Grinding Tool Internal Skeleton Vibration Damping

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional machining tools are heavy, difficult to handle, and prone to vibrations due to their size and rigidity, which can damage bearings and reduce friction, while lighter carbon fibre tools are expensive and also exhibit vibrations due to lack of radial elasticity.

Innovation Solution

A diamond grinding wheel with an internal skeleton structure that provides rigidity and vibration damping, made using a material-to-void ratio that balances weight and stability, allowing for a lighter, easier-to-handle tool without the need for expensive materials like carbon fibre, and manufactured using a bottom-up layer-by-layer process.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Strength

If conventional machining tools are made with solid carrier bodies to ensure stability and rigidity, then structural strength and rigidity are improved, but weight increases and handling becomes difficult

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvestructural rigidityVSAvoidtool weight
Core Design Contradiction:
StrengthVSWeight of moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The tool body is segmented into a shell structure with internal skeleton rather than a solid mass. The carrier body comprises a shell with internal compartment containing a skeleton structure, dividing the solid material into strategic supportive elements that maintain rigidity while reducing overall weight.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The tool employs a shell structure with internal void spaces and skeleton, creating a porous-like configuration. This allows the tool to maintain structural integrity through the skeleton framework while the void spaces significantly reduce the weight of the carrier body.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #31Porous materials

2Stability of the object's composition

If conventional tools are made heavier to withstand machining forces, then stability during operation is improved, but vibrations increase and damage bearings

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveoperational stabilityVSAvoidvibrations
Core Design Contradiction:
Stability of the object's compositionVSObject-generated harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The internal skeleton structure acts as a pre-configured vibration damping system. The skeleton is positioned within the shell to provide structural support while inherently absorbing and dampening vibrations before they can propagate to the bearings and moving parts, preventing damage beforehand.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #11Beforehand cushioning (Prior cushioning)

Solution Approach 2:

The tool combines shell material with internal skeleton structure to create a composite configuration. This composite design provides both the rigidity needed for operational stability and the vibration-damping characteristics that protect against harmful vibrations during machining operations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #40Composite materials

3Ease of operation

If carbon fibre composite materials are used to reduce tool weight, then ease of handling is improved, but production cost increases and radial elasticity is lost

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvehandling easeVSAvoidproduction cost
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

Instead of changing the material type to expensive carbon fibre, the invention changes the structural parameters by introducing a shell-with-skeleton configuration. This parametric change in structure rather than material allows weight reduction and handling improvement while maintaining compatibility with conventional, cost-effective materials and manufacturing processes.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

4Weight of moving object

If the tool shell is made thinner to reduce weight, then ease of handling is improved, but structural integrity and vibration damping are reduced

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetool weightVSAvoidstructural integrity
Core Design Contradiction:
Weight of moving objectVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The shell is segmented to include an internal skeleton structure rather than relying on shell thickness alone. This segmentation allows the shell to be thinner for weight reduction while the internal skeleton provides the necessary structural integrity and vibration damping that would otherwise require a thicker shell.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

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 tool is more stable and less prone to vibrations, reducing the burden on handling systems and production costs, while maintaining structural integrity and flexibility.

Implementation Method 1

the tool still possesses strong rigidity while having flexibility to absorb or dampen vibrations during operation of the tool

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectVibration damping: Damping

Implementation Method 2

due to the rigidity of the carbon material, exhibit vibrations caused by the grinding process and which develops due to a missing radial elasticity of the carbon tool

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectRadial elasticity: Elasticity

Data Source

PatentEP3009233B1A tool for machining material and a method of producing the tool
Publication Date: 2018.12.12 VK INVESTMENT GMBH
  • EP3009233B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3009233B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3009233B1 patent drawingFigure 3a~3c

AI summary

The invention concerns a tool for machining of materials (1, 10), specifically a grinding tool, which has a substantially rotationally symmetrical shape with respect to a rotation axis (R), the tool comprising an outer shell (4,40) centred about the rotation axis and defining an internal space therein, wherein at least a part of a surface of the outer shell (4,40) is provided with an abrasive coating or component (2, 20), wherein the outer shell (4,40) encases an internal skeleton structure (3, 30) in the internal space, the internal skeleton being integral with the outer shell (4, 40) and defining void volumes in the internal space thereby establishing material and void volumes (M, V) of the internal space, and wherein the material to void ratio M/V is distributed substantially identically along each radius (r) centred around the rotation axis (R) and its corresponding symmetrical radius (r'). The invention also concerns a method for producing such tool.