THREAD ROLLING HEAD WITH ENERGY GENERATION APPARATUS

Abstract

A thread rolling head comprises at least one roller holder configured to retain rollers that are configured to form a screw thread on a workpiece. The rollers are configured to rotate in the course of the screw thread formation. The thread rolling head further comprises an energy generating apparatus integrated into the thread rolling head that is configured to generate electrical energy when the thread rolling head is operating.

Claims

1. A thread rolling head comprising: at least one roller holder configured to retain rollers that are configured to rotate to form a screw thread on a workpiece; and an energy generating apparatus integrated into the thread rolling head configured to generate electrical energy when the thread rolling head is operating.

2. The thread rolling head according to claim 1, wherein the energy generation apparatus generates electrical energy from movement of at least one component of the thread rolling head during operation of the thread rolling head.

3. The thread rolling head according to claim 2, wherein the energy generation apparatus generates electrical energy from the rotation of the rollers.

4. The thread rolling head according to claim 2, wherein the energy generation apparatus generates electrical energy by means of induction.

5. The thread rolling head according to claim 4, wherein the energy generation apparatus comprises: at least one electrical coil; and at least one magnet that is configured to rotated relative to the at least one electrical coil when the at least one component of the thread rolling head is moved during operation of the thread rolling head.

6. The thread rolling head according to claim 5, wherein the at least one component of the thread rolling head is a gear wheel configured to couple the rollers together.

7. The thread rolling head according to claim 1, wherein the thread rolling head is a tangential thread rolling head.

8. The thread rolling head according to claim 1, wherein the energy generation apparatus further comprises at least one of a piezo element, a thermal element and a vibration element.

9. The thread rolling head according to claim 1, further comprising at least one battery integrated into the thread rolling head and configured to be electrically charged by the energy generation apparatus.

10. The thread rolling head according to claim 9, further comprising at least one electrical component integrated into the thread rolling head and configured to be supplied with the electrical energy generated by the energy generation apparatus.

11. The thread rolling head according to claim 10, wherein the electrical component is at least one of a microprocessor and a sensor configured to detect data about at least one of a thread rolling head and a machining process.

12. The thread rolling head according to claim 10, wherein the at least one electrical component is configured to transmit data about at least one of the thread rolling head and a machining process to at least one of a machine controller and a mobile communications unit.

13. The thread rolling head according to claim 12, wherein the at least one electrical component is configured to be wirelessly connected to at least one of the machine controller and the mobile communications unit.

14. The thread rolling head according to claim 2, wherein the energy generation apparatus generates electrical energy from a component of the thread rolling head that is rotated with the rollers.

15. A method of generating energy with a thread rolling head, the method comprising: providing at least one roller holder configured to retain rollers; providing an energy generating apparatus integrated into the thread rolling head; rotating the rollers during operation of the thread rolling head to form a screw thread on a workpiece; and generating energy by the energy generating apparatus when the thread rolling head is in operation.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] An exemplary embodiment of the invention will be explained below on the basis of drawings. The following is shown schematically:

[0020] FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of an embodiment of a thread rolling head;

[0021] FIG. 2 illustrates an enlarged view of the embodiment of the thread rolling head shown in FIG. 1;

[0022] FIG. 3 illustrates another enlarged view of the embodiment of the thread rolling head shown in FIG. 1;

[0023] FIG. 4 illustrates a view of the embodiment of the thread rolling head shown in FIG. 1 without roller holders;

[0024] FIG. 5 illustrates a rotated view of the embodiment of the thread rolling head shown in FIG. 3;

[0025] FIG. 6 illustrates an enlarged view of the embodiment of the thread rolling head shown in FIG. 5; and

[0026] FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic representation of the function of the thread rolling.

[0027] Unless otherwise indicated, the same reference signs identify the same objects in the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0028] The thread rolling head shown in FIG. 1 is a tangential thread rolling head with a housing 10 and a clamping section 12 for clamping into a machine tool. The thread rolling head comprises two rollers 16 for forming an outer screw thread on a cylindrical workpiece 18. During the formation of the thread, the cylindrical workpiece 18 is rotated by a drive apparatus, which is not represented in greater detail, as is indicated by arrow 20. The rollers 16 have an outer contour, which forms an outer screw thread on the workpiece 18 by cold forming. Each of the rollers 16 is supported by a roller holder 22.

[0029] For illustrative purposes, the housing 10 with the clamping section 12 and the upper roller holder 22 as well as a bearing of the lower roller holder 22 are not shown in FIG. 2. It can be recognized here that an outer tooth system 26 or gear mechanism is formed on each rotary shaft 24, which co-rotates with the rotary shaft 24 when the roller 16 is rotating. Each of the tooth systems 26 is engaged with an intermediate gear 28, which in turn is engaged with a central gear 30. The central gear 30 forms a gear wheel 30. The two rollers 16 are coupled to each other by the gearing mechanism formed in this way, and so their rotational movement is synchronized.

[0030] For additional illustrative purposes, the central gear 30 is also not shown next to the diameter adjustment unit 32 in FIG. 3. Electrical coils 36 stationarily arranged on a housing section 34 which accommodates the central gear 30 can be seen here. The electrical coils 36 are retained on a semicircular mount 38 or mount. This can also be seen in FIG. 4, which shows a view of the thread rolling head without the roller holders 22 and other housing components and rotated by 180 relative to FIG. 3. In this view, it is also possible to discern that a plurality of permanent magnets 40, which are evenly distributed over the circumference, are embedded in the central gear 30 on a side opposite the electrical coils 36 and their mount 38. A rotation of the rollers 16 that is brought about by the rotatably driven workpiece 18 and thus by the gearing mechanism 26 and the intermediate gears 28 of the central gear 30 thus results in the permanent magnets 40 along the arrangement of the electrical coils 36 being rotated past them. An electric voltage is thereby induced in a conventional manner and is supplied to a battery 44, which is integrated into a receptacle 42 in the thread rolling head and can be recognized in the example shown in FIG. 5, so that the battery 44 is charged.

[0031] Also arranged in the receptacle 42 is a microprocessor 46, from which the battery 44 is powered. Additionally, a strain gauge 48 that is linked to the microprocessor 46 by electrical lines 50 can be recognized in FIG. 6. During operation, a force measurement can be made by means of the strain gauge 48, wherein the measurement results are provided to the microprocessor 46 via the electrical lines 50. The microprocessor can draw conclusions about the quality of the respective rolling process, for example, from these measured values and possibly from measured values from other sensors integrated into the thread rolling head. For example, the microprocessor 46 (CPU) can use a wireless connection, such as Bluetooth or NFC, to transmit the results of classifying the rolling process into a good process or a bad process to a machine controller, which is arranged separately from the thread rolling head, as is illustrated in FIG. 7. If a rolling process is classified as a good process, for example, then the machine controller can transmit the signal to continue production to the microprocessor 46 of the thread rolling head, as is likewise represented in FIG. 7. On the other hand, if the rolling process is classified as a bad process, the machine controller can trigger a machine stop so that the process is not continued, as is likewise shown in FIG. 7.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0032] Housing [0033] Clamping section [0034] Rollers [0035] Workpiece [0036] Arrow [0037] Roller holder [0038] Rotary shaft [0039] Outer tooth system [0040] Intermediate gear [0041] Central gear [0042] Diameter adjustment unit [0043] Housing section [0044] Electrical coils [0045] Mount [0046] Permanent magnets [0047] Receptacle [0048] Battery [0049] Microprocessor [0050] Strain gauge [0051] Electrical lines