Rolling Tool Pivoting Heads for Crankshaft Burnishing Alignment

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional rolling tools for burnishing crankshaft bearings often result in damage to the guides of the burnishing roller or the crankshaft due to sporadic axial helical movements, which is not addressed effectively by existing technologies.

Innovation Solution

A rolling tool with a burnishing roller guided in a one-piece roller cage and pivotable burnishing and support roller heads, ensuring precise alignment and minimizing axial forces, with pivot axes allowing for self-adjustment and correction of orientation deviations, and a coupling mechanism to maintain spatial relationship between components.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Device complexity

If a conventional rolling tool with multi-piece guides is used, then the device complexity is reduced, but the manufacturing precision and alignment accuracy deteriorate due to adjustment tolerances

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveguide structureVSAvoidalignment accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges multiple separate guide pieces into a single integrated one-piece guide structure. This eliminates the interfaces and adjustment tolerances between multiple components, thereby improving alignment accuracy while maintaining device complexity at an acceptable level through design simplification.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The one-piece guide is designed as a monolithic component that provides precise alignment features without requiring assembly of multiple parts. This segmentation principle applied in reverse (integrating rather than dividing) ensures that no adjustment tolerances exist between guide components, directly addressing the alignment accuracy issue.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

2Ease of operation

If the burnishing roller is not properly aligned, then the ease of operation is maintained, but the reliability deteriorates due to axial helical movements causing damage to guides and crankshaft

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveoperation simplicityVSAvoiddamage resistance
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The one-piece guide structure is designed to automatically self-align the burnishing roller during operation. The integrated geometry of the guide provides inherent alignment features that guide the roller into the correct position without requiring complex adjustment mechanisms, thereby maintaining ease of operation while improving reliability through consistent alignment.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The guide structure is designed with pre-configured alignment features that prevent axial helical movements before they can cause damage. By providing proper alignment constraints in advance through the one-piece design, the system prevents harmful movements rather than reacting to them after damage occurs.

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

3Manufacturing precision

If a one-piece roller cage is used, then the manufacturing precision improves through fixed alignment, but the device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvealignment precisionVSAvoidguide structure
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent combines multiple guide components into a single integrated roller cage structure. While this increases manufacturing complexity compared to assembling multiple simple parts, it eliminates the need for complex adjustment mechanisms and provides superior alignment precision through the monolithic design, resulting in net simplification of the overall system.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

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 solution significantly reduces damage to the guides and crankshaft by ensuring proper alignment and stable operation, extending the service life of the rolling tools and maintaining high surface quality of the bearing surfaces.

Implementation Method 1

The burnishing roller (7) consists of a resilient material which, under the action of a rolling force, yields elastically and plastically

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectElasticity: Elasticity

Implementation Method 2

The burnishing roller (7) consists of a resilient material which, under the action of a rolling force, yields elastically and plastically

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectPlasticity: Plasticity

Implementation Method 3

The burnishing head (4) and the support roller head (5) can pivot about a pivot axis, i.e. the housings of the two heads are pivotable to correct for deviations in the orientation of the heads with respect to the crankshaft

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectMechanical Advantage: Mechanical Advantage

Data Source

PatentEP3027338B1Rolling tool
Publication Date: 2020.01.15 HEGENSCHEIDT MFD GMBH
  • EP3027338B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3027338B1 patent drawingFigure 2~5
  • EP3027338B1 patent drawingFigure 6~7

AI summary

The invention relates to a rolling tool (1) for the roller burnishing of bearing surfaces (2) of a crankshaft (3) that can be rotated about a crankshaft axis (K), comprising a roller burnishing head (4) and a supporting roller head (5). The problem addressed by the invention is that of designing such a rolling tool in such a way that damage to guides of the burnishing roller or of the crankshaft is largely impossible. This problem is solved in that the burnishing roller (7) is guided on all sides in a roller cage (12) and in that the roller burnishing head (4) has a roller burnishing head frame (13), in which the roller burnishing head housing (6) is supported pivotably about a first pivot axis, which is perpendicular to the crankshaft axis (K) and which extends parallel to a tangent to a working side of the burnishing roller (7). Additionally or alternatively thereto, the supporting roller head (5) comprises the supporting roller frame (14), in which the supporting roller housing (9) can be pivoted about a second pivot axis (B), which is perpendicular to the crankshaft axis (K) and parallel to the first pivot axis (A), and about a third pivot axis (C), which is perpendicular to the crankshaft axis (K) and perpendicular to the first pivot axis (A).