Flexible Flap Grinding Wheel for Profiled Glass Bottle Polishing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for polishing glass bottles, especially irregularly profiled ones, face challenges in achieving a high degree of finish, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness due to limitations in current grinding and polishing technologies, which result in increased breakage and higher production costs.
Innovation Solution
A polishing process using a rotating flexible flap grinding wheel with pneumatically controlled abrasive flaps of varying widths and abrasive grain sizes, ensuring constant pressure contact and efficient abrasion of complex surfaces, allowing for automated and high-quality polishing of glass bottles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If hard grinding wheels are used to polish profiled glass bottles, then polishing capability is improved, but device complexity and motion control complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses flexible flaps with abrasive layers instead of rigid grinding wheels. These flaps can conform to the complex three-dimensional profile of glass bottles, providing effective polishing without requiring complex motion control systems. The flexibility of the flaps allows them to adapt to varying bottle shapes while maintaining consistent contact pressure.
Solution Approach 2:
The grinding wheel is segmented into multiple independent flexible flaps rather than being a single rigid structure. Each flap can independently conform to different portions of the bottle surface, allowing the system to handle various profiled shapes without complex reconfiguration or motion control.
2Manufacturing precision
If polishing time is prolonged to achieve desired effect on three-dimensional bottles, then polishing quality is improved, but abrasive consumption increases and efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fundamental parameters of the polishing system by using flexible flaps with controlled abrasive grain distribution and pneumatic pressure regulation. This allows optimization of the polishing process to achieve high-quality results in shorter times with reduced abrasive consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
Pneumatic systems are used to control the contact pressure between the flexible flaps and the bottle surface. This ensures consistent, optimal pressure distribution during polishing, improving efficiency and reducing the time required to achieve desired surface quality while minimizing abrasive wear.
3Loss of substance
If conventional grinding methods are used on irregularly profiled bottles, then material removal capability is improved, but breakage risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible flaps conform to the bottle profile and distribute contact forces evenly across the surface, avoiding stress concentration points that could cause breakage. This allows effective material removal while maintaining bottle integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible flaps provide locally adapted polishing contact, with each portion of the flap conforming to the local surface geometry. This ensures appropriate pressure distribution across different regions of the bottle, removing material effectively while avoiding excessive stress on vulnerable areas.
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
This method effectively polishes complex glass bottle surfaces with minimal material removal, reducing breakage and production costs, while maintaining the original structure and thickness, enabling efficient automated processing and improved consumer satisfaction.
Implementation Method 1
pneumatically controlling the feed of the flexible flap grinding wheel relative to the surface of the article to be polished
Implementation Method 2
various centrifugally outspread flexible flaps of a rotating flexible flap grinding wheel
Implementation Method 3
each flexible flap comprising a substrate and an abrasive layer, and the abrasive layer being bonded to the substrate and comprising an abrasive and a binder
Data Source
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Figure 5
AI summary
Disclosed are a process and apparatus for polishing a glass article (1201). The polishing process comprises bringing a rotating article (1201) to be polished into contact with various centrifugally outspread flexible flaps of a rotating flexible flap grinding wheel (1101), with a grinding wheel (1101) rotation shaft being parallel to an article (1201) rotation shaft; and pneumatically controlling the feed of the flexible flap grinding wheel (1101) relative to the surface of the article (1201) to be polished, such that the outer edges of the flaps of the flexible flap grinding wheel (1101) are in pressure contact with the surface to be polished of the article (1201) to be polished, and polishing same. This polishing process can restore a worn glass bottle, particularly a glass bottle having a profiled contour, to the extent that same looks like new at a lower cost. The corresponding polishing apparatus can realize automatic and continuous grinding polishing of worn glass bottles.