Energy saving and utilization in secondary controlled hydraulic pressure forming of sheet metal

This paper presents the development of Secondary controlled hydraulic pressure forming of metal. Much energy IS used during metal forming operation causing enormous financial lost to companies. This novel development uses hydraulic transformer to transform a low pressure/high fluid flow into a high-pressure/low fluid flow in order to attain energy efficient system. The machine components mainly include pump/motors, control pump, induction motor, inverter and accumulators whose function is to maintain the required system pressure as well as supplying useful hydraulic energy to the hydraulic actuators. The hydraulic punch unit coupled to the hydraulic cylinder (ram) on a single action stroke performs the forming operation when the cylinder rams strikes. This action saves and recycles both the hydraulic energy and generated heat back into the accumulator during retraction. The highly pressurized fluid generate a force of about (1500kN) from the hydraulic power unit and powers the punch piston for steel forming of thickness between 10-15mm while the blank clamping force is effected using hydraulic ram leading to mass production of high strength, quality surface textured molds and other metallic parts within a second. Experimental results appear to confirm that the system is efficient in energy saving.