CN112479570B

CN112479570B - Hot bending equipment and hot bending method

Info

Publication number: CN112479570B
Application number: CN201910864510.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张锡强; 汤金慧; 范剑峰; 魏启玉; 王京岱; 王建
Original assignee: Chengdu Tuomi Shuangdu Photoelectric Co ltd
Current assignee: Chengdu Tuomi Shuangdu Photoelectric Co ltd
Priority date: 2019-09-12
Filing date: 2019-09-12
Publication date: 2024-02-09
Anticipated expiration: 2039-09-12
Also published as: CN112479570A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a hot bending apparatus configured to hot-bend sheet glass into U-shaped glass. The hot-bending apparatus includes a mold including a first mold portion and a second mold portion, and a turnover mechanism. The sheet glass is placed on both the first mold portion and the second mold portion. The flipping mechanism is configured to be removably coupled to the first and second mold portions of the mold and to be capable of flipping the second mold portion relative to the first mold portion. The turnover mechanism of the hot bending equipment can enable one part of the die to perform turnover motion relative to the other part, so that the flat glass is simply, conveniently and efficiently bent into a U-shaped shape. The invention also relates to a hot bending method for forming the flat glass into the U-shaped glass by using the hot bending equipment.

Description

Hot bending equipment and hot bending method

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a hot bending apparatus and a hot bending method capable of hot bending a sheet glass into a U-shaped glass.

Background

The hot bending glass is formed by bending and molding plate glass under a certain pressure after the plate glass is heated and softened. With the progress of industrial level and the improvement of living standard of people, the hot-bent glass is increasingly used in the occasions of building, civil use and the like, and people can also put higher demands on the hot-bent glass. The hot-bent glass has evolved from 2.5D, 3D to 3.5D, and even to 4D, i.e. the entire hot-bent glass has been U-shaped. The U-shaped glass or 4D glass can be widely applied to the fields of smart phones, smart watches, tablet personal computers, wearable intelligent products, instrument boards and the like. Competition among the hot-bending glass industries will be more and more intense, and the improvement of the quality of the hot-bending glass and the development of new hot-bending glass manufacturing equipment and processes will be the necessary choice for each enterprise.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a prior art hot bending apparatus and hot bending process flow for manufacturing 3D curved glass 4'. The hot bending apparatus for 3D curved glass 4' mainly comprises a mold 5' and a heating furnace, wherein the mold 5' comprises an upper mold 2' and a lower mold 3' which are separated, and the upper mold 2' is usually only required to be translated above the lower mold 3' and the mold clamping is completed during the manufacturing process. The height dimension of the die after die closing is generally within 50mm. When manufacturing the 3D curved glass 4 'from the flat glass 1' or the 2D white piece, firstly, the flat glass 1 'is put into a die 5', then the die 5 'and the flat glass 1' are placed into a heating furnace body to be heated so as to soften the glass, then the glass is subjected to hot bending forming under the action of gravity pressure, then the glass is subjected to annealing treatment, finally, the glass is taken out, and the hot bending processing of the flat glass 1 'is completed, so that the 3D curved glass 4' is obtained.

However, for 3.5D and 4D or U-shaped glass manufacturing molds, the mold height is far in excess of 50mm, even up to 100mm or more, while still requiring sufficient space for various movements of the mold other than translation during the forming stage, such as the need for a turning movement of a portion of the mold, etc., which functions are not achieved by existing hot bending equipment and hot bending processes.

Disclosure of Invention

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a hot bending apparatus and a hot bending method capable of hot bending a sheet glass into a U-shaped glass.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a hot bending apparatus is provided that may be configured to hot bend sheet glass into U-shaped glass. The hot bending apparatus may include a mold and a turnover mechanism. The mold may include a first mold portion and a second mold portion. The sheet glass may be placed on both the first mold portion and the second mold portion. The flipping mechanism may be configured to be removably connected to the first and second mold portions of the mold and to be capable of flipping the second mold portion relative to the first mold portion.

The hot bending equipment has the technical effects that: the hot bending equipment is provided with the die overturning mechanism, and one part of the die can overturn relative to the other part by utilizing the overturning mechanism, so that the flat glass can be simply, conveniently and efficiently bent into a U-shaped shape. Here, the U-shape is not to be understood restrictively, i.e. not to be limited to the exact "U" shape. For example, the two sides of the "U" may be different in length, and the angle formed by the two sides may be not just 0 degrees, but may even be any angle between 0 degrees and 180 degrees, which may be adjusted according to the outer contour of the specific electronic device to be mounted. In addition, in order to meet the height dimension of the glass product, the apparatus was redesigned to allow the mold height travel to above 100 mm.

In some embodiments, the first and second mold portions are each provided with a receptacle for receiving a portion of sheet glass.

In some embodiments, the mold further comprises a mold core configured to secure the sheet glass to the mold.

In some embodiments, the mold core has an outer contour corresponding to an inner contour of the U-shaped glass to be manufactured at least in part.

In some embodiments, the mould further comprises a mould core, the receptacle on the first mould part of the mould being further arranged to receive the mould core, the mould core being clampable in an interference fit in the receptacle on the first mould part.

In some embodiments, the receptacles on the first and second mold portions of the mold are comprised of ribs protruding from the surfaces of the first and second mold portions.

In some embodiments, the ribs are symmetrically disposed about the longitudinal axis of the mold.

In some embodiments, the first and second mold portions of the mold are hingedly connected by a hinge.

In some embodiments, the hinge joint includes a fork formed on the first mold part, a tab formed on the second mold part and extending into the middle of the fork, and a pin passing through pin holes in the fork and the tab.

In some embodiments, the mould comprises two hinges arranged symmetrically on both sides of the mould with respect to the longitudinal axis of the mould.

In some embodiments, receiving holes are provided in the sides of the first and second mold portions of the mold, respectively, which receiving holes extend perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the mold.

In some embodiments, the receiving hole is a through hole.

In some embodiments, the flipping mechanism is provided with a detent lever and a flipping lever, wherein the detent lever is insertable into the receiving aperture of the first mold portion of the mold and the flipping lever is insertable into the receiving aperture of the second mold portion of the mold.

In some embodiments, the tilting mechanism comprises a tilting motor, on the free end of the motor shaft of which a tilting plate is provided, which extends laterally away from the motor shaft, on which a tilting lever is fixed or molded and is arranged offset from the motor shaft.

In some embodiments, the positioning rod is fixedly arranged on the positioning frame, and the positioning frame and the overturning motor are fixed on the same sliding seat.

In some embodiments, the tilting mechanism is provided with a fixed base, with which the slide can be slidingly connected.

In some embodiments, the thermal bending apparatus further comprises a heating assembly located directly above the mold.

In some embodiments, the heating assembly is provided with a heating tube in the middle, a pressure guide rod is connected to the upper surface of the heating assembly, and the lower surface of the heating assembly can be extruded onto the die.

In some embodiments, the pressure guide is connected to the pressurizing cylinder by a follower, and the heating assembly is capable of reciprocating up and down with the follower.

In some embodiments, the reciprocating stroke can be up to 110mm-150mm.

In some embodiments, the hot bending apparatus further comprises a toggle mechanism comprising a toggle lever and a plurality of dials secured to the toggle lever, the dials being capable of moving the mold from one station to the next as the toggle lever is advanced.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hot bending method for hot bending a sheet glass into a U-shaped glass using the hot bending apparatus of the present invention. The method comprises the following steps: placing a sheet glass on both the first mold portion and the second mold portion of the mold; the method further comprises a flipping step: the second mold portion is inverted relative to the first mold portion using an inversion mechanism to yield a U-shaped glass.

The hot bending method has the technical effects that: the hot bending method is implemented by using the hot bending equipment, and the turnover mechanism is used for turning one part of the die relative to the other part, so that the flat glass can be simply and efficiently bent into a U-shaped shape.

In some embodiments, the feeding step further comprises: the plate glass is fixed on the mold by using the mold core of the mold.

In some embodiments, the flipping mechanism is coupled to the first and second mold portions of the mold prior to flipping the second mold portion relative to the first mold portion.

In some embodiments, the flipping mechanism is disconnected from the first and second mold portions of the mold after flipping the second mold portion relative to the first mold portion.

In some embodiments, a heating step is performed between the loading step and the flipping step, in which the sheet glass is heated to the hot bending temperature of the glass.

In some embodiments, a preheating step is performed between the feeding step and the heating step, in which the sheet glass is preheated to a set preheating temperature.

In some embodiments, the shaping step is performed after the flipping step, in which the U-shaped glass is further shaped by pressurizing the mold with a pressurizing cylinder.

In some embodiments, a pressure maintaining step is performed after the molding step, in which the mold is maintained for a set time of pressure using a pressurizing cylinder to obtain a stable structure of the U-shaped glass.

In some embodiments, a cooling step is performed after the pressure maintaining step, in which a cooling fluid is delivered to the U-shaped glass using a cooling system to cool the U-shaped glass.

In some embodiments, the cooling step is followed by a blanking step in which the form is removed and the U-shaped glass is removed.

Advantages of the respective embodiments, as well as various additional embodiments, will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following detailed description of the respective embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings set forth below. Furthermore, the various features of the drawings discussed below are not necessarily drawn to scale. The dimensions of the various features and elements in the drawings may be expanded or reduced to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the invention.

Drawings

The present invention is further described below with reference to the drawings and examples, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like or identical elements throughout the drawings and the description thereof.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a prior art hot bending apparatus and hot bending process flow for manufacturing 3D curved glass,

figure 2a is a perspective view of one embodiment of the U-shaped glass to be heat bent of the present invention,

figure 2b is a side view of the U-shaped glass of figure 2a,

figure 3a is an oblique front perspective view of the apparatus for hot bending forming the U-shaped glass of figures 2a and 2b of the present invention,

figure 3b is an oblique rear perspective view of the thermal bending apparatus of figure 3a,

figure 4a is a perspective view of the mold for forming U-shaped glass of the present invention in an initial position,

figure 4b is a perspective view of the mold of figure 4a in an inverted position,

figure 5 is a perspective view of the tilting mechanism of the hot bending apparatus of the present invention,

figure 6 is an enlarged view of a portion of the thermal bend apparatus of the present invention with the housing removed,

figure 7 is another further enlarged partial view of the inventive microbending device with the casing removed,

figure 8 is a perspective view of a heating assembly of the hot bending apparatus of the present invention,

figure 9 is a perspective view of the pressurizing cylinder of the hot bending apparatus of the present invention and its follower mechanism,

fig. 10 is a flow chart of the U-shaped glass hot bending method of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Various illustrative embodiments of the invention are described below. In this specification, for purposes of explanation only, various systems, structures and devices are schematically depicted in the drawings, but not all features of an actual system, structure, and device, such as well known functions or structures, are not described in detail to avoid obscuring the present invention in unnecessary detail. It will of course be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers 'or users' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a determination of the actual implementation is complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

The terms and phrases used herein should be understood and interpreted to have a meaning consistent with the understanding of those terms and phrases by those skilled in the relevant art. The consistent usage of terms or phrases herein is not intended to imply a special definition of the term or phrase, i.e., a definition that is different from the ordinary and customary meaning as understood by those skilled in the art. To the extent that a term or phrase is intended to have a special meaning, i.e., a meaning other than that understood by skilled artisans, such a special definition will be expressly set forth in the specification in a definitional manner that directly and unequivocally provides the special definition for the term or phrase.

Throughout the following description, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise" and variations such as "comprises" or "comprising" will be interpreted in an open, inclusive sense, i.e. as "comprising but not limited to".

Throughout this description, descriptions of the terms "an embodiment," "one embodiment," "some embodiments/implementations," "examples," "specific examples," or "some examples," etc., mean that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. Thus, the appearances of the phrase "in one embodiment/implementation" or "in an embodiment/implementation" appearing in various places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment/implementation. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments/implementations or examples.

Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and the like, are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying a relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defining "a first", "a second", etc. may explicitly or implicitly include one or more such feature. In the description of the present invention, the meaning of "a plurality" is two or more, unless explicitly defined otherwise.

Fig. 2a and 2b are perspective and side views of a U-shaped glass 1 according to one embodiment of the invention. As can be seen from fig. 2a and 2b, the U-shaped glass 1 comprises a first plate 2, a second plate 3, and a connection 4 between the first plate 2 and the second plate 3. The first plate 2 and the second plate 3 are straight and the connecting portion 4 is arc-shaped. In other embodiments, the first plate 2 and the second plate 3 may also not be straight, for example with a curvature on both sides; and the connecting portion 4 may be straight. The first plate 2 is longer than the second plate 3 and is parallel to each other. In other embodiments, the first plate 2 and the second plate 3 may also be the same length and may be angled to each other rather than parallel. The U-shaped glass 1 may also comprise a bend 5 at the free end of the first plate 2. The above variants may depend on the outer contour of the electronic product.

When the U-shaped glass 1 is mounted on an electronic device such as a mobile phone, the inner surface 7 of the U-shaped glass 1 may face the mobile phone, while the outer surface 6 of the U-shaped glass 1 may face the external environment and be available for touch operations by a user. In particular, the first plate 2 of the U-shaped glass 1 may be used to completely cover the front face of the mobile phone, the second plate 3 may be used to partially cover the back face of the mobile phone, the connecting portion 4 may be used to completely cover one end of the mobile phone, and the curved portion 5 may be used to at least partially cover the opposite other end of the mobile phone. In some embodiments, the connection 4 may also be used to completely cover one side of the handset instead of the end.

Fig. 3a and 3b are oblique front and rear perspective views of a hot bending apparatus 8 for U-shaped glass 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The heat bending apparatus 8 may manufacture the flat glass 1' into the U-shaped glass 1 by means of heat bending molding. The hot bending apparatus 8 may comprise a plurality of stations from upstream to downstream. These stations are, for example: a loading station 9 for loading the sheet glass 1 'onto a mold 19, a preheating station 10 for preheating the sheet glass, a heating station 11 for heating the sheet glass to a hot bending temperature, a turning station 12 for turning the heated sheet glass 1' into a U-shape, a forming station 13 for further forming the turned glass, a pressure maintaining station 14 for maintaining the pressure of the U-shape, a cooling station 15 for cooling the U-shape glass 1 by means of a cooling system 18, a blanking station 16 for unloading the U-shape glass 1 from the mold 19, and the like. In this embodiment, the heating station 11 and the turning station 12 are understood to be one station, or two operations of heating and turning are performed at one station, and only the turning mechanism 30 needs to be moved to the heating station 11 during turning. In some embodiments, the heating station 11 and the flipping station 12 may also be two stations in different positions.

In this embodiment, the preheating station 10, the heating station 11, the turning station 12, the forming station 13, the pressure maintaining station 14 and the cooling station 15 may be located in a closed box body, and a window may be provided on the box body, through which the process in the box body may be observed. Thus, openable and closable safety gates can be provided between the loading station 9 and the preheating station 10, between the blanking station 16 and the cooling station 15, and between the turning station 12 or the turning mechanism 30 and the heating station 11. Furthermore, the hot bending apparatus 8 may also comprise a control system 17 for controlling the hot bending process and a cooling system 18 for delivering a cooling fluid to the cooling station 15 for cooling the U-shaped glass 1.

Fig. 4a and 4b are perspective views of a mold 19 for forming U-shaped glass according to an embodiment of the present invention in an initial position and in a flipped position. The mold 19 may include a first mold portion 20 and a second mold portion 21. The second mould part 21 can be flipped relative to the first mould part 20 about a flip axis from an initial position (fig. 4 a) to a flipped position (fig. 4 b). In the initial position of the mould 19, the first mould part 20 and the second mould part 21 may be substantially in the same plane; in the inverted position of the mold 19, the first mold portion 20 and the second mold portion 21 may face each other.

The first and second mold portions 20 and 21 are provided thereon with a receiving portion 22 for receiving the sheet glass 1'. The receptacles 22 of the first and second mold parts 20, 21 are each formed by mutually parallel ribs protruding from the surface of the mold 19, between which ribs the sheet glass 1' can be accommodated in a fitting manner. In the present embodiment, the ribs forming the receiving portion 22 of the first mold portion 20 may be higher Yu Xingcheng than the ribs forming the receiving portion 22 of the second mold portion 21, because the ribs forming the receiving portion 22 of the first mold portion 20 may accommodate the mold core 27 in addition to the sheet glass.

The mould core 27 can be snapped into the receptacle 22 of the first mould part 20 with a slight interference so that it can act as a fixing for the sheet glass 1'. The outer contour of one end of the mould core 27 can be adapted to the inner contour of the connection 4 of the U-shaped glass to be produced, which end of the mould core 27 is adjacent to the second mould part 21 of the mould 19 when the mould core 27 is snapped into the receptacle 22 of the first mould part 20. The outer contour of the other end of the mold core 27 can be adapted at least partially to the inner contour of the bend 5 of the U-shaped glass to be produced, which end of the mold core 27 is remote from the second mold part 21 of the mold 19 when the first mold part 20 of the mold core 27 is received in the receptacle 22.

In the initial position, the sheet glass 1 'is placed in the mold 19 and the portion of the sheet glass lying on the first mold portion 20 can be pressed by the mold core 27 so that the sheet glass is fixed on the mold 19, while the portion of the sheet glass 1' lying on the second mold portion 21 can be turned over with the turning over of the second mold portion 21. The second mold part 21 of the mold 19 is turned over the first mold part 20 by the turning mechanism 30, so that the mold 19 or its second mold part 21 is brought into the turned position.

Upon entering the inverted position, the second mold portion 21 inverts the second plate 3 of the U-shaped glass 1 onto the upper surface of the mold core 27 that is adapted to the contour of the second plate, the connecting portion 4 of the U-shaped glass 1 being abutted against the end of the mold core 27 that is adjacent to the second mold portion 21 of the mold 19, and the bent portion 5 of the U-shaped glass 1 being abutted against the end of the mold core 27 that is remote from the second mold portion 21 of the mold 19, thereby completing the shaping of the U-shaped glass. The second mold portion 21 may be parallel to the first mold portion 20. In some embodiments, the second mold portion 21 may be angled with respect to the first mold portion 20, such glass shapes are not strictly U-shaped, but the present invention contemplates U-shaped glass as well. The angle formed by the second mould part 21 and the first mould part 20 may depend on the external structure in which the product, for example an electronic product, is to be mounted.

Receiving holes 28, 29 may be provided in the sides of the first and second mold portions 20, 21 of the mold 19, respectively. In the present embodiment, the receiving holes 28, 29 are through holes, but may be blind holes in other embodiments. In the present embodiment, two receiving holes 28, 29 are provided in the sides of the first and second mould parts 20, 21 of the mould 19, respectively, although the number of receiving holes may be varied according to specific requirements. The receiving hole 28 of the first mold part 20 can receive a positioning rod 31 (described in more detail below) of the tilting mechanism 30, so that positioning or fixing of the first mold part 20 can be achieved during tilting. The receiving hole 29 of the second mold portion 21 can receive a turning rod 32 (described in detail below) of a turning mechanism 30, and turning of the turning rod 32 can cause turning of the second mold portion 21.

In some embodiments, the first mold portion 20 and the second mold portion 21 are connected together by two hinges 23. Each joint 23 may comprise a fork 24 formed on the first mould part 20 and a tongue 25 formed on the second mould part 21 and insertable between the forks 24. The fork 24 and the tongue 25 may each be provided with a pin hole through which a pin 26 may pass so that the fork 24 and the tongue 25 may be hingedly fixed, and the pin 26 may form the tilting axis of the joint 23. Other ways of achieving the hinged connection of the first and second mould parts 20, 21 are of course conceivable.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the flipping mechanism 30 of the thermal bending apparatus 8 according to an embodiment of the invention. The tilting mechanism 30 may include a slider 45 and a base 33, the slider 45 being slidably connected to the base 33 and being slidable back and forth on the base 33. The tilting motor 34 can be fixed to the slide 45, the motor shaft of the tilting motor 34 extending through a sleeve 35 fixed to the motor body, a flange being provided on the end of the sleeve 35 remote from the motor. A laterally extending tilting plate 36 is connected to the free end of the motor shaft of the tilting motor 34, and a tilting lever 32 is provided on the tilting plate 36 offset from the motor shaft and remote from the tilting motor 34, so that a rotation of the tilting motor 34 can be converted into a tilting of the tilting lever 32. The second mold portion 21 can be flipped by the flipping motor 34 while the flipping lever 32 is accommodated in the accommodation hole 29 of the second mold portion 21 of the mold 19. The flipping mechanism 30 may further comprise a positioning rod 31 extending parallel to the flipping rod 32, the positioning rod 31 may be fixed on a positioning frame 37, and the positioning frame 37 may be fixed on a sliding seat 45. The first mold part 20 can be positioned or fixed when the positioning rod 31 is received in the receiving hole 28 in the first mold part 20 of the mold 19. By the cooperation of the turning lever 32 and the positioning lever 31, the turning movement of the second mold portion 21 of the mold 19 from the initial position to the turned position can be achieved, so that the sheet glass can be formed into a U-shaped glass. The number of detent levers 31 and the number of flipping levers is at least 1, but may be varied according to circumstances.

Fig. 6 and 7 are partial enlarged views of the thermal bending apparatus 8 according to the embodiment of the present invention with a box removed. The mold 19 and heating assembly 39 are seen in various stations with the cassette removed, and the heating assembly 39 may include a plurality of heating tubes 42 that preheat and heat the glass and may be in direct contact with the back surface of the second mold portion 21 of the mold 19. Also seen in fig. 6 and 7 is a pusher 38 of the hot bending apparatus 8, the pusher 38 comprising a pusher 46 and a plurality of paddles 47 fixed to the pusher 46, the paddles 47 being capable of contacting the mould in the operative position of the paddles 47. When the lever 46 is advanced, the paddle 47 can push the mold from one station to the next. After the material pulling action is completed, the pulling rod 46 is rotated outwards by 90 degrees to enable the pulling piece 47 to leave the die, then the pulling rod 46 is pulled back by one station distance, and the pulling rod 46 is rotated inwards by 90 degrees to enable the pulling piece 47 to enter the working position again.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the heating assembly 39 of the heat bending apparatus 8 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 9 is a perspective view of the pressurizing cylinder 43 of the heat bending apparatus 8 and the follower mechanism 44 thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention. A pressure guide 40 and a coolant tube 41 may be attached to the upper surface of the heating assembly 39. The pressure guide 40 may be coupled to a follower 44 of a pressurization cylinder 43 so that the heating assembly 39 may be pressurized downwardly. The coolant tube 41 may be connected to a line (not shown) for delivering coolant so that the heating assembly 39 may be cooled. In the present embodiment, three pressure guide rods 40 on the heating assembly 39 are respectively located at the heating station 11, the forming station 13 and the pressure maintaining station 14. The pressure guide 40 is fixedly attached to the upper surface of the heating assembly 39, and when the corresponding pressurizing cylinder 43 applies pressure to the pressure guide 40 via the follower mechanism 44, the pressure guide 40 pressurizes the back surface of the second mold portion 22 of the mold 19 via the heating assembly 39, thereby pressurizing the glass. The heating assembly 39 is located directly above the mold 19 and is movable up and down with the pressure guide 40. The heating assembly 39 may be moved upwardly to such an extent that sufficient space can be provided to allow for the flipping operation of the mold 19. The maximum height of the space can be 100mm to 150mm or more, and the height can be, for example, 110mm, 120mm, 130mm or 140mm, so that the requirements for a mold turnover of the height up to 100mm can be met.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart of a method of hot bending the U-shaped glass 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. For clarity, only the mold 19 and glass (flat glass or U-glass) are shown here. The hot bending method steps of the U-shaped glass 1 are described in detail below in connection with fig. 10 and fig. 3a, 3 b:

a) The plate glass 1' is placed in a mould 19 at a loading station 9, and is fixed by a mould core 27, so that loading is completed;

b) The feeding safety door is opened, the stirring mechanism 38 acts to move the die 19 and the plate glass into the preheating station 10, and the feeding safety door is closed to preheat the plate glass;

c) After the preset preheating time is reached, the stirring mechanism 38 acts to send the die 19 and the plate glass to the heating station 11, and the plate glass is heated at the heating station 11;

d) After the glass has reached the set process temperature, the tilting safety door is opened and the slide 45 of the tilting mechanism 30 slides on the base close to the mould 19, so that the tilting mechanism 30 is connected to the mould 19, in particular the tilting lever 32 and the positioning lever 31 are inserted into the receiving hole 29 of the second mould part 21 and the receiving hole 28 of the first mould part 20 of the mould 19, respectively. Thereafter, the turning motor 34 is rotated to turn the second mold portion 21 of the mold 19 with the sheet glass portion thereon toward the first mold portion 20 of the mold 19, whereby the second mold portion 21 of the mold 19 can be turned from the initial position to the turned position, whereby the sheet glass can be turned and formed into a U-shaped glass. Then the heating cylinder is pressed down, the turnover mechanism 30 is disconnected with the die 19, and the turnover safety door is closed;

e) The stirring mechanism 38 acts to convey the die 19 and the U-shaped glass to the forming station 13, and the forming cylinder presses down to further form the U-shaped glass;

f) After the forming process reaches the set time, the stirring mechanism 38 acts to send the die 19 and the U-shaped glass to the pressure maintaining station 14, and the pressure maintaining cylinder is pressed down to perform pressure maintaining work;

g) After the pressure maintaining process reaches the set time, the stirring mechanism 38 acts to convey the die 19 and the U-shaped glass to the cooling station 15 for cooling;

h) After the cooling process reaches the set time, the blanking safety door is opened, and the kick-out mechanism 38 is operated to send the mold 19 together with the U-shaped glass to the blanking station 16.

i) The die is removed at the blanking station 16 and the U-shaped glass is removed and the entire workflow is completed.

The deletion or sequencing of the above method steps and the addition of other method steps are also permissible, as necessary, depending on the particular production requirements.

The present invention may include any feature or combination of features disclosed herein either implicitly or explicitly or any generalisation thereof, and is not limited to any of the limited scope of the foregoing list. Any of the elements, features, and/or structural arrangements described herein may be combined in any suitable manner.

The particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only, as the invention may be modified and practiced in different but equivalent manners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings herein. It is therefore evident that the particular embodiments of the above invention may be altered or modified and all such variations are considered within the scope and spirit of the invention.

Claims

1. A hot bending apparatus configured to hot-bend a sheet glass into a U-shaped glass, characterized in that the hot bending apparatus comprises a mold including a first mold portion and a second mold portion, the first mold portion and the second mold portion of the mold being hingedly connected by a hinge, the sheet glass being placed on both the first mold portion and the second mold portion, and a flipping mechanism configured to be removably connected to the first mold portion and the second mold portion of the mold and capable of flipping the second mold portion relative to the first mold portion, wherein the flipping mechanism is provided with a positioning rod and a flipping rod, the positioning rod extending parallel to the flipping rod, the positioning rod being insertable into a receiving hole of the first mold portion of the mold, and the positioning rod fixing the first mold portion upon flipping; the turnover rod can be inserted into the accommodating hole of the second mould part of the mould, and the turnover of the turnover rod can drive the turnover of the second mould part, wherein the turnover mechanism comprises a turnover motor, a turnover plate extending along the lateral direction away from the motor shaft is arranged on the free end part of the motor shaft of the turnover motor, and the turnover rod is fixed or molded on the turnover plate and is arranged in a staggered manner with the motor shaft.

2. A hot bending apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first and second mould parts are each provided with a receptacle for receiving a portion of sheet glass.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the mold further comprises a mold core configured to secure the sheet glass to the mold.

4. A hot bending apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the mould core has an outer contour corresponding to the inner contour of the U-shaped glass to be manufactured at least in part.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the mold further comprises a mold core, the receptacle on the first mold portion of the mold further configured to receive the mold core, the mold core being capable of being clamped in an interference fit within the receptacle on the first mold portion.

6. A hot bending apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the receptacles on the first and second mould parts of the mould are constituted by ribs protruding from the surfaces of the first and second mould parts.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said ribs are symmetrically disposed about the longitudinal axis of the mold.

8. A hot bending apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the hinge joint comprises a fork formed on the first mould part, a tongue formed on the second mould part and extending into the middle of the fork, and a pin passing through pin holes in the fork and tongue.

9. A hot bending apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the mould comprises two joints arranged symmetrically on both sides of the mould with respect to the longitudinal axis of the mould.

10. A hot bending apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the receiving holes are provided in the sides of the first and second mould parts of the mould, respectively, which receiving holes extend perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the mould.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the receiving hole is a through hole.

12. A hot bending apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the positioning rod is fixedly arranged on a positioning frame, and the positioning frame and the turnover motor are fixed on the same slide.

13. A thermobending device according to claim 12, characterized in that the tilting mechanism is provided with a fixed base, with which the slide is slidably connected.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a heating assembly located directly above the mold.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the heating assembly has a heating tube disposed therebetween, a pressure guide attached to an upper surface of the heating assembly, and a lower surface of the heating assembly capable of being pressed against the mold.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the pressure guide is coupled to the pressurizing cylinder by a follower, and the heating assembly is reciprocally movable up and down with the follower.

17. A thermobending device according to claim 16, characterized in that the stroke of the reciprocating movement can reach 110mm-150mm.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a toggle mechanism comprising a toggle lever and a plurality of toggle levers secured to the toggle lever, the toggle levers being capable of moving the mold from one station to the next as the toggle lever is advanced.

19. A heat bending method for heat-bending a sheet glass into a U-shaped glass using the heat bending apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 18, characterized by comprising:

and (3) feeding: the sheet glass is placed on both the first and second mold portions of the mold,

and (3) turning over: the second mold portion is inverted relative to the first mold portion using an inversion mechanism to yield a U-shaped glass.

20. The method of hot bending according to claim 19, wherein the step of feeding further comprises: the plate glass is fixed on the mold by using the mold core of the mold.

21. A method of hot bending according to claim 19 or 20, wherein the tilting mechanism is connected to the first and second mould parts of the mould before tilting the second mould part relative to the first mould part.

22. A method of hot bending according to claim 21, wherein the flipping mechanism is disconnected from the first and second mould parts of the mould after flipping the second mould part relative to the first mould part.

23. A hot bending method according to claim 19 or 20, wherein a heating step is performed between the loading step and the turning step, in which the sheet glass is heated to the hot bending temperature of the glass.

24. The method of hot bending according to claim 23, wherein a preheating step is performed between the feeding step and the heating step, in which the sheet glass is preheated to a set preheating temperature.

25. A hot bending method according to claim 19 or 20, wherein a shaping step is performed after the flipping step, in which the U-shaped glass is further shaped by pressurizing the mold with a pressurizing cylinder.

26. The method of hot bending according to claim 25, wherein a pressure maintaining step is performed after the molding step, and in the pressure maintaining step, the mold is maintained for a set time of pressure using a pressurizing cylinder to obtain a stable structure of the U-shaped glass.

27. The method of hot bending according to claim 26, wherein a cooling step is performed after the step of maintaining pressure, and wherein a cooling fluid is supplied to the U-shaped glass by a cooling system to cool the U-shaped glass.

28. The method of hot bending according to claim 27, wherein a blanking step is performed after the cooling step, in which blanking step the mold is removed and the U-shaped glass is removed.