Loop sleeving module

Abstract

The invention relates to a looping module (1), comprising a looping container (2) for loosely receiving a looping as bulk material, a conveying device which can be rotated about an axis of rotation, and a conveying track (3) which extends in a longitudinal direction (20). By means of the conveying device, the looping can be conveyed from the looping container (2) to the conveying track (3). The conveying device is formed by a looping conveying wheel (10), and the horizontal rotation axis (30) of the looping conveying wheel extends perpendicular to the longitudinal direction (20). The looping conveying wheels (10) are provided with groove-shaped concave parts (5) which are used for respectively forming cavities for looping.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a socket module according to the preamble of claim 1. With a socket module or socket station for equipping cables, sockets required, for example, for guiding electrical lines through a plug housing or a housing wall of an electrical device in a moisture-proof manner can be conveniently mounted on the cable. Background Art

[0002] A sleeve is a sealing element, for example made of silicone, which is usually used to seal plug housings. When bundling cables, the cables can be cut to length and stripped of insulation, equipped with sleeves, crimped and, if necessary, provided with a housing. For this purpose, the stripped cables are equipped with sleeves and then usually metal contacts are crimped. Here, the crimping contacts are designed so that they fix the sleeves on the cables. The sleeves are equipped on a fully automatic cable bundling device with a sleeve fitting station, wherein the sleeves are usually fed into the sleeve fitting station as bulk material. Semi-automatic machines for cable bundling devices are also known (here the cables are inserted manually), which can perform the sleeve fitting process in addition to other operations. It is particularly advantageous in fully automatic machines that the sleeve station can be quickly and error-free converted from one sleeve variant to another sleeve variant.

[0003] A sleeve module of this type is shown in EP1689049A1. The sleeve module forms a sleeve station, which includes a sleeve storage having a rotating drum filled with sleeves and a sleeve equipment device for equipping the cable end of the cable stripped of the insulation skin with the sleeve. The sleeve storage belongs to a sleeve providing device for providing sleeves for equipment, and the sleeve equipment device also includes a conveying track of a vibrating conveyor. The sleeves are sorted and buffered by the conveying track. At the end of the buffer section, the sleeve equipment device takes out a single sleeve in order to equip it on the cable. The sleeve is correctly transported to the separation unit through the conveying track, and the sleeves are pushed from the separation unit to the mandrel of a rotatable conveying unit including four mandrels. In addition to the mentioned conveying unit with four mandrels, the sleeve equipment device also includes an equipment head with an expansion sleeve and a sleeve accommodating component. A discharge device with a push rod that can move up and down is arranged on the upper end of the separation unit, wherein the first sleeve in the conveying track is respectively transported to the conveying device by the push rod. The conveyor can be rotated by 90° in steps, wherein, in the first position, the sleeve is pushed onto the mandrel by means of the mentioned push rod. After the 90° rotation, in the second position of the conveyor unit, the sleeve is moved to the region of the mandrel with a larger diameter for the purpose of widening. The process of actually equipping the cable end with the sleeve is carried out in the third position. In the third position of the conveyor, the sleeve is pulled out of the mandrel using the equipping head, the sleeve is pushed onto the expansion sleeve, the sleeve is positioned onto the cable in an expanded state and finally pushed onto the cable. Once the mandrel is pivoted into the third position, the equipping head with the expansion sleeve of the two-piece design and the sleeve receiving part of the same two-piece design surrounds the sleeve. The drum has blades on its inner side, which convey the sleeve upwards when the drum rotates so that the sleeve falls onto the conveying track in a disorderly manner. Although the sleeve module with the drum has proven to be effective, it is characterized by a relatively large space requirement and a particularly wide structural form. Summary of the invention

[0004] The object of the invention is to provide an improved sleeve module which is characterized by a low space requirement and which in particular allows a narrow design.

[0005] These and other objects are achieved according to the invention by a cuff module having the features of claim 1 .

[0006] The sleeve module comprises a sleeve container for loosely accommodating or storing sleeves as bulk materials, a conveying device that can rotate around an axis of rotation, and a conveying track extending in the longitudinal direction. With the help of the conveying device, the sleeves can be transported from the sleeve container to the conveying track. Here, the conveying track for correctly conveying the sleeves to the sleeve equipment device can be a known vibrating conveyor or belongs to such a vibrating conveyor. The conveying device is formed by a sleeve conveying wheel, the axis of rotation of which is preferably transverse to and particularly preferably extends perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, so that a compact sleeve module can be realized, and the sleeve module is particularly advantageous in terms of width, that is, it is small in size or narrow. With the help of a sleeve that can be rotated by a drive, the conveying wheel can preferably be connected to or integrated in a fixed sleeve container. Another advantage of the sleeve conveying wheel is that the sleeve conveying wheel is simple in structure and low in cost and can operate reliably.

[0007] The sleeve conveying wheel can rotate about a horizontal axis of rotation, thereby realizing vertical conveying by means of the sleeve conveying wheel. Therefore, the inlet of the sleeve is at the bottom relative to the sleeve conveying wheel, and the outlet of the sleeve is at the top. The inlet can be located at the bottom or near the bottom of the sleeve container. The sleeve reaches the conveying track through the outlet.

[0008] The sleeve module can be a component of a sleeve station for equipping cables. Here, the sleeve station can have a sleeve equipment device for equipping the cable ends of the cables with sleeves. In addition, the sleeve station can have a sleeve providing device for providing sleeves for equipping by the sleeve equipment device. The aforementioned components of the sleeve module, namely the sleeve container, the sleeve conveying wheel and the conveying track of the vibrating conveyor are assigned to the mentioned sleeve providing device. Tools can be mounted on the sleeve equipment device, including, for example, a conveying unit with a mandrel or, if necessary, a plurality of mandrels, onto which the sleeves can be pushed. It is also conceivable that one or more sleeve modules together with the sleeve module can be components of a cable bundling device. Therefore, the sleeve module or sleeve station introduced here does not necessarily have to be designed as an independent cable processing machine.

[0009] The sleeve conveying wheel can be a substantially disk-shaped or annular component with a circular profile. The sleeve conveying wheel can be formed in one piece. The sleeve conveying wheel can be made of hard or rigid material, such as aluminum, steel or hard plastic.

[0010] According to a first embodiment, the sleeve conveying wheel can have an annular base body, on which a plurality of conveying receptacles or chambers for sleeves are arranged, preferably evenly distributed on the ring. The sleeve conveying wheel can have a plurality of conveying receptacles for sleeves. The conveying receptacles can be designed, for example, in the shape of blades.

[0011] The sleeve feed wheel can have at least one groove-like recess, preferably at least three groove-like recesses and particularly preferably at least three groove-like recesses as feed receptacles for respectively forming a chamber for a sleeve.

[0012] A particularly compact and narrowly constructed sleeve module can be realized when the sleeve conveying wheel of the sleeve module is a sleeve conveying wheel that can rotate about a horizontal axis of rotation and at least one recess is open toward a horizontal side that extends coaxially to the axis of rotation. In other words, the recesses are arranged on a flat side of an annular flange that is located on a plane whose surface normal is coaxial to the axis of rotation of the sleeve conveying wheel. In this case, the conveying track can be arranged in the sleeve module in a manner that extends horizontally, but preferably transversely and particularly preferably perpendicularly to the axis of rotation of the sleeve conveying wheel.

[0013] Preferably, the respective recess can have a rear end wall section formed by preferably radial separating webs, preferably extending in the axial direction defined by the axis of rotation, by which the sleeve can be entrained during rotation or conveyed by displacement.

[0014] Furthermore, the respective recess can have a boundary section which is connected to the end wall section and can form the dish bottom.

[0015] The respective recess can have an outer cylindrical side wall section extending in the axial direction.

[0016] Thus, a respective recess can have a rear end wall section, a boundary section which forms the groove base or is connected to the groove base at the front, and an outer cylindrical side wall section.

[0017] The term “such as on the one hand in front or in front of and on the other hand in rear or behind” as used here is to be understood with reference to the conveying rotational direction of the sleeve conveying wheels.

[0018] It can be particularly advantageous if the respective recess has a boundary section with a boundary surface that is curved in such a way that the surface of the boundary section is designed so that the depth associated with the recess tapers from the rear end defined by the end wall section toward the front end. In this way, reliable and trouble-free operation can be ensured. This shaping can prevent the sleeves from getting stuck unintentionally when the sleeve feed wheel is rotating.

[0019] Preferably, the dividing section has a conical concave surface, whereby a reliable and trouble-free operation of the sleeve module can be ensured particularly easily.

[0020] The sleeve container can include a container bottom and, for example, a substantially vertical and preferably substantially flat sleeve container side wall. In this case, the sleeve conveyor wheel can be arranged on the side of the sleeve container opposite to the sleeve container side wall. The sleeve container side wall can preferably extend parallel to the longitudinal direction.

[0021] Furthermore, the sleeve container can have an inclined container wall. Due to the inclined sleeve container wall, it can be achieved that the sleeves are not retained undesirably on the container wall and accumulate downwards towards the container bottom. In this case, the inclined sleeve container wall can be a wall that connects the aforementioned container side wall extending vertically and / or parallel to the longitudinal direction to the opposite side of the sleeve container corresponding to the sleeve conveying wheel.

[0022] The sleeve container can have a round container bottom which is matched to the sleeve conveying wheel.

[0023] In addition, it can be advantageous that the sleeve container is open upwards to form a filling opening. Due to this arrangement, the filling sleeve can be easily supplemented even during ongoing operation.

[0024] The sleeve module can include a drive for rotating the sleeve conveying wheel. For example, the sleeve conveying wheel can be provided with an external toothing on the circumference. In order to rotate the sleeve conveying wheel, a pinion that can be driven by the drive can be in operative connection with the external toothing. Instead of the external toothing, an internal toothing or other coupling device to the drive can be conceivable. Alternatively, the sleeve conveying wheel can be rigidly connected to a shaft, and the shaft can be connected to a drive, such as a synchronous motor, via a transmission or even without a transmission in most cases.

[0025] The sleeve module can include a ramp adjacent to the sleeve conveying wheel, but not connected to the sleeve conveying wheel, by which the sleeve is guided toward the conveying track at the exit of the sleeve conveying wheel. Here, the ramp can be positioned above the conveying track and terminate in the following manner, so that the sleeve falls onto the conveying track or arrives on the conveying track without a platform. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] Other individual features and advantages of the present invention are apparent from the following description of the embodiments and the accompanying drawings.

[0027] Figure 1 A perspective view showing a cuff module;

[0028] Figure 2 Show according to Figure 1 A sleeve module wherein the container sidewall is removed;

[0029] Figure 3 Show according to Figure 1 The sleeve conveying wheel of the sleeve module; and

[0030] Figure 4 A cross-section of a sleeve module with a sleeve feed wheel is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] Figure 1 A sleeve module 1 is shown, which has a fixed sleeve container 2 for loosely accommodating or storing sleeves as bulk material. In addition, the sleeve module 1 has a known vibrating conveyor with a conveying track indicated by 3 and extending in the longitudinal direction 20 for conveying the sleeves to the sleeve equipment device 4 in the correct position. With the help of a conveying device described in detail below, the sleeves (not shown) are conveyed from the sleeve container 2 to the conveying track 3. The aforementioned conveying device is formed by a sleeve conveying wheel 10. The sleeve conveying wheel 10, which can rotate about a horizontal rotation axis 30, is arranged on one side of the sleeve container 2. The rotation axis 30 obviously extends in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction 20. In Figure 1 and Figure 2 The Cartesian coordinate system with the axes xyz shown in FIG. 2 serves as an aid for understanding the directions. The longitudinal direction 20 extends in the x-direction and the axis of rotation 30 extends in the y-direction.

[0032] Here, the sleeve module 1 also includes a sleeve fitting device 4 for fitting the cable end of the cable 31 with a sleeve 32. The above-mentioned components - the sleeve container 2, the sleeve conveying wheel 10 and the conveying track 3 are assigned to the sleeve providing device for providing sleeves, so as to be equipped by the sleeve fitting device 4. Figure 1The sleeve module 1 shown in the figure can therefore also be referred to as a sleeve station for equipping cables. In addition, the sleeve station with a sleeve providing device and a sleeve equipping device 4 has a bearing structure 7 for carrying the sleeve equipping device 4 and a sleeve providing device including a sleeve container 2, a sleeve conveying wheel 10 and a conveying track 3. The sleeve equipping device and the sleeve providing device are fixedly connected to each other as an example. The two devices form a common sleeve module 1, which is connected to the bearing structure 7. The sleeve module 1 can also be designed so that the sleeve module can be connected to the bearing structure 4 and can be disconnected from the bearing structure. In addition, it is conceivable that the sleeve container 2, the sleeve conveying wheel 10 and the conveying track 3 are associated with the sleeve module, and the sleeve module is designed as an independent unit, which can be connected to a separate sleeve equipping device and disconnected from it again. Finally, the sleeve module 1 or the sleeve station can be part of a cable bundling device (not shown). For example, a cable bundling device for bundling cables, which is designed as a pivoting machine, can have a supply unit with an alignment structure, for example, a cable conveying device designed as a belt conveyor, which delivers the cables to the pivoting unit. The pivoting unit has a clamp for holding the cable. A wire stripping station for cutting the cable to length and stripping the insulation can be arranged on the longitudinal axis of the machine. In addition to the longitudinal axis of the machine, the crimping station and the flat sleeve station can be arranged in the form of a sleeve module 1. Such a cable bundling device is introduced in EP1251605A1, for example, in which the current cable bundling device has a new sleeve module 1. Due to the compact and particularly narrow structure of the sleeve module 1, the cable bundling device can be provided with more sleeve modules 1 compared to conventional cable bundling devices, thereby further improving the variability of the cable bundling device.

[0033] In an advantageous embodiment variant, the sleeve conveying wheel 10 , the sleeve container 2 and the conveying track 3 together with an actuator for generating vibrations for linear conveying of the sleeves in the conveying track form a unit which can be replaced as a whole in order to quickly convert the sleeve module 1 to another sleeve.

[0034] The sleeve container 2 has a container bottom 11 and a vertical and essentially flat sleeve container side wall 12. The container side wall 12, which is designated by 12, is oriented substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction 20 defined by the conveyor track 3. On the side of the sleeve container opposite the container side wall 12 extending parallel to the longitudinal direction, a sleeve conveyor wheel 10 is arranged. On this side, the sleeve container 2 has a container side wall 14 with a circular opening for the sleeve conveyor wheel 10. Between the two container side walls 12 and 14 extending approximately parallel to each other, there is an inclined container wall 13, which connects the walls 12, 14 to each other.

[0035] To better understand the structure and mode of action, Figure 2The sleeve module 1 is shown with the container side walls 12 removed or not visible. It can be seen that the container bottom 11 is adapted to the sleeve feed wheel 10 and is of circular design.

[0036] The sleeve conveying wheel 10 has a groove-shaped recess 5 to form a chamber for the sleeves. The recess 5 is open on the horizontal side toward the interior of the sleeve container. The inlet for feeding the sleeves into the sleeve conveying wheel 10, which rotates in the rotation direction ω during operation, is located at the bottom in the area of ​​the circular container bottom 11, and the sleeve outlet is located above. At the sleeve outlet there is a ramp 6, via which the sleeves are guided to the conveying track 3.

[0037] A separation unit 25 is arranged at the end of the conveying track 3. The sleeves are transported to the separation unit 25 in the correct position through the conveying track 3, and the sleeves are pushed from the separation unit to the mandrel of the transfer unit 26 separately. The separation unit 25 and the transfer unit 26 with the mandrel are components of the sleeve equipment device 4, and the sleeve equipment device also includes an equipment head 27. For example, the sleeve equipment device 4 can be a sleeve equipment device as shown and introduced in EP3651288A1. The sleeve equipment device of the sleeve station can also have multiple mandrels, such as the sleeve equipment device with four mandrels known from EP0626738B1. The exact structure and mode of action of the sleeve equipment device can be learned from the referenced literature mentioned.

[0038] The sleeve container 2 is used as a storage for loose sleeves to be processed and is configured so that the sleeves that fall or blow out from the conveying track 3 during the sorting process and the sleeves that fall beside the conveying track are accommodated. The sleeve container 2 is configured so that the sleeves are guided by gravity in the direction of the chamber located at the deepest part when the sleeves are loaded. The ramp 6 arranged above the conveying track 3 is used to guide the sleeves that fall from the chamber of the sleeve conveying wheel 10 to the front end of the conveying track 3 in an ideal manner. The sleeve container 2 can have other inner contours that are not shown in order to guide the sleeves or divide the internal space.

[0039] The sleeve container 2 is designed to be open upwards to form a filling opening 9 for filling or refilling the sleeve. Of course, it is also conceivable that the sleeve container 2 is equipped with a cover to close the filling opening 9.

[0040] The structural details of the sleeve module 1 can be seen from Figure 3 and Figure 4 Learned from. Figure 3The schematic diagram shows how the sleeve conveying wheel 10 is driven. The sleeve module 1 comprises a drive 8 for rotating the sleeve conveying wheel. The drive can be, for example, an electric motor. The sleeve conveying wheel 10 is provided with an external toothing 21 on the circumference. In order to rotate the sleeve conveying wheel 10, a pinion 22 which can be driven by the drive 8 is effectively connected to the external toothing 21. Alternatively, a friction wheel drive is also possible, for example. In order to support and guide the sleeve conveying wheel 10 during the rotational movement, bearing rollers 23 are provided.

[0041] The sleeve conveying wheel 10 is designed in one piece and is made of a hard or rigid material (for example, aluminum, steel or hard plastic). In the present case, the sleeve conveying wheel 10 is an annular component with a circular contour when viewed in the direction of the rotation axis 30. Six groove-shaped recesses 5 are arranged on the annular base of the sleeve conveying wheel 10 as chambers for the sleeves, for example, and these chambers are evenly distributed on the ring. These recesses 5 are arranged on the flat annular flange side of the sleeve conveying wheel 10, which is located on the following plane, the surface normal of which is coaxial with the rotation axis 30. These six recesses are all designed in the same way and are arranged at 5, 5 II , 5 III 、5I V , 5 V , 5 VI express.

[0042] The corresponding recess 5 has a rear end wall section 16 extending in the axial direction 30, which is formed by a radial separating web 15 and by which the sleeve is entrained during a rotation in the rotation direction ω. The recess 5 also has an outer cylindrical side wall section 17 extending in the axial direction. The side wall section 17 is located on a cylinder with a cylinder axis extending coaxially with the rotation axis 30. Figure 3 , with the help of recess 5 IV 19 IV The front side of the recess is indicated by . Then, the corresponding recess 5 has a boundary section 18, which has a boundary surface that is curved in such a way that the boundary surface is designed to gradually decrease in depth of the recess from the rear end to the front end. In the present embodiment, the boundary section 18 has a conical concave surface, thereby ensuring trouble-free operation. Due to the special shape of the recess with the conical boundary section 18, such as from Figure 4 As can be seen in the figure, in the dividing section 18 which descends diagonally downward IV During discharge, the sleeve can easily leave the chamber again after vertical transport. The conical surface of the dividing section 18 has the function of preventing the sleeve from getting stuck between the separating crosspiece 15 and the fixing part (for example, the inclined surface 6 in the sleeve container 2).

Claims

1. A sleeve module (1) comprising a sleeve container (2) for loosely accommodating sleeves as bulk material, a conveying device rotatable about a rotation axis and a conveying track (3) extending in a longitudinal direction (20), wherein: With the aid of the conveying device, sleeves can be conveyed from the sleeve containers (2) to the conveying track (3), characterized in that the conveying device is formed by a sleeve conveying wheel (10), the rotation axis (30) of which preferably extends transversely to the longitudinal direction (20) and particularly preferably perpendicular to the longitudinal direction (20).

2. The sleeve module (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The sleeve feed wheel (10) has an annular main body to which a plurality of chambers for the sleeves are assigned, the chambers being preferably arranged uniformly distributed on the ring.

3. The sleeve module (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The sleeve feed wheel (10) has at least one groove-shaped recess, preferably at least three groove-shaped recesses and particularly preferably at least three groove-shaped recesses (5) in order to respectively form a chamber for a sleeve.

4. The sleeve module (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that: The sleeve conveying wheel is a sleeve conveying wheel (10) that can rotate about a horizontal rotation axis (30), and the at least one recess (5) is open toward the horizontal side.

5. The sleeve module (1) according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that: The respective recess (5) has a rear end wall section (16) formed by a separating web (15) and extending preferably in the axial direction (30).

6. The cuff module (1) according to any one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that: The respective recess (5) has a boundary section (18) having a boundary surface which is curved in such a way that the boundary surface is designed to taper from the rear end to the front end in terms of the depth of the recess (5).

7. The cuff module (1) according to claim 6, characterized in that: The dividing section (18) has a conical concave surface.

8. The cuff module (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The sleeve container (2) comprises a sleeve container side wall (12), and a sleeve conveying wheel (10) is arranged on a side of the sleeve container opposite to the sleeve container side wall.

9. The cuff module (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The sleeve container (2) has an inclined sleeve container wall (13).

10. The cuff module (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The sleeve container (2) has a round container bottom (11) adapted to the sleeve conveying wheel (10).

11. The cuff module (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that: The sleeve container (2) is opened upward to form a filling opening (9).

12. The cuff module (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that: The sleeve conveying wheel (10) is provided with an external toothing (21) on its circumference, and in order to rotate the sleeve conveying wheel, a pinion (22) driven by a driver can be effectively connected to the external toothing.

13. The cuff module (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that: The sleeve module (1) has a ramp (6) adjacent to the sleeve conveying wheel (10), through which the sleeves can be guided toward the conveying track (3) at the exit of the sleeve conveying wheel (10).

Images