Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to methods
and apparatuses for fini~hing the surface of a workpiece
and, more particularly, the entire outer peripheral surface
of a generally cylindrical workpiece. A specific disclosed
embodiment in one preferred form relates to the finishing
of piston ring faces.
The manufacture of piston rings, for example, of
the type found in the ordinary internal combustion engine,
is a sophisticated, many step process and briefly would ty
pically include forming, for example, by casting, a hollow
shell of ring material and slotting one edge of that shell
after which the slotted shell is sliced to form the several
C-shaped rings and each ring has its top and bottom (flat)
sur~aces finished and its face (that portion which typically
engages the internal combustion engine cylinder wall) pro-
vided with a groove or ducted, depending upon the type of
ring to be formed, whereafter that ring face is finished by
a lapping process.
The typical ring face lapping process is carried
out within a cast iron sleeve in the presence of a diamond
abrasive compound requiring typically around 10 minutes to
complete and, of course, inducing rather rapid wear in the
cast iron sleeve requiring frequent replacement of those
sleeves once they have experienced 6 to 8 one thousandths
of an inch wear. Cleaning of the rings is also quite diffi-
cult after such face finishing and the abrasive medium is
relatively expensive.
SUMMARY OF T~E INVENTION
-
Among the several objects of the presen-t invention
may he noted the provision of a workpiece surface finishing
process wherein the location of that workpiece relat:ive to a
finishing tool is predicated solely on the surface being
-2- ~ `
finished; the provision of a method and apparatus for ho-
ning a piston ring face; the provision of a machine for
finishing the entire outer peripheral surface of a generally
cylindrical workpiece characterized by low processing time,
low machining cost, reduced part clean~up time/ and improved
part dimensional tolerances; and the provision of a machine
for finishing a piston ring face which reduces the overall
costs of manufacturing pistor. rings.
In general, a machine for finishing a workpiece
surface includes multiple parallel cylindrical rollers each
rotatable about its respective axis and positioned to simul-
taneously engage the workpiece with at least one of the
rollers being driven to rotate about its axis. A surface
treating tool is movably supported for movement between an
adjacent pair of rollers to engage the workpiece 90 that,
when one or more of the rollers is driven, movemen-t of the
workpiece relative to the tool is induced to finish the
workpiece surface.
Also in general a piston ring face is finished,
for example, by honing, by compressing the ring radially in-
ward and into a generally circular configuration, placing a
tool against the ring face and rollingly engaging the ring
face to drive the ring to rotate about the circle centre
relative to the tool to thereby finish the ring face. Pro-
cessing of the ring is thereby hased on the face dimension
of the compressed ring.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
-
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a preferred embodi-
ment partially sectioned to reveal the workpiece and salient
parts;
Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the machine of Figure l;
Fig. 3 is a view from the top in section of the
portion of the machine of Figure 1 including the gear drive
--3--
arrârgemen~ for the several rollers;
Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the portion of
the machine of Figure 1 which movably supports a tool;
Fig. 5 is a side elevation partially in section
illustrating the tool holder and tool engaging a plurality
of piston rings;
Fig. 6 is an enlarged view in section of a por- -
tion of Figure 5 ~llustrating the engagement between the
tool and workpiece surface;
Fig. 7 is a perspective view o-f a typical piston
ring to be face finished according to the teachings of the
present invention;
Fig. 8 is a generali~ed schematic diagram of the
control arrangement for the machine of Figure l;
Fig. 9 is a pneumatic, schematic illustration in
detail of one approach for :implementing the present
invention;
Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of the power source
and prime movers for the pneumatic and mechanical portions
of the system;
Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating the
control circuitry for the pneumatic control solenoids and
comprises the interface between the electrical and pneumatic
portions of the systern;
Figs. 12 and 13, when joined with Fig. 12 above
Fig~ 13, show the control relays and operator in-terface
portions of the control circuitry;
Figs. 14a and 14b illustrate an alternate struc-
ture for supporting and moving the honing stones; and
Fig. 15 illustrates the improvement in eccentri-
city or, equivalently, radial pressure pattern achieved by
the present invention.
Throughout -the several drawing views like reference
numerals identify like elements and the following detailed
disclosure is illustrative of the invention in one form and
is not to be construed as limiting in any manner.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
.
Considering first Figure 1, the machine 11 for
finishing the surface of a workpiece 13 includes a plurality
of generally parallel, axially extending cylindrical rollers
such as 15 each of which is rotatable about its axis and
positioned to simultaneously engage the workpiece 13. One
or more of the rollers is driven to rotate about its respec
tive axis, for example, by the intermeshed gears 17 and 19
which are coupled by way of a speed reducing gear box 21 and
a V-belt pulley 23 to an electric motor. A surface treating
tool 25 which may be an abrasive element is supported by a
tool holder 27 for movement between an adjacent pair o~ rol-
lers so that the workpiece and tool are engaged and driving
a roller induces movement of the workpiece relative to the
tool to finish the workpiece surface.
Considering in greater detail Figures 1, 2 and 3,
the machine of the present invention is built abo~lt an ele-
vated platform 29 beneath which a motor 30 is disposed. The
motor drives a V-belt interconnecting the motor to pulley 23
and rotation of the pulley 23 is transmitted by shaft 31 in-
to the speed reducing gear box 21, the output shaEt 33 of
which is keyed by key 35 to gear 19. The gear 19 functions
as a drive gear and meshes with a series of eight driven
gears such as 17. The driven gears are similarly keyed as
by key 37 to their corresponding shafts or axles such as 39.
The axles 39 are suitably journalled in bearings such as 41
and mechanically coupled to or integral with the cylindrical
rollers such as 15. Thus, each of the eight cylindrical
rollers rotate about parallel axes which axes are spaced
about the periphery of a circle of radius rl as seen in
Figure 3. Rotation of the gear 19 of course induces rota-
tion in each of the cylindrical rollers in the same sense,
e.g. clockwise, as viewed from above, about their respective
axes. Of course, different size rollers could be employed
spaced different amounts from the centre of shaft 33; how-
ever/ it is convenient to employ rollers of identical radii
r2 equally spaced from the centre so -that a piston ring,
when compressed and confined within the rollers, will as-
sume a yenerally circular configuration of outside radius
r3 where r3 = rl r2
The machine is loaded Eor operation by moving arm
43 out of the way in a manner to be described subsequently,
cornpressing the piston ring radially inward and placing the
compressed ring within the cage formed by the eight rollers
after which the ring is allowed to spring outwardly so as
to engage most or all of the eight rollers. While one pis-
ton ring could be so processed, in a preferred form a column
of about 50 piston rings were simultaneously face finished
in about two minutes illustrating the substantial improve-
~0 ment over the approximately 10 minute prior art lappingprocess.
The lowermost piston ring ~5 comes to rest on a
series (typically four) of retaining rollers such as 47 and
49 and the uppermost piston ring 51 is prevented from mo-
ving upwardly during processing by a similar group of retai-
ning rollers such as 53 and 55, the latter rollers being sup-
ported on the arm 43 which is moved into the position shown
in Figure 1 for processing the piston rings. The stack of
piston rings now forms a generally hollow cylindrical shell
held within the rollers and rotatab]e thereby for finishing
the entire outer peripheral surface of that shell.
~ surfac0 treating tool such as the bonded abra-
sive honing stone 25 is supported by a tool holder 27 and
6;2
passes between a pair of adjacent cylindrical rollers to
engage the outer peripheral surface of the workpiece. As
best seen in Figure 4, this tool is forced against the pis-
ton ring faces by an air cylinder 57. The air cylinder in
turn is slidably supported on a pair o~ guide rods 59 and
61 and may be reciprocated in directions generally parallel
to the roller 15 axes by actuation of air cylinder 63. As
air is supplied to the cylinder 63, piston rod ~5 moves up-
wardly raising the tool 25, tool holder 27 and air cylin-
der 57. A bracket arrangement 67 supports a threaded rod69 having adjustable position indicators 71 and 73 thread-
ably received thereon. When the rod 69 moves upwardly
sufficiently far, the indicator 73 engages arm 75 moving
the arm upwardly to change the state of, for example, a
microswitch 77 which is connected to reverse the supply of
air to the cylinder 63 causing the entire reciprocable
structure to begin a downward movement. Similarly when
indicator 71 engages arm 75 the status of microswitch 77 is
again changed and the entire reciprocable structure begins
another upward motion. While a microswitch 77 may be em-
ployed other valve structures where movement of a control
level or arm 75 effects a change in the routing of an ac-tu-
ating fluid such as air to the cylinder 63 may be employed
to effect the reciprocating motion of the tool.
There are conveniently three substantially identi-
cal structures 79l 81 and 83 for movably supporting tools
angularly displaced about the workpiece and each supporting
a tool which passes between adjacent pairs of rollers. No
two tools of course occupy the space between the same pair
of rollers. Since the several micr~switches or valves 77
are essentially independent of one another and, since the
position indicators (threaded nuts) 71 and 73 may be placed
almost anywhere along the threaded rod 69, the reciprocating
motionS of the several tools are independent of one another
and this asynchronous operation tends to minimize the axial
forces exerted on the stack of rinys by the tools. Such
asynchronous operation aids the function o~ rollers such as
53 and 55 in maintaining adjacent rings in the stack in
close proximity to on~ another. Associated with each tool
support is a corresponding conduit such as 85 which func-
tions to supply a fluid to the reglon of engagement between
the workpiece and tool for rinsing loose abrasive material
and abraded ring material from that region. The rinsing
material may be kerosene and may be recirculated as desired.
Figures5 and 6 illustrate in greater detail the
manner in which the tool is supported and the engagement
between the tool and workpiece surface. An exemplary inter-
mediate piston ring 87 has its ring face or outer peripheral
surEace 89 engaged with the tool 25 whichJ in the preferred
embodiment, is a honing stone of aluminum oxide in a rela-
tively so~t binder material. This bonded abrasive is slid-
ably supported in guides such as 91 and 93 so that the
bonded abrasive may move to the left or right as viewed in
Figure 5. The guides 91 and 93 are fixed to vertical plate
95 which in turn has affi~ed thereto the body 97 of air cy-
linder 57. Piston 99 is movable when energized to force by
way of plate ]01 the bonded abrasive 25 toward or away from
the workpiece. In a preferred embodiment a 60 to 80 pound
per square inch force was applied between the abrasive hone
25 and the piston ring surfaces.
The exemplary piston ring 87 may be any type pis-
ton ring, however, as illustrated in Figures 6 and 7, the
ring is a so-called compression ring haviny a groove 103
cut about its entire outer periphery. Such a groove tends
to ~ill with carbon when the ring is in use and the carbon
provides a lubricating action to minimize piston ring wear.
In honing the face of ring 87 the process is typically
stopped short of obliterating this groove 103. Oil seal
rings could, of course, also be processed according to the
present techniques and such oil seal rings typically have
radially extending apertures from the ring face communica-
ting with the annular interior surface 102 of the ring ror
lubricating purposes, however, a compression ring has been
taken as exemplary.
Such an exemplary compression ring ls illustrated
in Figure 7 which depicts in perspective the typical com-
pression ring. The workpiece surface or ring face 89 againcontains the groove 103 and the flat top surface 105 corres-
ponds to the surface of top ring 51 in Figure 1 which would
be engaged by the rollers 53 and 55. A similar ~lat bottom
surface is not visible in Figure 7 but would correspond to
the surEace of bottom ring ~5 in Figure 1 which would en-
gage rollers 47 and 49.
The control arrangement for the machine illustrated
may be implemented in numerous ways and Figure 8 illustrates
in general terms one control arrangement. An alternating
current source 107 is selectively coupled by master switch
109 to an alternating current motor 30. The rotor of motor
30 drives by way o~ one or more shafts 111 a liquid pump
113, a speed reducing arrangement 115 and an air compressor
117. Liquid pump 113 when enabled by the opening of valve
119 supplies the rinsing fluid by way of, for example, con-
duit 85 of Figure 1 to the region of engagement between the
tool and workpiece. Speed reduction arrangement 115 corres-
ponds broadly to the gear reducing box 2], drive gear ]9
and driven gear 17 along with the pulley and V-belt coupling
23 illustrated in Figure 1 and functions to drive the rollers
as previously described. The air compressor 117 may be omit-
ted on machines to be used in a typical factory where a
source of compressed air is independently available; however,
for completeness, such an air compressor supplies air to a
valve 121 which under operator control functions to raise
or lower arm 43 for loading or unloading piston rings in
the machine. Compressor 117 also supplies air by way of
operator actuated valve 123 to the reversing switch 77 to
reciprocate the tools by means of air cylinders 63 in the
direction parallel to the roller axes. Multiple tool sup-
port systems would be connected in a similar manner as
illustrated by the dotted lines and may be independently
operator controllable. Air compressor 117 still further
supplies air to a valve 125 which is enabled to pass that
air only when arm 43 is in proper position to retain the
rings within the machine for processing. If the arm is in
proper position the operator may actuate valve 127 -to move
the tool against the workpiece for finishing that workpiece.
Similar controls would be provided for the other tools.
While only one interlock or safety feature has been illu-
strated in the form of valve 125 other controls could be
added to prevent, for example, actuation of the rollers un-
less the arm is in its proper operating position and thetool engaged with the piston rings.
While Fig. 8 illustrates the concepts o~ a control
arrangement employable in the present invention, Figs. 9
through 13 illustrate in detail a preferred exemplary embo-
diment with reference numbers carried over onto these sche-
matic diagrams from previous drawing illustrations where
possible. In E'ig. 9 a number of solenoid operated valves
have their control solenoids identified by reference nume-
rals 136, 137, 139, 141, 143, 145 and 147, and in Fig. 11
the corresponding coils of those solenoids are identified
by corresponding primed reference numerals.
Fig. 9 is a pneumatic, schematic diagram with air
supply 117 passing through an air filter 149 and lubricator
--10--
~3~Lf~
151 to, by way of pressure regulator 153 and valve 155,
energize and de-energize the several air cylinders 157,
159 and 57, which force the respective tool or stones into
engagement with the ring faces. Air is exhausted from the
opposite side of each of these last-mentioned cylinders by
way of a muffler 161. A pressure gauge, such as 163, may
also be provided.
Reciprocation of the several stones is effected
by air cylinders, such as ~3, each of which is supplied by
way of its own individual val~e 165, 167 and 169. Each of
these three valves has an input air pressure regulator,
such as 171, and corresponding pressure gauge 173, and on
the outlet side of the valve, a muffler 175. A still ~ur-
ther valve 177 controls the air supplied to air cylinder
129 for raising and lowering arm 43. Flow control restric-
tors 179 and 181, as well as ball check valves, such as 183J
may be provided as desired.
Figs. 10, 11, 12 and 13 illustrate a complete
electrical control system for an exemplary embodiment where-
in control relays and their respective contacts are illu-
strated in a manner conventional in this art. Typically
the control relay will be ind:icated by a circle containing
a reference number and descripkive letters such as CR and
normally open contacts associated with that relav bear the
same legend and are depicted by a pair of parallel. lines.
Normally closed contacts associated with that relay bear
the same legend and parallel lines and additionally have a
transverse line indicating the normally close status of
that contact~
In Fig. 10, a source 107 of three-phase alterna-
ting current is applied to the system by the closure of main
switch 109. One phase by way of transformer 185 supplies
energy to the remaining electrical circuitry and the three-
phase energy is supplied by way of fuses, such as 187, 189
and 191, to the spindle drive motor 30 and pump motor 30',
respectively.
The secondary winding of transformer 185 supplies
energy to terminals Xl and X2 by way of further fuses 193
and 195 and the machine is energized by depressing momen-
tarily the machine "on" switch 197, which by way of normally
closed overload contacts 199 energi~es the control relay 201
to latch its contact 203 as well as closi:ng contacts 205 and
207 to supply energy to the remaining portions of the con-
trol circuitry. Control relay 201 may be de-energized by
momentarily depressing the normally closed master stop
switch 209. Motors 30 and 30' may now be energized by de-
pressing momentarily the normally open switch 211, which
by way of the ganged forward reverse switch 213 in its for-
ward position energizes control relay 215, latching that
control relay on due to the closure of contacts 217 and
additionally energizing the pump motor, due to the simul-
taneous energization of control relay 219. It should be
noted if switch 213 is in the reverse position opposite
that illustrated, control relay 221, rather than 215, would
be energized and contacts such as 223, rather than 225 in
Fig. 10, would close, causing the motor 30 to :rotate in the
opposite direction. Pump motor 30' is o:f course energized
due to the closure of the three contacts 227.
The ring trap (clamp or arm 43) is raised and
lowered by closing either switch 229 or 231 to energize
the corresponding control relays. Contacts for these res-
pective relays are illustrated at 235 and 237 or in the
case of raising the arm 239 and 241 in Fig. 1~
If the arm 43 is in its proper down position to
hold the rings in place, limit switch 243 is closed and a
honing operation may be instigated by the simultaneous
depression of ganged switches 245 and 247. These switches
are physically separated on the machine requiring left-
hand, right hand depression by the operator for safety
reasons. Depression of switches 245 and 247 energizes
control relay 249, closing its associated contacts and ini-
tiating the honing cycle.
With reciprocation control switch contacts 251
closed for automatic reciprocation of the several honing
stones, the corresponding ganged contacts 253 are open and
the reciprocation controls will only be energized in the
event that control relay 255 is energized and this control
relay will be energized so long as the cycle stop switch
is not depressed to open contacts 257 and so long as con-
trol relays 249 and 219 are energized or so long as control
relay 255 itself is energized and control relay 259 is not
energized. ~nder these circums-tances the e~emplary three
honing stones will reciprocate back and forth. Associated
with each stone are a pair of ganged limit switches 261,
263 and 265, each of which has only one set of contacts
closed at any time, and the particular contacts which are
closed changes each time a stone reaches its limit of travel
in either direction. Ganged switch 267 is a multiple posi-
tion selector switch allowing any one stone to be operated
or reciprocated or a:Llowing all three stones to reciprocate
depending upon the position. If switch 267 is closed to
supply current for one of the stones on line 269, so long
as switch 261 is closed in the position illustrated, con-
trol relay 271 will be enabled, closing contacts 273 and
275 to advance the honing stone in a specified direction.
When the stone reaches an end limit of its travel, switch
261 changes state enabling control relay 277, opening con-
tacts 279, and disabling control relay 271. Remembering
that the corresponding valve 169 of Fig. 9 i5 spring loaded
-13-
6~2
to change state when its solenoid 139 is de~energized, the
direction of stone reciprocation will reverse as desired~
The other control relay arrangements for other honing sto-
nes operate in a similar manner.
Energization of control relay 255 closes contacts
281 to start a short interval timing relay 283, which after
its specified delay, closes switch 285, energizing control
relay 287 to advance the stones toward the workpiece sur-
face and also to close contacts 289, energizing a commerci-
ally available motor driven timer 291. At the beginning ofits timing cycle, timer 291 has contacts 293 closed and
contacts 295 open. At the end of the cycle of timer 291,
contacts 293 open, de-energizing the timer and contacts 295
close to energize control relay 259. ~nergization of con-
trol relay 259 interrupts the latching circuit for control
relay 255, by opening contact 297, and when relay 255 is
de-energized, the cycle stops.
Numerous additional fuses, such as 299 and 301,
may be provided as desired, and numerous indicators, such
as 303, for indicating that the honing stones are in place
against the workpiece, and 305, which indicates the motors
are running, as well as 307, which indicates that the
machine is "on" may be provided, as desired. ~t should
now be clearly understood, for e~ample, that control relay
30g provides the function of raising the ring trap or arm,
while control relay 311 functions as an anti-repeat relay,
which is energized when the start buttons are depressed.
Control relays 313 and 315 function in a manner analogous
to control relay 371, while their corresponding contro:L
30 relays 317 and 319 are analogous to control relay 277 for
the other honing stones. Similarly, control relay 321 may
be actuated to retract the stones from the working surface
when the cycle stop control relay 255 is de-energized.
-14~
Turning now to Figs. l~a and 14b, which illustrate
a variation on the structure of Fig. 4 for movably suppor-
ting the tool, an air cylinder 323 reciprocably drives a
toothed rack 325, which in turn engages gear 327 to rotate
that gear as the air cylinder is actuated. The interior
of gear 327 is threaded at 329, as is shaft 331, and there-
fore rotation of gear 327 forces shaft 33:L to the left or
right as viewed in Flg. l~a, thereby retracting or advan-
cing stone 333 relative to the workpiece. The bracket
arrangement 335 may be supported for vertical reciprocation
as in the previous embodiment and the embodiment of Figs.
14a and 14b is particularly desirable because close control
over the pressure exerted between stone 333 and the work-
piece is possible.
To finish a piston ring face the process may now
be rather simply outlined. One or more rings are compressed
radially inward in the direction of the arrows illustrated
in Figure 7 into a generally circular configuration and
placed inside the set of rollers as illustrated in Figure 1,
valve 121 is then actuated to move arm 43 downwardly by way
of air cylinder 129. This air cylinder like the others is
a reversible type. An alignment pin 131 may fit within an
aligning hole to insure that the arm is properly positioned
and a microswitch may be actuated by that alignment pin to
provide the "arm down" confirmation 133 of Figure 8. A
tool such as the honing stone 25 is then placed against the
ring face by actuating valve 127 and thereafter the rings
caused to rotate by rotation o~ the rollers when the roller
control 135 is engaged. Preferably prior to or simultaneous
3~ with actuation of the roller control 135, valve 119 would
be opened to supply the rinsing liquid to the area of tool
engagement with the ring face. The tool may remain in a
f.ixed vertical position or valve 123 may be actuated to
-15
allow the reciprocating vertical tool motion. As material
is removed from the ring face the riny will gradually ex-
pand radially outward and maintain a constant ring outer
diameter as determined by the positions of the rollers 15.
In this manner the ring is totally located by its outside
diameter and processed about that outside diameter allowing
the ring to change shape and configuration during the time
that it is being processed and to become as close to per-
fectly round as possible.
Fig. 15 illustrates the improvement in eccentri-
city achieved by the present invention as compared to the
aforementioned prior art piston ring honing procedures.
Solid curve 337 illustrates the measured pressures exerted
by a piston ring at numerous points about its periphery
when compressed to its desired diameter. Curve 337 i5 a
curve measured on a prior art produced piston ring. Curve
339 similarly illustrates the pressure at the same points
for a ring produced in accordance with the present inven-
tion. It will be noted that the prior art ring had vari-
ations of Erom nearly 0 to 3 lbs. pressure at the various
points around its periphery whereas a ring manuEactured in
accordance with the teachings of the present invention
varied generally from one to two pounds pressure. Pressure
points 1 and 17 of course correspond to the two edges of
the rings immediate adjacent to the ring gap.
From the foregoing it is now apparent that a novel
workpiece surface processing apparatus and method has been
described meeting the objects and advantages outlined here-
inbefore as well as others. Numerous modifications will
suggest themselves to those of ordinary skill in the art and
may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of
the invention as set out in the claims which follows.
--16-
