SYSTEM FOR LOADING ROLLER BEARING RINGS TO CENTERLESS

GRINDING MACHINE

Technical Field of the Invention

This invention is related to a loading system for loading roller bearing rings to centerless grinding machines for centerless grinding operation.

More specifically, the invention is related to a loading system that enables conveyance of roller bearing rings to the driver drums at the same orientation and that enables starting rotation of roller bearing rings before they are conveyed to the driver drums so that the rings do not undergo any sudden speed change when they reach the drums.

Background of the Invention

The dimensional and functional accuracy of the roller bearing rings are obtained by the grinding and superfinishing operations of the sidewall, outer diameter, inner diameter and ringways. The tolerance of the grinding operation of the rings is measured in microns. The required dimensions and surface roughness of the outer diameters of the roller bearing rings are obtained by centerless grinding operation.

In the state of the art, the roller bearing rings are driven by the help of two driver drums that rotate at the same orientation between the grinding wheel and the rotator wheel for the centerless grinding of the rings such that their sidewalls contact each other. The rings are loaded onto these two driver drums by a loading system. The loading system has a certain inclination and a certain height and the driver is perpendicular to the drums. The rings that are lined up one after another such that their outer diameters contact each other proceed by rolling through the tracks of the inclined system between the driver drums.

Due to problems occurring in the present loading systems of the centerless grinding operations, the production frequently halts, therefore the machine works at low efficiency. On the other hand, in the current loading systems, loading speed of the rings on to the driver drums is limited by the opening-closing speed of the gate that works by the aid of a hydraulic piston and that is located between the track and the driver drums. Moreover, the adjustment that needs to be done on the loading apparatus for grinding operation of rings at different dimensions takes a long time and causes time losses. The problems that occur in the centerless grinding operations usually emerge during loading. One of them is that the rings overlap during loading and bounce out. After the rings proceed on the track of the loading apparatus, they are checked by a sensor before entering between the drums. While the rings proceed towards the grinding wheel on the drums, the sensor checks the last ring on the line. If there is no ring, in other words if the sensor does not sense the ring, the gate on the end of the loading apparatus is opened and no new ring is loaded between the drums. The sensor sometimes works faulty since it works in an oily environment, the gate on the loading apparatus is opened and the rings overlap. While the overlapped rings proceed between the drums, they fall down to ground or cause other rings to scatter.

Another problem during loading is that the rings bounce out between the drums due to sudden acceleration of the rings while the rings proceed from the loading apparatus to between the fast rotating driver drums.

In the state of the art, various applications have been developed to prevent the abovementioned problems.

In the Chinese patent document No.CN202753005 in the state of the art, a system for automatic loading of roller bearing rings for centerless grinding operation is described. However, the purpose of the invention is to enable precision loading by a manual hand wheel. In the Chinese patent document No.CN204195449 of the known state of the art, a system for automatic loading of roller bearing rings for centerless grinding operation is described. In said system, there are two rotating shafts driven by a motor for conveyance of roller bearing rings.

In the Chinese patent document No.CN103737483 of the known state of the art, a system for automatic loading of roller bearing rings for centerless grinding operation is described. In said system, there is a channel that enables loading of roller bearing rings and there is a piston- driven gate on the outlet of the channel. The bearing rings are guided towards the channel by opening and closing of the gate. However, the systems described in all of these patent documents have shortcomings in resolving the abovementioned problems. Therefore, there is a need for development of an application that is more effective in roller bearing ring loading systems. Objects and Brief Description of the Invention

The object of the invention is to realize a loading system in which the roller bearing rings are spun and accelerated before being conveyed to the driver drums and thus the roller bearing rings do not experience any sudden speed change when they reach the drums.

Another object of the invention is to realize a loading system in which the roller bearing rings are conveyed to the driver drums at the same orientation.

Another object of the invention is to realize a loading system of which the components can be easily replaced and adjusted in order to enable use of rings with different diameters.

The loading system that is embodied to achieve the objects of the invention comprises a rotary feeder that enables conveyance of roller bearing rings to the driver drums at the same orientation, wherein the roller bearing rings pass through and the rings are accelerated by being spun.

Detailed Description of the Invention

The loading system that is embodied to achieve the objects of the invention is shown in the appended figures.

In these figures;

Fig. lis a partial side view of the loading system of the invention.

Fig. 2 is the plan view of the loading system of the invention.

Fig. 3is a partial back view of the loading system of the invention.

The parts in the figures are given reference numbers individually and these numbers refer to;

1. Ring 2. Driver drum

3. Unloading tray

4. Track

5. Pulley

6. Rotary feeder

7. Belt

8. Inclination adjustment component

9. Height adjustment component

10. Pulley attachment body

11. Roller bearing

12. Motor

The loading system that is embodied to achieve the objects of the invention comprises;

driver drums (2) that enable proceeding of roller bearing rings (1) to between the grinding wheel and the driving wheel,

a rotary feeder (6) having a pipe like form at the same orientation as the driver drums (2), in which the roller bearing rings (1) pass through and the rings are accelerated by being spun before being fed to the driver drums (2),

a motor (12) that provides rotation motion of the rotary feeder (6).

The loading system of the invention comprises an unloading tray (3) on which the rings (1) are first loaded horizontally and that conveys the loaded rings (1) to the track (4) by spinning.

The loading system of the invention comprises a track (4) that is preferably formed by two L- shaped sections, that contains a first section which conveys the horizontal rings (1) obtained from the unloading tray (3) to the second section, that has a channel on its second section having a width sufficient enough to allow the roller bearing rings (1) to stand upright and that enables 90° rotation of the horizontal rings (1) obtained from the unloading tray (3) while falling onto the channel on the second section during being conveyed to the second section. The loading system of the invention comprises a track (4) in which the channel on the second section has a width at the rotary feeder (6) inlet as wide as the width of the ring. The loading system of the invention comprises a belt (7) that transmits the power from the motor (12) to the pulley (5) and a pulley (5) that turns the rotary feeder (6) by spinning by the power received from the belt (7). The loading system of the invention comprises an inclination adjustment component (8) that adjusts the inclination of the rotary feeder (6) and thus that enables adjustment of the angle between the rotary feeder (6) and the driver drums (2).

The loading system of the invention comprises a height adjustment component (9) that enables adjustment of height between the rotary feeder (6) and the driver drums (2) by adjusting height of the rotary feeder (6).

The loading system of the invention comprises a pulley attachment body (10) that is connected to the inclination adjustment component (8) for adjusting the inclination of the pulley (5) and hence the rotary feeder (6) connected to the pulley (5).

The loading system of the invention comprises a roller bearing (11) on which the pulleys (5) are supported and that enables rotation of the pulleys (5). A new loading system has been developed to overcome the problems that emerge during the centerless grinding operations. The rings (1) are driven to the track (4) by the rotating motion of the unloading tray (3). In the first stage, the rings (1) are horizontal and they are lined up such that their outer diameters are in contact with each other. The rings (1) that proceed at horizontal state are brought to vertical state by being rotated 90° inside the track (4) and again the rings (1) are lined up such that their outer diameters are in contact with each other.

The track (4) consists of two sections preferably having L form. It comprises a first section that conveys the horizontal rings (1) received from the unloading tray (3) to the second section. In the second section of the track, there is a channel having a width that enables upright standing of the roller bearing rings (1) and the horizontal rings (1) received from the unloading tray (3) are rotated 90° by falling onto the channel in the second section while being conveyed to the second section. Thus, the horizontal rings (1) become vertical during transition to the second section of the track (4) (Fig. 2). The rings (1) proceed from the track (4) to the rotary feeder (6) by rolling over their outer diameters and they make use of the inclination of the track (4) during this motion. The sidewall of the rings (1) at the inlet of the rotary feeder (6) and the outer diameters of the rings (1) on the track are in contact and the rings (1) on the track (4) change direction by turning 90° as a result of the rotation of the rings (1) at the inlet of the rotary feeder (6). Here, the width of the channel on the second section of the track (4) increases and becomes equal to the width of the ring (1) and thus the rings (1) that reach this point and that contact the rings

(1) in the rotary feeder (6) turns 90° and change direction (Fig. 2). The rings (1) that are loaded from the back of the rotary feeder (6) proceed inside the rotary feeder (6) and move towards the driver drums (2). The rotary feeder (6) has a pipe shape, the rings (1) can easily pass through the hole in the rotary feeder (6) and the diameter of the hole is fixed along the rotary feeder (6). The diameter of the hole in the rotary feeder (6) is machined in accordance with the outer diameter of the rings (1). As opposed to the known state of the art, the rotary feeder (6) and the driver drums (2) are not perpendicular but at the same orientation, the rings (1) getting out from the rotary feeder (6) are driven to between the driver drums (2) without direction change.

The sidewalls of the rings (1) are in contact with each other when passing through the rotary feeder (6), there is no sensor and gate for loading and the rings (1) proceed through the hole inside the rotary feeder (6) by turning at a constant speed. In the novel loading mechanism of the invention, the loading speed of the rings (1) onto the driver drums (2) does not get restricted by the opening and closing speed of the hydraulic piston in the present system.

After the rings (1) coming from the unloading tray (3) proceed on the track (4), they pass through the rotary feeder (6) without any delay and are loaded onto the driver drums (2). In this way, the production speed is increased 57% when compared to the current loading system.

The rotary feeder (6) is installed inside the pulley (5) and the pulley (5) rotates about its own axis. The pulley (5) is connected the motor (12) by a belt (7) and the rotation speed of the pulley (5) can be adjusted according to the rotation speed of the driver drums (2) by changing the rotation speed of the motor (12). In the known state of the invention, the rings (1) jump out due to sudden change of speed when they enter between the fast spinning driver drums

(2) . In the technique of the invention, when the rings (1) enter into the rotary feeder (6), they start to spin together with the rotary feeder (6) and gain speed. No sudden change of speed is experienced while the rings (1) proceed to between the driver drums (2) after they pass through the rotary feeder (6) by spinning at a certain speed, thus problems related to jumping out and falling off to ground due to sudden speed change of the rings (1) are prevented.

The angle between the loading system and the driver drums (2) with respect to the horizontal plane is adjusted by the help of the inclination adjustment component (8). The height between the conical part of the rotary feeder (6) and the driver drums (2) is adjusted by the help of the height adjustment component (9).

In the known technique of the invention, the adjustment that need to be done in the loading system for centerless grinding operation of the rings (1) with different dimensions takes time and this situation decreases the production speed. In the loading system of the invention, for a rings (1) with a different dimension, it is enough to replace the rotary feeder (6) and to adjust the position of the loading system with respect to the driver drums (2) and to adjust the speed of the motor (12). The rotary feeder (6) can be easily installed and removed from the pulley (5) it is mounted and only the internal hole diameter of the rotary feeder (6) changes depending on the different rings (1) diameters for rings (1) with different dimensions, the outer diameter of the rotary feeder (6) where it is supported by the pulley (5) is constant. The taper angle of the conical surface of the rotary feeder (6) used for rings (1) with different dimensions is 7 degrees and constant, in this case only the length of the conical surface of the rotary feeder (6) used for rings (1) with different dimensions changes.