Aluminum pipe pull-up forming die integrated with visual inspection

Abstract

The application discloses an integrated visual detection aluminum pipe mouth pulling forming die, which comprises a shell, a first air cylinder is arranged at the top of the shell, a fixing disc is connected with the output end of the first air cylinder through a piston rod, a four-jaw chuck is arranged on the fixing disc, a mouth pulling mechanism is arranged on the four-jaw chuck, a pipe end necking mechanism is arranged at the bottom of the shell, the pipe end necking mechanism comprises a lower die, a rectangular positioning guide groove one is arranged on the lower die, and a conical positioning guide groove two is arranged at the bottom of the rectangular positioning guide groove one.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the technical field of aluminum tube non-cutting machining mold sets, and in particular to an aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection. Background Technology

[0002] Aluminum tubes, due to their light weight, corrosion resistance, and good thermal conductivity, are widely used as pipe fittings in refrigeration, automotive, and home appliance industries. In practical applications, aluminum tubes typically require two typical plastic forming processes: first, forming a flanged end (flanged joint) on the tube body for welding or expansion with branch pipes to form branch pipelines; second, reducing the diameter at the tube end to facilitate connection with fittings, valves, and other accessories. In existing technology, the flanged and diameter-reducing processes of aluminum tubes are usually completed on two separate machines. The flanged process uses a dedicated flanged machine, which uses a punch to stretch the tube from the inside of the wall outwards to form the flanged joint; the diameter-reducing process uses a tube-reducing machine, which uses an external conical mold to shape the tube end. This results in the aluminum tube needing to be reduced in diameter on the tube-reducing machine before being transferred to the flanged machine for further flanged processing. This double clamping and inter-process handling of the aluminum tube not only increases production time and leads to low production efficiency but also increases labor costs and equipment footprint. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of this invention is to provide an aluminum tube drawing and forming mold with integrated visual inspection, so as to solve the technical problem mentioned in the background art that the aluminum tube drawing and shrinking processes require two clamping operations and inter-process aluminum tube handling, which increases production time and leads to low production efficiency.

[0004] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides the following technical solution: An integrated visual inspection aluminum tube drawing and forming mold includes a housing. A first cylinder is located at the top of the housing, and its output end is connected to a fixed plate via a piston rod. A four-jaw chuck is mounted on the fixed plate. The four-jaw chuck has a drawing mechanism, which includes a steel tubular core mold with a through hole. A second cylinder is connected to the steel tubular core mold, and its output end is connected to a punch via a piston rod. A tube end reduction mechanism is located at the bottom of the housing, including a lower mold. The lower mold has a rectangular positioning guide groove and a conical positioning guide groove at its bottom. Upon electrical connection and startup of the entire device, a feeding mechanism at one end of the housing automatically feeds the aluminum tube. A three-phase asynchronous motor drives a drive roller through a connecting rod, which in turn drives a conveyor belt to continuously transport the aluminum tube to be processed. A limiting plate laterally limits and adjusts the posture of the aluminum tube. When the aluminum tube is conveyed close to the housing, the industrial robotic arm grabs the tube and transfers it to the positioning mechanism within the housing. The positioning mechanism then automatically centers and clamps the aluminum tube. A first set of servo motors drives the drive gear to rotate, which in turn drives the driven gear and its fixed double-ended lead screw to rotate synchronously. This drives clamping blocks one and two to move inward along the slide bar, clamping the aluminum tube; conversely, moving outward releases the tube. The aluminum tube is automatically centered and clamped. Simultaneously, servo motor one drives the rotating rod to rotate, which in turn drives the positioning mechanism to rotate. The second positioning mechanism operates on the same principle, clamping the second aluminum tube. Several positioning mechanisms can be added as needed to process multiple aluminum tubes. After the aluminum tube is clamped and positioned, the first cylinder at the top of the housing actuates, extending its piston rod to push the fixed plate downward. The slider slides vertically along the groove inside the housing, ensuring the linearity of the fixed plate's movement. The fixed disc drives the entire drawing mechanism downwards synchronously, inserting the steel tubular mandrel from the upper end of the aluminum tube to the drawing position inside the tube. Simultaneously, a four-jaw chuck clamps the aluminum tube. Once the steel tubular mandrel is inserted into the aluminum tube to be processed, the drawing mechanism activates to perform radial drawing. The piston rod of the second cylinder extends, pushing the inclined punch along the through-hole on the steel tubular mandrel.

[0005] In a preferred embodiment, a slider is connected to the fixed disk.

[0006] In a preferred embodiment, the interior of the housing is provided with a sliding groove, and a slider slides on the sliding groove.

[0007] In a preferred embodiment, the housing is also equipped with a CCD camera.

[0008] In a preferred embodiment, the bottom of the housing is provided with a protective shell, and the top of the protective shell is provided with a top plate; the bottom of the protective shell is provided with a support plate, and a lower mold is in close contact between the support plate and the top plate. The lower mold is provided with multiple sets of guide units, each set consisting of a rectangular positioning guide groove and a conical positioning guide groove connected vertically; at least two sets of guide units are provided, and each set of guide units includes at least two rectangular positioning guide grooves with successively decreasing apertures and corresponding conical positioning guide grooves connected to them, used to realize multi-pass continuous tube shrinking processing of the aluminum tube. When the aluminum tube needs to be shrunk, before the drawing and forming process, a three-phase asynchronous motor drives the connecting plate to rotate via a connecting rod, thereby driving the lower mold to rotate synchronously, rotating the guide unit matching the aperture of the current tube shrinking process to a processing position perpendicular to the aluminum tube, completing the automatic switching of the mold position. During the necking process, the first cylinder at the top of the housing is activated, and its piston rod extends to push the fixed plate downward. The slider slides vertically along the groove inside the housing to ensure the linearity of the fixed plate's movement. The four-jaw chuck simultaneously clamps the upper end of the aluminum tube, driving the lower end of the aluminum tube into the corresponding rectangular positioning guide groove one of the lower mold to complete the coarse positioning. Then, the end of the aluminum tube continues to descend into the conical positioning guide groove two. Through the extrusion action of the conical surface, the tube end is automatically centered and necked, while correcting the roundness error of the aluminum tube raw material's end.

[0009] In a preferred embodiment, the top plate is provided with a reserved groove three.

[0010] In a preferred embodiment, the bottom of the protective shell is also provided with a three-phase asynchronous motor, the output end of which is connected to a connecting plate via a connecting rod, and a lower mold is connected to the connecting plate.

[0011] In a preferred embodiment, the top plate is equipped with a positioning mechanism, which includes an upper mold. A servo motor is connected to the bottom of the top plate, and the output end of the servo motor is connected to a rotating rod via a connecting rod. The upper mold is mounted on the rotating rod. A bottom plate is connected to the upper mold, and a housing is connected to the bottom plate. A servo motor is mounted on the outside of the housing. A drive gear and a driven gear are sequentially arranged inside the housing, and the drive gear and the driven gear are meshed. A double-ended lead screw is connected to the driven gear and passes through the housing. A sliding rod also passes through the housing. A clamping block is provided at one end of the sliding rod and the double-ended lead screw, and a clamping block is provided at the other end of the sliding rod and the double-ended lead screw. After the drawing and forming process is completed, a CCD camera mounted on the housing captures images of the drawn portion of the aluminum tube. The vision inspection system automatically analyzes the height, roundness, positional accuracy, and presence of forming defects such as cracks and dents on the drawn convex surface. Qualified aluminum tubes proceed to the next process, while unqualified products are marked by the system and automatically rejected in subsequent processes.

[0012] In a preferred embodiment, one end of the housing is provided with a material conveying mechanism, which includes a support frame, a side plate on the support frame, a three-phase asynchronous motor and a bearing connected to the side plate, and a drive roller connected to the output end of the three-phase asynchronous motor via a connecting rod; a bearing is connected to the drive roller, a driven roller is provided on the side plate, and a conveyor belt is provided on the drive roller and the driven roller; a limiting plate is provided at the top of the side plate; a connecting block is provided at one end of the side plate, and an industrial robotic arm is provided on the connecting block.

[0013] In a preferred embodiment, the other end of the housing is provided with a discharge mechanism, which includes a support second, a side plate second on the support second, a three-phase asynchronous motor third and a bearing second connected to the side plate second, the output end of the three-phase asynchronous motor third being connected to a drive roller second via a connecting rod, the drive roller second being connected to a bearing second, a driven roller second on the side plate second, a conveyor belt second on the drive roller second and the driven roller second, a limiting plate second on the top of the side plate second, a connecting block second at one end of the side plate second, and an industrial robotic arm second on the connecting block second. After the drawing or shrinking process is completed, the four-jaw chuck releases the aluminum tube. The first cylinder drives the drawing mechanism to move upward and reset, while the clamping mechanism maintains its clamping state on the aluminum tube. Simultaneously, servo motor one drives the rotating rod to rotate, which in turn drives the positioning mechanism to rotate. The aluminum tube clamped on clamping blocks one and two is rotated to the direction of the discharge mechanism. At this time, the industrial robotic arm two of the discharge mechanism grabs the aluminum tube to be processed and transfers it to conveyor belt two, thus conveying the processed aluminum tube to the next production stage, completing a complete processing cycle. The discharge mechanism drives roller two to rotate via a three-phase asynchronous motor three through a connecting rod, which in turn drives conveyor belt two to continuously convey the aluminum tube to be processed. Limiting plate one provides lateral limitation and posture correction for the aluminum tube.

[0014] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention include at least one of the following: 1. This invention integrates the end-pulling mechanism and the end-shrinking mechanism into the same device. The end-shrinking and shaping can be completed before the end-pulling interface is formed on the inner wall of the aluminum tube by the first cylinder. The end-pulling mechanism performs radial forming from the inside of the aluminum tube from top to bottom. The end-shrinking mechanism realizes the end-diameter reduction and port roundness correction through the rectangular positioning guide groove and the conical positioning guide groove of the lower mold. Both can be completed sequentially on one device, which greatly reduces the number of times the workpiece is transferred between different devices and the clamping error, and improves the processing efficiency and product consistency.

[0015] 2. This invention utilizes a CCD camera and a vision inspection system to acquire images of the drawing area in real time after the drawing process is completed. It automatically analyzes the height, roundness, positional accuracy, and presence of forming defects such as cracks and depressions on the drawing convex surface. The vision inspection results can be fed back to the main control system to achieve closed-loop control of processing quality, avoiding the subjectivity and lag of traditional manual visual inspection.

[0016] 3. This invention achieves full automation of the entire process from feeding, positioning, clamping, drawing, shrinking, visual inspection, and unloading through the coordinated operation of the feeding mechanism, positioning mechanism, drawing and forming, shrinking processing, visual inspection, and unloading. The entire processing cycle requires no manual intervention. Operators only need to set parameters and monitor status through the touch screen, which effectively reduces labor intensity and dependence on operator skills, while ensuring the consistency of processing cycle and the stability of product quality.

[0017] 4. The lower mold of this invention is provided with multiple sets of guide units. Each set of guide units consists of rectangular positioning guide grooves and conical positioning guide grooves with different apertures. Driven by a three-phase asynchronous motor, the lower mold can be rotated automatically and quickly switched to the processing station of the guide unit with different apertures, realizing multi-pass continuous tube shrinking processing of aluminum tubes. No manual mold replacement is required, which significantly improves the degree of automation and production efficiency. Attached Figure Description

[0018] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort. In the drawings: The accompanying drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way. Furthermore, the shapes and proportions of the components in the drawings are merely illustrative to aid in understanding the invention and do not specifically limit the shapes and proportions of the components. Those skilled in the art, guided by the teachings of this invention, can select various possible shapes and proportions to implement the invention according to specific circumstances.

[0019] Figure 1 This is a three-dimensional structural schematic diagram of an aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection proposed in this invention. Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the housing, first cylinder, CCD camera, and slide groove structure of an aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection proposed in this invention. Figure 3This is a schematic diagram of the tongue-drawing mechanism of an aluminum tube tongue-drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection proposed in this invention. Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the tube end reduction mechanism and positioning mechanism of an aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection proposed in this invention. Figure 5 This is a front elevation view of the tube end shrinking mechanism and positioning mechanism of an aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection proposed in this invention. Figure 6 for Figure 5 Cross-sectional view of AA in the middle; Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the tube end reduction mechanism of an aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection proposed in this invention. Figure 8 This is a front elevation view of the tube end reduction mechanism of an aluminum tube drawing and forming mold with integrated visual inspection proposed in this invention. Figure 9 for Figure 8 Cross-sectional view of BB in the middle; Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of the positioning mechanism of an aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection proposed in this invention. Figure 11 This is a schematic diagram of the material feeding mechanism of an aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated vision inspection proposed in this invention. Figure 12 This is a schematic diagram of the material discharge mechanism of an aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection proposed in this invention.

[0020] Figure label: 1. Housing; 2. First cylinder; 3. Slide groove; 4. CCD camera; 5. Fixed plate; 6. Slider; 7. Four-jaw chuck; 8. Protective shell; 9. Support plate; 10. Lower mold; 11. Three-phase asynchronous motor one; 12. Positioning guide groove one; 13. Positioning guide groove two; 14. Connecting plate; 15. Top plate; 16. Reserved groove three; 17. Servo motor one; 18. Rotating rod; 19. Upper mold; 20. Base plate; 21. Housing; 22. Servo motor two; 23. Slide rod; 24. Double-ended lead screw; 25. Drive gear; 26. Driven gear; 27. Clamping block one; 28. Clamping block 29. Support block 1; 30. Side plate 1; 31. Three-phase asynchronous motor 2; 32. Bearing 1; 33. Drive roller 1; 34. Conveyor belt 1; 35. Driven roller 1; 36. Limiting plate 1; 37. Connecting block 1; 38. Industrial robotic arm 1; 39. Support block 2; 40. Side plate 2; 41. Three-phase asynchronous motor 3; 42. Bearing 2; 43. Drive roller 2; 44. Conveyor belt 2; 45. Driven roller 2; 46. Limiting plate 2; 47. Connecting block 2; 48. Industrial robotic arm 2; 49. Steel tubular core mold; 50. Through hole; 51. Second cylinder; 52. Punch. Detailed Implementation

[0021] To make the objectives, features, and advantages of this invention more apparent and understandable, the technical solutions of the embodiments of this invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the embodiments described below are only some embodiments of this invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of this invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this invention.

[0022] In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, it should be noted that the terms "longitudinal," "lateral," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "top," "long," "short," "inner," "outer," and "bottom," etc., indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are used only for the convenience of describing the embodiments of the present invention and for simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on the embodiments of the present invention. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and "third" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance. In addition, in the description of the present invention, unless otherwise stated, "a plurality of" means two or more.

[0023] In the description of this invention, it should be understood that when a component is considered to be "connected" to another component, it can be directly connected to the other component or there may be an intermediate component present simultaneously. When a component is considered to be "set" on another component, it can be directly set on the other component or there may be an intermediate component present simultaneously. It should also be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "set," "installed," "connected," and "equipped" should be interpreted broadly. For example, it can refer to a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can refer to a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can refer to a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium; it can refer to the internal communication between two elements. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this invention according to the specific circumstances.

[0024] The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the specific embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. However, these embodiments do not limit the present invention, and any structural, methodological, or functional modifications made by those skilled in the art based on these embodiments are included within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0025] Example 1 This embodiment provides an aluminum tube drawing and forming mold with integrated visual inspection. (See also...) Figures 1-12 The device includes a housing 1, a first cylinder 2 on the top of the housing 1, and a fixed plate 5 connected to the output end of the first cylinder 2 via a piston rod. A four-jaw chuck 7 is provided on the fixed plate 5. The four-jaw chuck 7 is provided with a pulling mechanism, which includes a steel tubular core mold 49. The steel tubular core mold 49 has a through hole 50 and a second cylinder 51 connected to it. The output end of the second cylinder 51 is connected to a punch 52 through a piston rod. The bottom of the housing 1 is provided with a tube end reduction mechanism, which includes a lower mold 10. The lower mold 10 is provided with a rectangular positioning guide groove 12, and a conical positioning guide groove 13 is provided at the bottom of the rectangular positioning guide groove 12.

[0026] See Figure 3 In this embodiment, the punch 52 is inclined, with inclination angles of 15° and 30°.

[0027] After the overall equipment is electrically connected and started, the feeding mechanism at one end of the housing 1 automatically feeds the aluminum tubes. The three-phase asynchronous motor 31 drives the roller 33 to rotate via a connecting rod, which in turn drives the conveyor belt 34 to continuously transport the aluminum tubes to be processed, in conjunction with the driven roller 35. The limiting plate 36 laterally limits and adjusts the posture of the aluminum tubes. When the aluminum tube is transported close to the housing 1, the industrial robotic arm 38 grabs the aluminum tube and transfers it to the positioning mechanism of the housing 1.

[0028] See Figure 4 The top plate 15 is equipped with at least two sets of positioning mechanisms (base plate 20, outer shell 21, servo motor 22, slide bar 23, double-ended lead screw 24, drive gear 25, driven gear 26, clamping block 1 27, and clamping block 28). The positioning mechanisms are activated to adaptively center and clamp the aluminum tube. The first set of servo motors 22 drives the drive gear 25 to rotate, which in turn drives the driven gear 26 and the double-ended lead screw 24 fixed to it to rotate synchronously. This drives clamping blocks 27 and 28 to move synchronously inward along the slide bar 23 to clamp the aluminum tube; conversely, moving outward releases the aluminum tube. The aluminum tube is automatically centered and clamped. Simultaneously, servo motor 17 drives the rotating rod 18 to rotate, which in turn drives the positioning mechanism to rotate. The second set of positioning mechanisms works on the same principle, thus clamping the second aluminum tube. Depending on the requirements, several sets of positioning mechanisms can be added to process multiple aluminum tubes.

[0029] See Figure 1 and Figure 2 After the aluminum tube is clamped and positioned, the first cylinder 2 at the top of the housing 1 is activated, its piston rod extends to push the fixed plate 5 downward, and the slider 6 slides vertically along the groove 3 inside the housing 1 to ensure the linearity of the movement of the fixed plate 5. The fixed plate 5 drives the entire drawing mechanism to move downward synchronously, so that the steel tubular core mold 49 is inserted from the upper end of the aluminum tube to the drawing position inside the aluminum tube. At the same time, the four-jaw chuck 7 clamps the aluminum tube. After the steel tubular core mold 49 is inserted into the aluminum tube to be processed and positioned, the drawing mechanism starts to perform radial drawing forming. The piston rod of the second cylinder 51 extends, pushing the inclined punch 52 to move along the through hole 50 on the steel tubular core mold 49.

[0030] Specifically, the punch 52 decomposes the axial thrust of the second cylinder 51 into a radial ejection force perpendicular to the tube wall through its inclined working surface. Utilizing the force amplification effect generated by different inclination angles, it pushes the tube wall from the inside out of the aluminum tube. Under the combined action of the internal mandrel and the punch, the metal in the local area of ​​the tube wall undergoes controlled plastic flow, gradually being stretched and thinned and expanding outward to form an initial bulge. As the punch 52 continues to advance, the material thickness at the top of the bulge continues to decrease, eventually resulting in ductile fracture at the point of maximum tensile stress, forming a through hole penetrating the tube wall. A flanged interface (i.e., a drawn flange) is retained around the perimeter of the through hole. This flanged interface can be used for subsequent welding or expansion connection with the branch pipe.

[0031] Among them, the punch 52 can obtain at least 2.5 times force amplification when using a 15° tilt angle; and at least about 1.0 times force amplification when using a 30° tilt angle, taking into account both thrust and stroke.

[0032] Specifically, the force amplification effect of punch 52 is based on the principle of inclined plane mechanics decomposition: when the axial thrust F of the second cylinder 51 acts on the working surface of the punch with an inclination angle of α, the force is decomposed into a radial component F1 perpendicular to the tube wall (i.e., the actual drawing and forming force) and a tangential component F2 parallel to the working surface of the punch. The principle of inclined plane mechanics decomposition satisfies: That is, the force amplification factor. In the formula, F1 is the radial component; F2 is the tangential component; and α is the inclination angle of the punch working surface relative to the cylinder axis.

[0033] Furthermore, considering the frictional loss between the punch 52 and the through hole 50 of the steel tubular mandrel 49, the actual effective magnification will be slightly lower than the theoretical value: when the punch tilt angle is 15°, the theoretical magnification is ≈3.7, and after deducting frictional loss, the actual effective magnification is ≥2.5 times. This allows for the generation of a large radial forming force with a relatively small cylinder thrust, making it particularly suitable for drawing and forming thick-walled aluminum tubes and high-hardness aluminum materials. When the punch tilt angle is 30°, the theoretical magnification is ≈1.7, and after deducting frictional loss, the actual effective magnification is ≥1.0 times. While ensuring sufficient forming force, the radial stroke utilization rate of the punch is higher, and the forming speed is faster, balancing thrust and production efficiency.

[0034] It should be noted that the four-jaw chuck 7 in this embodiment is a pneumatic four-jaw self-centering chuck, a standard and common component in the field of machine tool fixtures. It achieves synchronous radial movement of the four jaws through an internal planetary gear mechanism or linkage mechanism, automatically centering and clamping the aluminum tube to ensure the coaxiality of the aluminum tube and the steel tubular mandrel 49. The clamping force can be steplessly adjusted by regulating the air source pressure, and the clamping and releasing actions are controlled by a solenoid valve controlled by the main control system. Therefore, further details are omitted in this embodiment, and the accompanying drawings are not shown in detail.

[0035] See Figure 3 A slider 6 is connected to the fixed plate 5.

[0036] See Figure 2 The interior of the housing 1 is provided with a sliding groove 3, and a slider 6 slides on the sliding groove 3.

[0037] See Figure 2 The housing 1 is also equipped with a CCD camera 4.

[0038] In this embodiment, after the drawing process is completed, a CCD camera 4 mounted on the housing 1 captures images of the drawn portion of the aluminum tube. The vision inspection system automatically analyzes the height, roundness, positional accuracy of the drawn convex surface, and whether there are forming defects such as cracks or dents. Qualified aluminum tubes proceed to the next process, while unqualified tubes are marked by the system and automatically rejected in subsequent processes.

[0039] It should be noted that the visual inspection system in this embodiment adopts general industrial machine vision technology. Its automatic analysis process is based on mature digital image processing algorithms, all of which are existing technologies: image acquisition includes CCD camera 4 triggering shooting after the drawing is completed to obtain a high-definition grayscale image of the drawing part; image preprocessing includes removing image noise and improving contrast through algorithms such as filtering, enhancement, and binarization; feature extraction includes extracting the edge contour of the drawing convex surface using edge detection (such as the Canny algorithm) and contour extraction algorithms; parameter calculation and defect detection include calculating the height, diameter, roundness, and positional deviation of the drawing convex surface through contour analysis; detecting the presence of forming defects such as cracks, dents, and burrs through grayscale analysis and template matching algorithms; result output includes sending the detection results to the main control system, where qualified products continue processing, and unqualified products are marked and automatically rejected. This visual inspection system can be implemented based on a general vision development platform (such as Halcon, OpenCV) or an integrated vision controller, without the need for custom development of core algorithms. Therefore, this embodiment will not elaborate further.

[0040] See Figure 4 The bottom of the housing 1 is provided with a protective shell 8, and the top of the protective shell 8 is provided with a top plate 15; The bottom of the protective shell 8 is provided with a support plate 9, and the lower mold 10 is in close contact between the support plate 9 and the top plate 15.

[0041] A reserved groove 16 is provided on the top plate 15.

[0042] The bottom of the protective shell 8 is also equipped with a three-phase asynchronous motor 11. The output end of the three-phase asynchronous motor 11 is connected to a connecting plate 14 via a connecting rod. The lower mold 10 is connected to the connecting plate 14.

[0043] Furthermore, the lower mold 10 is provided with multiple sets of guide units, each set of guide units is composed of a rectangular positioning guide groove 12 and a conical positioning guide groove 13 connected vertically; at least two sets of guide units are provided, and the same set of guide units includes at least two rectangular positioning guide grooves 12 with successively decreasing apertures and a conical positioning guide groove 13 connected to them, which is used to realize multi-pass continuous tube shrinking processing of aluminum tubes.

[0044] When aluminum tubes need to be narrowed, before the drawing and forming process, the three-phase asynchronous motor 11 drives the connecting plate 14 to rotate through the connecting rod, which in turn drives the lower mold 10 to rotate synchronously. The guide unit that matches the diameter of the current tube narrowing process is rotated to the processing station perpendicular to the aluminum tube, thus completing the automatic switching of the mold station.

[0045] During the necking process, the first cylinder 2 at the top of the housing 1 is activated, and its piston rod extends to push the fixed plate 5 downward. The slider 6 slides vertically along the sliding groove 3 inside the housing 1 to ensure the linearity of the movement of the fixed plate 5. The four-jaw chuck 7 simultaneously clamps the upper end of the aluminum tube, driving the lower end of the aluminum tube into the corresponding rectangular positioning guide groove 12 of the lower mold 10 to complete the rough positioning. Then, the end of the aluminum tube continues to descend into the conical positioning guide groove 13. Through the extrusion action of the conical surface, the tube end is automatically centered and necked, while correcting the roundness error of the end of the aluminum tube raw material.

[0046] See Figure 4 The top plate 15 is provided with a positioning mechanism, which includes an upper mold 19. A servo motor 17 is connected to the bottom of the top plate 15. The output end of the servo motor 17 is connected to a rotating rod 18 via a connecting rod. The upper mold 19 is provided on the rotating rod 18. A base plate 20 is connected to the upper mold 19, and a housing 21 is connected to the base plate 20. A servo motor 22 is provided on the outside of the housing 21. The inside of the outer casing 21 is provided with a driving gear 25 and a driven gear 26 in sequence, and the driving gear 25 and the driven gear 26 are meshed and driven. A double-ended lead screw 24 is connected to the driven gear 26, and the double-ended lead screw 24 passes through the housing 21. A sliding rod 23 is also provided through the outer casing 21; One end of the slide rod 23 and the double-ended lead screw 24 is provided with a clamping block 27, and the other end of the slide rod 23 and the double-ended lead screw 24 is provided with a clamping block 28.

[0047] See Figure 11 One end of the housing 1 is provided with a material conveying mechanism, which includes a support 29, a side plate 30 on the support 29, a three-phase asynchronous motor 31 and a bearing 32 connected to the side plate 30, and the output end of the three-phase asynchronous motor 31 is connected to a drive roller 33 via a connecting rod; A bearing 32 is connected to the drive roller 33, a driven roller 35 is provided on the side plate 30, and a conveyor belt 34 is provided on the drive roller 33 and the driven roller 35. A limiting plate 36 is provided at the top of the side panel 30; One end of the side plate 30 is provided with a connecting block 37, and an industrial robotic arm 38 is provided on the connecting block 37.

[0048] See Figure 12The other end of the housing 1 is provided with a discharge mechanism, which includes a support 2 39, a side plate 2 40 on the support 2 39, a three-phase asynchronous motor 3 41 and a bearing 2 42 connected to the side plate 2 40, the output end of the three-phase asynchronous motor 3 41 is connected to a drive roller 2 43 through a connecting rod, the drive roller 2 43 is connected to the bearing 2 42, the side plate 2 40 is provided with a driven roller 2 45, and the drive roller 2 43 and the driven roller 2 45 are provided with a conveyor belt 2 44; The top of the side panel 2 40 is provided with a limiting plate 2 46; One end of the side plate 2 40 is provided with a connecting block 2 47, and an industrial robotic arm 2 48 is provided on the connecting block 2 47.

[0049] Further, after the drawing or shrinking process is completed, the four-jaw chuck 7 releases the aluminum tube, the first cylinder 2 drives the drawing mechanism to move upward and reset, and the clamping mechanism maintains the clamping state of the aluminum tube. At the same time, the servo motor 17 drives the rotating rod 18 to rotate, and drives the positioning mechanism to rotate; the aluminum tube clamped on the clamping block 27 and clamping block 28 is rotated to the direction of the discharge mechanism. At this time, the industrial robotic arm 48 of the discharge mechanism grabs the aluminum tube to be processed and transfers it to the conveyor belt 44, and the processed aluminum tube is transported to the next production stage, thus completing a complete processing cycle. Among them, the discharge mechanism drives the roller 43 to rotate through the linkage via the three-phase asynchronous motor 41, and the driven roller 45 drives the conveyor belt 44 to continuously transport the aluminum tube to be processed. The limiting plate 46 performs lateral limiting and posture adjustment of the aluminum tube.

[0050] It should be noted that both industrial robotic arm 38 and industrial robotic arm 48 in this embodiment are general-purpose six-axis articulated industrial robotic arms, which are mature standard equipment in the field of automation. Their end effectors are equipped with pneumatic grippers, which, through built-in motion controllers, achieve precise grasping, transfer, and positioning at any location within space, with a repeatability accuracy of ±0.1mm. The robotic arms communicate with the main control system via standard industrial buses (such as Modbus and Profinet) to receive loading and unloading commands, completing the automatic transfer of aluminum tubes between the conveyor belt and the mold station. Therefore, further details are omitted in this embodiment, and the accompanying drawings are not shown in great detail.

[0051] Example 2 Based on the description in Embodiment 1, this embodiment integrates a visual inspection and automated control system. The CCD camera 4 acquires real-time image information of the aluminum tube clamping status, the drawing and forming process, and the appearance of the interface after forming, and transmits the image data to an external control system for analysis and processing. The external control system uses a programmable logic controller (PLC) as the main controller, and together with a touchscreen human-machine interface, various sensors, and actuators, forms a complete automated processing closed loop. The main controller uses a general-purpose PLC (such as Siemens S7-200SMART series or Mitsubishi FX series) to handle the logic control, timing coordination, and image feedback data processing of each station. The human-machine interface uses a touch screen to set drawing and forming parameters (such as punch tilt angle selection, cylinder thrust limit, forming time), display the equipment operating status in real time, record fault alarms, and perform manual debugging operations. The sensor system includes photoelectric sensors to detect whether the aluminum tube is in place, magnetic switches to detect the end of the stroke of the second cylinder 51 and other cylinders, and position sensors to detect the movement position of the auxiliary robotic arm or feeding mechanism. These sensors collect the status signals of each station in real time and feed them back to the PLC. The actuator drive: The PLC controls the movement of all cylinders, motors, robotic arms, and vision system light sources through relays or servo drivers according to the preset process flow and visual inspection results. When the CCD camera 4 detects an abnormality in drawing and forming (such as insufficient convexity height, edge cracking, etc.), the control system immediately issues an alarm and automatically stops the machine, realizing fully automated processing and online quality control. All the control logic described above is implemented using standard PLC programming languages ​​(such as ladder diagrams and function block diagrams), which are mature standard configurations in the field of industrial automation. This embodiment will not elaborate further.

[0052] It should be understood that although this specification describes embodiments, not every embodiment contains only one independent technical solution. This way of describing the specification is only for clarity. Those skilled in the art should regard the specification as a whole. The technical solutions in each embodiment can also be appropriately combined to form other embodiments that can be understood by those skilled in the art.

[0053] The detailed descriptions listed above are merely specific descriptions of feasible embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present invention. All equivalent embodiments or modifications made without departing from the spirit of the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. An aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection, comprising a housing (1), characterized in that, The top of the housing (1) is provided with a first cylinder (2), and the output end of the first cylinder (2) is connected to a fixed plate (5) through a piston rod. The fixed plate (5) is provided with a four-jaw chuck (7). The four-jaw chuck (7) is provided with a pulling mechanism, which includes a steel tubular core mold (49), a through hole (50) on the steel tubular core mold (49), and a second cylinder (51) connected to the steel tubular core mold (49). The output end of the second cylinder (51) is connected to a punch (52) through a piston rod. The bottom of the housing (1) is provided with a tube end shrinking mechanism, which includes a lower mold (10). The lower mold (10) is provided with a rectangular positioning guide groove one (12), and a conical positioning guide groove two (13) is provided at the bottom of the rectangular positioning guide groove one (12).

2. The aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection according to claim 1, characterized in that, A slider (6) is connected to the fixed plate (5).

3. The aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection according to claim 1, characterized in that, The housing (1) has a groove (3) inside, and a slider (6) slides on the groove (3).

4. The aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection according to claim 1, characterized in that, The housing (1) is also equipped with a CCD camera (4).

5. The aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection according to claim 1, characterized in that, The bottom of the housing (1) is provided with a protective shell (8), and the top of the protective shell (8) is provided with a top plate (15). The bottom of the protective shell (8) is provided with a support plate (9), and the lower mold (10) is in close contact between the support plate (9) and the top plate (15).

6. The aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection according to claim 5, characterized in that, The top plate (15) is provided with a reserved groove three (16).

7. The aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection according to claim 5, characterized in that, The bottom of the protective shell (8) is also provided with a three-phase asynchronous motor (11), and the output end of the three-phase asynchronous motor (11) is connected to a connecting plate (14) via a connecting rod. The connecting plate (14) is connected to the lower mold (10).

8. An aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection according to any one of claims 5 or 6, characterized in that, The top plate (15) is provided with a positioning mechanism, which includes an upper mold (19). A servo motor (17) is connected to the bottom of the top plate (15). The output end of the servo motor (17) is connected to a rotating rod (18) via a connecting rod. The upper mold (19) is provided on the rotating rod (18). The upper mold (19) is connected to a base plate (20), the base plate (20) is connected to a shell (21), and the shell (21) is provided with a servo motor (22) on its exterior. The housing (21) is provided with a drive gear (25) and a driven gear (26) in sequence inside, and the drive gear (25) and the driven gear (26) are meshed and driven. A double-ended lead screw (24) is connected to the driven gear (26), and the double-ended lead screw (24) is disposed through the outer casing (21); A sliding rod (23) is also provided through the outer shell (21); One end of the slide rod (23) and the double-ended lead screw (24) is provided with a clamping block one (27), and the other end of the slide rod (23) and the double-ended lead screw (24) is provided with a clamping block two (28).

9. The aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection according to claim 1, characterized in that, One end of the housing (1) is provided with a material conveying mechanism, which includes a support (29). The bracket (29) is provided with a side plate (30), and a three-phase asynchronous motor (31) and a bearing (32) are connected to the side plate (30). The output end of the three-phase asynchronous motor (31) is connected to a drive roller (33) via a connecting rod. The drive roller (33) is connected to a bearing (32), the side plate (30) is provided with a driven roller (35), and the drive roller (33) and the driven roller (35) are provided with a conveyor belt (34). The top of the side plate 1 (30) is provided with a limiting plate 1 (36). One end of the side plate (30) is provided with a connecting block (37), and an industrial robotic arm (38) is provided on the connecting block (37).

10. The aluminum tube drawing forming mold with integrated visual inspection according to claim 1, characterized in that, The other end of the housing (1) is provided with a discharge mechanism, which includes a second bracket (39) and a second side plate (40) on the second bracket (39). The side plate 2 (40) is connected to a three-phase asynchronous motor 3 (41) and a bearing 2 (42). The output end of the three-phase asynchronous motor 3 (41) is connected to a drive roller 2 (43) via a connecting rod. The drive roller 2 (43) is connected to a bearing 2 (42). The side plate 2 (40) is provided with a driven roller 2 (45). The drive roller 2 (43) and the driven roller 2 (45) are provided with a conveyor belt 2 (44); The top of the second side plate (40) is provided with a second limiting plate (46). One end of the side plate 2 (40) is provided with a connecting block 2 (47), and an industrial robotic arm 2 (48) is provided on the connecting block 2 (47).

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