Cutting Fluid Shavings Separation with Turret and Rotary Valve
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current devices for separating metal shavings from cutting fluid in machine tools are bulky, heavy, and complex to use, making them inefficient and difficult to transport, as they require thick walls and vacuum systems to manage the separation process effectively.
Innovation Solution
A device with a turret that creates a depression using a pump to suck in the mixture of cutting fluid and shavings, featuring inclined plates to intercept fluid droplets and a rotary valve to separate the fluid from the shavings, allowing for gravity-driven separation and subsequent filtration, reducing the need for thick walls and vacuum systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If thick walls and vacuum systems are used to create depression for separation, then separation effectiveness is improved, but device weight and bulk increase
Solution Approach 1:
The device separates the depression creation function into a portable pump unit that can be detached from the separation chamber. This segmentation allows the heavy vacuum system to be removed when not in use, significantly reducing device weight and bulk while maintaining separation effectiveness when the pump is connected.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a static enclosed vacuum system to a dynamic setup where the pump can be connected and disconnected as needed. The separation chamber can operate in different states (with or without depression), allowing flexibility in operation and reducing the need for permanently thick walls and constant vacuum maintenance.
2Reliability
If thick walls and enclosed structures are used to maintain depression, then separation reliability is improved, but device complexity and bulk increase
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into separate functional modules: a separation chamber and a portable pump unit. This segmentation simplifies each component's design and reduces overall complexity, as the chamber doesn't need permanent vacuum sealing features when the pump is disconnected.
Solution Approach 2:
The vacuum system (pump) is extracted from the main separation device body, allowing the chamber to be a simpler, open structure that only requires sealing at the pump connection interface. This eliminates the need for complex enclosed vacuum chambers with multiple sealing points.
3Ease of manufacture
If manual separation with sieves is used, then no special equipment is needed, but separation time and labor increase
Solution Approach 1:
The device enables self-service separation by allowing operators to easily connect the portable pump to the separation chamber and perform automated fluid-shaving separation. This eliminates the need for manual sieving while keeping the device simple enough for operators to use without specialized training or assistance.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device is lighter, easier to use, and more efficient, allowing for effective separation of cutting fluid and shavings, with the fluid being reusable and shavings collected as recyclable material, while maintaining a simple and cost-effective design.
Implementation Method 1
A pump acts on this turret, creating a depression within itself which sucks up this mixture
Implementation Method 2
creating a suitable depression within itself. Therefore, it is evident that the enclosure which encloses the mixture, during this operation, must be kept in depression
Implementation Method 3
within the aforesaid turret a plurality of inclined plates being present, arranged above the point of inlet of the mixture sucked into the turret, which is flooded by said mixture, intercepting the cutting fluid in the form of drops
Implementation Method 4
On the bottom of the turret there is a rotary valve, which has a plurality of radial septa into which the mixture of cutting fluid and shavings enters, which is subsequently made to fall into an underlying device for the complete separation of the two elements
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4
AI summary
A device adapted to the separation of shavings contained in a cutting fluid used in machine tools is involved, characterized in that it has a first suction stage, consisting of a turret (1), into which a mixture of air and cutting fluid containing metal shavings to be treated converges. A pump (2) acts on said turret (1), which pump sucks up this mixture, creating a depression inside said turret (1), within the aforesaid turret a plurality of inclined plates (24) is present, arranged above the point of inlet of the mixture into the turret, which are flooded by said mixture, intercepting it and separating from the air the cutting fluid mixed with shavings that falls onto the bottom of the turret (1), where there is a rotary valve (3), which has a plurality of radial partitions (32), into which the mixture of cutting fluid and shavings enters, which mixture is made to fall into an underlying device for the complete separation of said two elements.