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AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InventorsDavid C. Gossard, John West, Kim A. Stelson, Blair Allison, R. Davis Webb, Jr., David Hardt
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An electronic adaptive control system for use with hydraulic press brakes to provide compensation for material spring back to accurately produce a desired bend angle in the work piece with a single ram stroke. Fixed input parameters associated with the press brake and material properties, together with ram position and force data are continuously input to a digital computer which calculates the precise point of punch penetration necessary to reverse ram movement in order to produce the desired bend angle in the work piece. By using in-process measurements, a significant savings in machine set-up-time can be achieved in order to produce an accurate bend angle in the work piece the first time and every time.
In a press brake for bending metal sheet and the like of the type having a frame supporting a bed, a die member mounted on the bed, a ram displaceable with respect to said bed, a punch member mounted on the ram and configured to engage the die member, means for moving said ram toward said bed and reversing means for moving said ram away from said bed, the improvement in combination therewith comprising adaptive control means for compensating for material springback to accurately produce a desired bend angle in the sheet with a single ram stroke, said control means comprising means for sensing the position of the ram to produce a ram position signal, means for sensing the force supplied to the ram to produce a load signal, and digital data processing means responsive to said position and load signals for determining the precise point of punch penetration at which to activate said reversing means to cause ram reversal to produce the desired bend angle.
A method for use with a press brake of the type for bending metal sheets and the like and having a frame supporting a bed, a die member mounted on the bed, a ram displaceable with respect to the bed, a punch member configured to engage the die member mounted on the ram, means for moving the ram toward the bed in a bending stroke and means for moving the ram away from the bed in a reversing stroke, said method compensating for material springback to accurately provide a desired bend angle in the work piece with a single ram bending stroke, said method comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.