Manufacturing apparatus for heat exchanger fins

A manufacturing apparatus for heat exchanger fins, comprising:

• a press apparatus having:
• a mold that forms a metal strip by pressing a plurality of through-holes or a plurality of cutaway portions on a thin metal plate;
• and
• a first feeding apparatus arranged on a downstream side of the mold for conveying the metal strip formed by the mold to the downstream side in the conveying direction,
• a second feeding apparatus for conveying a thin metal plate before press working by the mold into the mold in conjunction with a conveying operation of the first feeding apparatus is provided on an upstream side of the press apparatus,
• the second feeding apparatus includes clampers for sandwiching the thin metal plate, the clampers repeat an operation of sandwiching the thin metal plate, conveying the same in the conveying direction, releasing the sandwiching at a predetermined position, and returning to an initial position while avoiding contact with the thin metal plate, and
• a control unit for controlling the first and second feeding apparatuses wherein the second feeding apparatus starts a conveying operation before the first feeding apparatus starts the conveying operation;
• between the second feeding apparatus and the press apparatus, an upper-surface holding member in contact with an upper surface of the thin metal plate before entering the press apparatus and a lower-surface holding member in contact with a lower surface of the thin metal plate before entering the press apparatus are arranged with a predetermined distance therebetween in the conveying direction;
• and
• the positions of the upper-surface holding member and the lower-surface holding member in the vertical direction are set so that flexure is generated on the thin metal plate conveyed by the second feeding apparatus between the upper-surface holding member and the lower-surface holding member.