Rotating Bar Centering Wheels for Vibration-Stable Machining
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Solution Overview
Problem
Prior centring devices for bars face challenges in ensuring gentle, regular, and secure movement during machining, while also reducing oscillations and vibrations, especially for bars with reduced diameters or hexagonal cross sections, and are often complex and costly.
Innovation Solution
A centring device with a rotating guide mechanism and adjustable wheels that can move radially to define a variable passage gap, using pin-groove coupling and actuating means to position wheels closer or farther from the centring axis, allowing for secure centring and reduced vibrations across different bar diameters and shapes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If prior-art centring devices use movable jaws with sliding guides to adjust the passage gap, then the device can adapt to different bar diameters, but the movement becomes irregular with excessive friction and risk of blocking or jamming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the sliding guide mechanism with a rotating guide mechanism. Instead of linear sliding motion that causes friction and jamming, the guide means rotates around the centring axis, converting the adjustment mechanism from a sliding mechanical system to a rotating mechanical system. This substitution eliminates the blocking and jamming issues inherent in sliding guides while maintaining the ability to adjust the passage gap for different bar diameters.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic adjustment capability through rotation. The guide means can rotate to different angular positions, dynamically adjusting the passage gap width without the friction and jamming problems of static sliding mechanisms. The centring devices move radially in response to guide rotation, providing smooth and reliable adjustment for various bar sizes.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If prior-art centring devices use complex sliding mechanisms to reduce vibrations, then some vibration reduction is achieved, but the device becomes complex and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the guiding function and the centring function into a single integrated mechanism. The rotating guide means simultaneously performs the dual function of guiding the centring devices and enabling their radial movement for vibration reduction. This consolidation eliminates the need for separate complex sliding mechanisms, reducing overall device complexity and cost while maintaining effective vibration control.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide means serves multiple functions: it guides the centring devices, enables radial adjustment of the passage gap, and facilitates vibration reduction through controlled rotation. This multi-functional design replaces multiple specialized components with a single versatile mechanism, simplifying the overall device structure and reducing costs while achieving the desired vibration reduction effect.
3Manufacturing precision
If the passage gap is made narrow for reduced diameter bars, then centring precision improves, but the device cannot accommodate bars of different formats
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic adjustability through rotation of the guide means. The passage gap can be dynamically adjusted from a narrow configuration for small diameter bars to a wider configuration for larger bars. The centring devices move radially in response to guide rotation, allowing the same device to achieve precise centring for bars of various formats by simply rotating the guide to the appropriate angular position.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the passage gap through rotation. By rotating the guide means, the radial position of the centring devices changes, thereby altering the passage gap width. This parameter change allows the device to adapt to different bar formats - narrow gap for small bars, wide gap for large bars - while maintaining centring precision for each specific configuration.
Data Source
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AI summary
Centring device (1), in particular for a bar (B) which is fed from a bar loader to a machine tool, said centring device comprising: a frame (2); guide means (5) provided with a hole to allow the passage of a bar (B) along a centring axis and arranged on said frame (2) with the possibility of rotating around said centring axis; rocker arms (6) coupled to said guide means (5), each of said rocker arms (6) being rotatable on said frame (2) around a fulcrum (7) and being provided with a wheel (8) for centring the bar (B); coupling means configured to couple said guide means (5) to said rocker arms (6) so that a rotation of said guide means (5) causes a displacement of the wheels (8) of said rocker arms (6) and that, due to the effect of said displacement, each wheel (8) can assume at least one proximal position in which it is radially closer to said centring axis, and at least one distal position in which it is radially more distant from said centring axis, whereby the wheels (8) define an adjustable passage for the bar (B) which is narrower with the wheels in proximal position and is wider with the wheels in distal position; actuator means (12) to rotate said guide means (5) at least to position said wheels (8) selectively in said proximal and distal positions; wherein said coupling means comprises pin-groove coupling means.