The invention relates to an apparatus for hydroforming parts from tubular workpieces, particularly microcomponents, comprising an at least two-part die into which a workpiece can be inserted, and means for sealing and/or applying pressure to the workpiece at its ends.
Such apparatuses are generally known for traditional parts from the state of the art. Typically, such apparatuses are used to expand primarily metal tubular workpieces by internal fluid pressurization, frequently a liquid. Due to the confinement in a die, the expansion expands the wall of the workpiece until it rests against a contoured inside wall of a die. The contoured inside wall, which is also referred to as the die engraving, thus defines the eventual outer shape of a workpiece to be hydroformed.
A known apparatus for carrying out such a hydroforming processes typically comprises an at least two-part die that can be opened in order to load a tubular workpiece for the forming process. After closing the die, particularly by pressing an upper die part onto a lower die part, the means for sealing and filling/pressurizing are pressed against the open workpiece ends and the workpiece is deformed by the internal pressure that is thus produced. After such a forming step, and particularly the removal of the means mentioned above, the die can be opened and the formed workpiece can be removed.
Such hydroforming processes subject parts of the apparatus and tool to elastic deformation during the hydroforming process as a result of the comparatively high loads and pressures used for hydroforming. Such deformations can have an impact both on the dies and on the workpieces and adjoining parts of the apparatus.
Such deformations in particular can result in elastic compression of the dies, since an upper die part must be pressed against the lower die part with a die-closing force that is proportional to the internal pressure. As a result, a displacement, particularly a parallel displacement of the die and the workpiece inserted therein relative to other external parts of the apparatus may occur, for example by the means for sealing, such as plugs, or the means for filling and pressurizing that are pressed from the outside against the die or the tool ends during the forming operation.
In this way, process reliability may be reduced, for example due to reduced sealing properties of the means for sealing or filling/pressurizing. Likewise, wear may also be increased or dies may break.
In order to counteract this, it is already known to directly attach actuators for moving the means for sealing or filling and pressurizing the die. However, since the actuators therefore are directly supported on the die, the introduction of the stresses occurring during forming directly into the die causes tension and deformations, which likewise impair process reliability. For example, the weight of the actuators carried by the die can skew the means for sealing and/or filling/pressurizing. In addition, with such a solution the actuators are very complex to disassemble or reassemble when replacing the dies.
These problems mentioned above result in the fact that known apparatuses of the type described cannot be used for hydroforming microparts, such as tubular workpieces with dimensions, for example, of less than 3 mm in diameter, preferably less than 1 mm in diameter, because on such small workpieces the deformations have a stronger effect relative to the workpiece size than in conventional workpiece sizes. To this end, ratios of the wall thickness to the diameter of 0.02 to 0.2 can be used for microparts.
It is the object of the invention to create an apparatus of the type described above, in which the disadvantages described above are reduced or overcome and thus inevitable elastic deformations have no negative impact.
The object is attained according to the invention by an apparatus of the above-described type, wherein the die is provided with at least one guide on which a slide is displaceable that carries means for sealing and/or for filling or feeding pressurized liquid to a workpiece end, wherein a slide can be displaced by an actuator that mounted separately from the guide and is coupled at least substantially to the slide free of lateral force.
A key idea is that by providing a guide on the die, during elastic deformation of the die as a result of a die-closing force displacement of the die due to the guide attached thereon at the same time also causes displacement of the guide such that the relative position between the guide and die is maintained.
Then, according to the invention, means for sealing and/or means for filling/pressurizing can be pressed tightly against the workpiece ends by a slide that can be displaced on this guide and can be moved in the direction toward an open workpiece end, for example by a suitable actuator. Such means can be mounted for this purpose on the slide.
Such a means, for example, can be a plug, which seals the workpiece at the open workpiece end against the internal pressure during the forming operation. Furthermore, it can be a nozzle, which just like a plug is placed and pressed against an open workpiece end and has a bore or a passage through which fluid, such as hydraulic liquid, can be pumped into the inside of the workpiece and pressurized.
Another key idea is that a slide can be displaced by an actuator mounted separately from the guide, the actuator being coupled to the slide at least substantially free of lateral forces. The arrangement of an actuator for the movement and pressing of a slide separate from the guide, and consequently also separately from the die, prevents any deformations or distortions that can occur due to stresses between the actuator and die. In this way, the disadvantages known from the prior art are prevented by this arrangement.
Furthermore, due to the coupling being at least substantially free of lateral forces, the action of force between the actuator and slide cause no, or substantially no lateral force transmission, but only force transmission in the direction of the possible displacement of the slide on/in the guide. The lateral forces that are not transmitted according to the invention shall therefore be understood as those forces that are effective perpendicular to the displacement direction of a slide, and therefore can contribute to a distortion or deformation at the die or at the connecting points between the workpiece ends and the means mentioned above.
Due to the substantially lateral force-free coupling between an actuator and a slide, no action of force is furthermore created perpendicular to the displacement direction between the actuator and the slide, even in the event of movement of the die and the guide, because decoupling exists for these forces. In addition, the actuator does not follow movement of a guide element.
According to the invention, The guide may advantageously be improved. For example, the guide can be mounted on at least one of the parts of the die. The lower part of a die is preferably selected such that the guide remains in place even if the upper die part is lifted off for demolding.
Furthermore, in a preferred embodiment each of the workpiece ends is associated with a guide having a slide and an actuator. As a result, it is possible to close each of the workpiece ends, of which typically at least two exist in tubular workpieces, according to the invention using the respectively necessary means, for example for sealing and/or for filling/pressurizing. To this end, the guides may be parallel, for example in the case of axial workpieces, and be aligned with each other, or they may also have an offset at both ends of the die. In the case of arcuate workpieces, the guides are oriented at an angle to each other.
The apparatus may preferably be configured such that a guide is oriented in the parting plane of the die. This ensures that the position of a guide relative to a workpiece end, which is typically located in the parting plane, is maintained, however large the deformation that results. As a result, at the same time also the position of the respective slide with the means mounted thereon for sealing and/or filling/pressurizing relative to the workpiece end remains the same.
In a particularly preferred embodiment, the arrangement of a guide is selected such that the guide extends through a die, particularly from one workpiece end to another workpiece end. In a workpiece having only two workpiece ends, in this way only a single guide may be provided, which on one end of the die guides a slide for receiving at least one of the means mentioned above and on the other end guides a further slide for receiving at least a second one of the means mentioned above, which is to say in particular on one end a plug for sealing and on the other end a nozzle for filling and pressurizing. By continuing the guide from one end of the die through to the other end, particular stability in the guide and to the die is achieved.
In one embodiment one guide comprises two rods that are parallel at least outside the die and that in particular pass through a slide. For example, they can be round rods, preferably of the manufacturing quality of drive shafts, on which a slide is guided by bearings. The opposite ends of each rod may not be oriented parallel but at an angle to each other, for example if one rod is aligned not exactly straight, but has a curvature/bend. In this case, also the displacement directions of two slides mounted on two ends of a die are not parallel to each other.
The apparatus is preferably selected such that, particularly in the case of axial tubular workpieces, the axes of two guides located on two ends of the die are coaxial, so that the force vectors, which due to the slides acts on the workpiece ends, are directed exactly opposite each other and compensate for each other.
According to the invention, an actuator, or at least a holder of an actuator, with a part, particularly a lower part of a die, is mounted on a common base plate, in particular a die-closing force being applied to an upper part of the die. To this end, the lower part of the die can be mounted directly on the base plate, or by an intermediate part. This has the advantage that all stresses, such as those for the die-closing force between upper and lower halves of a die and those for the contact pressure by the actuators, are absorbed by the base plate. This base plate can thus be configured in a correspondingly robust manner.
The die-closing force is applied by an actuator connected to the common base plate by a rack/frame arrangement. In this way, a closed flux of forces can be achieved.
According to the invention, the substantially lateral force-free coupling between an actuator and a slide is configured by loose contact between the slide and actuator. Loose contact in this invention shall be understood such that an element moving the slide in a direction toward the workpiece end, such as a ram, only rests against a face of a slide, but in particular is not connected thereto or attached thereon. To the extent that an attachment is provided, according to the invention it is to be configured free of lateral forces such that no forces are transmitted by this attachment in a direction, or with a part perpendicular to the displacement direction of a slide. Due to the contact between two faces of the actuator and the slide, the slide can be moved by the actuator in the advancement direction. In this way, a force is transmitted substantially only in the direction of advance. As a result of lateral force-free coupling, a force acting perpendicular thereto would only cause the contact point to change between the actuator and slide. In this way, some movement between the die and driving mechanism due to elastic deformation is possible without negative effect.
For the coupling between the actuator and slide, in the region of the loose contact means are used to reduce lateral force transmission and/or friction. In this way, the possibility of a transverse movement between the actuator and die or slide/guide is facilitated even further. For example, such a means may be configured as a roller and/or ball bearing, wherein in particular the rollers with a vertical die-closing force are oriented horizontally and perpendicularly to the slide movement between the respective faces of the actuator and slide. Due to these rollers, the faces of the actuator and slide, between which a force is transmitted in the advancement direction, can roll past each other vertically, which is to say in the direction of the effective and potentially deforming die-closing force. This decouples them from a potential lateral force vertically, and thereby provides the decoupling according to the invention.
One embodiment of the invention is shown in the figures below. Therein:
After the die 2 is closed, here a plug 4 is placed against a workpiece end 1a on the right and a nozzle for filling and pressurizing on the left. To this end, the nozzle is formed with a passage 5a.
As shown in
An actuator 8 attached to the base plate 6 via a frame or rack 9 has a ram 10 that exerts the die-closing force against the upper die part 2b and moves it downward, and this die-closing force is maintained during the forming operation. Thereafter, the actuator 8 is used to open the die 2. The actuator ram 10 can be powered hydraulically or mechanically, for example by a toggle lever mechanism.
The frame or rack is used to absorb the process forces and forms a support for additional key parts of the apparatus. It may, for example, have bolted-together frame parts 9, or a welded or cast construction.
The core idea of the invention is shown in
According to the invention, two rods 11 extending parallel to each other, which both have a half of their cross-sections set in the lower die part 2a, extend through the die 2, or the lower part 2a thereof. Furthermore, the rods extend parallel to the longitudinal axis of the die, which is defined by the orientation of the contour 3 and the workpiece that can be inserted therein.
The two rods 11, which project at each end of the die 2, form a guide as defined by the invention, on which a respective slide 12 is guided at each end of the die 2. In this example, the rods 11 can have a round cross-section. It is likewise possible to use a cross-section that deviates from round, or a flat guide.
Both slides 12 have parallel bores through which the rods 11 extend. For example, guide bushings may be fitted in the bores, such as bearings. The passage shown schematically in
The rams 12 are adapted to the cross-sectional shape of the ends 1a of a workpiece in order to ensure sealing. They can also be conical, or stepped, particularly in order to ensure that additional workpiece material is fed during the forming operation.
The slides 12 can be moved in the direction of the arrow by actuators 13 mounted on both ends and thereby be pressed against the open workpiece ends, which are not shown in this figure, with a contact pressure AP. The actuators may also apply a feed force into the workpiece 1 by the rams 4 and 5.
The actuators 13 are attached to the base plate 6 by respective actuator holders 14. In this way, stresses of the actuators are transmitted to base plate 6, along with the die-closing force. The actuators each move a respective actuator ram 15 whose front face 15a presses onto a corresponding face 12a of a slide 12 substantially free of lateral forces.
To this end, a direct loose contact may be provided, or, for example, as the detailed drawing shows, a means 16 reducing the lateral force transmission may be provided. Such a means is provided between the faces 15a and 12a, for example as a roller bearing 16, which comprises a plurality of rollers 17 in a vertical row on top of each other horizontally and perpendicularly to the displacement direction of a slide 12. In this way, the faces 12a and 15a can glide parallel to each other, particularly vertically past each other, such that forces are transmitted only perpendicularly between the faces, but not vertically, which is to say not in the direction of the die-closing force in which deformations of the die may occur. In the present case, a decoupling in this direction suffices, because a lateral force can occur substantially only vertically.
In this way the invention ensures that, due to a displacement in the parting plane, the slides and the rams attached thereon maintain their relative positions, particularly the concentricity thereof to the workpiece end, because they can move together with the guide 11 provided in the parting plane TE of the die 2, and also that the downward movement of the parting plane TE due to the decoupling vertically does not result in an action of force between the actuator 13 and slide 12, which has a perpendicular part to the shear direction along the guide.
In this way, according to the invention distortions in the die and the guide and leaks between the die or workpiece and ram are avoided. In all embodiments of the invention, workpiece material can be fed by pressing during the forming operation by the rams 4 and/or 5, particularly axially of the workpiece, or exactly perpendicular to the workpiece end opening.
This accuracy also makes it possible to form micro-parts, whose forming was impossible with the known apparatuses.
With this configuration, advantageously the workpiece 1 can be fed during the forming operation by such a ram.
A high-pressure system for the production of pressurized fluid can be configured in the known manner, for example with pumps, filters, and valves.
With respect to all embodiments, it shall be noted that the technical characteristics mentioned in connection with any embodiment can be used not only with that specific embodiment, but also in the other embodiments. All technical characteristics disclosed in this description of the invention shall be considered essential for the invention and can be combined arbitrarily with each other or used alone.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 2006 047 017.6 | Oct 2006 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP2007/008459 | 9/28/2007 | WO | 00 | 5/14/2009 |