Method to Determine the Energy Characteristics of Metal Forming Presses as a Basis for Energy Efficient Forming Technologies

该项目的主要目标是提高金属成形行业生产过程的能效。关于压力机能效的研究，目前还很少有人研究。生产单个零件所需的能量取决于与零件相关的方面，如几何形状、材料特性和加工方法。此外，它还受到用于生产的压力机特性的影响，如结构类型、尺寸、安装的驱动类型、运行参数、公称力和公称工作能力。此外，压力机运行某一工艺的效率取决于该工艺的成形能与压力机的标称工作能力的比率以及最大制动力与标称压力力的比率。因此，这种能源效率取决于过程本身。由于参数多，压力机的能量特性复杂。只有在特定的工艺和操作参数下，才有可能通过实验确定能量特性，而到目前为止还不可能进行系统的研究。为了确定能量效率，在测量压力机能耗的同时，需要多个成形工具来产生不同特性的加工力。这既耗费大量成本，又耗费时间。但成形工具只与少数成型机兼容，因此不能通用。缺少一种方法来产生用于测量过程的加工力，该方法可以系统地改变并且不使用成形工具。因此，到目前为止，只有很少的压力机受到效率的调查。因此，项目第一阶段的目标是提供一种新的方法来系统地确定压力机的能量特性。将研究在不使用成形工具的情况下，借助液压系统为测量程序生成测试载荷的能力。此外，还将用新的方法确定三台压力机的能量特性。第一阶段的成果是获得与能源特性有关的可持续知识和提高项目第二阶段效率的必要前提。它们是确定不必要的功耗和发现现有潜力以改进下一代压力机的基础。通过研究获得的知识将有助于找到导致能效机器利用率的操作参数，并将生产过程分配给公司的压力机，从而为特定过程提供高效率。所争取的结果将有助于将能效确立为金属成形行业的决定性因素，并向更节能的金属成形行业提供绿色动力。

The main objective of the project is to increase the energy efficiency of production processes in the metal forming industry. The research focuses on the energy efficiency of presses, which was rarely investigated up to now. The amount of energy to produce a single part depends on part-related aspects like geometry, material properties and the processing method. Furthermore, it is influenced by the characteristics of the press used for production such as the type of construction, the size, the type of drive installed, the operating parameters, the nominal force and the nominal working capacity. Besides, the efficiency of the press to run a certain process depends on the ratio of forming energy of the process to the nominal working capacity of the press as well as the ratio of the maximum process force to the nominal press force. Hence, this energy efficiency depends on the process itself. Due to the large number of parameters, the energy characteristics of presses are complex. An experimental determination of the energy characteristics is possible only for specific process and operating parameters while a systematic investigation is not possible so far. For the determination of the energy efficiency, multiple forming tools are needed to generate process forces of different characteristics while the energy consumption of the press is measured. This is cost intensive and time consuming. But forming tools are compatible only with few forming machines and thus cannot be used universally. There is a lack of a method to generate process forces for the measurement procedure that can be varied systematically and without using forming tools. Hence, only few presses were subject to investigations of the efficiency so far.Hence, the aim of the first period of the project is to provide a new method to determine the energy characteristics of presses systematically. The capabilities of generating test loads for the measurement procedure with help of a hydraulic system and without forming tools will be researched. Furthermore, the energy characteristics of three presses will be determined by means of the new method. The results of the first period are an essential precondition to obtain sustainable knowledge related to the energy characteristics and to increase the efficiency within the second period of the project. They are the basis to identify unnecessary power consumption and to find existing potentials to improve next-generation presses. The knowledge obtained by the research will help to find operating parameters that lead to an energy efficient machine utilisation and to allocate production processes to presses of a company, that provide a high efficiency for the certain process. The results that are strived for will help to establish the energy efficiency as a decisive factor in the metal forming industry and to give a green impulse towards a more energy-efficient metal forming industry.