The invention relates to a system for turning over plate-shaped bodies, in particular slabs and sheets, having at least one turnover device arm which is arranged so as to be pivotable about a pivot axis and which can be placed in physical contact with a flat side of a plate-shaped body to be turned over, and having at least one further turnover device arm which is arranged so as to be pivotable about a further pivot axis and which can be placed in physical contact with a further flat side of the plate-shaped body to be turned over, wherein the two pivot axes are arranged parallel to and spaced apart from one another.
The invention furthermore relates to a method for turning over plate-shaped bodies, in particular slabs and sheets, using a turnover system having at least one turnover device arm which is arranged so as to be pivotable about a pivot axis and which can be placed in physical contact with a flat side of a plate-shaped body to be turned over, and having at least one further turnover device arm which is pivotable about a further pivot axis and which can be placed in physical contact with a further flat side of the plate-shaped body to be turned over, wherein the two pivot axes are arranged parallel to and spaced apart from one another.
Slabs and sheets are inspected on both flat sides for the purposes of quality control and for any necessary reworking. For this purpose, a slab or a sheet is normally placed onto an inspection bed such that one of the two flat sides can be inspected. To be able to inspect the other flat side of the slab or the sheet, the slab or the sheet must be turned over.
For turning over sheets, use is normally made of sheet turnover devices. These normally have positionally fixedly held turnover device shafts on which turnover device arms are pivotably mounted. As a result, the turnover device arms have a spacing to one another which, owing to the construction, cannot be varied. This has the effect, in particular in the case of thin slabs and sheets, that the slab to be turned over, or the respective sheet to be turned over, turns over with an impact as a result of its own weight during the transfer from an input side to an output side of a sheet turnover device.
A sheet turnover device of said type is known for example from EP 2 170 536B1. Said sheet turnover device comprises transferring turnover device arms situated on one turnover device shaft and receiving turnover device arms situated on a further turnover device shaft. The turnover device arms mounted on the respective turnover device shaft are arranged so as to be pivotable about a common pivot axis, which is identical to a longitudinal central axis of the respective turnover device shaft. The turnover device shafts and thus the pivot axes defined by them are arranged parallel to one another and spaced apart from one another. To reduce operating noises and vibrations in a sheet during a transfer of the sheet from the transferring turnover device arms to the receiving turnover device arms, the turnover device shaft of the receiving turnover device arms is arranged offset in relation to the turnover device shaft of the transferring turnover device arms. Furthermore, on the receiving turnover device arms, there is arranged at least one damping plate by means of which a turnover impact of the sheet against the receiving turnover device arms during a turnover process is mechanically dampened.
DE 10 2007 054 034 A1 relates to an apparatus for turning over plate-shaped bodies of different thickness, having turnover device arms mounted pivotably on turnover device shafts. The turnover device arms are in each case arranged so as to be pivotable about a pivot axis which is identical to a longitudinal central axis of the respective turnover device shaft. The turnover device shafts and thus the pivot axes defined by them are arranged parallel to one another and spaced apart from one another. To be able to turn over plate-shaped bodies of different thickness, one of the turnover device arms is fed to the plate-shaped body arranged on the other turnover device arm with a possibly repeating sequence of reduction and increase of the spacing of said turnover device arm to the plate-shaped body.
DE 31 23 673 A1 discloses a reversible sheet turnover device having turnover device arms mounted pivotably at pivot axes, wherein the spacing of the two pivot axes to one another in a horizontal direction is variable.