JP2003130551A - Baking apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a baking apparatus having a comparatively small furnace length and capable of applying cooling effective with respect to time to a board. SOLUTION: In this baking apparatus 100, a cooling device 250 is moved by a gear motor 198 having a brake, which is a driving device, and in the cooling device 250, the advancing direction of the board 50 is turned to feed the board directly into a lower conveying device 300, whereby eliminating a conveying part connected to a cooling part in the conventional baking apparatus. While continuing cooling of the board 50, its advancing direction can be turned. Thus, the baking apparatus 100 can be provided, having a comparatively small furnace length and capable of applying cooling effective with respect to time to the board 50.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of a baking device, that is, a roller hearth kiln for heat-treating a substrate in the process of sequentially carrying it by rollers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the process of supporting a plurality of objects to be fired and sequentially transporting them in one direction, they are arranged in parallel with each other as one of the tunnel type baking devices of a type that heat-treats the objects to be baked. There is known a so-called roller hearth kiln that supports and sequentially conveys a plurality of objects to be fired by a plurality of rollers that are each driven to rotate about its axis. In such a roller hearth kiln, since there is no sliding inside the furnace body as in the case of transporting with a mesh belt and dust accompanying it cannot be generated, there is an advantage that the object to be fired is unlikely to be contaminated. In particular, when the roller is made of ceramics, the object to be fired cannot be brought into contact with the metal in the furnace body, so that the contamination is further suppressed. Therefore, it is preferably used as a firing furnace for an object to be fired, which is desired to be fired in a highly clean firing environment as shown below.

For example, on a glass substrate typified by soda lime glass or a ceramic substrate typified by alumina, a metal or an inorganic material is melted by a glass bond component, or the material itself is softened, melted, or sintered. A substrate including a film forming material is known in which a film having a predetermined function is fixed. Anode substrates for fluorescent display tubes, substrates for plasma display panels, plasma switching substrates for plasma addressed liquid crystal displays, substrates for display devices such as substrates for field emission displays, thick film wiring substrates, or thermal printer heads, image sensors, etc. That is the substrate for electronic devices. Such an electronic device substrate is generally 500 to 650 (° C.) for annealing the substrate itself or for forming a film of a functional material in which a glass material is applied as a binder.
For example, 500 to 900 (° C.) is applied to the ceramic substrate in order to form a functional material film using a glass material as a binder or to form a functional material film applying the melting of the interface of the metal material itself on the ceramic substrate. ) Heat treatment is performed. In a substrate containing such a film-forming material, it is desired that a high-quality film be formed in order to obtain a desired function. Therefore, contamination in the manufacturing process becomes a serious problem. Is required.

By the way, in the above-mentioned firing apparatus, (a) a preheating section for heating the article to be fired to the maximum processing temperature and burning and removing the binder (resin) contained in the article to be fired in the process, (B) A heating unit for holding the object to be fired at the maximum processing temperature for a predetermined time, (c) a slow cooling unit for gradually cooling the object to be fired, and (d) the object to be fired near room temperature. A cooling unit for cooling up to is generally provided. Further, as described above, since the film formation and the baking are required for the baking of the substrate containing the film-forming material, the substrate cooled to near room temperature in the cooling unit is placed on the transfer device and then baked. Is conveyed in a direction different from the conveying direction of. This transfer device is provided, for example, directly below the tunnel-type baking device, and the substrate exiting the cooling part is transferred by a predetermined distance in the transfer part that continues in the same direction as the transfer direction at the time of baking,
Generally, it is lowered by an elevating device provided in the carrying section and placed on the carrying device.

[0005]

However, there is a problem in that the furnace length of the firing apparatus becomes long by providing the transfer section following the cooling section as described above. By increasing the furnace length of the baking apparatus in this way, the space required for installing the baking apparatus becomes large, and the time required for baking the substrate becomes long, which reduces equipment and time costs. Was required to be resolved.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a baking apparatus having a relatively short furnace length and capable of effectively cooling the substrate in terms of time. To provide.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the gist of the present invention is to provide a plurality of substrates by a plurality of rollers arranged in parallel with each other and driven to rotate about their respective axes. A heating device that heat-treats the plurality of substrates in a process of supporting and sequentially transporting in one direction, a cooling device that cools the substrate that has been heat-treated by the heating device, and the substrate that has been cooled by the cooling device. In a direction different from the one direction, wherein the cooling device is configured such that the cooling device is configured such that the substrate outlet of the heating device faces the substrate inlet of the cooling device. The driving device moves the substrate inlet to the position where the substrate outlet of the cooling device faces the substrate inlet.

[0008]

According to this structure, the cooling device itself of the baking apparatus is moved by the driving device, the traveling direction of the substrate is changed in the cooling apparatus, and the substrate is directly sent to the transfer device. The transport unit provided subsequent to the cooling unit is unnecessary. Further, it is possible to change the traveling direction of the substrate while continuing to cool the substrate. Therefore, it is possible to provide a baking apparatus having a relatively short furnace length and capable of effectively cooling the substrate in terms of time.

[0009]

Other Embodiments Here, preferably, the cooling device is capable of moving in a substantially vertical direction. In this way, the substrate can be directly fed to, for example, a transfer device provided directly below the baking device, and a baking device that can cool the substrate in a timely manner can be provided. The space required to do this is kept as small as possible.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2 show the construction of a firing apparatus 100 which is an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front view, and FIG. 2 is a cross section through the center of the furnace body in the width direction and along the longitudinal direction. The figure is shown. In the figure, the first transfer device 11 driven independently
2. A plurality of second transfer devices 122a to 122f (hereinafter, simply referred to as second transfer device 120 unless otherwise distinguished) are arranged in series, and the substrate 50 includes the first transfer device 112 and the second transfer device. By being conveyed in one direction by the device 122, it can be passed through the tunnel-shaped furnace body 150.

The tunnel-shaped furnace body 150 is made of, for example, a heat-resistant refractory material or stainless steel whose outside is wrapped with a heat insulating material such as glass wool. In the furnace body 150, the preheating unit 11 for heating the substrate 50 to the maximum processing temperature and burning and removing the binder (resin) contained in the film printed on the substrate 50 in the process.
0, a heating unit 120 for holding the object to be baked at the maximum processing temperature for a predetermined time, a slow cooling unit 130 for gradually cooling the object to be baked, and a substrate 50 for cooling the substrate 50 to near room temperature. The cooling unit 140 including the cooling device 250 is provided. Further, below the furnace body 150, there is provided a lower transfer device 300 that transfers the substrate 50 that has been baked and cooled in the cooling device 250 of the cooling unit 140 in a direction opposite to the transfer direction during baking. There is. 1 and 2
Then, in order to prevent complication, a part of the lower transfer device 300 is omitted.

The first transfer device 112 includes the preheating unit 1
It is provided at a position corresponding to 10 and the heating unit 120. The first transfer device 112 includes a chain 104 and a plurality of line shafts 114a to 114e (hereinafter referred to as “line shafts 114a to 114e”) which are provided in the vicinity of the furnace body 150 and continuously drive the motor 102 with a speed reducer. , Is transmitted to the miter gears 116a to 116f (hereinafter, simply referred to as the miter gear 116 unless otherwise specified) provided at predetermined intervals along the longitudinal direction of the furnace body 150 via the line shaft 114 unless otherwise specified. However, the drive sections 118a to 118d (hereinafter simply referred to as drive section 118 unless otherwise distinguished) and the drive sections 128a, which are respectively shared by the miter gear 118,
128b (hereinafter, unless otherwise distinguished, simply drive section 1
By rotating the roller 106 provided in the furnace body 150 as shown in FIG.
The substrate 50 placed on the roller 106 is continuously conveyed.

Further, the plurality of second transfer devices 122 are independently driven intermittently, and the motor 12 with a speed reducer is independently driven.
4a to 124f (hereinafter, simply referred to as a motor 124 with a speed reducer unless otherwise specified), and below the motor 124, like the first conveyor 112.
The furnace body 150 is provided with a plurality of rotating shafts (not shown) that are provided in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and horizontal. This rotating shaft is rotated in the same direction by transmitting the rotational torque generated by the motor 124 by the chain. That is, the plurality of second transfer devices 1
The reference numerals 22 respectively include motors 124 that are independently driven in place of the miter gears 116 to which the rotational torque of the motors 102 is transmitted in the first transport device 112.

As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of rollers 106 made of, for example, alumina are provided in the furnace body 150 so that both ends thereof protrude from the side surface of the furnace body 150. A pair of bearing brackets (not shown) are provided on the outside of the side of the furnace body 150.
6 are supported coaxially with each other. Roller 106
Are respectively sandwiched between the pair of rotating shafts from both sides. When the rotating torque generated by the motor 102 is transmitted through the chain 104, the rotating shafts are rotated. Is rotated. The substrate 50 is supported by the rollers 106 in the furnace body 150. Therefore, when the roller 106 is rotated, it is conveyed in one direction with the rotation.

Further, as apparent from FIGS. 1 and 2, the preheating unit 110 has a plurality of temperature detectors TC for detecting the temperature in the preheating unit 110.
A heater H is provided for each of the eighteenth heaters, forms a plurality of regions on the upper side and the lower side of the furnace body 150, and is independently controlled for each of the regions. Drive section 11 in FIG.
As illustrated for a part of the upper side of 8a, each temperature detector TC and heater H are connected to the controller 160, and the output of the heater H is controlled according to the temperature signal detected by the temperature detector TC. . Further, in the preheating section 110, an air supply pipe 170 is provided above the inlet of the drive section 118a on the inlet side of the furnace body 150, and the following drive section 11 is provided.
An exhaust pipe 172 is provided on the conveyance direction side of the substrate 50 of 8b, 118c, and 118d. These air supply pipe 170 and exhaust pipe 172 are made of, for example, alumina ceramics similar to the roller 106, and are provided so as to penetrate in the width direction of the furnace body 150. The air supply pipe 170 is
Both ends thereof are connected to the air supply pipe 174 provided on the side surface of the furnace body 150, and air introduced from an air supply source (not shown) is supplied into the furnace body 150. Also,
The exhaust pipe 172 is connected at both ends thereof to an exhaust pipe 176 provided on the side surface of the furnace body 150, and the air supplied into the furnace body 150 flows from the plurality of exhaust pipes 172 while flowing through the inside thereof. It is sucked and discharged from the discharge port 178.

Further, similar to the preheating unit 110, the heating unit 120 is also provided with a plurality of temperature detectors TC for detecting the temperature in the heating unit 120 for each of the drive sections 128 and the furnace. A plurality of regions are formed on the upper side and the lower side of the body 150, and a heater H that is independently controlled for each region is provided. Although not shown in FIG. 2, each temperature detector TC and heater H are connected to the controller 160, and the output of the heater H is controlled according to the temperature signal detected by the temperature detector TC.

The slow cooling unit 130 has a plurality of shutter devices S _{1 to} S at equal intervals along the longitudinal direction of the furnace body 150.
₇ (hereinafter, simply referred to as a shutter device S unless otherwise specified) is provided, and the slow cooling unit 130 drives the drive section 13
A plurality of, for example six first heating chamber R ₁ ~ 6 heating chamber R ₆ corresponding to 8 is divided into (hereinafter, simply referred to as the heating chamber R when not particularly distinguished). Further, the slow cooling unit 130 has a plurality of temperature detectors TC for detecting the temperature in the slow cooling unit 130, like the preheating unit 110 and the heating unit 120.
Is provided for each drive section 138 described above, and the furnace body 1
A heater H is provided which forms a plurality of regions on the upper side and the lower side of 50 and is controlled independently for each region.
Although not shown in FIG. 2, each temperature detector TC and heater H are connected to the controller 160, and the output of the heater H is controlled according to the temperature signal detected by the temperature detector TC. Further, in each heating chamber R, an air supply pipe 180 for supplying cooling air from above and below is provided on the rear side (upstream side) in the transport direction of the substrate 50, and
An exhaust pipe 182 for exhausting the cooling air from the upper part on the front side (downstream side) in the transport direction is provided. The air supply pipe 180 and the exhaust pipe 182 are provided with an air supply pipe 184 and an exhaust pipe 186 provided outside the furnace body 150.
The air supplied to the inside of the furnace body 150 from the air supply pipe 184 is sucked from the plurality of exhaust pipes 182 and discharged from the discharge port 188 while flowing through the inside thereof.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining in detail the structure of the cooling section 140 provided in the firing apparatus 100 of this embodiment.
(A) is a plan view and (b) is a front view. As shown in this figure, the cooling unit 140 has a rail 194 fixed to the inner surface of the frame 192 so that the longitudinal direction thereof is the vertical direction.
Is provided with a cooling device 250 which is itself movable in a substantially vertical direction, the solid line indicates that the cooling device 250 has reached the lower end, and the one-dot chain line indicates the cooling device 2.
It shows that 50 reaches the upper end. The cooling unit 14
In No. 0, the frame 192 is integrally fixed on the upper surface of the plate-shaped base frame 190 having a sufficient thickness, and the rail 194 is fixed to the inner side surface of the frame 192 so that the longitudinal direction is the vertical direction. Gearmotor with brake 1 with motor sprocket 196 mounted on top
98 is fixedly installed. Further, on the upper surface of the frame 192, a shaft 204, on which a sprocket 200 is fixed to a single part on one side thereof and a pair of carrier sprockets 202 is fixed in the vicinity of both ends thereof, is rotatably installed around its central axis. ing. The sprocket 200 fixed to the shaft 204 is a motor sprocket 1 attached to the brake gear motor 198.
96 and a chain (not shown), and the pair of carrier sprockets 202 are meshed with a chain 206 attached to a pair of pillow blocks 214 integrally fixed to both ends of a carrier 212 described later. There is. Further, the other end of the chain 206 is mounted on a weight guide 208 provided on the inner surface of the frame 190 such that the longitudinal direction thereof is the vertical direction. The weight 21 is fitted so as to be vertically movable.
It is linked to 0.

The cooling device 250 includes a carrier 252.
And a pair of pillow blocks 254 that are integrally fixed to the pair of outer surfaces of the carrier 252, are fitted into the rails 194, and have the chains 206 attached thereto.
A bearing 256 integrally fixed to the upper surface of the carrier 252, and a sprocket 258 attached to one end of the carrier 252, respectively, so that the bearing 256 rotates parallel to each other and about the axis through a bearing or the like not shown. A plurality of rollers 260 that can be arranged, a motor 264 to which a motor sprocket 262 is attached and which is fixedly installed on the lower surface of the carrier 252, a chain 266 that connects the sprocket 258 and the motor sprocket 264, and a carrier 252. It is composed of three sets of lower cooling jackets 268 attached to the upper side and three sets of upper cooling jackets 272 attached to the lower side of the plate-like member 270 fixed to the bearing 256 at both ends thereof. still,
In FIG. 3A, the entire plate member 270, the upper cooling pipe 272, and a part of the substrate 50 are omitted.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the flow of the substrate 50 in the vicinity of the cooling section 140 in the firing apparatus 100 of this embodiment. In the cooling unit 140 configured as described above,
When the cooling device 250 reaches the upper end as shown by the solid line in FIG. 4, the substrate 50 that has been gradually cooled to a certain temperature by the slow cooling unit 130 is fed, and the plurality of substrates 50 are cooled as shown in FIG. Mounted on the roller 260 of FIG. Thereafter, the lower cooling jacket 268 and the upper cooling jacket 2 are
When the cooling water is caused to flow to 72, the substrate 50 placed on the roller 260 is cooled to near room temperature, and at the same time, the gear motor with brake 198 is driven to cause the cooling device 250 to move to the inner surface of the frame 192. The rail 194 is fixed to and is vertically lowered. Next, when the cooling device 250 reaches the lower end as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 4, the motor 264 fixed to the lower surface of the carrier 252 is driven, and a plurality of motors sprocket 262, chain 266 and sprocket 258 are used. The rotational torque is transmitted to the roller 260 of
The substrate 50 is transferred toward the lower transfer device 300 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The time required for such a series of substrate cooling is, for example, about 2 to 3 minutes, and the cooling device 250 that has sent the substrate 50 to the lower transfer device 300 is pulled up to the upper end by the gear motor with brake 198 and prepared for the next substrate. In this embodiment, the rail 194, the motor sprocket 196, the brake gear motor 19 are used.
8, sprocket 200, carrier sprocket 20
2, the shaft 204, the chain 206, the pillow block 254, and the like correspond to a driving device that drives the cooling device 250. The substrate 50 sent to the lower transfer device 300 as described above is transferred by the lower transfer device 300 to a point where the next process is performed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of the control device 160. Preheating part 110, heating part 120 and slow cooling part 1
Each signal indicating the temperature detected by a plurality of temperature detectors TC for detecting the temperature in the furnace body 150 provided in a predetermined number for each of the 30 drive sections is divided by the multiplexer 162 in a predetermined cycle, After being converted into a digital signal in the A / D converter 164, the arithmetic control circuit 16
6 is input. The arithmetic control circuit 166 is composed of, for example, a microcomputer, processes an input signal according to a program stored in advance in the ROM while utilizing the temporary storage function of the RAM, and outputs the motor drive circuit MD via the output interface 168. ₁ to motor 102
A signal for driving a signal for driving the plurality of heaters H that have been installed to a plurality of heater driving circuit D ₁ to the preheating unit 110 and the heating unit 120, the motor driving circuit MD _2a
˜MD _2f to drive the motors 124a to 134f to the plurality of heater drive circuits D ₂ by the slow cooling unit 13.
A signal for driving the plurality of heaters H installed at 0, a signal for driving the motor 198 to the motor driving circuit MD _3, and a signal for driving the motor 264 to the motor driving circuit MD ₄ are respectively supplied. To do. By electronically controlling the baking apparatus 100 in this manner, the plurality of substrates 50 are sequentially baked.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the cooling device 250 of the baking apparatus 100 itself is a driving device such as the rail 194, the motor sprocket 196, the brake gear motor 198, the sprocket 200, the carrier sprocket 202, and the shaft 204. , The chain 206, the pillow block 254, etc., and the cooling device 250 changes the traveling direction of the substrate 50 and directly feeds it to the lower transfer device 300. Therefore, it is provided following the cooling part in the conventional baking device. Eliminates the need for a transport section. Further, it is possible to change the traveling direction of the substrate 50 while continuing to cool the substrate 50. Therefore, it is possible to provide the baking apparatus 100 having a relatively short furnace length and capable of time-effectively cooling the substrate 50.

Further, preferably, the cooling device 250 of the present embodiment is capable of moving in a substantially vertical vertical direction, so that the substrate 50 is provided, for example, in the lower part of the baking device 100. In addition to providing the baking apparatus 100 that can be directly fed to the lower transfer apparatus 300 and can cool the substrate 50 in a time effective manner, the space required for installing the baking apparatus 100 can be provided as much as possible. Can be kept small.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to this and can be carried out in still another mode.

For example, in the above embodiment, the cooling unit 140
Since the substrate 50 that has been cooled by the above is transported by the lower transport device 300 provided in the lower portion of the baking device 100, the cooling device 250 cools the substrate 50 while descending vertically downward. However, for example, when a transporting device corresponding to the lower transporting device 300 is provided above the baking device 100, the cooling device 250 receives the substrate 50 at its lower end and cools the substrate 50 while rising vertically upward. It may be one that does.

Further, although the cooling device 250 of the above-described embodiment itself is movable in the substantially vertical direction, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the above-described embodiment. When the transport path of the transport device corresponding to the lower transport device 300 exists in the same plane as the transport direction of the substrate 50 during firing and the direction is perpendicular to the transport direction during firing, the cooling device 250 itself is 90 ° by drive
Is rotated, and the direction of the substrate 50 is changed by 90 ° accordingly.
It may be converted and sent directly to the above-mentioned conveying device. That is, the present invention is applied to various types of firing devices in which the cooling device itself is movable by the drive device.

Further, in the above embodiment, the preheating section 110,
Although a plurality of temperature detectors TC are provided in the heating unit 120 and the slow cooling unit 130 and not in the cooling unit 140, for example, the temperature detector TC is provided in the carrier 252 and the plate member 270 in the cooling unit 140. It may be attached. In this way, the temperature of the cooling device 250 can be kept constant by controlling the flow rate of the cooling water flowing to the lower cooling jacket 268 and the upper cooling jacket 272 according to the detection result of the temperature detector TC.

Further, the firing apparatus 100 of the above-mentioned embodiment is
Although the substrate 50 is soaked thermally by the shutter device S and provided with drive sections such as a plurality of heating chambers R whose temperature is independently controlled by the heater, the substrate 50 is subjected to soaking. Therefore, the present invention is naturally applied to a baking apparatus in which a plurality of drive sections are not provided and the substrates are continuously conveyed.

Although not illustrated one by one, the present invention can be used with various improvements without departing from the spirit thereof.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the overall configuration of a firing apparatus that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram in which a cross section along a longitudinal direction of a furnace body in the firing apparatus of FIG. 1 is partially omitted.

3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating in detail the structure of a cooling unit provided in the firing apparatus of FIG. 1, in which FIG. 3A is a plan view and FIG. 3B is a front view.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a flow of a substrate near a cooling unit in the firing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a control circuit of a firing apparatus that is an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

50: Substrate 100: Baking device 106: Roller 120: Heating part (heating device) 250: Cooling device 300: Lower transfer device (transfer device) 194: Rail, 196: Motor sprocket, 19
8: Gearmotor with brake, 200: Sprocket,
202: carrier sprocket, 204: shaft,
206: chain, 254: pillow block (driving device)

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Mori             Noritake Shincho 3-chome 1-36, Nishi-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi             Noritake Co., Ltd. Limited             Within (72) Inventor Kenichi Tanaka             Noritake Shincho 3-chome 1-36, Nishi-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi             Noritake Co., Ltd. Limited             Within F-term (reference) 4K050 AA04 BA16 CG04 DA01                 4K063 AA06 BA12 CA01 CA04 CA06                       HA00

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A heating device which heat-treats a plurality of substrates in a process of supporting the plurality of substrates by a plurality of rollers arranged in parallel with each other and driven to rotate about an axis thereof and sequentially transporting the plurality of substrates in one direction. And a cooling device that cools the substrate that has been heat-treated by the heating device, and a transport device that transports the substrate cooled by the cooling device in a direction different from the one direction. The cooling device is moved by a driving device from a position where the substrate entrance of the cooling device faces the substrate exit of the heating device to a position where the substrate exit of the cooling device faces the substrate entrance of the transfer device. A firing apparatus characterized by being performed. 2. The firing device according to claim 1, wherein the cooling device is movable in a substantially vertical direction.