Detachable Workpiece Carrier Base Unit With Simultaneous Clamping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies lack a reliable and efficient method for quickly and precisely securing workpiece carriers in 3D printing processes, particularly for hybrid manufacturing where parts are built on top of a base unit, requiring a support structure with customizable shape and size.
Innovation Solution
A base unit with a base plate, cover plate, and a fixing element, equipped with movement devices, allows for simultaneous locking and unlocking of multiple workpiece carriers using clamping bolts, ensuring precise alignment and positioning through cover plate through-openings and fixing element through-openings, with a movement device for transitioning between locked and unlocked positions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple workpiece carriers are secured individually using conventional clamping methods, then each carrier can be fixed reliably, but the time and complexity required to secure multiple carriers increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple individual clamping operations into a single unified clamping action. The base unit features a common clamping mechanism with a single clamping element that simultaneously secures multiple workpiece carriers (typically 4-6 carriers) to the base plate through integrated clamping bolts and clamping surfaces, eliminating the need for separate clamping operations for each carrier.
Solution Approach 2:
The base unit design creates a universal clamping system where a single base plate with standardized through-openings and clamping features can accommodate multiple different workpiece carriers with various sizes and shapes. The common clamping mechanism serves multiple functions by simultaneously securing different carriers in different positions and orientations.
2Measurement precision
If workpiece carriers are precisely positioned and aligned on the base unit, then positioning accuracy is improved, but the complexity of the positioning system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The base plate incorporates self-aligning features including precisely positioned through-openings that guide clamping bolts and inherent positioning surfaces that automatically align workpiece carriers during placement. The system uses the workpiece carriers' own geometries and the base plate's fixed features to achieve precise positioning without requiring additional active alignment mechanisms or complex adjustment devices.
3Reliability
If a secure and reliable fixation system is used for workpiece carriers, then holding force is sufficient, but the system becomes difficult to quickly release and reconfigure
Solution Approach 1:
The clamping system transitions from a static, permanently fixed state to a dynamic, easily reversible state. A single actuation of the common clamping mechanism simultaneously releases all clamped workpiece carriers, enabling rapid reconfiguration. The system allows the workpiece carriers to be quickly removed and replaced without manual manipulation of individual clamps.
4Length of stationary object
If the base unit housing is made compact with low installation height, then space efficiency is improved, but the internal space for clamping mechanisms is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The clamping mechanism is designed to operate primarily in the horizontal plane rather than requiring vertical space. The base plate with its through-openings and the workpiece carriers with their clamping bolts create a horizontal clamping arrangement that achieves secure fixation without increasing the installation height. The clamping action occurs laterally rather than vertically.
Data Source
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AI summary
To create a base unit for the detachable fixing of workpiece carriers, each comprising at least one clamping bolt, which enables the rapid and reliable creation of a workpiece support structure from a plurality of workpiece carriers on the top of the base unit, and which has a total workpiece support surface of a desired shape and size, it is proposed that the base unit comprise the following: a base plate, a cover plate which is provided with cover plate through-openings through which a clamping bolt of a workpiece carrier can pass, a fixing element which is provided with fixing element through-openings through which a clamping bolt of a workpiece carrier can pass, and by means of which at least one clamping bolt of a workpiece carrier can be fixed to the base unit when the fixing element is in a working position.and a movement device for moving the fixing element from a rest position to the working position and/or from the working position to the rest position.