Circular Saw Cutting Machine with Automated Remainder Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional circular cutting machines are limited in their ability to perform further cutting operations after the work feed mechanism can no longer feed the work, resulting in incomplete cutting and significant work remainders.
Innovation Solution
The circular cutting machine incorporates a headstock transfer unit, a transfer vice unit, a main vice unit with independently controllable clamping cylinders, work end detection sensors, and a fixed-length cutting controller that enables the front vice to retract and clamp the work for further cutting, allowing the machine to continue cutting even when the transfer vice unit can no longer feed the work.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the work feed vise mechanism feeds work to the cutting position, then cutting operations can be performed, but when the remainder length becomes smaller than the feed limit length, feeding is no longer possible and cutting must stop
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a work withdrawal mechanism as an intermediary device that performs the opposite function of the work feed vise mechanism. While the feed vise pushes work forward, the withdrawal mechanism pulls the remainder backward, enabling continued cutting operations even when the remainder is too short for the feed vise to grip and advance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies inversion by using a work withdrawal mechanism that operates in the opposite direction to the work feed mechanism. Instead of pushing work forward for cutting, the withdrawal mechanism pulls the remainder backward, allowing the cutting process to continue with inverted feeding direction when the remainder becomes too short.
2Productivity
If the work withdrawal mechanism grips the remainder to withdraw it, then further cutting becomes possible, but the remainder can be neither fed nor gripped by the work feed vise mechanism
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the work handling function into two separate mechanisms: the work feed vise mechanism for advancing work during normal cutting, and the work withdrawal mechanism for retrieving remainders when they become too short. This segmentation allows each mechanism to be optimized for its specific function while working together to enable continuous cutting.
3Manufacturing precision
If fixed-length cutting is performed repeatedly, then work pieces are cut to specification, but significant work remainders are generated that cannot be processed further
Solution Approach 1:
The patent ensures continuity of useful action by enabling the cutting process to continue with work remainders that would otherwise become unusable. The work withdrawal mechanism allows the system to maintain continuous cutting operations, extracting maximum value from each work piece and minimizing leftover material that cannot be processed further.
Data Source
AI summary
In a circular cutting machine, a main vice unit includes a stationary rear vice and a front vice disposed to be movable back and forth in a range between a position forward of a preset cutting position and a rearmost position where the rear ends of jaws come into contact with the front ends of jaws of the rear vice. The rear and front vices include clamping cylinders that are independently controllable so as to independently clamp and unclamp their respective vices. When photoelectric sensors detect the rear end of work, the remaining length is calculated, which is then divided by the fixed-length feed amount to calculate a remaining number of possible cutting operations. The remaining number of such operations are carried out by using either a combination of the front vice and a transfer vice unit or the front vice alone to pull out the work.