Traverse device and traverse method

Abstract

A traverse device and a traverse method for winding wire materials are provided. A guide roller is placed near the outer circumference of a reel body and inclined, around the rotation center (center of curvature of an R guide) located near the outer edge of the guide roller on the side near the reel body as the fulcrum, in a direction in which the roller outer edge recedes from one of reel flanges ahead in the traverse direction on the side apart from the reel body. The inclining direction is switched at the midpoint position between the reel flanges, and with the guide roller being inclined at all times, a reel is rotated while being moved in the axis direction to wind a wire material on the reel.

Claims

1. A traverse device for winding a wire material onto a reel, the reel comprising a reel body extending along in a reel axis and first and second flanges, one on either end of the reel body, the device comprising: a guide roller having a guide groove on an outer circumference, the wire material being fed through the guide groove from a position on a side of the guide roller opposite to the reel body to a winding position at the reel body when the device is in use, wherein the winding position is a position along the traverse direction of the reel, a driving source configured and operably connected to move the winding position of the wire material with respect to the reel in a reel axis direction by moving the reel body and the guide roller with respect to one another, wherein the guide roller is placed near an outer circumference of a body of the reel, and inclined with respect to a rotation center located near a roller outer edge on a side near the outer circumference of the reel body, the rotation center forming a fulcrum about which the guide roller inclines when in use, the guide roller being configured to incline in a first direction with respect to the traverse direction between the fulcrum and the first reel flange, to incline in a second direction with respect to the traverse direction between the fulcrum and the second reel flange, and to be oriented in a perpendicular direction with the respect to the reel axis at the position at a midpoint along the reel body between the first and second flanges, wherein the reel or the guide roller is reciprocated in the reel axis direction to move the winding position along the reel body in a direction parallel to the reel axis, wherein the guide roller is placed at is placed at a position spaced 1 to 20 mm from the bare reel body having no winding, wherein every time the wire material is wound by one round, the guide roller is moved in a direction away from the reel body by the distance corresponding to the thickness of the wire material, and wherein the guide roller is inclined in a direction in which the roller outer edge recedes from a nearer reel flange on a side apart from the reel body.

2. The traverse device of claim 1, wherein the rotation center is movable, toward the reel axis, to a position where a distance L between the rotation center and a bottom surface of the guide groove on the outer circumference of the guide roller satisfies L=(aw)/(2 tan )+h/2, where a is a width of the guide groove, w is a width of the wire material to be wound, h is a depth of the guide groove, and is an angle of inclination of the guide roller, in a direction vertically crossing the reel axis.

3. A traverse method for winding a wire material onto a reel, the reel comprising a reel body extending along in a reel axis and first and second flanges, one on either end of the reel body, using a traverse device, the method comprising: feeding the wire material through a guide groove of a guide roller from a position on a side of the guide roller opposite to the reel body to a winding position at the reel body, wherein the winding position is a position along the traverse direction of the reel, moving, via a driving source, the winding position of the wire material with respect to the reel in a reel axis direction by moving the reel body and the guide roller with respect to one another, placing the guide roller near an outer circumference of a body of the reel, so as to be inclined with respect to a rotation center located near a roller outer edge on a side near the outer circumference of the reel body, the rotation center forming a fulcrum about which the guide roller inclines, inclining the guide roller in a first direction with respect to the traverse direction between the fulcrum and the first reel flange, inclining the guide roller in a second direction with respect to the traverse direction between the fulcrum and the second reel flange, and orienting the guide roller in a perpendicular direction with the respect to the reel axis at the position at a midpoint along the reel body between the first and second flanges, reciprocating the reel or the guide roller in the reel axis direction to move the winding position along the reel body in a direction parallel to the reel axis to wind the wire material on the reel, wherein the guide roller is placed at a position spaced 1 to 20 mm from the bare reel body having no winding, wherein every time the wire material is wound by one round, the guide roller is moved in a direction away from the reel body by the distance corresponding to the thickness of the wire material, and wherein the guide roller is inclined in a direction in which the roller outer edge recedes from nearer reel flange on the side apart from the reel body.

4. A traverse method of claim 3, further comprising setting the rotation center to a position where the distance L between the rotation center and the bottom surface of the guide groove on the outer circumference of the guide roller satisfies L=(aw)/(2 tan )+h/2 where a is the width of the guide groove on the outer circumference of the guide roller, w is the width of the wire material to be wound, h is the depth of the guide groove, and is the inclined angle of the guide roller.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) are a plan view and a side view, respectively, showing a configuration of a main part of a traverse device of an embodiment of the invention.

(2) FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) are views explaining the operation of the traverse device of the embodiment of the invention.

(3) FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) are a plan view and a side view, respectively, showing a configuration of a main part of another example of the traverse device of the embodiment of the invention.

(4) FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a main part of a conventional traverse device.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(5) FIG. 1 shows a main part of a traverse device of an embodiment of the invention. In FIG. 1, the reference numeral 1 denotes a reel, 1a denotes a reel body, 1b denotes a reel flange, 2 denotes a guide roller, 2a denotes a guide groove on the outer circumference of the guide roller, 3 denotes a support arm that supports the guide roller, and 4 denotes a support block that supports the support arm 3.

(6) The guide roller 2 is placed near the outer circumference of the reel body 1a (preferably at a position spaced about 1 to 20 mm from the bare reel body 1a having no winding, more preferably at a position spaced about 1 to 10 mm), and is rotatably supported via a bearing 6 by a roller shaft 5 supported by the support arm 3.

(7) The support arm 3 is supported by the support block 4, and the support position is movable to or from a reel axis R with respect to the support block 4 by operating an adjusting handle 12.

(8) The support block 4 is placed on a movable mount 11 that is movable along a linear guide rail (not shown) formed on a base (not shown) in a direction orthogonal to the axis direction of the reel 1 (direction forward or backward with respect to the reel body 1a) using an air cylinder (not shown) for horizontal movement as the drive source. The support block 4 is rotatable on the movable mount 11 along R guides (arc-shaped guide rails) 8 around the center of curvature of the R guides 8 as the center.

(9) The support block 4 is movable and rotatable as described above. When the support block 4 rotates, the guide roller 2 inclines, around the center of curvature of the R guides 8 as the rotation center C, from the position (shown by the solid line in FIG. 1(a)) vertical to the reel axis direction to either of positions (shown by dashed-two dotted line in FIG. 1(a)) inclined by several degrees (about 1 to 10 degrees) in the reel axis direction (up/down direction in FIG. 1(a)). Also, when the support block 4 moves forward or backward with respect to the reel body 2a with the movement of the movable mount 11, the guide roller 2 moves in a direction in which the roller outer edge comes close to or recedes from the reel body 1a on the side near the reel 1.

(10) The positional relationship between the guide roller 2 and the rotation center C (center of curvature of the R guides 8) can be adjusted by the operation of the adjusting handle 12. By turning the adjusting handle 12 to move the support position of the support arm 3 on the support block 4, the position of the support arm 3 with respect to the center of curvature of the R guides 8 changes, and thus the position of the guide roller 2 supported by the support arm 3, i.e., the positional relationship between the guide roller 2 and the rotation center C changes.

(11) In this device, the traverse is performed by moving the reel 1 in the reel axis direction (up/down direction in FIG. 1(a)) using an air cylinder (not shown) for reel movement as the drive source. During the traverse, when the guide roller 2 is located in the center in the reel axis direction, for example, that is the midpoint position between the reel flanges 1b, the inclining direction of the guide roller 2 is switched, to incline the guide roller 2 in a direction in which the outer edge of the guide roller 2 recedes from the reel flange 1b ahead in the traverse direction on the side apart from the reel body 1a around the rotation center C (center of curvature of the R guides 8) located near the outer edge of the guide roller 2 on the side near the outer circumference of the reel body 1b as the fulcrum. With the guide roller 2 kept inclined in this way, the reel 1 is rotated while being moved in the axial direction, to wind the wire material T fed from a supply reel (not shown) on the reel body 1a. Every time the wire material T is wound by one round, the movable mount 11 is moved to move the guide roller 2 in a direction away from the reel body 2 by the distance corresponding to the thickness of the wire material T, and the winding is repeated.

(12) In this device, the position of the rotation center C for inclining the guide roller 2 can be moved, backward from the reel axis R, by the operation of the adjusting handle 12, up to a position displaced about 5 to 10 mm from the center in the width direction of the bottom surface of the guide groove 2a on the outer circumference of the guide roller 2 on the side near the reel axis R as the reference. Toward the reel axis R, the position of the rotation center C can be moved up to a position about 5 to 10 mm beyond a position where the distance L between the rotation center C and the bottom surface of the guide groove 2a on the outer circumference of the guide roller 2 satisfies L=(aw)/(2 tan )+h/2 where a is the width of the guide groove 2a, w is the width of the wire material T, h is the depth of the guide groove 2a, and is the inclined angle of the guide roller 2, in a direction vertically crossing the reel axis R. The position of the rotation center C is thus adjustable in response to the thickness of the wire material to be wound.

(13) As described above, the rotation center C is movable toward or backward from the reel axis R from the center in the width direction of the bottom surface of the guide groove 2a on the outer circumference of the guide roller 2 on the side near the reel axis R as the reference. In particular, as is apparent from FIG. 2(a), when the rotation center C is set to a position where L, a, w, h, and a above satisfy tan ={(aw)/2}/(Lh/2), i.e., satisfy L=(aw)/(2 tan )+h/2, even if the inclining direction of the guide roller 2 is switched from the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 2(a) to the position shown by the dashed line, or vice versa, the wire material T only changes from the position shown by the solid line to the position shown by the dashed line, or vice versa, with the center position p of the wire material T being kept unmoved. The wire material T does not deviate in the width direction inside the guide groove 2a. Therefore, the traverse pitch does not change.

(14) By contrast, when the rotation center C is set to the center in the width direction of the bottom surface of the guide groove 2a on the outer circumference of the guide roller 2 on the side near the reel axis R, for example, if the inclining direction of the guide roller 2 is switched from the position shown by the solid line to the position shown by the dashed line, or vice versa, as shown in FIG. 2(b), the wire material T deviates in the width direction in the guide groove 2a from the position shown by the solid line to the position shown by the dashed line, or vice versa. The traverse pitch therefore changes by a deviation width s. Note however that if the width w of the wire material is large with respect to the width a of the guide groove, the deviation width s will be small and thus the influence on the pitch will be small.

(15) In the device of this embodiment, the wire material is wound up to the reel flange borders of the reel body 1a while wobbling of the wire material T is prevented or reduced with the guide roller 2 being in an inclined position. Therefore, even when the wire material T to be wound is fine, it is unnecessary to reduce the roller width excessively, and thus the guide roller can maintain its necessary strength. Also, since the traverse is performed with the guide roller 2 being inclined at all times except for the switching time, it is unnecessary to move the guide roller 2 forward or backward with respect to the reel body 1a in response to the inclination of the guide roller 2. In addition, the inclining direction of the guide roller 2 does not change during one round of traverse. Moreover, by setting the position of the rotation center C to a position satisfying L=(aw)/(2 tan )+h/2, the wire material T is prevented from deviating in the width direction of the guide groove 2a when the inclining direction of the guide roller 2 is switched at the midpoint position of the reel body 1a. The traverse pitch can therefore be kept constant, and control of pitch adjustment is easy. Thus, the regular winding of the wire material can be performed easily and inexpensively.

(16) FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) shows an example (another example of the embodiment) where the rotation center C is fixed (although moves in the traverse direction) to the center position in the width direction of the bottom surface of the guide groove 2a on the outer circumference of the guide roller 2 on the side near the reel axis R, in particular, in the neighborhood of the roller outer edge on the side near the outer circumference of the reel body 2a. In FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b), the reference numeral 1 denotes a reel, 1a denotes a reel body, 1b denotes a reel flange, 2 denotes a guide roller, 2a denotes a guide groove on the outer circumference of the guide roller, 3 denotes a support arm that supports the guide roller, and 4 denotes a support block that supports the support arm 3.

(17) The guide roller 2 is placed near the outer circumference of the reel body 1a (preferably at a position spaced about 1 to 20 mm from the bare reel body 1a having no winding, more preferably at a position spaced about 1 to 10 mm), and is rotatably supported via a bearing 6 by a roller shaft 5 supported by the support arm 3.

(18) The support block 4 is mounted on a movable mount 11 that is movable along a linear guide rail (not shown) formed on a base (not shown) in a direction orthogonal to the axis direction of the reel 1 (direction forward or backward with respect to the reel body 1a) using an air cylinder (not shown) for horizontal movement as the drive source. The support block 4 is rotatable on the movable mount 11 along an R guide (not shown) around the center of curvature of the R guide as the center.

(19) The support block 4 is movable and rotatable as described above. When the support block 4 rotates, the guide roller 2 inclines, around the center of curvature of the R guide as the rotation center C, from the position (shown by the solid line in FIG. 3(a)) vertical to the reel axis direction to either of positions (shown by dashed-two dotted line in FIG. 3(a)) inclined by several degrees (about 1 to 10 degrees) in the reel axis direction (up/down direction in FIG. 3(a)). Also, when the support block 4 moves forward or backward with respect to the reel body 2a with the movement of the movable mount 11, the guide roller 2 moves in a direction in which the roller outer edge comes close to or recedes from the reel body 1a on the side near the reel 1.

(20) In this device, the traverse is performed by moving the reel 1 in the reel axis direction (up/down direction in FIG. 3(a)) using an air cylinder (not shown) for reel movement as the drive source. During the traverse, when the guide roller 2 is located in the center in the reel axis direction (up/down direction in FIG. 3(a)), for example, that is the midpoint position between the reel flanges 1b, the inclining direction of the guide roller 2 is switched, to incline the guide roller 2 in a direction in which the outer edge of the guide roller 2 recedes from the reel flange 1b ahead in the traverse direction on the side apart from the reel body 1a, around the rotation center C (center of curvature of the R guide) located near the outer edge of the guide roller 2 on the side near the outer circumference of the reel body 1b as the fulcrum. With the guide roller 2 kept inclined in this way, the reel 1 is rotated while being moved in the axial direction, to wind the wire material T fed from a supply reel (not shown) on the reel body 1a. Every time the wire material T is wound by one round, the movable mount 11 is moved to move the guide roller 2 in a direction away from the reel body 2 by the distance corresponding to the thickness of the wire material T, and the winding is repeated.

(21) The rotation center C is located at the center in the width direction of the bottom surface of the guide groove 2a on the outer circumference of the guide roller 2 on the side near the reel axis R, in particular, in the neighborhood of the roller outer edge on the side near the outer circumference of the reel body 2a. In this case, as shown in FIG. 2(b), when the inclining direction of the guide roller 2 is switched from the position shown by the solid line to the position shown by the dashed line, or vice versa, the center position p of the wire material T deviates in the guide groove 2a in the width direction from the position shown by the solid line to the position shown by the dashed line, or vice versa. The traverse pitch therefore changes by a deviation width s. However, when the wire material is thick and the width a of the guide groove and the width w of the wire material are small, the deviation width s is small, and thus the influence on the pitch is small.

(22) In the device of this embodiment, the wire material is wound up to the reel flange borders of the reel body 1a while wobbling of the wire material T is prevented or reduced with the guide roller 2 being in an inclined position. Therefore, even when the wire material T to be wound is fine, it is unnecessary to reduce the roller width excessively, and thus the guide roller can maintain its necessary strength. Also, since the traverse is performed with the guide roller 2 being inclined at all times except for the switching time, it is unnecessary to move the guide roller 2 forward or backward with respect to the reel body 1a in response to the inclination of the guide roller 2. In addition, the inclining direction of the guide roller 2 does not change during one round of traverse. Even when the inclining direction of the guide roller 2 is switched at the midpoint position of the reel body 1a, the wire material T is prevented from largely deviating in the width direction of the guide groove 2a. The traverse pitch can therefore be kept roughly constant, and control of pitch adjustment is comparatively easy. Thus, the regular winding of the wire material can be performed easily and inexpensively.

(23) While the rotation center C for inclining the guide roller 2 is located at the center in the width direction of the bottom surface of the guide groove 2a on the outer circumference of the guide roller 2 on the side near the reel axis R in the example shown in FIG. 3, the position of the rotation center C can be set arbitrarily within a range from a position deviated about 5 to 10 mm in a direction away from the reel axis R to a position deviated about 5 to 10 mm in a direction close to the reel axis R, with respect to the center in the width direction of the bottom surface of the guide groove 2a on the outer circumference of the guide roller 2 on the side near the reel axis R as the reference.

(24) While the reel 1 is moved to perform the traverse in the above examples of this embodiment, the reel 1 may not be moved but the guide roller 2 may be moved in the reel axis direction, or both the reel 1 and the guide roller 2 may be moved to perform the traverse.

(25) Also, while the wire material to be wound is rectangular in cross section (rectangular wire) in the above examples of the embodiment, it may be circular in cross section (round wire) or of any other shape (deformed wire). Otherwise, it may be a coated wire, a stranded wire, etc.

(26) The present invention is applicable to a variety of wire materials including metal wires such as steel cords, bead wires, and wires for piston rings, coated wires such as electric cables, and other wire materials such as ropes.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

(27) 1 Reel 1a Reel body 1b Reel flange 2 Guide roller 2a Guide groove 3 Support arm 4 Support block 5 Roller shaft 8 R guide 11 Movable mount 12 Adjusting handle C Rotation center R Reel axis