Endless abrasive belt for a sanding machine

Abstract

An endless abrasive belt for a sanding machine includes a flexible support structure, on an upper side of the support structure, an active layer with a binder and abrasive grains held in the binder. A transponder device is affixed to an underside of the endless abrasive belt, the transponder device including an attachment region and a flag, the attachment region being glued onto the underside by an adhesive layer, the flag being held by the attachment region and projecting laterally away from the endless abrasive belt, and a transponder including a transponder chip and an aerial for a wireless data connection with the sanding machine is arranged in the flag.

Claims

1. An endless abrasive belt (8) for a sanding machine (1), said endless abrasive belt (8) comprising: a flexible support structure (12), on an upper side (12b) of the support structure (12), an active layer (14) with a binder (16) and abrasive grains (15) held in said binder (16), wherein a transponder device (9) is affixed to an underside (12a) of the endless abrasive belt (8), said transponder device (9) comprising an attachment region (26) and a flag (28), said attachment region (26) being glued onto said underside (12a) by means of an adhesive layer (20), said flag (28) being held by said attachment region (26) and projecting laterally away from said endless abrasive belt (8), and a transponder (21) including a transponder chip (22) and an aerial (23) for a wireless data connection with said sanding machine (1) is arranged in said flag (28).

2. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 1, wherein said flag (28) is held directly by said attachment region (26).

3. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 1, wherein said attachment region (26) comprises an elongated extension, whereby said attachment region (26) exhibits a mounting angle (α) unequal to 90° in relation to a lateral edge (8c) of said endless abrasive belt (8), for creating a diagonal course of said attachment region (26) on the underside in relation to a transport direction (t).

4. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 3, wherein the mounting angle (α) lies in a range between 10° and 80°.

5. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to one claim 1, wherein said transponder chip (22) is designed as an RFID chip (22) which is followed by the aerial (23) as a planar structure.

6. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 1, wherein said transponder device (9) comprises a plastics strip (19) with an adhesive layer (20) provided on its underside (19a), said plastics strip (19) being glued onto said endless abrasive belt (8) in such a way that it creates said attachment region (26) on said endless abrasive belt (8), and said flag (28) being formed by a projecting region of said plastics strip (19).

7. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 6, wherein said plastics strip (19) is flipped over or bent inwards, for creating said flag (28), in such a way that said adhesive layer (20) comes into contact with itself.

8. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 7, wherein said plastics strip (19) is flipped over in the region of a predetermined bending line (25).

9. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 8, wherein said predetermined bending line (25) is designed to include a perforation or weakened region.

10. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 6, wherein said transponder (21), being a transponder sticker (21), is glued onto said plastics strip (19).

11. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 10, wherein said transponder (21), being a transponder sticker (21), is glued onto a non-adhesive upper side (19b) of said plastics strip (19).

12. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to one claim 1, wherein on said transponder chip (22) one or more of the following data are stored and can be read out by the detector (10): grain size of the endless abrasive belt (8), shipment date, series, contact pressure, pressure force (F), time of operation, distance of operation, running velocity of the endless abrasive belt (8).

13. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 12, wherein said detector (10) can also write data, in particular, data related to wear, onto said transponder chip (22).

14. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 13, wherein said detector (10) can also write data related to time of operation and/or distance of operation and or a wear-related index onto said transponder chip (22).

15. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 14 wherein said index is formed as a function of the time of operation and the pressure force during the time of operation.

16. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 1, wherein said support structure (12) is made of paper material or of textile material, e.g. fabric or fleece.

17. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 1, wherein said underside (12a) of the endless abrasive belt (8) is formed by the underside (12a) of said support structure (12) and said transponder device (9) is attached to said underside (12a) of said support structure (12).

18. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 1, wherein said transponder (21) lies completely laterally outside said support structure (12) and said active layer (14).

19. The endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 18, wherein said transponder (21) lies in parallel alignment to said support structure (12).

20. A sanding machine (1) comprising: a grinding cylinder (3), a tension roller (4), a controller device (6), an input and output unit (7), the endless abrasive belt (8) according to claim 1 which is clamped between said tension roller (4) and said grinding cylinder (3), a drive (5) for driving said grinding cylinder (3) and/or of said endless abrasive belt (8), and a detector (10), sending out wireless query signals, in particular, RFID query signals (R1) to said transponder device (9) of said endless abrasive belt (8) and receiving wireless response signals (R2) transmitted by said transponder device (9) and, as a function of said response signals (R2), putting out detection signals (S1) to said controller device (6).

21. The sanding machine (1) according to claim 20, wherein said controller device (6) derives stored process parameters of said transponder device (9) from said detection signals (S1) and checks, by means of said process parameters, the drive (5), in particular, a pressure force (F) and/or belt velocity (v), and, as a function of the check, puts out a messaging signal or error signal (S2) to said input and output device (7) to inform the user.

22. The sanding machine (1) according to claim 21, wherein said controller device (6) checks a pressure force (F) and/or belt velocity (v) by means of said process parameters.

23. The sanding machine (1) according to claim 20, wherein it comprises a writable and readable memory (6a) for storing wear-dependent data of one or more endless abrasive belt(s) (8), in particular, including data sets containing an unambiguous identification number of said endless abrasive belt(s) (8).

Description

(1) The invention is further illustrated in the following by means of a few embodiment examples by means of the attached drawings. These show in:

(2) FIG. 1 a sanding machine including an endless abrasive belt according to an embodiment of the invention when processing a work piece;

(3) FIG. 2 a top view on the endless abrasive belt in the area of the transponder, with enlarged details;

(4) FIG. 3 a section through the endless abrasive belt according to an embodiment;

(5) FIG. 4 the steps a), b) of the embodiment of the transponder device when using an adhesive sheet.

(6) FIG. 1 shows a sanding machine 1 when processing a work piece 2, which may be e.g. a metal pipe or metal section sein and is conveyed in a transport direction t. The sanding machine 1 comprises a grinding cylinder 3, a tension roller 4, a drive (motor) 5 for driving the grinding cylinder 3 at a belt velocity v, and further a controller device 6 and an input and output unit 7 auf, e.g. including a monitor and keyboard. Furthermore, an endless abrasive belt 8 is clamped between the tension roller 4 and the grinding cylinder 3, and attached to said abrasive belt is a transponder device 9 detected by a detector 10 connected to the controller device 6. To that end, the detector 10 emits RFID query signals R1 which are received by the transponder device 9 which uses them to create and output RFID response signals R2.

(7) The grinding cylinder 3 is pressed against the surface 2a of the work piece 2 at a pressure force F or, respectively, a contact pressure, such that the endless abrasive belt 8 acts on the upper side 2a of the work piece 2 appropriately. The sanding machine 1 may comprise, in particular, further details, e.g. an oscillation adjustment of the endless abrasive belt 8 in the perpendicular direction by means of a corresponding actuator device, as well as an edge recognition or edge control respectively, but such is not shown here in detail. Also, e.g. the endless abrasive belt 8 may be guided sliding across a shoe or another pressing device.

(8) As can be seen in FIG. 3, the endless abrasive belt 8 comprises a support structure 12 which can be designed e.g. as a fabric, fleece or even paper material. On the support structure 12 the active layer 14 is formed which may comprise, in particular, abrasive grains 15 in a synthetic resin 16. In addition, between the support structure 12 and the active layer 14 an additional adhesive layer—not shown here—may be provided. The abrasive grains 15 may be designed e.g. fully ceramic on the basis of alumina or, alternatively, on the basis of zirconia alumina. In a manner not shown here, the endless abrasive belt 8—as it is customary as such—is formed by e.g. a joint edge at the ends of an abrasive belt or, alternatively, with an overlap to create the endless abrasive belt 8.

(9) The transponder device 9 is affixed on a back side 12a of the support structure 12, i.e., thus, the back side of the endless abrasive belt 8. The transponder device 9 comprises an adhesive strip 18 auf, designed as a plastics sheet or, respectively, plastics strip 19 including an adhesive layer 20 at its underside 19a and a non-adhesive upper side 19b. Preferably, a transponder 21 as an RFID sticker including an RFID chip 22 and aerial 23 is glued flatly onto the non-adhesive upper side 19b.

(10) In accordance with FIG. 4, for manufacturing the transponder device 9, the plastics strip 19 is reversibly glued, using its adhesive layer 20 on the underside 19a, onto a support, e.g. a substrate for adhesive strips, and the transponder 21 as RFID sticker is glued onto the upper side 19b. Thus, e.g., a multiplicity of such transponder devices 9 is made available on a roll. In order to attach it to the endless abrasive belt 8 always one transponder device 9 is drawn off the substrate and, in accordance with FIG. 4a, folded along a folding line (predetermined bending line) 25 in such a way that an upper part of the plastics strip 19 including the RFID sticker 21 is folded inwards, whereby the adhesive layer 20 comes into contact with itself. Thus, according to FIG. 4b, the transponder device 9 is subsequently formed including a remaining attachment region 26 at the underside of which the adhesive layer 20 is still present, and a flag 28 formed by folding the upper region inwards inside of which Transponder 21 including the RFID chip 22 and the aerial 23 is housed, whereby the flag 28 is non-adhesive and somewhat more rigid by the folding.

(11) Then, the attachment region 26 of the so formed transponder device 9 is glued onto the underside 12a of the support structure 12, i.e. the underside of the endless abrasive belt 8, in such a way that it, advantageously, is mounted not perpendicular or, respectively, at a mounting angle α in relation to the edge line, whereby α≠90°, e.g. α=10° to 80°. Thus the attachment region 26 runs at an angle in relation to the running direction or, respectively, transport direction t of the endless abrasive belt 8. The flag 28 is positioned outside of the endless abrasive belt 8, i.e. the flag 28 protrudes laterally.

(12) Thus, in operation of the sanding machine 1, the endless abrasive belt 8 is pressed by the tension roller 4 and the grinding cylinder 3 against the upper side 2a of the work piece 2 to be processed, whereby, correspondingly, the back side 12a the support structure 12 comes into contact with the cylinders 3, 4. Thus, the attachment region 26, too, comes into contact with the cylinders 3, 4, whereby, owing to its angular attachment on the cylinders, provides relatively low resistance and, in particular, no jerking action during sanding. Die flag 28 including the transponder 21, i.e. the RFID chip 22 and the aerial 23, protrudes laterally and is, therefore, not clamped. In particular, the transponder 21 is not mechanically stressed between the grinding cylinder 3 and the work piece 2.

(13) The detector 10 may be positioned next to the endless abrasive belt 8, i. h. one of the strands. However, because the RFID technology, also allows for larger detection distances here, the detector 10 may be positioned also at a larger distance from the endless abrasive belt 8. The detector 10 correspondingly reads out the RFID transponder 21 contactless by putting out the RFID query signals R1 and receiving the RFID response signals R2, whereby the RFID-Transponder 21 correspondingly functions as a passive transponder. Subsequently, the detector 10 puts out a detection signal S1 to the controller device 6, which in turn correspondingly triggers the drive 5 for the grinding cylinder 3. The user can check the data stored on the RFID chip 22 at any time via the input and output device 7. Moreover, the controller device 6 can also put out warning signals S2 to the input and output device 7 if the settings stored on the RFID chip 22 do not match the working parameters set via the controller device 6 such as pressure force F, belt velocity v etc., or if, generally, a non-matching endless abrasive belt 8 is in use.

(14) In a further development it is possible via the detector 10 to write onto the RFID chip 22, using an appropriate RFID chip 22 and an active writing detector 10. Hereby, it is possible, in particular, to store data relating to wear, e.g. the time of operation and/or distance of operation, and/or an evaluation index created e.g. from the time of operation and a pressure force and evaluating the previous wear.

(15) Furthermore, it is also possible to store data relating to wear, e.g. the time of operation and/or distance of operation, together with an identification number of the endless abrasive belt 8, in the machine tool 1, e.g. a memory 6a, provided internally or externally of the controller device 6, whereby the memory 6a may also be combined with the input and output device 7.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

(16) 1 sanding machine 2 work piece 3 grinding cylinder 4 tension roller 5 drive 6 controller device 6a memory, in particular, for writing and reading 7 input and output device 8 endless abrasive belt 9 transponder device 10 detector 12 support structure, e.g. fabric 12a underside of the support structure 12 12b upper side of the support structure 12 14 active layer of the endless abrasive belt 8 15 abrasive grain 16 binder, synthetic resin 18 adhesive strip 19 plastics strip 19a underside 19b upper side, non-adhesive 20 adhesive layer 21 RFID sticker 22 RFID chip 23 aerial 25 predetermined bending line 26 attachment region 28 flag t transport direction F contact pressure force v belt velocity R1 RFID query signals R2 RFID response signals S1 detection signal S2 warning signal α mounting angle