JP2005298308A - Cylindrical member supplying device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cylindrical member supplying device having a simple structure and capable of supplying one by one a cylindrical member piled up in multiple stages. <P>SOLUTION: The device has a plurality of belts arranged while being inclined to a floor surface and having many grooves, a holding means holding the cylindrical members and a driving means driving each belt, and only one cylindrical member is insertable to each groove of each belt in a state in which each belt is arranged while being inclined to the floor surface, and the holding means is arranged at the underside of each belt for each of belt, and one cylindrical member is taken out from the cylindrical members piled up in multiple stages in the holding means by driving each belt by the driving means and the member is supplied to a manufacturing device from the holding means to the upper part of each belt by holding one cylindrical member in each groove of each belt. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a cylindrical member supply device, and more particularly, to a glass tube supply device used in a manufacturing apparatus of a cold cathode fluorescent lamp used in a liquid crystal display device.

Liquid crystal display devices are widely used for personal computer display units, monitors, TVs, and the like. In a liquid crystal display device, a backlight (a sidelight type backlight or a direct type backlight) is generally used to display an image.
In these backlights, a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CFL) is used as a light source.
This cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CFL) is manufactured through processes such as phosphor coating and sealing in an elongated cylindrical glass tube. In the processes such as phosphor coating and sealing, the glass tube described above is used. A glass tube supply device for automatically supplying to the manufacturing apparatus of each process is used.
As this glass tube supply device, there is conventionally known a method of taking out and supplying glass tubes stacked in multiple stages on a work receiver one by one using vibration.
However, the method using vibration described above has a problem in that the glass tubes stacked in multiple stages on the workpiece receiver cannot be loosened, and the glass tubes are clogged at the outlet of the glass tube. It was not possible to stack the glass tubes, and the glass tubes were used in a line.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a glass tube material supply device described in Patent Document 1 below is known.
In the glass tube material supply apparatus described in Patent Document 1, the material (8) stocked in the hopper portion (42) is one by a delivery disk (51) in which a number of grooves are formed on the periphery. Next, it is transported to the supply height to the cutting machine (20) by the material conveying holder (54) attached to the chain (55) with the bracket of the vertical conveyor section (43), and reaches the supply height. Then, it discharges | emits on a chute | shoot (56) from the holder for raw material conveyance.

As prior art documents related to the invention of the present application, there are the following.
JP-A-5-254866

However, the glass tube material supply device described in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 requires a delivery disk in which a large number of grooves are formed and a chain with a metal fitting to which a material conveyance holder is attached. There was a problem that the structure was complicated.
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to supply one cylindrical member at a time with a simple structure and stacked in multiple stages in the holding means. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cylindrical member supply device capable of performing the above.
The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

Of the inventions disclosed in this application, the outline of typical ones will be briefly described as follows.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, in the present invention, a plurality of belts having a plurality of grooves are arranged to be inclined with respect to the floor surface, and each belt is driven by a driving means. One cylindrical member is taken out from the cylindrical members held by the holding means arranged on the lower side, the one cylindrical member is held in each groove of each belt, and the upper part of each belt is To the production equipment.
Here, only one cylindrical member can be inserted into each groove of each belt in a state in which each belt is inclined with respect to the floor surface.

The effects obtained by the representative ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows.
According to the cylindrical member supply apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to supply the cylindrical members stacked in multiple stages one by one with a simple structure.

Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a glass tube supply apparatus that supplies a glass tube to a manufacturing apparatus when manufacturing a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CFL) will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
In all the drawings for explaining the embodiments, parts having the same functions are given the same reference numerals, and repeated explanation thereof is omitted.
FIG. 1 is a front view for explaining a glass tube supply apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view for explaining a glass tube supply apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The inside of the dotted line frame shown in FIG. 2 is the glass tube supply device of this embodiment. The glass tube supply device of this embodiment includes a multi-timing belt (hereinafter simply referred to as a belt) 1, a timing pulley 2, and a drive motor 3. , A workpiece receiver (holding means of the present invention) 4 and an angle adjusting mechanism 6.
In the glass tube supply apparatus of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, five belts 1 are provided, and these belts 5 are arranged to be inclined with respect to the floor surface. In addition, a number of grooves 7 are formed in the belt 1.
In the glass tube supply device of the present embodiment, five belts 1 are arranged in order to correspond to the glass tubes 5 of various lengths. However, if the length of the glass tube 5 is constant, the belt Basically, it is sufficient to arrange two 1's.
The timing pulley 2 rotates the belt 1 in synchronization with the rotation of the drive motor 3.
The angle adjustment mechanism 6 changes the inclination angle of the belt 1 with respect to the floor surface in accordance with the diameter of the glass tube 5.

Hereinafter, the outline of the operation of the glass tube supply apparatus of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
The timing pulley 2 rotates in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 3 in synchronization with the rotation of the drive motor 3 to rotate the belt 1.
When the belt 1 rotates, the groove 7 formed in the belt 1 takes out one glass tube from the glass tubes 5 stacked in multiple stages in the work receiver 4, and the one glass tube is grooved. 7 is carried to the upper side of the belt 1 and supplied to the manufacturing apparatus.
FIG. 2 illustrates a case where the glass tube 5 is supplied to a phosphor coating apparatus that coats the phosphor on the inner wall of the glass tube 5.
In this embodiment, while rotating the belt 1, one glass tube is taken out from the glass tubes 5 stacked in multiple stages in the work receiver 4 by the grooves 7 formed in the belt 1. The self-weight (or load) of the glass tubes 5 stacked in multiple stages in the work receiver 4 can be released in multiple directions, and clogging due to the self-weight of the glass tubes 5 stacked in multiple stages in the work receiver 4 is unlikely to occur. .
Therefore, in the glass tube supply apparatus of the present embodiment, it is not necessary to align the glass tubes 5 in one row as in the method using the vibration described above, and the inside of the glass tubes 5 stacked in multiple stages in the workpiece receiver 4. Therefore, it becomes possible to automatically supply the glass tubes one by one to the manufacturing apparatus in each step.

Next, the shape of the groove 7 formed in the belt 1 in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, the shape of the groove 7 formed in the belt 1 is such that only one glass tube 5 can enter.
Furthermore, when the inclination angle with respect to the floor surface of the belt 1 is θ1, the inclination angle (θ1) is determined by the upper glass tube (G2) when the glass tube (G1) and the glass tube (G2) overlap. The angle is such that it rolls down.
Further, when the inclination angle of the groove 7 formed on the belt 1 with respect to the floor surface is θ2, the inclination angle (θ2) is obtained when the belt 1 is inclined with respect to the floor surface at the inclination angle (θ1). The glass tube 5 that has entered the groove 7 formed in the belt 1 has an angle that does not roll off.
That is, the distance (W in FIG. 4) between the gravity center position of the upper glass tube (G2) and the gravity center position of the lower glass tube (G1) overlaps the glass tube (G1) and the glass tube (G2). However, the inclination angle with respect to the floor surface of the belt 1 is adjusted in accordance with the inclination angle (θ2) with respect to the floor surface of the groove 7 formed in the belt 1 so that the upper glass tube (G2) rolls down. Adjust (θ1).
The adjustment of the inclination angle (θ1) is performed by the angle adjustment mechanism 6 in accordance with the diameter of the glass tube 5. For example, when the diameter of the glass tube 5 is small, the inclination angle (θ1) is increased and the glass When the diameter of the tube 5 is large, the inclination angle (θ1) is reduced.
As described above, according to this embodiment, while rotating the belt 1, the glass 7 is stacked one by one from the glass tubes 5 stacked in multiple stages in the work receiver 4 by the grooves 7 formed in the belt 1. It becomes possible to take out the tube 5 and supply it to the manufacturing apparatus in each step.
Thus, in this embodiment, it is possible to automatically supply 1000 continuous glass tubes 5 to the manufacturing apparatus in each step, improve the operating rate of the manufacturing apparatus, and save labor. Is possible. As a result, the manufacturing cost of the cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CFL) can also be reduced.

As shown in FIG. 5, a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CFL) is manufactured through the following steps.
(1) Phosphor application process for applying a phosphor to the inner wall of the glass tube 5 (process 11)
(2) Baking process for removing impurities inside the phosphor (process 12)
(3) Temporary sealing step for sealing one of the glass tubes 5 (step 13)
(4) Exhaust stroke in which the inside of the glass tube is evacuated (step 14)
(5) Getter heating process for increasing the degree of vacuum in the glass tube (process 15)
(6) Sealing step for sealing the other side of the glass tube 5 (step 16)
(7) Aging process (process 17)
(8) Marking process (process 18)
(9) Inspection process (process 19)
The glass tube supply apparatus of the present embodiment includes a phosphor coating process (process 11), a baking process (process 12), a temporary sealing process (process 13), and an exhaust process (process 14) among the aforementioned manufacturing processes. It can be applied to the steps of sealing step (step 16) and marking step (step 18).
In the above description, the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a glass tube supply device has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, a thin cylindrical member such as a ballpoint pen core is automatically supplied. Needless to say, the present invention can also be applied to a cylindrical member supply apparatus.
As mentioned above, the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the above embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Of course.

It is a front view for demonstrating the glass tube supply apparatus of the Example of this invention. It is a side view for demonstrating the glass tube supply apparatus of the Example of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the glass tube supply apparatus of the Example of this invention. It is a figure explaining the shape of the groove | channel formed in the multi timing belt in the glass tube supply apparatus of the Example of this invention. It is a figure explaining the manufacturing process of a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CFL).

Explanation of symbols

1 Multi-timing belt 2 Timing pulley 3 Drive motor 4 Workpiece holder 5 Glass tube 6 Angle adjustment mechanism 7 Groove

Claims (3)

A cylindrical member supply device for supplying a cylindrical member to a manufacturing apparatus,
A plurality of belts arranged at an angle to the floor and having a number of grooves;
Holding means for holding the cylindrical member;
Drive means for driving each belt,
In each groove of each belt, only one cylindrical member can be inserted in a state where each belt is inclined with respect to the floor surface,
The holding means is disposed below each belt for each belt,
By driving each belt by the driving means, one cylindrical member is taken out from the cylindrical members stacked in multiple stages in the holding means, and the one cylindrical member is removed from each groove of each belt. A cylindrical member supply device which is held inside, conveyed from the holding means to the upper part of each belt, and supplied to the manufacturing apparatus.   The cylindrical member supply device according to claim 1, further comprising an inclination angle changing unit that changes an inclination angle of each belt with respect to the floor surface.   The cylindrical member supply device according to claim 2, wherein the inclination angle increases as the diameter of the cylindrical member decreases.

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