Journal of

Mechanical
Science and
Technology
Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 23 (2009) 512~524
www.springerlink.com/content/1738-494x
DOI 10.1007/s12206-008-1015-3

Kinematical analysis on the several linkage drives

for mechanical presses†
Kyung Chun Ham and Dong Hwan Jang*
Department of Machine Design System Information, Inha Technical College, Inchon, 402-751, Korea

(Manuscript Received September 3, 2008; Revised October 28, 2008; Accepted October 28, 2008)
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Abstract

In this paper, a kinematical analysis is preformed to see mechanical characteristics of various linkage drives for a
mechanical press. Mechanical characteristics of conventional and newly designed drives are investigated and compared
in terms of slide velocity, productivity, load capacity and possible work-piece size. A crank-slider mechanism with arc
crank-pin guide is introduced and analyzed particularly for kinematical performance using kinematical analysis soft-
ware. The new linkage drive turns out to be effective in terms of load and velocity characteristics and productivity.
Kinematical performance also provides a basis for the proper selection of mechanical presses.
Keywords: Crank-slider mechanism; Arc crank-pin guide; Kinematical performances; Load-velocity characteristics; Productivity
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inexpensive, easy to automate, need low maintenance

1. Introduction
and offer high production rate [2, 3].
In specific equipment characteristics, it is useful to Each mechanical press has a unique relationship be-
classify forging devices with respect to their principles tween the strokes per minute (SPM), production rate,
of operation. Hydraulic presses are essentially load- and the available energy per stroke. The strokes per
restricted machines, i.e., their capability for carrying minute of the machine decreases with increasing en-
out a forming operation is limited mainly by the max- ergy required per stroke. This relationship can be de-
imum load capacity. Mechanical presses such as ec- termined experimentally by forging specimens that
centric (crankless) and crank-type are stroke-restricted require various amounts of deformation energy while
machines, since the length of the press stroke and the measuring load, displacement, and flywheel recovery
available load at various stroke positions represents the time [1]. Recently, the flexibility of the load-stroke
capability of these machines [1]. They are inferior to characteristics and bottom dead center of a linkage
hydraulic presses for noise, vibration and overload drives has been examined by a computer-controlled
problems near bottom dead center (BDC). In addition, driving motor to compete with the hydraulic presses in
the pressure capacity could be easily controlled along extrusion and sheet metal-forming applications [4-6].
the entire stroke in hydraulic presses. Therefore, hy- This flexibility will enable the press characteristics to
draulic presses are widely employed for the flexibility be modified according to the requirements of the de-
of stroke and ram speed. Mechanical presses, in spite sired deformation process. These attempts have fo-
of the disadvantages mentioned, have been widely cused on increasing the approach and return speeds,
applied to the metal forming industry because they are respectively, but slowing down the ram speed in the
†This paper was recommended for publication in revised form by working region of the stroke to provide for controlled
Associate Editor Dae-Eun Kim forming. Another objective is to maintain the specified
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 32 870 2156, Fax.: +82 32 870 2502
E-mail address: [email protected] load over a relatively long working stroke while si-
© KSME & Springer 2009 multaneously reducing the crank torque and the frame
 K. C. Ham and D. H. Jang / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 23 (2009) 512~524 513

strength requirements in order to achieve reductions in extrusion, upset forging, bending) requires a certain
weight, size and cost of the machine [7]. However, the variation of the forging load over the slide displace-
applicability of that press to the forming industry has ment (or stroke) [1]. In the forging operation, a press
not been proven yet. Many different types of simple must have the ability to take the energy of the fly-
crank and eccentric drives have been proposed to wheel and transmit it through the clutch, gears (if a
achieve these objectives, which include the linear geared press), crankshaft, connecting rod, and finally
guide [8], Niagara link [9], and arc crank-pin guide slide to perform the required work without exceeding
drives [10]. These presses are usually suited for use in the safe working capacity of any component [12].
high tonnage over a relatively long stroke in the work- In deep drawing, a sheet blank (hot or cold), usu-
ing region for applications such as deep drawing and ally subjected to a peripheral hold-down pressure, is
extrusion processes [7]. forced by a punch into and through a die to form a
In most cases, in order to design a new drive mecha- deep recessed part having a wall thickness substan-
nism, it is necessary to consider several factors, such tially the same as that of the blank. This specific
as: process has usually been performed on the hydraulic
(a) high and relatively constant load capacity presses, mechanical presses, eyelet-type transfer
throughout the entire stroke, presses. Because of the variation in metal volume and
(b) relatively constant ram speed, in resistance to metal flow during deep drawing op-
(c) production rates, and eration, the punch force increases rapidly, passes
(d) manufacturing costs. through a maximum before the middle of the working
The design factors mentioned above are to be com- stroke, and gradually decreases to zero as the edges of
pared with those of conventional linkage drives and the flange approach and enter the die opening and
thereby, the feasibility of the new design is to be prov- pass into the shell wall. The maximum punch force
en. before the middle of punch displacement during deep
In this study, a new mechanical drive, called arc drawing is the key characteristic, while most of the
crank-pin guide, is analyzed and compared with con- forming process shows a peak load near the end of the
ventional linkage drives in terms of load-stroke, veloc- process [10]. A major advantage of hydraulic presses
ity, acceleration and production rate. The principle of for deep drawing is the availability of full tonnage
the new drive is explained and discussions are espe- anywhere in the press stroke. Few mechanical presses
cially focused on the kinematical performance using a have tonnage curves that will permit such severe ap-
kinematical analysis program for the slide motion. plications. Another advantage is that the stroke may
Basically, the use of this program leads to a way of be adjusted by the user to match the requirements of
improving the performance of the machine [11]. The the job. Only enough stroke length is required to pro-
possible work-piece sizes with the same frame vide part clearance. Limiting the actual stroke may
strength are also compared among presses with differ- allow faster cycling rates, while reducing energy con-
ent drives. These characteristics provide new drives sumption [12]. A process variation is the drawing
with the ability of transmitting a higher torque and speed, which is usually expressed in linear feet per
greater working efficiency than the conventional link- minute. Under ideal conditions, press speeds as high
age drive. as 75 ft/min are used for deep drawing of low carbon
steel. However, when the operation includes ironing,
the drawing speed is usually reduced to about 25
2. Classification of press forming and its ap-
ft/min [13]. Generally, low drawing speed is prefer-
plications
able for successfully drawn parts. The hydraulic press
The purchase of new forging equipment requires a has the ram speed adjusted to a constant value that is
thorough understanding of the effect of equipment best for the material requirements.
characteristics upon the forging operations, load and In the case of the extrusion process, direct or indi-
energy requirements of the specific forging operation, rect, there is a rapid build-up of pressure caused by
and the capabilities and characteristics of the specific the initial compression of the slug, which exactly fills
forging machine to be used for that operation. For a and expands the container. The initial high pressure
given material, a specific forging operation (such as when extruding is an important characteristic and has
closed-die forging with flash, forward or backward been discussed by Duffill et al. [14]. The high and
514 K. C. Ham and D. H. Jang / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 23 (2009) 512~524

constant load capacity during a stroke of a press is

recommendable for extrusion operation. In direct-
driven hydraulic presses, the maximum press load is
available at any point during the entire ram stroke. In
accumulator–driven presses, the available load de-
creases slightly depending upon the length of the
stroke and upon the load-displacement characteristics
of the forming process. Since most of the load is
available during the entire stroke, relatively large
energies are available for deformation. This is a rea-
Fig. 1. Different forming load and torque capacity character-
son why the hydraulic press is ideally suited for ex-
istics.
trusion-type forging operations requiring a nearly
constant load over a long stroke. Within the limits of However, high torque capacity over the working
the machine speed, the ram speed can be varied con- stroke is more important for forming processes such
tinuously during the entire stroke cycle. But it gener- as drawing and extrusion in which a higher forming
ates a shock caused by hydraulic pressure if it has to load is required in the working stroke long before
return and approach quickly, which is the biggest BDC. Fig. 1 shows the relationship between the form-
problem in high speed application of a hydraulic press. ing load and stroke for typical forming processes, and
The fastest hydraulic press is slower than a me- torque capacity and stroke characteristics for different
chanical press designed for high speed operation. For presses with different nominal capacities. In the figure,
example, the high speeds, together with short stroke curves a, b, and c denote forming load or pressure
and feed progressions, used for electrical terminal characteristics noted typically for blanking, extrusion,
production favor mechanical presses. Repair costs and drawing processes, respectively. Curves I, II, and
due to abuse and/or poor maintenance practices are III denote torque or load capacities of presses over
also high for both direct and accumulator driven hy- working stroke with different nominal capacities,
draulic presses, while mechanical presses have an respectively. In the figure, suitable presses for the
advantage of lower mechanical losses of lower energy forming process such as a, b, and c are those with
consumption in many applications [12]. A recently curves I, II, and III, respectively.
developed mechanical press drive uses a four-bar
linkage mechanism [15]. In this mechanism the load-
3. The principle of rotating disk with arc crank-
stroke and velocity-stroke behavior of the slide can be
pin guide
changed by adjusting the length of one of four links
or by varying the connection point of the slide link For a long time, eccentric or crank drive systems
with the drag link [1]. Thus, with this press it is pos- were the only type of drive mechanisms used in me-
sible to maintain the maximum load, as specified by chanical presses. The relatively high impact speed on
press capacity, over a relatively long deformation die closure and reduction of slide speed during the
stroke. These kinematical characteristics offer ideal forming processes are drawbacks which often pre-
conditions for the extrusion and deep drawing. How- clude the use of this type of press for deep drawing at
ever, the complexity of the linkage drive is not so high stroking rates. However, in presses with capaci-
good in terms of economy. ties up to a nominal force of 5,000 kN, such as uni-
Working pressure should be 75 – 80% of pressure versal or blanking presses, an eccentric or crank drive
capacity or nominal capacity of the press due to cost is still the most effective system since peak load dur-
and workability. Nominal capacity is defined as the ing operation takes place near BDC [14]. The slider-
maximum working pressure which could be applied crank mechanism is actually a special case of a four-
to a forming process by a press and usually denoted bar linkage with one lever of infinite length. There-
as the unit of tonf. Torque capacity for a mechanical fore, the principles used to coordinate angles for a
press is defined as the working load capacity over the four-bar linkage can be used in designing a slider-
entire deformation stroke. High nominal capacity is crank mechanism to coordinate angles with linear
required for the forming process such as closed-die displacements [16].
forging which shows a peak forming load near BDC. Fig. 2 shows the driving mechanism of the crank
 K. C. Ham and D. H. Jang / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 23 (2009) 512~524 515

Crank
Center Main Main
Pinion Crank Pinion
Crank Shaft
Locus

Crank Pin
Main Gear Guide
Center
Main
Connecting Main Connecting Gear
Rod Gear Rod
Plunger
Plunger Guide

(a) Front View (b) Side View

Fig. 2. Driving mechanism of newly designed press using arc crank-pin guide.

T Crank T
Locus

O C C
S O
O S

Crank
B Main Gear Locus
B Crank Center Center
T

about 120°
Lecc
Decc C

O S

about 120°

(c) Details of Eccentric Drive

P P P
Front View Side View
(a) Crank (b) Arc Crank-pin Guide

Fig. 3. Kinematical equivalent mechanism and details of the eccentric drive.

press with arc crank-pin guide. This is a modification of forming process, and the Point B at the bottom
of the linear guide drive [8,17,18], in that the linear dead center (BDC), respectively. When the main gear
crank-pin guide is simply changed to arc guide. In rotates around point O at a certain constant angular
this paper, the arc radius is set to be 1,500 mm for velocity, the crank-pin keeps moving around while
simulation. As shown in the figure, the main gear has traveling along the crank locus as shown in the figure.
an arc crank-pin guide, which constrains the motion The angle ∠BOT denotes the rotation angle of the
of the crank-slider mechanism mainly in terms of main gear corresponding to the ascending stroke,
slide velocity. The plunger is connected to the slide ∠SOB the angle corresponding to the working stroke,
for precise motion of the press. ∠TOS the angle corresponding to the descending
Kinematical equivalence for the conventional crank stroke, respectively. In the figure, each rotation angle
press drive and the eccentric mechanism drive are of the main gear is divided into about 180°. Thus, the
shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 3(a) illustrates that the driving ascending time approximately comes to be equal to
mechanism of a crank press has the main gear and the descending plus working time. Fig. 3(b) shows the
crank center in common position. Point T in the Fig. front view and side view in the link mechanism of the
denotes the position of the crank-pin at the top dead arc-guide drive, respectively. As shown in the figure,
center (TDC) of the slide, the point S at the beginning the arc-guide press has a crank-pin guide in the main
516 K. C. Ham and D. H. Jang / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 23 (2009) 512~524

gear. Fig. 3(c) illustrates the details of the driving since the mechanical press using crank-slide mecha-
parts with the eccentricity distance Lecc between main nism provides infinite pressure at BDC, the frame
gear center O and crank center C, and with angle Decc capacity or the nominal load is specified at a certain
between the line connecting two centers and a hori- position of slide. The nominal slide position for anal-
zontal line passing through the main gear center. The ysis is set as 13 mm above BDC [20], which is the
main gear rotates around the point O at a constant standard for medium capacity presses in Korea and
angular velocity and the crank-pin slides on the arc- Japan. For different applications, the nominal load
guide while traveling along the crank locus as shown may be set at different positions above BDC accord-
in the figure. The angles ∠TOS, ∠SOB, and ∠BOT ing to the standards established by the American Joint
correspond to the descending, working, and ascend- Industry Conference [21]. From this nominal load, the
ing strokes, respectively. Each rotation angle of the required torque is determined at the nominal position.
main gear is divided into about 120°. Thus, the as- Working load capacity, commonly called torque ca-
cending time comes out to be about 1/3rd of the total pacity, is calculated at every slide position. In the Fig.
cycle time and the descending time and working time Fcra, Flin, and Farc represent the forces acting on the
about 2/3rds of that, respectively. Thus, this driving crank-pin of each press to have the specified nominal
mechanism is one of the quick return motion mecha- capacity, respectively. Note that these forces are de-
nisms. Meanwhile, adjustments of the eccentric rived from the tangential force of crank as shown in
length Lecc and the angle Decc could yield various ram the figure. The arc-guide press has the biggest tangen-
speed and load capacity characteristics. If two centers tial force in the working region of the stroke as shown
change their position with each other, the drive would in Fig. 4(c). The magnitudes of these force compo-
provide desirable kinematical and dynamic character-
istics for a shear machine such as the Bliss Shear Table 1. Initial torque capacity for each press.
Machine [19].
Fig. 4 shows the force transmission characteristics Torque Capacity(tonf·mm)
at crank-pins for crank, linear-guide, and arc-guide Crank 70,093.78
presses, respectively. The nominal position is as- Niagara Link 63,646.24
sumed at 13 mm above BDC. At this position one is
Linear Guide 60,101.86
to compare the magnitudes of driving torques of each
Arc Guide 65,056.07
press for the common nominal capacity. Generally,

Crank T Crank T Crank T

Locus Locus Locus

O C C
Farc
Flin O
O Flin

B B B
Fcra
Fcra Fcra

P P P
(a) Crank (b) Linear Guide (c) Arc Guide

Fig. 4. Force characteristics for each drive.

 K. C. Ham and D. H. Jang / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 23 (2009) 512~524 517

nents have direct influence on the torque capacity or

working load capacity of presses over the working
stroke. Since the distance from the force-acting point
to crank center or main gear center is known, the
driving torque of each press can be calculated. Table
1 shows the torque of each press at nominal slide
position when the nominal capacity is set as 700 tonf.
As shown in the table, the driving torque of the arc-
guide press is lower than that of the crank press, but a
little higher than that of the Niagara press and linear-
guide press, respectively. Therefore, the arc-guide
press driving motor needs a little bigger driving
Fig. 5. Post-processing window of SS-Plot.
torque than that of the Niagara link press and linear-
guide press, if they are directly driven. However, this length of each link such as connecting rod and crank
is generally not the case because most mechanical radius, etc. The set position for the nominal load is
presses adopt an indirect drive mechanism such as also designated in the input module. In the calculation
flywheel drives. module, for each driving mechanism, stroke, velocity,
In this paper, the nominal capacity is assumed as acceleration, and load capacity are calculated for the
700 tonf for analysis. By assuming that 700 tonf load rotating angle of main gear by using the input data,
acts on the slide constantly, the torque of the main and the results are saved in data files. After calcula-
gear is calculated according to the main gear rotation. tion, the post-processing is carried out. This module is
In practice, with the calculated torque, the load capac- composed of two subroutines: one plots the trace of
ity or torque capacity can be also obtained inversely motion, and the other generates plots of several char-
and the load-stroke curve is generated. The load ca- acteristics for the entire stroke. The routine for the
pacity is given as the following Eq. (1), trace of linkage motion draws the link position along
the rotating angle of main gear, and plots the motion
Tat13
p (θ ) = × 700 (1) of each link along the rotating angle of main gear for
Tθ
the entire ram stroke on the graphic window. From
where, P(θ) represents the load or torque of a press, these plots, the size of the linkage drive or press can
Tat13 the driving torque at nominal position and Tθ be assumed and applied to the new design for the arc-
the driving torque, respectively, when the rotation guide press. This routine plots several characteristics
angle of the main gear is at θ . of the press such as stroke, ram velocity, acceleration
and load capacity curve along the rotating angle of
main gear or the entire ram stroke, respectively. Fig. 5
4. Simulation software
shows the post processing window of the SS-Plot
In this study, the kinematical analysis program which illustrates the force components on the crank-
called SS-Plot was developed and used to analyze the pin, slide velocity and torque capacity etc.
kinematical characteristics of mechanical presses.
This program was developed originally to analyze the 5. Analysis of each driving mechanism
driving mechanism of a crank press that has the main
gear and crank center in common with the crankpin 5.1 Comparison of kinematical characteristics
guide. Afterwards, it was extended to analyze the Kinematical analysis of a mechanical system con-
rotating disc drive with linear guide that has a linear cerns the motion of the system independent of forces
crank-pin guide in the main gear with the eccentricity that produce the motion. Typically, the time history of
distance and the eccentric angle. This program is position, velocity, and acceleration of the remaining
operated on the Windows system on a personal com- bodies are then determined by solving systems of
puter, and composed of three modules. In the input nonlinear algebraic equations for position and linear
module, the program obtains information on the nu- algebraic equations for velocity and acceleration [22].
merical values of the eccentric length and the angle Upon completion of kinematical analysis, the posi-
between main gear center and crank center and the tions, velocities, accelerations of each body are avail-
518 K. C. Ham and D. H. Jang / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 23 (2009) 512~524

Table 2. Specifications for each press.

Crank Niagara Link Linear Guide Arc Guide

Capacity (ton) 700 700 700 700
Stroke (mm) 650 650 650 650
Stroke per min (spm) 20 20 20 20
Con. Rod (mm) 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500
Position of Nominal Load (mm) 13 13 13 13
Length of Eccentric (mm) - - 195.6 195.6
Angle of Eccentric (Deg.) - - 32.47 32.47
Arc Radius (mm) - - ∞ 1500

Crank Linear Guide Arc Guide Niagara Link

Fig. 6. Plot of the link positions or main gear rotation angles.

able at each time step in the time interval under con- Usually, the frame size is directly related to the manu-
sideration. The use of a postprocessor to tabulate, facturing cost of the press.
graph, or animate data is especially valuable. This Fig. 7 shows the relationships between the ram
section is focused on how the detailed analysis of stroke and main gear angle, from which it is observed
displacements, velocities, and accelerations is per- that the plots are not symmetric about the main gear
formed for comparison of kinematical characteristics angle of 180° except crank drive (that is, the main
between different types of crank and eccentric drives gear angle at BDC is 180°). The entire stroke for each
in a mechanical press. Then, force and torque analysis drive is set as 650 mm in this paper, Since the maxi-
follows. mum working stroke is usually 1/3rd of the entire
The first step in analyzing the four different drives, stroke in deep drawing processes and the initial posi-
including the arc crank-pin guide, is to identify a link- tion of the working stroke is assumed as about 200
age arrangement. Table 2 shows the specifications of mm before BDC. It can be known from the Fig. that
the presses compared to each other in this paper. The the crank presses use only about 17 % of the total
second step is to plot skeleton diagrams of linkage on cycle time for a working process, which means that
a graphic display, in order to give the appearance of 83 % of the total cycle time is wasted as idle time. For
continuous motion. Fig. 6 shows the link positions the Niagara link drive, the idle time is calculated as
along the entire ram stroke for each press. As shown about 77 % of the total cycle time. Linear-guide and
in the figure, it is generated by the post-processing of arc-guide drive have about the same idle time, which
the developed program SS-Plot with the input data is about 70 % of the total cycle time. It means that
such as the rotating angle of the main gear or crank crank drive and Niagara link drive spend longer idle
and the position of the slide. The frame size of each time compared with that of linear-guide and arc-guide
press could be assumed with the skeleton in the figure. drive. From the results mentioned above, the produc-
 K. C. Ham and D. H. Jang / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 23 (2009) 512~524 519

700
WT : Working Time

600

500 ARC GUIDE WT

STROKE (mm)
NIAGARA LINK WT
400
LINEAR GIUDE WT CRANK
300 CRANK WT
ARC GUIDE
NIAGARA LINK
200
LINEAR GUIDE
100

0
0 60 120 180 240 300 360
MAIN GEAR ANGLE (Deg)

Fig. 7. Relationships between main gear angle and stroke.

1500
AT 20 SPM WT : Working Time
1250

1000 ARC GUIDE WT

VELOCITY (mm/sec)

LINEAR GUIDE WT
750
NIAGARA LINK
500
CRANK WT
NIAGARA LINK
250
CRANK
0

-250 ARC GUIDE

-500
LINEAR GUIDE
-750
0 60 120 180 240 300 360
MAIN GEAR ANGLE (Deg)

Fig. 8. Relationships between main gear angle and slide velocity.

tion rates for the linear-guide drive and arc-guide forging [1]. Due to this velocity performance, presses
drive should be much higher than the others if form- using a linear-guide drive or arc-guide drive offer a
ing conditions are the same among the drives, i.e., the big advantage of low slide velocity adjusted to a cer-
same ram speed in the working region. tain process in the working stroke range and are par-
Fig. 8 shows the relationships between the slide ve- ticularly advantageous in the deep drawing process,
locity and the main gear angle while the press is oper- which is very sensitive to the initial work-piece con-
ated at 20 SPM (strokes per minute). As shown in the tact velocity as well as drawing velocity.
figure, the slide of the linear-guide drive moves down Fig. 9 describes slide velocities and production
at 268.85 mm/sec and arc-guide drive at 266.7 rates of the presses with each mechanical drive intro-
mm/sec, respectively, when the slide comes in contact duced in this study. The maximum slide velocity for
with the work-piece at the stroke position of 200 mm each drive is adjusted at 30m/min over the entire
above BDC. These velocities are much lower than working stroke region for a successful drawing proc-
those of the crank drive and Niagara drive, and their ess. With this slide velocity adjusted, possible strok-
slides move down at 661.18 mm/sec and 376.16 ing rates in SPM for each drive are shown in Fig. 9(a)
mm/sec at the stroke position of 200 mm above BDC, for comparison of productivity. While a higher strok-
respectively. The velocity of the slide is an important ing rate increases the production rate, an excessively
process variable because it determines the contact high slide velocity of slide may cause the a defect in
time under pressure and the rate of the deformation or the material. The limit of the slide velocity at the ini-
the strain rate within the work-piece. The strain rate tial contact of the work-piece with the punch for deep
influences the flow stress of the forged material and drawing process has been believed as to be 18 m/min,
consequently affects the load and energy required for but recently it has changed to 25 ~ 30 m/min due to
520 K. C. Ham and D. H. Jang / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 23 (2009) 512~524

-5

-10 CRANK (15 SPM)

VELOCITY (m/min)
-15 NIAGARA (26 SPM)

LINEAR (37 SPM)

-20

-25

-30
ARC GUIDE (37 SPM)

-35
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
STROKE (mm)

(a) Comparison of slide velocities

Slide Veloc-
Unit Productivity
ity(SPM)

CRANK 15 (Unit)

NIAGARA 25 (1.6times)

LINEAR
37 (2.5times)
GUIDE
ARC
37 (2.5times)
GUIDE
(b) Comparison of productivity
Fig. 9. Slide velocity and productivity.

200
LINEAR GUIDE WT : Working Time

150
NIAGARA LINK WT
ARC GUIDE
ACCELERATION (mm/sec )

CRANK WT
2

100

50

0
LINEAR GUIDE WT
-50
NIAGARA LINK ARC GUIDE WT

-100 CRANK

-150
0 60 120 180 240 300 360
MAIN GEAR ANGLE (Deg)

Fig. 10. Relationships between main gear angle and slide acceleration.

the improvement of the accuracy of press, the proper- BDC. Since the direction of slide motion is down-
ties of work-pieces and lubricant, and the design of ward, the sign of velocity appears to be negative in
dies [23]. The velocities shown in the Fig. are all the figure. As shown in the figure, stroking rates of
within the limit value for successful deep drawing. the crank and Niagara link press are 15 and 26, re-
The Fig. shows stroking rates for crank, Niagara link, spectively, for the velocity of slide to be less than 30
linear-guide, and arc-guide presses when the velocity m/min in the working region. For linear-guide and
of slide is 30 m/min at a position of 200 mm above arc-guide press, stroking rates are 37, which is much
 K. C. Ham and D. H. Jang / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 23 (2009) 512~524 521

faster than the crank and Niagara link presses. Fig. those for other drives.
9(b) represents indicates that the linear-guide or arc-
guide press can be operated about 1.4 times and 2.5 5.2 Torque capacity or working load analysis
times faster than the Niagara link and crank presses
can, respectively. Thus, the production rates or pro- For a given part geometry, the absolute load value
ductivity of linear-guide and arc-guide presses are will vary with flow stress of the material as well as
assumed much higher than those of crank and Niag- with frictional conditions. In the forging operation,
ara link press. the equipment must supply the maximum load as well
The relationship between the main gear angle and as the energy required by the process [1]. As men-
slide acceleration is shown in Fig. 10 for different tioned before, the crank and the eccentric presses are
mechanical drives for a press. Acceleration in linkage displacement-restricted machines. The slide velocity
is of particular importance because inertial forces are and the available slide load vary in accordance with
proportional to rectilinear acceleration and inertial the position of the slide before BDC.
torque is proportional to angular accelerations, re- Fig. 11 shows relationships between working load
spectively. It is shown in the Fig. that the Niagara link capacity and stroke, and possible sizes of work-pieces
and crank drive have higher acceleration of the slide for deep drawing process using the presses with dif-
over the working stroke. The Niagara link drive even ferent drives introduced. As mentioned in the previ-
shows a sharp speed change point in the middle of the ous section, the nominal load, i.e., frame strength, is
working stroke, which is not desirable for sheet metal specified at 13 mm above BDC. From the nominal
forming operations. It is also observed that the ram load 700 tonf, the input or required torque of main
accelerations of the linear-guide and arc-guide are gear is determined at the nominal slide position. As
relatively low over the working stroke compared with shown in the figure, the load capacity or torque ca-

700 TON AT 13mm

700

④ ARC GUIDE ③ LINEAR GUIDE

600
LOAD CAPACITY (ton)

500

13 mm
400

② NIAGARA LINK
300
① CRANK

200
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
STROKE (mm)

(a) Relationships between forming load capacity and stroke

Ø287
d
1

Ø457

Ø607

D Ø660
20

D/d = 2.0 4

(b) Possible blank sizes for deep drawing process

Fig. 11. Working load capacity and blank sizes.

522 K. C. Ham and D. H. Jang / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 23 (2009) 512~524

pacity of the arc-guide drive is much higher than the dimensionless form by multiplying both sides of the
others throughout the working stroke. For example, it equation by the total stroke of the ram ( H ) by:
is about 10 % higher than that of the linear-guide
drive at 200 mm above BDC, which is the initial posi- FH H (4)
=
M dh / dθ
tion of the actual working region of the stroke. For
deep drawing, the load-stroke characteristics of me-
chanical presses with different drives at the position The dimensionless term F H M represents the
of 200 mm above BDC are different. Thus, possible mechanical advantage. In the working stroke, the
blank sizes of work-pieces for each press which even mechanical advantage of the crank press is 3.411,
has the same frame rigidity are also different. As for Niagara link press 3.919, linear-guide press 4.464,
the material of which the ultimate tensile strength and and arc-guide press 4.472, respectively. The results
thickness are 185 MPa and 20 mm, respectively, and show that the arc-guide drive is also superior to the
if the ratio of the work-piece and punch diameter is others from a mechanical advantage point of view.
assumed as 2 in a deep drawing process, the possible Table 3 summarizes the comparison of the charac-
sizes of diameter of the work-piece for successful teristics of each press with different drives. First, the
process are 287 mm for crank or crankless press, 457 working time is closely related to the production rate
mm for Niagara link press, 607 mm for linear-guide for the press. As shown in the table, the crank and
press and 660 mm for arc-guide press, respectively, as Niagara link drives have very short working time
shown in Fig. 11(b). compared with the linear-guide or arc-guide drive. It
Assuming 100 % transmission efficiency from the is evident that the presses using a linear-guide or arc-
conservation of energy law, the mechanical advantage guide drive have a high production rate. Second, the
of a mechanical drive can be expressed by: velocity and the acceleration in the working region
and the velocity at the initial position of the working
dEinput = dEoutput (2) region have much influence on the deformation of the
work-piece. In addition, in spite of lower torque at the
where dE input is the increment of input energy, initial position of the working region, the arc-guide
dE output is the increment of output energy. From Eq. drive has 10% higher load capacity than the linear-
(2) one can write: guide drive does, which is the biggest advantage of
the arc-guide over the linear guide. The frame size of
Md θ = Fdh (3a) each press is calculated by assuming that the size of
or the crank press is 100.
F dθ (3b)
=
M dh 6. Conclusions
A new driving mechanism, what is called arc-guide
where h is the ram stroke, θ is the angle (in radi- drive, was analyzed and compared with other me-
ans) of the main gear, M is the driving torque, and chanical presses such as crank, Niagara link, and lin-
F is the ram force. Eq. (3-b) can be rewritten in a ear-guide press. The new drive enhances the kinema-

Table 3. Summary of the characteristics for each press.

Crank Niagara Link Linear Guide Arc Guide

Working Time (Deg.) 63 85 106 104
Velocity at 200 mm (mm/sec) (-) 661.18 (-) 376.16 (-) 268.85 (-) 266.70
Average Velocity (mm/sec) (-) 381.08 (-) 284.07 (-) 225.47 (-) 233.27
Average Acceleration (mm/sec2) 65.03 28.15 16.48 16.14
Torque Capacity at 200 mm (tonf·mm) 211,372.74 126,182.20 89,693.10 89,486.11
Frame Size (%) 100 262 177 177
Mechanical Advantage 3.411 3.919 4.464 4.472
 K. C. Ham and D. H. Jang / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 23 (2009) 512~524 523

tical characteristics in terms of working time, ram knuckle press for precision forming, Int. J. Mach.
speed, and load capacity over the entire stroke. The Tools Manufact. 33 (1993) 290-222.
arc-guide press as well as the linear guide shows rela- [6] S. Yossifon, R. Shivpuri and T. Altan, The AC
tively constant ram or slide velocity over the working servo-motor Drive Double Toggle press: Mecha-
stroke and low speed compared to those of the crank nism Analysis and Optimization, Ohio State Uni-
and Niagara presses. The arc-guide press can be oper- versity, Engineering Research Center for Net Shape
ated about 1.4 times and 2.5 times faster than the Manufacturing , Ohio, USA (1990).
Niagara link and crank presses, respectively, which [7] S. Yossifon and R. Shivpuri, Analysis and compari-
leads to higher production rates or productivity than son of selected rotary linkage drives for mechanical
those of the crank and Niagara link press. The load presses, Int. J. Mach. Tools Manufact. 33 (1993)
capacity or torque capacity of the arc-guide drive is 175-192.
much higher than the others throughout the working [8] J. M. Kim and S. H. Kang, Linkless Link Motion
stroke, and this is the biggest advantage of the arc- Press, SSTR-TC-93-12 Technical Report, Korea
guide over other drives, including linear-guide. With SIMPAC Co LTD, Korea (1993).
the same frame strength, a press with the arc-guide [9] Niagara Machine and Tool Work, Link Driven
drive could perform a forming operation with much Press Catalog, Buffalo (1988).
bigger work-piece than the others. The dimension of a [10] B. B. Hwang, H. S. Oh and H. Y. Lee, A driving
press is proportional to the shaking area of the drive, mechanism of the press for deep drawing and forg-
and has an influence on the cost of the machine. The ing, Advanced Manufact. Proc. Systems and Tech.
manufacturing cost of a press with this new drive (AMPST 96), The University of Bradford, (1996)
would be much less than that of other mechanical 685-694.
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nism. Generally, mechanical presses for a specific Twyman and G. Mullineux, A Software Environ-
purpose have used complicated link mechanisms. ment for Conceptual Mechanism Design, Proc. Inst.
However, the new drive presented in this paper is Mech. Eng. Part C-J 211 (8) (1997) 617-625.
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Acknowledgment
between the conventional and hydrostatic methods
This work was supported by INHA TECHNICAL of cold extrusion through conical dies, Annuals of
COLLEGE Research Grant. CIRP, (1969).
[15] S. A. Spachner, Use of a four-bar linkage as a
slider drive for mechanical presses, SME paper MF-
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