Rotary Drive Bending Device for Vacuum Specimen Testing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing devices for bending tests on slab-shaped or beam-shaped specimens face challenges in flexibility during load reversal, maintaining low installation height, and ensuring accessibility for tests under restricted vacuum chamber conditions, particularly in achieving homogenous stress states and handling asymmetrical stress conditions.
Innovation Solution
A device with two rotary drives, each with parallel-aligned flanges and bar-shaped bending elements, allowing for independent and asynchronous rotation to generate tensile and compressive stresses, and equipped with sensors for closed-loop control to manage stress gradients and calibrate precision.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional bending test devices are used, then bending tests can be performed, but the installation height is too high and accessibility to specimen surfaces is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of moving the specimen vertically through a fixed bending apparatus, the invention inverts the approach by keeping the specimen stationary on the sample holder and rotating the bending elements (flanges with pins) horizontally around the specimen. This inversion reduces the vertical installation height while maintaining full accessibility to the specimen surface for microscopy and other tests.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from vertical movement (specimen moving up and down through the bending device) to horizontal rotation (bending elements rotating around the stationary specimen). This dimensional change from vertical to horizontal operation reduces the installation height requirement while preserving all testing capabilities.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the specimen is removed and the test setup is modified to change stress direction, then compressive and tensile stresses can be applied, but the vacuum must be interrupted
Solution Approach 1:
The invention employs dynamic, independently controllable rotary drives for each flange, allowing the bending direction and stress state (tensile or compressive) to be changed on-the-fly by simply reversing the rotation direction. This dynamic control eliminates the need to remove the specimen or interrupt the vacuum, as all stress direction changes are achieved through motor control rather than mechanical reconfiguration.
Solution Approach 2:
The same bending apparatus with independently controlled rotary drives can apply both tensile and compressive stresses, perform four-point bending, and execute load reversal tests without any modification or specimen removal. This multi-functionality is achieved through the universal design of the rotating flanges and pins, which can generate any desired bending moment configuration while maintaining vacuum integrity.
3Manufacturing precision
If complex drive mechanisms are used to achieve small distance differentials, then precise bending control is possible, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces complex mechanical linkage systems with electronic open-loop or closed-loop control of rotary drives. Instead of using mechanical mechanisms to achieve precise small distance differentials, the system uses electronically controlled motor rotation with sensor feedback, significantly reducing mechanical complexity while maintaining or improving precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention incorporates sensors that detect the position and movement of the bending elements and feeds this information back to the control unit. This feedback mechanism enables precise control of small distance differentials and bending moments through electronic adjustment, eliminating the need for complex mechanical precision mechanisms and allowing for real-time correction of positioning errors.
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
Enables flexible and precise bending tests with alternating stresses, maintaining low installation height and accessibility, allowing for simultaneous stress-dependent testing without vacuum interruptions and accommodating various specimen dimensions and conditions.
Implementation Method 1
two rotary drives (10, 11) are in each case individually actuatable
Implementation Method 2
bending forces are exerted on the specimen in a rotation of one or both of the rotary drives
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a device for carrying out bending tests on panel-shaped or beam-shaped samples (1), in which two rotary drives are arranged at a distance from one another and a flange (3) is fastened to each of the drive shafts of the rotary drives, said drive shafts being oriented parallel to one another. At least two bar-shaped bending elements (2) oriented parallel to the axis of rotation of the drive shafts and arranged at a distance from the axis of rotation and at a distance from one another are provided on each of the flanges (3). A panel-shaped or beam-shaped sample (1) can be introduced between the two bar-shaped bending elements (2) on the two flanges (3). In the event of rotation of the rotary drives in opposite directions of rotation, bending forces are exerted on the sample (1) and each of the two rotary drives can be controlled individually and connected to an electronic open-loop or closed-loop control unit.