GEAR PUMP EXTRUDING MACHINE

Abstract

A gear pump extruding machine for extruding a rubber material includes a screw feeder, a gear pump provided on an outlet side of the screw feeder, and a die disposed on an outlet side of the gear pump. The gear pump extruding machine further includes protrusive members that are movable forward and rearward to protrude into a fluid communication channel that keeps the screw feeder and the gear pump in fluid communication with each other, to thereby change the volume of the fluid communication channel. An actuator is provided for moving the protrusive members to protrude into the fluid communication channel, and is controlled by a controller. When the volume of the fluid communication channel is changed, the rate at which the rubber material is extruded is adjusted to prevent the rubber material from being warmed excessively at all times.

Claims

1. A gear pump extruding machine for extruding a viscous material, having a screw feeder including a tubular casing and a screw disposed in the tubular casing, for supplying the viscous material while kneading same upon rotation of the screw, a gear pump including a pair of gears provided on an outlet side of said screw feeder with a fluid communication channel interposed therebetween, for delivering the viscous material with the gears, and a die disposed on an outlet side of said gear pump, for molding and discharging the viscous material, said gear pump extruding machine comprising: protrusive members movable forward and rearward to protrude into said fluid communication channel which keeps said screw feeder and said gear pump in fluid communication with each other, to thereby change said fluid communication channel in volume; an actuator for moving said protrusive members forward and rearward in said fluid communication channel; and a controller for controlling said actuator, wherein said controller is operable to control said actuator to move said protrusive members forward and rearward to thereby change the volume of said fluid communication channel in order to set the pressure in said fluid communication channel to a predetermined pressure depending on the rate at which said viscous material is extruded.

2. The gear pump extruding machine according to claim 1, wherein said protrusive members include a plurality of rod-shaped members extending inward from outside through an outer peripheral wall that defines said fluid communication channel therein and protruding into said fluid communication channel.

3. The gear pump extruding machine according to claim 2, wherein said rod-shaped members are cylindrical in shape.

4. The gear pump extruding machine according to claim 3, wherein said rod-shaped members are disposed in circumferentially equally spaced positions around said fluid communication channel in said outer peripheral wall.

5. The gear pump extruding machine according to claim 3, wherein: said rod-shaped members are small-diameter slender pins; said pins are arrayed parallel to each other and arranged in a plurality of pin groups, said pin groups being disposed in circumferentially equally spaced positions around said fluid communication channel in said outer peripheral wall defining said fluid communication channel therein; and said actuator is provided in combination with each of said pin groups for actuating the pins of each of the pin groups in unison with each other.

6. The gear pump extruding machine according to claim 2, wherein said outer peripheral wall defining said fluid communication channel therein is disposed between said screw feeder and said gear pump, and said actuator for moving said protrusive member forward and rearward in said fluid communication channel is disposed outwardly of said outer peripheral wall.

7. The gear pump extruding machine according to claim 5, wherein said protrusive members include a first pair of pin groups facing each other in a diametrical direction across said fluid communication channel and a second pair of pin groups facing each other in another diametrical direction across said fluid communication channel, and said controller includes a system for limiting the distances by which the second pair of pin groups move forward and protrude so as not to obstruct the first pair of pin groups as the first pair of pin groups move forward and protrude.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a gear pump extruding machine according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the gear pump extruding machine, taken along line II-II of FIG. 1;

[0029] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the gear pump extruding machine in another state;

[0030] FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating changes in pressure in a fluid communication channel with respect to changes in volume of the fluid communication channel; and

[0031] FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating changes in extrusion efficiency of a gear pump with respect to changes in volume of the fluid communication channel.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0032] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0033] A gear pump extruding machine 1 according to the present embodiment serves to extrusion-mold a ribbon strip in the form of a narrow web for manufacturing a tire component.

[0034] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the entirety of the gear pump extruding machine 1, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the gear pump extruding machine taken along line II-II of FIG. 1.

[0035] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the gear pump extruding machine 1 includes a screw feeder 10, a gear pump 20, and a die 30 that are successively arranged in the direction along which a rubber material as a viscous material flows.

[0036] The screw feeder 10 supplies the rubber material to the gear pump 20 while kneading the same in an elongate tubular casing 11 upon rotation of an elongate screw 12 therein. The tubular casing 11 of the screw feeder 10 has a hopper 11h provided on an upstream side thereof, through which the rubber material as the viscous material is introduced into the tubular casing 11.

[0037] The gear pump 20 includes a pair of upper and lower gears 22a and 22b held in mesh with each other and fitted in a gear pump case 21. The gear pump 20 has an inlet side facing the outlet side of the screw feeder 10. When the pair of upper and lower gears 22a and 22b rotate in respective opposite directions, their gear teeth bite and feed the rubber material supplied from the screw feeder 10 at a constant rate along upper and lower inner peripheral surfaces of the gear pump case 21, and send the rubber material at a constant rate to the die 30 that is provided on the outlet side of the gear pump 20.

[0038] The die 30 provided on the outlet side of the gear pump 20 serves to mold the rubber material sent at the constant rate from the gear pump 20 into a predetermined cross-sectional shape and discharge the molded rubber material.

[0039] An extruded product extruded and discharged from the die 30 of the gear pump extruding machine is extruded as a ribbon strip in the form of a narrow web.

[0040] The gear pump extruding machine 1 includes an outer peripheral wall 15 in the shape of a square outer wall (see FIG. 2) defining therein part of a fluid communication channel S (space illustrated stippled in FIG. 1) that keeps the screw feeder 10 and the gear pump 20 in fluid communication with each other. The outer peripheral wall 15 has an inner peripheral surface that defines a hole with a conical inner surface 15t that is slightly tapered toward the gear pump 20. The outer peripheral wall 15 is a member separate from the screw feeder 10 and the gear pump 20.

[0041] As illustrated in FIG. 2, pin groups G, each including an array of parallel slender pins p as small-diameter cylindrical protrusive members, are supported individually on upper, lower, left, and right portions of the square outer wall of the outer peripheral wall 15, and extend inward from respective outer surfaces of the square outer wall through the conical inner surface 15t and protrude into the fluid communication channel S. In the illustrated embodiment, the pin groups G include a pair of vertical pin groups G that face each other vertically and a pair of lateral pin groups G that face each other horizontally.

[0042] The pins p of each of the pin groups G have proximal ends protruding outward of the outer peripheral wall 15 and embedded in a common slider 41 for movement in unison with each other. The slider 41 is slidingly translated in a rectangular tubular body 42 for moving the pins p of each of the pin groups G altogether forward and rearward in the fluid communication channel S.

[0043] The pins p moving with their proximal ends embedded in the sliders 41 are provided as mechanisms of the respective pin groups G that are disposed at four circumferentially equally spaced positions around the fluid communication channel S, so that the sliders 41 are slidable radially of the fluid communication channel S in respective upward, downward, leftward, and rightward directions. The sliders 41 are fixed to the distal ends of respective piston rods 45r of hydraulic cylinders 45 (FIG. 1). When the hydraulic cylinders 45 are actuated, their piston rods 45r move the sliders 41 slidingly din the radial directions.

[0044] Therefore, when the sliders 41 are slid in the radial directions by the actuated hydraulic cylinders 45, the pins p whose proximal ends are embedded in the sliders 41 are moved back and forth in the fluid communication channel S.

[0045] The distance by which the pins p of the pin groups G protrude into the fluid communication channel S can be changed by controlling the hydraulic cylinders 45 in operation to control the back-and-forth movement of a cylinder rod 35r.

[0046] When the pins p move forward to protrude into the fluid communication channel S, the volume V of the fluid communication channel S is reduced by the distance by which the pins p move forward to protrude into the fluid communication channel S. Therefore, when the pins p of the four pin groups G protrude into the fluid communication channel S, the volume V of the fluid communication channel S is reduced by the total of the distances by which the pins p of the pin groups G move forward to protrude into the fluid communication channel S. In other words, the volume V of the fluid communication channel S is changed by the distances by which the pins p of the four pin groups G move forward to protrude into the fluid communication channel S.

[0047] Providing the volume V of the fluid communication channel S is constant, if the gear pump extruding machine 1 is in steady operation, making the rotational speed of the screw 12 of the screw feeder 10 constant and also making the rotational speed of the gears 22a and 22b of the gear pump 20 constant, then the pressure in the fluid communication channel S through which the rubber material flows is of a value determined by the quality of the rubber material.

[0048] If the distances by which the pins p of the four pin groups G protrude into the fluid communication channel S are changed when the gear pump extruding machine 1 is in steady operation, to thus change the volume V of the fluid communication channel S, the pressure in the fluid communication channel S is also changed.

[0049] FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating changes in the pressure Ps in the fluid communication channel S with a rubber material of certain quality flowing therethrough, when the distances by which the pins p protrude into the fluid communication channel S are changed to vary the volume V of the fluid communication channel S, while the screw 12 of the screw feeder 10 and the gears 22a and 22b of the gear pump 20 are rotating at respective predetermined rotational speeds.

[0050] The graph has a horizontal axis representing the volume V (cm.sup.3) of the fluid communication channel S and a vertical axis the pressure Ps (MPa) in the fluid communication channel S. As the distances by which the pins p protrude into the fluid communication channel S increase, the volume V of the fluid communication channel S represented by the horizontal axis decreases, and as the volume V of the fluid communication channel S decreases, the pressure Ps in the fluid communication channel S increases as illustrated in FIG. 4.

[0051] Since the pressure in the fluid communication channel S is the same as the pressure on the inlet side of the gear pump 20, the pressure on the inlet side of the gear pump 20 is changed by controlling the distances by which the pins p protrude into the fluid communication channel S to change the volume V of the fluid communication channel S, thereby changing the gear pump extrusion efficiency Ep to adjust the rate at which the rubber material is extruded from the die 30 of the gear pump extruding machine 1.

[0052] FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating changes in the gear pump extrusion efficiency Ep (%) at the time the volume V (cm.sup.3) of the fluid communication channel S is changed. The graph has a horizontal axis representing the volume V of the fluid communication channel S and a vertical axis the gear pump extrusion efficiency Ep.

[0053] As the distances by which the pins p protrude into the fluid communication channel S increase and the volume V of the fluid communication channel S decreases, the pressure Ps in the fluid communication channel S increases, whereby the gear pump extrusion efficiency Ep is increased.

[0054] Consequently, as the volume V of the fluid communication channel S decreases, the pressure Ps in the fluid communication channel S increases thereby to increase the gear pump extrusion efficiency Ep, increasing the rate at which the rubber material is extruded.

[0055] Referring to FIG. 1, the four hydraulic cylinders 45 are actuated by a cylinder actuating mechanism 55, which is controlled by a controller 50.

[0056] A pressure sensor 46 is inserted into the fluid communication channel S that keeps the screw feeder 10 and the gear pump 20 in fluid communication with each other. A detection signal that is detected by the pressure sensor 46 as indicative of the pressure in the fluid communication channel S is input to the controller 50.

[0057] The controller 50 includes a memory 51 storing data which represent the results of preliminarily conducted measurements of the relationship between pressures in the fluid communication channel S and rates at which rubber materials are extruded.

[0058] When a rate at which a rubber material is to be extruded from the gear pump extruding machine 1 is determined from the speed of a line in which the gear pump extruding machine 1 is incorporated, the pressure in the fluid communication channel S corresponding to the determined rate is extracted from the data stored in the memory 51 in advance and established as a target pressure.

[0059] The controller 50 controls the cylinder actuating mechanism 55 to actuate the four hydraulic cylinders 45 to adjust the distances by which the pins p protrude into the fluid communication channel S, so that the pressure in the fluid communication channel S will reach the target pressure.

[0060] Specifically, the controller 50 reads the pressure in the fluid communication channel S that is detected by the pressure sensor 46, compares the detected pressure with the target pressure, and feedback-controls the cylinder actuating mechanism 55 to adjust the distances by which the pins p protrude into the fluid communication channel S, i.e., the volume V of the fluid communication channel S, in order to make the detected pressure closer to the target pressure.

[0061] FIG. 2 illustrates the gear pump extruding machine 1 in a state in which the distances by which the pins p protrude into the fluid communication channel S are small. The pins p of the upper, lower, left, and right pin groups G have their distal ends protruding slightly into the fluid communication channel S, so that the fluid communication channel S is open largely in its central region. Therefore, the volume V of the fluid communication channel S is made large.

[0062] FIG. 3 illustrates the gear pump extruding machine 1 in a state in which the pins p of the upper, lower, left, and right pin groups G have moved forward and protruded largely into the fluid communication channel S from the state illustrated in FIG. 2.

[0063] In order to avoid physical interference between the pins p of the upper and lower pin groups G and the pins p of the left and right pin groups G, the pins p of the left and right pin groups G are stopped with appropriate open space left therebetween and the pins p of the upper and lower pin groups G are positioned in the open space. Therefore, the volume V of the fluid communication channel S is small.

[0064] Thus, in order to prevent a pair of pin groups G that face each other diametrically across the fluid communication channel S from physically interfering, when moving forward and protruding, with another pair of pin groups G that face each other diametrically across the fluid communication channel S, the controller 50 should preferably include a system for limiting the distances by which the other pair of pin groups G move forward and protrude so as not to obstruct the first-mentioned pair of pin groups G as they move forward and protrude.

[0065] By thus controlling the distances by which the pins p protrude into the fluid communication channel S to change the volume V of the fluid communication channel S, the pressure in the fluid communication channel S, i.e., the pressure on the inlet side of the gear pump 20 (the pressure Ps in the fluid communication channel S), is changed to vary the rate at which the rubber material is extruded from the gear pump extruding machine 1. Consequently, the rubber material is not warmed excessively, and the extruded product is of a quality that is maintained at a high level.

[0066] Inasmuch as the kneading of the rubber material is promoted by a change in the pressure in the fluid communication channel S which is caused by the pins p protruding into the fluid communication channel S, the rubber material is expected to be warmed adequately due to limited heat generated in the fluid communication channel S, resulting in a contribution to an increase in the quality of the extruded product.

[0067] The gear pump extruding machine 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention described in detail above offers the following advantages.

[0068] Since the pressure in the fluid communication channel S is changed when the distances by which the pins p protrude into the fluid communication channel S are changed to vary the volume V of the fluid communication channel S, the pressure in the fluid communication channel S can be changed to adjust the rate at which the rubber material is extruded, without controlling the rotational speed of the screw 12 of the screw feeder 10, by controlling the cylinder actuating mechanism 55 to control the distances by which the pins p protrude into the fluid communication channel S. Productivity is increased and the quality of the extruded product is maintained at a high level by avoiding excessive warming of the rubber material.

[0069] The rubber material is expected to be warmed adequately due to limited heat generated in the fluid communication channel S by the pins p protruding into the fluid communication channel S, resulting in a contribution to an increase in the quality of the extruded product.

[0070] Since the pins p extend inward from the outside of the outer peripheral wall 15 around the fluid communication channel S and protrude into the fluid communication channel S, the pins p can be linearly moved by the hydraulic cylinders 45, and the actuating mechanism can be simplified.

[0071] Because the pins p are cylindrical in shape each, the rubber member flowing through the fluid communication channel S can flow smoothly without being partially stagnated by the pins p. The hole extending through the outer peripheral wall 15 as part of the fluid communication channel S may be a circular hole. It is thus easy to machine and manufacture the pins p and the outer peripheral wall 15.

[0072] Since the pin groups G of the pins p are circumferentially equally spaced around the fluid communication channel S in the outer peripheral wall 15, the rubber material is prevented from being disturbed and flowing unevenly in the fluid communication channel S, but can flow smoothly therein.

[0073] The small-diameter slender pins p are actuated in unison with each other in each of the pin groups G arrayed parallel to each other. Consequently, the mechanism in which the pins p are actuated by the hydraulic cylinder 45 is simplified for a reduction in the cost.

[0074] The rate of the rubber material that is bitten by the gear teeth of the gears 22a and 22b of the gear pump 20 remains essentially unchanged even when the distances by which the pins p arranged parallel to each other protrude are changed. Accordingly, the rate at which the rubber material is extruded can be adjusted to a nicety simply by controlling the pressure in the fluid communication channel S.

[0075] The gear pump extruding machine according to the embodiment of the present invention has been described above. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but covers many changes and modifications made thereto within the scope of the invention.

[0076] For example, in the present embodiment, the volume V of the fluid communication channel S is changed by controlling the distances by which the pins p protrude into the fluid communication channel S. However, the volume V of the fluid communication channel S may be changed by controlling the number of pins p that protrude into the fluid communication channel S. According to such a modification, each pin p or pins p of each pin group G is provided with the slider 41 and the hydraulic cylinder 45. If each of pins p is separately slidable, then there are required controls for limiting the distances by which some pins p move forward and protrude in order to avoid physical interference at the time when pins p extending in crossing directions move forward and protrude.

[0077] In the present embodiment, the pin groups G each including small-diameter slender pins p arrayed parallel to each other are upper, lower, left, and right pin groups. However, pins p in the form of larger-diameter cylindrical members or prismatic rod-shaped members may be circumferentially equally spaced around the fluid communication channel S in the outer peripheral wall 15 for protrusion into the fluid communication channel S. Furthermore, although the outer peripheral wall 15 is of a square shape in the embodiment, the outer peripheral wall 15 may be of any shape including a circular shape. Although the pins p extending through the outer peripheral wall 15 are provided in the four pin groups G in the embodiment, the number of pin groups G may be less than four or more than four. If the number of pins p and the number of pin groups G are larger, then it is more likely for the distal ends of the pins p to physically interfere with each other when they are moved forward.

[0078] In the embodiment, the hydraulic cylinders are used to actuate the protrusive members such as pins p, etc., cylinders such as electromagnetic cylinders other than hydraulic cylinders or electric motors may be used to actuate them.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

[0079] 1 . . . Gear pump extruding machine, [0080] 10 . . . Screw feeder, 11 . . . Tubular casing, 11h . . . Hopper, 12 . . . Screw, [0081] 15 . . . Outer peripheral wall, S . . . Fluid communication channel, p . . . Pin, G . . . Pin group, [0082] 20 . . . Gear pump, 21 . . . Gear pump case, 22a, 22b . . . Gear, 30 . . . Die, [0083] 41 . . . Slider, 45 . . . Hydraulic cylinder, 46 . . . Pressure sensor, [0084] 50 . . . Controller, 51 . . . Memory, 55 . . . Cylinder actuating mechanism.