Contactless feeder for electrically conductive sheet metals

Today, the cyclic feeding of sheet metals in metal forming machines is realized by means of mechanical roll or grip feeders. The limited feeding forces as well as the restricted dynamics and the potential for damaging the sheet surface as a result of mechanical contact often restricts the production rate of the entire press line. At the IFUM, a new contactless feeding system has been developed, based on the asynchronous linear motor, with which high feeding forces can be applied to the electrically conductive sheet metal contactless by means of electromagnetic forces. In this paper, the feeder’s operation characteristics depending on the sheet material properties and also on their geometry are presented. According to simulations and experiments the feeding forces could be significantly increased in comparison to reachable forces in case of using roll feeders.