Method and device for the formation of pipes

Abstract

A method for the manufacture of welded tubes is provided. The tube bodies are produced in a press or rounding apparatus and are fed to a welding machine, such as a laser or electron beam type welding machine. The tube is formed when the edges of the tube bodies are welded together. The method includes the transfer of the tube bodies from the press or rounding apparatus to the draw-in of the welding machine. One or more transfer modules, each having a separate drive, are used to convey the tube bodies. The one or more transfer modules, which are operated by a common control arrangement, are controlled so that the intermittently formed tube bodies are presented at the draw-in to the welding machine in as nearly continuous a sequence as possible.

1 . Method for the manufacture of welded tubes with an outer skin of preferably high quality, wherein tube bodies are produced in a press or rounding apparatus and fed to a welding point of a welding machine in which welding, in particular energy beam welding such as laser or electron beam welding, of the edges of the tube body to form the tube takes place, characterized in that transfer of the tube bodies from the press or rounding apparatus to the draw-in to the welding machine is effected by at least one transfer module which each have a separate drive for conveying the tube bodies and which are operated by a common control arrangement so that the intermittently formed tube bodies are presented at the draw-in to the welding machine in as nearly continuous a sequence as possible.  
   
   
       2 . Method, in particular according to  claim 1 , characterized in that the tube bodies are carried on the inside of the tube during transfer.  
   
   
       3 . Method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that centering means are provided which establish a preferred orientation of the edges of the tube body during transfer.  
   
   
       4 . Method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that the tube bodies are driven by externally acting driving means, in particular rollers, in particular pairs of rollers adjustable in the distance separating them from each other, which receive the body between the rollers of each pair.  
   
   
       5 . Method for the manufacture of welded tubes with an outer skin of preferably high quality, wherein tube bodies are produced in a press or rounding apparatus and fed to a welding point of a welding machine in which welding, in particular energy beam welding such as laser or electron beam welding, of the edges of the tube body to form the tube takes place, characterized in that the bodies are drawn into the welding machine by draw-in means, in particular draw-in rollers, which receive the tube body in an open position of the draw-in means and then close to a predetermined setting to reduce the gap opening of the body and preferably to contact the body so as to advance it, and in that the draw-in means move back to the open position after the body has passed through.  
   
   
       6 . Method for the manufacture of welded tubes with an outer skin of high quality, wherein tube bodies are produced in a press or rounding apparatus and fed to a welding point of a welding machine in which welding, in particular energy beam welding such as laser or electron beam welding, of the edges of the tube body to form the tube takes place, the open body edges being at least largely closed in the welding machine by a tool acting externally on the body with a predetermined setting, characterized by a tool with a floating mount and in particular a tool which assumes a basic position through spring force.  
   
   
       7 . Method according to  claim 6 , characterized in that the tool has a plurality of pressure tools, in particular roller bars, extending in the longitudinal direction of the tube body feed through opening, which are adjustably positionable along the perimeter of the feed through opening so that the position of the edges of the body after the tool is at least approximated to the predetermined position for the ensuing welding process.  
   
   
       8 . Method according to  claim 6 , characterized in that closure is effected with simultaneous alignment of the edges of the tube body for the ensuing welding process, preferably by positioning means which plunge between the edges like a sword and form limit stop elements for the positional alignment with a view to obtaining the correct welding position.  
   
   
       9 . Method for the manufacture of welded tubes with an outer skin of preferably high quality, wherein tube bodies are produced in a press or rounding apparatus and fed to a welding point of a welding machine in which welding, in particular energy beam welding such as laser or electron beam welding, of the edges of the tube body to form the tube takes place, characterized in that a closing tool with one or more exchangeable modules is provided, a module having rollers which are arranged in a ring and are adapted to the tube cross-section, at least some of which are driven and which are configured so as to influence the position of the edges of the body, and at least one of the rollers being adjustably mounted so that, over its range of adjustment, substantially no damage is caused to the tube body, especially to the outer skin thereof, by its action on the body, owing to the change in position.  
   
   
       10 . Method according to  claim 9 , characterized in that lower rollers are provided which by applying pressure to the tube body squeeze the edges of the body together, the lower rollers pressing on the body in particular in a resilient manner.  
   
   
       11 . Method according to  claim 9 , characterized in that upper rollers are provided which bring about a drawing together of the edge faces of the tube bodies, the drive to the upper rollers being controlled or regulated to apply more or less pressure to the body, in particular in response to the actual position of the edges.  
   
   
       12 . Method according to any one of claims  9 , characterized that at least one of the rollers is mounted on a swivel arm, a region of a rim of each roller, said roller adapted to the cross-section of the tube, lying in the plane defined by the pivot axis and longitudinal tube-body axis, which are parallel.  
   
   
       13 . Method in particular according to  claim 9 , characterized in that driven conveyor rollers for the tube are provided directly after the welding point, in particular in the zone of a sensory, preferably optical, inspection of the weld seam, and in particular in the form of a further module which has driven rollers.  
   
   
       14 . Welding plant for the manufacture of welded tubes with an outer skin of preferably high quality, in which plant tube bodies are supplied for welding into tubes at a welding point of the plant, preferably by means of a welding, in particular an energy beam welding such as laser or electron beam welding, characterized in that the plant has a transfer apparatus and a welding apparatus, the transfer apparatus being configured to feed the tube bodies from the press or rounding apparatus to the welding apparatus and comprising a plurality of transfer modules and a control, the transfer module(s) having advance drives for the tube bodies individually subject to the control and coupling elements for coupling the modules together in line, and the control being configured to control the transfer module(s) as a buffer line for the tube bodies.  
   
   
       15 . Transfer apparatus for feeding tube bodies to a welding apparatus, characterized in that it is formed from individual connectable modules each with an independent advance drive for the tube bodies and with a control means for controlling the drives of the plurality of modules so that the transfer apparatus can be used as a buffer for tube bodies.  
   
   
       16 . Transfer apparatus according to  claim 15 , characterized in that it comprises carrier means ( 8 ) for tube bodies with carrier elements intended to bear on the inside of the body.  
   
   
       17 . Transfer apparatus according to  claim 15 , characterized in that it comprises centering means for the position of the edges of the body.  
   
   
       18 . Transfer apparatus according to  claim 15 , characterized in that the advance drives have driving means intended to act on the tube body externally, in particular rollers, in particular pairs of rollers adjustable in the distance separating them from each other.  
   
   
       19 . Tool device for at least partial closure of the gap in a tube body, characterized in that it has a feed through for a tube body that is formed by a plurality of positionally adjustable pressure tools which modify the feed through diameter in a tapering manner, are preferably pivotably adjustably positionable about the longitudinal axis of the feed through opening and are preferably mounted in a floating manner.  
   
   
       20 . Tool device according to  claim 19 , characterized in that the pressure tools are formed by roller bars.  
   
   
       21 . Tool device according to  claim 19 , characterized in that it has a limit stop element for a required-position zone of the edges of the tube bodies which dips into the feed through opening for the body, preferably grows narrower in the conveying direction, and in particular is configured as a limit stop element which travels in the conveying direction.  
   
   
       22 . Closing tool device, for closing the gap in a tube body in the welding zone, characterized in that the device is formed from at least one module, and preferably from several modules, the module having rollers, preferably waisted rollers, arranged in a ring, preferably with at least one driven roller, at least some of which rollers are adjustable in the module and are intended to act on the position of the edges of the tube body and are arranged so that over the range of adjustment no roller part while acting on the shell of the tube body is forced into the shell surface, or subjects it to locally excessive pressure.  
   
   
       23 . Closing tool device according to  claim 22 , characterized in that lower rollers are provided which are arranged to exert pressure on the tube body from below and in particular are each resiliently arranged pivotably about a lower pivot axis.  
   
   
       24 . Closing tool device according to  claim 22 , characterized in that upper rollers are provided which are controllably or regulateably shiftable to act on the tube body in response to the output signals of a detection arrangement for detecting the position of the edges, shifting being effected in particular by pivoting about a pivot axis.  
   
   
       25 . Closing tool device according to  claim 24 , characterized in that at least one of the rollers is arranged on a swivel arm and one rim of the roller lies in the plane which passes through the pivot axis and the central longitudinal axis, parallel therewith, of the feed through opening through the tool.  
   
   
       26 . Welding plant according to  claim 14 , characterized in that it has a frame in which the draw-in device, tool device and closing tool device and also the welding apparatus are mounted as removably arranged modules, each module being dismountable independently of the others and at least some of the modules preferably being mounted on a common rail arrangement.  
   
   
       27 . A method for manufacturing tubes, comprising the steps of: 
 forming one or more tube bodies using a forming apparatus, wherein each tube body has a pair of longitudinally extending edges;    providing a welding machine;    providing a plurality of transfer modules disposed between the forming apparatus and the welding machine;    transferring the one or more tube bodies from the forming apparatus to a draw-in of the welding machine using the plurality of transfer modules;    welding the longitudinally extending edges of each tube body to form the tube;    wherein the plurality of transfer modules each have a separate drive, and the plurality of transfer modules are operated by a common control arrangement so that the plurality of transfer modules are operable to transfer the formed tube bodies to the draw-in of the welding machine in a substantially continuous sequence.    
   
   
       28 . A method for the manufacturing welded tubes, comprising the steps of: 
 forming one or more tube bodies, wherein each of the one or more tube bodies has a pair of longitudinally extending edges and a gap disposed between the edges;    drawing the one or more tube bodies into a welding machine using a draw-in means having rollers, wherein the rollers open to a first position to receive each tube body and then close to a predetermined second position to reduce the gap of each tube body, and after the tube body has passed through the draw-in means, the rollers move back to the first position; and    welding the longitudinally extending edges of each tube body to form the tube.    
   
   
       29 . A method for the manufacturing welded tubes, comprising the steps of: 
 forming one or more tube bodies, wherein each of the one or more tube bodies has a pair of longitudinally extending edges and a gap disposed between the edges;    providing a welding machine;    wherein prior to welding, the gap between the longitudinally extending edges of each tube body is substantially closed adjacent the welding machine by a tool acting externally on the tube body in a predetermined motion, wherein the tool includes a floating mount that utilizes spring force; and    welding the longitudinally extending edges of each tube body to form the tube.    
   
   
       30 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the tool includes a plurality of roller bars, each extending in the longitudinal direction of the tube body, wherein each roller bar is adjustably positionable along the perimeter of a feedthrough opening to enable the tool to position of the edges of each tube body proximate a predetermined position for the ensuing welding process.  
   
   
       31 . A method for manufacturing tubes, comprising the steps of: 
 forming one or more tube bodies, wherein each formed tube body has a pair of longitudinally extending edges and a gap disposed between the edges;    providing a welding machine;    providing a closing tool with a plurality of selectively exchangeable modules, wherein each module has a plurality of rollers that are arranged in a ring and each of the rollers is adapted to a cross-sectional geometry of the tube bodies, wherein at least some of which rollers are driven and are configured to influence the position of the edges of each tube body, and wherein at least one of which rollers is adjustably mounted and has a range of adjustment great enough such that substantially no damage is caused to an outer skin of the tube body by the adjustably mounted roller; and    welding the longitudinally extending edges of each tube body to form the tube.    
   
   
       32 . A welding plant for manufacturing welded tubes, comprising: 
 a forming apparatus;    a welding apparatus; and    a transfer apparatus that is configured to feed one or more tube bodies from the forming apparatus to a draw-in of the welding apparatus, wherein the transfer apparatus comprises a plurality of transfer modules and a control;    wherein a plurality of the transfer modules each have a drive for advancing the tube bodies, which drives are individually subject to the control, and coupling elements for coupling the transfer modules together in line, and the control being configured to control the transfer module(s) as a buffer line for the tube bodies.    
   
   
       33 . A transfer apparatus for feeding tube bodies to a welding apparatus, comprising: 
 a plurality of individual connectable modules each with an independent drive for advancing the tube bodies; and    a control means for controlling the drives of the plurality of modules so that the transfer apparatus can be used as a buffer for tube bodies.    
   
   
       34 . The transfer apparatus of  claim 33 , further comprising carrier means for tube bodies that includes carrier elements intended to bear on the inside of the tube bodies.  
   
   
       35 . A tool device for decreasing a gap between a pair of longitudinally extending edges in a tube body, which tube body is being conveyed relative to the tool device, comprising: 
 a plurality of positionally adjustable pressure tools circumferentially arranged to form a feedthrough opening, wherein the plurality of positionally adjustable pressure tools are mounted in a manner that permits them to follow movement of the tube body in multiple directions; and    means for tapering the gap in a longitudinal direction.    
   
   
       36 . The tool device of  claim 35  wherein the adjustable pressure tools comprise roller bars.  
   
   
       37 . The tool device of  claim 36 , wherein the means for modifying the gap includes a limit stop element that extends into the feedthrough opening, and the limit stop element is progressively narrower in the conveying direction, and in particular is configured as a limit stop element which travels in the conveying direction.  
   
   
       38 . A tool device for decreasing a gap between a pair of longitudinally extending edges in a tube body, which tube body is being conveyed relative to the tool device, comprising: 
 a support;    one or more first rollers, each of which is driven;    one or more second rollers, each of which is mounted to apply a resilient force against the tube body; and    one or more third rollers, each of which is selectively positionable;    wherein the one or more second rollers act on the tube body at a first position substantially opposite a second position where the one or more third bodies act on the tube body; and    wherein the selective positionability of the one or more third rollers enables selective adjustment of pressure on the tube body.