EP1827729A1

EP1827729A1 - Method for production of expanded material and cutting device for the same

Info

Publication number: EP1827729A1
Application number: EP05790111A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Kurt Thomas Stelzl
Original assignee: Ica Inter-Caylian-Anstalt
Current assignee: FRANZ BAYER-HOLDING AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
Priority date: 2004-09-30
Filing date: 2005-09-30
Publication date: 2007-09-05
Also published as: AU2005289351A1; ATA16332004A; CN101559893A; WO2006034522A1; AT414220B; JP2008514439A; US20080263841A1; CN101052484A; CA2582234A1

Abstract

The invention relates to the production of expanded material from a sheet material strip (4), in particular, a metal strip, whereby cuts (2) are introduced into the material strip (4), by means of at least one cutting unit (5), using laser, water or electron streams, whereupon the material strip (4) is subjected to a drawing by means of a drawing device (28). Said cuts in the material strip (4) are introduced by running the cutting unit (5), perpendicular to the longitudinal or transport direction (7) of the material strip, in the form of perpendicular cuts (2), along perpendicular lines (3), perpendicular to the longitudinal or transport direction (7).

Description

Process for producing expanded material and cutting device therefor

The invention relates to a method for producing stretch material from a sheet-like material web as well as a cutting device for film-like material webs, for producing expanded material, according to the introductory parts of the un.abhängigen claims.

By stretching of previously provided with cuts material webs network or composite honeycomb structures can be obtained which have a large surface area, and although, exchanger particular as explosion protection material as an air barrier _r Wärme¬, flame barrier, filter, isolator, spacers, Kata¬ be used lysator. As the material except metal, in particular aluminum, stainless steel or precious metal, and ceramic, plastic, rubber, coated paper, etc. can be used. The thickness of the web material may be, for example, between 25 .mu.m and 90 .mu.m.

In particular, in order to reduce the risk of explosion in fuel tanks and / or gas tanks (liquefied gas containers), it has become known to use a metal stretch material provided with cuts, where it is used in such a way that it is in the form of bales or compressed round bodies in tanks or the like is introduced, there causes a substantial Ober¬ surface magnification, but occupies only a small proportion of the tank volume. The material originally used here was aluminum or an aluminum alloy, since the cuts were made in the web by means of knife rollers (see EP 34O 619 B), the hardness of the knives limiting the choice of m-dial. When cutting with knife rollers, however, chip waste and debris always result, which are disadvantageous in the particular application of the expanded material. Especially in the case of using the expanded material as Explosionsssklhutzmaterial in fuel tanks, these particles get into the fuel and with it in filter systems of internal combustion engines or in the machines themselves, where they cause damage.

To remedy this situation, EP 912 267 B has already been published It is proposed to apply the cuts in the material webs by means of cutting units emitting laser, water or electron beams, wherein a plurality of such cutting units are arranged side by side transversely to the running direction of the web, so that intermittent movement takes place in the web moved underneath Longitudinal sections are mounted side by side, and are provided according to as many longitudinal lines side by side as cutting units. In this technique, no chips or the like particles are produced during cutting, and no lubricants are required as in the case of knife rollers, so that clean stretched materials can be obtained. The length of the longitudinal cuts can be adjusted simply by switching the cutting units or cutting beams off and on. However, only an application of longitudinal sections, ie sections extending in the running or longitudinal direction of the material web, is provided, and if a film web is to be cut transversely to the longitudinal direction, this must be carried out in the course of a pretreatment (not explained in detail) be led. Also, for each line, according to which the cuts are made in the web, a separate cutting beam and thus a separate cutting unit in the frame of the cutting device neces sary, so that the expenditure on equipment is relatively large. Finally, it is a serious disadvantage that the web of material thus provided with longitudinal cuts must be spread by pulling the web apart in the width direction, whereby a widening of the web and at the same time a shortening of the web in the running direction is brought about. However, the drawing apart transversely to the longitudinal direction of the web can only be accomplished with relatively complex edge-side gripping devices for the web, with its own conveyor chains or toothed belt sections being required, as is also stated in said EP 912 287 B.

It is an object of the invention to provide an alternative technique for cutting material webs and producing expanded material, wherein a comparatively small amount of equipment is necessary, and wherein the trajectory of the web to be carried out after cutting the material web is particularly simple and easy Facilities can be accomplished. To achieve the object, the invention provides a process for the production of expanded material and a Schneid¬ device for film-like material webs, in particular metal tallbahnen, for the production of expanded material, as defined in the accompanying independent claims before. Advantageous embodiments and further developments are specified in the dependent claims.

According to the invention, therefore, the cuts in the material web, in particular film-like metal web, which preferably consists of stainless steel, but possibly also of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, are mounted as cross sections, wherein a cutting beam moves along a transverse line relative to the material web and thereby - And is switched off, so that the von¬ spaced apart, that are formed from each other by Material¬ th cross sections, so as to achieve the desired network configuration after stretching. In this case, the transverse sections are preferably offset relative to one another in successive transverse lines with respect to the desired network configuration. As a result of the duration of the switching on and off during the motion of the cutting unit, preferably at a substantially uniform speed, transverse to the material web, the pitch can be determined from cut to material in each transverse line, depending on the speed of the transverse movement of the cutting unit , Although it is quite conceivable - especially with wider webs - to use two or more cutting units, each brushing a portion of the width of the web so as to be able to cross cut faster by working in parallel with the cutting units, but for the sake of the simplest possible Kon ¬ struction particularly preferred to provide only a single cutting unit, which is moved over the entire width of the web. This is quite sufficient, for example, in the production of expanded material from metal foils for the production of explosion protection materials, since for these applications the metal web generally has a width of the order of about 300 mm; This measure then corresponds to the respective stroke of the cutting unit during cross-cutting, the time for this being sufficiently short - with correspondingly fast transverse movement - to be - A - to achieve such a sufficient progress in the cross-cutting of Me¬ tallbahnen. The cuts are in the present technique, unlike the known technique, where intact edges for stretching in the transverse direction were necessary, be¬ preferably to the respective longitudinal edge of the web, on both sides of the same, out as now possible Stretching only in the longitudinal direction of the web material, a gripping the longitudinal edges of the web is not necessary; In this way, an improved, uniform network structure over the entire width of the web can be achieved when stretching. It is thus in the present technique of wesentli chem advantage that on the one hand a simple stretching only in the longitudinal direction, in particular by guiding the web after the cross cutting over draw rolls, which rotate with increasing speed is possible, and that on the other hand in the previous Stretching required gripping edges can be erüb¬ rigt, so that the stretch structure can be uniformly obtained in the Rand¬ areas.

In itself, it is conceivable to mount the cross-sections in the material web with correspondingly fast transverse movement, while this is transported further in the longitudinal direction - continuously. The cross-sections would then not run exactly at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the material web, but rather have an angle that deviates from 90 °, for example by 5 ° or 10 °, to the longitudinal direction. This would be quite practical especially for comparatively narrow material webs. However, in order to enable a high-quality and closely meshed network structure of the expanded material, an arrangement of the cross-sections as exactly as possible at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the material web is advantageous and for this purpose the drive of the material web is suitably stopped during the cross-cutting process, ie the material web is intermittently transported forward and stopped during the attachment of the cross sections, according to a respective transverse line; After attaching the cross sections according to a line across the width of the web, the material web is then transported by the distance between the transverse lines, with which the cross sections are attached, this distance, for example, a few mm, about 2-1Omm, wear be¬. The present technique can be used with particular advantage for the production of explosion protection material for fuel tanks, wherein then preferably the material web consists of a stainless steel foil.

In view of the fact that the cross sections in the material web can also be used as transport and alignment perforations, and that the stretching process should generally be able to be carried out independently of the cutting process, it can also be advantageously provided that the material web, after cross cutting, becomes one Coil wound and then stretched by unwinding from the coil by Füh¬ over stretched rollers driven at different speeds. As a result, the stretching process, which as a rule can be carried out at a higher speed than the cutting process, can also be realized without being affected by the preferred intermittent method of cross-cutting the material.

Because in the present technique the material webs are preferably stretched only in the longitudinal direction, when winding up the material web, the holes formed by the cross-sections can come to rest one above the other, which can be useful as alignment and transport control. Depending on the material, however, it can result that the net webs in the wound-up roll lie relatively close one above the other, which is advantageous for the storage, but this is true for the processing of the stretched material, such as for example Explosionsschutzma- texial, may be disadvantageous. In order to allow here a particularly "airy" Stxeckmaterial, with regard to network bales with a particularly large surface area, with particularly large dimensions, gexing density and mass, it has also proved to be advantageous if two provided with cross-sections, stretched material webs of which one is turned by 180 ° relative to the other, are wound up into a double-layered stretch material.

The drive means for the cutting unit to move it transversely to the material web can in itself be realized by conventional techniques, such as a drive spindle and a drelifest held spindle nut, which is coupled to the cutting unit. However, in order to enable particularly high speeds during the transverse movement of the cutting unit, if possible without frictional losses, the drive means may comprise an electromagnetic linear drive, known per se, instead of being mechanical as described above.

We prefer ^* d cutting the web of material with laser beams is provided, and the laser radiation is then generated advantageously by a laser radiation device, that is, by a laser generator, via stationary deflection mirror in Querrich¬ tung to Aileron movable cutter directed and there in the direction towards the Material web deflected.

The invention will be further elucidated on the basis of particularly preferred embodiments, to which, however, it should not be restricted, and with reference to the drawing.

In detail in the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of a cutting device for cross-cutting a film-like material web;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of such a cutting device including a material web transport device; FIG.

3 shows a perspective partial view of a cutting device together with a part of a straight-cut material web;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of an arrangement during stretching of a material web cut with a cutting device according to FIGS. 1 to 3; FIG.

5 shows the process in such a longitudinal sections in a schematic plan view of a part of a material web.

6 shows in a comparable plan view a stretching operation in a longitudinal section, according to the prior art. Henen material web; and

7 schematically shows an arrangement for winding two material webs, with orientations that are relatively different from one another, into a two-ply expanded-material bale.

The cutting device 1 shown diagrammatically in FIGS. 1 and 2 in a plan view or side view and in FIG. 3 (individual parts are omitted in FIGS. 1 to 3 for the sake of clarity) for attaching spaced cross sections 2 along transverse lines 3 in a material web 4 has a cutting unit 5, which is movable transversely to the transport direction 7 of the material web 4 according to double arrow 6. For this purpose, the cutting device 5 Antriebs¬ medium 8 associated with, for example, a drive spindle including the associated electric motor and gear or preferably an electromagnetic linear drive 9, in the manner of a "magnetic levitation", arranged along a rail 10, not shown in the drawing magnets At the ends of the rail 10 (omitted in Fig. 2) supports 11, 12 are provided, see Fig. 1 except Fig. 3, in which the components for the power supply for the electromagnetic magnetic drive 9 are located ,

The cutting unit 5 is formed, for example, as a laser beam cutting unit with corresponding optical means (not shown in detail) (such as focusing optics, etc.), laser radiation being generated by a laser generator 13 and deflecting mirror 14, 14 on the material web 4 is directed. In FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the laser beam 15 used for cutting is visible. The laser radiation can be at least partially shielded between the laser generator 13 and the cutting head 5 for safety reasons, cf. 3 ersicht¬ Liche pipeline.

The material web 4 runs, for example, over a table or, as shown in FIG. 2, through pairs of guide rollers 16, 17 and 18, 19, respectively, and it is unwound by a roller 20, and the transverse cut material web 4 becomes wound on a roll 21. The roller 21 is, for example, of an electric motor 23 with a connected gear, as shown in Fig. 1, driven.

Finally, Fig. 1 shows nocti-a controller 25 omitted in the remaining figures, which controls the laser beam generating device, i. the laser generator 13, further the drive means 8 for the cutting unit 5 and also the motor 23 for the roller 21, for the feed of the material web 4, accordingly drives. In detail, the material web is driven intermittently and in each case transported for a distance a between two cross-section transverse lines 3 (see also Fig. 5) forward and then stopped, after which the Schneid¬ unit 5 in the transverse direction übex the web of a longitudinal ¬ edge 26 is moved to the other longitudinal edge 27; During this transverse movement of the cutting unit 5, the laser beam 16 is intermittently switched off and on so as to generate the cross sections 2 in the material web 4 with a length b and a mutual distance c (see FIG. The cross sections 2 are, as can be seen from the drawing, offset from the transverse line 3 to the transverse line 3 against each other, the cross sections 2 in the 1st, 3rd, 5th, etc. transverse line on the one hand and in the 2nd, 4th, 6th , etc., on the other hand, are aligned transversely to each other. Furthermore, the cross sections 2 extend in each case as far as the longitudinal edges 26, 27 of the material web. ,

The provided as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 with cross-sections 2 material web 4, which was rolled up to form a coil 21, can then with a simple. Stretching device 28, as shown very schematically in Fig. 4, are stretched by stretching only in the longitudinal direction of the material web 4 to the desired stretched material. In this case, the cross-cut material web 4 is unwound from the roll or from the coil 21 and guided between two pairs of draw rolls 29, 30 and 31, 32 and finally wound up again into a coil 33. The front draw rolls 29, 30 run at a lower peripheral speed vi than the second draw rolls 31, 32, whose circumferential speed v2 is substantially greater, so that the web 4 during the feed in the direction 7 'in length given in by the speed difference Extent is stretched. The drives for the individual drafting rollers 29-32 or for the rollers, for example 33, are conventional and not illustrated in detail in the drawing. The different peripheral speeds vi, v2 can be achieved by differently sized diameters of the draw rolls 29, 30 or 31, 32 and / or by different rotational speeds of the same.

In this stretching of the material web 4 in the longitudinal direction 7 ', the cross sections 2 increase in the longitudinal direction, cf. Fig. 5, so that approximately rhombus-like openings 2 ¹ arise, the web 4 in their width somewhat, approximately to about 95% of the original width, narrowed wirrd. When rolling up the material web 4, the holes 2 or 2 ¹ in the coil can overlap each other.

6, a stretching operation of a material web 104 is shown, which according to the prior art has been provided in the longitudinal direction (i.e., in the transport direction) 107 of the material web 104 in the longitudinal direction (i.e., in the transport direction) according to the prior art. Here, the longitudinal edges 126, 127 of the material web 104 are connected, i. without cuts, in front, and these longitudinal edges 126, 127 are detected and drawn apart with gripping means (not further illustrated in FIG. 6), as is schematically illustrated by arrows in FIG. 6 - this results in a comparatively high outlay on equipment for stretching Apart from the fact that the non-burned longitudinal edges 126, 127 - which just need to be unscrewed for gripping with the aid of the gripping means - lead to a comparatively less homo¬ genes Strecker result.

In practical experiments, a metal sheet made of stainless steel with a thickness in the range of about 50 .mu.m and with a width of 300 mm was provided with cross sections whose length b was about 15 mm and de distance c from each other in Quererrichiiung about 2mm. The distance between the cross-section transverse lines, designated by a in FIG. 5, was also approximately 2 mm. After mere longitudinal stretching, a stretched material was obtained which could be easily formed into bulge-like bodies, which was intended as explosion protection for fuel tanks and was introduced into fuel tanks for this purpose. It has already been pointed out above that, when the material web 4 is rolled up, the holes 2 and 2 'in the coil (see the roller 33 in FIG. As a result, the material web 4 in the coil 33 can be particularly dense, which on the one hand can be favorable for the storage of the coil in view of the smaller space requirement, but this can be undesirable for further processing since the weight-increasing compression also increases the material claimed and in the formation of network structures, such as spherical or zy¬-cylindrical bales as explosion protection material, can cause difficulties. In FIG. 7, an arrangement in the form of a "packaging module" is illustrated schematically, wherein two material webs 4A, 4B are unwound from two rolls 33A, 33B and wound up into a two-ply stretched material 4 ', into a roll 33' In this case, it is important that the two material webs 4A, 4B are laid one above the other so that their holes 2 '(see FIG. 5) can not "slip into one another", whereby the two-layer stretched material 4' is particularly loose or "airy". It is therefore important here that one material web, eg 4B, is turned by 180 ° in comparison to the other material web, eg 4A, ie it is swept with the upper side towards the lower side.

It can further be seen from FIG. 7 that the two material webs 4A, 4B, after being unwound from the coils 33A, 33B, run over guide rollers 34A, 34B and further, guided by rollers 35, 36, via a control table 37, where an electronic control unit 38 is present, the signals from Durch¬ diameter sensors, with which the different roll diameter are detected, are supplied, and wherein the diameter of the Aufwickelcoils 33 'can be preset. When the desired diameter of the coil 33 'is reached, the supply of the material webs 4A, 4B can then be stopped via the control unit 38, the material webs 4A, 4B are cut off, and the coil 33' with the two-ply stretched material can be removed. after which a new, empty reel can be attached for winding up further two-ply stretched material.

The diameter sensors are comparable not specifically in the drawing ^" anschaulicht and can in per se conventional.- construction, spielsweise in the form of ultrasonic sensors or? Photoelectric sensors present.

With the two - ply stretch material, a particularly loose arrangement of the final network bale material is achieved, whereby large outer dimensions and / or dimensions are obtained. Low mass surfaces are achieved, so that this material is particularly well suited for explosion protection material in fuel tanks, especially in reserve canisters.

Claims

claims:

1. A process for the production of expanded material from a foil-like material web (4), in which cuts are made in the material web with the aid of at least one cutting unit (5) with the aid of laser: -, water or electron beams, where according to the material web is subjected to an extension by means of a stretching device (28), characterized in that the cuts in the material web (4), while guiding the cutting unit (5) transversely to the longitudinal or Tansportrichtung the Materi¬ albahn as cross-sections (2), according to transverse lines (3), quenc to the longitudinal or transport direction of the material web (4) are attached.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the cross-sections (2) extend to the longitudinal edges (26, 27) of the Mate¬ rialbahn (4).

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the cross sections (2) of successive transverse lines (3) are mounted offset from each other.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized gekenn¬ characterized in that the material web (4) transported intermittently forward and during the attachment of the cross sections (2) in each case a transverse line (3) is stopped.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized gekenn¬ characterized in that provided with the cross-sections (2) Materi¬ albahn (4) only in the longitudinal direction (7 ') is stretched.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that the material web (4) after the transverse cutting to a coil (21) auf¬ wound and then by unwinding from the coil (21) durrch leading over at different speeds driven draw rolls (29, 30, 31, 32) is stretched.

7. The method according to claim 5 or β, characterized in that two provided with cross-sections, stretched material webs (4A, 4B), one of which relative to the other by 180 ° ge is turned into a two-ply stretched material (4 ') wound up.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized gekenn¬ characterized in that the cross-sections (2) are mounted in a metal sheet (4).

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized gekenn¬ characterized in that a web made of stainless steel is used as material web (4).

10. Cutting device (1) for sheet-like material webs (4), for producing expanded material, said cutter, above ung contains at least ^~ a, laser, water jets or electron abge¬ Bende cutting unit (5), which result from a Steuereinrich¬ (25 ) is controlled, characterized in that the cutting unit (5) transversely to the longitudinal or transport direction (7) of the material web (4) by means of drive means (8) is movable, wherein the radiation output during this transverse movement by the control device (25) can be switched on and off.

11. Cutting device according to claim 10, characterized in that the drive means (8) drive an electromagnetic Linea.ran- (9) included.

12. Cutting device according to claim 10 or 11, characterized cjekenn- records that the laser beam emitting cutting unit C 5) via fixed deflection mirrors (14, 15) of a laser radiation generating device (13) is fed.