EP2638984A1 - Bending unit - Google Patents

Abstract

The unit (1) has a conveyor unit (3) that is utilized for conveying a strip material (2) to a bending tool. The bending tool is utilized for bending the strip material. The conveyor unit is arranged with two guide shoes (4a, 4b) between which the strip material is guided. A positioning unit is assigned to the guide shoes. A positional displacement of the guide shoes is performed by the positioning unit such that the strip material is able to be positioned in a target position at the bending tool for a bending operation.

Description

The invention relates to a bending unit according to the preamble of claim 1.

With such a control unit is strip material, which preferably consists of steel strip, bent so that it has a certain contour. The strip material is generally used for the production of knife lines, ie punching knives, which are used for punching out packaging, which in particular consist of cardboard or corrugated cardboard.

The knife lines to be produced from the strip material form in a punching form of a punching device a line-shaped punching knife arrangement which corresponds to the contour of the packaging to be punched out. The contour usually has a relatively complex shape, typically with several at certain angles converging straight or curved segments running.

In order to produce such a complex contour of a knife line, the corresponding strip material must be bent several times. In order to ensure a rational production, the strip material should be able to be bent several times by machine as rationally as possible in a few operations. Furthermore, an essential requirement is to bend the strip material as accurately and reproducibly as possible in order to obtain the desired contour of the knife line. It is particularly necessary to be able to realize different bending radii exactly.

The invention has for its object to provide a bending unit, by means of which the requirements mentioned can be met.

To solve this problem, the features of claim 1 are provided. Advantageous embodiments and expedient developments of the invention are described in the subclaims.

The bending unit according to the invention comprises a conveyor unit for conveying strip material to a bending tool, by means of which the strip material is bent. The conveyor unit has two guide jaws, between which the strip material is guided, wherein the guide jaws positioning means are assigned. With the positioning means, a positional adjustment of the guide jaws is performed to position the strip material in a desired position on the bending tool for a bending operation.

With the bending unit according to the invention can be produced in a rational manner from a strip material, which preferably consists of strip steel, by repeatedly bending the strip material at different locations knife lines, ie punching knife, with certain contours, which are then inserted into a die to packaging, the preferably consist of corrugated cardboard or cardboard, to be able to dance.

The conveyor unit thereby promotes the strip material such that successively different locations of the strip material are fed to a bending tool, so that with the bending tool then the strip material can be bent at this point in a defined manner.

In contrast to known bending devices in which the strip material is conveyed along a straight path, the bending unit according to the invention has two guide jaws, which can be adjusted by positioning means in position, whereby the stored between the guide jaws band material can be adjusted in position. As a result, the point to be bent of the strip material can be positioned exactly in a desired position on the bending tool.

By this positioning possibility, the strip material is positioned in a desired position such that the bending process to be performed with the bending tool can be optimally performed. The desired position is chosen so that with the bending tool optimum transfer of force to the strip material, so that it is reproducibly bent at the predetermined location with a precisely defined bending radius.

With the conveyor unit successively different locations of the strip material are transported to the bending tool. For each of these locations, an optimum target position of the strip material, which is optimal for the bending process to be performed, is approached individually by positioning the guide jaws. This allows all individual, consecutive bending operations can be performed accurately and reproducibly in a simple and efficient manner.

According to a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, the guide jaws are positionally adjustable on a horizontal bearing surface in a horizontal plane. The strip material is oriented in a vertical plane between flat contact surfaces of the guide jaws.

In this case, it is advantageous that the bending tool is a bending finger whose longitudinal axis extends in the vertical direction, wherein a bending operation takes place by rotating the bending finger about its longitudinal axis.

The geometries and degrees of freedom of the bending unit according to the invention are thus matched exactly to one another.

The bending tool oriented in a vertical direction in the form of a bending finger is adapted to the orientation of the band material in a vertical plane, so that the band material is bent over its entire height by a rotational movement of the bending finger.

The bending finger or generally the bending tool is arranged stationary, that is, it can only be rotated but not positionverstellt, resulting in a relatively simple construction of the bending tool.

The exact positioning of the strip material required for a reproducible bending process can be performed exactly by the positional adjustability of the guide jaws in one plane, that is, in two spatial directions, whereby the orientation of the strip material is maintained in a vertical plane, that is, there are no unwanted tilting of the Band material relative to the bending tool.

Particularly advantageously, the guide jaws are chamfered at their front ends, so that they complement each other to form a wedge, at the front edge of the strip material opens, and that the opening at the leading edge portion of the strip material is positioned for a bending operation in the desired position on the bending tool.

Due to the wedge-shaped design of the guide jaws, an opening of the strip material is obtained at the front edge of the wedge-shaped tip, which forms an easily accessible, geometrically exactly defined setpoint position at which the strip material is bent. Due to the wedge-shaped design of the front ends of the guide jaws, the leading edges of this guide jaw can be moved close to the bending finger in order to carry out the bending operation. The wedge-shaped front ends do not hinder the rotational movement of the bending process. This arrangement is particularly advantageous because the leading edge of the tip of the guide jaws close to the desired position, that is, the mouth of the strip material and forms an abutment for the strip material when bent by the bending fingers. This allows a precise and reproducible bending process.

According to a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, the guide jaws are adjusted either individually or simultaneously.

The strip material is adjusted by a simultaneous position adjustment of the guide jaws in position.

Thereby, the strip material is positioned in a desired position on the bending tool for performing a bending operation.

Furthermore, the guide jaws in the longitudinal direction against each other.

By a longitudinal displacement of the guide jaws, the leading end of a guide jaw protrudes beyond the front end of the other guide jaw and forms a stop for the strip material when performing a bending operation.

With this design of a stop advantageously very tight bending radii can be obtained in the implementation of a bending operation.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the bending unit is part of a device by means of which strip lines for a stamping machine are made of strip material.

In such a device, first a cutting edge can be formed on a longitudinal edge of the strip material. Furthermore, so-called breakpoints can then be incorporated into this cutting edge, preferably milled.

Such breakpoints form indentations in the cutting edges of the punching blades. These notches are incorporated at predetermined target positions in the punching knife, the widths and heights are chosen so small that when punching the respective packaging with such punches through the breakpoints remain only small, barely visible webs between the packaging element and the rest of the stamping material, the one Prevent the packaging from falling out of the packaging raw material. An example of such a unit for incorporating breakpoints in a punching knife is in DE 20 2007 018 975 U1 described.

Figur 1:

Perspektivische Darstellung eines Ausführungsbeispiels der erfindungsgemäßen Biegeeinheit.

Figur 2:

Draufsicht auf die Anordnung gemäß Figur 1.

Figur 3:

Erste Einzeldarstellung der Führungsbacken mit zugeordnetem Biegewerkzeug der Biegeeinheit gemäß Figur 1.

Figur 4:

Zweite Einzeldarstellung der Führungsbacken mit zugeordnetem Biegewerkzeug der Biegeeinheit gemäß Figur 1.

The invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings. Show it:

FIG. 1:

Perspective view of an embodiment of the bending unit according to the invention.

FIG. 2:

Top view of the arrangement according to FIG. 1 ,

FIG. 3:

First individual representation of the guide jaws with associated bending tool of the bending unit according to FIG. 1 ,

FIG. 4:

Second individual representation of the guide jaws with associated bending tool of the bending unit according to FIG. 1 ,

FIG. 1 schematically shows an embodiment of the bending unit 1 according to the invention. The bending unit 1 is part of a device by means of which existing strip steel strip material 2 knife lines, that is punching knife for punching of packaging produced. The device contains several modules. With a first module, not shown, a longitudinal edge of the strip material 2 is ground to produce a cutting edge. With a second, not shown module breakpoints are incorporated in this cutting edge. The bending unit 1 forms a third module in which the strip material 2 is bent such that the knife lines produced from the strip material 2 form a predetermined contour in order to punch out a specific packaging.

The bending unit 1 comprises a conveyor unit 3, with which the strip material 2 is fed to a bending tool. The conveyor unit 3 has at its front end two guide jaws 4a, 4b, between which the strip material 2 is guided and at the same time fixed in position.

With the conveyor unit 3 and in particular with the guide jaws 4a, 4b, the band material 2 is conveyed lying in a vertical plane. The guide jaws 4a, 4b themselves are mounted on a table 5. In this case, the table 5 has a planar, oriented in a horizontal plane top, which forms a flat support surface on which the guide jaws 4a, 4b are mounted.

With the guide jaws 4a, 4b, the strip material 2 is fed to a bending tool. The bending tool comprises in the present case a bending finger 6, whose longitudinal axis extends in the vertical direction. The bending finger 6 is mounted with its upper end in a housing 7. By means of a pneumatic drive, not shown, the bending finger 6 can be adjusted in the vertical direction, in particular to introduce the lower end in a receptacle 8 in a turntable 9. In the present case, the turntable 9 has two identical receptacles 8. The turntable 9 is rotatably mounted in the table 5. The contour of the receptacle 8 is adapted to the cross section of the bending finger 6, so that the lower end of the bending finger 6 is free of play or low in play in the receptacle 8. In the present case, the bending finger 6 has a triangular cross-section. To carry out a bending operation of the bending finger 6 is inserted with its lower end in the receptacle 8, so that the bending finger 6 is fixedly mounted at its upper end and lower end. Then, the bending finger 6 is rotated about its longitudinal axis by means of the electric drive to perform a bending operation.

Like from the FIGS. 1 and 2 and also from the individual representations of FIGS. 3 and 4 can be seen, the guide jaws 4a, 4b are identical and arranged mirror-symmetrically to the plane of the strip material 2. The guide jaws 4a, 4b each have a cross section which is constant over their entire height. In the rear, the remaining conveyor unit 3 facing area, the guide jaws 4a, 4b have a constant width. The front ends of the guide jaws 4a, 4b, however, are chamfered. These beveled front ends complement each other to a tapered wedge, wherein at the Leading edge of this wedge, the strip material 3 opens. In the area of the outlet, the strip material 2 is bent with the bending tool.

To optimize the bending process, the guide jaws 4a, 4b are arranged position adjustable. Thus, the guide jaws 4 a, 4 b, in particular their leading edges, at which the strip material 2 opens, are positioned so that the strip material 2 to be bent is in a desired position relative to the bending tool.

In the present case, a pneumatic device 10 is provided as the first positioning means. With this pneumatic device 10, a segment of the table 5, on which the guide jaws 4 a, 4 b are stored, moved. As a result of this displacement of the segment of the table 5, the guide jaws 4a, 4b arranged thereon are also displaced. Thereby, the guide jaws 4a, 4b become simultaneous, as in FIG FIG. 3 is moved in the horizontal plane of the top of the table 5, that is, the guide jaws 4a, 4b can in two independent spatial directions (in FIG. 3 with x and y direction designated) are moved.

Furthermore, the guide jaws 4 a, 4 b can also be moved relative to one another, for which purpose a further pneumatic unit is provided. As FIG. 4 shows, for the relative movement of the guide jaws 4a, 4b, a guide jaw 4b in the longitudinal direction (in FIG. 4 with y-direction) are shifted. By the displacement of the contact of the guide jaws 4a, 4b is maintained over the contact surface, that is, the support of the strip material 2 between the guide jaws 4a, 4b is not affected by the relative movement of the guide jaws 4a, 4b. In the simplest case, the relative displacement is particularly advantageously carried out in two discrete steps, so that only a specific, small number of different relative positions can be set.

At the in FIG. 4 In the illustrated case, the guide jaw 4b is pushed with its front end over the guide jaw 4a. This forms the protruding Front end of the guide jaw 4b a stop for the bending operation to be performed with the bending finger 6. With this stop very tight bending radii of the bent strip material 2 can be achieved during the bending process.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

(1)

bending unit

(2)

band material

(3)

delivery unit

(4a, 4b)

guide jaw

(5)

table

(6)

bending finger

(7)

casing

(8th)

admission

(9.)

turntable

(10)

pneumatic equipment

Claims (10)

Bending unit (1) with a conveyor unit (3) for conveying strip material (2) to a bending tool, by means of which the strip material (2) is bent, characterized in that the conveyor unit (3) has two guide jaws (4a, 4b) between which the strip material (2) is guided, wherein the guide jaws (4a, 4b) are associated with positioning means, wherein the positioning means a positional adjustment of the guide jaws (4a, 4b) is performed in order for a bending operation, the strip material (2) in a desired position on Position bending tool. Bending unit according to claim 1, characterized in that the guide jaws (4a, 4b) are positionally adjustable on a horizontal bearing surface in a horizontal plane. Bending unit according to claim 2, characterized in that the strip material (2) oriented in a vertical plane between planar contact surfaces of the guide jaws (4a, 4b) is fixed. Bending unit according to claim 3, characterized in that the guide jaws (4a, 4b) are chamfered at their front ends, so that they complement each other to form a wedge, at the front edge of which the strip material (2) opens, and in that the opening at the front edge of the Band material (2) is positioned for a bending operation in the desired position on the bending tool. Bending unit according to one of claims 3 or 4, characterized in that the bending tool is a bending finger (6) whose longitudinal axis extends in the vertical direction, wherein a bending operation by turning the bending finger (6) takes place about its longitudinal axis. Bending unit according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the guide jaws (4a, 4b) are selectively adjusted individually or simultaneously. Bending unit according to claim 6, characterized in that the strip material (2) is adjusted by a simultaneous positional adjustment of the guide jaws (4a, 4b) in its position. Bending unit according to one of claims 6 or 7, characterized in that the guide jaws (4a, 4b) are displaceable in the longitudinal direction against each other. Bending unit according to claim 8, characterized in that by a longitudinal displacement of the guide jaws (4a, 4b), the front end of a guide jaw (4a, 4b) over the front end of the other guide jaws (4a, 4b) protrudes and a stop for the strip material (2) Performing a bending process forms. Bending unit according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that it is part of a device by means of which strip material (2) knife lines are produced for a stamping machine.

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