Bobbin changing device

Abstract

A bobbin changing device for feeding bobbins to and/or removing bobbins from a processing device which can wind a strand-form material onto a bobbin and/or from a bobbin, wherein the bobbin changing device has at least one conveyor device, wherein the bobbin changing device has a swivel fork which is suited for feeding bobbins to and/or removing bobbins from such a processing device and for feeding bobbins to and/or removing bobbins from the conveyor device.

Claims

1. Bobbin changing device for feeding bobbins to and/or removing bobbins from a processing device which can wind a strand-form material onto a bobbin and/or from a bobbin, the bobbin changing device comprising: at least one conveyor device, and a swivel fork which is suited for feeding bobbins to and/or removing bobbins from the processing device and for feeding bobbins to and/or removing bobbins from the conveyor device, wherein the swivel fork is a rigid component having first and second bar elements and a fork shaft, wherein the first bar elements is fixed to at least one fixing bar on a distal end of the fork shaft and the second bar element is fixed to at least one mounting bar on a proximal end of the fork shaft or to at least one mounting bar on a fork mounting plate at a proximal end of the fork shaft, the first and second bar elements being spaced in a fixed position relative to each other to form a bobbin receiving site on the swivel fork on which the bobbin can stand, and wherein the swivel fork can be swiveled about a swivel axis which is oriented vertically.

2. Bobbin changing device according to claim 1, wherein at least two bobbin receiving sites are formed on the swivel fork.

3. Bobbin changing device according to claim 1, wherein the swivel fork can be positioned relative to the processing device, which further has a spooling site onto which a bobbin can be placed, in such a way that the at least one bobbin receiving site can substantially be matched with the spooling site of the processing device in a vertical projection by swiveling the swivel fork.

4. Bobbin changing device according to claim 1, wherein at least one bobbin storage site is formed in the area of the processing device on which a bobbin can stand, the conveyor device being able to move a bobbin towards the bobbin storage site and/or to move a bobbin away from the bobbin storage site.

5. Bobbin changing device according to claim 4, wherein the at least one bobbin receiving site of the swivel fork can substantially be matched with at least one bobbin storage site of the conveyor device in a vertical projection by swiveling the swivel fork.

6. Bobbin changing device according to claim 1, wherein the vertical position of the swivel fork can be changed.

7. Bobbin changing device according to claim 6, wherein at least in a lowermost height position of the swivel fork, a surface of the at least one bobbin receiving site of the swivel fork is at the same height as or below a surface of the conveyor device.

8. Bobbin changing device according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor device and a movement space of the swivel fork at least partially interpenetrate each other, wherein the movement space of the swivel fork is a volume in which some point of the swivel fork can lie over all possible swiveling positions in connection with all possible height positions of the swivel fork.

9. Processing facility for processing a strand-form material, the processing facility comprising: a processing device which can wind the strand-form material onto a bobbin and/or from a bobbin, and a bobbin changing device comprising at least one conveyor device, and a swivel fork which is suited for feeding bobbins to and/or removing bobbins from the processing device and for feeding bobbins to and/or removing bobbins from the conveyor device, wherein the swivel fork is a rigid component having first and second bar elements and a fork shaft, wherein the first bar element is fixed to at least one fixing bar on a distal end of the fork shaft and the second bar element is fixed to at least one mounting bar on a proximal end of the fork shaft or to at least one mounting bar on a fork mounting plate at a proximal end of the fork shaft, the first and second bar elements being spaced in a fixed position relative to each other to form at least one bobbin receiving site on the swivel fork on which the bobbin can stand, the and wherein the swivel fork can be swiveled about a swivel axis which is oriented vertically.

10. Bobbin changing method for execution on a processing facility and for feeding bobbins to and/or removing bobbins from a processing device, the method comprising one or more of the following operations in an arbitrary order and/or in an arbitrary number of repetitions, in a processing facility comprising a processing device which can wind a strand-form material onto a bobbin and/or from a bobbin, and the processing facility further comprising a bobbin changing device comprising at least one conveyor device, and a swivel fork which is suited for feeding bobbins to and/or removing bobbins from the processing device and for feeding bobbins to and/or removing bobbins from the conveyor device, wherein the swivel fork is a rigid component having first and second bar elements and a fork shaft, wherein the first bar element is fixed to at least one fixing bar on a distal end of the fork shaft and the second bar element is fixed to at least one mounting bar on a proximal end of the fork shaft or to at least one mounting bar on a fork mounting plate at a proximal end of the of the fork shaft, the first and second bar elements being spaced in a fixed position relative to each other to form a bobbin receiving site on the swivel fork on which the bobbin can stand, the swivel fork can be swiveled about a swivel axis which is oriented vertically: moving the conveyor device towards a bobbin storage site of the conveyor device by a certain distance; moving the conveyor device away from a bobbin storage site of the conveyor device by a certain distance; swiveling the swivel fork about the swivel axis by a certain angle in a certain direction; lifting the swivel fork by a certain distance; lowering the swivel fork by a certain distance.

Description

(1) Further advantages, features and application possibilities of the present invention will be apparent from the subsequent description in connection with the figures, showing:

(2) FIG. 1 is a top view onto a bobbin changing device according to the invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is a top view onto a swivel fork according to the invention;

(4) FIG. 3 is a top view onto a conveyor device according to the invention;

(5) FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a bobbin changing device according to the invention.

(6) In the top view in FIG. 1 onto a bobbin changing device 1 according to the invention, the conveyor device 30 can be seen at the left, the swivel fork 10 in the middle and the processing device 40 at the right. A detail from the bobbin changing device according to the invention is again shown as a perspective view in FIG. 4.

(7) The processing device 40 is, for instance, a manufacturing machine for a cable which is produced in the processing device 40 and is wound onto a bobbin S which is placed on the spooling site 41 and is rotatably mounted there. Correspondingly, the task of the bobbin changing device 1 is to feed empty bobbins L1, L2 to the processing device 40 and to remove full bobbins V1, V2 therefrom.

(8) The conveyor device 30 has two conveyor belts, namely the empty bobbin belt 31 for bringing empty bobbins L1, L2 and the full bobbin belt 32 for taking full bobbins V1, V2 away.

(9) The two conveyor belts 31, 32 are roller conveyor belts with rollers 37 arranged orthogonally to the conveying direction. One part of rollers 37 is driven by electric motors, whereas another part of rollers 37 is not driven. Furthermore, some rollers 38 are rubberized in order to guarantee an increased static friction of the bobbins when they are moved on the rollers 38. In particular, those rollers 38 are rubberized on which the bobbins are heavily accelerated and/or decelerated. On both conveyor belts 31, 32, the bobbins are moved while they are standing vertically on their flanges.

(10) At the right end of the empty bobbin belt 31, the empty bobbin storage site 33 is located, on which the empty bobbin L1 is standing in FIG. 1. At the right end of the full bobbin belt 32, the full bobbin storage site 34 is located, on which the full bobbin V1 is standing in FIG. 1. In this configuration of conveyor device 30, empty bobbin belt 31 only moves to the right, and full bobbin belt 32 correspondingly only moves to the left.

(11) Swivel fork 10 can freely be swiveled about a vertical swivel axis going through the pivot M, in both directions. It can be positioned with high precision, for example with a resolution of ±0.04 degrees, with the current angular position being measured by an absolute value sensor device. The rotational movement of the swivel fork is done via a geared motor.

(12) Furthermore, swivel fork 10 can be moved into three defined height positions BOTTOM, MIDDLE and TOP via a combination of two lifting cylinders. Here, the position BOTTOM is below the surface of conveyor belts 31, 32, the position TOP is above the spooling site 41, and the position MIDDLE is about in the middle between the positions TOP and BOTTOM.

(13) Substantially, swivel fork 10 has the following components a fork shaft 11 in the form of a tube, for example with a round cross section, which is arranged horizontally or nearly horizontally and substantially extends, with respect to the pivot M, on one side in radial direction, an outer fork bow 12 and an inner fork bow 13 in the form of curved tubes, for example with a rectangular cross section, with a constant curvature and with an even upper side, extending on two horizontally arranged circles with pivot M as their centers over the same arc, the two circles lying in the same plane, but below fork shaft 11, and the radius of outer fork bow 12 being larger than the radius of inner fork bow 13, a horizontally arranged fork mounting plate 18, to which fork shaft 11 is connected, preferably welded, two outer fork bow fixing bars 19 which are connected, preferably welded, to fork shaft 11 at their ends facing fork shaft 11 and to outer fork bow 12 at their ends opposite fork shaft 11, two inner fork bow fixing bars 20 which are connected, preferably welded, to the fork fixing plate 18 at their radially inner ends and to inner fork bow 13 at their radially outer ends. Alternatively, inner fork bow fixing bars 20 can also be connected, preferably welded, to fork shaft 11.

(14) Hence, fork mounting plate 18, outer fork bow 12 and inner fork bow 13 are arranged horizontally, outer fork bow 12 and inner fork bow 13 being positioned below fork shaft 11. Here, inner and outer fork bow fixing bars 19, 20 are the connections between the two height levels.

(15) Fork fixing plate 18 is screwed to a rotary bearing (not shown) positioned underneath, preferably a ball, needle, or roller bearing or a friction bearing, which enables the rotation around pivot M, by a plurality of screws 23. The swivel drive of swivel fork 10 is done via an electric geared motor (not shown). Swivel fork 10 is mounted on a column-like basic frame (not shown).

(16) Fork shaft 11 divides—in a vertical projection of the swivel fork, as shown in FIG. 1—each of outer fork bow 12 and inner fork bow 13 into—seen radially outwardly—an outer left fork section 14 and an inner left fork section 16 which are located left of fork shaft 11, and an outer right fork section 15 and an inner right fork section 17 which are located right of fork shaft 11, outer left and outer right fork sections 14 and 15 being approximately equally long and inner left and inner right fork sections 16 and 17 being approximately equally long.

(17) Outer left and inner left fork sections 14 and 16 together form a left bobbin receiving site 21 on the swivel fork, and outer right and inner right fork sections 15 and 17 together form a right bobbin receiving site 22 on the swivel fork. On either bobbin receiving site 21, 22, a bobbin can stand in such a way that it follows a swiveling movement of the swivel fork 10 about the swivel axis. Here, the lower flange of the bobbin is engaged at two parts of its circumference facing each other by the two left fork sections 14 and 16 or by the two right fork sections 15 and 17, which are forming the respective bobbin receiving site 21, 22.

(18) The exact position of left bobbin receiving site 21 and of right bobbin receiving site 22 is apparent from the isolated view of the swivel fork as a top view in FIG. 2.

(19) In order to prevent the bobbin from slipping off a bobbin receiving site, the surface of fork sections 14, 16 or 15, 17 can be provided with an anti-slip coating. Additionally or alternatively, fork sections 14, 16 or 15, 17 can also, as shown in FIG. 1, be provided with recesses 14a, 16a or 15a, 17a which are lying more below and on which the bobbin flange rests, while the remaining components of fork section 14,16 or 15,17 which are lying more above form a radially inward or radially outward stop for the bobbin flange.

(20) The two conveyor belts 31, 32 are broken through in the area of empty bobbin storage site 33 and full bobbin storage site 34. In the breakthrough, an arc-like groove 35 is arranged which runs concentrically to pivot M of swivel fork 10 and whose radial extension is somewhat larger than the radial extension of outer fork bow 12 of swivel fork 10. Also, the ground of groove 35 is located somewhat deeper than the bottom side of outer fork bow 12 when swivel fork 10 is in the height position BOTTOM. In this way, outer fork bow 12 can pass groove 35 when swivel fork 10 is swiveled without touching it or colliding with any other component.

(21) Furthermore, the two conveyor belts 31, 32 have a recess in the area of empty bobbin storage site 33 and full bobbin storage site 34. In the recess, an arc-like shielding plate 36 for inner fork bow 13 of swivel fork 10 is arranged. Shielding plate 36 also runs concentrically to pivot M of swivel fork 10. The radius of shielding plate 36 is somewhat larger than the outer radius of inner fork bow 13. Thus, inner fork bow 13 can pass inside shielding plate 36 when swivel fork 10 is swiveled without touching shielding plate 36 or colliding with any other component.

(22) Groove 35 and shielding plate 36 also largely prevent foreign matter from entering the movement space of swivel fork 10.

(23) Rollers 39 of the two conveyor belts 31, 32 in the area of groove 35 and of shielding plate 36 are correspondingly shortened, as shown in FIG. 3 in the top view onto conveyor device 30, where swivel fork 10 is only indicated by the movement radii of its single components. This shortening of rollers 39 does not, however, adversely affect bringing empty bobbins L1, L2 safely to empty bobbin storage site 33 or taking full bobbins V1, V2 safely away from full bobbin storage site 34, as the area of support for the bobbin flanges on the respective conveyor belt is still sufficiently large.

(24) In this way, the two conveyor belts 31, 32 interpenetrate with the movement space of swivel fork 10. Thus, swivel fork 10 can “drive into” conveyor belts 31, 32 and can pick a bobbin up from empty storage site 33 or from full bobbin storage site 34 there by lifting swivel fork 10, or can put a bobbin down there by lowering swivel fork 10.

(25) As swivel fork 10 can freely be swiveled relative to processing device 40, swivel fork 10 can be swiveled in such a way that any of left or right bobbin receiving sites 21, 22—in a vertical projection—can substantially be matched with spooling site 41 or with empty bobbin storage site 33 or with full bobbin storage site 34.

(26) For the following exemplary description of the course of a bobbin change, it is assumed that a full bobbin S is located on spooling site 41 of processing device 40 and that swivel fork 10 is in a swivel position between empty bobbin belt 31 and processing device 40 (approximately as shown in FIG. 1).

(27) The course of a bobbin change, which in the present configuration of the processing facility consists of the exchange of full bobbin S against empty bobbin L1, then comprises the following sequence of steps: 1. Moving empty bobbin L1 towards empty bobbin storage site 33 by conveyor device 30, so that empty bobbin L1 is standing on empty bobbin storage site 33; 2. Lowering swivel fork 10 to height position BOTTOM; 3. Swiveling swivel fork 10 counterclockwise below empty bobbin belt 31, so that left bobbin receiving site 21 matches empty bobbin storage site 33; 4. Lifting the swivel fork to height position MIDDLE and thus picking empty bobbin L1 up onto left bobbin receiving site 21; 5. Swiveling swivel fork 10 clockwise, so that right bobbin receiving site 22 of swivel fork 10 matches spooling site 41; 6. Lifting swivel fork 10 to height position TOP and thus picking full bobbin S up onto right bobbin receiving site 22; 7. Swiveling swivel fork 10 clockwise, so that left bobbin receiving site 21 of swivel fork 10 matches spooling site 41; 8. Lowering swivel fork 10 to height position MIDDLE and thus putting empty bobbin L1 down onto spooling site 41; 9. Swiveling swivel fork 10 clockwise, so that right bobbin receiving site 22 of swivel fork 10 matches full bobbin storage site 34; 10. Lowering swivel fork 10 to height position BOTTOM and thus putting full bobbin S down onto full bobbin storage site 34; 11. Moving bobbin S away from full bobbin storage site 34 by conveyor device 30.

(28) As it is apparent from the described course of events, swivel fork 10 must be swiveled only by a small angle, namely the angle between right bobbin receiving site 22 and left bobbin receiving site 21, between picking full bobbin S up from spooling site 41 and putting empty bobbin L1 down onto spooling site 41. This results in an only very short period of time in which no bobbin is standing on spooling site 41, which is identical to the machine idle time of processing device 40.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

(29) 1 Bobbin changing device 10 Swivel fork 11 Fork shaft 12 Outer fork bow 13 Inner fork bow 14 Outer left fork section 15 Outer right fork section 16 Inner left fork section 17 Inner right fork section 14a-17a Recesses in the fork sections 18 Fork mounting plate 19 Outer fork bow fixing bar 20 Inner fork bow fixing bar 21 Left bobbin receiving site 22 Right bobbin receiving site 23 Screw 30 Conveyor device 31 Empty bobbin belt 32 Full bobbin belt 33 Empty bobbin storage site 34 Full bobbin storage site 35 Groove for outer fork bow 36 Shielding plate for inner fork bow 37 Roller 38 Rubberized roller 39 Shortened roller 40 Processing device 41 Spooling site M Pivot of swivel fork L1, L2, L3 Empty bobbins V1, V2, V3 Full bobbins S Bobbin