JP2000171166A - Continuous type heating furnace - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently heat a work such as a wheel made of an aluminum alloy. SOLUTION: Doors 13 and 14 are provided at a work charge port 11 at one end of a furnace body 1 and a work delivery port 12 at the other so that the doors can be opened and closed. A plurality of lines of chain conveyors 2 are arranged between the throwing port 11 and the delivery port 12. The work is directly placed on a plurality of lines of chain conveyors 2 through the charge port 11 from the outside of the furnace body 1 by a loading device 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a continuous heating furnace used for heat treatment such as solution treatment of an aluminum alloy wheel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, with regard to aluminum alloy wheels for tires, after die casting is completed, the aluminum alloy wheels are heated by a continuous heating furnace to perform a solution treatment. The continuous heating furnace used for the solution treatment is a tunnel type in which an inlet of a wheel is formed at one end and an outlet of a wheel is formed at the other end, and a door for opening and closing the inlet and the outlet is provided. And a roller conveyer through which the furnace body is inserted. Wheels continuously produced by die casting are 20 to 40.
Each piece is stacked in a basket as one lot,
The entire basket is transferred onto trays arranged on the roller conveyor, and heated to a predetermined temperature while being transported in the furnace together with the trays and baskets.

[0003]

However, the heating furnace has the following problems. It is necessary to stack wheels produced by die-casting in a basket, and it is difficult to mechanize this operation, which hinders labor saving. Since the tray and the basket are also heated in the heating furnace, thermal efficiency is poor. Since the temperature of the wheel is high immediately after die casting, it must be cooled down to room temperature in order to put it into the furnace by hand, resulting in poor production efficiency and
A temporary storage space for cooling is required. Since the high-temperature wheel after die-casting is once cooled to room temperature and then re-heated in a heating furnace, the heat efficiency is even worse. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a continuous heating furnace that can save labor and efficiently heat a work such as the wheel.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, a continuous heating furnace according to the present invention comprises: an inlet for charging a work into the furnace; an outlet for discharging the work from the furnace; And a long furnace body having a door that opens and closes a discharge port,
It is characterized by comprising a plurality of chain conveyors that endlessly rotate between the input port and the discharge port, and a loading device that directly places a workpiece on the plurality of chain conveyors from outside the furnace through the input port. (Claim 1).
According to this continuous heating furnace, the work can be directly placed on a plurality of chain conveyors from the outside of the furnace body through the loading port by the loading device, and the placed work is heated while being transported by the chain conveyor. be able to. Therefore, the work can be transported and heated without using a tray or a basket. Further, since the chain conveyor rotates endlessly between the inlet and the outlet of the furnace body, the inlet and the outlet can be closed by the door except at the time of inputting and discharging the work, respectively. . For this reason, the temperature decrease in the furnace is effectively suppressed.

[0005] The loading device may directly place the heated work on a plurality of chain conveyors (Claim 2). In this case, the work heated in the preceding process is directly used in a furnace. It can be supplied to the body for further heating. For this reason, the thermal efficiency can be improved, and the step of cooling the heated work is not required.

[0006]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of a continuous heating furnace according to the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing one embodiment of a continuous heating furnace of the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway plan view thereof. This continuous heating furnace is used for solution treatment of a tire wheel W made of an aluminum alloy, and has a long furnace body 1 and a plurality of chains for transporting the wheel W inside the furnace body 1. Conveyor 2 and loading device 3 for placing wheels W directly on chain conveyor 2 from outside furnace body 1
The main part is constituted by the unloading device 4 for taking the wheel W after the solution treatment completed out of the furnace.

The furnace body 1 is of a tunnel type,
At one end thereof, an inlet 11 for charging the wheel W into the furnace is provided, and at the other end, an outlet 12 for discharging the wheel W from the furnace is provided. The inlet 11 and the outlet 12 are provided with a door 1 having heat insulation.
It can be opened and closed by 3,14. Each door 13, 1
4 is driven up and down by a fluid pressure cylinder (not shown) at predetermined time intervals, and closes the inlet 11 and the outlet 12 at the lowered position. A heating device such as a gas burner is provided inside the furnace body 1.

A plurality of chain conveyors 2 are provided in parallel along the width direction of the furnace body 1. The chain conveyor 2 is formed by two adjacent pairs forming a pair. The wheel W is discharged from the input port 11 in a state where the wheel W is bridged between the two paired chain conveyors 2. It can be conveyed toward the outlet 12. The chain 20 of each chain conveyor 2 is connected to the inlet 11 in the furnace.
And a pair of first sprocket wheels 21 disposed close to the discharge port 12 and a second sprocket wheel 22 disposed immediately below each first sprocket wheel 21 outside the furnace. And a drive device 23 including a speed reducer intermittently rotates endlessly between the inlet 11 and the outlet 12. The number of the chain conveyors 2 is appropriately selected according to the number of die-cast machines (not shown) and the production capacity.

In the middle of the return side of the chain 20,
A tensioner 5 for applying tension to the chain 20 is provided. The tensioner 5 is provided for each chain conveyor 2 so that tension can be applied to each chain conveyor 2. Each tensioner 5
Is between the pair of fixed sprocket wheels 51,
A movable sprocket wheel 52 that can move up and down is provided.
3, the tension can be individually applied to each chain 20 by adjusting the fluid pressure supplied to the fluid pressure cylinder 53. For this reason, tension can be individually and appropriately applied according to the difference in the amount of elongation of each chain 20 over time.

The loading device 3 receives the wheel W formed by the die casting machine as it is and transfers it to the chain conveyor 2. The loading device 3 is a metal comb-shaped front table 31 for temporarily supporting a wheel W supplied from a die casting machine via a conveyor C, and the front table 31 can be inserted vertically. The vehicle includes a plurality of metal forks 32 and a drive unit 33 for simultaneously cycling each fork 32 while drawing a substantially rectangular locus. The fork 32 is provided for each chain conveyor 2 forming a pair. Further, each fork 32 can be inserted vertically between the paired chain conveyors 2 in a state of having advanced into the furnace. At least the front table 31 and the fork 32 of the loading device 3 have heat resistance.

The fork 32 normally stands by below the front table 31 (see FIG. 3). When a predetermined number of wheels W are supplied onto the front table 31 from a die casting machine, the driving unit 33 operates. The ascending drive is performed, and the wheel W on the front table 31 is scooped during the ascent (see FIG. 4). Next, the fork 32 is advanced rightward in FIG. 1 by the driving unit 33, and the wheel W is introduced into the furnace through the inlet 11 (see FIG. 5). In this state, the fork 32 is lowered. During the lowering, the wheel W is directly placed on the chain conveyor 2 forming a pair (see FIG. 6). Thereafter, the fork 32 is retracted by the driving unit 33, and finally the front table 3
Return to below 1. The inlet 11 is opened and closed each time the wheel W is supplied, and the outlet 12 is opened and closed each time the wheel W is discharged.

The unloading device 4 includes a plurality of forks 41 for scooping up each wheel W conveyed to the discharge port 12 by the chain conveyor 2, and a lifting and lowering unit that lifts and lowers each of the forks 41 simultaneously by using a fluid pressure cylinder as a drive source. A drive unit 42 and a horizontal drive unit 43 for moving the fork 41 together with the elevation drive unit 42 in the horizontal direction are provided. The unloading device 4 scoops up the wheel W conveyed to the discharge port 12 by the chain conveyor 2 with the fork 41, moves the wheel W by a predetermined amount to the right in FIG. Thereby, the wheel W can be cooled by immersing it in the cooling water in the water tank 6 arranged below the unloading device 4. Next, the wheel W is raised together with the fork 41, and FIG.
After moving further in the right direction, it is lowered again and sequentially transferred onto the comb-shaped rear table 44. Thereafter, the wheel W transferred on the table 44 is conveyed to a predetermined portion by a conveyor (not shown).

[0013] The continuous heating furnace having the above-described structure includes a wheel W
Is placed directly on the chain conveyor 2 and conveyed, so that the conventional problem that a part of the heat in the furnace is absorbed by the tray or the basket can be solved. Also, since both ends of the chain conveyor 2 are arranged without being pulled out of the furnace, the inlet 11 and the outlet 12 are closed by the doors 13 and 14 except when the wheel W is charged and discharged. be able to. For this reason, the temperature decrease in the furnace is effectively suppressed. Furthermore, since the high-temperature wheel W discharged from the die-casting machine is supplied into the furnace as it is by the loading device 3, the thermal efficiency can be increased as compared with the conventional method of once cooling and reheating. Therefore, the wheel W can be efficiently heated with little heat energy. In addition, since the wheel W can be automatically supplied into the furnace by the loading device 3, labor saving can be achieved, and there is no need to cool the wheel W after die casting, so that production efficiency can be increased. In addition, a temporary storage space for cooling can be eliminated.

The continuous heating furnace of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various design changes can be made, for example, adopting an arm robot as the loading device 3. Further, the continuous heating furnace of the present invention can of course be applied not only to the solution treatment of the wheel W but also to the heating treatment of a work made of various materials.

[0015]

As described above, according to the continuous heating furnace of the first aspect, the work can be transported without using the tray or the basket, so that the tray or the basket is heated together with the work. As a result, heat loss can be prevented. In addition, the chain conveyor rotates endlessly between the input port and the discharge port of the furnace body, and the input port and the discharge port can be closed by the door except when the work is input or discharged. Therefore, a decrease in the temperature inside the furnace is effectively suppressed. Therefore, the work can be efficiently heated with little heat energy. Further, since the workpiece can be automatically supplied into the furnace by the loading device, labor can be saved.

According to the continuous heating furnace according to the second aspect, the work heated in the previous step can be supplied to the furnace body as it is and further heated, so that the work is once cooled and then reheated. Thermal efficiency can be increased. Further, since the step of cooling the wheel is not required, the production efficiency can be increased, and a temporary storage space for cooling can be eliminated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a continuous heating furnace according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view with a part cut away.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front view of a main part showing a loading operation.

FIG. 4 is a schematic front view of a main part showing a loading operation.

FIG. 5 is a schematic front view of a main part showing a loading operation.

FIG. 6 is a schematic front view of a main part showing a loading operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Furnace body 11 Input port 12 Discharge port 13 Door 14 Door 2 Chain conveyor 20 Chain 3 Loading device 4 Unloading device 5 Tensioner W Wheel (work)

Claims (2)

[Claims] An elongate furnace body having an inlet for charging a work into the furnace, an outlet for discharging the work from the furnace, and a door for opening and closing the inlet and the outlet; And a loading device for directly placing a workpiece on the plurality of chain conveyors from outside the furnace body through the input port. Type heating furnace. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the loading device directly places the heated workpiece on a plurality of chain conveyors.
The continuous heating furnace as described.