Thread Former Lubrication Channel and Decoupled Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional thread-forming units face challenges in maintaining consistent lubrication at high rotational speeds, leading to overheating and reduced tool life due to inadequate oil application and sealing issues during the thread-forming process, especially when forming deep threads.
Innovation Solution
The integration of an internal lubricant channel within the thread-forming head and a decoupled sealing system that separates rotational and axial movements, utilizing a piston rod and spindle with anti-twist devices and seals to ensure precise lubricant delivery and effective sealing, allowing for continuous lubrication and reliable operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional oil lubrication with spray lance is used, then lubrication is applied to the thread former, but the oil sprays away before forming due to high rotational speed and centrifugal force
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary delivery system (lubricant channel integrated into the tool) that mediates between the lubricant supply and the thread former, protecting the lubricant from being sprayed away by centrifugal force while ensuring controlled delivery to the forming point
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the lubricant delivery function from the external spray lance system and integrates it into the tool itself through internal lubricant channels, separating the lubricant delivery path from the high-speed rotational environment that causes spraying
2Productivity
If high process speeds are used to increase productivity, then production efficiency improves, but heat is generated causing thread formers to overheat and damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent ensures continuous lubrication through integrated channels that deliver lubricant consistently during the entire high-speed forming process, maintaining continuous heat dissipation and preventing overheating even at high process speeds
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses hydraulic lubrication through pressurized lubricant channels to deliver lubricant directly to the thread former during high-speed operation, ensuring adequate lubrication and heat dissipation despite the high process speeds that generate heat
3Ease of operation
If thread former moves in rotation and translation simultaneously, then thread forming is achieved, but sealing both movements is problematic with standard seals
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the sealing function into separate components: a radial seal for rotational movement and an axial seal for translational movement, allowing each seal to specialize in one type of movement rather than requiring a single complex seal to handle both simultaneously
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a piston rod as an intermediary element that couples the spindle's rotational and translational movements to the thread former, enabling the decoupled sealing arrangement where radial and axial seals handle different movement components separately
4Reliability
If oil is applied early to the thread former, then lubrication is provided, but the oil film is removed by centrifugal force before forming starts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent prepares the lubricant delivery system in advance by integrating channels within the tool structure, ensuring lubricant is positioned and ready for immediate delivery at the precise moment of contact, preventing premature application that would be subject to centrifugal force removal
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
This solution ensures consistent and controlled lubrication, preventing overheating and extending the service life of thread formers by maintaining a stable oil film during high-speed operations and reducing mechanical wear, thereby enhancing process reliability and tool longevity.
Implementation Method 1
Conventional oil lubrication is used to reduce this problem. B. work on the basis of a hose system with a spray lance. In such a system known from the prior art, a specific quantity of oil is sprayed onto the former in a precisely timed manner via an oil lance at the specified point in time.
Implementation Method 2
Since the standardized seals available on the market are designed either for a radial seal or, alternatively, for an axial seal, the problem lies in the appropriate sealing of both the rotating and axially displaceable movement when creating a thread.
Implementation Method 3
The interacting surfaces are therefore designed to be comparable to key surfaces. Since, in the preferred embodiment, the anti-rotation means itself is designed as a plain bearing bush, the spindle to which the plain bearing bush is attached can only be opened and closed relative to the piston rod Move away, but do not perform a relative rotary movement
Implementation Method 4
The piston rod is rotatably mounted in the bearing shell by means of a ball bearing 25
Implementation Method 5
the spindle can be moved linearly with the piston rod via a plain bearing bush, i. H. coupled for axial displacement
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a machining unit (1) for machining workpieces (100), comprising a rotating tool (2). The machining unit (1) comprises a spindle (10) for performing a rotational motion of the tool (2) about an axis of rotation (A) and a piston rod (20) rotatably supported in a bearing shell (30), wherein the spindle (10) is supported in such a way that the spindle is linearly movable and rotationally fixed in relation to the piston rod (20).