Bottom Drive Press with Releasable Coupling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Presses with bottom drives face challenges in integrating drawing devices and efficiently managing waste due to spatial constraints and complex kinematics, limiting their use in large presses and transfer lines, where top drives are preferred for their logistical and energetic advantages.
Innovation Solution
A method for operating a press with a bottom drive that allows the plunger and drawing device to operate in a closed force flow, using releasable rotatory or translational active connections to decouple the drawing device from the full plunger stroke, enabling compact design and energy-efficient operation by varying the position of the drawing device's carrier unit and controlling the active connection based on forming forces and paths.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If a bottom drive arrangement is used in large presses, then the spatial arrangement allows for compact design, but there remains little space in the table for drawing devices, waste removal, and maintenance accessibility
Solution Approach 1:
The pressing system is divided into multiple independent plungers, each capable of autonomous operation. This segmentation allows different zones of the press to serve different functions - some areas for forming operations, others for waste removal and drawing device integration, thereby resolving the spatial conflict on the table surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention utilizes the vertical dimension by positioning the drive mechanism at the bottom and extending tie rods upward through posts to reach the plunger. This three-dimensional arrangement frees up horizontal table space while maintaining adequate stroke length and force transmission capability.
2Force
If tie rods are guided in posts connected to a cross beam forming a quasi-press frame, then force transmission is improved, but the top part of the post structure becomes an essential force-absorbing part requiring additional space
Solution Approach 1:
The tie rods are pre-tensioned during assembly to create initial compressive forces in the posts. This preliminary action allows the posts to better withstand subsequent cyclic loading during pressing operations, reducing the required cross-sectional area and overall dimensions of the post structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The connection between tie rods and plunger is designed to be dynamically adaptable, allowing optimal force distribution during different phases of the pressing cycle. This dynamic behavior enables more efficient force transmission with reduced structural requirements.
3Force
If complex lever kinematics are used in bottom drives, then force multiplication is achieved, but impact dampening becomes ineffective and material costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The complex lever kinematics are replaced with a more direct mechanical system using tie rods and connecting rods that provide sufficient force transmission without excessive mechanical advantage. This substitution maintains reliability by reducing the number of moving parts and improving impact dampening effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The unnecessary complexity of over-engineered lever systems is extracted and removed. The design uses only the essential mechanical elements needed for effective force transmission, simplifying the kinematics while maintaining adequate force multiplication for the application.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and a press are proposed for an energy-efficient drive of a press (1) with a bottom drive, in which a drive device (2) disposed in a bottom section (3), a plunger (1.1) executing a stroke (H) and receiving an upper tool part (1.2) with at least one acting tie rod (2.1.2) of a drive train (2.1) are provided and the upper tool part (2.1) corresponding to a bottom tool part (3.2) disposed in the bottom section (3) machines or forms a work piece (5). The drive device (2) is operated by at least one motor (2.1.1) and by way of a control and regulation device (4) connecting the motor (2.1.1) and the drive train (2.1). Each drive train (2.1) can be operated by its own motor (2.1.1). When using a drawing device with a holder (3.3.1), it is operated in the change and during at least a partial path of the respective stroke (H) by the drive train (2.1) while observing a shaft-type free space (3.2) provided in the bottom section (3) in a coupled or decoupled manner by a releasable rotatory or translational active connection.