Gripping Tool Transport Method for Workpiece Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional transport methods for workpieces in forming devices fail to quickly react to process disruptions, leading to consequential damage and empty stages, which affect the geometry and quality of formed parts, as well as tool wear.
Innovation Solution
A transport method and device where gripping tools move workpieces to a waiting position outside the processing tool range upon detecting disruptions, allowing for immediate interruption of the transport cycle and resumption once the issue is resolved, using a sensor device and independent gripping tool carrier drive decoupled from the processing device's drive train.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the transport device is coupled to the drive train of the processing device, then the transport movements are synchronized with the processing cycle, but the device cannot react immediately to process disruptions, leading to consequential damage and empty stages
Solution Approach 1:
The transport device is separated from the processing device into independent systems. The gripping tool carrier has its own independent drive mechanism, while the gripping tools themselves remain coupled to the processing device drive train. This segmentation allows the transport carrier to react independently to disruptions while maintaining synchronization for normal operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a static coupled drive arrangement to a dynamic configuration where the gripping tool carrier can be independently controlled. The carrier can move between coupled and decoupled states, allowing it to pause at waiting positions during disruptions while resuming synchronized transport when normal operation resumes.
2Manufacturing precision
If the gripping tools wait in the basic position for missing workpieces, then empty forming stages are avoided, but the transport cycle is interrupted and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system adds a temporal dimension to the transport cycle by introducing optional waiting positions where the gripping tool carrier can pause without completing the full transport cycle. This allows the system to maintain precision by avoiding empty stages while managing productivity through controlled interruptions rather than complete stoppages.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If mechanical ejection is used for sorting out defective parts, then damaged parts can be removed, but good formed parts may also be ejected and the process is not precise enough
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements sensor-based feedback monitoring that detects process disruptions and signals the control device. This feedback mechanism enables precise identification of defective parts through sensor detection rather than mechanical ejection, allowing the system to differentiate between good and defective parts accurately and respond appropriately by pausing at waiting positions.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a transport method for transferring workpieces between multiple consecutive stages of a processing unit, in particular a shaping unit, wherein each workpiece is transported in a transport cycle from one stage to the respective following stage of the processing unit, simultaneously by means of multiple mutually moveable gripping tools. In the event of a process disturbance, the transport cycle is interrupted and the gripping tools with the workpieces are moved into a waiting position (27), in which the workpieces are outside of the effective region of processing tools of the stages of the processing unit. After the process disturbance has ended, the transport cycle of the workpieces is recommenced. Resultant damages of the process disturbance can be prevented via the movement of the gripping tools into a secure waiting position outside of the effective region of the processing tools of the stages.