‘production line’ means the line along which the metal strip moves along the shaping device for shaping the metal strip to form the respective metal tube, to the welding device for welding the overlapping longitudinal edges of the shaped metal strip to form the metal tube, wherein the production line is defined in particular also by the extruder station, that is to say by the extrusion head, and thereafter by the cooling device for cooling the produced multi-layer composite tube. The metal strip or the multi-layer composite tube produced with the installation is moved in a straight line at a given, comparatively high advance speed through the installation. While, in known installations of the kind set forth in the opening part of this specification, with a given composite tube diameter, that is to say nominal size, the advance speed is of the order of magnitude for example of 15 m/min, it is possible with the installation according to the invention and for the same composite tube diameter for the production speed to be increased to the order of magnitude of 25 m/min, that is to say by 67%, in which case that advantage of the installation according to the invention involves the advantages of the possibility of a simple and time-saving change in composite tube diameter with the installation according to the invention being of an arrangement which saves on floor area or space. In particular the fact that, in the installation according to the invention, the extrusion head of the extruder station is stationarily provided alone, that is to say without the first extruder for the inner plastic layer, and the fact that the first and second extruders are provided in alignment with each other in a line in mutually facing relationship laterally beside the extrusion head means that the installation is of a design configuration which saves on floor area, with the advantage that temperature-related changes in length of the two extruders are compensated. That has a positive effect on the accuracy of the installation construction and the accuracy of manufacture of the multi-layer composite tubes produced with the installation according to the invention.
It has proven to be advantageous if, in the installation according to the invention, there are third and fourth extruders for bonding agents, wherein the third extruder is associated with the first extruder for the inner plastic layer and the fourth extruder is associated with the second extruder for the outer plastic layer of the multi-layer composite tube. It will be appreciated that it would also be possible, in an installation according to the invention, for the extruder station to be combined with a single extruder for a bonding agent. That third extruder would then be combined with a switching device for combining the bonding agent both with the first extruder and with the second extruder in order to apply the inner plastic layer and the outer plastic layer in firmly adhering relationship to the metal tube by means of the bonding agent.
The third and the fourth extruders for bonding agent are desirably cardanically mounted to associated stationary column devices. Such a structure correspondingly improves the accuracy of the installation and the productivity thereof because the adjustability thereof is optimised.
In the installation according to the invention it has proven to be advantageous if the welding device has a welding station with an ultrasound welding wheel, wherein the welding station is displaceable in respect of height in relation to the extrusion head in a first direction in space parallel to the production line, in a second direction in space perpendicular thereto transversely with respect to the production line and in a third direction in space perpendicular to the first and second directions in space, and is pivotable about a pivot axis oriented in the first direction in space. That displacement and/or pivotal movement can be implemented pneumatically or mechanically, for example by spindle drives. That displaceability permits not only a time-saving change in nominal size, that is to say the time-saving possibility of converting the installation from one composite tube diameter to a desired different composite tube diameter, but it also affords the considerable advantage that access to the installation is better possible in the case of such changes in nominal size or disturbances in production. Possible disturbances in production can be very rapidly dealt with.
In the installation according to the invention, the ultrasound welding wheel is desirably connected to a drive motor for controlled rotary drive of the welding wheel. By means of the drive motor, the speed of rotation of the ultrasound welding wheel which forms a sonotrode is accurately matched to the advance speed of the installation, that is to say the advance speed of the metal strip which is shaped to form the metal tube, in order to produce a highly accurate metal tube which is provided with the inner and outer plastic layers in firmly adhering relationship.
To produce the highly precise metal tube from the corresponding metal strip, it has proven to be desirable if adjacent to the welding device are two closing roller devices which each have more than two closing rollers which are distributed at the periphery and which adjoin each other. Each of the two closing roller devices may have four mutually adjoining closing rollers.
In order to permit adaptation to different material qualities of metal strips which are to be shaped to form the metal tube, in respect of dimensional tolerances, stiffnesses of the material and so forth, it is desirable if at least some of the closing rollers of the respective closing roller dev
Gerber Frank
Neubauer Gerhard
Aftergut Jeff H.
Bachman & LaPointe P.C.
Musser Barbara J.
Unicor GmbH Rahn Plastmaschinen
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