Polishing process and polishing apparatus for glass product

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10875142-B2
Application number	US-201616060496-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2016
Priority date	Dec 9, 2015
Publication date	Dec 29, 2020
Grant date	Dec 29, 2020

Abstract

Disclosed are a process and apparatus for polishing a glass article ( 1201 ).
The polishing process comprises bringing a rotating article ( 1201 ) to be polished into contact with various centrifugally outspread flexible flaps of a rotating flexible flap grinding wheel ( 1101 ), with a grinding wheel ( 1101 ) rotation shaft being parallel to an article ( 1201 ) rotation shaft; and pneumatically controlling the feed of the flexible flap grinding wheel ( 1101 ) relative to the surface of the article ( 1201 ) to be polished, such that the outer edges of the flaps of the flexible flap grinding wheel ( 1101 ) are in pressure contact with the surface to be polished of the article ( 1201 ) to be polished, and polishing same. This polishing process can restore a worn glass bottle, particularly a glass bottle having a profiled contour, to the extent that same looks like new at a lower cost. The corresponding polishing apparatus can realize automatic and continuous grinding polishing of worn glass bottles.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A polishing process comprising:
bringing a rotating article to be polished into contact with various centrifugally outspread flexible flaps of a rotating flexible flap grinding wheel, with a grinding wheel rotation shaft being parallel to an article rotation shaft; and
pneumatically controlling the feed of the flexible flap grinding wheel relative to the surface of the article to be polished, such that the outer edges of the flaps of the flexible flap grinding wheel are in pressure contact with the surface to be polished of the article to be polished, and polishing same.

2. The polishing process of claim 1 , wherein said pneumatic controlling of the feed of the flexible flap grinding wheel relative to the surface of said article to be polished is performed by pneumatically applying a force, in the radial direction, to said article rotation shaft by means of said grinding wheel rotation shaft.

3. The polishing process of claim 1 , wherein the feed of said flexible flap grinding wheel relative to the surface of said article to be polished can be automatically compensated according to the surface contour of the article to be polished, so that each of the flaps of said flexible flap grinding wheel is in pressure contact with the surface to be polished of the article to be polished at a constant pressure.

4. The polishing process of claim 3 , wherein said grinding wheel rotation shaft can advance and retract, so that the feed of said flexible flap wheel relative to the surface of said article to be polished is automatically compensated by the contour of the article to be polished.

5. The polishing process of claim 1 , wherein the direction of rotation of said grinding wheel rotation shaft is the same as that of the article rotation shaft, but the speed of rotation thereof is different.

6. The polishing process of claim 1 , wherein the speed of rotation of said article rotation shaft is 1-100 r/min, and the speed of rotation of said grinding wheel rotation shaft is 500-3000 r/min.

7. The polishing process of claim 1 , wherein the pressure of the pressure contact of the flaps of said flexible flap grinding wheel with the surface to be polished of the product to be polished is 2-6 kgf.

8. The polishing process of claim 1 , wherein said flexible flap grinding wheel comprises a hub and a plurality of flexible flaps with an inner edge fixed on the hub and an outer edge that can be outspread, each flexible flap comprising a substrate and an abrasive layer, and the abrasive layer being bonded to the substrate and comprising an abrasive and a binder.

9. The polishing process of claim 8 , wherein the material of said substrate is selected as having the same or a similar rate of consumption with respect to said abrasive layer.

10. The polishing process of claim 8 , wherein the process further comprises bringing the rotating article to be polished sequentially into contact with a plurality of rotating flexible flap grinding wheels in the descending order of the grain sizes of abrasives of the grinding wheels, where the width of a grinding wheel flap with a smaller abrasive grain size is greater than the width of a grinding wheel flap with a larger abrasive grain size.

11. The polishing process of claim 10 , wherein the abrasive grain size of each of said plurality of flexible flap grinding wheels is selected from 300-1 μm.

12. The polishing process of claim 1 , wherein the abrasive of the flexible flap grinding wheel is selected from abrasives with a Mohs hardness of 6-10.

13. The polishing process of claim 1 , wherein the abrasive of the flexible flap grinding wheel is selected from silicon carbide, aluminum oxide, diamond or cerium oxide.

14. The polishing process of claim 1 , wherein said article to be polished is a glass article.

15. A polishing apparatus comprising:
at least one set of grinding wheel rotation mechanisms, each set of grinding wheel rotation mechanisms comprising a servo motor and a grinding wheel rotation shaft driven by the servo motor;
an article rotation mechanism for driving an article rotation shaft to rotate, said article rotation shaft being parallel to each grinding wheel rotation shaft; and
at least one set of automatic feed compensation mechanisms,
wherein said servo motor and said grinding wheel rotation shaft are fixed on a baseplate; and
wherein each set of automatic feed compensation mechanisms comprises:
a pneumatic supply for controlling the feed of said servo motor and said grinding wheel rotation shaft relative to the article rotation shaft by means of pneumatic pressure, and
a linear guide rail, with a sliding block on which said baseplate is fixed being capable of moving linearly along the linear guide rail.

Assignees

• Coca Cola Co

Inventors

• Lin Yuping
• Yang Fulei

Classifications

• B08B1/34

  rotating about an axis parallel to the surface · CPC title

• B24B19/006

  for grinding hollow glassware, bottles · CPC title

• B24D9/003

  Wheels having flaps of flexible abrasive material supported by a flexible material · CPC title

• B24D13/04

  comprising a plurality of flaps or strips arranged around the axis · CPC title

• B24B1/00

  Processes of grinding or polishing; Use of auxiliary equipment in connection with such processes · CPC title