Metal deforming – By use of non-deforming work-gripping clamp and relatively... – Plural or complex apparatus
Utility Patent
1998-02-09
2001-01-02
Tolan, Ed (Department: 3725)
Metal deforming
By use of non-deforming work-gripping clamp and relatively...
Plural or complex apparatus
C072S307000, C072S384000, C072S399000, C072S446000, C072S379200
Utility Patent
active
06167740
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to bending a workpiece to form a desired configuration and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for forming bends either in a sequential manner or “out-of-sequence”, i.e., in a time sequence different from the spatial sequence of the bends on the workpiece. The invention is applicable to a variety of malleable materials, including metallic and non-metallic materials, and to various profile types including strips, rods, tubes, pipes, linear or planar workpieces and the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many systems for bending workpieces to form a desired configuration have been devised. In such systems, the workpiece is typically driven past a bending station such that the workpiece is formed into the desired configuration beginning at one end and progressing at intervals along the length of the workpiece until the configuration is completed. The bends are thus formed in a time sequence corresponding to the spatial sequence of the bends on the workpiece.
A number of different types of bending tools may be employed at the bending stations of such devices including, for example, brake presses, mandrel and wiper bending tools, and roller arrays, e.g., three or more bending rollers arranged in a pyramid or triangular array. In a brake press, the workpiece is pressed between appropriately shaped dies to form the bend. In mandrel and wiper bending, the wiper is moved so as to cause the workpiece to bend about the mandrel. In roller array systems, at least one of the rollers can ordinarily be moved relative to adjacent rollers so that the curvature of the resulting bend in the workpiece pressed between the rollers can be varied.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It has been recognized that conventional bending systems do not fully address the needs of certain industrial bending applications. In particular, such conventional systems are generally not adapted for use in forming a variety of workpiece configurations, of either a complex or simple nature, which involve sequential or out-of-sequence bends and/or where workpiece movement is limited, which accommodate a range of workpiece sizes from small to large—requiring mechanical intervention to move, on a variety of workpiece materials.
One such industrial application relates to bending elongate strips of metal to form complicated configurations. For example, in the sign industry, a strip of metal can be bent to form the side wall of a neon tube housing. Because such housings may take the form of a custom design, artwork or letters of various sizes and fonts, the side wall configuration varies dramatically from case to case.
In order to accommodate the demands of such applications, it is preferable that the bending system employed be readily capable of forming bends of a variety of shapes including corners and smooth curves. Moreover, in order to more nearly achieve full automation or operate in limited space, it is desirable that the bending system not only be capable of forming bends in a sequential fashion, but also in an order out of sequence. In this regard, it will be appreciated that some configurations are problematic in that an attempt to sequentially form the configuration bends, i.e., beginning at one end of the workpiece and progressing along the length of the workpiece until the configuration is completed, results in mechanical interference between portions of the workpiece or between the workpiece and the bending machinery. Such interference can often be reduced or eliminated by forming the bends out of sequence.
However, conventional systems generally are not adapted for automatically forming bends either sequentially or out of sequence, regardless of the size of the workpiece. As a result, conventional systems are significantly restricted in the type of final products they can produce. Moreover, in such systems, it may be difficult or impossible to reverse workpiece motion or reposition the workpiece relative to the bending machinery to achieve out-of-sequence bends after a bend has been formed. An inability to do so can preclude utilizing the bending station to process the workpiece at a location upstream from a previously formed bend. Consequently, it is common to form such configurations by manually maneuvering the workpiece to conduct out-of-sequence processing.
The present inventions address these concerns by providing a method and apparatus for automatically forming sequential or out-of-sequence bends on a workpiece. The inventions can be employed for forming bends of a variety of shapes including corners and smooth, continuous curves. Moreover, the inventions can be employed to operate on a stationary workpiece, where advancement of the workpiece during a bending operation is inconvenient or impossible or on a moving workpiece. Similarly, the bending tools may be stationary or may be moving. The inventions can also be employed in conjunction with a controller for deriving bending information to achieve substantially full automation or to maintain workpiece registration for increased accuracy in bending.
The apparatus of the present inventions include a bending system for bending a workpiece and a positioning system for relative positioning of the workpiece and the bending system so that bends can be formed in various locations within a defined bending region. By virtue of this structure, a series of bends can be formed on the workpiece at various locations within the bending region and in an appropriate sequence to avoid interference.
The bending machine utilizes a double gantry system for manipulating the bending tools and the workpiece relative to each other. The apparatus includes a first bending element associated with a first positioning assembly such that the first bending element can be positioned relative to two separate axes. There is also a second bending element associated with a second positioning assembly such that the second bending element can also be positioned relative to the two axes. The first and second positioning assemblies are preferably independently operable to provide relative movement between the first and second bending elements during a bending operation.
In this embodiment, the first positioning assembly is preferably on a first gantry and the second positioning assembly is preferably on a second gantry. Each of the bending elements can include one or more bending rollers or forming tools, a mandrel and/or a clamp. A corner or angle of any degree can be formed in the workpiece by clamping the workpiece and then moving a bending roller or other wiping mechanism across the workpiece so that the workpiece is bent about the clamp. A curve can be formed by causing relative movement of the workpiece and a bending or forming element. The bending element may be either one, two or three rollers, disposed along the path of movement. This is accomplished by moving the bending element(s) while holding the workpiece stationary, by holding the bending element(s) in a selected stationary orientation and then driving the workpiece into contact with the bending element(s), or by simultaneous movement(s) of both. The double gantry apparatus thereby provides significant flexibility in forming various shapes of bends on a moving or stationary workpiece and for forming such bends substantially or fully automatically and in a predetermined sequence.
The bending apparatus also can be employed in conjunction with a controller for providing information regarding the bends. The controller receives design information regarding the desired workpiece configuration and derives bending information based on the received design information. The bending information can include information regarding the shapes and positions of bends for forming the desired configuration and/or information regarding a sequence for forming the bends. The derived bend information can be employed by the positioning system of the apparatus to provide substantially fully automatic bending without interference between the workpiece and itself or with the bending tools. An indexing
Abliazov Vladimir I.
Korolev Vyacheslav S.
Li Valery A.
Lipari B. J.
Tankelevich Roman L.
Laser Products, Inc.
Ross P.C. Sheridan
Tolan Ed
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