Air tightness detection device for aluminum alloy wheel hub and method for detecting air tightness of wheel hub

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9863838-B2
Application number	US-201615002061-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 20, 2016
Priority date	Feb 3, 2015
Publication date	Jan 9, 2018
Grant date	Jan 9, 2018

Abstract

The present invention provides an air tightness detection device for an aluminum alloy wheel hub, which is characterized by precision air pressure sensors, a lower clamp, a cone cylinder pressure plate, air pipes, a pressure plate, guide posts, an air inlet pipe, and a compressed gas control and detection system. A technical solution of the present invention has the following advantages that the cone cylinder pressure plate of the detection device reduces the space of an inner cavity of the wheel hub to further reduce inflating volume, thereby increasing detection efficiency; the characteristics of readily availability for preparation, no pollution and low cost are achieved by taking compressed air as a leakage indication gas.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An airtightness detection device for an aluminum alloy wheel hub, consisting of a lower clamp, a first pressure plate, a second pressure plate, guide posts, an air inlet pipe, air pressure pipes, air pressure sensors, and a compressed-gas control and detection system, wherein
the second pressure plate is connected to the plurality of guide posts, and the second pressure plate is made of flexible soft rubber;
the first pressure plate is mounted on the lower clamp and has a truncated-cone portion which is suitable to match with an inner cavity of the wheel hub so that the first pressure plate and the wheel hub form a sealed chamber between them, the first pressure plate being made of flexible rubber;
the air inlet pipe extends through an interior of the first pressure plate, and has one end which is in communication with the sealed chamber and ends on a surface of the truncated cone portion of the first pressure plate and another end which is in communication with the compressed gas control and detection system; and
the plurality of air pressure pipes extend through the interior of the first pressure plate, and each of the plurality of air pressure pipes has one end which is in communication with the sealed chamber and ends on the surface of the truncated cone portion of the first pressure plate and another end which is in communication with the plurality of air pressure sensor for measuring pressure changed inside the sealed chamber;
wherein the lower clamp is mounted on a base.

2. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the truncated cone portion of the first pressure plate occupies 85% to 97% of the space of the inner cavity of the wheel hub.

3. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of air pressure sensors and the plurality of air pressure pipes are respectively 3 to 12 in number and are uniformly distributed along a circumferential direction of the first pressure plate.

4. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the second pressure plate is mounted on the plurality of guide posts via an upper clamp, and wherein the plurality of guide posts are 2 to 4 in number.

5. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the compressed gas control and detection system is a flow-type or pressure-type compressed gas control and detection system, and wherein the compressed gas servo control and detection system is connected with a servo motor loading control system.

6. A system for detecting airtightness of an aluminum alloy wheel hub, comprising:
the air tightness detection device for the aluminum alloy wheel hub as set forth in claim 1 ; a data acquisition module; and a data processing module; wherein
the data acquisition module reads gas pressure measurement data from the plurality of air pressure sensors, and the data processing module is connected with the data acquisition module and a servo motor loading control system;
the data processing module comprises a processor and a memory, and the data processing module is connected with the data acquisition module; wherein the data processing module is configured to read the gas pressure measurement data from the data acquisition module and record the gas pressure measurement data in the memory; and send an inflation or inflation stopping instruction to the servo motor loading control system;
and further wherein the system further comprises a manipulator connected to the data processing module, the manipulator being set to move the wheel hub onto the first pressure plate, move the wheel hub from the first pressure plate to a scrap area, or move the wheel hub from the first pressure plate to a qualified product area, based on an instruction sent by the data processing module.

7. A method for detecting airtightness of an aluminum alloy wheel hub by using the device as set forth in claim 1 , comprising:
placing the wheel hub to be detected on the first pressure plate, with a spoke side of the wheel hub facing upwards, and moving the second pressure plate downwards to press a wheel disk of the wheel hub tightly to form the sealed chamber;
filling a compressed gas into the sealed chamber via the air inlet pipe through the compressed-gas control and detection system, and detecting a gas pressure inside the sealed chamber by using the plurality of air pressure sensors until the plurality of air pressure sensors detect that the gas pressure reaches a first pressure, the first pressure being 200 to 800 kPa and an inflation time being 2 to 12 seconds;
stopping inflation, detecting the gas pressure inside the sealed chamber through the plurality of air pressure sensors, and recording a second gas pressure after 10 to 60 seconds; and
comparing the second gas pressure with the first gas pressure to obtain an airtightness index of the wheel hub.

8. A method for detecting airtightness of an aluminum alloy wheel hub by using the device as set forth in claim 1 , comprising:
placing the wheel hub to be detected on the first pressure plate, with a spoke side of the wheel hub facing upward, and moving the second pressure plate downwards to press a wheel disk of the wheel hub tightly to form the sealed chamber;
filling a compressed gas into the sealed chamber via the air inlet pipe through the compressed-gas control and detection system, and detecting a gas pressure by using the plurality of air pressure sensors until the plurality of air pressure sensors detect that the gas pressure reaches a first pressure, with the first pressure being 200 to 800 kPa and an inflation time being 2 to 12 seconds;
continuing to fill the compressed gas into the sealed chamber, detecting a gas pressure by using the air pressure sensors, and measuring a second gas pressure through the plurality of air pressure sensors at the end of this step; and
comparing the first gas pressure with the second gas pressure to obtain an airtightness index of the wheel hub.

Assignees

• Citic Dicastal Co Ltd

Inventors

• Liu Chunhai
• Yin Zhigao
• Tang Debin
• Lv Jinqi
• Li Zhipeng
• Zhang Aiguo
• Zhu Zhihua
• Wang Yongning
• Li Changhai

Classifications

• G01M3/329 Primary

  for verifying the internal pressure of closed containers · CPC title