Rotating Turret Head Machine Tool for Flexible Parallel Processing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing metal-cutting machine tools face limitations in flexibility and efficiency due to concept-related change errors and non-productive times during tool changes, and are constrained by the need for increased installation space to accommodate more tool spindles, which lengthens traverse paths and increases costs.
Innovation Solution
The machine tool design allows for automatic and manual tool changes with freely accessible unused tools, enabling increased tool capacity and parallel processing by rotating turret heads with separate drives, allowing tools to be swiveled outside the machining area and arranged diagonally to minimize workpiece carrier traversing paths.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the number of tool spindles is increased to improve machining flexibility, then the installation space must be increased, but this lengthens the traverse paths of the tool carrier and increases non-productive times
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a rotational dimension by arranging tool spindles in multiple rows on turret heads that can rotate about their longitudinal axes. This allows tools to be accessed by rotation rather than by linear traversal, effectively adding a dimensional degree of freedom to the tool selection process and eliminating the need for increased installation space.
Solution Approach 2:
The turret head structure serves multiple functions: it holds multiple tool spindles, rotates to select different tools, and positions them in the machining area. This multi-functional design consolidates what would otherwise require separate mechanisms, allowing increased tool capacity without proportionally increasing system complexity or traverse requirements.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the number of tool spindles is increased to improve machining flexibility, then the installation space must be increased, but this increases the cost of the machine tool
Solution Approach 1:
By utilizing rotational arrangement of tools on turret heads rather than linear expansion of installation space, the patent achieves increased tool capacity within the existing machine footprint, thereby avoiding the costs associated with enlarging the machine structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple tool spindles are nested on the turret head structure, with tools arranged in concentric or radial patterns around the rotation axis. This nesting approach maximizes tool density within a compact volume, reducing the overall installation space required and associated manufacturing costs.
3Area of stationary object
If tools are arranged in a compact configuration to reduce installation space, then tool accessibility for manual changes becomes difficult, but this increases the risk of operator injury
Solution Approach 1:
The rotational arrangement of tools on the turret head creates an external accessibility dimension. Tools can be loaded and changed from the outside of the machining area by rotating the turret, eliminating the need for operators to reach into the dangerous machining zone while maintaining compact tool storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The tool changing function is extracted from the machining area and performed externally on the turret head. This separation allows tool maintenance and replacement to occur outside the hazardous zone where cutting tools are active, protecting operators while maintaining tool accessibility.
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
A machine tool, comprising several groups of tool spindles (6) arranged one above and/or next to each other, each holding a tool (7), and a workpiece carrier (3) that is movable in a multi-axis translational manner towards the tool spindles (6) and projects in the sense of a cantilever arm, to which at least one workpiece holder (4) is attached, is designed such that each group of tool spindles (6) is arranged in an axially fixed turret head (2) that can be rotated about its longitudinal axis.