EP3325181B1

EP3325181B1 - Vibrator device

Info

Publication number: EP3325181B1
Application number: EP15898841.0A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Pentti KUIVAMÄKI; Mikko Lindeman
Original assignee: MOVAX Oy
Current assignee: MOVAX Oy
Priority date: 2015-07-17
Filing date: 2015-07-17
Publication date: 2023-08-09
Anticipated expiration: 2035-07-17
Also published as: EP3325181A4; WO2017013303A1; EP3325181A1; PL3325181T3

Description

The invention relates to a vibrator device for producing impacts or vibration with adjustable intensity, the vibrator device comprising at least two rotatable eccentric masses whereby each mass is placed to rotate on its own shaft, and the rotation of said shafts is arranged to take place by at least one rotating motor, and that between said eccentric masses there is provided a mechanism conveying rotational force between said masses and including a shaft conveying rotational force, as well as a wheel, such as a gear, rotating in cooperation with both said masses and provided with a centre opening.
From prior art, the patent publication US 5,458,204 , a vibrator device is known, which comprises four shafts provided with eccentric masses, each shaft having its own rotating motor. The shafts and the masses on them are synchronised to rotate at the same speed and to maintain the same rotational phase by means of a flexible force-conveying belt passing through gears supported by the shafts. The mutual phase angle of the shafts located one under the other and their masses is adjusted by shifting the position of the sheave guiding the running of the belt that conveys rotational force. This way, eccentric masses located one under the other or in the same group may be made to rotate in the desired mutual phase angle. So, in a four-shaft vibrator device, the rotation of the upper and lower shaft of both sides of the vibrator device is adjusted.
A drawback with the publication US 5,458,204 is that in a vibrator device having four or more shafts, the shafts or shaft groups on both sides must be made to rotate mutually at the same phase as a group as a mirror image of each other. When each shaft is rotated by its own hydraulic motor, only the shafts joined by the same flexible element rotate mutually at the desired speed at the desired phases. When each shaft is rotated by its own adjusted rotating motor, the adjustment of the rotation of the motors becomes difficult. Secondly, the force-conveying belt should not act as the conveyor of the actual rotational force from one shaft to another.
Furthermore, vibration adjustment devices are known from publications US2002/01 04393 and JPH05237459 . In these, the mutual phase angle of two shafts is changed by means of a screw thread formed at an end of a shaft, by axially moving the shaft in an opening formed in the hub of one shaft, which has a mating thread for the aforementioned screw thread. The drawback with these is that the hydraulic fluid that makes the shaft move must be fed to a rotating structure, and the shaft further requires support in the axial direction. The patent publication US 5,177,386 describes a vibration generator with a phase adjustment shaft and a double acting cylinder as driving means for moving the phase adjustment shaft in the axial direction.
In order to obviate these drawbacks, the present invention provides a vibrator device as defined in independent claim 1, by means of which the problems referred to in the above may be avoided.
An advantage of the invention is that the masses m1, m2 moved to different positions with respect to one another by means of a phase shift move to their positions reliably and also reliably stay there. The transfer of rotational force in the structure has very small clearances, resulting in that the vibration caused by the eccentric masses will not be multiplied to the structures to stress them. In a vibrator device provided with four or more eccentric masses, the rotation of eccentric masses moved to the desired phase difference with respect to other masses also takes place, in accordance with the invention, as a group by means of a gear transmission, whereby these eccentric masses mutually stay reliably in synchronization at all the values of the phase difference.
A further advantage of the invention is that the mechanism establishing the desired phase difference may, if need be, transfer rotational force from one eccentric mass to another, whereby the number of rotating motors may be reduced.
In the following, the invention will be described in closer detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which

Figure 1 shows the mechanism intended for rotating two eccentric masses located one after the other in the direction of impact of the vibrator device, by means of which a phase shift is created between said masses.
Figure 2 shows a side view of the mechanism of Figure 1 .
Figure 3 is a section view of the mechanism of Figure 2 along the line A-A.
Figure 4 is a section view of the mechanism of Figure 2 along the line B-B.
Figure 5 is a schematic representation of a four-mass vibrator device adjusted to 0 power.
Figure 6 shows the vibrator device of Figure 5 after the masses have rotated by 180°.
Figure 7 shows the vibrator device of Figures 5 and 6 with the phase shifts set on the maximum impact.

Figures 1 and 2 show the mechanism fixed to a casing 9 of the vibrator device and installed in the direction of impact, changing the mutual phase shift of the eccentric masses m1, m2 and even transferring rotational force, if need be, comprising conical secondary gears 8 from which the rotational force is conveyed to the eccentric masses m1, m2 (not shown). The primary gears are interconnected by means of a shaft 1 led through a conical part 6, the shaft showing the ends provided with threaded ends 2, only. The eccentric masses m 1, m2 are coupled to parts 12. The shaft 1 transfers rotational movement between the primary gears and specifically maintains the phase difference set between said primary gears, the phase difference also having an effect between the eccentric masses m1, m2 because they are connected by a shaft to the corresponding primary gears. In this example, the gear 10 supplies the rotational force for a lubricating pump.
Figures 3 and 4 show in greater detail the mechanism implementing phase shift, which primarily shifts the phase between the wheels 3 located at different ends of the shaft 1 and acting as the primary gears. The primary gears are fixed to bushings 4, the inner opening of which is threaded, and the ends of the shaft 1 have a matching mating threading for this. The shaft 1 transmitting rotational force may be moved in its direction so that the right-handed and left-handed threaded parts 2 establish the required maximum phase difference of 180° between the primary gears as the shaft 1 is moving to the extent of its play. This phase difference for the masses m1 in relation to masses m2 is formed through the movement of the shaft 1 and angle gears (Figure 5 - 7).
In this example, the shaft 1 is moved by means of a hydraulic cylinder consisting of a stationary non-rotating cylinder part 6 and a piston 5 moving therein. The piston 5 is not connected to the shaft 1, but to a separate inner cylinder part 7 which moves with the shaft 1 . The shaft 1 is fit with bearings to rotate inside the cylinder part 7, with the cylinder part 7 moving the shaft 1 in the axial direction. With this solution, the piston 5 does not rotate within the cylinder 6. The power unit M, as in Figure 6, used in the vibrator device is connected to the shaft of the eccentric mass m1 to rotate said mass m1 directly.
Figures 5 and 6 show diagrammatically a mechanism creating a phase difference, arranged in a four-mass vibrator device and placed in connection with a vibration casing 9, as well as the eccentric masses m1, m2 included in the device. In these Figures, the mutual phase differences between the masses m1 and m2 are adjusted to the value 180°, whereby the eccentric forces of the masses m1, m2 of both of the adjacent pairs are cancelled in the direction of the arrow. The rotating directions of all the masses m1, m2 are additionally so chosen that the forces caused by eccentricity are cancelled in the lateral direction, too. In this example, rotating the vibrator device takes place with two hydraulic motors M that are placed on the shafts of the eccentric masses m1, m2 on the left. The rotational force is transmitted from the shafts on the left through gearing 13 to the shafts on the right. The mechanism creating phase shift described in Figures 1 - 4 is placed between the masses m1, m2 on the right, in the direction of impact.
In Figure 7, the eccentric masses m1 have been rotated by 180° by means of the cylinder 6 and the movement of the shaft 1 so that, in both directions of the arrow, the forces resulting from the eccentricity of the masses m1 and m2 affect in the same direction. In this case, too, the lateral forces are still cancelled. In the example of Figure 7, the vibrator device strikes at the maximum power both upward and downward. Naturally, partial striking power may also be used when the phase difference between the masses m1, m2 is changed as desired between 0 and 180° by moving the shaft 1 .
With the solutions of Figures 5-7, the masses m1 mutually rotate at the same phase but as a mirror image. The vibrator device of Figures 5-7 works even when rotated by just one hydraulic motor M. In such a case, the shaft 6 of the mechanism creating the phase difference transfers the rotational force from the mass pairs m 1, m2 to the other pair m 1, m2.
Rotating a four-mass vibrator device may take place by means of four rotating motors, each or which rotates the shaft of its own mass. The number of rotating motors may be reduced when the shaft that is rotated with the rotating motor also rotates an adjacent shaft by a chain or gear transmission. Furthermore, the number of rotating motors is also reduced by the option that the mechanism creating phase difference transmits rotational force to one or more shafts of an eccentric mass as well.
In an embodiment of a four-mass vibrator device, there are two mechanisms establishing phase difference, that is, installed between both mass pairs m1, m2 in the direction of impact. According to the invention, power transmission provided with an angle gear is described. In an example not forming part of the invention, other ways of power transmission may be used.

Claims

A vibrator device for producing impacts or vibration with adjustable intensity, the vibrator device comprising at least two rotatable eccentric masses (m1, m2) whereby each mass is placed to rotate on its own shaft, and the rotation of said shafts is arranged to take place by at least one rotating motor (M), wherein between said eccentric masses (m1, m2) there is provided a mechanism conveying rotational force between said masses and including an interconnecting shaft (1) conveying rotational force, as well as wheels (3) rotating in cooperation with both said masses and provided with a centre opening, characterised in that said wheels (3) are interconnected by said interconnecting shaft (1) whose both ends contain a mating thread (2) fitting a screw thread arranged in the centre opening on both of said wheels; a power unit is configured to move the interconnecting shaft (1) in the axial direction to adjust the mutual rotation of the masses (m1, m2), and a piston (5) movable within a hydraulic cylinder (6) is arranged on a cylindrical piece (7) arranged around the interconnecting shaft (1), wherein angle gears are fixed to the shafts of the eccentric masses (m1, m2) so that the wheels (3) acting as primary gears rotate on the same rotational axial line and the interconnecting shaft (1) is fitted with a bearing so as to rotate within the non-rotating cylindrical piece (7) placed around it.
A vibrator device as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that rotational movement is directly conveyed from the rotating motor (M) to at least one shaft comprising an eccentric mass.
A vibrator device as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the hydraulic cylinder (6) is immovably fixed to the vibrator device.
A vibrator device as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that at least one rotating motor (M) comprises a first rotating motor (M) and a second rotating motor (M), wherein the first rotating motor is configured to rotate a first one of the eccentric masses (m1), and the second rotating motor is configured to rotate a second one of the eccentric masses (m2).
A vibrator device as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the rotating shafts of at least one eccentric mass group, either the group consisting of the masses (m1) or of the masses (m2), are interconnected by means of a gear transmission (13) or a chain transmission.