Automated system to package and remove rolls of metallic wire wound on reels

Abstract

 Automated system to package and remove rolls of metallic wire, the system (10) being fitted downstream of a plant carrying out hot or cold drawing or rolling of metallic wire which may have a round, oval, three-lobed, hexagonal, rectangular, square, etc. section and is wound in rolls (34) on reels (12), preferably of a type which can be dismantled, on a winding machine (11) located immediately downstream of the drawing or rolling plants, the reels (12) which can be dismantled having to undergo an operation to tie the rolls (34) before their end use, the system comprising the following operational units:

• a winding machine (11) that comprises an automatic control system (17) for the start-up and ending of fully automated winding of the metallic wire, the automatic winding machine (11) being equipped with a three-positional rotary platform (13) for three reels (12) being processed, the three positions corresponding to a first station (position A) to wind the metallic wire on a reel (12), a second station to tie (position B) the already wound reel (12) and a third station (position C) to remove the already tied reel (12),
• an auxiliary device (15) for the tying, which cooperates with the winding machine (11) in the tying station (position B) and is suitable to engage and rotate the reel (12) at pre-set angles;
  the system comprising also the following further operational units:
• a device (16) for the automatic handling of reels , which cooperates with the winding machine (11) in the reel removal station (position C) and is suitable to transfer the reels (12) to the successive processing steps;
• a reel clamping device (31) which operates in a reel dismantling station (position D) located downstream of the winding machine (11) and is suitable to receive the reel (12) brought from the reel removal station (position C) by means of the handling device (16) and to retain momentarily a flange (30) withdrawn from the reel (12), and
• a device (35) to receive and discharge the roll (34) of wire, this device operating in a discharge station (position E) and being suitable to receive and support the roll (34) of wire discharged from the reel (12) by means of the handling device (16),
  the handling device (16) being also able to run in succession and alternately along the path from the reel removal station (position C) to the roll discharge station (position E), and viceversa, so as to dismantle and reassemble respectively a reel (12)of a type which can be dismantled.

Description

[0001] This invention concerns an automated system to package and discharge rolls of metallic wire wound on reels. To be more exact, the invention concerns a system that provides full automation of the operation of winding the metallic wire and also full automation of the handling of reels thus packaged up to the stage of discharge of the wound rolls of wire.

[0002] The system of the invention is applied downstream of the plants which carry out hot or cold drawing or rolling of metallic wire.

[0003] In this invention the word "wire" is to be understood in its widest meaning as covering wire products having a round, oval, three-lobed, hexagonal, rectangular, square, etc. section.

[0004] The system can be employed also in plants producing other wire materials.

[0005] The state of the art covers the problems linked to the packaging and handling of reels containing metallic wire. These problems concern particularly the operations for the start-up and ending of the winding of the metallic wire; these operations are usually performed by hand and entail a substantial use of labour and considerable downtimes in the wire processing cycle, with resulting heavy production costs.

[0006] Likewise, the handling and removal of the packaged reels cause problems from the point of view of the costs arising from the time taken, the labour force employed and the production equipment used.

[0007] First of all the packaged reels have to be removed from the winding machine and thereafter, if the reels are of a type which can be dismantled by withdrawal of one of their lateral flanges for discharge of the rolls of wire wound on the reels, they have to be sent to a station where the roll of wire is tied.

[0008] Next, the roll of wire is discharged from the reel and the reel is re-assembled so that it can be returned to the working cycle.

[0009] All these operations requiring handling of the reels are normally carried out by hand with the help of auxiliary mechanical means. Moreover, these operations are performed in appropriate stations and thus entail the use of considerable covered space to take into account also the great number of reels and other materials which have to be stored at least momentarily and also the materials continually passing through.

[0010] Document CH-A-618141 discloses an automated system to package and remove rolls of flexible tube, which comprises a winding machine with automated systems to start-up and end the winding of a reel with a three-positional rotary platform, an auxiliary device for tying the reel and a device to clamp and dismantle a reel positioned on the winding machine. The device disclose in CH-A-618141 is suitable for light weights but not for weights such as that of a reel of metallic wire, which may reach 1500 kgs. or more.
From this point of view the automated system disclosed, such as the apparatus to tie and dismantle the reels, are not workable in a device which has to handle reels of metallic wire.

[0011] The present applicant has the purpose of overcoming the problems of the state of the art by providing a fully automated system to package and discharge rolls of metallic wire wound on reels.

[0012] The invention is set forth in the main claim, while the dependent claims describe various features of the invention.

[0013] The system according to the invention provides for the preferred use, for the winding, of reels which can be dismantled, namely of reels formed in such a way that the wound roll of wire can be removed by means of the axial withdrawal of one of the two lateral flanges of the reels.

[0014] The system of the invention employs a fully automated winding machine, namely a machine which carries out by automatic methods all the wire winding operations, including the operations linked to the start-up and ending of the packaging of every reel being processed.

[0015] A fully automated winding machine of the type employed in this invention is the subject of a parallel patent application in the name of the present applicant.

[0016] The automatic winding machine is equipped with a three-positional rotary platform, the first position being used for packaging the reel, the second for tying the rolls of wire and the third for removal of the reel.

[0017] The reel, after being packaged with wire in the first position, passes on to the second position where the wound roll of wire is completely tied by means of an appropriate apparatus.

[0018] The insertion and fixture of the actual tying elements can be done by hand or by a suitable automatic device. Thereafter the reel thus tied passes on to the third position, where it is removed by a handling device, which is an automatic device located downstream of the winding machine and suitable to cooperate in succession with two other stations, which open or dismantle the reel and discharge the wound roll of wire respectively.

[0019] By passing along the path in the opposite direction, the handling device re-assembles the reel and takes it back to the third position on the rotary platform.

[0020] By means of the system according to the invention the cycle of final processing of metallic wire is fully automated in this way and is also carried out in the immediate neighbourhood of the winding machine.

[0021] Furthermore, the cycle requires for its fulfilment only three reels, which exchange their functions by rotating together with the platform to the three working positions provided.

[0022] This leads to a great saving of materials and of the space taken up.

[0023] These and other special features of the invention will be made clearer in the description that follows.

[0024] The attached figures, which are given as a non-restrictive example, show the following:

Fig.1

is a diagrammatic plan view of an automated system according to the invention;

Fig.2

shows a section of the system of Fig.1 along the line A-A;

Fig.3

shows a detail of the system of Fig.1 in the direction of the arrow F.

[0025] In the figures an automated system 10 according to the invention comprises a fully automatic winding machine 11 located downstream of a plant to draw or roll metallic wire. This winding machine winds rolls of wire onto reels 12 which can be dismantled (and which are shown diagrammatically with circles in Fig.1), the reels being arranged with their axes vertical on a three-positional rotary platform 13.

[0026] Position A on the platform is the station where the reel 12 is rotated by a suitable headstock and tailstock 14 so as to take up onto its body the metallic wire fed from upstream processes.

[0027] Position B is the station where the packaged reel 12 is tied by an auxiliary device for the tying operation 15.

[0028] Position C is the station where the reel 12 is removed by means of an automatic handling device 16.

[0029] There is one reel 12 in each of positions A, B and C, and each reel is engaged at the same time in the respective operations.

[0030] The winding machine 11 on its side towards the feed of metallic wire is equipped with an automatic apparatus, referenced with 17, for the start-up and ending of the process of packaging a reel 12 which can be dismantled. During start-up this automatic apparatus engages the end of the wire and positions it suitably on the reel located in position A and then permits the start-up of winding.

[0031] When the reel has been packaged, the automatic apparatus shears the end of the wire, bends it suitably and positions it on a retaining support on the reel 12; it then arranges to transfer the sheared end of the wire onto the devices which start up the winding.

[0032] The auxiliary device 15 for the tying operation is shown in position B and consists substantially of a unit 18 to engage and rotate the reel and of a unit 19 to lift the reel.

[0033] The engagement and rotation unit 18 is a control box 20 bearing terminally a mandrel 21 and a gripper 22. In its inactive position this unit 18 is lifted from the reel 12; when a reel 12 reaches the tying station, the control box 20 is lowered automatically to bring the mandrel 21 axially so as to correspond with an upper flange 20 of the reel 12.

[0034] The lifting unit 19 is then actuated and cooperates through an opening 23 in the platform 13 with a lower flange 30 of the reel 12, thus lifting the reel 12 and aligning it with the mandrel 21.

[0035] It should be borne in mind that during the steps of movement between the positions A, B and C, the reel 12 is merely rested on the platform 13 in correspondence with coordinated openings 23.

[0036] When the reel 12 has been positioned between the mandrel 21 and the lifting unit 19, the gripper 22 is actuated so as to fix itself on one of the spokes of the upper flange 29 of the reel 12, thus putting the reel 12 in a condition to be able to rotate.

[0037] Rotation of the reel 12 takes place by actuation of the mandrel 21 by suitable control means in the control box 20. This rotation is required to enable the elements tying the roll of wire to be inserted within the reel 12, normally at a plurality of points at various angles between them, for instance four points at 90° to each other.

[0038] Therefore, if the operation is carried out by hand by a machine operator positioned according to the arrow F of Fig.1, he will insert a first tying element into the reel 12 halted at position B and then will signal for the reel 12 to be rotated by 90° by means of the mandrel 21 and will repeat the operation of inserting a second tying element, and so on.

[0039] When tying has been completed, the reel engagement and rotation unit 18 and the lifting unit 19 will return to their inactive position and the reel 12 is now readied for movement to position C.

[0040] The tying operation can also be carried out by an appropriately equipped automatic device positioned according to the arrow F.

[0041] In position C the reel 12 is in the station for its removal from the winding machine 11 and for its transfer to subsequent processing stations, which are a station in position D for the dismantling of a reel that can be dismantled and a station in position E for discharge of the roll of wire wound on the reel 12.

[0042] Movement from position C to positions D and E is carried out by the automatic handling device 16, which is located at a stationary position downstream of the winding machine 11 and comprises a support structure 24 for a movable arm 25.

[0043] The movable arm 25 is capable of a rotary movement 26 about the axis of the support structure 24 and of a straight vertical movement according to the arrows 27.

[0044] A handling device of the type shown according to this invention is the subject of a parallel patent application in the name of the present applicant.

[0045] The movable arm 25 bears on its lower side an engagement device consisting essentially of a gripper unit 28 able to close and secure itself to the upper flange 29 of the reel 12.

[0046] The handling device 16 takes the reel 12 from position C, lifts it according to the arrows 27 and rotates according to the arrows 26, thus bringing the arm 25 to position D, which is the station for dismantling, or opening, the reel 12.

[0047] Position D is a stationary station equipped with a clamping device 31, which consists essentially of a pair of engagement arms 32 that can be retracted by being rotated. Figs.1 and 2 show with lines of dashes (32') the inactive positions of the engagement arms 32 .

[0048] When the reel 12 has been brought by the movable arm 25 to position D, the engagement arms 32 are moved to a position above the upper flange 29 of the reel 12.

[0049] Contact between the upper flange 29 and the engagement arms 32 takes place not directly but by means of an appropriate abutment plate 33 belonging to the movable arm 25.

[0050] At this stage the lower flange 30 is released from the reel 12 and will remain positioned in the reel dismantling station when the remainder of the reel 12 is removed from that station.

[0051] The lower flange 30 is released from the reel 12 by the action of suitable means with which the handling device 16 or the reel dismantling station is equipped, depending on the structure of the reel 12. If, for instance, the reel 12 is of a type which can be dismantled by the action of external axial means, as disclosed in a patent application in the name of the present applicant, then the movable arm 25 itself may be equipped with such means to withdraw the lower flange 30 after the reel 12 has been engaged by the gripper unit 28.

[0052] The clamping device 31 is equipped with suitable means which during the step of release of the lower flange 30 control the unavoidable outward springing of the wire due to the coils of metallic wire having been held between the flanges 29-30 and to the very strong tensions built up during winding of the coils.

[0053] If the reel 12 is of the type cited above, it itself will include means to hold the wound roll so that the reel 12 without its lower flange 30 can be removed from position D without the roll being released and falling on the ground.

[0054] Movement of the reel from the station in which it has been dismantled to the next discharge station in position E is also carried out by the movable arm 25 of the handling device 16.

[0055] In the roll discharge station at position E are included collection means able to receive rolls of metallic wire referenced with 34 in Fig.2. These collection means may be storage benches 35, as shown in Figs.1 and 2, or conveyor belts or roller conveyors or any other suitable means to receive and discharge thereafter the rolls 34 of metallic wire.

[0056] The means holding the roll 34 on the reel 12 are disabled at position E so that the rolls 34 can be released on the relative collection means 35.

[0057] The movable arm 25, which is still holding the upper flange 29, retraces its previous course in the reverse direction and therefore takes the reel 12 to be re-assembled at position D, thereafter bearing the reel 12 thus reassembled to position C, where it releases the reel.

[0058] The system 10 according to the invention therefore requires only three reels 12 during the winding and discharge of the wound roll 34 of wire, namely a first reel 12 for the actual winding process in position A, a second reel 12 being tied at position B and a third reel 12 for the removal step at position C.

[0059] While the first reel is being wound with wire, the second reel can be tied at the same time and the third reel can be engaged, dismantled, re-assembled and re-positioned for use.

[0060] We have described here a preferred embodiment of this invention, but it is clear that many variants are possible for a person skilled in this field without departing thereby from the scope of the invention as claimed.

[0061] For instance, the system can also use reels which cannot be dismantled; in this case the dismantling station can be replaced or amalgamated with a device to feed automatically empty reels which cannot be dismantled, while the station to discharge the roll of wire can become a station for discharge of reels of wire which cannot be dismantled.

[0062] The handling device itself during its return from the discharge station of full reels can arrange to take, in cooperation with the reel feed device, an empty reel required to feed the winding machine.

[0063] During its outward travel the handling device will obviously go directly to the discharge station.

Claims

1. Automated system to package and remove rolls of metallic wire, the system (10) being fitted downstream of a plant carrying out hot or cold drawing or rolling of metallic wire which may have a round, oval, three-lobed, hexagonal, rectangular, square, etc. section and is wound in rolls (34) on reels (12), preferably of a type which can be dismantled, on a winding machine (11) located immediately downstream of the drawing or rolling plants, the reels (12) which can be dismantled having to undergo an operation to tie the rolls (34) before their end use, the system comprising the following operational units:

- a winding machine (11) that comprises an automatic control system (17) for the start-up and ending of fully automated winding of the metallic wire, the automatic winding machine (11) being equipped with a three-positional rotary platform (13) for three reels (12) being processed, the three positions corresponding to a first station (position A) to wind the metallic wire on a reel (12), a second station to tie (position B) the already wound reel (12) and a third station (position C) to remove the already tied reel (12),

- an auxiliary device (15) for the tying, which cooperates with the winding machine (11) in the tying station (position B) and is suitable to engage and rotate the reel (12) at pre-set angles;
the system being characterized in that it comprises also the following further operational units:

- a device (16) for the automatic handling of reels , which cooperates with the winding machine (11) in the reel removal station (position C) and is suitable to transfer the reels (12) to the successive processing steps;

- a reel clamping device (31) which operates in a reel dismantling station (position D) located downstream of the winding machine (11) and is suitable to receive the reel (12) brought from the reel removal station (position C) by means of the handling device (16) and to retain momentarily a flange (30) withdrawn from the reel (12), and

- a device (35) to receive and discharge the roll (34) of wire, this device operating in a discharge station (position E) and being suitable to receive and support the roll (34) of wire discharged from the reel (12) by means of the handling device (16),
the handling device (16) being also able to run in succession and alternately along the path from the reel removal station (position C) to the roll discharge station (position E), and viceversa, so as to dismantle and reassemble respectively a reel (12) of a type which can be dismantled.

2. System (10) as claimed in Claim 1, in which the auxiliary device (15) for the tying of the reel is independent and consists of an engagement and rotation unit (18) cooperating with the upper flange (29) of the reel (12) and of a lifting unit (19) cooperating with the lower flange (30) of the reel (12).

3. System (10) as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, in which the independent auxiliary device (15) for the tying comprises means to rotate the reel (12) at pre-set angles.

4. System (10) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, in which the handling device (16) comprises a stationary independent structure (24) located downstream of the automatic winding machine (11).

5. System (10) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, in which the handling device (16) comprises an arm (25) able to move by rotation (26) and with a straight movement (27).

6. System (10) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, in which the movable arm (25) is equipped with means (28) to grip the flange (28) of the reel (12).

7. System (10) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, in which the reel clamping device (31) includes retractable means (32) to engage the reel (12).

8. System (10) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, in which the reel clamping device (31) includes means to control outward springing of the roll (34) of wire when the roll is released from the reel.

9. System (10) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, in which the reel clamping device (31) includes a means for the temporary receipt of the lower flange (30) withdrawn from the reel (12).

10. System (10) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, in which the means that receives the roll (34) of wire discharged from the reel (12) is a discontinuous means (35).

11. System (10) as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 9 inclusive, in which the means that receives the roll (34) of wire discharged from the reel (12) is a continuous means, for instance a conveyor belt.

12. System (10) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, in which the platform (13) of the winding machine (11) includes openings (23) coordinated with the three working positions (position A, position B and position C).

Drawing