Tool changing – With means to transfer work – Plural machine tools – e.g. – flexible manufacturing
Patent
1997-08-20
1999-12-07
Briggs, William
Tool changing
With means to transfer work
Plural machine tools, e.g., flexible manufacturing
82106, 82129, 409200, 483 14, B23Q 3157, B23B 518, B23C 306
Patent
active
059974524
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention comes within the field of crankshaft machining and concerns, in particular, a machine tool for turning and shaving crankshafts for engines.
2. Discussion of the Background
The present machine tools for turning and shaving crankshafts designed for engines are of the type comprising a frame that contains a work station ensuring the rotation of a crankshaft and a machining station equipped with at least one tool holder for turning and shaving the crankshaft driven in rotation on the work station. The machining station and drive station are generally arranged on an inclined plane in order to facilitate the extraction of shaving resulting from the machining operation.
Such a machine tool has a disadvantage as to its profitability, for a time delay is necessary between two machining operations on the same machine, in order to assume all of the operations of disengagement, unloading, loading, engagement and indexing of a crankshaft, called "auxiliary operations" within the context of this invention. For the turning and shaving of crankshafts designed for engines with four in-line cylinders, the applicant found that the times of the auxiliary operations were as long as the machining times, so that the effective machining times are cut in half, which is very detrimental to the efficiency of such machine tools.
On the basis of these findings, the applicant then conducted research which led to the study of a new machine tool design making it possible to overcome this type of problem, while offering numerous other advantages intended to improve the machining of crankshafts both quantitatively and qualitatively. Although such a machine tool was conceived in the minds of the innovators to perform the operations of turning and shaving of crankshafts for engines with four in-line cylinders, it goes without saying that its basic concepts, which are going to be described and represented below for this specific type of application, may be easily adopted by the expert for other types of machining (grinding, simple turning, etc.) and other types of crankshafts.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The machine tool according to the invention, earmarked notably for turning and shaving crankshafts for engines with four in-line cylinders, is remarkable in that it contains, arranged on a frame along the transfer axis of a machining line of said crankshafts and in the same horizontal plane: the crankshaft turning and shaving operations, arranged parallel up and down the line from the machining station, so that the tool holder disk of the latter, movably mounted along the transfer axis, can move back and forth from one work station to another and ensure the machining of a crankshaft during the auxiliary operations necessary for installation of a new crankshaft on the other work station and vice versa.
The coplanar arrangement of the two work stations on both sides of a machining station, combined with the mobility of the latter between the two work stations, thus makes possible, during the auxiliary times necessary for the operations of disengagement, unloading, loading, engagement and indexing of a crankshaft on one work station, the operations of machining a crankshaft on the other work station by the tool holder disk of the same machining station. The quantitative ratio is therefore multiplied by two and the space occupied by the machine tool assembly is less than that occupied by two machine tools, a not negligible advantage, taking into account the cost per square meter occupied in an industrial zone.
According to a first preferred embodiment of the invention, the machining station is equipped with two tool holder disks movable along the transfer axis on one side, in order to move from one work station to the next, and along an axis perpendicular to the first, on the other, in order to approach and/or separate from each other, so as to ensure the machining of two different portions of the crankshaft from one work station to the other. Such kinematics is intended to emp
REFERENCES:
patent: 2643570 (1953-06-01), Sieilmann et al.
patent: 4305232 (1981-12-01), Price
patent: 4457193 (1984-07-01), Matthey
patent: 4711016 (1987-12-01), Genschon et al.
patent: 4729159 (1988-03-01), Henneberg
patent: 4736512 (1988-04-01), Gusching et al.
patent: 4893398 (1990-01-01), Zimmer
patent: 5081889 (1992-01-01), Takano et al.
Briggs William
Renault-Automation
LandOfFree
Machine tool for machining crankshafts for engines does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Machine tool for machining crankshafts for engines, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Machine tool for machining crankshafts for engines will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-818192