Method for recovering machining waste by input of energy and machining machine comprising a waste recovery system

Abstract

The invention relates to implement the sealing, porosity and sweeping functions, combined. For this purpose, the present invention proposes to confine the waste and to suction the waste at the ejection head by means of a sufficiently flexible connection, such as to remain in contact with the machining area. According to an embodiment, a portable machining machine (1) operated by a pressurized jet (112) includes a waste recovery system (5), an injection head (11) which is provided with a nozzle (111) having an axis (A1) that is substantially perpendicular to the surface to be machined (4a) and which is driven by a digitally controlled two-axle guide system, the ejection head (11) being extended by an enclosure (12) to the surface area to be machined (4a). In addition, the enclosure (12) comprises a tubular portion (121) consisting of two walls (12a, 12b) which slide coaxially along the axis (A1) and a double-pivot articulation device (123). The enclosure (12) has a porous annular wall (124) in a plane substantially perpendicular to the axis (A1) of the nozzle (111), said annular wall (124) having sufficient resilience to keep the enclosure (12) in permanent sealing contact with the surface to be machined (4; 4a, 4b).

Claims

1. A portable machining machine (1) using an energy input (112) comprising: a waste suction pipe (5); a discharge head (11) having a nozzle (111) having an axis (A1), which is perpendicular to the surface (4; 4a, 4b) to be machined; a guide device (2) connected to the discharge head, the guide device comprising a gantry (22) having two perpendicular axes (X,Y), and including a transversal beam (211) supported by feet (212) moving on sliding members (22) maintained on the surface to be machined (4, 4a, 4b), the feet (212) being perpendicular to the transversal beam (211), said two perpendicular axes (X,Y) being in a plane which is perpendicular to the axis (A1) of the nozzle (111); at least one chamber mounted on wheels having a first end connected to the discharge head and a second end connected to the surface (4; 4a, 4b) to be machined, the waste suction pipe is connected to the chamber; an air suction pump connected to the waste suction pipe, the air suction pump suctions the waste from the chamber through the suction pipe (5); the at least one chamber delimits an internal space (E) carrying an air suctioned by the air suction pump; wherein each one of the at least one chamber includes a tubular portion (121) and a collector (122), the tubular portion includes a length adjusting device having an internal wall and an external wall, which slides one on the other along the axis (A1) of the nozzle (111), the internal wall is fixed to the discharge head and the external wall is connected to the collector (122) via a central dual-pivot device (123) adjusting the length of the chamber (12) to the variable angular inclinations and curvatures of the surface (4; 4a, 4b) to be machined.

2. The machining machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the chamber includes a strip (124) made of a resilient material is connected to a bottom end of the collector.

3. The machining machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein the resilient strip (124) is arranged at the end of the chamber (12) so that the said resilient strip (124) is located either directly in contact with the surface (4; 4a, 4b) to be machined or in contact with the surface (4; 4a, 4b) via a flexible lip.

4. The machining machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein the resilient material is a carbon foam.

5. The machining machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the collector (122) includes an injection device including an aperture (31) to inject a compressed air produced by a connected compressor.

6. The machining machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the dual-pivot device is selected from a group consisting of a pivot, a ball-bearing, a dual-pivot ball, a socket joint, and a ball and socket joint.

7. The machining machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the dual-pivot device is a ball and socket joint having two concentric rings (B1, B2), which have perpendicular rotation axes (X,Y), which are defined in a plane, which is substantially perpendicular to the axis (A1) of the nozzle (111).

8. The machining machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sliding walls (12a, 12b) are connected to each other via ball or needle type bearings (12R).

9. A portable machining machine (1) using an energy input (112) comprising: a waste suction pipe (5); a discharge head (11) having a nozzle (111) having an axis (A1), which is perpendicular to the surface (4; 4a, 4b) to be machined; a guide device (2) connected to the discharge head, the guide device comprising a gantry (22) having two perpendicular axes (X,Y), and including a transversal beam (211) supported by feet (212) moving on sliding members (22) maintained on the surface to be machined (4, 4a, 4b), the feet (212) being perpendicular to the transversal beam (211), said two perpendicular axes (X,Y) being in a plane which is perpendicular to the axis (A1) of the nozzle (111); at least one chamber having a first end connected to the discharge head and a second end connected to the surface (4; 4a, 4b) to be machined, the waste suction pipe is connected to the chamber; an air suction pump connected to the waste suction pipe, the air suction pump suctions the waste from the chamber through the suction pipe (5); the at least one chamber delimits an internal space (E), an air suctioned by the air suction pump; wherein each one of the at least one chamber includes the tubular portion (121) and a collector (122), the tubular portion includes a length adjusting device having an internal wall and an external wall, which slides one on the other along the axis (A1) of the nozzle (111), the internal wall is fixed to the discharge head and the external wall is connected to the collector (122) via a central dual-pivot joint device (123) having a dual-pivot ball and socket joint adjusting the length of the chamber (12) to the variable angular inclinations and curvatures of the surface (4; 4a, 4b) to be machined; and wherein the chamber includes at least one annular confinement wall forming a strip (124) on a bottom end, the at least one annular confinement wall (124) is made of a porous material, the at least one annular confinement wall (124) is perpendicular to the axis (A1) of the nozzle (111), the annular wall has sufficient resilience to produce a permanently sealed contact of the chamber on the surface.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(1) Other data, features and advantages of the present invention will be appreciated from a reading of the following non-limiting description, with reference to the connected Figures which illustrate, respectively:

(2) FIG. 1 is a general schematic perspective view of an example of a portable machine according to the invention with the numerically controlled two-axis guiding system thereof;

(3) FIGS. 2a and 2b are vertical sectioned views of the portable machine of FIG. 1 with two concave and convex-curvature profiles of the surface to be machined, respectively;

(4) FIG. 3 is a schematic upper view of the articulation of the pivot type between the tubular portion and the collector of the chamber of the portable machine in a plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of the nozzle of the machine, and

(5) FIG. 4 is a sectioned view of the collector of a production variant which comprises a system of injection apertures and air outlet apertures which are located opposite.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(6) With reference to the general schematic view of FIG. 1, an example of a portable machining machine 1 using a pressurized jet according to the invention is driven by a guiding system 2 having two axes X, Y with numerical control 3, in order to machine a curved surface 4, an aircraft fuselage portion of composite material in the example illustrated.

(7) The guiding system 2 comprises a gantry 21 which is composed of a transverse beam 211 which is supported at the end by feet 212 which move in translation —perpendicularly to the beam 211—on sliding members 22 via rollers (not illustrated), the sliding members 22 being maintained via suction pads 221 which are applied to the surface 4. The machine 1 is fixed via the discharge head 11 thereof to a chassis 23 which is capable of moving on the beam 211 via bearings (not illustrated).

(8) The discharge head 11 is extended by a chamber 12 which extends as far as the machined surface 4. This chamber 12 is connected to a suction pipe 5 which is connected to an air pump (not illustrated) in order to constitute a system for recovering waste originating from the machining operation.

(9) More specifically, vertical sections—that is to say, substantially perpendicular to the machined surface 4—of the portable machine 1 are illustrated in FIGS. 2a and 2b, respectively, when the machined surface 4 has a concave-curvature profile 4a and convex-curvature profile 4b.

(10) The portable machining machine 1 comprises the discharge head 11 for pressurized abrasive material, for example, sand under water pressure, and the chamber 12 mounted on wheels 13. The head 11 is provided with a nozzle 111 for discharging a jet of abrasive pressurized water 112 having an axis A1 which is substantially perpendicular to the machined surface 4a or 4b.

(11) More specifically, the chamber 12 comprises a tubular portion 121 and a collector 122. The tubular portion 121 is constituted by two walls 12a and 12b which slide coaxially one on the other along the axis A1 of the nozzle 111 via ball-bearings 12R, the connection being protected by a joint 12J. The internal wall 12a is fixedly joined to the discharge head 11 and the other external wall 12b is connected to the collector 122 via a dual-pivot ball and socket joint 123. This ball and socket joint 123 enables adaptation of the chamber 12, which remains substantially parallel with itself during the sweeping of the machined surface, whilst the head and the discharge nozzle remain substantially mutually parallel. A dual-pivot type ball and socket joint will be described in a detailed manner with reference to FIG. 3.

(12) As a result of the movability of the external wall 12b along the axis A1—perpendicularly to the surface 4a or 4b to be processed—it is possible to adapt the position of the discharge head 11, that is to say, the cutting depth “H” of the jet 112, to the machined surface. Thus, by comparison between the FIGS. 2a and 2b, it appears that this cutting depth “H” is substantially increased when the surface changes from a convex curvature 4b (FIG. 2b) to a concave curvature 4a (FIG. 2a).

(13) Furthermore, the chamber 12 has, in a plane substantially perpendicular to the axis A1 of the nozzle 111, a wall in the form of a porous annular confinement strip 124, in this instance of carbon foam, which is fixedly joined to the base plate 12S of the collector 122. This annular strip 124 is thus arranged between the collector 122 and the surface 4a, 4b. This strip 124 has sufficient resilience to remain in sealed contact with the machined surface 4a or 4b so that a permanent sealed contact remains established between the chamber 12 and this surface 4a, 4b.

(14) A suction of air is first produced approximately parallel with the surface 4a, 4b (arrows F1) by means of pumping in order to discharge the waste generated in the internal space “E” delimited by this collector 122 and the annular strip 124, during the machining operation. The permanent sealed contact between the annular strip 124 and the surface 4a, 4b produces a sweeping of this waste during the movement in the machined surface. The suction of air (arrows F1 and F2) is carried out by means of pressure reduction from the outer side to the internal space “E” via the porous strip 124, without the waste being able to be discharged from this space.

(15) Then, the air and the waste which is transported are discharged substantially perpendicularly with respect to the machined surface 4a, 4b (arrows F2) via the suction pipe 5 which is mounted on the discharge pump (not illustrated) via a tank 12N which includes an internal circular channel 12C. The tank 12N is fixedly joined to the base plate 12S in order to constitute the collector 122.

(16) Alternatively, the annular strip 124 may be provided with a lip of flexible material in order to improve the sweeping. More generally, the annular strip may be integrated in the chamber 12 and the lip of flexible material is thus advantageously provided in order to carry out effective sweeping.

(17) The upper view of FIG. 3 illustrates the dual-pivot ball and socket joint 123 which forms an articulation between the tubular portion 121 and the tank 12N. The ball and socket joint 123 is formed by two concentric rings B1 and B2 which are separated by a cardan washer 12R. The rings B1 and B2 can pivot about the axes X and Y by means of assembly on pivots A11 and A12, respectively, the axes X, Y and the shafts A11, A12 being perpendicular to each other and to the axis A1 of the discharge nozzle 111. The ring B1 is fixedly joined to the tubular portion 121 and the ring B2 of the tank 12N.

(18) Under these conditions, the external wall 12b and therefore the tubular portion 121 and the discharge head 11 may form—by means of combined pivoting about the axes X and Y—an angle of inclination which is adapted to the curvature of the machined surface 4 and the collector 122, whilst remaining parallel with the axis A1.

(19) The sectioned view of FIG. 4 illustrates a tank 12N′ of a production variant of an example of a portable machine according to the invention. This tank 12N′ comprises, in addition to the tank 12N′ described above, an aperture 31 for injection of compressed air (arrows F3) and an air outlet aperture 32 (arrows F4). The air injected into the aperture 31 is compressed by a connected compressor (not illustrated).

(20) More specifically, the aperture 31 is arranged in the collector 122′ so that the air is directed (arrows F3) toward the air outlet aperture 32 which is located opposite the injection aperture 31, the outlet aperture 32 communicating with the waste suction pipe 5. Advantageously, the outlet aperture 32 has—parallel with the axis A1 of the nozzle 111—the shape of a funnel which is connected to the suction pipe 5 without creating turbulence.

(21) The invention is not limited to the embodiments described and illustrated. For example, the annular strip 124 of porous material may be arranged in the chamber 12 of the example illustrated in FIGS. 2a and 2b, in particular between the base plate 12S and the tank 12N.

(22) Furthermore, it is possible to integrate a virtual electromagnetic membrane in the chamber of the machine, in particular in the tubular portion, in order to fluidify the air and the waste in order to also reduce the risks of disruption of the jet of water. Such a membrane is generated by an appropriate magnetic field. Alternatively, a real membrane could also be fitted with a cut-out and a suitable porosity.

(23) The invention can be used for any energy input machine, in particular but not exclusively for portable abrasive water jet machines. Furthermore, the embodiments extend directly to machines having a plurality of concentric chambers.