This application is a U.S. National-Stage entry under 35 U.S.C. §371 based on International Application No. PCT/EP2007/064072, filed Dec. 17, 2007, which was published under PCT Article 21(2) and this application also claims priority to German Application No. 102006059962.4, filed Dec. 19, 2006, which are all hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference.
The invention relates to a folding device for the processing of workpieces, more preferably of vehicle parts. It further relates to a method for the folding of workpieces.
When manufacturing vehicle parts such as motor vehicle doors for example the individual parts such as the outer skin are initially manufactured in press tools from the raw blank and in subsequent processes assembled with additional parts such as the framework and reinforcements for example. The manufacture of the individual parts includes various individual processes such as the drawing, the cutting to size, the vertical folding and the folding of flanges into a pre-flanging position before the individual parts prepared in this manner are assembled and finish-flanged and thus joined to one another.
Generally, different tools are also provided for the numerous different process steps for which in the production a relatively large space is required for the respective operations. For example the cutting to size and folding of a sheet for example for the outer skin of a vehicle is conventionally carried out in a plurality of press tools and the sheet so processed subsequently pre-flanged and finally finish-flanged in a flanging device on a flanging bed by means of flanging rollers or flanging jaws in a plurality of steps.
In addition, the individual part to be manufactured has to be removed from a press tool for every process step and placed into a following one, which is very time consuming, more so since the workpiece in each case has to be exactly positioned and fixed for an optimal processing result. In addition, this procedure involves considerable tool investment.
At least one object of the invention therefore is to state a folding device which allows both space and time saving processing of workpieces during the preparation of the assembly and the flanging. A further object is to state a particularly simple and quick method for the folding of workpieces. In addition, other objects, desirable features, and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.
A folding device according to an embodiment of the invention for the processing of workpieces comprises a holding device for the holding of a workpiece in a processing position in a holding plane. It also comprises a folding slide for the folding over of an edge of the workpiece into a folding position wherein the folding slide comprises at least one first folding surface and a second folding surface. The first folding surface forms an angle α with a second folding surface and an angle β1 with the holding plane. The second folding surface forms an angle β2 with the holding plane. The first folding surface and the second folding surface are intended for the pressing against the workpiece during the folding over of an edge.
“Folding” here and in the following means the bending over of an edge (i.e., a marginal region), of a workpiece by a defined angle. The pre-flanging is thus a special form of folding which prepares an edge directly for a finish-flanging process.
“Folding position” here and in the following means the position of an edge as it has to be achieved after the folding for subsequent process steps. More preferably, when using the folding device for pre-flanging it means the position of the edge that has to be reached in order to be able to subsequently perform the finish-flanging.
The folding device according to an embodiment of the invention has the advantage that it makes possible the folding over of edges of a workpiece in a single step even with workpieces wherein various edges have to be folded over by angles of different sizes (i.e., different folding positions have to be reached. Thus the number of process steps required for the processing of the workpiece is reduced).
This is the case for example with the outer skin of motor vehicle doors whose edges in the region of the sill have to be folded over by approximately 105 degrees, in all remaining regions however only by approximately 90 degrees. Conventionally, all edges with such a workpiece were initially folded over in a workpiece by approximately 90 degrees and subsequently the regions requiring greater bending, subsequently re-processed in another tool.
The folding device according to the invention however makes possible the folding of all edges of a workpiece in a single step. To this end, the folding slide of the folding device is moved into the appropriate working position in each case so that its first or its second or, if applicable, also additional folding surfaces are brought into contact with the workpiece. Here, each of the folding surfaces is designed so that it folds over the edge of the workpiece by a predetermined angle.
When using the folding device for pre-flanging the angle is so selected that finish-flanging can subsequently take place without additional pre-flanging steps. During finish-flanging the flange of a workpiece is completely folded over and closed. Since in a single flanging pass a flange cannot be folded over by an angle of any size, folding or pre-flanging processes have to be provided prior to finish-flanging as the result of which the flange of a workpiece already comprises a pre-flanging position so that it can be finish-flanged in one pass.
In a preferred exemplary embodiment the holding plane is substantially arranged horizontally and β1 is substantially equal to 90° and β2>90° applies. With this exemplary embodiment first regions of the workpiece, which are folded over through the first folding surface of the folding slide, are folded over by an angle of approximately 90° so that they are vertically orientated. Second regions of the workpiece are folded through a greater extent by the second folding surface, preferentially by an angle β2 with approximately 100°≦β2≦110°.
Here, the folding of the various regions however does not take place in a plurality of passes as with conventional methods, but the edges of the workpieces are all angled-off in a single step from their typically flat position (i.e., not folded at all), to their respective folding or pre-flanging position.
In an embodiment the folding device comprises a hold-down which is designed to fix the workpiece on a support during folding.
Preferentially the folding device comprises at least one filling slide having two surfaces which during folding can be brought into contact with the workpiece, wherein one of the surfaces lies in the holding plane and another surface is designed as a pressing-on surface inclined relative to the holding plane by an angle γ.
Providing such a filling slide has the advantage that following the folding it is removed from its working position on the workpiece simply through sliding back and thus vertically releases the workpiece so that it can be easily removed from the folding device. The angle γ is preferentially selected so that it complements the angle, by which the edges in the second folding regions are folded over, to approximately 180 degrees. This has the advantage that the workpiece during folding can be pressed against the pressing-on surface by the folding slide so that the aspired folding angle is exactly defined and securely reached.
A method 100 (see
After this, a folding slide of a folding tool is moved (step 106 in
Following this, the folding slide is moved (step 112 in
After this the folding slide is moved (step 116 in
In the event that the workpiece comprises more than two folding regions these are likewise folded over into their respective folding position with further folding surfaces of the folding slide before the folding slide is moved back into its rest position.
In an embodiment of the method the folding slide is vertically lowered from its rest position into its first working position. Preferably it is also vertically lowered from its first working position into its second working position. In the process, the first and the second folding surface are arranged on top of each other relative to the holding plane so that a complicated method of the folding slide is not necessary but the latter merely needs to be lowered or raised in order to move from a working position into the other or into the rest position.
In an embodiment the support with the workpiece is arranged on a turntable (step 103 in
A method according to an embodiment of the invention for the manufacture of a vehicle part comprises the following steps: initially folding and pre-flanging takes place on an outer skin with the help of the method described. Following this, a flanging bed is loaded with the pre-flanged outer skin and with a workpiece intended for joining with the outer skin. The joining of the outer skin with the workpiece provided for the joining with the outer skin then takes place through finish-flanging. The workpiece provided for the joining with the outer skin can be a framework and/or reinforcement parts.
The folding device according to an embodiment of the invention can more preferably be advantageously employed for the folding and pre-flanging of sheets for vehicle parts, preferentially motor vehicle doors, engine hoods, hoods and tailgates.
The folding device according to an embodiment of the invention can advantageously replace conventional pre-flanging devices in the manufacture of vehicle parts wherein an edge of the workpiece is brought into the required pre-flanging position with the help of pre-flanging jaws or pre-flanging rollers.
In summary it can be said that with the folding device according to an embodiment of the invention and with the method according to an embodiment of the invention, the folding of a workpiece can take place in a single step so that for the further assembly a workpiece is made available which following the insertion of the framework or of another part to be joined with the workpiece through flanging, can be directly finish-flanged.
The present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the following drawing figures, wherein like numerals denote like elements, and
The following detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit application and uses. Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any theory presented in the preceding background and summary or the following detailed description.
The folding device 1 according to
The support 5 in the front region is formed through a filling slide 8 which can be moved into the position shown through the slide 9. By moving back the slide 9 the filling slide 8 can be moved downwards from the shown position so that a finish-folded workpiece 6 can be easily removed from the folding device 1.
The hold-down 10 in a holding region 11 presses onto the top side 22 of the workpiece 6 and in this manner fixes it in the processing position. The hold-down 10 in this exemplary embodiment is held on an overhead robot 16 through a linkage 15 and can be lowered onto the workpiece 6 as far as the position shown in
The folding slide 3 is part of a folding tool 17 likewise held on the overhead robot 16 and comprises a first folding surface 13 and a second folding surface 14 which are provided for pressing onto the workpiece 6. The first folding surface 13 forms an angle α with the second folding surface 14, wherein α is between more than 90 degrees and less than 180 degrees. The folding slide 3 further comprises a contact surface 21, which during the folding first comes into contact with the workpiece 6 and initiates the folding operation.
In addition, the folding tool 17 comprises guides 19 which interact with guides 19 of a guide tool 18 and guide the folding slide 3 on a predetermined path during folding.
In order to bring the folding slide 3 from a first processing position, in which the first folding surface 13 is in contact with the workpiece, into a second processing position in which the second folding surface 14 is in contact with the workpiece and the workpiece is thus folded to a greater extent, the folding slide 3 merely has to be lowered by the height H.
The pressing-on surface 20 of the filling slide 8 is so designed that it is orientated parallel to the second folding surface 14.
The folding slide 3 likewise has lowered itself almost as far as onto the workpiece 6 and with its contact surface 21 almost touches its top side 22. In this method step, cutting of the workpiece 6 can take place simultaneously with the placing of the folding slide 3 onto the workpiece 6 if such is required.
As an example for a workpiece 6,
Accordingly, the door comprises first folding regions 30 in which the edge 27 is to be merely folded over by a first angle and second folding regions 31, in which the edge 27 is to be folded over by a second angle, wherein the second angle is greater than the first one.
With the method according to the invention all folding regions can be folded as far as the finally desired angle in a single pass, for example in a single rounding of the workpiece 6 by a robot with a folding slide. This is done as follows:
The folding of the first folding regions 30 has already been shown in
This step is shown in
Accordingly, with the method according to an embodiment of the invention, the folding slide 3 comprises a plurality, in this example two, working positions which are assigned to the various folding regions and in each of which other folding surfaces are in contact with the workpiece 6. Here, the folding surfaces differ from each other in their inclination towards the holding plane 12 and thus in the folding angle they produce.
The front region 7 of the workpiece 6 comprises a corresponding folding angle γ which is subject to γ=α−90°. It is complemented to approximately 180 degrees by the folding angle by which the edge was folded over.
While at least one exemplary embodiment has been presented in the foregoing summary and detailed description, it should be appreciated that a vast number of variations exist. It should also be appreciated that the exemplary embodiment or exemplary embodiments are only examples, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration in any way. Rather, the foregoing summary and detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map for implementing an exemplary embodiment, it being understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements described in an exemplary embodiment without departing from the scope as set forth in the appended claims and their legal equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 2006 059 962 | Dec 2006 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP2007/064072 | 12/17/2007 | WO | 00 | 12/21/2009 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2008/074775 | 6/26/2008 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20100101297 A1 | Apr 2010 | US |