Producing a product made of a flexibly rolled strip material

Abstract

Producing a product from flexibly rolled metallic strip material comprises feeding a flexibly rolled strip material; determining a measured thickness profile of the strip material over the length of the strip material and calculating a desired cutting position for a blank to be produced from the strip material; separating a blank from the strip material in the desired cutting position; rotating the blank depending on the determined measured thickness profile such that the blank is aligned with its thickness profile in a defined processing position which differs from the desired cutting position; processing the blank in the processing position by a processing unit, wherein the blank is processed to form a product.

1 - 15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . A method of producing a product from flexibly rolled strip material, comprising:
 providing a flexibly rolled strip material of a metallic material having a thickness profile with a variable thickness over a length of the strip material;   determining a measured thickness profile of the strip material over the length of the strip material and calculating a desired cutting position for a raw blank to be produced from the strip material depending on the determined measured thickness profile of the strip material and a respective desired thickness profile of the blank to be cut therefrom, and feeding the strip material to the desired cutting position;   cutting a raw blank from the strip material in the desired cutting position, the raw blank being arranged in a cut-off position after cutting;   rotating the raw blank depending on the determined measured thickness profile such that the raw blank is positioned with its thickness profile in a defined processing position that is different from the cut-off position; and   processing the raw blank in the processing position by a processing device, wherein the raw blank is processed into a product.   
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 16 ,
 wherein the strip material has a first strip region with a first thickness profile and an adjoining second strip region with a second thickness profile over the length, wherein the first thickness profile and the second thickness profile differ from each another in the strip material,   wherein a first raw blank is separated from the first strip region and a second raw blank is separated from the strip material from the second strip region, and   wherein the first raw blank and the second raw blank are rotated such that the first thickness profile and the second thickness profile are equally arranged in the processing position.   
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 16 ,
 wherein the first raw blank is rotated in a first direction of rotation depending on the measured thickness profile, and the second raw blank is rotated in an opposite second direction of rotation depending on the measured thickness profile.   
     
     
         19 . The method according to any  claim 16 ,
 wherein the raw blank is rotated by 80° to 100°, starting from the cut-off position.   
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 16 ,
 wherein the processing device comprises a punching tool or a beam cutting tool.   
     
     
         21 . The method according to  claim 16 ,
 wherein the raw blank is separated from the strip material with a length of less than 2500 millimeters and more than 400 millimeters.   
     
     
         22 . The method according to  claim 16 ,
 wherein the raw blank is cut off with a length that is greater than the width of the strip material.   
     
     
         23 . The method according to  claim 16 ,
 wherein the strip material is fed from a buffer device to a measuring device by a feeding device;   wherein determining the measured thickness profile comprises continuously measuring the thickness of the strip material by a thickness measuring unit and continuously measuring the length of the strip material by a length measuring unit, while the strip material is being fed, wherein measuring of the thickness in the feed direction of the strip material is carried out upstream the feeding device, and measuring of the length in the feed direction of the strip material is carried out downstream a first feed unit of the feeding device;   calculating a feed length for the raw blank to be separated from the strip material on the basis of the determined measured thickness profile and comparing with a respective desired thickness profile of the raw blank; and   feeding the strip material to the separating device by the feeding device on the basis of the calculated feed length.   
     
     
         24 . The method according to  claim 16 ,
 wherein the length measuring unit is referenced at a starting point with the thickness measuring unit with respect to the length, wherein the length measuring unit generates trigger signals and transmits them to the thickness measuring unit, with the trigger signals serving as triggers for performing thickness measurements of the thickness measuring unit.   
     
     
         25 . The method according to  claim 16 ,
 wherein the separating device comprises a first feed unit and a second feed unit for feeding the strip material,   wherein a fixed first distance is set between the thickness measuring unit and the first feed unit, and   wherein a fixed second distance is set between the thickness measuring unit and the separating device,   wherein at least one of the first distance and the second distance are measured with an accuracy of up to +/−0.2 millimeters.   
     
     
         26 . An apparatus for producing a product from flexibly rolled metallic strip material, comprising:
 a feeding device for feeding flexibly rolled metallic strip material, which has a thickness profile with different sheet thicknesses along a length of the strip material, wherein successive regions of the flexibly rolled strip material correspond to a respective desired thickness profile of a shaped blank to be produced therefrom;   a measuring device for determining the thickness of the strip material over the length of the strip material;   a separating device for producing individual raw blanks from the flexibly rolled strip material, with the separating device having a distance from a thickness measuring unit of the measuring device which corresponds to at least twice the length of a raw blank to be separated;   a rotating device for rotating a separated raw blank into a desired processing position, wherein the rotating device is controllable by an electronic control unit in order to rotate a separated raw blank into the desired processing position depending on the determined measured thickness profile of the raw blank; and   a processing device which is designed to produce a product from the raw blank in the processing position.   
     
     
         27 . The apparatus according to  claim 26 ,
 wherein the electrical control unit is configured to determine a first rotational movement from a first strip region with a first thickness profile, and to determine a second rotational movement, which differs from the first rotational movement, from a second strip region with a second thickness profile.   
     
     
         28 . The apparatus according to  claim 26 ,
 wherein the processing device has at least one cutting tool which cuts a shape-cut blank out of the blank.   
     
     
         29 . The apparatus according to  claim 26 , further comprising:
 a buffer device for temporarily buffering the flexibly rolled strip material;   a first feed unit, which is arranged downstream the buffer device in the feed direction of the strip material;   at least one length measuring unit for continuously measuring the length of the strip material, wherein the length measuring device is arranged downstream the first feed unit in the feed direction of the strip material;   a thickness measuring unit for continuously measuring the thickness of the strip material along the length, wherein the thickness measuring unit is arranged between the buffer device and the first feed unit in the feed direction of the strip material; and   a second feed unit, which is arranged downstream the first feed unit and upstream the separating device;   wherein the first feed unit and the second feed unit are designed to move the strip material from the buffer device to the separating device in dependence on the thickness measurement and the length measurement.   
     
     
         30 . The apparatus according to  claim 26 , further comprising:
 a decoiler for unwinding the flexibly rolled strip material and a straightening unit for straightening the flexibly rolled strip material, which are arranged upstream the buffer device, wherein the first feed unit and the second feed unit for the separating device are controlled independently of a feed of the decoiler and the straightening unit.