Spring Production Machine Mandrel with Movable Wire Guide
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional spring manufacturing machines, particularly those using the 2-finger system, are limited to producing pure coil springs and cannot efficiently produce simple torsion springs or springs with angled legs due to restricted mandrel movement and tooling constraints.
Innovation Solution
The spring manufacturing machine incorporates a mandrel with a wire guide channel and an opening for inserting the wire, allowing the mandrel to move in multiple directions and a forming tool that can be positioned in three dimensions, enabling the production of springs with angled legs and high precision, while also allowing conversion from a 2-finger to a 1-finger system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a 2-finger system is used for spring production, then manufacturing precision and productivity are improved, but adaptability to produce different spring types (especially torsion springs and leg springs) deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The mandrel is designed with movable components that can dynamically adjust their positions and orientations during the spring forming process. The wire guide channel can move relative to the mandrel body, allowing the system to adapt between different spring types while maintaining precision through controlled movement rather than fixed rigid structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The mandrel is designed to perform multiple functions: it can produce both compression springs and torsion springs, and can create various leg configurations. By integrating the wire guide channel and bending surfaces into a single multi-functional mandrel structure, the machine achieves versatility without sacrificing the manufacturing precision that characterized the 2-finger system.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the wire guide channel is formed at a distance from the mandrel side wall, then adaptability to produce leg springs with various positions and shapes is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mandrel is divided into functional segments: the main mandrel body, the wire guide channel as a separate movable component, and various bending surfaces. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently and assembled in different configurations for different spring types, reducing overall complexity while maintaining adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The wire guide channel is nested within or integrated with the mandrel structure, allowing it to move within the mandrel's boundaries. This nested arrangement enables the wire guide to achieve positions at a distance from the mandrel side wall without requiring the entire mandrel structure to be overly complex or large.
3Ease of operation
If a separate tool for bending is used, then ease of operation for bending is improved, but device complexity and loss of time increase due to tool changes
Solution Approach 1:
The bending function is merged with the mandrel structure itself. The mandrel incorporates bending surfaces and the wire guide channel that can work together to perform bending operations directly during the spring forming process, eliminating the need for separate bending tools and reducing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The mandrel is pre-configured with bending surfaces and wire guide positioning capabilities that enable bending operations to be performed automatically as part of the spring forming process. This preliminary preparation of the mandrel structure allows bending to occur without additional tool changes or separate operations, saving time and simplifying operation.
Data Source
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Figure 3
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AI summary
The machine has a mandrel (16) movable perpendicular to a fed wire and in a vertical direction and a direction perpendicular to a machine frame. A forming tool (15) i.e. 3-dimensional winding finger, is movable parallel to a feeding direction and in two directions (v, y) that are perpendicular to each other and to the feeding direction. The mandrel has a wire guiding cable (27) formed at a distance from an external side wall (31) that is turned away from the frame. The cable guides the wire to the tool via the mandrel, where the wire is guided to the cable via an opening (46) of the mandrel.