JP7656573B2 - Bending Roll - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a bending roll that bends a metal plate that is sector-shaped in plan view between an upper roll and multiple lower rolls to form a truncated cone-shaped product.

A bending roll is a device that bends a metal sheet by clamping the metal sheet between an upper roll and multiple lower rolls and rotating the lower rolls.

Among the bending rolls described above, those that bend and shape a metal plate that is sector-shaped in plan view into a truncated cone-shaped product usually have a positioning mechanism that positions the metal plate so that it passes through a specified position in the roll axis direction between the upper and lower rolls (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

The positioning mechanism generally has positioning members such as vertical guide rollers arranged on both sides of the upper and lower rolls in the axial direction, with at least one of the positioning members being movable in the axial direction of the rolls, and the metal plate being clamped between the positioning members on both sides to position the metal plate in the axial direction of the rolls.

JP 2000-280029 A JP 2012-236207 A

A bending roll equipped with the above-mentioned positioning mechanism forms a metal plate that is sector-shaped in plan view in a state where it is positioned in the roll axis direction, i.e., where the movement of the metal plate in the roll axis direction is restricted by a positioning member that is in contact with the widthwise end of the metal plate. As a result, the widthwise end of the metal plate is pressed strongly against the positioning member during forming, which may cause shape defects at the large diameter end and small diameter end (hereinafter collectively referred to as "ends") of the truncated cone-shaped formed product.

In particular, when forming large truncated cone-shaped structures used in large facilities (such as the tower body of a wind power generation plant or the seabed foundation of an offshore wind power generation plant), the thickness of the metal plate used as the material becomes thick, which increases the contact force between the widthwise end of the metal plate and the positioning member, making it easy for defects such as crushing of the welding grooves formed in advance at the widthwise end of the metal plate to occur.

Therefore, the objective of the present invention is to prevent defects in the end shape of the formed product in a bending roll that bends a metal plate that is sector-shaped when viewed from above to form a truncated cone-shaped product.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a bending roll that includes an upper roll, multiple lower rolls arranged below the upper roll, and a positioning mechanism that positions a metal plate that is sector-shaped in plan view so that it passes through a predetermined position in the roll axis direction between the upper roll and the multiple lower rolls, and that rotates the lower rolls or the upper roll or the upper and lower rolls while the metal plate is sandwiched between the upper roll and each lower roll to bend the metal plate into a truncated cone-shaped product. The positioning mechanism has a positioning member that abuts against the widthwise end of the metal plate when positioning the metal plate and retracts to a position that does not contact the metal plate during bending.

With the above configuration, the widthwise end of the metal plate is not pressed against the positioning member of the positioning mechanism during bending, so defects in the end shape of the truncated cone-shaped molded product can be reliably prevented.

In the above configuration, it is desirable to position the metal plate using the positioning mechanism before the start of bending the metal plate and when the metal plate is stopped during bending. In this way, even if the passing position of the metal plate between the upper and lower rolls displaces in the roll axis direction during bending, the metal plate can be returned to a predetermined roll axis position before the amount of displacement becomes large, thereby preventing the occurrence of problems due to the displacement of the metal plate in the roll axis direction.

In addition, if the positioning mechanism is separated from the bending roll body including the upper roll and each lower roll, and is configured to be provided on the side of the bending roll body where the metal plate is brought in, the structure of the bending roll body is simplified, and the replacement work of each roll of the bending roll body and the positioning members of the positioning mechanism can be easily performed.

As described above, the bending roll of the present invention retracts the positioning member of the positioning mechanism that positions the metal plate, which is sector-shaped in plan view, to a predetermined position in the roll axial direction during bending to a position that does not contact the widthwise end of the metal plate, thereby reliably preventing defects in the end shape of the truncated cone-shaped product.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the bending roll according to the embodiment; Side view of FIG. FIG. 2 is a front view of the bending roll body of FIG. 2A is an enlarged plan view of the loading device of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is a front view of FIG. 2A. FIG. 2A is an enlarged plan view of the alignment device of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is a front view of FIG.

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention based on the drawings. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, this bending roll is composed of a bending roll body 10 that bends the metal plate 1, which is a fan-shaped metal plate in plan view, a number of loading devices 20 that load the metal plate 1 before bending toward the bending roll body 10, and a number of alignment devices 30 as a positioning mechanism that positions the metal plate 1 at a predetermined position in the roll axis direction. The bending roll body 10 is installed on the bottom of a pit 3 that is dug to a predetermined depth from the floor 2 of a factory, and the loading devices 20 and alignment devices 30 are installed on the floor 2, respectively. The metal plate 1 transported by the loading devices 20 is passed through the bending roll body 10 while maintaining a constant height from the floor 2.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 3, the bending roll body 10 includes an upper roll 11, a pair of lower rolls 12 arranged on both the front and rear sides below the upper roll 11, a backup roll 13 supporting the axial center of each lower roll 12 from both the front and rear sides below, left and right roughly gate-shaped upper frames 14 and 15 supporting both ends of the upper roll 11, a lower frame 16 supporting both ends of each lower roll 12 and the legs of each upper frame 14 and 15, and a drive mechanism 17 for rotating each lower roll 12. Then, by rotating each lower roll 12 while the metal sheet 1 is sandwiched between the upper roll 11 and each lower roll 12, the metal sheet 1 is bent into a truncated cone-shaped formed product 1'.

Of the two upper frames 14, 15, the upper frame 14 on the lower side of Fig. 1 (left side of Fig. 3) is a tipping frame that moves away from one end of the upper roll 11 and rotates (tip-overs) toward the lower side of Fig. 1 (left side of Fig. 3) when the truncated cone-shaped molding 1' is removed. On the other hand, the upper frame 15 on the upper side of Fig. 1 (right side of Fig. 3) is an upright frame that cannot tip over because the other end of the upper roll 11 extends axially outward.

A hydraulic cylinder 18 is attached to the upper end of each upper frame 14, 15, and by operating each hydraulic cylinder 18, the upper roll 11 can be tilted or raised/lowered by a specified angle.

In addition, a hydraulic cylinder 19 is attached between the lower part of one end face of the lower frame 16 and the upper frame 14, and when removing the molded product 1', this hydraulic cylinder 19 is operated to cause the upper frame 14 to tip over and return to its original position.

On the other hand, six loading devices 20 are arranged on the side (left side in Figures 1 and 2) where the metal sheet 1 before bending is loaded onto the bending roll body 10, so as to follow the fan-shaped planar shape of the metal sheet 1 (only two of which are shown close to the bending roll body 10).

As shown in Figures 4(a) and (b), this loading device 20 is equipped with three transport rollers 21 arranged parallel to each other at a predetermined interval in the transport direction, a chain 22 and a sprocket 23 connecting adjacent transport rollers 21, and a servo motor 24 that drives the rotation of the most downstream transport roller 21. The servo motor 24 drives each transport roller 21 to rotate synchronously, and the metal plate 1 placed on each transport roller 21 is sent to the bending roll body 10.

The alignment devices 30 are arranged one before and one after (on the upstream side and downstream side) of the most downstream loading device 20.

As shown in Figs. 5(a) and (b), the alignment device 30 includes vertical guide rollers 31 as positioning members arranged on both the left and right sides (in the roll axis direction of the bending roll body 10), roller support bases 32 that rotatably support the lower ends of the guide rollers 31, ball screws 33 that extend in the left and right directions and are screwed to the roller support bases 32, and a motor 34 with a cycloid reducer that rotates and drives the ball screw 33. The ball screw 33 is a combination of two screw shafts arranged concentrically in opposite directions so that they rotate together, and the roller support bases 32 and guide rollers 31 on both sides move in opposite directions when driven by the motor 34. The ball screw 33 can also be configured so that the left and right screw shafts are driven independently by separate motors. In this way, the left and right roller support bases 32 and guide rollers 31 can be moved independently of each other.

Next, we will explain the procedure for bending the metal sheet 1 using this bending roll.

When bending the metal sheet 1, the hydraulic cylinders 18 attached to the upper frames 14, 15 of the bending roll body 10 are operated in advance to set the upper roll 11 at a predetermined height while tilting it at a predetermined angle according to the shape of the formed product 1'. In addition, both guide rollers 31 of each alignment device 30 are retracted to a position where the distance between them is wider than the width of the metal sheet 1.

When the forming operation starts, first, the servo motor 24 of each loading device 20 is driven to transport the metal sheet 1 toward the bending roll body 10, and the metal sheet 1 is stopped once the leading end of the metal sheet 1 reaches the front of the bending roll body 10. Then, the motor 34 of each alignment device 30 is driven to bring the guide rollers 31 on both sides into contact with the widthwise ends of the metal sheet 1 (clamping the metal sheet 1 between the guide rollers 31), thereby positioning the metal sheet 1 so that it passes through a predetermined position in the roll axis direction between the upper and lower rolls 11, 12.

Then, the motors 34 of each alignment device 30 are rotated in the reverse direction to move the guide rollers 31 on both sides to positions where they do not come into contact with the metal sheet 1, and the transport of the metal sheet 1 by each loading device 20 is resumed. The metal sheet 1 is then fed between the upper and lower rolls 11 and 12 of the bending roll body 10 to start bending.

After bending starts, the bending roll body 10, each loading device 20, and each alignment device 30 are linked to form the metal sheet 1 to a specified length → metal sheet 1 stops (loading device 20 and lower roll 12 stop) → upper roll 11 rises → metal sheet 1 is positioned by guide roller 31 → guide roller 31 retreats → upper roll 11 falls, and this operation ends when the rear end of the metal sheet 1 is formed. Note that the work up to this point is performed automatically based on data on the dimensions and shape of the metal sheet 1 and its formed product 1'.

After bending is complete, the hydraulic cylinder 19 of the bending roll body 10 is operated to tip the upper frame 14 over, and the formed product 1' is removed from the bending roll body 10. The hydraulic cylinder 19 is then operated again to return the upper frame 14 to its original upright position.

As described above, this bending roll positions the metal plate 1 in the roll axis direction by abutting the guide rollers 31 on both sides of each alignment device 30 against the widthwise ends of the metal plate 1 before the start of bending the metal plate 1 and when the metal plate 1 is stopped during bending, and during bending, the guide rollers 31 are retracted to a position where they do not come into contact with the metal plate 1, so that the widthwise ends of the metal plate 1 are not pressed against the guide rollers 31, thereby reliably preventing poor shape of the ends of the molded product 1'.

In addition, the forming operation of the metal sheet 1 is performed by repeatedly forming the metal sheet 1 to a predetermined length, stopping the process, positioning the metal sheet 1, and then resuming forming. Therefore, even if the passing position of the metal sheet 1 between the upper and lower rolls 11, 12 displaces in the roll axial direction during bending, the metal sheet 1 is returned to a predetermined roll axial position before the amount of displacement becomes large. Therefore, the forming operation can be performed while preventing problems caused by displacement of the metal sheet 1 in the roll axial direction.

Furthermore, the alignment device 30 that positions the metal plate 1 is separate from the bending roll body 10 and is provided on the side where the metal plate 1 is brought into the bending roll body 10. This makes the overall structure of the bending roll simpler than when a positioning mechanism is provided within the bending roll body, and makes it easier to replace the upper and lower rolls 11, 12 of the bending roll body 10 and the guide roller 31 of the alignment device 30.

The embodiments disclosed herein should be considered to be illustrative and not restrictive in all respects. The scope of the present invention is indicated by the claims, not by the meaning described above, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope of the claims.

For example, in the above embodiment, cylindrical upper and lower rolls are used, but tapered rolls can also be used.

The positioning mechanism for positioning the metal plate is not limited to an alignment device equipped with guide rollers as in the embodiment, but may be any mechanism that has a positioning member that abuts against the widthwise end of the metal plate when positioning the metal plate and retracts to a position that does not contact the metal plate during bending.

1 Metal plate 1' Molded object 10 Bending roll body 11 Upper roll 12 Lower roll 13 Backup roll 14, 15 Upper frame 16 Lower frame 17 Driving mechanism 18, 19 Hydraulic cylinder 20 Carry-in device 21 Conveying roller 24 Servo motor 30 Alignment device (positioning mechanism)
31 Guide roller 34 Motor

Claims (2)

a bending roll including an upper roll, a plurality of lower rolls disposed below the upper roll, and a positioning mechanism for positioning a metal sheet such that the metal sheet has a sector shape in plan view and passes through a predetermined position in the roll axis direction between the upper roll and the plurality of lower rolls, the bending roll rotating the lower rolls, the upper roll, or the upper and lower rolls while the metal sheet is sandwiched between the upper roll and each lower roll to bend the metal sheet into a truncated cone-shaped product,
the positioning mechanism has a positioning member that comes into contact with a width direction end of the metal plate when positioning the metal plate and retreats to a position not in contact with the metal plate during bending ,
A bending roll characterized in that the positioning mechanism is separated from a bending roll body including the upper roll and each lower roll, and is provided on the side where the metal plate is brought into the bending roll body . The bending roll according to claim 1, characterized in that the positioning mechanism positions the metal plate before the start of bending the metal plate and when the metal plate is stopped during bending.

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