The present disclosure relates to a workpiece manufacturing apparatus.
The workpiece manufacturing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 5423302 manufactures workpieces by punching out the workpieces from an unprocessed material.
The apparatus has an upper die assembly and a lower die assembly, which are arranged on opposite sides of the unprocessed material. The upper die assembly and the lower die assembly move relative to each other in the approaching direction to be clamped and move relative to each other in the direction away from each other to be opened. One of the upper and lower die assemblies is referred to as a first die assembly, which is provided with a punch for punching out a workpiece from the unprocessed material in the clamped state, and the other die assembly is referred to as a second die assembly, which is provided with an ejector capable of approaching and moving away from the first die assembly. The ejector is positioned in correspondence with the punch in the first die assembly and is urged toward the first die assembly by a spring provided in the second die assembly.
In the above-described workpiece manufacturing apparatus, the unprocessed material between the clamped upper and lower die assemblies is held between the punch and the ejector. When the punch punches out the workpiece from the unprocessed material in this state, the punched out workpiece fits into the second die assembly and the ejector is retracted into the second die assembly. The manufacturing apparatus includes a locking device for locking the ejector with respect to the second die assembly in a position where the punch has punched out the workpiece from the unprocessed material. The locking device is configured to release the ejector when the upper and lower die assemblies are opened. When released by the locking device as described above, the ejector is pushed out toward the first die assembly by the urging force of the spring. Accordingly, the workpiece fitted in the second die assembly is ejected.
The locking device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 5423302 includes a slider provided in the second die assembly. The slider slides between a locking position, where the ejector is locked, and a releasing position, where the lock is released. When the punch punches out the workpiece from the unprocessed material in the clamped state, the slider is pushed by the ejector to move to the locking position. On the other hand, when in the opened state, the urging force of the spring acts from the locking position toward the releasing position. The locking device includes a holding mechanism, which holds the slider when it is slid to the locking position and releases the slider at the locking position. The holding mechanism is arranged outside the upper and lower die assemblies to connect the die assemblies to each other. Also, when the upper die assembly and the lower die assembly are opened with the slider held in the locking position, the holding mechanism operates to release the slider from the locking position in accordance with the opening movement.
In the workpiece manufacturing apparatus, the holding mechanism is arranged outside the upper and lower die assemblies to connect the die assemblies to each other so as to perform the operation of releasing the slider at the locking position in accordance with the opening movement of the upper and lower die assemblies. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a dedicated locking device (holding mechanism) that operates in accordance with the opening movement of each workpiece manufacturing apparatus. For this reason, it is difficult to use a common locking device for multiple manufacturing apparatuses, and the versatility of the locking device is low.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present disclosure to provide a workpiece manufacturing apparatus that increases the versatility of the locking device.
Means for solving the above-described problem will now be described.
To achieve the foregoing objectives, a workpiece manufacturing apparatus is provided that includes an upper die assembly and a second die assembly, which are arranged on the opposite sides of an unprocessed material. The upper die assembly and the lower die assembly move relative to each other in the approaching direction to be clamped and move relative to each other in the direction away from each other to be opened. One of the upper and lower die assemblies is referred to as a first die assembly and the other is referred to as a second die assembly. The manufacturing apparatus includes a punch provided in the first die assembly and an ejector provided in the second die assembly. The punch punches out a workpiece from the unprocessed material in a state in which the die assemblies are clamped. The ejector is capable of approaching and moving away from the first die assembly and is located at a position corresponding to the punch. The manufacturing apparatus further includes a spring, which is provided in the second die assembly and urges the ejector toward the first die assembly, and a locking device, which locks the ejector with respect to the second die assembly at a position at which the punch punches out the workpiece from the unprocessed material and releases the ejector when the die assemblies are opened. The locking device includes a slider provided in the second die assembly, an actuator provided in the second die assembly, and a control section, which controls the actuator. The slider can slide between a locking position, where the ejector is locked, and a releasing position, where the lock is released. The actuator slides the slider.
A workpiece manufacturing apparatus 1 according to one embodiment will now be described with reference to
The workpiece manufacturing apparatus 1 shown in
The lower die assembly 2 of the workpiece manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a lower table 5, a punch 6, and a stripper 7. The lower table 5 is fixed to the installation surface of the manufacturing apparatus 1. The punch 6 is fixed to the upper surface of the lower table 5 so as to protrude upward. The stripper 7 surrounds the punch 6 and is movable upward and downward with respect to the lower table 5. The upper end of the stripper 7 is positioned above the upper end of the punch 6 so that the unprocessed material 4, which is transferred to the space between the lower die assembly 2 and the upper die assembly 3, can be placed on the upper end of the stripper 7. In the state in which the clamping is performed by moving the upper die assembly 3 downward, the punch 6 punches out a workpiece from the unprocessed material 4. An example of the workpiece is a separator for use in a cell stack of a fuel cell.
The upper die assembly 3 of the workpiece manufacturing apparatus 1 includes an upper table 8, a die 9, and an ejector 10. The upper table 8 is moved vertically by a lifting device. The die 9 is fixed to the lower surface of the upper table 8 to face the stripper 7 of the lower die assembly 2. The ejector 10 is configured to move vertically in a part of the die 9 that corresponds to the punch 6 of the lower die assembly 2. The ejector 10 approaches and moves away from the lower die assembly 2 by moving vertically in the die 9. The die 9 includes a fixed block 11 fixed thereto and positioned above the ejector 10. A support member 12 protrudes upward from the central portion of the ejector 10 and passes through the fixed block 11.
As shown in
The unprocessed material 4 is placed on the stripper 7 of the lower die assembly 2. Then, as the upper die assembly 3 is moved downward to perform clamping, the die 9 of the upper die assembly 3 pushes down the unprocessed material 4 and the stripper 7 while holding the unprocessed material 4 between the die 9 and the stripper 7. Through the pushing down of the unprocessed material 4, the punch 6 of the lower die assembly 2 punches out a workpiece upward from the unprocessed material 4 with the unprocessed material 4 held between the punch 6 and the ejector 10. At this time, the ejector 10 urges the unprocessed material 4 toward the punch 6 with the urging force of the spring of the urging mechanism 15, so that the workpiece is prevented from being deformed when being punched out from the unprocessed material 4.
When the punch 6 punches out the workpiece upward from the unprocessed material 4, the punched out workpiece fits into the die 9 of the upper die assembly 3 and the ejector 10 is retracted into the die 9. The workpiece manufacturing apparatus 1 is provided with a locking device 18. The locking device 18 locks the ejector 10 with respect to the upper die assembly 3 (the die 9) at the position where the punch 6 has punched out the workpiece from the unprocessed material 4 and releases the ejector 10 when the die assemblies 2, 3 are opened. The locking device 18 includes the slider 13, which is provided in the upper table 8 and movable in the horizontal direction, an actuator 19, which is provided in the upper table 8 to slide the slider 13, and a computer 20, which functions as a control section that controls the actuator 19.
The actuator 19 may be an air cylinder that includes a piston 21 and two pressure chambers 22, 23 partitioned by the piston 21. Air is either supplied to or discharged from the respective pressure chambers 22, 23 to displace the piston 21, so that a rod 24, which is connected to the piston 21, is extended or retracted. The rod 24 of the actuator 19 is connected to the slider 13, and the slider 13 is slid in the horizontal direction through extension and retraction of the rod 24. The two pressure chambers 22, 23 of the actuator 19 are connected to the pump 26 via a switching valve 25, the operation of which is controlled through the computer 20.
The computer 20 controls the operation of the switching valve 25 to supply air discharged from the pump 26 to the pressure chambers 22, 23 of the actuator 19 and to selectively discharge air from the pressure chambers 22, 23. Through supply and discharge of air to and from the pressure chambers 22, 23, it is possible to displace the piston 21 and the rod 24 of the actuator 19 and hold the position of the rod 24. This allows the slider 13 to be slid or held in a position in the horizontal direction.
The upper surface of the slider 13 is provided with a releasing surface 27, a slope 28, and a locking surface 29 in this order from the distal end in the protruding direction of the rod 24 (the right side as viewed in
When the punch 6 punches out the workpiece from the unprocessed material 4 in the clamped state of the manufacturing apparatus 1, the ejector 10 is retracted into the die 9 against the urging force of the spring in the urging mechanism 15. This displaces the roller 14, which moves integrally with the ejector 10, upward. At this time, when the rod 24 of the actuator 19 is extended to slide the slider 13 rightward as viewed in
The position of the slider 13 when the roller 14 contacts the locking surface 29 will hereafter be referred to as a locking position. When the slider 13 is in the locking position, the ejector 10 is locked with respect to the die 9 at the position where the punch 6 punched out the workpiece from the unprocessed material 4.
When the rod 24 of the actuator 19 is retracted to slide the slider 13 leftward as viewed in
The position of the slider 13 when the roller 14 contacts the releasing surface 27 will hereafter be referred to as a releasing position. When the slider 13 is in the releasing position, the ejector 10 is released with respect to the die 9 and protrudes downward from the die 9 when the lower die assembly 2 and the upper die assembly 3 are in the opened state. When such downward movement of the die 9 is performed with the workpiece fitted in the die 9, the workpiece is ejected from the die 9.
The urging mechanism 15 will now be described.
When the slider 13 shown in
Therefore, when the slope 28 contacts the roller 14 through the sliding movement of the slider 13 and acts to push up the roller 14, the roller 14 can be pushed up until the first spring member 30 (
Even if the slope 28 pushes up the roller 14 to compress the second spring member 31 by sliding movement of the slider 13 toward the locking position after the first spring member 30 is compressed completely, the second spring member 31 cannot be compressed. Therefore, the sliding movement of the slider 13 is stopped in a state in which the roller 14 is in contact with the slope 28. That is, the length of the first spring member 30 and the vertical distance between the locking surface 29 and the releasing surface 27 are determined in advance such that the slider 13 stops in such a state.
An operation of the workpiece manufacturing apparatus 1 will now be described.
As shown in
The above-described embodiment has the following advantages.
(1) The slider 13 of the locking device 18 slides through the control of the actuator 19 by the computer 20, and the actuator 19 is provided in the upper die assembly 3. Therefore, it is unnecessary to use a dedicated locking device adapted to the movement of opening for each workpiece manufacturing apparatus, and the common locking device 18 can be used for different manufacturing apparatuses. This increases the versatility of the locking device 18.
(2) The unprocessed material 4 and the workpiece are thin plates, for example, when manufacturing a separator provided in the cell stack of a fuel cell with the manufacturing apparatus 1. In such a case, to eject the workpiece fitted in the die 9 in the opened state, the amount of displacement of the ejector 10 is preferably large. Otherwise, the workpiece may not be ejected properly.
To ensure a large amount of displacement of the ejector 10 when ejecting the workpiece, the length of the spring of the urging mechanism 15 may be increased. This, however, may cause the following problems. That is, the amount of protrusion of the ejector 10 from the die 9 increases in accordance with the elongation of the spring when the lower die assembly 2 and the upper die assembly 3 are clamped. Accordingly, there is a possibility that the ejector 10 is pressed by the urging force of the spring at a time considerably earlier than the time at which the punch 6 makes contact with the unprocessed material 4. In this case, the urging force of the spring acting on the unprocessed material 4 via the ejector 10 may adversely affect the unprocessed material 4 before the workpiece is punched out.
In this respect, the manufacturing apparatus 1 is configured such that the urging mechanism 15 is provided with the first spring member 30 and the second spring member 31, and that the first spring member 30 is compressed prior to the second spring member 31 at the time of clamping. The use of the first spring member 30 and the second spring member 31 increases the displacement amount of the ejector 10 when ejecting the workpiece from the die 9. The displacement amount of the first spring member 30 during compression (corresponding to the displacement amount during expansion) is set to be larger than the displacement amount of the second spring member 31 during compression. The displacement amount is preferably set to a value that allows a thin plate-like workpiece to be reliably ejected from the die 9 as described above.
Furthermore, the force of the actuator for sliding the slider 13 from the releasing position to the locking position is set to be greater than the urging force of the first spring member 30 and smaller than the urging force of the second spring member 31. When the lower die assembly 2 and the upper die assembly 3 are clamped, the actuator 19 is operated through the computer 20 such that the slider 13 slides from the releasing position to the locking position.
As a result, the slope 28 of the slider 13 pushes up the roller 14 against the urging force of the first spring member 30 of the urging mechanism 15. However, when the first spring member 30 is compressed completely, the second spring member 31 cannot be compressed even if the slope 28 of the slider 13 pushes up the roller 14 in an attempt to compress the second spring member 31, and the sliding movement of the slider 13 is stopped. At this time, the roller 14 is in contact with the slope 28 of the slider 13.
The lower die assembly 2 and the upper die assembly 3 are clamped in a state in which the first spring member 30 is compressed completely and the protruding amount of the ejector 10 from the die 9 is suppressed to a small amount. Therefore, at the time of clamping the lower die assembly 2 and the upper die assembly 3, the ejector 10 is not pressed against the unprocessed material 4 by the urging force of the first spring member 30. Thus, the urging force is prevented from adversely affecting the unprocessed material 4 before the workpiece is punched out.
(3) The ejector 10, formed in a rectangular plate-like shape, is supported by the support member 12, which projects upward from the center of the ejector 10. This may inflect the ejector 10 in the longitudinal direction so that the opposite ends in the longitudinal direction of the ejector 10 droop. However, such inflection of the ejector 10 is suppressed by the guide posts 17, which protrude upward from the upper surface of the ejector 10, and the through-holes 16 of the fixed block 11, through which the guide posts 17 pass. That is, when the ejector 10 acts to be inflected as described above, the outer circumferential surfaces of the guide posts 17 contact the inner circumferential surfaces of the through-holes 16. This suppresses the occurrence of such inflection.
The above-described embodiment may be modified as follows.
The workpiece does not necessarily need to be a thin plate.
When the workpiece is not a thin plate, the urging mechanism 15 does not need to have the first spring member 30 and the second spring member 31, but may include a single spring member.
The vertical relationship of the lower die assembly 2 and the upper die assembly 3 may be reversed.
In place of an air cylinder, for example, a motor may be employed as the actuator 19.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2017-120490 | Jun 2017 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20090301161 | Fujimura | Dec 2009 | A1 |
20110079122 | Hirata | Apr 2011 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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5423302 | Apr 2011 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20180361609 A1 | Dec 2018 | US |