JPS61270228A - Apparatus and method for bending glass plate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the generation of optical strain discernible by reflected light at the peripheral part of a glass plate, by specifying the structure of a conveyor roller and the shape of a forming mold in an apparatus to transport a hot glass plate horizontally with a conveyor roller and transfer the roller on a lowered mold. CONSTITUTION:In the conveyor rollers 18..., the rollers 18a... above the lower mold 4 are made to be vertically movable, and the upper face of the peripheral part of the mold 4 is continued throughout the whole circumference. As an alternative method, the mold 4 or a ring mold 5 is used in the above apparatus. For example, the circumference of the mold 4 is encircled with the mold 5, and a space or a hollow part 20 is formed at the center of the mold to receive the lowered roller 18a. A glass plate G heated near the softening point is transported horizontally with the rollers 18, 18a to the space between the molds 3, 4, and the roller 18a is retracted into the hollow part 20 to lower the plate G until the peripheral part of the plate is supported by the upper surface of the mold 5. The mold 3 is lowered to form the plate G between the molds 3 and 4. The peripheral part of the plate G is formed between the mold 3 and the ring mold 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention provides an apparatus for bending and forming plate glass transported horizontally from a heating furnace between upper and lower molds or by gravity;
The present invention relates to a bending method using this device.

(Prior art) Conventionally, as a means for forming curved glass such as automobile window glass, there is a method in which a plate glass heated to near its softening point is conveyed in a vertical state, and this plate glass is press-formed by left and right molds. There is a method of transporting a heated plate glass horizontally and press-forming the plate glass between an upper mold and a lower mold (including a ring mold), or molding the glass plate by gravity to follow the shape of the lower mold.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 4B-13272 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 53-12931 are known as apparatuses for forming plate glass in a horizontal state.

The device disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4B-13272 uses gravity and inertia to mold a plate glass that has been transported horizontally to a molding position by lifting the lower mold to follow the surface of the mold. The apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 12931/1983 bends and forms a plate glass using gravity and inertial force in the same manner as above, and at the same time strengthens the plate glass using a quenching device. .

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In all of the conventional apparatuses described above, the glass plate on the conveying roller is picked up by the mold by raising the lower mold. When the glass plate is picked up upward from the conveying roller in this manner, the glass plate bends downward due to inertia and gravity when being picked up, and the time during which a portion of the glass plate is in contact with the conveying roller increases. As a result, only the portion that is in contact with the conveyance roller is cooled, resulting in the disadvantage that optical distortion occurs in that portion.

Therefore, the present applicant previously proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 59-151102 that the sheet glass placed on the conveying roller is transferred onto the mold by lowering the conveying roller located above the lower mold. proposed a device.

With this device, the contact time between the conveyance roller and the plate glass can be shortened, and there is no disadvantage such as roller marks, etc., but the mold is designed to prevent interference between the conveyance roller and the mold when the conveyance roller descends. A groove is formed that opens upward.

For this reason, the upper surface of the mold becomes discontinuous at the position of the opening of the groove, and this discontinuity does not come into contact with the glass plate, and optical distortion due to reflected light may occur at the peripheral edge of the glass plate.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a transport roller that transports sheet glass heated to near its softening point to a forming position.
The conveyance roller located above the mold disposed below the molding position is movable up and down, and a space or recess is provided in the center of the mold to accommodate the conveyance roller when the conveyance roller is lowered. I tried to form it.

(Function) A glass plate that has been transported horizontally to a forming position by a transport roller is prevented from being bent downward by the transport roller descending at a speed approximately equal to the gravitational acceleration, and its entire circumference is covered by the mold. It is placed on the upper surface of the peripheral edge of the mold and is molded by its own weight or the pressing force of the upper die.

(Example) Examples of the present invention will be described below based on the accompanying drawings.

I will clarify. In the examples, the upper mold is used as the molding mold.

Here is a device that includes both a lower mold and a ring mold.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a plate glass bending and forming apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view of the same forming apparatus.
consists of an upper mold (3), a lower mold (4), and a ring mold (5) surrounding the lower mold (4) arranged in a frame (2), and the upper mold (3) is arranged on a support ( 8), and this support (8) is attached to a cylinder unit (7) fixed to the frame (2).
It moves up and down.

In addition, a base (8) is fixed to the bottom of the molding device (1), and an elevating plate (lO
) are connected, and this elevating plate (10) can be raised and lowered by a cylinder unit (11), and the lower mold (4) is further moved by two cylinders (12) provided on the elevating plate (1o).
can be raised and lowered, and a support (13) is erected upward from the periphery of the elevator plate (lO), and a ring mold (5) is attached to the upper end of this support (13). The ring mold (5) is connected to an oscillation device (14) via the support column (13).

On the other hand, a heating furnace (15) is arranged on the side of the forming device (1), and a conveying roller (18) for sheet glass (G) is provided in this heating furnace (15). A pair of support bars (17) are provided on the frame (2) at a height approximately equal to the conveyance exit of the frame body (2), spaced apart from each other in the front and rear directions (in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper in FIG. 1). Conveyance rollers (18) are provided for horizontally conveying the plate glass (G) taken out from the furnace (15) to a forming position.

By the way, among the conveyance rollers (18)..., the lower die (
4) Conveyance roller (18a) located on the , J: side...
・ is not supported by the support bar (17) and the cylinder unit (
ill)... is supported. That is, as shown in the plan view of FIG.
0)..., the cylinder unit (19) is provided in this recess (20), and the cylinder unit (19)
When the rod of the cylinder unit (19) is operated to protrude the rod of the cylinder unit (19), the conveyance roller (18a) is located above the lower mold (4), and when the rod is retracted, the conveyance roller (18a) is located in the recess. (20).

In other words, the dimensions of the conveyance roller (18a) are set smaller than the dimensions of the recess (20).

Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 3, the upper surface of the lower mold (4), that is, the molding surface, is a curved plane except for the opening of the recess (20). A nozzle (21) is provided for this purpose. The tip of this nozzle (21) is preferably located inward from the molding surface so as not to hit the plate glass during molding.
Although not shown, the lower surface (molding surface) of the upper mold (3) is also provided with many nozzles for blowing cooling air, similarly to the lower mold (4).

Furthermore, a ring mold (
5) has a slight gap formed between it and the outer periphery of the lower mold (4), and its upper surface is a continuous annular surface.

A method of bending and forming using the forming apparatus having the above configuration will be explained with reference to FIG. 4 as well.

First, the plate glass (G) is transferred by the conveying roller (1B)... and then heated by the heating furnace (15).
is heated to near its softening point. Then, the plate glass (G) carried out from the heating furnace (15) is transferred to conveyor rollers (18), (1
Upper mold (3) and lower mold (4) in horizontal state through 8a)
conveyed to the molding position between. This state is shown in Figure 4 (A).
Shown below.

Immediately, as shown in Fig. 4(B), the cylinder unit/
) (19) (see Figure 1) and pulls the conveyor roller (18a) into the recess (20) of the lower mold (0) at a speed close to the gravitational acceleration.Then, the conveyor roller (+8a)
As the plate glass (G) descends, the plate glass (G) also descends, and the plate glass (G
) stops descending when its peripheral edge is supported by the upper surface of the ring mold (5). Also.

Simultaneously with the lowering of the conveyance roller (18a), the cylinder unit (7) is operated to lower the upper mold (3).

When the upper mold (3) further descends, a glass plate (G) is formed between the lower surface of the upper mold (3) and the upper surface of the lower mold (4) as shown in FIG. 4(C). In this case, the peripheral edge of the glass plate (G) is simultaneously molded between the lower surface of the upper mold (3) and the upper surface of the ring mold (5).

After this, as shown in Figure 4 (D), the cylinder 22)
(12) is activated to lower the lower mold (4) by a predetermined amount, and the cylinder unit (7) is activated to lower the upper mold (3) to the lower mold (
Raise the ring mold (5) by the same amount as the lowering amount in 4).
) The plate glass ((i) supported on the upper mold (3) and the lower mold (
4), and in this state cooling air is applied to the plate glass (
At the same time, the oscillator device (12) is activated to eject the sheet glass (G) in the horizontal plane.
) is moved back and forth in a circular or elliptical motion path, etc., so that the cooling air hits the glass surface evenly.

After completing the forming and rapid cooling strengthening of the glass plate as described above, the glass plate (G) is sent to the next process by the conveyance roller (18).

In the embodiments, a molding device that is equipped with an upper mold, a lower mold, and a ring mold is shown, but a molding device that uses only a lower mold or only an upper mold and a ring mold may also be used. When a mold is used, the conveyance roller (18a) is arranged to fit in the space surrounded by the ring mold.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, a space or a recess is formed in the center of the lower mold or ring mold, and the conveying roller is accommodated in this space or recess when it descends. So, first of all! By lowering the conveying roller 11, the contact pressure between the conveying roller and the plate glass can be reduced and the contact time can be shortened, so the part that contacts the conveying roller is cooled compared to the surrounding area, and optical distortion does not occur.

Further, since no grooves were formed in the lower mold and the ring mold to prevent interference when the conveyance roller descends, optical distortion due to reflected light does not occur at the peripheral edge of the glass plate.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a front view of a sheet glass bending and forming apparatus according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side view of the same forming apparatus, Fig. 3 is a plan view of a lower mold and a ring mold, and Figs. 4 (A) to (D). ) is a diagram explaining the method of the present invention in the order of steps. In one drawing, (1) is a molding device, (3) is an upper mold, (0 is a lower mold, (5) is a ring mold, (14) is an oscillator, 7 devices, (1B), (18), ( 18a) is a conveyance roller. (20) is a recess, (21) is a nozzle, and (G) is a plate glass. Fig. 1] Fig. 4

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a molding device comprising a plurality of conveyance rollers that horizontally transport plate glass heated to near its softening point to a molding position, and a mold disposed below the molding position, the mold is The upper surface of the periphery is continuous over the entire circumference, and the central part is a recess or space, and the conveyor roller disposed above the mold is movable up and down, and when lowered, it touches the mold. 1. An apparatus for bending and forming plate glass, characterized in that the device is sized to fit within a recess or space. (2) The sheet glass bending apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mold comprises at least one of a lower mold and a ring mold. (3) The sheet glass heated to near its softening point is transported horizontally to the molding position by transport rollers, then the transport roller placed at the molding position is lowered at a speed close to the acceleration of gravity, and the lowered transport roller is moved into the molding mold. The plate glass, which was housed in a space or recess formed in the center and supported on a conveyance roller, is placed on the upper surface of the peripheral edge of the mold, and is molded to follow the shape of the mold. A method of bending and forming plate glass.