Roll former with three-dimensional sweep unit

• US 8,333,095 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2010
• Issued: 12/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Shape
• Original Assignee: Shape
• Inventors: Heinz, Richard D., Gould, Bryan E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Francis, Faye
• Application Number:
  US12/872,411
• Publication Number:
  US 20110067472A1
• Time in Patent Office: 840 Days
• Field of Search: 721/30, 721/32, 721/66, 721/68
• US Class Current: 72/168
• CPC Class Codes: B21D 5/08 making use of forming-rollers B21D5/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B21D 5/086 for obtaining closed hollow profiles
• CPC Class Codes: B21D 53/88 other parts for vehicles, e.g. cowlings, mudguards
• CPC Class Codes: B21D 7/08 by passing between rollers or through a curved die

Abstract

An apparatus includes, in combination, a roll former with rolls configured to form a structural beam from sheet material, and a sweep unit for longitudinally sweeping a beam in any of vertical, horizontal, or combination directions. The sweep unit has a first pair of forming rolls positioned to engage first opposing sides of the structural beam and has a second pair of forming rolls positioned to engage second opposing sides of the structural beam. The sweep unit movably supports the first and second pairs of forming rolls so that any selected one of the forming rolls continuously engages an associated side of the structural beam while an associated one of the forming rolls opposing the selected one forming roll moves downstream and around the selected one forming roll. This provides a very stable beam-bending condition promoting dimensional stability during the sweeping process, and hence dimensional accuracy and repeatability.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a roll former with rolls constructed to form sheet material into a structural beam defining a longitudinal line level and four sides; and

a sweep unit in-line with the roll former and constructed to selectively sweep the beam away from the longitudinal line level in both vertical and horizontal directions during continuous operation of the roll former, the sweep unit including a roll carrier including at least four orthogonally-related forming rolls rollingly engaging the four sides of the structural beam and each movable in at least one of an upstream and downstream direction for deforming the structural beam.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sweep unit is configured to selectively sweep the beam upward and downward vertically from the line level, and to selectively sweep the beam right and left horizontally from the line level.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the sweep unit is configured to selectively sweep the beam simultaneously in both vertical and horizontal directions to obtain a beam with swept sections lying outside of a single plane.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the rolls of the roll former are configured to make the beam tubular and with a rectangular cross section of at least 5 cm ×

10 cm, and further are configured to form steel having at least 40 ksi tensile strength and 2 mm wall thickness, and the sweep unit configured to automatically selectively and repeatedly form sweeps in multiple directions into the beam to form a series of beam segments that are each symmetrical about a center point and each having a length approximating a vehicle width; and

including a cutoff for cutting the beam segments from the beam as the beam exits the sweep unit.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sweep unit includes beam-forming members engaging top, bottom, right, and left sides of the beam, each of the forming members being movable toward the beam in conjunction with a coordinated opposite movement of an opposing one of the forming members to bend the beam while maintaining coordinated stabilizing contact therewith.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, including a programmable logic controller, and wherein the roll former and sweep unit are connected to the programmable logic controller for simultaneous control of the roll former and the sweep unit, whereby the entire roll-forming and beam-sweeping process can be automatically controlled.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sweep unit includes beam-forming members configured to sweep the roll formed beam in different planes and about different axes with varying radii while continuously receiving the beam from the roll former.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sweep unit includes forming rolls and a carrier for movably supporting the forming rolls in the sweep unit, and further includes a curvilinear positioning mechanism that maintains a relationship of forces between the forming rolls and the beam'"'"'s surfaces, and including a backup block supporting the carrier.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sweep unit includes sweep-forming rolls that engage multiple sides of the beam and further includes support structure for the sweep-forming rolls, the sweep-forming rolls being movable so that when a selected one of the sweep-forming rolls is on a concave side of the beam, the one sweep-forming roll does not cause an upstream-portion of the beam to go out of plane with the line level, but simultaneously when an opposite one of the sweep-forming rolls is on a convex side of the beam, the opposite one sweep-forming roll forces the beam to bend around a downstream side of the one sweep-forming roll.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein sweep unit includes hydraulic cylinder-driven sweeping components using linear transducers for sweep position sensing on the sweep unit.

11. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the forming rolls each are movably supporting for selective movement into the line level.

12. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the forming rolls each are selectively movable upstream.

13. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the forming rolls each are movable to deform the structural beam in to a repeated shape including first and second curves of different radii while the roll former continues to operate and rollingly form the structural beam.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a roll former with rolls constructed to form sheet material into a structural beam and to define a line level; and

a sweep unit downstream of the roll former and including at least one beam-deforming component constructed to selectively repeatedly sweep the beam along multiple different planes and with varying radii, the sweep unit further including at least one frame with a structural ring supported by a curvilinear bearing that supports the at least one beam-deforming component for selective movement upstream parallel the line level and for selective movement downstream into the line level to cause deforming of the structural beam.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the sweep unit includes controls for selectively, repeatedly and automatically forming predetermined bends into the beam to form beam segments that occur in the beam sequentially as a repeating non-planar shape.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the sweep unit is constructed to sweep the beam during continuous operation of the roll former and without stopping movement of the beam along the roll former.

17. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the sweep unit includes generally-elliptically-shaped positioning mechanisms that maintain a relationship of a pair of the beam-deforming components against opposite surfaces of the beam during operation of the sweep unit.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, including a backup block for maintaining a desired position of a carrier for the beam-deforming components during the sweeping operation.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the sweep unit includes an upstream support that stably supports the beam at a location adjacent and upstream of the sweep unit, and wherein the sweep unit is configured to sweep the beam only downstream of the sweep unit so that upstream portions of the beam do not go out of plane with roll former during a sweeping operation.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the beam-deforming components includes four orthogonally related sweep rolls that engages all sides of the beam, and the upstream support includes a narrow downstream nose that fits between the four orthogonally related sweep rolls.

21. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the sweep unit includes two sets of opposing rolls that are movably positioned and cooperatively supported so that any radii formed into the beam occurs by bending the beam around one of the rolls on a downstream side of the one roll rather than bending the beam over a stationary anvil.

22. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the sweep unit includes hydraulic cylinders for driving the sweep unit between different positions and includes at least one linear transducer for sweep-position sensing.

23. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the sweep unit includes a programmable controller controlling both the roll former and the sweep unit to form an integrated process with operation of the roll former.

24. An apparatus including in combination:

a roll former adapted to roll form a sheet into a continuous beam; and

a sweep unit attached to the roll former with opposing rollers configured to impart a longitudinal sweep into the continuous beam in any direction vertically or horizontally or in-between, the sweep unit including at least one pair of opposing first forming rollers and including at least one pair of opposing second forming rollers, and including curvilinear bearings that operably support the opposing first and second forming rollers, so the when one of the pair of first forming rollers is moves linearly upstream, another of the pair of first forming rollers is moved downstream along a curvilinear line into the line level so that the first pair of forming rollers continuously maintains a set spacing.

25. The apparatus defined in claim 24, wherein the sweep unit is configured to impart a sweep having different radii at different longitudinal locations along the continuous beam.

26. The apparatus defined in claim 24, wherein the sweep unit is configured to impart a sweep having a continuously changing radius.

27. An apparatus including, in combination:

a roll former with rolls configured to form a structural beam from sheet material; and

a sweep unit having a first pair of forming rolls positioned to engage first opposing sides of the structural beam and having a second pair of forming rolls positioned to engage second opposing sides of the structural beam, the sweep unit movably supporting the first and second pairs of forming rolls so that any selected one of the forming rolls continuously engages an associated side of the structural beam while an associated one of the forming rolls opposing the selected one forming roll moves downstream and around the selected one forming roll, the sweep unit including curvilinear bearings that supports movement along a multi curved path, extending generally along an upstream direction and that operably support the first and second pairs of forming rolls.