WO2017018960A2

WO2017018960A2 - Butt welding machine comprising a cutter for a plastic pipe

Info

Publication number: WO2017018960A2
Application number: PCT/TR2016/050243
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ahmet Koyun
Original assignee: Ahmet Koyun
Priority date: 2015-07-28
Filing date: 2016-07-28
Publication date: 2017-02-02
Also published as: WO2017018960A3

Abstract

This invention is related to a butt welding machine (2) comprising an upper bearing (10), a knife disc (12) comprising at least one trimmer (13) for adjusting the ends of plastic pipes, a bearing disc (11) performing bearing to the knife disc (12), a lower bearing (14) for attaching to another shaft and a cutter (1) having a driving disc (16) for moving the knife disc (12) by being driven, a movable claw (24) positioned such that it holds a plastic pipe to be processed, a fixed claw (27) positioned such that it holds a second pipe to be processed, two holders (32, 33) positioned such that they fix the ends of said pipes to be processed which are at the cutter (1) side; comprising a main power unit (21) positioned without direct contact to the cutter (1) and a shaft (23 and/or 25 and/or 28 and/or 29 and/or 30 or 31) transmitting the motion energy which it receives from the power unit (21) to the driving disc (16) for driving the cutter (1).

Description

DESCRIPTION

BUTT WELDING MACHINE COMPRISING A CUTTER FOR A PLASTIC PIPE Related Technical Field of the Invention

This invention is related to a butt welding machine comprising a cutter for cutting plastic pipes before they are joined via the butt welding process.

Prior Art

Because the usage places of the plastic pipes in the industry become common, the butt welding process of the plastic pipes gains importance and the butt welding machines for plastic pipes are developed in order to perform said welding process. After two plastic pipes are positioned butt to butt with the help of their claws such that they are equiaxed, these machines trim the unevennesses on the butt surfaces of the plastic pipes via their cutters. After the adjusting process, the cutter is removed from the machine and a heating plate is positioned between these two pipes and the pipes are approached until they contact to the heating plate.

The heating process is continued until the thermoplastic material on the butt surfaces of the pipes becomes semi-fluid in the butt welding process for plastic pipes. Then, the heating plates are removed from the machine and the pipes are pressed to each other under a certain pressure during a certain time period according to the international standards such that their butts contact with each other. Beading occurs at the butts of the pipes with the effect of this pressure and therefore two pipes are welded to each other. Before the butt welding process for plastic pipes, the cutter is removed from the welding machine after the adjusting process of the unevennesses on the butt surfaces of the pipes.

In this studies performed at the state of the art, driving of said cutter is provided from a hydromotor or motor mounted on the cutter. Weight of the cutter which provides the necessary energy for its driving from the motor on itself increases. That's why; before the welding process, the removing process of the cutter from the welding machine is getting harder after the cleaning of the surfaces with unevennesses at the butt parts of the pipes.

In the document with the number of CN203045804 at the state of the art, a trimmer used for adjusting the butt surface of a polyethylene pipe is mentioned.

In the embodiments at the state of the art, the cutter which needs to be positioned on the machine and removed continuously for the butt welding is very heavy and hard to carry. At the same time, pressing of the cutter to the pipe during cutting is changeable in the existing systems. The moment on the cutter is not constant and it changes between a maximum and a minimum moment. In addition, the thickness of shavings removed from the material by the cutter increases when the maximum moment is applied and this causes that the cutter squeezes between two pipes especially in the big machines. Because of the squeezing, it can be necessary that the machine is opened back and two pipes are removed from the cutter and pressed again. Because it removes much less shavings at the minimum torque, the cutting time is getting longer. In case that the cutter squeezes between two pipes and the maximum moment occurs, a stress formation occurs at the chassis of the machine and this stress formation decrease the life of the machine.

Brief Description of the Invention:

The aim of this invention is to realize a butt welding machine comprising a cutter for plastic pipes whose usage is made easier.

The disclosed butt welding machine of the invention adjusting the butts of plastic pipes and welding them to each other comprises; an upper bearing for being attached to a shaft, a knife disc comprising at least one trimmer on itself for adjusting the butts of plastic pipes, a bearing disc (covering all or partial circle) which performs bearing for the knife disc, a lower bearing for being attached to another shaft and a cutter having a driving disc for moving the knife disc by being driven,

a moving claw positioned such that it holds a plastic pipe which is processed, a fixed claw positioned such that it holds a second plastic pipe which is processed, two holders positioned such that it fixes the butts of said pipes processed which are at the cutter side,

a main power unit positioned without direct contact to the cutter and

a shaft transmitting the motion energy to the driving disc from the power unit for driving the cutter.

There is no motor mounted directly on the cutter of the disclosed butt welding machine of the invention. Therefore, the weight of the cutter is decreased and it becomes possible that it is lifted and put down back easily. That's why the motion of the cutter gets easy for cutting the pipes which is about to be welded and welding processes. In addition; the butt welding machine comprises two shafts wherein one of it is a single lower shaft and the other is a single upper shaft, which provide bearing to at least one movable claw, the fixed claw, holders, cutter for each from one end of each, and at the same time wherein the cutter and at least one movable claw is driven from. In an embodiment of the invention, the upper shaft comprises an upper driving shaft which provides driving and and an upper bearing shaft which provides bearing. In this embodiment, the lower shaft comprises a lower driving shaft which provides driving and a lower bearing shaft which provides bearing. The cutter and/or the movable claw are driven from the upper driving shaft and lower driving shaft. The butt welding machine comprises at least one shaft comprising a drive transmission element such as thread, belt, chain or trigger for using driving element.

The cutter comprises the knife disc having at least one trimmer on its one face or two faces (seeing opposite directions) for adjusting the butts of two plastic pipes at the cutting area at the same time. This disc comprising knives on itself comprises the geared part which provides driving of the cutter at the same time.

In another embodiment, the cutter is driven via the disc comprising knife on one face of the cutter, a separate disc comprising knife on the other face and a gear drive. The gear is at one of the two discs or exists as a separate gear at the middle.

The cutter comprises a driving disc which is driven from at least one desired point which is from the bottom, side or top.

In another embodiment, the cutter has a driving disc which is driven via friction without the gear drive.

The driving disc comprises a gear which makes bearing and drive transmission easier and such that it transmits the cutting moment transmission. The cutter comprises gear combinations with different sizes and amounts for providing that the machine works with different speeds.

The cutter also comprises at least one ball or a different kind (plain) bearing disc in order that the driving disc rotates around its own axis easily.

The cutter comprises one knife disc having at least one knife or two thin structured multiknife discs which have at least one knife for each on itself. In addition, the cutter comprises a lower bearing fixing element for fixing the lower bearing to the shaft where it is attached during the cutting process.

The butt welding machine comprises the main power unit comprising a motor or hydraulic or pneumatic structure. The butt welding machine comprises a cutter beared by using plain bearing or roller bearing of which covers at least semi circle of the cutter beginning from the point where it is driven. As another embodiment, bearing application at another point of the cutter is performed with two or one shaft where the cutter is attached.

Detailed Description of the Invention Description of the figures

Figure 1- It is the schematic view of the disclosed butt welding machine with the cutter.

Figure 2- It is the view of an embodiment of the disclosed butt welding machine with the cutter.

Figure 3- It is the perspective view of the cutter which the cutter driving shaft is attached to in the invention.

Figure 4- It is the front view of the cutter in the invention.

Figure 5- It is the view of the A- A section of the cutter in the Figure 4.

Figure 6- It is the side view of the cutter which the cutter driving shaft is attached to in the invention.

Figure 7- It is the view of the B-B section of the cutter in the Figure 6.

Figure 8- It is the front view of the cutter in the embodiment with two knives in the invention.

Figure 9- It is the front view of the cutter in the embodiment with three knives in the invention.

Figure 10- It is the perspective view of the one geared version of the cutter in an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 11- It is the view of the cutter shown in the Figure 10 which is mounted to the butt welding machine.

Figure 12- It is the perspective view of the two geared version of the cutter in another embodiment of the invention.

Figure 13- It is the front view of the cutter in the Figure 12.

Figure 14- It is the view of the A- A section of the cutter in the Figure 13. The numbers in the figures of the pieces of the cutter of the disclosed butt welding machine for plastic pipes and of the butt welding machine where said cutter is used are shown:

2. Butt welding machine

20. Chassis

21. Main power unit

235. Upper shaft

23. Upper driving shaft

25. Upper bearing shaft

24. Moving claw

26. Heater

27. Fixed claw

28. Side bearing shaft

29. Cutter driving shaft

301. Lower shaft

30. Lower bearing shaft

31. Lower driving shaft

32. First holder

33. Second holder

1. Cutter

10. Upper bearing

11. Bearing disc

12. Knife disc

13. Trimmer (Knife)

14. Lower bearing

15. Lower bearing fixing element

16. Driving disc

17. Ball

The disclosed butt welding machine (2) of the invention comprises a chassis (20) which is at the lower side of the machine (2) and provides support to the machine (2), a main power unit (21) which provides driving of the machine (2) and a movable claw (24), an upper shaft (235) which performs bearing and/or driving, a heater (26), a fixed claw (27), a lower shaft (301) which performs bearing and/or driving and two holders (32 and 33). In addition, the disclosed butt welding machine (2) of the invention comprises a cutter (1). The cutter (1) comprises an upper fixed bearing (10), a bearing disc (11), a knife disc (12), at least one trimmer (13), a lower fixed bearing (14), a lower bearing fixing element (15), a driving disc (16) and balls (17). The trimmer (13) is a knife in the preferred embodiment of the invention. The lower bearing fixing element (15) is preferably a pin and it is called as the lower fixed bearing pin (15) in the description.

In the main embodiment of the invention, the upper shaft (235) and the lower shaft (301) provide bearing to the fixed claw (27), holders (32, 33), heater (26), cutter (1) and movable claw (24) from their one ends for each. The upper shaft (235) and the lower shaft (301) are used for driving these elements (27, 32, 26, 1, 33) at the same time. In the main embodiment, two shafts are used totally for bearing and driving. The cutter (1) can be driven from the lower shaft (301) or upper shaft (235) or from both of them (301 and 235). It is provided that the driving machine is adapted to the environmental conditions of where it exist more easily with this structure. This situation also provides ease of use.

In an embodiment of the invention, the upper shaft (235) comprises an upper driving shaft (23) and an upper bearing shaft (25). In this embodiment, the lower shaft (301) comprises a lower driving shaft (31) and a lower bearing shaft (30). In an alternative of this embodiment of the invention, the upper driving and upper bearing shaft (23, 25) are positioned as two separate shafts independent from each other. Again in this alternative, the lower driving shaft and lower bearing shaft (31, 30) are also positioned as two separate shafts independent from each other.

The cutter (1) can be driven from any of shafts (23, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31) that it comprises (on itself) in any of embodiment of the invention. For example; driving of the cutter (1) can be made separately via a lower driving shaft (31) taken from the main driving system of the welding machine (2) and differently it can be made via the upper driving shaft (23) or upper bearing shaft (25) or side bearing shaft (28) or lower bearing shaft (30) or a cutter driving shaft (29) positioned additionally, (when driving is from the bearing shafts, the name of shaft does not remain as bearing shaft) Especially, it is possible in this cutter (1) design that the cutter (1) is driven by the upper bearing shaft (25) from inside of the cutter (1) bearing covering the upper bearing shaft (25) in case of the usage of this shaft (25) like a rotating driving shaft. The same situation is possible also in case of drives from the upper driving shaft (23), lower driving shaft (31) or lower bearing shaft (30). In this situation, threads are cut on these shafts for driving the cutter (1) or the shaft comprises drive transmission elements such as belt, chain or trigger. Bu durumda bu millerin uzerine tira§layiciyi (1) tahrik etmek iizere dis. acilmakta veya mil; kayi§, zincir veya triger gibi tahrik aktarma unsurlan icermektedir.

The driving disc (16) is in a structure allowing that it is moved via a shaft and it comprises at least one protrusion such as threads. According to its embodiments; the disclosed butt welding machine (2) of the invention comprises the driving disc (16) with one thread, two threads or three threads providing being driven from only the lower shaft (301), only upper shaft (235) or two shafts (301, 235) together. In an embodiment of the invention, the shaft upper bearing (10) comprised by the cutter (1) comprises at least one gear. Working of the machine (2) with different speeds is provided via gear combinations with different size and amounts.

The holders (32, 33) are positioned as one first and one second holder (32, 33) such that there are one holder for each two sides of the cutter (1) for fixing the ends of pipes which are at the cutter (1) side. The first and second holders (32, 33) are movable claws.

At the machine (2); the fixed claw (27), first holder (32), heater (26), cutter (1), second holder (33), movable claw (24) are positioned from left to right respectively. All of these elements (27, 32, 26, 2, 33, 24) are in the circular form (such as disc) and their connections to the related shafts (23, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31) are made for being driven.

A first plastic pipe is passed through the fixed claw (27) and the first holder (32) and it is approached to the heater (26) and/or the cutter (1). A second pipe is passed through the movable claw (24) and second holder (33) at the opposite direction and it is approached to the heater (26) and/or the cutter (1). The fixed claw (27), heater (26), cutter (1), movable claw (24) and holders (32, 33) are attached to the upper bearing shaft (25) from one end and to the lower bearing shaft (30) from the other end.

The cutter (1) is also connected with the cutter driving shaft (29). This driving shaft (29) can be at another perspective of the machine (2). In the main embodiment of the machine (2) where its bearing and driving is made with only 2 shafts, this shaft (29) is the shaft that provides the welding machine's (2) moving forward-backward (namely; its motion) at the same time. In an alternative of the main embodiment, this shaft (29) is a pinion geared shaft driving the threads on the beared disc (11) of cutter (1).

The main power unit (21) provides the transmission of motion to the related units by driving the upper driving shaft (23) and lower driving shaft (31). In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the main power unit (21) is an electric motor.

The ends of two plastic pipes are trimmed then they are joined by being welded to each other via the disclosed machine (2) of the invention.

The movable claw (24) holds one of the plastic pipes. The movable claw (24) performs axial movement on the upper bearing shaft (25), side bearing shaft (28) and lower bearing shaft (30) via the upper driving shaft (23) and lower driving shaft (31).

The pipes are approached to each other via said axial motion.

The fixed claw (27) holding the second pipe is fixed by the upper bearing shaft (25), side bearing shaft (28) and lower bearing shaft (30).

The cutter (1) is fixed by the upper bearing shaft (25), side bearing shaft (28) and lower bearing shaft (30) like the movable claw (24) and fixed claw (24).

The cutter (1) does not comprise any power unit on itself in the disclosed butt welding machine (2) of the invention. The cutter (1) is driven by the driving shaft (29) which is worked by the main power unit (21) that the butt welding machine (2) comprises in the invention. This cutter driving shaft (29) can be driven also by a different motor drive not by the main driving shaft of the butt welding machine (2).

The cutter (1) is driven from outside via the driving disc (16) at the cutter (1). In an embodiment, the cutter bearing disc (11) comprises balls (17). The balls (17) provides that the driving disc (16) is rotated around its axis easily. In an embodiment, the driving disc (16) rotates the knife disc (12) by rotating via balls (17) during driving of the cutter (1). At least one knife (13) is positioned on the knife disc (12). The driving disc (16) is positioned at an edge of the bearing disc (11) such that it makes driving of the cutter (1) easier and it can be positioned at any region at the inner or outer wall of the bearing disc (11) according to the embodiments of the invention. The cutter (1) which forms via one or double plates and bearing of this plate by plain or ball (17) bearing is beared in the bearing disc (11) by using roller or plain bearing such that it covers at least its semi circle from the point where it is driven. Therefore, the bearing disc (11) can be in a form that makes its rotation easier by bearing in the semi circle or knife disc (12).

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the disc (16) consisting of the self geared part which is normally on the one or two discs can be used in a driving disc structure that can be driven via friction.

The upper fixed bearing (10) which is at the top side of the cutter (1) is beared to the upper bearing shaft (25) of the butt welding machine (2). The upper fixed bearing (10) provides rotating of the cutter (1) around the upper fixed bearing shaft (25). The upper fixed bearing (10) is preferably in a hollow cylindrical form. In another use, upper fixed bearing (10) may be removed from the bearing shaft (25) and is used in a half-round and mobile form in an application of which the upper fixed bearing (10) does not surround the fixed bearing shaft totally.

The cutter bearing disc (11) performs bearing to the cutter knife disc (12).

The knives (13) on the cutter knife disc (12) performs the cutting process of the butts of plastic pipes.

The cutter knife disc (12) comprises one disc or two thin structured discs. In case that there are two disc, the discs are positioned back to back such that their knife part remains at the outside and they can be rotated towards different or same directions according to the embodiments of the invention. In the main embodiment in which the cutter (1) comprises one knife disc (12), the axial length of the cutter (1) (its thickness and mass) decreases and because the total weight of the butt welding machine (2) decreases, less power is required to move the pipes and total time which is spent for work to be done decreases. Therefore, the butt welding machine (2) increases the working potential of the cutter (1) in a unit of time. In an embodiment of the invention, the cutter (1) consisting of a single disc beared comprises trimmer (13) on both of two surfaces of the cutter (1). Therefore, the butts of the pipes positioned at both of two sides of the cutter (1) can also be trimmed via knife or knives on two sides of a single disc at the same time.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the cutter (1) of the butt welding machine (2) comprises two or three knives (13). In addition, the knife amount is not a distinctive property. The lower fixed bearing (14) of the cutter (1) is attached to the lower bearing shaft (30) of the welding machine (2). The lower fixed bearing (14) is in a form such that it can be attached to the shaft and detached and it is preferably in a hollow semi circular form. The lower fixed bearing (14) is fixed to the lower bearing shaft (30) via the lower fixed bearing pin (15) that the cutter (1) comprises and therefore, its unintentional detaching from the shaft is prevented. When the cutter (1) is wanted to be detached from the machine (2), the lower fixed bearing (14) is detached from the lower bearing shaft (30) by removing (pulling) the pin (15) and rotated towards the upper fixed bearing (10). This motion provides that the upper fixed bearing (10) rotates around the upper bearing shaft (25) and therefore, the cutter (1) is taken out of the machine (2) by being separated from the shaft axes. In the embodiments in which the cutter (1) is wanted to be separated from the machine (2) completely, the upper fixed bearing (10) is formed such that its one part is in a partial open form like the lower fixed bearing (14) and fixing is provided via a connector such as the pin and it is separated from the shaft completely when necessary. Fixing the lower fixed bearing (14) with the lower fixed bearing pin (15) provides that the cutter (1) of the butt welding machine (2) remains stable by preventing its shift from the axis during the cutting process and the butt surfaces of plastic pipes are formed smoothly.

The driving disc (16) performs the cutting process by rotating the cutter knife disc (12) which the disc (16) is connected to due to the knives (13) on it. In an embodiment of the invention, the cutter (1) of the butt welding machine (2) comprises the driving disc (16) with double threads. Because the cutters (1) with the driving disc (16) with double threads run all driving system via the bearing and drive transmission mechanism between two discs (16), the width formed by the discs (16) is different from the width of the cutter (1). After the cutting process finishes, the cutter (1) is taken out of the machine (2) easily and the heater (26) is added instead of it. The heating process is continued under a certain pressure for a while. When the desired parameters are provided, the heater (26) is taken out of the machine (2).

After these processes, beading is provided by pressing the plastic pipes to each other by the movable claw (24) under a certain pressure and the butt welding process for plastic pipes is realized. In the disclosed butt welding machine (2) of the invention, the cutter (1) moves as much as the thickness of the piece cut from the butts of plastic pipes and therefore, squeezing of the pipes is prevented.

In the disclosed butt welding machine (2) of the invention, the cutter (1) can be carried easily because it does not comprise any power unit such as motor, hydromotor, reducer manual driving element and it is lighter.

In the disclosed butt welding machine (2) of the invention, also the cutter (1) with one face provides that it becomes lighter in the preferred embodiment of the invention.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the cutter (1) is beared on the machine (2) by being settled onto the shafts used in the welding and therefore, attaching and detaching of the cutter (1) is not necessary and usage of the cutter (1) becomes much easier.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the cutter (1) can be driven independently from the butt welding machine (2) via an independent external power unit which can drive only the cutter (1) and via the shaft connected to the power unit and also via the gear on this shaft. The pressing process of the pipes to each other can be performed manually or mechanically via a forward-backward motor and also hydraulically or pneumatically.

In the disclosed machine (2) of the invention, it is provided that the weight of the cutter (1) which needs to be placed on and removed from the machine (2) continuously for the butt welding decreases to its half and it is carried easily. The invention is not limited with the disclosed embodiments above, a skilled person in the art can produce different embodiments of the invention easily. They should be evaluated within the scope of invention protection demanded with claims.

Claims

1) A butt welding machine (2) adjusting the butts of plastic pipes and welding them to each other comprising an upper bearing (10), a knife disc (12) comprising at least one trimmer (13) for adjusting the ends of plastic pipes, a bearing disc (11) performing bearing to the knife disc (12), a lower bearing (14) for attaching to another shaft and a cutter (1) having a driving disc (16) for moving the knife disc (12) by being driven, a movable claw (24) positioned such that it holds a plastic pipe to be processed, a fixed claw (27) positioned such that it holds a second pipe to be processed, two holders (32, 33) positioned such that they fix the ends of said pipes to be processed which are at the cutter (1) side; characterized by comprising a main power unit (21) positioned without direct contact to the cutter (1) and a shaft (23 and/or 25 and/or 28 and/or 29 and/or 30 or 31) transmitting the motion energy which it receives from the power unit (21) to the driving disc (16) for driving the cutter (1).

2) A butt welding machine (2) according to claim 1 characterized by comprising two shafts (235, 301) such that there are a single upper shaft (235) and a single lower shaft (301) which provide bearing to the fixed claw (27), holders (32, 33), the cutter (1) and at least one movable claw (24) from their one ends and where the cutter (1) and at least one movable claw (24) are driven from at least one of them at the same time.

3) A butt welding machine (2) according to claim 1 characterized by comprising an upper shaft (235) having an upper bearing shaft (25) which provides bearing via an upper driving shaft (23) providing drive to the cutter (1) and/or at least one movable claw (24) and a lower shaft (301) having a lower bearing shaft (30) which provides bearing via a lower driving shaft (31) providing drive to the cutter (1) and/or at least one movable claw (24).

4) A butt welding machine (2) according to claim 2 or 3 characterized by a shaft (23 and/or 25 and/or 28 and/or 29 and/or 30 or 31) comprising a drive transmission unit such as thread, belt, chain or trigger for being used as the driving shaft.

5) A butt welding machine (2) according to claim 4 characterized by the knife disc (12) comprising at least one trimmer (13) for each on its one face or two faces (seeing opposite directions) for adjusting the butts of two plastic pipes at the cutting area at the same time.

6) A butt welding machine (2) according to claim 5 characterized by comprising the driving disc (16) being driven from at least one desired point which is at the bottom, side or top. 7) A butt welding machine (2) according to claim 6 characterized by comprising the cutter (1) having the driving disc (16) which is driven via friction.

8) A butt welding machine (2) according to claim 7 characterized by the cutter (1) having the driving disc (16) comprising at least one protrusion like at least one thread which makes bearing and drive transmission easier and such that it increases the width of the cutting area.

9) A butt welding machine (2) according to claim 8 characterized by the cutter (1) comprising gear combinations with different sizes and amounts for providing working of the machine (2) with different speeds.

10) A butt welding machine (2) according to claim 8 or 9 characterized by the cutter (1) comprising a different type bearing disc (11) or having at least one ball (17) in order that the driving disc (16) rotates around itself easily.

11) A butt welding machine (2) according to claim 10 characterized by comprising the cutter (1) having a single knife disc (12) which has at least one knife (13) or thin structured two knife discs (12) which have at least one knife (13) on each of them. 12) A butt welding machine (2) according to claim 11 characterized by the cutter (1) comprising a lower bearing fixing element (15) for fixing the lower bearing (14) to the shaft where it is attached during the cutting process.

13) A butt welding machine (2) according to claim 12 characterized by comprising the main power unit (21) comprising motor or hydraulic or pneumatic structure. 14) A butt welding machine (2) according to claim 13 characterized by the cutter (1) beared by using a roller or plain bearing such that it covers at least its semi circle from the point where it is driven.