Integrated Honing Machine for Gear Profiling
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Solution Overview
Problem
The production of honing rings and gears is complex and costly, requiring separate machines and expensive diamond tools, leading to high investment costs and inflexibility, especially for smaller series production.
Innovation Solution
A machine that integrates a honing ring carrier, a grinding module, and a workpiece spindle module, allowing the profiling and honing of honing rings and gears in the same clamping, eliminating the need for external diamond tools and enabling flexible production of different geometries with a single machine.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate machines are used for producing honing rings and for honing workpieces, then each machine can be optimized for its specific function, but the footprint and investment costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the honing ring production function and the honing function into a single machine. The honing ring carrier can hold either a honing ring blank for profiling or a finished honing ring for honing operations, while the workpiece spindle module provides the workpiece. This merging eliminates the need for separate machines, reducing footprint and investment costs while maintaining functional capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The honing ring carrier is designed with multi-functionality: it can clamp honing ring blanks during profiling operations or finished honing rings during honing operations. The same carrier structure and clamping mechanism serve both purposes, making the machine versatile and eliminating the need for dedicated equipment for each function.
2Manufacturing precision
If expensive diamond gears are used to profile honing rings, then high manufacturing precision can be achieved, but the costs and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical diamond gear profiling system with an abrasive grinding process. Instead of using a diamond-coated gear to profile the honing ring blank, a grinding wheel with abrasive grains is used to grind the blank into the desired geometry. This substitution eliminates the need for complex diamond gear tools while achieving the required profiling precision through the abrasive removal material.
3Manufacturing precision
If honing ring blanks are profiled with diamond gears, then accurate toothing can be produced, but the production process becomes more complex and requires additional machines
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the profiling operation and the honing operation into a single integrated process flow within one machine. The honing ring blank is clamped in the honing ring carrier, profiled by the grinding wheel, and then the same carrier holds the finished honing ring for honing operations on the workpiece. This eliminates the need for separate machines for profiling and honing, reducing process complexity.
4Reliability
If multiple machines are used for honing ring production and honing, then each process can be independently optimized, but the investment costs and space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functions (hon ring blank profiling and honing ring honing) into a single machine platform. The honing ring carrier, grinding module, and workpiece spindle module work together to perform both operations sequentially on the same machine, reducing the number of machines required and thereby lowering investment costs and space requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The honing ring carrier is designed as a universal clamping device that can hold both honing ring blanks during profiling and finished honing rings during honing operations. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for separate dedicated equipment for each operation, reducing overall investment costs while maintaining process optimization capabilities.
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 integrated solution reduces costs and increases flexibility by allowing fully automatic profiling and honing processes, eliminating inaccuracies from re-clamping and enabling the production of various honing ring geometries with a single setup, thus optimizing the production efficiency and reducing the need for multiple machines.
Implementation Method 1
a grinding module for profiling a honing ring by grinding a honing ring blank
Implementation Method 2
a honing ring rolls with the workpiece to be machined with offset axes
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
A machine for machining workpieces comprises a machine frame (110, 120), a honing ring carrier (60) which is mounted on the machine frame and in which a honing ring or a honing ring blank is able to be clamped and is drivable in rotation about its central axis, and a workpiece spindle module (50) having a workpiece spindle (54), wherein a workpiece to be machined with the honing ring clamped in the honing ring carrier (60) is fittable in the region of a free end of the workpiece spindle (54). The machine also comprises a grinding module (130) for profiling a honing ring by grinding a honing ring blank, wherein the grinding module (130) is arranged on the machine frame (110, 120) such that a grinding disc of the grinding module (130) can be positioned within a truly three-dimensional region relative to the honing ring carrier (60). The profiling of a honing ring and the honing of a workpiece can thus take place in the same set-up of the honing ring. As a result, problems which arise on account of imprecise centring during (re)mounting of the honing ring are avoided. A honing-ring-specific externally profiled tool, for example a diamond toothed wheel, is not required to produce the honing ring.