Gear Machining Machine with Segmented Guiding Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gear manufacturing machines face challenges in performing precise grinding due to high stress levels during the gear cutting process, requiring separate machines for each phase and increasing complexity and cost.
Innovation Solution
A machine design that integrates both gear cutting and grinding capabilities using a single operating head, with selectively movable components to manage stress and ensure precise orientation, allowing for simultaneous execution of both processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If gear cutting is performed on a machine with a piece-holder table that rotates about its longitudinal axis, then gear cutting capability is achieved, but high stress affects the orientation and shape of the guiding mechanism, making subsequent grinding impossible on the same machine
Solution Approach 1:
The machine is divided into two independent guiding devices: a first guiding device for the piece-holder table during gear cutting, and a second guiding device for the operating head during grinding. This segmentation allows each guiding device to be optimized for its specific function, with the second guiding device maintaining high precision for grinding operations without being subjected to the high stresses of gear cutting.
Solution Approach 2:
The machine integrates multiple functions by combining gear cutting and grinding capabilities in a single machine structure. The operating head can perform both cutting operations (with roughing and finishing tools) and grinding operations (with grinding tools), while the piece-holder table serves both cutting and grinding phases. This multi-functionality is achieved through the dual guiding device architecture that maintains precision for each function.
2Device complexity
If a single machine performs both gear cutting and grinding, then production complexity and cost are reduced, but the high stress during cutting affects the precision required for grinding
Solution Approach 1:
The guiding mechanism is segmented into two independent systems: the first guiding device supports the piece-holder table and withstands high cutting stresses, while the second guiding device supports the operating head and maintains high precision for grinding. This segmentation allows the machine to achieve both low complexity (single machine) and high grinding precision simultaneously.
3Productivity
If the piece-holder table rotates about its longitudinal axis during gear cutting, then gear teeth can be machined, but the resulting stress prevents subsequent high-precision grinding on the same machine
Solution Approach 1:
The machine uses two independent guiding devices to separate the high-stress cutting function from the high-precision grinding function. The first guiding device handles the piece-holder table during cutting, while the second guiding device handles the operating head during grinding, ensuring reliable grinding operations despite the stresses incurred during cutting.
Solution Approach 2:
The operating head is designed to be movable along the second guiding device, allowing dynamic repositioning between cutting and grinding operations. This dynamic capability enables the same operating head to perform both roughing/finishing cuts and precision grinding, maintaining reliability through proper positioning and stress management.
Data Source
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AI summary
A machine (1) for making gears. The machine comprising at least one piece -holder -table (7), which is mounted to rotate about a given first longitudinal axis (8) thereof, and supports a piece being machined; and at least an operating head (39), which is provided with at least one tool (42) for machining the piece. The machine (1) is characterized in that the piece-holder table (7) and the operating head (39) are provided with relative motion with respect to each other in a first direction (4). Moreover, the operating head (39) and the piece - holder table (7) can be selectively stopped along their respective path according to the machining process to be carried out on the piece.