DK1818114T3 - Rørrensningsmaskine with a drum to a spring shaft - Google Patents

Description

Pipe cleaning machine with a drum for a snake

The invention relates to a pipe-cleaning machine according to the preamble of claim 1.

Clogging of pipes and channels for sewage and stormwater, referred to in brief as pipes, is an annoying but frequent occurrence. The causes are varied: household cloths made of paper and textile material washed away, solid materials such as hygiene products, solidified residues from building materials such as cement, chalk and paint, encrusted with lime and, last but not least, the roots of plants which, on searching for water, penetrate joints of pipes, branch out and then serve as means to snag the aforementioned contaminants. In addition, pipe constrictions, pipe manifolds and pipes that are not clean when installed prove to be undesirable snags.

The last resort in such cases is to use known pipe cleaning machines with rotating spring shafts that snake through the pipes, and are referred to in the industry as a cleaning spirals, and to the ends of which various cleaning tools are attached. It should be noted that the various types of blockages and tools require significantly different driving forces and also varying temporal applications of forces during the cleaning process.

For pipe cleaning machines with spring shafts, these represent critical elements that also significantly influence the performance. The spring shaft, which can be extended by connecting pieces, behaves like a threaded screw during operation, when working through cross-sectional constrictions and elbows of the pipe or channel to be cleaned, and can be reversed. At their drive end, these spring shafts are mounted in a motorised drum and are moved forward out of the latter by a guide head and can be drawn back into the drum. At their power output end, they carry replaceable cleaning tools that work through the pipe blockages by applying high and greatly varying torques. These cleaning tools, inter alia, include retractable borers, sawtooth cutting heads, cross blade borers, root cutters, chain spinning heads with spikes, club borers, hopper borers, blade borers and hard metal drill heads.

In this case, the inertia of the drum and the spring characteristic of the spring play a crucial role in that they in fact form unwanted energy storage for the drive power. This is tolerable as long as the maximum torque for an extended guide of the spring shaft is not exceeded. If this happens, however, then the spring shaft forms α-shaped entangling or knotting, not only along their free paths but also inside the drum, which results in beating movements and the blocking of further movement, wherein sometimes the entanglement cannot be eliminated and the spring shaft becomes unusable due to permanent deformation. It is especially the drum with its varying content of spring shaft, which decisively affects the load problem.

This leads to the following problem: only the geometry and the general operation of the tools are known. However, the torque demand resulting from the sum of the torques of the cleaning operation and the friction outside the drum as far as the tools, constitutes a counter torque that needs to be overcome by the motor. In this case, the length of the spring shaft and the couplings between the sections of the spring shaft play a crucial role. This is communicated to the motor at the drive end but is delayed and distorted. There are, in turn, the moments of inertia of the drum with its contents and motor, which preclude short-term and precise control. Such problems do not occur in the case of tools rigidly connected to a drive. US 3 370 599 A, EP 0 443 290 A2. and DE 102 27 204 B4 disclose that the inner end of an arc-shaped guide tube for the spring shaft is formed as a coil spring, which rotates with the drum in order to receive the spring shaft. However, this cannot prevent the spring shaft from rolling over in the form of an "a" if overloaded by a high drive torque between the guide tube and the stored coils of the spring shaft, which leads to permanent deformation if the yield point of the material is exceeded, causing the permanent destruction of the spring shaft and the blocking of its movement, resulting in complicated repairs. US 6 243 905 B1 also discloses the arrangement inside an analogous drum and coaxial with the drum casing of a conical and large-volume guide body for the spring shaft, whose tip protrudes out of the drum opening. However, the guidance properties are limited and, in particular, do not exist at the apex, which is first contacted by the spring shaft. In addition, the annular gap between the drum opening and the drawbar expands abruptly, so that there are no longer any guidance properties present inside the drum. In particular, the bending stiffness of the spring shaft does not contribute to the guidance properties. DE 25 35 714 A1 discloses the drum of a pipe cleaning machine in the form of a pneumatic tyre on which a trumpet-shaped guide body is formed for the spring shaft. The drum is detachably connected to a disc-shaped driven rear wall on the opposite side. For the purpose of avoiding rollovers of the spring shaft on being stored in the drum, the rear wall is preceded by a cup-shaped device 28 which is rotatable independently of the drum and is provided with four radial grooves or channels 72. The spring shaft can only enter into the drum through one of these channels 72. However, in order to avoid the spring shaft jamming in the channels 72, it is necessary that the device 28 can move in the opposite rotational direction to a limited extent. The limitation of the movement is described as mandatory, and for which a spring-loaded locking mechanism is provided, (page 12, para. 2, to page 15, para. 1, and Fig. 8 to 11). The replacement of a knotted spring shaft is only possible after separation of the drum and the drive. Therefore, the design and manufacturing effort is considerable, including the production of a complex-shaped drum with the trumpet entrance. US 2 167 268 discloses the fixing of a truncated conical insert 25 in front of a shaftshaped, in radial section, rear wall 22, and the connection of the edge of the rear wall with a trumpet-shaped drum 18. To avoid rollovers and buckling of the spring shaft, a thin ring 30 is arranged in the space between the rear wall 22 and the drum 18 on the periphery of the insert 25 and concentric thereto, wherein the distance of the thin ring 30 from the insert 25 is only slightly greater than the diameter of the spring shaft 27 (page 2, right column,, lines 13 to 21). However, this cannot definitively prevent jamming of the tool in front of or following the ring on the occurrence of rollovers or buckling, especially as the thin ring itself forms a relatively sharp resistance. In the event of such a rollover, the screw connection between the rear wall and the drum would have to be removed, wherein the complete windings of stored spring shaft would fall out upon under relaxation of the spring forces. And, again, the trumpet-shaped drum can only be produced at great expense. DE 35 35 972 A1 discloses a pipe cleaning machine wherein the one-piece drum is divided into an inner chamber 39 and an outer chamber 41 by two axially parallel beads, wherein the two beads comprise a coaxial passage 50 in the form of an annular gap between them (Claim 16). In a second embodiment (Fig. 3 and 4), a frusto-conical hub 70 is inserted into a central opening of the rear wall. The end wall 24a has a frusto-conical guide member 36 opposite this hub 70, wherein the looping of the spring shaft (line 40) at the drum centre is still further reduced, in particular when a spring shaft with a smaller diameter is used (page 18, last paragraph). However, the production of such a one-piece drum is very complex, in particular the production of the beads. However, when it comes to the formation of loops and buckling in the outer chamber 41, the actual space of the spring shaft 40 and the annular gap 50 quite considerably prevents the expansion of the tangled spring shaft and its becoming unusable, but, above all, affects the insertion of a new spring shaft when the drum is expanded and separated from its drive. In the case of a separation of the drum from the rear wall, the total weight of the spring shaft remains in the removed drum. US 2005/0193509 A1 discloses for small appliances, a spring shaft laid in a narrow cylindrical gap of a double drum and drawn out again from this. In this case, the inner end of the spring shaft is connected to an electric motor, which rotates the spring shaft about its own axis inside the stationary cylinder gap. The gap width should correspond at least to the diameter of the spring shaft and be smaller than its diameter (Claim 13). In a first embodiment, there is a drum with a vertical axis and without any relative movement of the gap walls (Fig. 1 to 7). In a second embodiment, there is a drum with a horizontal axis, wherein the inner gap wall is rotatable with respect to the opposite stationary outer gap wall (Fig. 8 to 12). The aim is to make possible a stronger output and retraction of the spring shaft. In addition, in both cases, the drum is not the driving source for rotating the spring shaft, and the result is a power-consuming grinding of the spring shaft against the gap walls and along its long, sinuous lines of contact. EP 0 065 474 A1 discloses a very complex-built mobile pipe cleaning machine with a driven drum, which comprises an opening 163 concentric to the drum axis in its drive-remote end wall. A guide housing 161 protrudes into this in such a way as to leave an annular gap, wherein the guide housing 161 consists of a conical portion and a cylindrical portion and is supported to be rotated independently of the drum. Starting from the feed and retraction mechanism for the spring shaft, a fork-shaped guide means for the spring shaft is fed through the guide housing 161, wherein the two ends of the guide means are bolted to the cylindrical section of the guide housing. (Page 10, lines 8 to 27). The said annular gap, which is used for drainage, makes necessary a double and precisely coaxial storage drum 155 and guide housing 161. Nevertheless, it is not excluded that rollovers and buckling of the spring shaft may occur between the guide housing 161 and the cylinder wall of the drum. The expansion of a knotted or otherwise damaged spring shaft becomes particularly difficult to remedy in this case. First, the guiding means together with its shaft and the shaft of the drum must be pivoted forward, wherein the drum with the contents of the spring shaft must still be removed from the guide housing (Fig. 2). US 3 897 602 A discloses a manual cleaning system for pipes according to the preamble of claim 1. US 3 605 158 A discloses the arrangement on a frame of a drum and a motor, whose torque is transmitted to the drum through a belt. The drum has a chamber between a cylindrical outer casing and an inner drum fixed to it that is slightly shorter than the outer casing. The axial gap is bridged by a cylindrical piece, in which a single arc-shaped channel is arranged to carry a spring shaft, which fills this channel almost without any air gap. Thus, this device has considerable similarity with the device according to the above-mentioned DE 102 27 204 84 with respect to the guide for the spring shaft. The outer casing according to the US 3 605 158 A is connected via a detachable annular disc and a conical part with a cylindrical extension which is guided in a bearing. The spring shaft is passed through to the cleaning tool. In addition, the drum is supported on a rotatably-mounted further shaft via its rear wall and radial ribs. Due to this complex mounting, the entire rotational body can balance the relative movements against one another in order to solve the problem of reducing to a minimum the buckling and entanglements, as well as the frictional forces of the spring shaft with respect to the contact surfaces. This requires an enormous constructive effort and makes it difficult to open the chamber. The unscrewing of the conical section does not permit access to the chamber. Rather, the cylindrical piece with the arcuate channel must be removed. Most importantly, spring shafts, which are connected together via the usual clutches, cannot be guided through the narrow ducts.

The invention is therefore based on the object of providing a drum structure, which not only excludes, or at least greatly reduces, the risk of knot formation or an a-shaped entanglement of the spring shaft within the drum, but also increases the storage volume and facilitates access to the interior of the drum with low structural complexity.

This object is inventively achieved by the characteristics of claim 1.

The object is fully achieved by the invention. In particular, a drum structure is provided, with which not only the danger of a knot formation or an α-shaped entanglement of the spring shaft inside the drum is avoided or at least greatly reduced, even if such a malfunction should occur, but also the storage volume is increased and access to the interior of the drum facilitated with low structural complexity.

It is particularly advantageous in further embodiments of the invention, if, either individually or in combination: • the first guide body is limited on its outer side and the second guide body on its inner side by conical surfaces having at least substantially the same opening angle, • the opening angle is selected of between 40 and 90 degrees, in particular 60 degrees. • the second guide body, starting from its smallest diameter, is provided with a cylindrical extension for passing through the spring shaft, * the extension is preferably in front of the opening of the drum, * the width of the guide channel is selected between 1.5 times and 5 times the diameter of the spring shaft, and/or, if * the ring connection piece is provided with window openings.

An embodiment of the inventive object and its mode of action and other advantages will be explained in more detail with reference to Fig. 1 to 3:

Fig. 1 shows a front exterior view of the essential parts of a pipe cleaning machine with a drum,

Fig. 2 shows an axial section through the drum of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 shows an exploded view of the object according to Fig. 3

Fig. 1 shows a pipe cleaning machine 1 which has a machine stand 2 with mounting feet 3. The machine stane 2 defines an axis of rotation 4 running perpendicular to the drawing plane by means of a corresponding bearing. A drum 5 with a frontal opening 6 is rotatable about this rotation axis 4. The drive is effected by an electric motor 7 having a V-belt pulley 8, via which the V-belt 9 is guided. The electric motor 7 is mounted on a rear upright part of the machine stand 2, namely through the interposition of a rocker 10, which is supported at one end on a pivot bearing 11, and is height-adjustable in order to adjust the belt tension by a set screw 12 at the other end. The belt can be guided either by a drum 5 with the rotatably connected pulley or directly via a casing section of the drum 5.

The mounting feet 3 are connected by a cross-member 13 on the front side, on which a feed device 14 is arranged. This feed device 14 has guide rollers (not shown) acting on the spring shaft. The feed device 14 becomes a retraction device for the spring shaft 27 (Fig. 2) through switching. The machine frame 2 can also be provided with skids or castors.

Up to this point, the device is state of the art, for example, according to DE 102 27 204 B4.

Fig. 2 shows the new and improved formation of the drum 5. This has a rear wall 15 with a flat radial bearing surface 16 for attachment to a shaft (not shown). A cone-shaped first guide body 17 projects from the rear wall 15 that is coaxial to the axis A-A and 4 in the inner space 18 of the drum 5. The opening angle "β" of the first guide body 17 is 60 degrees, but can be varied between 40 and 90 degrees. A second funnel-shaped and coaxial guide body 19 is in front the first guide body 17, having at least substantially the same opening angle, and delimiting a hollow conical guide channel 20 whose mutual surface lines run parallel to one another and at a distance of at least 1.5 times the diameter of the spring shaft 27.

Moreover, the drum 5 has a drum shell 21 that is slightly flared towards the opening 6, and which ends in an axis-parallel fastening flange 23 via a radially-inwardly-directed annular part 22. In the area of the largest diameter of the second guide body 19, there is a coaxial annular piece 24, which is provided with window openings 25. This annular piece 24 is detachable from the fastening flange 23. Furthermore, the second guide body 19 has a cylindrical extension 26 in the area of its smallest diameter.

As can be seen from Fig. 2, the composite of the second guide body 19 and the annular piece 24 forms an easy-to-manufacture component. The largely cylindrical annular piece 24 extends coaxially to the vicinity of the rear wall 15 and then protrudes in the conical guide body 19 during the direction reversal. A conventional spring shaft 27 passes through this extension 26 and the guide channel 20 into the interior 18 of the drum 5 and can be stored in one or more layers there. According to the setting of the feed device 14, the spring shaft is either pulled out from the drum 5 or inserted into it (double arrow 29).

It follows that the interdependence of the narrowness of the guide channel 20 and the intrinsic stiffness of the spring shaft 27 tends towards "a"-shaped rollover and knotting. This interdependence also leads to a more targeted deposition of the individual winding on the drum shell 21. It is especially clear in Fig. 2 that, due to the second guide body 19 and the annular piece 24 and the opening 6 therein, there results a significant reduction in the clearance inside the drum 5, so that the diameter of the drum shell 21 can also be increased accordingly.

Using the same reference numerals, Fig. 3 now shows a significant advantage of the invention, namely, that the interior 18 of the drum 5, after expansion of the second guide body 19, is available with the annular piece 24 for manipulation if, for example, irregularities in the filing of the coils of the spring shaft 27 should arise. In addition, for this purpose, the drum 5 need not be detached from its shaft; further it also bears, if necessary, the relatively high weight of the "stored" length of the spring shaft. This makes possible the floating support of the drum 5. Although the extension 26 may be additionally mounted in a removable carriage 14, this is not essential.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 1 Pipe cleaning machine 2 Machine stand 3 Mounting feet 4 Axis of rotation 5 Drum 6 Opening 7 Electric motor 8 V pulley 9 V belt 10 Rocker 11 Pivot bearing 12 Adjusting screw 13 Cross-member 14 Feed device 15 Rear wall 16 Bearing surface 17 First guide body 18 Interior 19 Second guide body 20 Guide channel 21 Drum shell 22 Annular part 23 Fastening flange 24 Annular connecting piece 25 Window openings 26 Extension 27 Spring shaft 28 Double arrow 29 Double arrow A-A Axis β" Opening angle

Claims (8)

RØRRENSNINGSMASKINE MED EN TROMLE TIL EN FJEDERAKSEL PATENTKRAVPIPE CLEANING MACHINE WITH A DRUM FOR A SPRING SHAFT PATENT REQUIREMENT 1. Rørrensningsmaskine (1) med en motordrevet tromle (5), som kan rotere om en akse (4, A-A) og en fremføringsanordning (14) til fremføring og tilbagetrækning af en fjederaksel (27), hvor tromlen omfatter en bagvæg (15) til montering til en aksel, en tromleskal (21), en ringformet del (22) med en åbning (6) og et første koaksialt føringslegeme (17) til fjederakslen (27), hvor nævnte føringslegeme strækker sig ud fra bagvæggen (15), og hvor der er anbragt en føringskanal (20) til fjederakslen (27) foran det første føringslegeme (17), a) føringskanalen (20) er begrænset i forhold til det første føringslegeme (17) af et andet konisk føringslegeme (19), som sammen danner en konisk ringformet spalte, b) den ringformede del (22) af tromlen (5) strækker sig radialt indad og ender i en koncentrisk fastgørelsesflange (23), c) det andet føringslegeme (19) omfatter et koncentrisk ringformet forbindelsesstykke (24), som strækker sig fra fastgørelsesflangen (23) i retning mod bagvæggen (15) og, i en afstand fra bagvæggen (15), overføres i den modsatte retning ind i det andet føringslegeme (19), og d) det ringformede forbindelsesstykke (24) med det andet føringslegeme (19) er løsbart forbundet med fastgørelsesflangen (23) for at blotlæge åbningen (6), kendetegnet ved, at rørrensningsmaskinen omfatter en maskinfod, og at der er dannet en passage til fjederakslen (27) mellem bagvægen (15) og det andet føringslegeme (19).A pipe cleaning machine (1) with a motor driven drum (5) which can rotate about an axis (4, AA) and a feeding device (14) for advancing and retracting a spring shaft (27), the drum comprising a rear wall (15) for mounting to a shaft, a drum shell (21), an annular portion (22) with an opening (6) and a first coaxial guide body (17) to the spring shaft (27), said guide body extending from the rear wall (15), and wherein a guide channel (20) is provided for the spring shaft (27) in front of the first guide body (17), a) the guide channel (20) is restricted relative to the first guide body (17) by a second tapered guide body (19), which together form a tapered annular slot, b) the annular portion (22) of the drum (5) extends radially inward and ends in a concentric attachment flange (23), c) the second guide body (19) comprises a concentric annular connector (24) extending from the fastening flange (23) in the direction m and from the rear wall (15) and, at a distance from the rear wall (15), is transferred in the opposite direction into the second guide body (19), and d) the annular connector (24) with the second guide body (19) is releasably connected to the the fixing flange (23) to expose the opening (6), characterized in that the pipe cleaning machine comprises a machine foot and a passage is formed for the spring shaft (27) between the rear wall (15) and the second guide body (19). 2. Rørrensningsmaskine ifølge krav 1, kendetegnet ved, at det første føringslegeme (17) er begrænset på sin yderside og det andet føringslegeme (19) på sin inderside af koniske overflader med mindst i alt væsentligt ens åbningsvinkler ("β").A pipe cleaning machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the first guide body (17) is limited on its outside and the second guide body (19) on its inside of conical surfaces with at least substantially equal opening angles ("β"). 3. Rørrensningsmaskine ifølge krav 1, kendetegnet ved, at åbningsvinklerne ("β") er valgt mellem 40 og 90 grader.A pipe cleaning machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the opening angles ("β") are selected between 40 and 90 degrees. 4. Rørrensningsmaskine ifølge krav 3, kendetegnet ved, at åbningsvinklerne ("β") er 60 grader.Pipe cleaning machine according to claim 3, characterized in that the opening angles ("β") are 60 degrees. 5. Rørrensningsmaskine ifølge krav 1, kendetegnet ved, at det andet føringslegeme (19), startende fra sin mindste diameter, er tilvejebragt med en cylinderformet forlængelse (26) til passage af fjederakslen (27).Pipe cleaning machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the second guide body (19), starting from its smallest diameter, is provided with a cylindrical extension (26) for passage of the spring shaft (27). 6. Rørrensningsmaskine ifølge krav 5, kendetegnet ved, at forlængelsen (26) er udtrukket frem til foran tromlens (5) åbning (6).A pipe cleaning machine according to claim 5, characterized in that the extension (26) is extended forward of the opening (6) of the drum (5). 7. Rørrensningsmaskine ifølge krav 1, kendetegnet ved, at bredden af føringskanalen (20) er valgt mellem 1,5 gange og 5 gange diameteren af fjederakslen (27).Pipe cleaning machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the width of the guide channel (20) is selected between 1.5 times and 5 times the diameter of the spring shaft (27). 8. Rørrensningsmaskine ifølge krav 1, kendetegnet ved, at det ringformede forbindelsesstykke (24) er tilvejebragt med vinduesåbninger (25).Pipe cleaning machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the annular connection piece (24) is provided with window openings (25).