DE20305417U1 - Coating machine for application of decorative material onto plastic B-columns for motor vehicles has decorative material clamping plates with transverse movement relative to the material - Google Patents

Abstract

A coating machine for concealing a carrier with decorative material has decorative material clamping plates with transverse movement relative to the material. The machine includes a holder for a carrier component and a holder for the decorative material. Grippers(21) of the latter holder are located on both sides of a coating application area (20). A coating machine for concealing a carrier with decorative material has decorative material clamping plates with transverse movement relative to the material. The machine includes a holder for a carrier component and a holder for the decorative material. Grippers(21) of the latter holder are located on both sides of a coating application area (20). The grippers comprise clamping plates (23,24) which move independently of each other transverse to the direction in which the carrier component is introduced into the coating area.

Description

1176 G1

Device for laminating carrier parts with decorations
5

The invention relates to a device for laminating carrier parts with decorations according to the preamble of claim 1.

When laminating carrier parts, especially plastic carrier parts, such as those used for the B-pillars of automobiles, mostly uncut decorative cuts are usually laminated onto the carrier parts in several work steps, whereby the decorations are first placed on the carrier parts in pre-laying stations, the covered carrier parts are then pressed 0 and the protruding decorative sections are then trimmed. A particular problem with laminating is that different decorations, i.e. different decorative materials such as fabric and Alcantara, can have different thicknesses and different stretching behavior. It is also important that the covering of the carrier parts with decorations must be carried out with a very specific tension, since too low or incorrectly directed tension of the decoration

This causes wrinkles, while too much tension on the decoration often does not produce the desired feel, i.e. the laminated end product does not have the desired softness. Due to these difficulties, the lamination is usually done manually. However, this is very time-consuming and expensive.

The invention is based on the object of creating a device of the type mentioned at the outset, with which the lamination of carrier parts can be carried out in the simplest, fastest, most cost-effective and highest quality manner possible.

This object is achieved according to the invention by the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are described in the further subclaims.

0 In the device according to the invention, the decoration gripping device consists of a plurality of decoration grippers arranged on both sides of a carrier part laminating space, which can be moved independently of one another transversely to the direction in which the carrier part is introduced into the carrier part laminating space.

With the help of the laminating device according to the invention, it is possible to laminate different decorations, which have different thicknesses and different stretching behavior, onto a wide variety of carrier parts in a high-quality, fast and cost-effective manner. Since a plurality of decoration grippers are arranged on both sides of the carrier part laminating space, which

grip the finished cut decor at the edges and can tension it individually and differently as required, it is possible to laminate the carrier part at any point with exactly the tension that can be used to avoid creases on the one hand and to achieve the desired feel on the other. After placing the finished cut decor in the decor gripping device and attaching the carrier part to the carrier part holding device, all further laminating steps are fully automatic, so that the carrier part can be removed from the device fully laminated after the laminating process has been completed. It is only necessary to finish processing the edge sections of the decor where the decor grippers held the decor.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the decorative grippers have a rigid clamping jaw that can be moved transversely to the insertion direction of the carrier part and a pivoting clamping jaw that is pivotably mounted on the rigid clamping jaw. The pivoting clamping jaws can be pivoted by means of an actuating device that can be moved together with the rigid clamping jaw transversely to the insertion direction of the carrier part.

Advantageously, the actuating device for the pivoting clamping jaw consists of a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder.

0 According to an advantageous embodiment, the decorative grippers can be moved by means of stepper motors. The stepper motors are expediently connected to the decorative grippers via ball screws, which control the rotation

movement of the stepper motors into a longitudinal movement. The position of the clamping jaws can be adjusted very precisely using such stepper motors.

Advantageously, the carrier part holding device is arranged above the decorative gripping device and can be moved vertically by means of a lifting device so that the carrier part can be introduced into the carrier part laminating space from above. The lifting device can be a hydraulic or pneumatic press, for example.

According to a particularly advantageous embodiment, the carrier part laminating space is delimited by a lifting floor on which the decoration stretched between the decoration grippers rests and which can be moved together with the carrier part when the carrier part is introduced into the carrier part laminating space.

Advantageously, a heating device is provided for the simultaneous heating of the carrier part and the decoration. For example, the heating device can be infrared radiators, which bring a hot melt adhesive on the decoration to the required processing temperature and, on the other hand, heat the carrier elements to a temperature suitable for laminating.

Advantageously, the heating device is arranged on a carriage which can be moved into and out of the movement space of the carrier part. This makes it possible, on the one hand, to heat both the hot melt adhesive of the decoration and the carrier part simultaneously and very effectively in a relatively simple manner, and, on the other hand,

On the one hand, after heating, the heating device must be removed from the movement area of the carrier part so that the heating device does not get in the way when the carrier part is moved into the carrier part lamination area.
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According to a particularly advantageous embodiment, a control system is provided with which a fixed assignment between the transverse movement of the decorative grippers and the insertion movement of the carrier parts into the carrier part lamination space can be individually configured. This means that the device can be individually adapted to different decorative elements and carrier parts, i.e. to a wide variety of lamination requirements, and can therefore be used universally.

The invention is explained in more detail below using the drawings as examples. They show:

Figure 1: a perspective view of the

0 device according to the invention,

Figure 2: a perspective view of the lower tool of Figure 1 with decorative grippers and stepper motors,
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Figure 3: a sectional view along the line

III-III of Figure 4,

Figure 4: a top view of the lower tool of

0 Figure 2,

Figure 5: a perspective view of a decorative gripper with stepper motor,

Figure 6: a side view of the decor gripper and

Stepper motor of Figure 5,

Figure 7: a perspective view of an upper tool with a carrier part holder

facility, and

Figure 8: a perspective view of a

concealing carrier part.

Figure 1 shows a device for covering support parts 1, as shown for example in Figure 8. The support part shown in Figure 8 is a plastic molded part with an approximately U-shaped cross section, as is used for covering B-pillars of motor vehicles. In this case, it is necessary to cover the surface 2 and the side surfaces 3 with a decoration, for example fabric or Alcantara. As can be seen, the support part 1 is irregularly shaped 0 and has a belt recess 4 on its surface 2.

The device shown in Figure 1 has a substantially cuboid-shaped frame with vertical columns 5 arranged in the corner areas. A lower tool 7 is arranged on a horizontal base plate 6 behind a covering sheet, which is shown in more detail in Figures 2 to 4. A heating device 8 is arranged above the lower tool 7, which in Figure 0 1 is in its front heating position directly above the lower tool 7, but can be moved back into a frame 9 via a slide. In front of the heating device 8, which works with infrared radiators,

A glare protection plate 10 is arranged above the heating device 8. Above the heating device 8 there is a carrier part holding device 11, which is shown in more detail in Figure 7. The carrier part 8 is plugged onto the carrier part holding device 11 from below and held by means of vacuum suction cups. In the plugged-on state, the surface 2 of the carrier part 1 thus points downwards. The downward-facing surface of the carrier part holding device 11 is adapted to the shape of the carrier part 1 so that it rests snugly on the carrier part holding device 11. Furthermore, as can be seen from Figure 7, the carrier part holding device 11 is connected to a horizontal base plate 13 above it via a spacer element 12. The carrier holding device 11, spacer element 12 and base plate 13 together form an upper tool 19.

The base plate 13 is, as can be seen from Figure 1, attached to the underside of a vertically movable press part 14, which is mounted vertically displaceably on the columns 50 by means of guide sleeves 15. The lifting movement of the press part 14 takes place via two hydraulic cylinders 16.

Furthermore, Figure 1 shows a control cabinet 17 for the electrical system and a hydraulic supply 18.
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In the following, the lower tool 7 is described in more detail with reference to Figures 2 to 4.

The lower tool 7 is a decor gripping device to hold the finished cut decors such as fabrics or Alcantara and to pull them apart with a certain pre-tension so that the carrier part 1 is lowered onto the decor and automatically

♦ ·

can be laminated with the decoration. For this purpose, a plurality of decoration grippers 21 are arranged on both sides of a carrier part laminating space 20. In the exemplary embodiment shown, there are four decoration grippers 21 on each side. Each of the decoration grippers 21 has, as can be seen in particular from Figures 5 and 6, a stepper motor 22 and two clamping jaws 22, 24, between which the decoration can be clamped in its edge areas. The clamping jaws 23, 24 can be moved transversely to the direction in which the carrier part 1 is introduced into the carrier part laminating space 20, i.e. between the two rows of decoration grippers, by means of the associated stepper motor 22. The stepper motor 22 sets a threaded rod 25 in rotation, which is then converted into a longitudinal movement by a ball screw 26 interacting with the clamping jaws 23, 24. On both sides of the threaded rod 25 there are two bearing rods 27, with which the clamping jaws 23, 24 are slidably mounted in a fixed bearing bracket 28.

As can be seen from Figures 5 and 6, the clamping jaw 23 is a rigid clamping jaw, while the clamping jaw 24 is pivotably mounted on the rigid clamping jaw 23. The pivot axis of the clamping jaw 24 is designated 29. The pivoting clamping jaw 24 is connected to a lever 30 which projects obliquely upwards and which is articulated at its free end to a lifting rod 31 of a pneumatic cylinder 32. The other end of the pneumatic cylinder 32 is articulated to a bracket 33 which is connected to a base 34 and can be moved linearly together with the base 34 and the clamping jaws 23, 24.

If the lifting rod 31 of the pneumatic cylinder 32 is retracted, the pivoting clamping jaw 24 is pivoted upwards so that the decoration can be placed on the rigid clamping jaw 23. If the lifting rod 31 is then extended, the pivoting clamping jaw 24 pivots back into the position shown in Figures 5 and 6. The decoration is thus clamped in the gap 35 between the two clamping jaws 23, 24.

As can be seen from Figure 2, the clamping jaws 23, 24 of the individual decorative grippers 21 are arranged next to one another along the two sides of the carrier part lamination space 20 in such a way that they produce a clamping jaw train that is divided but almost connected. The individual decorative grippers 21 can be arranged not only transversely to the longitudinal course of the carrier part lamination space 20, but also in the vertical direction and in their inclined position, so that the course of the clamping jaws 23, 24 is optimally adapted to the contour of the carrier part 1.

The carrier part laminating space 20 is limited at the bottom by a lifting floor 36. This lifting floor 36 can, as can be seen from Figure 3, consist of several lifting floor parts 36a, 36b, 36c, which can be raised or lowered by means of one or more pneumatic devices 37. This lowering takes place in coordination with the lowering movement of the carrier part 1 into the carrier part laminating space 20 in such a way that a certain counterpressure on the decoration is maintained by the lifting floor 36.

In the following, a laminating process is explained in more detail.

In the starting position, the upper tool 19 is in the uppermost position shown in Figure 1. The clamping jaws 23, 24 of the decorative grippers 21 are located near their rear position, i.e. moved outwards to the side, although they can still move a distance, for example 10 mm, to the rear. The clamping jaws 23, 24 are open, i.e. the clamping jaw 24 is pivoted upwards.

Next, a carrier part 1 is placed from below onto the carrier part holding device 11, with vacuum suction cups preventing the carrier parts 1 from falling down.

The decoration is then placed in the open clamping jaws 23, 24 in such a way that the finished, cut decoration can only be gripped by the edge of the clamping jaws 23, 24. The clamping jaws 23, 24 are closed and moved backwards so that the decoration is clamped between the individual decoration grippers 21 without creases. The lifting base 3 6 is in its upper position, 0 in which the decoration rests on the lifting base 3 6. The operator can now step back, since the remaining work processes take place automatically.

Next, the heating device 28 moves forward into the heating position in which it is located directly above the lower tool 7. The upper tool 19 moves downwards together with the carrier part 1 so that the carrier part 1 is moved into the heating device 8. This is made possible by the fact that the heating device 8 is a box-shaped device that is open at the top and in which a large number of infrared radiators are arranged. These infrared radiators heat the carrier part 1 from below and at the same time the decoration of

above, so that a hot melt adhesive located on the upward-facing side of the decoration is brought to processing temperature.

If the target temperature is reached, the heating device 8 is switched off, the upper tool 19 moves the carrier part 1 upwards out of the heating device 8, and the heating device 8 is moved backwards out of the movement space of the upper tool 19.

The upper tool 19 is then moved downwards at rapid traverse until the carrier part 1 comes to rest at a small distance, for example 2 0 mm, above the decoration. The carrier part 1 is then moved further downwards at low speed so that the carrier part 1 is placed on the decoration and the surface 2 of the carrier part 1 is covered with the decoration.

The carrier part 1 is then moved further downwards against a predetermined counterpressure of the lifting floor 36, whereby the lifting floor 36 moves downwards together with the carrier part 1. During this downward movement of the carrier part 1, the clamping jaws 23, 24 simultaneously move inwards so that the decoration is also applied to the side surfaces 3 of the carrier part 1. The machine control is set up in such a way that there is a specific assignment between the downward movement of the carrier part 1 and the movement of the clamping jaws 23, 24 inwards, which ensures that the desired tension in the decoration is maintained in each movement phase 0.

The end of the lamination process is reached when the side surfaces of the carrier part 1 are completely covered and

■ · «a

·

undercut slides (not shown in detail), which are located directly below the clamping jaws 23, have also moved a predetermined distance inwards.

The carrier part 1 can then be removed from the device after the clamping jaws 24 have been opened.

It should be noted that in Figures 1 to 4 and 7, for the sake of clarity, only one lower tool 7, one heating device 8 and one upper tool 19 are shown. As can be seen from Figure 1, only the left half of the device is occupied by these elements. However, the device is designed in such a way that the right half can also be occupied with the same or similar elements, so that two carrier elements 1 can be covered in one work process. For example, the tools can be designed in such a way that the left and right B-pillar panels are covered at the same time in one work process.

Claims (11)

1. Device for laminating carrier parts with decorations, with a carrier part holding device ( 11 ) to which the carrier part ( 1 ) can be fastened, and a decoration gripping device for holding the decoration, characterized in that the decoration gripping device consists of a plurality of decoration grippers ( 21 ) with clamping jaws ( 23 , 24 ) arranged on both sides of a carrier part laminating space ( 20 ), which can be moved independently of one another transversely to the direction in which the carrier part ( 1 ) is introduced into the carrier part laminating space ( 20 ). 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the decorative grippers ( 21 ) have a rigid clamping jaw ( 23 ) which can be moved transversely to the insertion direction of the carrier part ( 1 ) and a pivotable clamping jaw ( 24 ) pivotably mounted on the rigid clamping jaw ( 23 ). 3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the pivotable clamping jaw ( 24 ) is pivotable by means of an actuating device which can be moved together with the rigid clamping jaw ( 23 ) transversely to the insertion direction of the carrier part ( 1 ). 4. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that the actuating device consists of a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder ( 32 ). 5. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the decorative grippers ( 21 ) can be moved by means of stepper motors ( 22 ). 6. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that the stepper motors ( 22 ) are connected to the decorative grippers ( 21 ) via ball screws ( 26 ) which convert the rotational movement of the stepper motors ( 22 ) into a longitudinal movement. 7. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the carrier part holding device ( 11 ) is arranged above the decoration gripping device and can be moved vertically by means of a lifting device, so that the carrier part ( 1 ) can be introduced from above into the carrier part laminating space ( 20 ). 8. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the carrier part laminating space ( 20 ) is delimited by a lifting floor ( 36 ) on which the decoration stretched between the decoration grippers ( 21 ) rests, and which is movable together with the carrier part ( 1 ) when the carrier part ( 1 ) is introduced into the carrier part laminating space ( 20 ). 9. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a heating device ( 8 ) is provided for simultaneous heating of the carrier part ( 1 ) and the decoration. 10. Device according to claim 9, characterized in that the heating device ( 8 ) is arranged on a carriage which can be moved into and out of the movement space of the carrier part ( 1 ). 11. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a control is provided with which a fixed assignment between the transverse movement of the decorative grippers ( 21 ) and the insertion movement of the carrier parts ( 1 ) into the carrier part laminating space ( 20 ) can be individually configured.