BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
[0001] This invention relates to a wire winding apparatus which can wind up a wire such
as a steel wire as a material for production of a spring in units of a coil of a predetermined
amount having a predetermined profile and can successively form a plurality of coils
each in the form of a bundle.
2. Description of the Related Art
[0002] Among various metal wires, spring wires or stainless steel wires are shipped in most
cases in units of a coil of such a small weight as 20 Kg or 30 Kg based on a request
from a user side. Winding apparatus for winding a wire in units of a coil of a predetermined
amount are conventionally divided into two types including the upwardly taking up
type in which a finish drum is employed and the downwardly taking up type in which
a IV inverted type winder is employed. A conventional winding apparatus of the upwardly
taking up type is shown in Figs. 8 and 9(A) to 9(C). Referring to Figs. 8 and 9(A)
to 9(C), a guide member 41 is mounted on a finish drum 35 of a wire drawing machine
so that a wire 7 wound around the finish drum 35 is stored directly on the finish
drum 35 along the guide member 41. After the wire 7 is wound up to a predetermined
amount, the wire drawing machine is stopped, and a coil unit 8 of the thus wound-up
product is unloaded using a holding hook 42 called a stripper.
[0003] Meanwhile, a conventional winding apparatus of the downwardly taking up type is shown
in Figs. 10(A) and 10(B). Referring to Figs. 10(A) and 10-(B), a wire 7 is wound around
a downwardly directed capstan 44. After the wire 7 is wound several turns, it is dropped
onto a take-up frame 2 called a stem located below the capstan 44 (refer to Fig. 10(A)).
After the wire 7 is wound a predetermined amount onto the take-up frame 2 in this
manner, the wire drawing machine is stopped, and then the take-up frame 2 is taken
out by means of a crane such as a hoist. Then, the wire 7 wound up on the take-up
frame 2 is bundled (refer to Fig. 10-(B)) and unloaded from the take-up frame 2. Thereafter,
the take-up frame 2 is placed in the position below the capstan 44 again, and the
wire drawing machine is re-started to repeat winding operation.
[0004] In the conventional wire winding apparatus of the upwardly and downwardly taking-up
types described above, in order to bundle a wound-up wire, each time the wire is wound
a predetermined length for a coil unit 8, the wire drawing machine must be stopped
to unload the product. Accordingly, the conventional winding apparatus are very low
in operability and productivity. Further, when the wire drawing machine is restarted
after it is stopped, the free coil diameter (diameter of a coil when no force is applied
to the wire) of the wire 7 is liable to vary, which makes the wound-up profile of
the coil unit 8 irregular. Therefore, the conventional winding apparatus have another
problem in that an amending operation such as measuring and adjusting the coil diameter
again is required.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] It is an object of the present invention to provide a wire winding apparatus which
can continuously wind up a wire into a plurality of bundles readily and with certainty
without interrupting operation of the apparatus and can achieve labour saving, improvement
in productivity and improvement in quality at a reduced cost.
[0006] In order to attain the object described above, according to the present invention,
there is provided a wire winding apparatus for winding a wire delivered from a wire
delivery means such as a finish drum of a wire drawing machine to form a plurality
of coils each in the form of a bundle, interposing a spacer each time when a coil
unit constituted from a predetermined amount of the wire is accumulated. The wire
winding apparatus comprises a turntable mounted for rotation around a vertical axis,
a take-up frame carried for coaxial integral rotation on the turntable for taking
up the wire delivered thereto, and a spacer supply means provided coaxially above
the turntable for supporting thereon a plurality of spacers each generally in the
form of a perforated plate in such a manner as to allow, each time the wire with a
predetermined length is taken up into a coil unit on the take-up frame, a spacer to
drop therefrom so that the spacer may be loosely fitted onto a stem winding portion
of the take-up frame, thereby to interpose the spacer between adjacent coil units.
[0007] The wire winding apparatus may be constructed such that the spacer supply means includes
a support bar extending radially in horizontal directions from an extension line of
the vertical axis of the turntable and rotatable around the extension line for supporting
from below a plurality of spacers placed one on another horizontally and coaxially
with the vertical axis at least at two points in the proximity of a circumferential
edge of the center hole of the spacers, and a driving apparatus for reversibly rotating
the support bar between positions of two supporting points spaced by a fixed angle
of rotation from each other, and formed with such a size as to allow it to pass an
internal space of the stem winding portion of the take-up frame and connected for
integration rotation to the turntable, and the spacers include two different types
of spacers each of which has at least two slits formed at the circumferential edge
of the center hole of the spacer in such a manner as to allow supporting portions
of the support bar to pass there but said slits are displaced in rotational phase
by the fixed angle of rotation between adjacent spacers and are placed one on another
on the support bar at the two supporting points such that the slits of the spacers
are displaced alternately by the fixed angle of rotation but every other one of the
spacers have the same type of phase.
[0008] Preferably, each of the spacers has a plurality of grooves formed to extend in radial
directions from an inner circumferential edge to an outer circumferential edge on
an upper face thereof so as to pass a bundling wire therethrough.
[0009] In accordance with the present invention, the wire winding apparatus comprises a
turntable mounted for rotation around a vertical axis, a take-up frame mounted for
coaxial integral rotation on the turntable, and a spacer supply means for allowing
each time when a wire is taken up into a coil unit on the take-up frame, a spacer
to drop therefrom so as to interpose the spacer between adjacent coil units. Upon
winding a wire into coils, a product does not need to be taken out each time the wire
is taken up to a predetermined length, but each time the wire is taken up to the predetermined
length onto the take-up frame, a spacer which functions as a mark is dropped and thrown
into the taken-up wire without stopping or decelerating a wire drawing machine from
which the wire is supplied to the wire winding apparatus. Accordingly, a plurality
of coil units can be accumulated successively until the wire winding apparatus reaches
to the full capacity. Consequently, the frequency of stopping of the wire drawing
apparatus and/or the wire winding apparatus and the frequency of taking out of products
are reduced significantly when compared with those of conventional wire winding apparatus.
After the wire is taken up to the full capacity of the wire winding apparatus in this
manner, the wire winding apparatus (and the wire drawing machine) is stopped once,
and the take-up frame replaced with a new take-up frame, whereafter operation of the
wire winding apparatus is resumed with the new take-up frame. Meanwhile, the wire
taken up on the take-up frame is bundled, as another operation independent of winding
operation, to each coil unit of the predetermined amount of the wire divided by a
spacer interposed in the taken up wire, and the coil units are separated from each
other and packaged suitably. Accordingly, the operation efficiency and the labour
saving effect of the wire winding apparatus are high.
[0010] Where the wire winding apparatus is constructed such that the spacer supply means
includes a support bar for supporting from below a plurality of spacers placed one
on another above the turntable horizontally and coaxially with the vertical axis at
least at two points in the proximity of a circumferential edge of the center hole
of the spacers, and a driving apparatus for reversibly rotating the support bar between
positions of two supporting points spaced by a fixed angle of rotation from each other,
and is formed with such a size as to allow it to loosely pass an internal space of
the winding portion of the take-up frame and connected for integration rotation to
the turntable, and the spacers include two different types of spacers each of which
has at least two slits formed at the circumferential edge of the center hole of the
spacer in such a manner as to allow supporting portions of the support bar to pass
there but said slits are displaced in rotational phase by the fixed angle of rotation
between adjacent spacers, and are placed one on another on the support bar at the
two supporting points such that the slits of the spacers are displaced alternately
by the fixed angle of rotation but every other one of the spacers have the same type
of phase, only one of the spacers which is rotated coaxially together with the take-up
frame can be allowed to drop only by causing the support bar to perform a simple operation
of rotating with the small fixed angle of rotation. Consequently, a spacer can be
interposed at a good timing to a predetermined location even during high speed winding
operation.
[0011] Where each of the spacers has a plurality of grooves formed to extend from an inner
circumferential edge to an outer circumferential edge on an upper face thereof so
as to pass a bundling wire therethrough, at the time of operation other than the wire
winding operation, a bundling operation for each coil unit can be performed simply
and readily by a single operator.
[0012] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will
become apparent from the following description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction
with the accompanying drawings in which like parts or elements are denoted by like
reference characters.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013]
Fig. 1 is a front elevational view showing, partly in section, essential part of a
wire winding apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a plan view of a spacer of the wire winding apparatus shown in Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line A-A of Fig. 2 and showing the spacer;
Fig. 4 is a partial plan view of another spacer of the wire winding apparatus shown
in Fig. 1;
Fig. 5 is a plan view illustrating the relationship in arrangement between the spacers
and a support bar of the wire winding apparatus shown in Fig. 1;
Fig. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure of a spacer supplying operation of
the wire winding apparatus shown in Fig. 1;
Figs. 7(A) to 7(C) are schematic views illustrating different wire length measuring
methods employed to supply a spacer in the wire winding apparatus of Fig. 1;
Fig. 8 is a front elevational view showing a finish drum of a conventional wire drawing
machine;
Figs. 9(A) to 9(C) are schematic views illustrating an upward winding operation of
the conventional wire drawing machine shown in Fig. 8; and
Figs. 10(A) and 10(B) are schematic views illustrating a downward winding operation
of another conventional wire winding apparatus.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0014] Referring first to Fig. 1, there is shown a wire winding apparatus according to a
preferred embodiment of the present invention. The wire winding apparatus shown includes
a turntable 1, a take-up frame 2, and spacer supply means 3, and is located on the
downstream side of wire delivery means including a finish drum 35 and so forth shown
in Figs. 7(A) to 7(C). The turntable 1 has, for example, such a structure that a body
portion 1 B in the form of a circular cylinder is erected uprightly at a central portion
of a table 1A in the form of a perforated disk. The turntable 1 is fitted on a vertical
center shaft 6, which extends vertically upwardly from a base 5, with a pair of bearings
11 and 12 interposed therebetween so that it may rotate around the vertical center
shaft 6. The turntable 1 is rotated around the vertical center shaft 6 by a motor
16 by way of a gear 13 provided coaxially and integrally with the table 1A, another
gear 14 held in meshing engagement with the gear 13 and a bevel gear train 15 connected
to the gear 14.
[0015] The take-up frame 2 has a substantially same structure as those employed in conventional
wire winding apparatus. Referring to Figs. 10(A) and 10-(B), the take-up frame 2 is
formed as a tubular frame member formed from thick round steel bars as materials by
bending and welding processes of them and including a winding portion 22 including
three or more, for example, four, struts extending along an imaginary cylinder and
a base portion 21 including four bent portions extending like petals within an imaginary
annular plate and integrated with the winding portion 22. The take-up frame 2 is mounted
on and secured to the turntable 1 by suitable means such that the base portion 21
is supported on the table 1A and the winding portion 22 is positioned concentrically
around the body portion 1B so that the take-up frame 2 can rotate integrally and concentrically
with the turntable 1 around the vertical center shaft 6.
[0016] Meanwhile, the spacer supply means 3 is disposed just above the turntable 1 and is
mounted on a frame 23 having a topped cylindrical shape and integrally secured to
an upper end portion of the body portion 1 B so that it can rotate integrally with
the turntable 1. The spacer supply means 3 includes four support bars 9, and a driving
apparatus 10 for reversibly rotating the support bars 9 with a fixed angle of rotation.
Each of the support bars 9 is formed, for example, from a round steel bar of a predetermined
length. The four support bars 9 are individually fitted loosely in four slits 30 perforated
in a horizontally elongated shape in the frame 23 and are mounted in a cantilever
configuration on a rotary shaft of a pneumatic rotary actuator 24 which is secured
to an intermediate support plate 31 of the frame 23 and directed downwardly coaxially
with the vertical center shaft 6. The four support bars 9 are disposed radially in
horizontal directions from an extension line of the vertical center shaft 6 such that
they may make a cross.
[0017] The driving apparatus 10 is formed as a pneumatically operated driving apparatus
including the rotary actuator 24, a rotary joint 25 mounted coaxially at an upper
end of the vertical center shaft 6, a pair of air passages 28 and 29 formed in an
axial direction in the vertical center shaft 6, an electromagnetic directional control
valve 26, and a pressure air source 27. The rotary actuator 24 reversibly rotates
the rotary shaft thereof with a fixed angle of rotation, for example, in the present
embodiment, with a reversible angle of 8
° the compressed air is supplied to it with the flowing direction thereof reversed
alternately. The rotary joint 25 has two fixed side ports connected to ends of the
air passages 28 and 29 and two rotatable side ports connected to corresponding ports
of the rotary actuator 24. The electromagnetic directional control valve 26 has a
pressure source port connected to the pressure air source 27, with a tank port left
open, and a pair of actuator ports connected to the other ends of the air passages
28 and 29.
[0018] In the spacer supply means 3 constructed in such a manner as described above, the
spacer supply means 3 is rotated together with the turntable by driving the motor
16, by changing operation of the electromagnetic directional control valve 26 while
compressed air is supplied to the rotary actuator 24 through the rotary joint 25 so
that the rotary shaft of the rotary actuator 24 is reversibly rotated in the clockwise
direction or the counterclockwise direction with a reversible angle of 8 to reversibly
rotate the four support bars 9 integrally therewith with reversible angle of 8 °.
[0019] It is to be noted that, in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, a supporting bar 34 is
secured at a central portion on the top of the frame 23 by means of a screw and a
pair of centering shafts 20 are mounted on and suspended from the both ends of the
supporting bar 34. The centering shafts 20 are provided in order to adjust the phases
of a plurality of spacers 4 placed on the support bars 9 concerning the direction
of rotation of them to each other.
[0020] The spacers 4 employed in the wire winding apparatus of the present embodiment are
divided into two types: one of them is a spacer 4A shown in plan in Fig. 2 and shown
also in Fig. 3 which is a cross section view taken along line A-A of Fig. 2; and the
other is a spacer 4B partially shown in plan in Fig. 4. The spacers 4, that is, the
spacers 4A and 4B, are produced in desired shapes using, as a material, a plate of
a light-weighted material having a high workability such as, for example, an MC nylon
resin of an engineering plastic, wood or aluminum.
[0021] Each of the spacers 4A and 4B shown in Figs. 2 to 4 is formed from an annular plate
33 generally in the form of a perforated plate having four plate pieces 32 provided
integrally at four circumferentially equally spaced locations and extending radially
such that they may cross perpendicularly with each other. The plate pieces 32 are
formed in such a shape that the inner diameter of inner circumferential edges is greater
than the outer diameter of the frame 23 but smaller than the length of the support
bars 9 while the outer diameter of the plate pieces 32 circumferential edges thereof
is greater that the length of the support bars 9 and preferably a little greater than
the outer side diameter of the coil unit 8 to be taken up around the take-up frame
2. It is to be noted that it is necessary that the inner diameter of the annular plate
33 be greater than the outer diameter of the frame 23, and in the present embodiment,
the inner diameter of the annular plate 33 is substantially equal to the length of
the support bars 9.
[0022] Each of the spacers 4A and 4B has, at each plate piece 32 thereof, a groove 17, a
slit 18 and a round hole 19. The groove 17 is formed concave on an upper face of each
plate piece 32 and extends radially from the inner to outer circumferential edges
along a center line of the plate piece 32. The grooves 17 are located at same positions
of the spacers 4A and 4B, and in particular, at positions circumferentially spaced
from each other by 90 degrees on two perpendicular center lines of the spacers 4A
and 4B. The grooves 17 are utilized as passages for guiding a bundling wire in order
to wrap the bundling wire on a surface of the coil unit 8.
[0023] Meanwhile, the slit 18 is formed as a narrow elongated hole formed to extend from
the inner circumferential edge of each plate piece 32 at a location corresponding
to a support bar 9, and the slits 18 of the plate pieces 32 are provided at location
circumferentially spaced by 90 degrees from each other on the two perpendicular center
lines of the spacers 4A and 4B so that the four support bars 9 may pass through the
slits 18 at a time. The slits 18 are provided, in the spacer 4A of the first type,
at locations displaced by 3 to the left side in the counterclockwise direction of
the grooves 17, but in the spacer 4B of the second type, at locations displaced by
5
° to the right side in the clockwise direction. Consequently, the slits 18 are provided
in a rotational phase relationship in which they are displaced by an angle corresponding
to reversible rotation angle of 8
° of the support bars 9 between the spacers 4A and 4B.
[0024] The round holes 19 are provided at same locations of the spacers 4A and 4B. In particular,
the round holes 19 are provided at locations spaced equally from the center of the
spacers and displaced by same rotational angles from the grooves 17, for example,
at locations spaced by 5 to the right side in the clockwise direction. The round holes
19 are formed as holes having a suitable diameter to allow the centering shafts 20
to be loosely fitted therein.
[0025] A winding operation of the wire winding apparatus of the present embodiment will
be described below with reference to Fig. 1, Fig. 5 which is a plan view and illustrates
the relationship in arrangement between the spacers 4 and the support bars 9 and Fig.
6 which is a flow chart illustrating different steps of the operation in an order.
While the supporting bar 34 is removed, the spacers 4A and 4B are placed alternately
onto the support bars 9 and positioned such that the round holes 19 thereof may be
aligned with each other. Then, the pair of centering shafts 20 are inserted into pairs
of diametrically opposing ones of the round holes 19, and the supporting bar 34 is
secured to the frame 23. Consequently, the spacers 4A and 4B are placed on the support
bars 9 such that the round holes 19 thereof are aligned with each other and the slits
18 thereof are displaced by the fixed rotational angle of 8 between each adjacent
ones of the spacers 4A and 4B while the slits 18 between each every other ones of
the spacers 4A and 4B have a same phase and the support bars 9 correspond to two supporting
points spaced by 8 from each other. In this condition, the spacer 4A at the lowermost
stage which is supported in direct contact with the support bars 9 is naturally positioned
such that the slits 18 thereof are displaced by 8 from the corresponding support bars
9.
[0026] Here, a value of a length of the wire 7 for one bundle is set to a wire length counter
(step S1), and then, a number of bundles to be wound up onto the take-up frame 2 is
set to a bundle number counter (step S2). Then, the motor 16 is started to rotate
the turntable 1 and the take-up frame 2 to start a winding operation (step S3) to
cause the take-up frame 2 to take up the wire 7 delivered at a predetermined speed
from the wire delivery means. Simultaneously, the wire length counter is started to
measure the length of the thus delivered wire 7 (step S4). The thus delivered wire
7 is wound around an upper portion of the winding portion 22 of the take-up frame
2 and drops while being rotated around the take-up frame 2 so that it is accumulated
into a coil on the base portion 21. When a predetermined amount of the wire 7 is taken
up so that the predetermined wire length is reached to form a coil unit 8, the wire
length counter detects this and outputs and output signal (step S5). In response to
the output signal of the wire length counter, the electromagnetic reversible control
valve 26 is automatically changed over to drive the rotary actuator 24 and the wire
length counter is reset (step S6). As a result, the support bars 9 are rotated by
80. Consequently, the spacer 4A at the lowermost stage comes to a position at which
the slits 18 thereof are aligned with the support bars 9 and accordingly it is not
supported by the support bars 9 anymore. Consequently, during the winding operation,
only the spacer 4A at the lowermost stage drops passing the support bars 9 until it
is received by the coil unit 8 around the winding portion 22 of the take-up frame
2.
[0027] In this instance, since the spacer 4A drops while being rotated synchronously with
the turntable 1 and the take-up frame 2, it will not be caught at all by an intermediate
portion of the winding portion 22 and can smoothly move and be received by the coil
unit 8 with certainty. After the spacer 4A at the lowermost stage drops, a winding
operation is continued. On the other hand, on the spacer supply means 3 side, the
spacers including the spacer 4B at the next stage are supported on the support bars
9, and the bundle number counter is incremented by one (step S7). Until after the
bundle counter detects that the designated number of bundles are taken up (step S8),
the operations at steps S4 to S7 are repeated in a similar manner as described above.
In this instance, the rotary actuator 24 is driven reversely to allow the spacer 4B
at the next stage to drop. In this manner, each spacer 4 drops onto a coil unit 8
at a given time while being rotated together with the take-up frame 2. Then, after
the designated number of bundles are taken up, the winding operation is stopped, and
the bundle number counter is reset (step S9).
[0028] By the way, if it is assumed that, with a conventional wire winding apparatus wherein
the take-up frame 2 is moved out and in each time a coil unit 8 is wound up, about
15 minutes are required for the operation for moving the take-up frame 2 out and in,
then with the wire winding apparatus of the present embodiment, if a total of six
coil units 8 are obtained in a single continuous taking up operation, then five operations
for moving the take-up frame 2 out and in become unnecessary, and consequently, the
time required for taking up six coil units can be reduced by a total of 15 x 5 = 75
minutes, that is, by more than one hour.
[0029] Figs. 7(A) to 7(C) illustrate different wire length measuring methods used in order
to supply spacers in the wire winding apparatus of the present embodiment. In the
method illustrated in Fig. 7(A), the speed of rotation of the finish drum 35 of the
wire drawing machine is detected by a rotary encoder 36, and the value of the thus
detected speed is used to calculate the length of the wire 7 by a programmable logic
controller (PLC) 37. In particular, the programmable logic controller 37 performs
a calculation of the wire length = diameter of the finish drum 35 x 3.14 x speed of
rotation and, when the value obtained by the calculation reaches the present wire
length, the programmable logic controller 37 sends a signal to the electromagnetic
directional control valve 26 so that a spacer 4 is thrown in and supplied. In the
meantime, in the method illustrated in Fig. 7(B), the wire 7 being supplied is wrapped
around a length measuring wheel 38 disposed between the finish drum 35 of the wire
drawing machine and the winding apparatus, and the speed of rotation of the length
measuring wheel 38 is detected by the rotary encoder 36. Then, the wire length is
calculated and a spacer 4 is thrown in and supplied in a similar manner as in the
method of Fig. 7(A) described above. On the other hand, in the method illustrated
in Fig. 7(C), the speed (length) of the wire 7 which is fed between the finish drum
35 of the wire drawing machine and the winding apparatus is measured by an optical
length measuring instrument 39 (calculated by a control unit 40 for exclusive use),
and when a pre-set wire length is reached, a signal is sent out from the programmable
logic controller 37 to the electromagnetic directional control valve 26 to thrown
in and supply a spacer 4 in a similar manner as in the methods of Figs. 7(A) and 7(B).
A spacer 4 can be supplied at a suitable timing with certainty for each coil unit
8 in this manner.
[0030] While, in the embodiment described above, the spacer supply means 3 is shown as an
apparatus of the type which is controlled by a pneumatic circuit, the present invention
is not limited to the apparatus of such a specific form, and it is also possible to
modify the wire winding apparatus of the embodiment such that the mechanism for reversibly
rotating the support bars 9 includes an electromagnetic solenoid to which power is
supplied by way of a slip ring or an electromechanical conversion apparatus including
a motor, for example, a stepping motor. Also such modifications are included in the
scope of the present invention.
[0031] Having now fully described the invention, it will be apparent to one of ordinary
skill in the art that many changes and modifications can be made thereto without departing
from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth herein.