METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE ROTARY DRIVE OF A HOT FORMING MACHINE

Abstract

A method for controlling a rotary drive of a hot forming machine having a plurality of processing stations arranged in a circular manner and a rotary table arranged thereabove, in which glass tubes to be processed are held and moved from one processing station to the next by a stepwise rotary movement, is provided. The rotary table is driven by a step gear by which a movement of a drive shaft is translated into a cyclic step movement, a step cycle of which comprises a movement phase and a subsequent standstill phase. A first value for the angular velocity of the drive shaft is assumed at a first time in the movement phase of the step cycle and a second value different from the first value is assumed at a second time in the standstill phase of the same step cycle.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a rotary drive of a hot forming machine having a plurality of processing stations arranged in a circular manner and a rotary table arranged thereabove, in which glass tubes to be processed are held and moved from one processing station to the next by a stepwise rotary movement, the method comprising: driving the rotary table with a step gear by which a movement of a drive shaft is translated into a cyclic step movement, a step cycle of which comprises a movement phase and a subsequent standstill phase, an angular velocity of the drive shaft assuming a first value at a first time in the movement phase of the step cycle and assuming a second value different from the first value at a second time in the standstill phase of the same step cycle.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first value is higher than the second value.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the angular velocity is constant during the movement phase.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein a maximum angular acceleration of the rotary table in the movement phase is determined on the basis of a mechanical load capacity, and the angular velocity during the movement phase is selected such that this maximum angular acceleration is at least one of essentially reached or not exceeded.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the angular velocity is constant during a time span within the standstill phase.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the time span comprises more than 60% of the standstill phase.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein a maximum angular acceleration of the drive shaft is determined on the basis of a mechanical load capacity, and the change in the angular velocity during the standstill phase outside the time span is selected such that this maximum angular acceleration is at least one of essentially reached or not exceeded.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of step cycles immediately follow one another, an angular velocity curve of each step cycle being identical.

9. A control unit for a rotary drive of a hot forming machine having a plurality of processing stations arranged in a circular manner and a rotary table arranged thereabove, in which glass tubes to be processed are held and movable from one processing station to the next by a stepwise rotary movement, the rotary table being connected on a drive side to a step gear which translates a movement of a drive shaft into a cyclic step movement, a step cycle of which comprises a movement phase and a subsequent standstill phase, the control unit being adapted to drive the drive shaft of the step gear with a variable angular velocity in such a manner that the angular velocity of the drive shaft assumes a first value at a first time in the movement phase of the step cycle and assumes a second value different from the first value at a second time in the standstill phase of the same step cycle.

10. The control unit according to claim 9, wherein the first value is higher than the second value.

11. The control unit according to claim 9, wherein the angular velocity is constant during the movement phase.

12. The control unit according to claim 9, wherein the angular velocity is constant during a time span within the standstill phase.

13. The control unit according to claim 12, wherein the time span comprises more than 60% of the standstill phase.

14. The control unit according to claim 9, wherein a plurality of step cycles immediately follow one another, an angular velocity curve of each step cycle being identical.

15. A drive unit for a hot forming machine having a plurality of processing stations arranged in a circular manner and a rotary table arranged thereabove, in which glass tubes to be processed are held and movable from one processing station to the next by a stepwise rotary movement, the rotary table being connected on a drive side to a step gear which translates a movement of a drive shaft into a cyclic step movement, a step cycle of which comprises a movement phase and a subsequent standstill phase, the drive unit comprising: a drive motor adapted to drive the drive shaft at a variable, predeterminable angular velocity; and a control unit adapted to drive the drive shaft in such a manner that the angular velocity of the drive shaft assumes a first value at a first time in the movement phase of the step cycle and assumes a second value different from the first value at a second time in the standstill phase of the same step cycle.

16. The drive unit according to claim 15, wherein the drive motor is designed as a synchronous motor.

17. The drive unit according to claim 15, wherein the step gear is designed as a cylinder cam gear.

18. A hot forming machine, comprising: a plurality of processing stations arranged in a circular manner and a rotary table arranged thereabove, in which glass tubes to be processed are held and movable from one processing station to the next by a stepwise rotary movement; and a drive unit comprising: a drive motor adapted to drive a drive shaft at a variable, predeterminable angular velocity; and a control unit adapted to drive the drive shaft in such a manner that the angular velocity of the drive shaft assumes a first value at a first time in the movement phase of the step cycle and assumes a second value different from the first value at a second time in the standstill phase of the same step cycle.

19. A method for retrofitting a hot-forming machine with a plurality of processing stations arranged in a circular manner and a rotary table arranged thereabove, in which glass tubes to be processed are held and movable from one processing station to the next by a stepwise rotary movement, the rotary table being connected on a drive side to a step gear which translates a movement of a drive shaft into a cyclic step movement, a step cycle of which comprises a movement phase and a subsequent standstill phase, the method comprising: retrofitting a control unit in the hot forming machine, the control unit being adapted to drive the drive shaft in such a manner that the angular velocity of the drive shaft assumes a first value at a first time in the movement phase of the step cycle and assumes a second value different from the first value at a second time in the standstill phase of the same step cycle.

20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising retrofitting a drive motor for driving the drive shaft with a variable, predeterminable angular speed in the hot forming machine.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the drive motor is designed as a synchronous motor.

22. A method for controlling a rotary drive of a machine comprising a rotary table, the method comprising: driving the rotary table with a step gear by which a movement of a drive shaft is translated into a cyclic step movement, a step cycle of which comprises a movement phase and a subsequent standstill phase, an angular velocity of the drive shaft, during the standstill phase, assuming a first value and a second value that differs from the first value.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the first value is higher than the second value.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the first value is equal to an angular velocity of the drive shaft during the movement phase.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] The above-mentioned and other features and advantages of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the invention will be better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0027] FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of parts of an exemplary embodiment of a hot forming machine;

[0028] FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic side view of parts of the hot forming machine of FIG. 1;

[0029] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates the construction of a cylinder cam gear;

[0030] FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic sketch of a drive unit for a hot forming machine with a synchronous motor;

[0031] FIG. 5 illustrates a graph showing the step position of a column of the hot forming machine against the angular position of the drive shaft of the cylinder cam gear according to the prior art;

[0032] FIG. 6 illustrates a graph showing the angular velocity of the drive shaft against the angular position of the drive shaft;

[0033] FIG. 7 illustrates a graph showing the step position of a column of the hot forming machine against the angular position of the drive shaft of the cylinder cam gear with variable angular speed; and

[0034] FIG. 8 illustrates a graph showing the step position of a column of the hot forming machine against the angular position of the drive shaft of the cylinder cam gear with variable angular speed over several step cycles.

[0035] Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. The exemplifications set out herein illustrate embodiments of the invention and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0036] FIGS. 1 and 2 show in a schematic view and side view the basic structure of a hot forming machine 1 used for the production of pharmaceutical primary packaging made of glass from a glass tube 2, which is fed vertically aligned from above. The glass containers to be manufactured, such as vials, cartridges or syringes, are used for the storage and/or administration of pharmaceutical active ingredients. The hot forming machine 1 comprises a so-called mother machine 10, which serves in particular for hot forming of the supplied glass tube 2 at the later bottom or an end opposite to the open end of the glass container, in particular for forming a neck with a neck opening.

[0037] Glass tubes 2 are fed at feed position 15 from a rotary table which is not shown in detail. They fall down by opening a holding device in the rotary table, are caught by a pipe catcher and are then held in holding chucks 3 at a suitable machining height, which are distributed over the circumference of a rotary table 12. The rotary table 12 is designed in the form of a rotary table with chucks 3 and is fixed to the assigned column 11 and mounted on a step gear 42, which is illustrated in more detail in FIG. 2. The rotary table 12 and the column 11 are rotated and swiveled step by step around the axis of column 11, as described in more detail below. The glass tubes 2 held on the chucks 3 are guided step by step past gas burners 17 and various processing stations 20-23, at which the processing and hot forming of the glass containers takes place during a respective standstill time.

[0038] After passing through the processing stations 20-23, the glass containers are inspected in a non-tactile manner at least in the area of the neck and neck opening with the aid of an inspection system 30 and their properties are documented. The inspection system 30 can, for example, be a video camera with image evaluation software, with which geometrical dimensions of the glass containers are evaluated on the basis of the images recorded by the video camera, for example the geometrical dimensions in the case of vials. Finally, the glass containers are transferred at position 16 to a downstream processing machine 32, which is only shown in FIG. 2. In the same way, the downstream processing machine has a column 34 with which the upper ring is firmly connected and on which the step gear 46, which is also described in more detail for FIG. 2, is rotatably mounted as described for the first machine 10.

[0039] The drive unit of both machines 10, 32 is also shown in FIG. 2. In the exemplary embodiment it comprises a drive motor 38 with a reduction gear 40 and a powerful step gear 42, on which the column 11 of the mother machine 10 is directly mounted. The reduction gear 40 and the drive motor 38 are mounted below a working plane (table top) 44. The processing stations 20-23 and heat sources for forming described above are mounted on the table top 44. The movements of the columns 11, 34 are synchronized to realize the transfer from the mother machine 10 to the downstream processing machine 32 described above. For this purpose, a second step gear 46 is provided below the column 34, which is fixed to the reduction gear 40 by a cardan shaft 48.

[0040] In the production run described above, the drive motor 38 drives the step-shift gearboxes 42, 46 via the reduction gear 40. In the prior art, this is done at a constant speed. The curve of the step gears 42, 46, which are designed as cylinder cam gears, translate the constant input speed in the prior art into a swivel from one working position of the rotary table 12 to the next, as described above. The rotary table 12 stands still between two swivels and this standstill is used for the individual steps of forming the glass tube 2.

[0041] The basic design of the step gearboxes 42, 46 is shown in FIG. 3. The cam contour 50 of the step gear 42, 46, which is designed as a cylinder cam gear, is worked into the cylindrical surface 51 of the drive shaft 52 and is transferred via cam rollers 53 to the output shaft 54, which is connected to the respective column 11, 34. One revolution of the drive shaft 52 represents one step cycle (from one working position to the next). At a constant drive speed, there is a fixed ratio between the standstill phase at the working position and the swivel movement phase, which is determined by the shape of the curve contour 50. In prior art technology, the curves of step gears for hot forming machines are designed in such a way that the swivel range 55 is between approx. 90-105 (transfer angle) and the remaining 255-270 are required for the standstill range 56 (machining angle).

[0042] In this context, the problem arises that glass tubes 2 with a larger diameter require a longer processing time, which also extends the (unproductive) swivel time.

[0043] To solve this problem, the ratio between movement phase and standstill phase is changed with the aim of producing more products per minute, as explained below. The ratio is changed by changing the speed during each step cycle in order to cause movement at a different speed through the swivel range 55 of the curve contour 50 than through the standstill range 56. This requires, on the one hand, a changed control system and, on the other hand, a synchronous motor (servo motor) instead of the asynchronous motor, as described below.

[0044] FIG. 4 shows the modified drive unit 58 for the columns 11, 34 of a vertically aligned hot forming machine 1 as described in FIGS. 1 and 2. This initially comprises a synchronous motor 60 instead of the previous asynchronous motor. The synchronous motor 60 is controlled by a servocontroller 61. Depending on the design of the reduction gear 40 used so far and the desired speed changes to increase performance, a more powerful reduction gear 62 may have to be used under certain circumstances (design required). The reduction gear 62 then drives the step gear 42 of the mother machine 10, which has been retained unchanged. The remaining mechanical part of the drive unit 58 is also retained as described above.

[0045] At the other end of the continuous drive shaft 52 of the step gear 42, the drive power is transferred by the cardan shaft 48 to a second step gear 46 for the downstream processing machine 32. The cardan shaft 48 allows a height adjustment of the second column 34 in order to change the product length. An encoder 68 allows position determination and a control loop to be set up with the servocontroller 61 of the synchronous motor 60. By the servocontroller 61, the speed of the synchronous motor 60 is changed within each step cycle, controlled by an unspecified control unit. In the exemplary embodiment, one step cycle corresponds to one full rotation(360) of the input shaft 52 of the step gear 42, 46 and results in a swiveling from working position to working position of the rim on the output side of the step gearbox 42, 46.

[0046] The principle relationship between the position of the respective column 11, 34 against the angular position of the drive shaft 52 is shown in the diagram according to FIG. 5, which shows the latter against the former. The abscissa axis shows the angular position of the drive shaft 52 of the step gear 42, 46, the ordinate axis shows the position of column 11, 34 in units of machining stations (n). Between 0 and 90 of the drive shaft 52 the column 11, 34 moves in such a way that the glass tube 2 is moved from position n to position n+1. This corresponds to one movement phase 72. From 90 to 360 (=0) the standstill phase 74 continues, there is no movement at column 11, 34. Movement phase 72 and standstill phase 74 form a step cycle 76. Step cycle 76 then starts again identically from the beginning.

[0047] Over each step cycle 76, the angular speed or speed of the drive shaft 52 is now changed by the described control as shown in FIG. 6. This shows the angular velocity of the drive shaft 52 against the angular position of the drive shaft 52. Since the speed should not be changed during the movement phase 72 in order not to overload the cam rollers 53 or not to exceed the maximum surface pressure on the cam contour 50, the speed is only changed during the standstill phase 74. The movement phase 72 is always traversed with a value 78, which is as close as possible to the mechanically maximum possible value for the angular velocity, i.e. as close as possible to 80, 90 or even more percent of this maximum possible value. The speed during the standstill phase 74 can be selected almost freely, because the curve contour 50 is not loaded, but only the reduction gear 62. In order not to have to change the process on hot forming machine 1, the same standstill time (machining time) as for the prior art will have to be maintained for an optimization of a product.

[0048] To achieve this, the cycle is repeated as follows: Immediately after the movement phase 72 with maximum speed at the first value 78, the angular velocity is reduced to a value 80, which is lower than in the prior art process with asynchronous motor. The angular velocity remains at this value 80 for a period of time that constitutes more than 80% of the standstill phase 74. Shortly before reaching the next swivel, the angular velocity is raised again to the previous value 78. Acceleration and deceleration take place with the highest possible angular acceleration, which the reduction gear 40, 62 permits as maximum load. This maximum acceleration is calculated on the basis of the permissible torque for the gearbox. Alternatively or additionally, the condition is that the time to reduce the speed plus the time at constant speed plus the time to accelerate the speed is identical overall to the time which, in the prior art, was the time at constant speed in the standstill phase 74. For use with conventional clock rates, the optimization results in a yield increase potential of up to 20%, depending on the product.

[0049] The described change of the angular speed of the drive shaft 52 of the step gearbox 42, 46 results in a changed swivel movement of the column 11, 34, which is shown in FIG. 7. FIG. 7 is a graphic which shows identical quantities as in FIG. 5 against each other. The curve from FIG. 5 is shown dashed. The continuous curve now shows the change with variable angular speed according to FIG. 6: with the same standstill phase 74 and shortened movement phase 72 for swiveling from one position to the next 70, the duration of the step cycle is shortened by an amount 82. The invention makes it possible to swivel at any selected time for the standstill phase 74 (cycle rate) with the minimum or a selectable movement phase 72. Thus the ratio between movement phase 72 and standstill phase 74 becomes variable and is no longer fixed as with the prior art.

[0050] The shortened transfer time means that more swivels can be made from position to position per time unit as with the prior art. The concept described here shows a good motion characteristic and no disadvantages for the product when tested on a converted machine up to cycle 44 (44 swivels per minute=products per minute). The reduced swivel time leads to a higher number of end products per minute. For example, in prior art technology with a machine cycle of 20 products per minute, the invention with the same processing time can result in 23.2 pieces per minute, which corresponds to a production increase of 16%. With faster clock rates, the effect becomes smaller; for example, an improvement to 40.8 can be achieved with clock 40, but this still corresponds to an increase of 2%.

[0051] While this invention has been described with respect to at least one embodiment, the present invention can be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains and which fall within the limits of the appended claims.

REFERENCE SIGN LIST

[0052] 1 Hot forming machine [0053] 2 Glass tube or semi-finished intermediate product [0054] 3 Holding chuck [0055] 10 Mother machine [0056] 11 Pillar [0057] 12 Rotary table [0058] 15 Feed section [0059] 16 Transfer section [0060] 17 Gas burner [0061] 18 Burner flame [0062] 20, 21, 22, [0063] 23 Processing station [0064] 30 Non-tactile inspection system, e.g. video camera [0065] 32 Machine [0066] 34 Pillar [0067] 36 Drive unit [0068] 38 Drive motor [0069] 40 Ratio reducer [0070] 42 Step gear [0071] 44 Working level [0072] 46 Step gear [0073] 48 Cardan shaft [0074] 50 Curve contour [0075] 51 Surface area [0076] 52 Drive shaft [0077] 53 Curve roller [0078] 54 Output shaft [0079] 55 Swivel range [0080] 56 Standstill range [0081] 58 Drive unit [0082] 60 Synchronous motor [0083] 61 Servo controller [0084] 62 Speed reducer [0085] 68 Encoder [0086] 70 Movement by one position n [0087] 72 Movement phase [0088] 74 Standstill phase [0089] 76 Step cycle [0090] 78, 80 Value for angular velocity [0091] 82 Amount of time reduction