초록 ▼

Methods and systems to drive rotary presses are described. In one described example, a rotary press system includes a first rotary press and a second rotary press adjacent to the first rotary press. The first and the second rotary presses are to receive a strip of material. A drive member is operati

Methods and systems to drive rotary presses are described. In one described example, a rotary press system includes a first rotary press and a second rotary press adjacent to the first rotary press. The first and the second rotary presses are to receive a strip of material. A drive member is operatively coupled to the first and the second rotary presses and a motor coupled to the drive member rotates the drive member to cause the first and second rotary presses to process the strip material.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A method of processing a moving material, the method comprising: moving a material through a first rotary press and a second rotary press spaced from the first rotary press;driving the first and second rotary presses via a first drive gear directly coupled to a first shaft extending from a housin

1. A method of processing a moving material, the method comprising: moving a material through a first rotary press and a second rotary press spaced from the first rotary press;driving the first and second rotary presses via a first drive gear directly coupled to a first shaft extending from a housing of a motor;directly intermeshing the first drive gear with a first gear of the first rotary press and a second gear of the second rotary press;coupling a second drive gear to the first drive gear via a second shaft, the second drive gear being intermeshed with a third gear of the first rotary press and a fourth gear of the second rotary press, the first and second drive gears to provide a substantially equal amount of torque to the first, second, third and fourth gears; andcontrolling the first drive gear to cause the first rotary press to contact the material at a first position during a first time interval and the second rotary press to contact the material at a second position during a second time interval, wherein the first and second time intervals define a cycle of the first and second rotary presses. 2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein moving the material through the first and second rotary presses comprises substantially continuously moving the material. 3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the material is a strip material. 4. A method as defined in claim 1, the method further comprising pausing the first and second rotary presses between the first and the second time intervals. 5. An apparatus having machine readable instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to implement the method of claim 1. 6. A rotary press system comprising: a first rotary press and a second rotary press spaced from the first rotary press to process a material;a drive gear directly coupled to a shaft extending from a housing of a motor so that the drive gear and the shaft of the motor rotate at equivalent speeds, the drive gear being intermeshed with a first gear of the first rotary press and with a second gear of the second rotary press to drive the first and second rotary presses; anda controller operatively coupled to the motor to cause the drive gear to at least one of accelerate or decelerate the first and second gears of the first and second rotary presses to cause the first rotary press to contact the material at a first position during a first time interval and the second rotary press to contact the material at a second position during a second time interval, wherein the first and second time intervals define a cycle of the first and second rotary presses, wherein a speed of the first and second rotary presses substantially matches a speed of the material when the first and second rotary presses are at the respective first and second positions. 7. A rotary press system as defined in claim 6, wherein the first rotary press is structured to contact the material at the first position and the second rotary press is structured to contact the material at the second position while the material is to continuously move through the first and second rotary presses. 8. A rotary press system as defined in claim 6, wherein the material is a strip material, the first rotary press is to punch the strip material, and the second rotary press is to punch or shear the strip material. 9. A rotary press system as defined in claim 6, wherein the first and second rotary presses pause between the first and second time intervals. 10. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising controlling, via a controller, the first drive gear to accelerate during the first time interval and decelerate during a second portion of the first time interval and accelerate during a first portion of the second time interval and decelerate during a second portion of the second time interval. 11. A method as defined in claim 10, further comprising controlling the first drive gear to rotate at speeds different from a speed of the material. 12. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first rotary press has first rams to hold a first tool perpendicular to the material during the cycle, and the second rotary press has second rams to hold a second tool perpendicular to the material during the cycle. 13. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the motor comprises an electronic motor. 14. A rotary press system as defined in claim 6, wherein the controller is to cause the drive gear to accelerate during a first portion of the first time interval and decelerate during a second portion of the first time interval and accelerate during a first portion of the second time interval and decelerate during a second portion of the second time interval. 15. A rotary press system as defined in claim 6, wherein the first rotary press has rams to hold a first tool perpendicular to the material during an entire rotation of the first rotary press and the second rotary press has second rams to the hold a second tool perpendicular to the material during an entire rotation of the second rotary press. 16. A rotary press system as defined in claim 6, wherein the motor comprises an electric motor. 17. A rotary press system as defined in claim 6, wherein the drive gear is to cause the first and second rotary presses to operate simultaneously. 18. A rotary press system comprising: a first rotary press and a second rotary press spaced from the first rotary press to process a material;a first drive gear directly coupled to a first shaft extending from a housing of a motor so that the first drive gear and the first shaft of the motor rotate at equivalent speeds, the first drive gear being intermeshed with a first gear of the first rotary press and with a second gear of the second rotary press to drive the first and second rotary presses;a second drive gear coupled to the first drive gear via a second shaft, the second drive gear being intermeshed with a third gear of the first rotary press and a fourth gear of the second rotary press, the first and second drive gears to provide a substantially equal amount of torque to the first, second, third and fourth gears; anda controller operatively coupled to the motor to cause the first drive gear to at least one of accelerate or decelerate the first and second gears of the first and second rotary presses to cause the first rotary press to contact the material at a first position during a first time interval and the second rotary press to contact the material at a second position during a second time interval, wherein the first and second time intervals define a cycle of the first and second rotary presses. 19. A method of claim 1, further comprising rotating the first drive gear and the shaft of the motor at equivalent speeds. 20. A rotary press system of claim 15, wherein the first rotary press has a first upper ram and a first lower ram to support the first tool and the second rotary press has a second upper ram and a second lower ram to support the second tool. 21. A rotary press system as defined in claim 20, wherein the first gear comprises a first lower spur gear of the first lower ram and the second gear comprises a second lower spur gear of the second lower ram. 22. A rotary press system as defined in claim 18, wherein the controller controls the speeds of the first and second rotary presses to rotate at speeds different from a speed of the material.