EP1065015A1 - Apparatus for bending elongate metallic objects such as tubes - Google Patents

Abstract

The bender consists of a frame (1) carrying a bending module (2) which has a supporting member (7) for a holder (8) which keeps the bending mechanism (9) in a central position on an axis (14) parallel to the supporting member. The bending mechanism has a bracket (15) which can be adjusted along the supporting member and at least one power cylinder (22) with a bending head (23) on its rod. The power cylinder is connected to the bracket by a positioning system with a curved slider (19) which allows the cylinder's rod to be pivoted about the axis (14) in a plane perpendicular to it.

Description

The present invention relates to a device for bending of elongated metal elements and in particular steel, copper, or aluminum tubes for example of building pipes for automotive for transporting brake fluid, fuel, coolant, or coolant power steering.

Bending a tube consists of deforming plastically and locally the tube so as to form an elbow. Most known bending devices implement either a bending process by stamping, a rotary bending process.

In stamping bending, a roller movable integral with the rod of a linear cylinder is applied in a transverse direction against a free end of a tube held in a vice for partially wind it around a fixed roller.

In rotary bending, the free end of a tube held in a vice is arranged in a head bending comprising two rollers with parallel axes, between which extend the tube, and which are mounted on a support integral with the rod of a rotolinear cylinder (on recalls that in a rotolinear cylinder, the rod slides along its longitudinal axis and / or pivots around it). The rotation of the rod causes the bending of the tube, one of the rollers partially winding the tube around the other roller.

In general, industrialists implementing such bending processes use two types of machines.

In the first type, the machine has a frame on which is fixed at least one vice holding the tube to bend and, for each elbow to be produced, a bending cylinder in a precise position corresponding to the position of the elbow to be produced on the tube. Such machines, dedicated to the realization of a tube, are relatively inexpensive and are therefore profitable for large productions series. Such a machine is however relatively long to manufacture. Furthermore, when the geometry of the tube to be produced must be modified so that the tube meet new constraints (for example, in the case of a brake fluid transport line in a vehicle, these constraints can be linked to transition from a conventional braking system to a system with anti-lock braking system, from a driving position on the left to a driving station on the right, from a brake system to drum to a disc brake system to the modification of an elbow causing noise or wear important ...) require to return the machine to the workshop to make the changes corresponding to the positioning of the cylinders bending. This operation requires dismantling the machine and is relatively long and expensive.

In the second type, the machine has a or more bending heads whose axes are scanned and means to move this head from bending with respect to the tube. This machine is very flexible and therefore well suited to the production of parts small and medium series. However, the need to positioning the bending head for each bend makes such a slow and imprecise machine. Otherwise, these machines are expensive and especially since the precision of the parts to be produced is high.

We know from documents US-A-4 604 885, US-A-5 765 426 and DE-A-4 242 002 of the bending composed of a central holding member surrounded by two bending members mounted so adjustable on a frame.

In particular, document US-A-4 604 885 describes a device for bending metallic elements elongated, in particular tubular elements, comprising at least one bending module mounted on a frame, said module comprising a support profile on which is fixed at least one member for holding an element to be bent in a position centered on an axis parallel to the support profile, and at least one bending member, according to the preamble of claim 1.

The bending members are generally mounted on a stem carrying a working bending head in the retaining axis of the workpiece, the head depending on the case, orientable around the axis of holding by a positional means operating said head in a plane perpendicular to the axis.

These devices compel the bending head to remain in the holding axis, which cannot be set aside by its mounting. This is a disadvantage when for example you have to clear your head to allow the positioning of an element to be bent, or when it is necessary to bend off the axis holding.

In this regard, document US-A-4 may be cited 945,747 which describes a device similar to those described previously, in which the bending head is fixed at the end of a robotic arm, allowing an offset of the bending head. It is a solution technically interesting, but very expensive to put in action.

The technological background relating to heads of bending is finally illustrated by document DE-A-38 11,891.

The object of the invention is to propose a economical, susceptible bending device to be reconfigured in a simple way to deal with modifications to the geometry or dimensions of products to be made and have flexibility important.

With a view to achieving this goal, provision is made, according to the invention, a bending device of the type mentioned above, in which the bending member comprises a stem fixedly adjustable in position along the support profile and at least one bending cylinder, the rod is equipped with a bending head, said cylinder being connected to the stem by a positional system comprising a slide in an arc of a circle, mounted adjustable in position on the stem and linked to bending cylinder at one of its ends so that the axis of the cylinder rod is forced to pivot around of the retaining axis in a plane perpendicular to said audit axis.

Thus, the adjustment of the position of the organ of bending with respect to the holding member makes it possible to modify the position of the elbow to be produced on the element elongated, and the pivoting of the bending cylinder around the retaining pin allows the orientation of the bend in relation to the part of the elongated element which is received in the holding member. These different settings therefore make it possible to obtain in a simple manner different bending configurations.

According to a particular characteristic, the bending module includes two bending members each extending on one side of the holding member.

Advantageously, the bending cylinder is a rotolinear cylinder.

The orientation of the bending head around its pivot axis combines with the pivoting of the bending cylinder around the retaining axis for get a lot of elbow geometries combining different orientations and angles.

Preferably then, the positional system allows a pivot range of the bending cylinder about 180 °.

A maximum of elbow geometries can so be obtained.

According to an additional characteristic, the device includes at least one transfer module of bending elements comprising a support profile on which is mounted to pivot a shaft parallel to the axis holding and at least one manipulator arm having a end integral with said shaft to extend transversely to it and one end opposite equipped with a gripping means.

The transfer module allows in a simple way to supply elements to bend the bending module or to evacuate from it the curved elements. This realization using a manipulator arm present the advantage of a limited size giving the bending device a compact structure.

Preferably then, the manipulator arm is telescopic and support profiles for the bending and transfer are mounted on the frame for be adjustable in position relative to each other.

This provision is particularly advantageous in bending devices comprising several bending modules and several transfer, because it allows optimal exploitation of the space available depending on the size of the parts to be produced and the number of bending modules employees.

Alternatively, the transfer module includes at least one substantially horizontal straight guide extending transversely to the retaining axis, and to top of the bending module, on which is mounted sliding at least one carriage provided with a grip mounted vertically movable on this carriage.

This second type of transfer module allows the same way of supplying elements to bend the bending module or to evacuate from it the elements curved.

Advantageously, at least the support profile of the bending module is mounted on the frame to extend vertically.

The size of the bending device is the limited sort and the bending device does not requires only a small floor space.

According to another particular characteristic, the bending module includes two holding members each associated with a bending member, one of the holding members and the associated bending member being mounted on a carriage adjustable in position along of the support profile. This will be particularly interesting in the case where the elements to be bent are of structure hybrid, being made up of butt elements alternately flexible and rigid toe.

Finally, provision may be made for the support, the bending member and the possible module transfer are each motorized and controlled so as to that their spatial position is memorable in the automated device control.

Other features and benefits of the invention will emerge on reading the description which follows from a particular embodiment not limiting of the invention.

• la figure 1 est une vue partielle en perspective d'un dispositif de cintrage selon l'invention, comportant un module de cintrage ici encadré de deux modules de transfert,
• la figure 2 est une vue en élévation d'un organe de cintrage selon une direction longitudinale du profilé support, avec un détail de la tête de cintrage à plus grande échelle,
• la figure 3 est une vue analogue à la figure 2 selon une direction transversale du profilé support,
• la figure 4 est une vue schématique en élévation d'un dispositif de cintrage conforme à l'invention selon une configuration particulière,
• la figure 5 est une vue schématique en élévation d'un dispositif de cintrage selon une variante de configuration.

Reference will be made to the appended drawings, among which:

• FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of a bending device according to the invention, comprising a bending module here framed by two transfer modules,
• FIG. 2 is an elevation view of a bending member in a longitudinal direction of the support profile, with a detail of the bending head on a larger scale,
• FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 in a transverse direction of the support profile,
• FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic elevation view of a bending device according to the invention in a particular configuration,
• Figure 5 is a schematic elevational view of a bending device according to a variant configuration.

With reference to the figures, the device for bending according to the invention comprises a frame 1 on which are alternately mounted modules bending generally designated in 2 and modules transfer generally designated in 3, here three modules 2 and four transfer modules 3.

The frame 1 comprises a base 4 supporting two parallel beams 5. Each spar 5 is formed of a metal profile such as aluminum having a substantially rectangular cross section and having longitudinal grooves 6 having a substantially T-shaped cross section

Each bending module 2 includes a profile support 7 on which are mounted a holding member (here unique) with the general reference 8 and two bending members with the general reference 9 each extending on one side of the holding member 8.

The support profile 7 is formed by a profile in metal such as aluminum having a cross section substantially rectangular and having grooves longitudinal 10 having a cross section substantially T-shaped

The holding member 8 comprises an upright 11 having a lower end secured to a base 12 for fixing to the support profile 7 and one end opposite equipped with a clamp 13 of known type arranged to hold an element to be bent by clamping, by example a metal tube, along an axis 14 parallel to the support profile 7.

Each bending member 9 further comprises a bracket 15 having a lower end 16 forming a mounting base to the support profile 7 and a upper end 17 in which is formed, in a plane perpendicular to the support profile 7, a housing 18 in an arc receiving a sliding slide 19 also in an arc. Housing 18 and the slide 19 extend in a plane perpendicular to the holding axis 14 and are centered on the latter. The slide 19 here extends over a angle of about 90 °. The housing 18 is here closed by a cover 20 held on the end 17 by screws 21 which, when screwed, tighten the slide 19 in the desired angular position between the cover 20 and the bottom of the housing 18 thus immobilizing the slide 19 in the angular position desired by compared to the amount 15.

Each bending member 9 also includes a rotolinear cylinder 22 whose body is fixed, here by screws, on one end of the slide 19 so that extend transversely to the axis of holding 14. The rod of the jack 22 has one end free fitted with a bending head 23. The bending head bending 23 comprises in a manner known per se a roller 24 centered on the pivot axis 25 of the cylinder rod 22 and an eccentric roller 26 with an axis parallel to that of the roller 24. The rollers 24, 26 are provided with a groove peripheral having a cross section corresponding to that of the tube to be bent. The cylinder 22 is further connected to the gallows 15 by a system positional, constituted here by the slide 19 in arc of circle. The jack 22 is thus fixed to one end of the slide 19 so that the axis of the rod of said cylinder either forced to pivot around the holding axis 14, essentially in a plane perpendicular to said axis. The rod of the jack 22 slides between an extended position, in which the cross-sectional housing circular defined by the grooves of the rollers 24, 26 is usually centered on the holding axis 14, and a retracted position. If so, it is entirely possible to position this housing, in the position output of cylinder 22, so that it does not coincide exactly with the retaining pin 14, in order to perform a bend on a part of the tube extending outside said axis.

The cylinder 22 and the clamp 13 are supplied with air compressed via standard lines respectively along the slide 19 and the gallows 15 and along the upright 11 to be connected to a compressed air control and supply device not shown here.

The holding member 8 and the bending 9 are fixed on the support profile 7 of so that they can be adjustable in position by compared to others along this support profile. The bending members 9 are for example fixed by through bolts 27 passing through the base 16 and having a lower end received in one of grooves 10 of the support profile 7. It is understood that, when the bolts 27 are loose, the bending 9 can be moved along the profile support 7. The holding member 8 can be fixed on the support profile 7 in the same way or permanently.

Each transfer module 3 includes him a support profile 28 identical to the support profile 7 and parallel to it, and a shaft 29 mounted on the support profile 28 by means of bearings 30 to rotate around its longitudinal direction which extends parallel to the retaining axis 14. Each transfer module 3 also includes an arm manipulator 31 preferably extending perpendicular to the holding axis 14 and having a end forming a clamp 32 of the shaft 29 allowing adjustable positioning of the arm manipulator 31 along the shaft 29, and one end opposite equipped with a known type of gripping means such as a clamp 33, connected by current pipes along the manipulator arm 31 to a device known to compressed air supply and control no shown here.

The shafts 29 of the transfer modules 3 are connected to each other via a rod 34 (visible in FIG. 5) articulated to a crankpin 35 attached to one end of each shaft 29 of way to transform an alternative movement of translation applied (by a means not shown) to the control rod 34 in reciprocating rotary motion trees 29 and in a pendulum movement of the arms manipulators 31.

Advantageously, the support profiles 7 and 28 are fixed to the side members 5 in a similar manner to the members holding 9 on the support profile 7, so that ability to be positioned relative to each other along the longitudinal members 5. The manipulator arm 31 of each transfer module 3 is then preferably telescopic.

In FIG. 4, the frame 1 is associated with a upstream assembly 36 for supplying bending tubes of known type (for example comprising an elevator) and a downstream assembly 35 for bending the bent tubes also of known type.

In this device, the side members 5 extend horizontally.

Bending modules 2 realize six bends on each tube from the ends of these to their middle part, each bending module 2 performing two bends. The holding member 8 being disposed between the two bending members 9, the the tube is maintained on its middle part which thus remains straight and allows to keep a fixed positioning reference of a module bending to another so simplifying the positioning of the jacks 22 whose head 23 intervenes on a straight portion centered on the holding axis 14.

The manipulator arm 31 of the transfer module 3 adjacent to the power supply 36 is movable between a first position in which he grabs a tube to bend in the power supply 36 and a second position in which he positions this tube in the holding member 8 of the bending module 2 adjacent. The manipulator arm 31 of the transfer module 3 adjacent to the evacuation assembly is mobile between a position in which it grasps the bent tube in the bending module 2 performing the last two bends and a second position in which it deposits the curved element in the assembly Evacuation 37. Each of the other transfer modules 3 located between these two transfer modules to his arm manipulator 31 which is movable between a position in which he grabs a tube to bend in a module bending 2 upstream and a position in which it positions the tube in a downstream bending module 2 to transport the tube to be bent from a module upstream bending to a downstream bending module. We note that clamps 13 and 33 must hold firmly the tube to prevent it from swing. It is indeed important that the orientation angular of the tube around its longitudinal direction parallel to the holding axis 14 is always known from one bending module 2 to the other because it is she who has conditioning the positioning of the bending cylinders.

Furthermore, we understand that the decomposition by modules of the bending operation allows a great flexibility of use of the device. So, we can produce two series of tubes on the same machine having different geometries using by example a single bending module for the realization one of the tubes and two bending modules for the other tube. Bending modules not used for a tube are not used, and are inactivated (remote position of rotolinear cylinder 22).

Alternatively, and according to a particular mode of realization (not shown here), the transfer module consists of a substantially straight guide horizontal placed above the bending module (s) transversely to the holding axis, with a carriage sliding mounted on this guide and provided with a means of grip can be moved vertically, in accordance with an overhead crane type installation or portal well known to those skilled in the art.

Thanks to this gripping means, the tubes are transferred from a feeding station upstream of the chain to the first bending module, then from close by close to the following, and finally to a bent tubes reception station. Possibly, in depending on the nature of the tubes to be bent, the module transfer is able to select the module (s) of bending on which the operations of bending, for example by skipping one or more positions bending.

In Figure 5, we can see a device bending in which the side members 5 extend in a vertical plane so that the support profiles 14 and 28 are vertical. The bending device rests on preferably directly on the ground S. We distinguish clearly positioning the holding members 9 (shown schematically in this figure) relative to the holding member 8 of each module bending 2 allowing the elbows to be produced from from the ends of the tubes towards their middle part (upstream and downstream of the system are located respectively on the right part and on the part left of the figure).

The positioning of the jacks 22 in each bending module is obtained on the one hand by adjusting the position of the bending members 9 relative to the holding member 8 and on the other hand by adjusting the angular position of each cylinder 22 around the axis of hold 14. This last adjustment is made in moving the slide 19 relative to the stem 15 and possibly by mounting the cylinder 22 on the other end of the slide 19. The bending head 23 is angularly adjustable around the axis of the jack 22, so as to determine the bending angle to be achieved, in accordance with conventional bending technique using this type of cylinder.

Of course, the invention is not limited to described embodiment and we can bring variants without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims.

Provision may be made for the holding member, the bending member and the possible transfer module are each motorized and controlled so that their spatial position is memorable in the frame automated device control. We manage then to make cooperate all the means thus piloted of automatically. In particular, reconfigurations of the bending members with respect to holding members can be automatically performed on a case-by-case basis according to each type of bending tube occurring upstream of the chain.

In addition, pairs of bending cylinders linear, arranged face to face or side by side, may be substituted for rotolinear bending cylinders. In this case, the rotary bending by winding is replaced by linear bending by stamping.

Finally, each bending module can include two holding members each associated with a holding member bending. This provision is particularly useful when the element to be bent comprises two tubes metallic connected to each other by a pipe flexible intermediate, in an end-to-end arrangement, each holding member ensuring positioning of one of the metal tubes. When the length of the flexible pipe may vary by element to bend to another, we can plan to mount one of the holding members and the associated bending member on a carriage adjustable in position along the profile support. It is also possible to order automatically the movements of the carriage by via a length measurement sensor flexible driving or by any other means. The module in this case may be arranged so as to have two manipulator arms to grab the item to be bent by metal tubes.

Claims (10)

Device for bending metallic elements elongated, in particular tubular elements, comprising at least one bending module (2) mounted on a frame (1), said module comprising a support profile (7) on which is fixed at least one member (8) for holding a element to be bent in a position centered on an axis (14) parallel to the support profile, and at least one member bending (9), characterized in that the bending (9) has a bracket (15) fixed so adjustable in position along the support profile and at least one bending cylinder (22) with which the rod is fitted a bending head (23), said cylinder being connected to the stem (15) by a positional system (19) comprising a slide (19) in an arc of a circle, mounted adjustable in position on the stem (15) and linked to the bending cylinder (22) at one of its ends of so that the axis of the cylinder rod is constrained to pivot around the holding axis (14) in a plane perpendicular to said axis. Bending device according to claim 1, characterized in that the bending module (2) comprises two bending members (9) each extending on one side of the holding member (8). Bending device according to one of the claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the actuator bending (22) is a rotolinear cylinder. Bending device according to one of the Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the system positional (19) allows a range of pivoting of the bending cylinder (22) of about 180 °. Bending device according to one of the previous claims, characterized in that includes at least one element transfer module (3) to be bent comprising a support profile (28) on which is mounted to pivot a shaft (29) parallel to the axis holding (14) and at least one manipulator arm (31) having one end (32) integral with said shaft (29) for extend transversely to it and a opposite end equipped with a gripping means (33). Bending device according to claim 5, characterized in that the manipulator arm (31) is telescopic and in that the support profiles (7, 28) bending and transfer modules (2, 3) are mounted on the frame (1) to be adjustable in position relative to each other. Bending device according to one of the Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it comprises at least one element transfer module to be bent comprising at least one substantially straight guide horizontal extending transversely to the axis of holding (14), and above the bending module (2), on which is slidably mounted at least one carriage provided of a gripping member movable vertically on this cart. Bending device according to one of the Claims 1 to 6, characterized in that at least the support profile (7) of the bending module (2) is mounted on the frame (1) to extend vertically. Bending device according to one of the previous claims, characterized in that the bending module (2) comprises two holding members (8) each associated with a bending member (9), one holding members (8) and the bending member (9) associated being mounted on a carriage adjustable in position along the support profile (7). Bending device according to one of the previous claims, characterized in that the holding member (8), the bending member (9), and the possible transfer module (3) are each motorized and controlled so that their spatial position can be saved as part of an order automated said device.

Images