Crimping machine

Abstract

A crimping machine includes a storage arrangement having a plurality of feeding bowls for separated contact elements. The crimping machine further includes a device for transporting the contact elements to a crimp head. At least some of the feeding bowls are designed with a common vibration driver and can be driven via a common control unit.

Claims

1. A crimping machine, comprising: a storage arrangement for separated contact elements; a device for transporting the separated contact elements to a crimp head; and a centering device for positioning a conductor end section with respect to the crimp head; wherein: the storage arrangement has three or more feeding bowls, each of the three or more feeding bowls comprising a respective separation device; the three or more feeding bowls convey, via the respective separation devices of the three or more feeding bowls, into a single, common conveyor, through which all elements are conveyed to the crimp head; the respective separation devices of the three or more feeding bowls end in a single, common conveyor section of the single common conveyor so that the elements are guided from the respective separation devices of the three or more feeding bowls to the crimp head; at least two of the three or more feeding bowls are designed with a common vibration drive and can be driven via a common control unit; and the crimping machine is configured for crimping contact elements with the conductor end section, wherein the common vibration drive is a single vibration drive shared by and operable to vibrate each of the at least two feeding bowls designed with the common vibration drive.

2. The crimping machine according to claim 1, wherein: the three or more feeding bowls are configured with the common vibration drive, such that the common vibration drive is shared by and operable to vibrate all of the three or more feeding bowls.

3. The crimping machine according to claim 1, wherein all of the three or more feeding bowls and the common vibration drive are coupled to a cover surface of a housing of the crimping machine, such that the common vibration drive is shared by and operable to vibrate all of the three or more feeding bowls.

4. The crimping machine according to claim 1, wherein the feeding bowls are arranged side by side in a horizontal plane.

5. The crimping machine according to claim 4, wherein the feeding bowls are arranged on a common pitch circle or according to a V-shaped or W-shaped pattern.

6. The crimping machine according to claim 1, wherein the feeding bowls are arranged one above another.

7. The crimping machine according to claim 6, wherein the feeding bowls are accommodated on a holder at a distance from each other.

8. The crimping machine according to claim 6, including a pivot device for swinging out at least one of the feeding bowls from a working position, wherein the pivot device is a vertical structure to which one side of the at least one feeding bowl is mounted and around which the at least one feeding bowl can be pivoted.

9. The crimping machine according to claim 1, wherein five or more feeding bowls are provided.

10. The crimping machine according to claim 1, wherein the contact elements crimped by the crimping machine are ferrules.

11. The crimping machine according to claim 1, wherein the end section of the conductor with which the contact elements are crimped by the crimping machine is a cable end.

12. The crimping machine of claim 1, wherein the feeding bowls and the common vibration drive are coupled to a plate-shaped rest surface.

13. The crimping machine according to claim 7 wherein the distance along the holder is adjustable.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The disclosure is explained in more detail below using schematic drawings. These show:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of an embodiment with feeding bowls arranged next to each other;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a variant with feeding bowls arranged in a stack;

(4) FIG. 3 shows a further development of the concept according to FIG. 2, wherein the feeding bowls are mounted such that they can be swung out;

(5) FIG. 4 shows a concrete embodiment of an arrangement with feeding bowls arranged next to each other;

(6) FIG. 5 shows a feeding bowl stack in a first version and

(7) FIG. 6 shows a feeding bowl stack in a second version;

(8) FIG. 7 shows an embodiment with feeding bowls arranged in a W shape and

(9) FIG. 8 shows a three-dimensional representation of the embodiment according to FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION

(10) FIG. 1 shows a crimping machine 1, the basic design of which is disclosed in aforementioned, post-published DE 10 2017 118 968, so that for details it is referred to the relevant explanations in there. Such a crimping machine 1 has at least one centering and guiding device 2, via which the cable ends to be processed can be fed. The contact elements to be crimped with the cable ends, preferably ferrules, are accommodated in a storage arrangement 4, which is arranged, for example, on a plate-shaped rest surface, hereinafter referred to as cover surface 6, of a housing of the crimping machine 1. The actual crimp head 3 is provided in this housing and is used to crimp the cable end to the ferrule.

(11) According to the disclosure, the storage arrangement 4 is designed with several, or example with five or more, feeding bowls 8.

(12) In the example shown in FIG. 1, the storage arrangement 4 is designed with five feeding bowls 8 arranged on a horizontal plane (in this example the rest surface/cover surface 6 of the housing), in which different types of ferrules are accommodated. The feeding bowls 8a to 8e are designed as vibration feeding bowls in the embodiment shown, to which a common vibration drive 10 is assigned according to the invention. This is only exemplarily arranged in FIG. 1the position is chosen in such a way that an optimal operational connection with the feeding bowls 8 is achieved. In the embodiment shown, the feeding bowls 8 are arranged on a common pitch circle. Alternatively, the feeding bowls 8 can also be positioned on one axis next to each other or according to a geometric pattern (see FIG. 7). However, the positioning is carried out in such a way that the outputs of the respective feeding bowls, hereinafter referred to as feeding devices, end in a common conveyor section/conveyor system, hereinafter referred to as feed 20, or are in operational connection with it, so that these fed, separated ferrules can be guided to the crimp head 3.

(13) The feeding bowls 8 can also be arranged in several offset planes, so that for example three feeding bowls 8 are arranged in a first plane and two feeding bowls 8 in a second plane, each of which is assigned a vibration drive or a common vibration drive.

(14) FIG. 2 shows a variant of the crimping machine 1 according to the disclosure, in which the feeding bowls 8a to 8e are not arranged in a horizontal plane but as a stack 12, which in turn is arranged on the cover surface 6 of the crimping machine 1. This stack 12 also has a common vibration drive 10 assigned to it, which is preferably arranged in the axis of the stack 12.

(15) For easier access to the feeding bowls 8b to 8e within the stack, they can be mounted on a central holder 14 at a distance from each other or vertically adjustable as shown in FIG. 3. The holder 14 is in turn supported by the cover surface 6, which can be designed as a comparatively solid base plate for all examples.

(16) In the example shown in FIG. 3, the feeding bowls 8b, 8c shown as an example can be swung out of the central stack position via a pivot device 16, thus simplifying loading. It is preferred if individual feeding bowls 8a to 8e can be swung out. However, basically it may also be sufficient to swing out the entire stack 12 and then load the feeding bowls 8.

(17) FIG. 4 shows a concrete design of the example as shown in FIG. 1. In this variant, four feeding bowls 8a to 8d are mounted on the plate-shaped cover surface 6 and can be vibrated via a common vibration drive 10. The separated ferrules are then led from a feeding bowl outlet to a common separation device 18 and then conveyed to the crimp head 3 via a feed 20 indicated in a dashed line. This feed 20 is shown schematically while conveying to the right (view FIG. 4). The feed direction depends on the type of crimping machine 1. For example, it can be advantageous if the feed 20 conveys from the level of the separation devices 18 downwards. The feed 20 is then common to all feeding bowls 8. Details of a feed 20 are described in the patent application DE 10 2017 102 618 published after the priority date of this applicationregarding further details, it is referred to this application of the Applicant.

(18) FIG. 5 shows a schematic stack arrangement in which five feeding bowls 8a to 8e are coaxially arranged directly above each other in the stack 12. The separation devices 18a to 18e, of which only some details are shown, are also arranged in the variant according to FIG. 5 in the axial direction of the stack 12, wherein they preferably end in the common feed (not shown).

(19) FIG. 6 shows a variant of the stack 12 in which the separation devices 18a to 18e are arranged offset to each other in the circumferential direction, so that they lie on a spiral line in the representation according to FIG. 6.

(20) FIGS. 7 and 8 show another example, where five feeding bowls 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d and 8e are arranged in a roughly W-shaped pattern (see dashed dotted line in FIG. 7). The three feeding bowls 8a, 8b, 8c are arranged side by side on a straight line 22. The other two feeding bowls 8d, 8e are arranged on a parallel straight line 24.

(21) The separation devices 18a, 18b, 18c, 18d and 18e assigned to the feeding bowls 8a to 8e are oriented towards the common feed 20, through which the respective ferrules are fed to the crimp head 3. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the feed 20 runs at least in the area of the separation devices 18a to 18d at the same parallel distance from the straight lines 22 and 24in other words, the feed 20 runs in sections approximately centrally between the two feeding bowl rows 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d, 8e.

(22) In the example according to FIGS. 7 and 8, the feeding bowls 8 are also designed as vibration feeding bowls, wherein for example all feeding bowls 8 have a common vibration drive 10, or for example the feeding bowls 8a, 8b, 8c or 8d, 8e lying on the straight lines 22, 24 each have a common vibration drive 10 (vibration conveyor).

(23) The feeding bowls 8, in particular the vibration drives 10, are driven by a control unit 26 of the crimping machine 1, which transmits control signals to the vibration drives 10/feeding bowls 8 via signal lines 28 or a bus system.

(24) A storage arrangement 4, designed according to the disclosure, enables an extremely compact design of the crimping machine 1, wherein the central control unit 26 enables automatic assembly of different cable and ferrule types.

(25) A crimping machine with a storage arrangement is disclosed, which has a plurality of feeding bowls for separated contact elements.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

(26) 1 crimping machine 2 feeding device 3 crimp head 4 storage arrangement 6 cover surface 8 feeding bowl 10 vibration drive 12 stack 14 holder 16 pivot device 18 separation device 20 feed 22 straight line 24 straight line 26 control unit 28 signal line