Patent GB-1186028-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Apparatus and Method for Manufacturing Tube Assemblies for Heat Exchange Devices
IPC: B21D53/02
Filed: 1967-09-28
Abstract: 1,186,028. Making heat exchangers. GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. 28 Sept., 1967 [30 Sept., 1966], No. 44219/67. Heading B3A. Apparatus for making heat exchangers having a series of parallel tubes 46 with end plates 47, 48 and baffles 50 comprises a ram in the form of a C-frame 94 on whose arms 95, 96 upper and lower tools 98, 99 are mounted, the lower tool having a guide rod which extends through the plates in the upper position of the ram to hold a tube between the guide rod and the upper tool so that the tube is guided through aligned holes in the plate as the ram is lowered. The holes in the plates are drilled and reamed at a first station 10 on a work-table 60 which can be moved sideways, forwards and backwards so that the drill heads 72, 73 can be positioned at any position on the plates. The drilled plates are transferred manually to a second station 20 with a work-table 89 which moves in unison with the first table 60. The plates are spaced apart on a frame ready for insertion of the tubes. The second station comprises the C-frame 94 mounted for reciprocation on a rear guide plate 97. The upper tool 98 comprises a tube expanding tool (138), Fig. 6 (not shown), mounted to be moved vertically relative to the arm 95 by an airpiston cylinder assembly and to be driven by an air motor. The lower tool 199 comprises a tool (185), Fig. 8 (not shown), with a threaded tip (187) which enters the end of the tube. This station also serves to expand the upper end of the tube so that it grips the end plate. The tubes are supplied from a station 40. A supply box 215 is placed on a platform which is raised step-by-step by screws driven from a motor 222. Each tube rolls down a shoot (244), Fig. 10 (not shown), from which they are released by a stop (256), Fig. 11 (not shown), when the supply in the magazine (275) is exhausted. The magazine releases the tubes one at a time to a transfer device 320. The transfer device grips each tube in the horizontal position and moves it to a position between the upper and lower tools of the second station during raising of the C-frame, Fig. 4. The tools 98, 99 of the C-frame are then moved towards each other pneumatically to grip the tube and grippers on the transfer device released. The C-frame is then lowered and the lower tool rotated to cause the tube to be inserted in the plates. When the end of the tube is positioned adjacent the upper end plate the mandrel (134), Fig. 6 (not shown), of the upper roller expansion tool (138) is rotated to expand the tube into the end plate. After the tube expanding the worktables are indexed for another cycle and tube insertion. A third work station 30 with a worktable rigidly connected to the table 60 serves to support an inverted assembly manually transferred from the second station 20. The third station has a tool assembly 194 to expand the other end of the tube on to the other end plate. Since the three work-tables are rigidly interconnected and the tools reciprocated in unison on every cycle of the apparatus a certain location on the plates is drilled, reamed and has a tube inserted and sealed therein. The indexing of the tables is achieved by a punched tape which moves the table 60 through the selected positions for drilling and reaming.