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工业生产过程的能源效率。研究的重点是压力机的能源效率，这方面的研究目前还很少。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的特性的影响，例如结构类型、尺寸、安装的驱动类型、操作参数、公称力和公称工作能力。此外，压力机运行某一工序的效率取决于该工序的成形能量与压力机公称工作能力的比值以及最大工艺力与公称压力的比值。因此，这种能源效率取决于工艺本身。由于压力机参数较多，其能量特性比较复杂。能量特性的实验测定只能针对特定的工艺和操作参数，而系统的调查迄今为止是不可能的。为了确定能量效率，需要多个成形工具产生不同特征的过程力，同时测量压力机的能量消耗。这是成本密集和耗时的。但成型工具只与少数几台成型机床兼容，不能通用。缺乏一种方法来产生可以系统地改变且不使用成形工具的测量过程力。因此，到目前为止，只有少数压力机受到效率调查。因此，该项目第一期的目的是提供一种新的方法来系统地确定压力机的能量特性。将研究在液压系统的帮助下，在没有成形工具的情况下，为测量过程产生测试载荷的能力。此外，还将利用新方法确定三台压力机的能量特性。第一阶段的结果是获得与能源特性相关的可持续知识和提高项目第二阶段效率的必要前提。它们是识别不必要的功率消耗和发现现有潜力以改进下一代印刷机的基础。通过研究获得的知识将有助于找到操作参数，从而实现节能机器的利用，并将生产过程分配给公司的压力机，从而为某些过程提供高效率。研究结果将有助于确立能源效率作为金属成形工业的决定性因素，并推动绿色环保的金属成形工业的发展。

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.