Peening machine

Abstract

A shot peening machine designed to maintain a 45 degree angle of impact to all accessible surfaces of any design, shape or configuration by using geometry to better control the shot penning intensity ranges to the smaller variation possible by impacting all surfaces of a part at a 45 degree angle except radii and corners which see 90 degree shot impacts to protect transition areas (Radii) of the part with higher intensity at 90 degree thus providing optimum process control of the shot peening machine.

Having thus described the invention, I claim: 
     
         1 . A method for improving the shot peening of a part, the method comprising:
 mounting a rotary peening head on a stationary surface;   moving a worktable with the part thereon parallel to the stationary surface;   positioning the rotary peening head at 45° angle on the stationary surface from the axis of the worktable direction of travel; and   directing a fan shaped shot path across the part at a 45° angle as the part moves beneath the stationary surface on the worktable.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the stationary surface is a roof on a shot peening chamber having the rotary peening head mounted at the 45° angle from a Y axis defined as the travel direction of the worktable. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein three rotary peening heads are spaced apart a predetermined distance from each other on roof at the same 45° degree angle for covering the entire width of the worktable and for shot peening any parts loaded onto the worktable. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the movable worktable is parallel and spaced apart from the stationary surface a predetermined distance along a Z axis from the direction of worktable travel in the Y axis. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 utilizing Almen test strips to verify the intensity level of the shot peening process.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the rotary peening head is traveling at the speed of approximately 1200 RPM during operation. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of streams of shot have a lower air pressure than the stream. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 collecting the used shot that falls free from the process in a collection pit below the worktable; and   recycling the used shot back in predetermined condition back into the rotary peening head for the fan shaped shot path to peen another part on the worktable.   
     
     
         9 . An apparatus, comprising;
 a rotary peening head mounted on a stationary surface;   a worktable with a part thereon moving parallel to the stationary surface;   the rotary peening head positioned at 45° angle on the stationary surface from the axis of the worktable direction of travel; and   a fan shaped shot path directed across the part at a 45° angle as the part moves beneath the stationary surface on the worktable.   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the stationary surface and the worktable are spaced apart a predetermined distance in parallel to one another along a Z axis. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the rotary peening head is one of three rotary peening heads spaced apart a predetermined distance from one another to cover the width of the worktable with parts as it passes beneath the stationary surface. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 9  further comprising:
 a hopper mounted above the rotary peening head configured to holding shot; and 
 a hose connecting the hopper to the shot peening head. 
 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12  further comprising:
 a valve with an electromagnet configured to control a stream of shot through the hose at a controlled flow rate for process uniformity and coverage control. 
 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the shot within the fan shaped shot path is recycled for further use in the shot peening process. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , further including a shot pit below the travel of the worktable to collect the spent shot falling free into the shot pit during the operation of the apparatus, an elevator and auger system for moving the collected shot out of the shot pit to a hopper mounted above the rotary shot peening head to feed the recycled shot into the shot peening ahead to be used again. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , further including a motor connected to the rotary peening head having a wheel spinning to create the fan shaped shot path, the motor driving the wheel to a predetermined revolutions per minute wherein the intensity of the shot path is controlled to optimize shot peening of all the part surfaces. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , further including programmable logic controller, a variable frequency drive connected to the programmable logic controller for controlling the speed of the motor to modulate the intensity of the shot peening on the part. 
     
     
         18 . A method for shot peening, comprising:
 directing a fan shaped stream of shot from a rotary shot peening head mounted on a stationary surface at a 45 degree angle across a part on a worktable;   moving the worktable past the penning head in a direction that maintains the 45 degree angle in the direction of the worktable travel and the worktable and the stationary surface are spaced apart from each other a predetermined distance and also parallel to one another at all times during the travel of the worktable;   collecting the used shot in a pit below the travel of the worktable;   recycling the shot collected in the pit back to the rotary shot peening head;   collecting the dust created by the shot peening in a hopper; and   utilizing the hopper to dispose of the dust in an environmentally safe manner.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further including an AC induction motors for driving the worktable along a predetermined path of travel and for collecting the dust from the shot peening process, a variable frequency drive for controlling the speed of the motor driving the worktable and interlocked electrical circuits between a control circuit for the worktable and the dust collector whereby the worktable is prevented from operating unless the dust collector is energized and operating. 
     
     
         20 . A shot peening machine, comprising:
 a loading station for placing parts on a movable worktable connected to a rail car riding on a pair of rails and driven by a motor;   a staging area for beginning the shot peening operation having a control panel cabinet housing start and stop pushbuttons to start and end the shot peening operation and further including electrical controls for controlling motors and sensors in the shot peening system such as the motors for an elevator, an auger, a dust collector system including a dust collector and a dust shaker, shot pit shakers; shot feeder and other electrical controls in the shot peening system like the valves on shot hoses between a shot hopper feeding the peening process;   a shot peening chamber having rotary shot heads driven by a motor, the rotary shot heads mounted on a stationary roof of the shot peening chamber and angled at 45 degrees with respect to the axis of travel of the worktable, hoses with valves for controlling the shot fed from the shot hopper to the rotary shot heads;   a containment chamber connected to the exit opening of the shot chamber for collecting the dust from the peening operation;   a dust collection system including a dust box connected to an opening at a floor level of the containment chamber, a dust collection house having the dust collector motor and the dust shaker motor and a dust hopper for collecting the dust from the peening operation and a pipe extending from the dust box to the dust collection house for sucking the dust out of the containment chamber; and   a shot pit located below a grate supporting the rails and pit shot hoppers below the grate for collecting used shot in the shot peening process and channeling it into pit shakers that move the shot to a deeper pit connected to an elevator with buckets for carrying the used shot out of the deeper pit to an auger above the shot chamber to carry the shot into a shot hopper that feeds the rotary shot heads mounted on the roof surface of the shot chamber through a series of hoses with valves controlling the shot fed into the rotary shot heads to control the intensity of the shot within the shot chamber.