Apparatus for the production of three-dimensional metallic structures

The apparatus is provided with a welding unit (43) comprising a plurality of electrode pairs (154, 155) for welding cross-wires with flat gratings at the intersection points, a flat grate feed device (45) for shifting it by the cross-wires in the longitudinal axis after welding. wires with lattices and support frame (41), horizontal elongated flat grid support plates (81) parallel to each other and with the longitudinal axis of the machine and spaced apart from each other by the spacing of the flat bars are provided on the support frame (41), feed teeth (190) and a pusher are disposed on the feed device (45) (182) feeding teeth (190), wherein the pusher (182) is connected to the feed teeth (190) and is displaceably displaced by a path intersecting the expanding wire of each flat grate and the feed teeth (190) each have at least one vertical engagement edge (193), a positioning device (42) is provided_:comprising two wire support members (126) and two wire feed controls (124) and an electronic control unit (57) coupled to the welding unit (43), the feed tooth shifter (182) and the two controls (124) ).

EN 276 338 86

<img file="CS276338B6_D0001.tif" />

CS 276 338 B6

The invention relates to a device for the production of three-dimensional metal structures, for example prefabricated elements such as panels or ceiling tiles, for use in the building industry.

A three-dimensional metal wire structure is known, consisting of a series of planar grids. Each lattice has at least one pair of longitudinal wires and expanding wires. The grids have predetermined relative distances defined by transverse wires which are welded to the grids themselves and to the spacing wires. Such a structure forms support planes for elongated bodies of corresponding dimensions made of a light insulating material inserted inside the structure itself. Production of these constructions requires very low tolerance of individual components and their careful handling during welding. To meet these requirements, numerous manual operations are required to introduce the welding units into the crossing bands where the welded wires are located and to maintain the alignment of the individual parts. Such a procedure is necessarily expensive. In addition, it is very difficult to simultaneously align the spacing wires of the individual sections of the structure at the same time. There were also serious problems with regard to weld reliability and high structural strength under static and dynamic stresses.

The technical problem solved by the present invention is to provide a device for manufacturing three-dimensional metal structures. '

The principle of a device having a welding unit comprising a set of electrode pairs for welding flat-wire cross-wires at their opposite ends at the crossing points, a flat-wire feed device for shifting it by the cross-wires in the longitudinal axis after welding the cross-wires , and the support frame is that The horizontal frame is provided with horizontal elongated flat grid support plates parallel to each other and with the longitudinal axis of the machine and spaced apart from each other according to the pitch of the flat bars. arranged displaceably along the path intersecting the expanding wire of each flat grate and the feed teeth each having at least one vertical grip edge, furthermore, a positioning device is provided which comprises two wire support members and two wire feed controls and an electronic control unit, which is connected to the welding unit, the feed tooth shifter and both. The backing plates are parallel to the pair of U-shaped end guides for the outer longitudinal wires of the flat grate, the end guides parallel to the longitudinal axis of the device and each pair of end guides extends over the backing plate toward the respective electrode pair of the welding unit.

The support plates have a first group of alignment members, each having a first surface for an outer longitudinal wire on one side of a respective flat grid and a second group of alignment members, each having a second surface for an outer longitudinal wire on the other side of a respective flat grid. The second groups of shifting members are connected by control screws and a support frame. Vertical supports, perpendicular to the horizontal support plates, are connected to the support plates.

The feed tooth shifter has a linear actuator coupled to a vertical bar not supporting the feed teeth, and each feed tooth has, in addition to the engagement edge, a rear edge inclined with respect to the engagement edge. The feed tooth has a front tooth and a rear tooth forming two engagement edges and two inclined edges, wherein the pitch between one and the other engagement edges of each feed tooth is equal to half the pitch of the spacing wires of the flat bars.

The positioning device has two transverse wire magazines, two arms each having transverse wire clamping members and two intermediate actuators connected to the arms.

The electronic control unit has transverse wire position sensors connected to the feed tooth slider. The electronic control unit has lift sensors connected to the controls.

The device enables good adjustment and low tolerance of deviations of individual parts of the metal structure during welding, especially good adjustment of the spacing wires, thus also the reliability of the welds and the strength of the structure. In addition, the structure has a high dimensional accuracy, thereby making it possible

CS 276 338 B6 ensures optimum arrangement of the panels in the construction works.

Further features of the invention result from the following description of an exemplary embodiment of the invention based on the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is an overall schematic view of the machines used for the method according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the machine according to Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a schematic partial top view of Fig. 2;

Fig. 3 is a front view of parts of the machine according to Fig. 2, Fig. 6 shows details of Fig. 5 at some stage of operation; FIG. 8 shows details of FIG. 7 at a certain stage and operation; FIG. 9 shows a sectional view according to IX-IX in FIG. 4; FIG. .

Fig. 11 is a schematic view of the machine parts of Fig. 2; another part t of the machine of FIG. 2, FIG. 12 is a top view of a variation of the machine part of FIG. 2; FIG. 13 is a schematic side view of the variation of FIG. 12;

Fig. 12 is a diagram of the operation of the machine of Fig. 2; Fig. 16 is a diagram of the entire machine of Fig. 2; Fig. 17 is a schematic top view of the second machine of Fig. 1; 18 is a schematic side view of the machine of FIG.

17, FIG. 19 is a block diagram of the machine of FIG. 17, and FIG. 20 is a block diagram of operations of the method of the invention.

The device according to the invention aims to create the three-dimensional metal structures 30 described above.

European Patent Application No. 82102021 published September 29, 1982. In particular, the device aims to connect flat steel gratings 36 with cross wires 37. |

The lattices 36 have longitudinal wires 34 and spacing wires 35 and are manufactured in an operation prior to the manufacture of the three-dimensional structure by means of a flat welder 38.?

The manufacturing machine 40 comprises a support frame 41 which supports the bars 36, a positioning device;

in.

42, from which the transverse wires 37 for welding to the grids 36, the welding unit 43 and the shifting unit 45 of the structure 30 in production and the receiving unit 50 are taken.

The machine further has an electronic unit 57 for controlling the sequence of production and welding stages, controlling the console 58, a pneumatic unit 59 to execute commands transmitted by the control console 58, and a hydraulic unit 60 for cooling the welding electrodes of machines 38 and 40.

A further description relates to a support frame. and

The support frame 41 has a plurality of stands 22 on which they are fixed at predetermined distances in pairs of the crossbars 80. Again, the crossbars 80 carry horizontal support plates 81 arranged one above the other. The distances between the support plates 81 are the same and determine the transverse spacing of the flat grids 36 relative to the finished structure 30.

The support plates 81 have a rectangular, very elongated shape and have two side panels 82, 83, right and left according to FIGS. 4, and carry a respective planar grille 36 A shifting member 84 formed by a rectangular cross-section profile and provided with a control surface with the ends of the spacing wires 35 of the grilles 36 in the figure on the left. The faces of the alignment members 84 of the individual support plates 81 are located in the same plane and define the vertical reference surface of the three-dimensional structure 30.

An additional alignment member 86, also formed by a rectangular cross-sectional profile and provided with a surface 87, with which the spacing wires 35 of the grilles 36 in the right figure cooperate, is fixedly attached to the sidewall 83 of each support plate 81. The faces of the alignment members 86 are arranged in the same plane and define a further vertical reference plane of the three-dimensional structure 30, parallel to the vertical plane formed by the faces. The two reference planes bring the longitudinal wires 34 to the same plane on the same side of the individual gratings 36 and are also perpendicular to the planes of the gratings 36. At one end of the alignment members 84, 86 in the front of FIG. 22 formed by U-shaped profiles extending from the plates 81 towards the welding units 43. These guides cooperate with the ends of the spacing wires 35, but also with the longitudinal wires 34 of the flat grids 36 and serve to precisely define the vertical reference planes of the structure 30 and prevent the grids 36 from skewing near the exit

CS 276 338 B6 guide ends 92, 93 for welding units 43.

The shifting members 86 and guides 93 are movable relative to the sidewalls 83, for example by means of screws 94 ,. Thus, it is possible to vary the distance between the reference plane of the surfaces and the guides 92 either with respect to the reference plane of the surfaces or with respect to the guides 93, thereby defining exactly vertical reference planes of structures 30 using grids 36 of different widths.

The supporting structure is followed by a positioning device. The positioning device 42 is divided into two units, each of which comprises a hopper 101, in which freely transverse wires 37 are received. These wires enter their own weight into the outlet channel 102 and this process is facilitated by the operation of the eccentric 103. the wires 37 which are first guided by the inclined bars 105 and stop at their lower ends by abutting the shoulder 106. The presence of the wires 37 retained by the shoulders 106 is detected by a magnetic sensor 107, which transmits this information in the form of electrical signals to a control electronic unit 57. Between the support frame 41 and the hoppers 101 are arranged two gripping arms 111, each formed by a parallelepiped rod. with an abutment point at one end and an output shaft 112 of the pneumatic actuator 113. This actuator 113 rotates the gripper arm 111 from a horizontal position to a vertical position. Each gripper arm 111 is in its horizontal position substantially in alignment and above the wire 37 temporarily abutting the shoulder 106 near the wire itself. Further, gripper magnets 114 are provided which move the wires 37 away from the shoulder 106 and keep them on the arm 111 aligned with the axis of the arm.

This position remains unchanged even if the arm 111 is in the vertical position. The two sensors 115, 116 also have the task of sensing the horizontal or vertical position of the arm 111 and transmitting the information to the monitoring electronic unit 57.

Opposite the hopper 101 there are two pneumatic actuators 121 provided with pistons 122 movable in a horizontal plane in a direction perpendicular to the reference planes. Two support blocks 123 are mounted on the pistons 122, on which two wire drive members consisting of two pneumatic actuators 124 are mounted again. These actuators 124 are provided with pistons 125 movable horizontally in a 45 ° inclined direction relative to the reference planes of the surfaces 85 , 86. The pistons 125 carry two wire support members 126 to which are attached two corresponding rows of collets 127 which are pneumatically operated to move the wires 37 away from the arms 111 and hold them in a position parallel to the stands 126. The sensors 128 serve to detect the presence of one or more The support blocks 123 may move away from the pistons

122 from the lateral positions near the hoppers to the intermediate positions of the welding units 43 and guides 92, 93. Support members 126 may also move away from the pistons 125 from positions distant from the hoppers 101 and guides 92, 93 into bands near arms 111 arranged vertically. , and welding units 43.

The end sensors 131 and 132 of the drive members 121 sense the lateral and middle positions of the blocks

123 and the end sensors 133 of the drive members 124 sense the positions of the stands 126 at the arms 111 and the welding units 43. Further, the magnetic sensors 134 detect the presence of wires 37 held by the collets 127 on the stands 126. The sensor information is also fed to the electronic control unit 57. arranged so that each can accommodate, with respective spacers, two rows of transverse wires 37 with a length less than the maximum length of the hopper. The inclined bars 105, the gripping arms 111, the stands 126, the collets 127 and the individual sensors can simultaneously process two wires that are aligned with each other. This makes it possible to produce simultaneously two three-dimensional structures at a height somewhat less than half the height of the structure at the maximum height.

The welding units 43 are divided into two groups mounted on two plates 145,

146 These plates are slidably movable on vertical stands 147 arranged to the left and right of the guide members 92, 93 such that a pair of welding units 43 are associated with each pair of members 92, 93.

Each unit 43 has a hollow parallelepiped body 151 on which is mounted a transformer 152, a pneumatic drive cylinder 153, a movable electrode 154, and opposed

CS 276 338 B6 electrode 155.,

The movable electrode 154 is secured to the piston 157 of the drive cylinder 153, which is again guided in housings insulating it from the body 151. The counter electrode 155 has an L-shaped body and is electrically connected to the body 151. The transformer 152 is partially inserted into the prismatic body 151 and it is provided with a primary winding whose terminals can be connected to the mains. The transformer secondary winding has two terminals 159, 160 connected to the electrodes 154, 155 The terminal 159 is connected directly to the electrode 155, while the connection between the electrode 154 and the terminal 160 is made with fine U-shaped blades that allow the piston 157 to move. The active portion 163 of each movable electrode 154 has a cylindrical shape and is located higher with respect to the piston 157 and connected to it by a block 164. The active portion 165 of each of the electrodes 155 has a parallelepiped shape and extends upwardly from the electrode 155. Electrode blocks 164, 155 extend inside the cooling ducts, provided with small inlet and outlet openings 166, 167 connected to the hydraulic unit 60.

In the rest position, the portions 163, 165 of the units 43 are arranged below the planes of the lattice 36 and each plate 145, 146 is vertically movable relative to the vertical stands 147. The drive member 170 moves the welding units 43 up, thereby bringing the portions 163, 165 into alignment with the planes. In addition, the two end sensors 168, 169 detect the upper or lower positions of the units 43. In a variation of the embodiment of FIGS. 12 and 13, the welding units are mounted on two fixed IBP plates. Each electrode 171 is provided with a lever 173 and swings around the housing 172 parallel to the piston 157. The active portions 163 of the movable electrodes 154 are aligned with the planes of the individual lattices 36, while the active portions of the electrodes 171 are arranged below these planes. The levers 173 swing on a single vertical linkage 174 which is coupled to the pneumatic drive member 175.

The drive member 175 pivots the active portions of the electrodes 171 around the housings 172 into alignment with the lattice planes 36. The sensors 168, 169 in this case sense the upper and lower positions of the electrodes 171.

Unit 45, the so-called feed unit, has a pneumatic feed tooth shifter 182 provided with two pistons 183 which can move parallel to guides 92, 2Σ. Pistons 183 accommodate a vertical bar 184k with horizontal l-shaped arms 185 mounted therein. These arms 185 have an elongated portion 186 which is located in the median plane between the vertical reference planes defined by the guide members 92, 93.

On each part 186, a toothed lever 190 is pivoted on a pivot 187 by a toothed lever provided with a front tooth 191 and a rear tooth 192. In the rest position, the tooth 190 is held horizontal by its own weight and against the impact of the stop 188 of the portion 186. it has in its front part a corresponding engagement edge 193 substantially vertical and in its rear part an inclined edge 194. The engagement edges 193 of the teeth 191, 192 are aligned with each other in two vertical planes whose spacing is somewhat greater (nearly ol mm for wires 0.6 to 0.7 mm) than half the spacing of the spacing wires 35 and the bars 36. Shifter 182 displaces the bar 184 and therefore the feed teeth 190 by a distance equal to half the spacing of the spacing wires 35. A pair of end sensors 197, 196 controls exactly the end points of movement and passes the information to the control electronic unit 57. The engagement edges 193 with the spacing wires 35 simultaneously displace the grids 36 while maintaining the same plane of the spacing wires of the different grids 36 either prior to the assembly of the structure 30 or while the grids 36 are moving during welding.

In the rest position, the engagement edges 193 of the teeth 191, 192 are located at the expanding wires and behind the expanding wires 35 of the bars 36. Consequently, when the pistons 183 move forward the edges 193 of the teeth 191, 192 of the feed teeth 190 carry the bars 36 to the front of the machine along a straight track. half of the spacing of the spacing wires 35.

Upon retraction of the spacing wires 35 with the bevelled edges 194, the toothed levers 190 are lifted, which in turn can feed the edges 193 beyond the spacing wires 35 to further move the bars 36. During both cycles of lever movement 190 forward and backward but in both cycles to the same spacer wire 35. This creates a cross-wire spacing 37 substantially equal to half the spacing of the spacing wires 35 on the finished structure 30.

CS 276 338, B6

It can be seen from Fig. 1 that the receiving unit 50 has a reversing platform 201 provided with a base 202 to take over the already manufactured structure and at least one zone 203 capable of supporting a bracket for the second structure when the machine 40 mounts two lowered height structures simultaneously.

The control electronics unit 57 has a microprocessor 210 provided with multiple I / O couplers. The input interfaces receive data from sensors monitoring the presence of wires and the end of travel of the actuators; the output couplers are connected to a relay or solid state switches that control the opening or closing of the valves 212 to 219 inserted between the compressed air circuit 225 from the pneumatic unit 59 and the actuators 104, 113, 122, 124, 127, 182. , 169, 175 and all the driving elements 153 of the welding units 43.

The microprocessor 210 actuates a power unit 226 that connects to the primary winding of the transformer 152 of the units 43. The microprocessor 210 has a program that controls the operation of the individual electric valves in a predetermined order and depending on the status of each sensor. This microprocessor is also connected to the control elements for changing the welding time intervals.

The production method is shown schematically in Fig. 20 and comprises in stages 211, 212 the removal of wires 37 from the hoppers 101 and the positioning of the grids 36 on the plates 81. Thus, the longitudinal wires 34 are introduced into the individual guides 92, 93. are located in front of the engaging edges 193 of the teeth 191.

The machine 40 operates with two wires 37 or four wires in the case where two constructions are made and the wires are already placed on the legs 111 in a vertical position. The support blocks 123 are in respective lateral positions and the stands 126 are separated from the arms 111. In this state, the control unit 57 is ready to begin manufacturing the structure 30. Pressing the trigger button actuates the pusher 182, which moves the respective teeth 190 towards the front of the machine, thereby simultaneously displacing the unprocessed grilles 36. ⁱⁿ as a result, when the spacer wires 35 of the first series are positioned in the same plane in the correct position, the longitudinal wires 34 are fed to the respective welding zones.

Upon movement of the grids 36 sensed by the sensors 197, the control unit 57 actuates the actuators 124 which bring the stands 126 close to the arms 111. The unit 57 controls the gripping of the collets 127 on the wires 37 and the transfer of the wires to the stands 126. on the other hand, actuating members 124 and moving the racks 126 and therefore the wires away from the arms 111 The unit 57 actuates the actuating members 121, which move the support blocks 123 to the welding zone.

The control unit 57, after checking the new position of the pistons 122 by the sensors 131, actuates the drive members 124 to bring the wires 37 in close proximity to the longitudinal wires 34. Because the pistons 125 move at 45 ° to the electrode and wire axes 34, wires 37 and the stands 126 can move freely without obstructing these members. The new position of the wires 37 is sensed by sensors 133. At this stage, the unit 57 raises the plates 145, 146 and all of the welding units 43 or vertical rods 174 with individual electrodes 171 until the active electrode portions 163, 165 coincide with the longitudinal wires 34 and the axis with the cross-band bands 37 The unit 57 further lowers the actuators 113 which bring the arms 111 to a horizontal position and allow the removal of another pair of wires 37 (or four wires in the case of two structures) from the hopper 101.

In the next stage, the unit 57 actuates all the drive members 153 of all the welding units 43. As a result, the movable electrodes 154 bring the crossed wires 34, 37 into contact with the respective counter electrodes. The unit 57 thus provides power to the primary windings of the transformers 152 and welds the wires 22, 34 in the respective crossing zones. While the electrodes still hold the wires 34, 22, the unit 57 actuates the pusher 182, which causes a return movement to the rear of the machine. Thus, the teeth 190 are displaced rearward and protrude slightly with their rear teeth 192 from the second row spacer wires 35. After checking the new position of the levers 190 by the sensors

EN 276 338 86

197 the unit 57 opens the electrodes and collets and moves the drive members in the opposite direction

180, 175, thereby leading the electrodes out of the spacing wires path 35. In addition, the unit 57 returns the arms 111 to a vertical position. The unit 57 eventually moves the stands 126 and blocks 123 out of the welding zone and returns the machine to its initial state.

Giant. 3 shows, in dotted lines, the position of the blocks 123 at the welding zone, wherein the collets 127 are shown open and out of the welding zone. The extended positions of the feed teeth 190 and the grilles 36 are shown in the same way. Giant. 4 shows the position of the welding drive elements 121 and 124, with the wires 35 aligned with the engagement edges 193. FIG. 8 shows the positions occupied by the unit 43 during welding and by the dot-dash phase of the takeover of the wire 35 by the tooth 192.

Giant. 15 shows a schematic diagram of the passage of welding current 221 versus time, movement of movable electrodes 154 relative to electrodes 157, 171, and movement of units 43 or electrodes 171. Also shown are movements of collets 127, drive members 122, 123, wire 37 on rods 105, but also arm movements 111.

Further description relates to a planar machine.

The longitudinal wires 34, before being welded onto the spacing wires 35, are unwound from large capacity unwinders 240 and are initially equaled by wire straightening machines 241. This machine of known type is not shown in detail here. It is generally provided with a series of straightening rollers and counter rollers 242 that straighten the wires.

During straightening, the wires are strengthened by the unwinding and deformation induced by the twisting that occurs during this phase.

The planar machine 38 intended for the grilles 36 has an elongated bed 245 with an inlet zone and an outlet zone 244. The bed 245 is provided with crossbars 246 holding the longitudinal wires 34. These wires 34 are also held generally at predetermined distances by suitable guides 247 partitions. Further, arranged in the center zone of the bed 245 are precisely calibrated shift supports 248 and of such length that the longitudinal wires 34 are aligned substantially parallel to each other in the reference zone of the actual support zone. The wires are substantially in the same plane; the mutual distance between the wires themselves is therefore very accurate and has very small tolerances with respect to the selected values. Next to the exit zone of the supports 248 is a spacer wire feed device 35 and a welding unit 251. The device 250 positions each spacer wire 35 by crossing the longitudinal wires 34 parallel to each other so that each wire is as close to or in contact with the wires 34 as possible. in its reference section. In particular, the device 250 has a hopper 252 provided with an outlet passage 253 operated by a drive member 254; a plurality of inclined bars 256 and a series of small retaining shoulder 258.

The welding unit 251 has a fixed electrode 260 disposed somewhat below the wires 34 and across to them in their reference zone and a plurality of movable electrodes 261. The active portion of the electrodes 261 is substantially parallel to the active portion of the electrode 261 can move vertically relative to the electrode 260 by the respective drive members 262 of the electrode 261 as it moves downwardly pushing the spacer wire 35 onto the longitudinal wires 34 which are held again by the fixed electrode 260. in the respective crossing zones for subsequent welding of the wires 34, 35. The machine 38 furthermore has a feed device 270 which shifts the longitudinal wires relative to the electrodes 260, 261 by a value exactly equal to the spacing of the spacing wires. This device has transverse teeth 272 moved by a chain 273 and engaging the spacing wires 35 after welding. The stroke of the teeth 272 is carefully controlled by an additional coder 275, which accurately measures the angular movements of the pin 276 on which the gear cooperating with the chain 271 is supported. This chain is again driven by a servomechanism comprising a motor 277 controlled by an additional coder according to a program synchronized with the movement of the electrodes 261 and the welding of the wires. The device 250 is followed by a shearing device 278 operated by a pneumatic actuator 279 and comprising shears that cut precisely the expanding wire 35 at the welding zone with the longitudinal wires 34 located outside the grid. Thus, the grids themselves have very precise dimensions, which allows a precise flow of operations in the manufacture of the structure 30 on the machine 40.

Ί

CS 276 338-6

The machine 38 makes it possible to produce several bars simultaneously. This is done by using one cross wire for multiple grids. These lattices are then separated in the same shear stage following welding. The individual stages of the grate feed, welding and shearing are controlled by a control unit 281 having a microprocessor 282 and a control console 283. On the microprocessor 282 it is possible to program and synchronize the individual work stages, the feed stages and the welding times. Fig. 20 shows the various phases of the manufacturing structure 30.

In phase 290, the wires 34, 35, 37 are welded and tampered, which are then sheared in phases 291, 292 and 293. During phases 294, 295 the wires 34 are placed on the crossbars 246 of the machine 38 and wires 35 on the respective hopper 252. 34, 35 are welded at stage 296 and then sheared at stage 297. Then, while the transverse teeth 272 return to the welding zone during phase 298, the grilles may be gripped at stage 299 and placed on the support platforms 81 of the machine 40. Thereafter, transverse wires 73 are removed from their hoppers 101 during phase 211. Here begins the assembly phase of the structure 30, in which the transverse wires move in steps during phase 300, while the drive member 104 and the arms 111 have positioned the wire 37 in the middle position during phase 303.

This is followed by raising the electrodes at stage 305, welding at stage 306 and returning the levers 190 at stage 307. Then, at stage 309, the electrodes are commanded to start and at stage 310 the structure is taken over on the body 40.

PATENT CLAIMS