Automatic iron core air gap cutting apparatus

Abstract
An automatic iron core air gap cutting apparatus includes an electronic control box and a transmission system to receive signals and control from the electronic control box for receiving finished iron cores to perform air gaps cutting operations. The completed iron cores with the air gaps formed thereon are pushed to an exit chute for packaging, thereby completing the automatic iron core fabrication process.
Description




FIELD OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates to an automatic iron core air gap cutting apparatus and particularly an apparatus for cutting air gaps of annular iron cores made of metal magnetic material such as a silicon steel sheet or nickel steel sheet.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




Conventional annular iron cores made of metal magnetic material such as a silicon steel sheet or nickel steel sheet should have an air gap for forming magnetic field. The air gap is made by placing a finished iron core on a selected air gap-cutting device (such as a lathe) to perform required machining processes. It is a complicated processing and cannot be made in a mass production fashion. The main problems are:




1. The air gap on the annular iron core formed by a specific air gap-cutting device must be done individually and manually. The processing is time-consuming and incurs a higher labor cost. The cutting device is also expensive and occupies a large floor area. As most iron core producers make only a limited quantity of iron core products these days, the cost burden becomes very heavy for the producers.




2. As cutting of the air gap is done manually, it is difficult to control the quality at a consistent level. The iron cores made by different workers often result in different quality, and are prone to produce greater product defects and product returns, and a lot of reworks are required.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The primary object of the invention is to resolve aforesaid disadvantages. The invention aims to provide an automatic iron core air gap cutting processing, which can automatically cutting and forming air gaps on iron cores. The cutting of the air gap on every iron core is done through calculations and central control of a computer. The invention includes an electronic control box and a transmission system to receive signals from the electronic control box for cutting air gaps on the iron cores. The finished iron cores are directly fed to the transmission system to perform air gap cutting. The completed iron cores with the air gaps are pushed to an exit chute for packaging and follow on processes. It is a fully automatic fabrication processing for making the iron cores.




The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIGS. 1A and 1B

are schematic views of the invention at an initial condition.





FIGS. 2A

,


2


B and


2


C are schematic views of the invention, showing iron cores being transported to a machining platform.





FIGS. 3A

,


3


B and


3


C are schematic views of the invention, showing iron cores are under cutting operations.





FIG. 4

is a schematic view of the invention, showing the machining platform and the cutting mechanism.





FIG. 5

is a perspective view of a finished iron core with an air gap.











DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




Referring to

FIGS. 1A

,


1


B and


5


, the invention is an apparatus for automatically and respectively cutting an air gap


41




a


,


41




b


on iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


through an electronic control box


10


and a transmission system


20


which may receive signals from the control box


10


. The transmission system


20


has a material holding area


21


for holding the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


that are made of a metal magnetic material such as a silicon steel sheet or nickel steel sheet. In the material holding area


21


, there is a chute


22


for carrying the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


, a holding platform


23


located at the exit of the chute


22


and a machining platform


24


located at one side of the holding platform


23


. The chute


22


includes a transporting passage


221


and a tube


222


located between the transporting passage


221


and the holding platform


23


. On the holding platform


23


, there is a first push device


25


for moving the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


to the machining platform


24


. On the machining platform


24


, there is a cutting mechanism


30


which includes an electric driving device


31


, a rotary shaft


32


driven by the electric driving device


31


and cutters


33


mounted on the rotary shaft


32


for cutting the air gaps


41




a


,


41




b


on the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b.






Referring to

FIGS. 2A and 2B

, the material holding area


21


further has a plurality of sensors


11




a


,


11




b


and


11




c


for detecting moving paths of the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


and generating signals to the electronic control box


10


. When the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


are dropped to the holding platform


23


from the transporting passage


221


and tube


222


, the sensor


11




b


on the material holding area


21


detects the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


and generates signals to notify the electronic control box


10


. The electronic control box


10


synchronously generates signals to activate the transmission system


20


to move the first push device


25


. The first push device


25


has a first oil hydraulic rod


251


and a first push member


252


driven by the first oil hydraulic rod


251


to move the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


towards the machining platform


24


. When the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


pass the sensor


11




a


, the sensor


11




a


detects and generates signals and transmits the signals to the electronic control box


10


for stopping the first push device


25


, therefore the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


may be positioned at the front end of the machining platform


24


.




Referring to

FIG. 2C

, on the machining platform


24


, there is an anchor device


27


for depressing and holding the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


firmly without wobbling or skewing when the air gaps


41




a


,


41




b


are being cut and forming. The anchor device


27


has an anchor oil hydraulic rod


271


and a depressing member


272


driven by the anchor oil hydraulic rod


271


. When the sensor


11




a


notifies the electronic control box


10


to stop the movement of the first push device


25


, the electronic control box


10


simultaneously sends a signal to the transmission system


20


to activate the anchor device


27


to move down and depress and hold the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


on selected positions. Through signals issued by the electronic control box


10


, the anchor device


27


is moved down and the first push device


25


is stopped from moving forwards and returned to its original position.




Referring to

FIGS. 3A and 3B

, when the first push device


25


passes the sensor


11




b


, the electronic control box


10


immediately issues signals to activate the cutting mechanism


30


. There is a slide rail


34


located between the cutting mechanism


30


and the machining platform


24


to allow the cutting mechanism


30


moving to the machining platform


24


when receiving signals from the electronic control box


10


. The electric driving device


31


of the cutting mechanism


30


is a motor. The cutters


33


mounted on the rotary shaft


32


are circular cutting blades. In order to facilitate cutting operation, the machining platform


24


has slots


241


(as shown in

FIG. 4

) corresponding to where the air gaps


41




a


,


41




b


are formed. Thus through the electronic control box


10


, the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


made of metal magnetic material such as a silicon steel sheet or nickel steel sheet my be cut to form air gaps


41




a


,


41




b


of a selected width and length. And after the cutting mechanism


30


finishes cutting operations, it can be returned through the slide rail


34


to its original location. The cutting time and cycle of the cutting mechanism


30


may also match the return displacement of the first push device


25


. When the first push device


25


is passing the sensor


11




c


, a signal will be issued concurrently to move the cutting mechanism


30


to its original location through the slide rail


34


.




Referring to

FIG. 3C

, at one side of the machining platform


24


, there is further a second push device


26


for moving the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


which have completed machining and have the air gap


41




a


,


41




b


formed thereon. At another side of the machining platform


24


, there is an exit chute


28


for receiving the completed iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


. The second push device


26


has a second oil hydraulic rod


261


and a second push member


262


driven by the second oil hydraulic rod


261


. When the cutting mechanism


30


completes cutting operation and is returned to its original location, the electronic control box


10


issues a signal to the transmission system


20


to activate the second push device


26


. The second oil hydraulic rod


261


will be driven to move the second push member


262


in a parallel displacement with the machining platform


24


to move the completed iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


which have air gaps


41




a


,


41




b


formed thereon from the machining platform


24


into the exit chute


28


. Then the aforesaid operations for next cycle may be started again for cutting air gaps


41




a


,


41




b


on other iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


. By means of the construction and operations of the invention, a fully automatic air gap cutting processing may be accomplished.




As previous discussed, and referring to the accompanied drawings, it is clearly that the invention can achieve the following objects:




1. Cutting of the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


is performed according to pre-set processes built in the electronic control box


10


. It is done automatically without human labor as conventional techniques do. The air gaps


41




a


,


41




b


formed on the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


can be centrally controlled and maintained at a consistent quality level, thus can improve production yield and increase economic value.




2. One or two or more iron cores


40




a


,


40




b


may be cut concurrently to form air gaps


41




a


,


41




b


desired depends on the number of the chute


22


and cutters


33


. Change of these numbers is relatively simple. Hence the invention may be adapted to mass production easily to greatly shorten fabrication time of the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b.






3. The width of the air gaps


41




a


,


41




b


may be changed by replacing cutters


33


of a selected width, and may be done easily. This also helps automatic cutting operations for forming the air gaps


41




a


,


41




b


of desired widths on the iron cores


40




a


,


40




b.





Claims
  • 1. An automatic iron core air gap cutting apparatus, comprising:an electronic control box; and a transmission system to receive signals from the electronic control box for cutting air gaps on iron cores; wherein the transmission system includes: a material holding area for holding the iron cores, a chute for carrying the iron cores having an exit, a holding platform located at the exit of the chute and a machining platform located at one side of the holding platform; a first push device located on the holding platform for moving the iron cores to the machining platform; and a cutting mechanism including an electric driving device, a rotary shaft driven by the electric driving device and cutters mounted on the rotary shaft for cutting the air gaps on the iron cores.
  • 2. The automatic iron core air gap cutting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the machining platform has an anchor device for depressing and holding the iron cores.
  • 3. The automatic iron core air gap cutting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the machining platform has a second push device located on one side thereof for pushing the iron cores which have completed machining and have the air gaps formed thereon, and an exit chute located on another side thereof for receiving the iron cores pushed by the second push device.
  • 4. The automatic iron core air gap cutting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second push device includes a second oil hydraulic rod and a second push member driven by the second oil hydraulic rod.
  • 5. The automatic iron core air gap cutting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the chute includes a transporting passage for carrying the iron cores and a tube located between the transporting passage and the machining platform.
  • 6. The automatic iron core air gap cutting apparatus of claim 1 further having a slide rail located between the cutting mechanism and the machining platform to allow the cutting mechanism moving to the machining platform to perform cutting operations of the air gaps.
  • 7. The automatic iron core air gap cutting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transmission system is an oil hydraulic server system.
  • 8. The automatic iron core air gap cutting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transmission system includes a plurality of sensors located on the material holding area for detecting iron cores moving paths to generate signals to the electronic control box.
  • 9. The automatic iron core air gap cutting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first push device includes a first oil hydraulic rod and a first push member.
  • 10. The automatic iron core air gap cutting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electric driving device is a motor.
  • 11. The automatic iron core air gap cutting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cutters are circular cutting blades.
  • 12. The automatic iron core air gap cutting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the machining platform has slots formed at locations corresponding to where the air gaps are cut and formed.
US Referenced Citations (12)
Number Name Date Kind
2428493 Haller Oct 1947 A
3706247 Clark Dec 1972 A
3901115 Vizziello et al. Aug 1975 A
3994326 Sarten Nov 1976 A
4164248 Rysti Aug 1979 A
4175458 Paris et al. Nov 1979 A
5014583 Webb et al. May 1991 A
5044240 Fischer et al. Sep 1991 A
5595102 O'Grady Jan 1997 A
5694823 Westra et al. Dec 1997 A
6209431 Wickham Apr 2001 B1
6360638 White et al. Mar 2002 B1