The invention relates to a device for detecting contact of an electrical conductor optionally encased by a mostly electrical insulation by a tool which consists of an electrically conductive material and which is fastened to a tool holder made of electrically conductive material, wherein a thin electrical insulation is provided between tool and tool holder according to the preamble of claim 1 as well as a stripping machine having at least one stripping blade which is held on a tool holder and having a device for detecting contact of an electrical conductor of a cable by at least one of the stripping blades according to the preamble of claim 16.
When stripping cables, frequently two V-shaped blades are used which cut into the cable insulation almost as far as the conductor. After the incision, the blades are moved back a small percentage of the insulation thickness. After this, the cable is retracted around the stripping path with the blades still delivered, or the blades execute the stripping path so that the blades strip the separated piece of insulation. In cable processing it is increasingly of great importance to be able to automatically detect production errors. As a result of the high requirement for the safety of electrical cables, for example, for the automobile or air travel industry, increasingly the smallest conductor breaches such as scratches or incisions are deemed to be a risk since these breaches together with the influence of vibration and/or corrosion can lead to rupture. Thus, some proposals have already been made to detect blade-conductor contact as is set out briefly hereinafter.
DE 10 2009 027967 A1 discloses a device for the detection of contact of an electrical conductor optionally encased by a mostly electrical insulation by a (stripping) tool which comprises a circuit arrangement connected to the tool and a tool consisting of electrically conductive material and electrically insulated with respect to the stripping device. In order to determine whether the blade contacts the conductor to be stripped, a voltage is applied to conductor or blade and it is merely determined whether a current flow takes place, which is brought about on contact of the conductor by the blade by closing the circuit which is formed. As long as no current flows, on the other hand, there is no mutual contact between the electrically conducting components blade and conductor. However, further methods of evaluation are not proposed. Thus, JP2133016A discloses the capacitive coupling of voltage onto the cable and the capacitive coupling of voltage out from the cable by means of an earthed blade as voltage stripper. The cable to be processed is guided before processing through two tube pieces functioning as electrodes. A high-frequency voltage is coupled capacitively into the cable through the first tube piece and coupled out capacitively in the second tube piece. If the earthed blade touches the conductor, this is identifiable as voltage drop at the second pipe piece. However, this method only functions for relatively short cables since long cables present a too-high capacitive load for capacitive coupling-in. On the other hand, the shortest cable length is given by the pipe lengths.
The inductive coupling-in of voltage onto the cable with capacitive coupling-out from the cable with an earthed blade as voltage stripper is the subject matter of the patent EP1772701B1. The cable to be processed is guided before processing through a toroidal coil and a pipe piece. A high-frequency voltage is coupled into the cable via the toroidal coil and coupled out via the pipe piece. If the earthed blade contacts the conductor, this is identifiable as a voltage drop at the second pipe piece. This method has the advantage that it only functions for relatively long, capacitively well-earthed cable and therefore can only be applied for one side of the stripping.
DE102007053825.3 and W02012/015062A1 on the other hand describe the ohmic coupling of voltage onto the insulated blade. The stripping blade is fastened in an electrically insulated manner and connected via a resistance to a high-frequency voltage source. If the blade contacts the conductor, this can be identified as voltage drop or a change in voltage shape on the blade. In the case of short cables however, the ratio of the blade inherent capacitance to the cable capacitance is unfavourable and for this reason a detection of blade-conductor contact is expensive.
Combinations of the three methods explained above for detection of blade-conductor contact are described in JP7-227022A and JP2000354315A.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a device which reliably, robustly and as simply as possible displays if a tool contacts an electrical conductor, which for example lies below an electrical insulation penetrated by the tool. In particular, it should be identified if at least one of the blades of a cable-stripping machine—or also its stripping tool—contacts the conductor—or in the case of a coaxial cable, the shielding. This detection of contact should also be possible for potential-free and short cable lengths, typically for cable lengths shorter than 80 mm when cutting in and when stripping the insulation.
The object is solved by the features of the independent patent claim 1 and the independent patent claim 16. Further advantageous features of embodiments according to the invention are contained in the dependent claims.
In the device for detecting contact of an electrical conductor encased by an electrical insulation by a tool which comprises a circuit arrangement connected to the tool, it is provided according to the invention that an inductance is connected between tool and tool holder and in such a manner that a high-Q parallel resonant circuit is built up between tool and tool holder and that a circuit arrangement for determining the change of characteristic oscillation parameters of this resonant circuit is connected to this. Typically the electrical conductor is part of a cable, either as central conductor under an electrically insulating sheath or in the form of a shielding of a coaxial cable. Stripping blades or stripping tools and also grippers or the like can be provided as tool. In contrast to known methods for detecting blade-conductor contact, these features according to the present invention offer the advantage that the central conductor of the cable to be stripped need not be electrically contacted and furthermore, the signal change for detecting the tool (in particular blade)-conductor contact is barely influenced by the conductor length, so that a quality control is possible, even with very short potential-free cables, with low expenditure of electronics.
This procedure differs significantly from all methods which are restricted to determining the closure of a circuit, such as for example DE 10 2009 027967 A1. These simple devices according to the prior art do not build up any kind of resonant circuits with the incorporation of elements of the stripping device and therefore also provide not determination of changes in characteristic oscillation parameters. Any capacitor arrangements provided remain unused in these known devices. The application of a voltage in order to be able to determine any current flow which may be present is a completely different principle from the structure according to the invention and the active operation of a parallel resonant circuit and the monitoring of its characteristic oscillation parameters.
Preferably the capacitance of the parallel resonant circuit is formed functionally by the arrangement of tool, insulation and tool holder. The tool and also the tool holder typically consist of electrically conductive material and both are galvanically separated from one another by a thin electrical insulation.
The capacitance of the parallel resonant circuit is also partially formed by the capacitance of the connection of tool and circuit arrangement, in particular by the capacitance of a coaxial cable.
If the capacitance determining the resonant circuit according to the above arrangements should be low for constructive reasons, in order to form a stable LC resonant circuit, the capacitance forming the resonant circuit can advantageously be increased by an output capacitor. This can also be advantageous when using a thicker insulation between tool and tool holder or when using a shorter coaxial cable.
In a simple and proven manner, at least one coil can be provided as inductance. Naturally other inductive components can also optionally be used within the framework of the invention.
Preferably the circuit arrangement has a frequency generator for an exciter voltage for the resonant circuit and a phase detector for evaluation of the phase shift between the exciter voltage and the resonant circuit voltage which is used to detect contact between tool and conductor. Thus, a relatively simple and reliable circuit can be achieved whose functionality is ensured even when a plurality of capacitances and/or inductances are switched in parallel.
A further advantageous embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the circuit arrangement has a device for evaluating the frequency response of the resonant circuit. A robust detection of a contact between the tool and the conductor is also thereby possible.
A further embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the circuit arrangement has a device for evaluating the shift of the resonance frequency of the resonant circuit. A robust method for determining contact of the electrical conductor by the tool is thereby possible.
Alternatively to the aforesaid embodiment, according to the invention the circuit arrangement can have a device for evaluating the change in the voltage amplitude of the resonant circuit.
A device for weighting is provided for the tool-conductor contacts during the cable processing according to contact time and specific time within the cable processing process, by which device quantitative production exclusion criteria can be determined.
Preferably the tool only abuts against a few, narrow locations on the tool holder and clearances are provided between these locations. The tool-tool holder capacitance can be reduced and therefore the capacitance ratio of conductor-earth to tool-tool holder can be increased by these openings. The sensitivity of the system is thereby increased.
According to a further embodiment according to the invention, the electrical insulation between tool and tool holder is formed by an electrically insulating coating of tool and/or tool holder, preferably by a ceramic coating. Typically tool and tool holder, for example, the blade and the tool holder of stripping machines are made of an electrically good-conducting material. The electrical insulation of blade to tool holder can then, for example, for a tool holder made of aluminium be accomplished by an ALTEF® coating.
Also at least one insulating intermediate disk can be provided between tool and tool holder, preferably at least one ceramic plate fastened, preferably adhesively bonded, on the tool or the tool holder. Scatterings of the capacitance such as can be caused, for example, by different coating thicknesses are thereby largely prevented. A particular advantages lies in the fact that the tool-ceramic-tool holder coating has a lower capacitance compared with an assembly having a substantially thinner coating. The sensitivity of the system can thus be increased and contacts of the tool on very thin conductor cross-sections can also be detected.
An additional embodiment of the invention provides that an encoder is provided for distance measurement between the tools and the circuit arrangement is designed for calculating the diameter of the conductor from the distance of the tools when a change in the oscillation parameter of the resonant circuit is determined.
Preferably a device according to the invention as described previously is characterized in that the tool is a stripping blade on a stripping machine for cable.
In order to solve the object formulated initially for a stripping machine which, having at least one stripping blade which is held on a tool holder and having a device for detecting the contact of an electrical conductor of a cable by at least one stripping blade, it is provided according to the invention that the stripping blade is the tool on the tool holder of a device according to any one of the preceding paragraphs.
The invention will be explained in detail by reference to an exemplary embodiment which is shown in the drawings. In the figures:
If one of the blades 2a or 2b contacts the electrical conductor 5b during the incision or stripping of the insulation 5as of the cable 5, the resonant circuit is detuned by the capacitance increase. The same also applies in the case of contact of an electrical conductor by another tool. The phase shift φ thereby formed between exciter voltage U1 and resonant circuit voltage U2 is transformed by a phase detector 7, also preferably part of the circuit arrangements, into an analogue voltage U4 and read in by a controller. The signal S4 is logic 1 when the voltage U1 is leading with respect to the voltage U2. The controller controls the oscillator 3 with signal S5 so that the resonant circuit is slightly leading with respect to the oscillator 3 in the open blade position, i.e. oscillates almost in self-resonance.
For the resonance frequency measurement, U21 is transformed with a comparator 21 into a rectangular signal S21. The frequency of S21 is reduced by means of a frequency splitter 22. This results in the rectangular signal S22 whose frequency is measured by a controller 17. If one of the blades 2a, 2b contacts the conductor 5b, the frequency of S33 decreases abruptly. Although the frequency decrease by a conductor blade contact only accounts for a few percent, the method of resonance frequency measurement is very robust since the averaged frequency behaves stably without external influencing of the resonant circuit. Frequency drifts due to temperature changes can be taken into account with reference measurements in the open blade position.
For the amplitude measurement U21 is rectified with the rectifier 23. This results in an analogue voltage signal U22 which can be evaluated by the controller 17. The rectification can be made, for example, using an analogue multiplier whereby U21 is multiplied by itself and then filtered with a lowpass. However a simple peak-value rectifier, a Greinacher or a Delon circuit can also be used as rectifier. Amplitude drifts due to temperature changes can be taken into account with reference measurements in the open blade position.
The blades 2a, 2b and the tool holders 1a, 1b are made of an electrically good-conducting material. The electrical insulation of blades 2a, 2b to tool holders 1a, 1b is achieved by making the tool holder, e.g. of aluminium and coating with an ALTEF® layer. The very hard ALTEF® layer is particularly abrasion-proof, corrosion-resistant, non-stick and has a low coefficient of friction. The surface of the base material is thereby converted into a ceramic layer in which Teflon® is embedded. Half the layer thickness grows into the base material. Naturally, differently configured ceramic plates or ceramic elements can also be inserted between the blades 2a, 2b and the respective tool holder 1a, 1b and connected to these components, which can preferably be achieved by adhesive bonding. Preferably for example a 1.5 mm thick ceramic is applied to both sides of the tool holder and adhesively bonded to the tool and only then finished as a compound product, whereby precise fit sizes can be achieved. Furthermore, such a ceramic plate is also very wear-resistant and insensitive during handling, for example, when changing the tool.
The specific configuration will naturally take into account the manufacturing process for ceramic-coated components. The complete insulation therefore preferably consists of a plurality of ready-to-manufacture components as well as advantageously the tool holders will also consist of a plurality of individual parts. The insulation between tool and tool holders in this case covers all joining surfaces.
Depending on the cable 5 and processing process, it can be appropriate for the detection of blade-conductor contact if along with or instead of a fixed threshold value for the phase shift φ, a standard band of the phase shift is specified as a function of time or the progress of the process. If the phase shift φ during the processing cycle falls outside this standard band, the cable 5 can be eliminated as reject.
As a result of the exact detection of contact between tool 2a, 2b and conductor 5b, it is possible to measure the diameter d of the conductor 5b. Hitherto, this was only possible for example with blades 2a, 2b by means of the difficult-to-detect increase in force of the cutting force in the case of blade-conductor contact.
At the time of the blade-conductor contact, an encoder measures the blade opening x. Together with the opening angle α the conductor diameter d can thus be calculated using the following formula:
For standard blades 2a, 2b having an opening angle of 90°, we thus have:
It should be mentioned that the determination of the conductor diameter is also possible for non-insulated conductors and is not only restricted to v-shaped blades; guillotine blades or similar are also feasible for determination of the conductor diameter.
Finally it should also be mentioned that the device according to the invention functions similarly with all types of blades for stripping machines whether these are centrally closing blades, guillotine blades, rotating blades, iris diaphragm blades or the like.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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13160497.7 | Mar 2013 | EP | regional |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/IB2014/060038 | 3/21/2014 | WO | 00 |