Abstract: In forging hammers, according to the present invention, more than one inlet valve is employed and more than one exhaust may be employed. The force of impact for a particular blow is controlled by the number of valves employed and the timing of the opening and closing of those valves relative to one another. By making successive adjustments with different combination of valves, the controls may be calibrated so that the same ram force may be repeated. Knowing the valve settings required to produce differing amounts of force, it is possible to program the settings into the memory of a computer, so that when a particular impact force is selected the appropriate valve timing will be reproduced and the desired force obtained. It is also possible to set up a sequence of blows of differing selected force, setting each blow using the computer memory.

Abstract: A forging hammer employs compressible fluid to drive the ram into impact and a trapped volume of compressible fluid to cause the ram to be retracted from impact position when fluid driving the ram into impact is released. The velocity of impact is adjusted by the timing of the opening of a valve allowing variable amounts of compressed fluid into a cylinder from a compressible fluid supply. Various means are provided to sense one or more of following: pressure of the compressible inlet fluid, residual velocity of the ram at the position at which the at least one inlet port is uncovered by the piston, position of the piston at the time of fluid admission and pressure of the lifting fluid. The sensed parameters are correlated in connection with predetermined criteria. This correlation is used to determine a range of possible kinetic energy at impact and that range is compared with a preselected kinetic input demand.

Abstract: A forging hammer employs compressible fluid to drive the ram into impact and a trapped volume of compressible fluid to cause the ram to be retracted from impact position when fluid driving the ram into impact is released. The velocity of impact is adjusted by the timing of the opening of a valve allowing variable amounts of compressible fluid into a cylinder from a compressible fluid supply. Historical data is accumulated on a given forging hammer correlating the peak lifting fluid pressure with ram stroke. Thereafter, it is possible by measuring lifting fluid pressure and obtaining the peak value to determine the stroke by comparing the measured value against compiled pressure vs. stroke data for various residual lifting air pressures. Knowing the dimensions of dies and other structures employed with a forging hammer, it is then possible to calculate the rate of deformation from the forging size of the previous blow and the forging size of the current blow.

Abstract: A forging hammer employs compressible fluid to drive the ram into impact and a trapped volume of compressible fluid to cause the ram to be retracted from impact position when fluid driving the ram into impact is released. The velocity of impact is adjusted by the timing of the opening of a valve allowing variable amounts of compressed fluid into a cylinder from a compressible fluid supply. As the ram is driven into impact, the compressible fluid which causes the ram to be retracted is compressed and increases in pressure. The peak of pressure in this trapped volume of compressible fluid is sensed and compared with a peak value of reference pressure which represents a desired impact energy. If there is an error between the measured peak and the desired peak effect, an incrementing or decrementing signal is provided to correct the valve to adjust the effect of the next blow.

Abstract: A forging hammer employs compressible fluid to drive the ram into impact and a trapped volume of compressible fluid to cause the ram to be retracted from impact position when fluid driving the ram into impact is released. The velocity of impact is adjusted by the timing of the opening of a valve allowing variable amounts of compressible fluid into a cylinder from a compressible fluid supply. Pressure sensing means is provided to sense the pressure of the lifting fluid, calculating means for calculating kinetic energy from the rate of change of lifting air pressure, comparator means for comparing kinetic energy with a standard and a counter for accumulating error. Sensing the rate of change of pressure of the lifting fluid permits calculation of the velocity of the hammer. Kinetic energy at the time of impact is calculated from the velocity and the mass of the ram assembly.

Abstract: A die forging hammer senses the pressure of striking air and the pressure of lifting air from within the cylinder as well as ram start position. Various empirical information is stored and available to a computer which uses the inputs to compute velocity ram position, rebound velocity and other pieces of information. In order to use the lifting air data, sequential pressure measurements are made by a microprocessor and stored for analysis and for use in deriving from stored empirical information about machine characteristics ram velocity and related information. Three types of systems are interwoven and may be used separately or simultaneously to control the blow control system. Different programs are employed, preferably using algorithms applicable to the equipment in processes to derive desired output or intermediate information.

Abstract: A die forging hammer senses the pressure of striking air and the pressure of lifting air from within the cylinder as well as ram start position. Various empirical information is stored and available to a computer which uses the inputs to compute velocity, ram position, rebound velocity and other pieces of information. In order to use the lifting air data, sequential pressure measurements are made by a microprocessor and stored for analysis and for use in deriving from stored empirical information about machine characteristics ram velocity and related information. Three types of systems are interwoven and may be used separately or simultaneously to control the blow control system. The blow control system itself compares input desired results with computed actual results and enables changes to valve timing to bring the actual into conformity with the desired.