CN106738810A - A kind of universal mold suitable for vacuum aided forming technology - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a kind of universal mold suitable for vacuum aided forming technology, including die forming module and scanning control module；The die forming module includes：Multiple telescopic units, regular array forms forming area；Flexible die panel, positioned at forming area, bottom surface is connected with the output end of all telescopic units；The scanning control module includes：Control unit, the output end position according to the multiple telescopic units of model data control for receiving is so that flexible die panel forms required die surface；Scanning element, being arranged in the top of the flexible die panel is used to collect die face formed data and feeds back to control unit；The present invention has that forming speed is fast, and forming accuracy is high, and can multiple Reusability advantage, solve the traditional glass steel mold forming technology complexity for vacuum aided forming technology, fabrication cycle is long, not restructural, the problems such as waste of materials.

Description

A Universal Mold Suitable for Vacuum Assisted Forming Process

technical field

The invention relates to the technical field of composite material manufacturing, in particular to a universal mold suitable for a vacuum-assisted forming process.

Background technique

In the field of composite material manufacturing, the vacuum-assisted forming process has low cost, is suitable for the production of large-size, large-thickness structural parts, and the quality of the parts is good. It is a more suitable forming process for the development stage of composite material products. The vacuum-assisted forming process is to cover and seal the fiber reinforced material with a flexible vacuum bag film on the single-sided rigid mold, and then remove the gas in the mold cavity under vacuum negative pressure, and use the flow and penetration of the resin to realize the resin and its fabric. A process method of impregnating and solidifying at room temperature or under heating conditions.

At present, the single-sided rigid molds of the vacuum-assisted forming process can be divided into steel molds with heating modules and glass fiber reinforced plastic molds without heating modules according to the quantity and quality requirements of the parts. Steel molds do not deform after repeated use and have good stability, but are expensive and are suitable for products with a large number of samples; glass fiber reinforced plastic molds are relatively low in cost and can only guarantee the quality of the first few parts. It is suitable for products requiring a small number of samples.

For example, the patent document whose publication number is CN104772911A discloses a forming method of a thermoplastic fiber composite material and a forming mold thereof. Vacuum step: vacuumize the cavity of the mold so that the fiber cloth is tightly attached to the surface of the cavity; a first heating step: heat the mold and keep the temperature of the mold at 80-200°C During this time, the thermoplastic material and fiber cloth are softened; a second heating step: the mold is continuously heated, and the temperature of the mold is kept between 150 and 300°C, so that the thermoplastic material and fiber cloth are bonded to each other Integrate into one; a cooling and curing step: cooling the mold, and keeping the mold at room temperature, and the time is between 15 seconds and 30 minutes, so that the thermoplastic material and the fiber cloth that are bonded to each other are solidified, and A finished product is obtained; a material taking step: after opening the mold, take out the cured finished product, which is convenient to use.

However, due to the poor reusability of FRP molds, they are scrapped after being used several times, resulting in a great waste of resources. At the same time, the structure and shape of the product have been improved and optimized in the research and development stage, and the number of samples required is also small, so most products use glass fiber reinforced plastic molds in the research and development stage. However, every time the shape of the product is updated, the mold needs to be remanufactured, which affects the development progress of the product and causes a waste of resources.

Contents of the invention

The invention provides a universal mold suitable for a vacuum-assisted forming process, which can be used repeatedly, while ensuring the accuracy of the mold surface, greatly shortening the mold manufacturing time, improving product development efficiency, and saving a lot of resources.

A universal mold suitable for a vacuum-assisted forming process, including a mold forming module and a scanning measurement and control module;

The mold forming module includes:

Multiple telescopic units are regularly arranged to form a molding area;

Flexible mold panel, located in the forming area, the bottom surface is connected to the output ends of all telescopic units;

The scanning measurement and control module includes:

a control unit for controlling the positions of the output ends of the plurality of telescoping units according to the received model data so that the flexible mold panel forms a desired mold surface;

The scanning unit is arranged above the flexible mold panel to collect mold surface forming data and feed it back to the control unit.

The number and arrangement of the telescopic units of the present invention can be adjusted according to the size and structure type of the researched and developed product. The more the number of telescopic units, the more effective control points on the mold surface, which can improve the precision and gloss of the mold surface. Smoothness, higher quality products made by vacuum assisted forming.

There are many ways to connect the flexible mold panel to the telescopic unit, and they can be fixedly connected directly through the mechanical structure. Preferably, the telescopic unit includes a telescopic driver and a spherical magnet fixed at the output end of the telescopic driver. The flexible mold panel is made of stainless steel and passed The attractive force of the spherical magnet is connected with the telescopic unit. The flexible mold panel has better flexibility, is thinner and less prone to wrinkles, can ensure the rigidity after forming to meet the requirements of the vacuum-assisted forming process, and has a small amount of deformation when heated to 80 degrees. The spherical magnet can firmly absorb the stainless steel flexible mold panel and can slip on the mold surface, and always keep tangent to the mold surface, which can reduce the occurrence of mold surface wrinkles and ensure the smoothness of the mold surface. To the role of support.

In order to reduce the amount of calculation while ensuring manufacturing accuracy, preferably, the diameter of the spherical magnet is 80 mm to 100 mm.

In order to reduce the amount of calculation and ensure manufacturing accuracy, preferably, the horizontal distance between adjacent spherical magnets is 40 mm to 50 mm.

In order to reduce the amount of calculation and ensure manufacturing accuracy, preferably, the thickness of the flexible mold panel is 1.5 mm to 3 mm.

Preferably, the telescopic drive includes:

motor;

The screw rod is connected with the motor;

The transmission strut is threadedly connected with the screw rod, and the spherical magnet is fixed on the top;

The guide rail is equipped with the transmission strut;

The position sensor is used to feedback the driving distance.

Preferably, the position sensor adopts a photoelectric code disc sensor, which converts the rotation of the screw rod into an optical signal pulse to realize the measurement and control of the telescopic height of the transmission strut.

In the telescopic unit of the present invention, the motor drives the screw to rotate, and the screw moves up and down to a designated position through the threaded drive strut, and the guide rail ensures the stability of the movement of the drive strut. The photoelectric code disc sensor converts the rotation of the screw rod into an optical signal pulse, which can make the spherical magnet at the top of the strut reach a specified height over the transmission distance of the strut.

The telescopic unit integrates the drive module and the transmission module, which replaces the hydraulic telescopic structure used in general flexible molds, and solves the problems of oil leakage, pressure maintenance, poor synchronization of multiple hydraulic telescopic units, and hydraulic oil transmission pipelines in the hydraulic telescopic structure. Complexity and other issues greatly simplify the internal structure of the telescopic unit while ensuring the accuracy of the telescopic height.

Preferably, the scanning unit includes:

positioning control mechanism;

The laser distance sensor is installed on the output end of the positioning control mechanism.

The positioning control mechanism includes a frame and an X-Y positioning control mechanism. The bottom of the frame is equipped with universal wheels, which can be easily removed after the mold surface is adjusted and formed, so as to leave space for the vacuum-assisted forming process. The laser distance sensor can scan the formed mold surface and transmit the collected mold surface forming data to the control unit.

The X-Y positioning control mechanism includes an X-axis guide rail installed on the frame, an X-axis slider matched with the X-axis guide rail, and an X-axis slider installed on the X-axis slider for driving the X-axis slider. The X-axis motor, the X-axis gear matched with the X-axis motor, is installed on the frame to cooperate with the X-axis rack that the X-axis gear travels, and the connecting plate connecting the two X-axis sliders is installed on the The Y-axis guide rail below the connecting plate, the Y-axis slider matched with the Y-axis guide rail, the Y-axis motor used to drive the Y-axis slider installed on the Y-axis slider, and the Y-axis motor matched The Y-axis gear is installed on the connecting plate to cooperate with the Y-axis rack that the Y-axis gear travels, and is installed on the Y-axis slider to scan the laser distance sensor on the mold surface.

In order to facilitate calculation and control, preferably, the plurality of telescopic units are arranged in a matrix.

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention: the universal mold is automatically formed to obtain the required mold surface by controlling the telescopic unit to a specified height according to the three-dimensional data of the outer surface of the product. At the same time, the generated mold surface is measured according to the laser scanning measurement and control system, the actual curved surface obtained by feedback is compared with the designed curved surface, and the secondary adjustment is carried out. After repeated adjustments, the mold curved surface that meets the design requirements is finally obtained. The universal mold greatly shortens the mold making time, improves the efficiency of product research and development, and saves a lot of resources.

Beneficial effects of the present invention:

The universal mold suitable for the vacuum-assisted forming process of the present invention has the advantages of fast forming speed, high forming precision, and can be used repeatedly for many times, which solves the problem of complex forming process and long production cycle of the traditional glass fiber reinforced plastic mold used in the vacuum-assisted forming process , non-reconfigurable, waste of material and other issues.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view of a universal mold suitable for a vacuum-assisted forming process according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of the telescopic unit of the present invention.

In the figure 1. Thread telescopic unit, 2. Strut, 3. Spherical magnet, 4. Base, 5. Mold forming module, 6. Control unit, 7. Rack, 8. Universal wheel, 9. X-axis guide rail , 901, Y-axis guide rail, 10, X-axis slider, 1001, Y-axis slider, 11, X-axis drive motor, 1101, Y-axis drive motor, 12, X-axis gear, 1201, Y-axis gear, 13, connection Plate, 14, X-axis rack, 1401, Y-axis rack, 15, laser scanning measurement and control system module, 16, laser distance sensor, 17, stainless steel mold panel, 18, protective shell, 1801, pole guide rail, 19, motor , 20, motor gear, 21, screw gear, 22, screw, 23, strut base, 24, photoelectric code disc sensor, 25, photoelectric switch, 26, screw bearing.

detailed description

The present invention will be described in further detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the universal mold suitable for the vacuum-assisted forming process of this embodiment includes two parts: a mold forming module 5 and a laser scanning measurement and control system module 15 . The laser scanning measurement and control system module 15 has a control unit 6 .

The mold forming module 5 includes a plurality of thread telescopic units 1 arranged adjacently in a matrix, a stainless steel mold panel 17 and a base 4 . The internal structure of the thread telescopic unit 1 is shown in Figure 2. The motor 19 drives the motor gear 20 to rotate, and the motor gear 20 drives the screw gear 21 through meshing action. The bearing 26 is installed in the protective casing 18 to support the rotation of the screw rod 22, and the screw thread on the screw rod 22 cooperates with the screw thread on the strut base 23 to drive, so that the strut base 23 moves up and down along the strut guide rail 1801 to realize the installation. During the telescopic movement of the strut 2 on the strut base 23, the photoelectric switch 25 records the number of turns of the photoelectric encoder sensor 24 in real time and calculates the stretching distance of the strut 2 through the control unit 6. The spherical magnet 3 at the top of the strut 2 is firmly attached to the stainless steel mold panel 17, and multiple thread telescopic units 1 move synchronously and stretch to a specified height so that the stainless steel mold panel 17 is formed on the designed curved surface.

The diameter of the spherical magnet 3 is 90 mm, the horizontal distance between adjacent spherical magnets 3 is 45 mm, and the thickness of the stainless steel mold panel 17 is 2 mm.

The laser scanning measurement and control system module 15 also includes a frame 7, a laser distance sensor 16 and an X-Y positioning control mechanism of the laser distance sensor. The X-Y positioning control mechanism includes two X-axis guide rails 9 installed on the frame 7, and the X-axis gear 12 is driven by the X-axis drive motor 11 and the X-axis rack 14 installed on the frame 7 to drive the X axis through meshing action. The shaft slider 10 slides on the X-axis guide rail 9 to realize the X-direction movement of the laser distance sensor 16 . The connecting plate 13 connects the two X-axis sliders 10 to ensure the stability of the X-direction movement of the laser distance sensor 16. The Y-axis guide rail 901 is installed on the connecting plate 13 to provide a track for the Y-axis slider 1001, and the Y-axis gear 1201 is on the Y-axis. Driven by the shaft drive motor 1101 and the Y-axis rack 1401 installed on the connecting plate 13 through engagement, the Y-axis slider 1001 slides on the Y-axis guide rail 901 to realize the Y-direction movement of the laser distance sensor 16 .

After the stainless steel mold panel 17 is formed for the first time, the laser scanning measurement and control system module 15 is moved to the top of the mold forming module 5 and the universal wheels 8 installed on the four legs of the frame 7 are locked, and then the formed curved surface is scanned and measured. In the control unit 6, the actual curved surface obtained by feedback is compared with the designed curved surface, and instructions are sent to the control points that do not meet the accuracy requirements, so that the struts 2 at the specified control points are stretched or contracted, and the stainless steel mold panel 17 is secondary formed. Such repeated adjustments are made until the forming precision of the stainless steel mold panel 17 meets the design requirements. After the final forming of the stainless steel mold panel 17 is completed, turn off the locking mechanism of the universal wheel 8, move the laser scanning measurement and control system module 15 to another position, and start to use the vacuum-assisted forming process on the stainless steel mold panel 17 to form the workpiece.

In summary, the multiple thread telescopic units of the mold in this embodiment can reach the specified height under the drive of the motor, and the spherical magnet at the top of the telescopic unit is tightly adsorbed to the surface of the stainless steel mold to form the required mold surface. At the same time, the laser The scanning measurement and control system module can scan and measure the formed mold surface, and make multiple adjustments to the mold surface under the control of the industrial computer to make the precision of the mold surface meet the requirements. The forming speed is fast, the forming precision is high, and it can be used repeatedly, which solves the problems of the traditional glass fiber reinforced plastic mold used in the vacuum-assisted forming process, such as complex forming process, long production cycle, non-reconfigurable, and waste of materials. At the same time, the threaded telescopic unit integrates the drive module and the transmission module, replacing the hydraulic telescopic structure used in general flexible molds, and solving the problems of oil leakage and pressure maintenance in the hydraulic telescopic structure, poor synchronization of multiple hydraulic telescopic units, and hydraulic pressure. The complexity of the oil transmission pipeline greatly simplifies the internal structure of the telescopic unit while ensuring the accuracy of the telescopic height.

The above-mentioned specific embodiments have described the technical solutions and beneficial effects of the present invention in detail. It should be understood that the above-mentioned are only the most preferred embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, supplements and equivalent replacements made within the scope shall be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (9)

1. A universal mold suitable for a vacuum-assisted forming process, characterized in that it includes a mold forming module and a scanning measurement and control module; The mold forming module includes: Multiple telescopic units are regularly arranged to form a molding area; Flexible mold panel, located in the forming area, the bottom surface is connected to the output ends of all telescopic units; The scanning measurement and control module includes: a control unit for controlling the positions of the output ends of the plurality of telescoping units according to the received model data so that the flexible mold panel forms a desired mold surface; The scanning unit is arranged above the flexible mold panel to collect mold surface forming data and feed it back to the control unit. 2. The universal mold suitable for vacuum-assisted forming process according to claim 1, characterized in that, the telescopic unit includes a telescopic drive and a spherical magnet fixed at the output end of the telescopic drive, and the flexible mold panel adopts stainless steel and connected with the telescopic unit through the attractive force of the spherical magnet. 3. The universal mold suitable for vacuum-assisted forming process according to claim 2, characterized in that, the diameter of the spherical magnet is 80mm-100mm. 4. The universal mold suitable for vacuum-assisted forming process according to claim 3, characterized in that the horizontal distance between adjacent spherical magnets is 40mm-50mm. 5. The universal mold suitable for vacuum-assisted forming process according to claim 2, characterized in that, the thickness of the flexible mold panel is 1.5mm-3mm. 6. The universal mold suitable for vacuum-assisted forming process according to claim 1, characterized in that, the telescopic driving part comprises: motor; The screw rod is connected with the motor; The transmission strut is threadedly connected with the screw rod, and the spherical magnet is fixed on the top; The guide rail is equipped with the transmission strut; The position sensor is used to feedback the transmission distance. 7. The universal mold suitable for vacuum-assisted forming process according to claim 6, characterized in that, the position sensor adopts a photoelectric code disc sensor, which converts the rotation of the screw rod into an optical signal pulse to realize the adjustment of the transmission strut. Measurement and control of retractable height. 8. The universal mold suitable for vacuum-assisted forming process according to claim 1, characterized in that, the scanning unit comprises: positioning control mechanism; The laser distance sensor is installed on the output end of the positioning control mechanism. 9. The universal mold suitable for vacuum-assisted forming process according to claim 1, characterized in that, the plurality of telescopic units are arranged in matrix.