JP2006233303A - Continuous heat-treatment apparatus for steel pipe with induction-heating - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a continuous heat-treatment apparatus for steel pipe with induction-heating, easily taking out a plug. <P>SOLUTION: In the continuous heat-treatment apparatus for induction-heating the steel pipe W by connecting the pipe W with the plug P and shifting, the plug P comprising a hollow tube which is provided with an inserting part for inserting the plug P in the steel pipe W at both end parts and a circular groove for holding the plug and detecting the position of the plug at the intermediate part, is used. The plug P is fitted to the steel pipe with a plug-fitting means 2 before heat-treatment. A plurality of notched round plates are made to receive the plug in the fan-shaped notched part of the round plate by shaking, and shifted to a plug-fitting table in order and the plug is inserted into the steel pipe with the plug fitting means. After heat-treatment, the plug is taken out from the steel pipe with a plug taking-out means 8. The rear part steel pipe W2 is held with a rear part chuck 30 and the plug P is held with a front part chuck 40 and shifted, and the plug P is taken out from the rear part steel pipe W2. The plug P held with the front part chuck 40, is taken out from the front part steel pipe W1 by holding and shifting the front part steel pipe W1 with a pinch roller 9. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a heat treatment apparatus for a heat treated steel pipe such as a steel pipe for reinforcing an automobile door.

A method of performing heat treatment such as continuous feeding of steel pipes and continuous quenching by induction heating is widely used, and as a method of continuously feeding this steel pipe, there is a method of transferring the steel pipe connected by a plug. (Patent Documents 1 and 2).
JP 53-11109 A JP-A-60-29421

  When a steel pipe is connected using the plug and induction heating is performed, it is desirable that the material of the plug is the same material as the heat-treated steel pipe in order to uniformly heat the connecting portion of the steel pipe. However, if the plug is made of the same material as the steel pipe to be heat treated, it is difficult to detect the plug position of the steel pipe that is continuously transferred, so that it is difficult to position the plug when it is extracted.

Moreover, when inserting a plug into a heat-treated steel pipe, there is a demand for easy, reliable and quick insertion.
Further, when the conventional plug is used, if the gap between the steel pipe and the plug is made large in order to facilitate the removal of the plug from the steel pipe after the heat treatment, the coolant enters through the gap and the inner circumference of the steel pipe is not good. There is a problem that the tube shape is deformed because of uniform cooling. In addition, there is a problem that the inside of the steel pipe needs to be cleaned because the coolant entering the steel pipe may remain and cause rust. In order to prevent this, if the gap between the steel pipe and the plug is reduced, there is a problem that it is difficult to remove the plug from the steel pipe after the heat treatment, which requires time.

  Then, this invention aims at providing the continuous heat processing apparatus of the steel pipe by the induction heating which solved the said problem.

  To achieve the above object, the continuous heat treatment apparatus for steel pipes according to the present invention according to the present invention transfers plug mounting means for mounting a plug at the tip of the heat-treated steel pipe before heat treatment, and the heat-treated steel pipe connected by the plug. An induction heating means for induction heating, a plug removal means for removing the plug from the heat-treated steel pipe after the heat treatment, and a plug circulation means for transferring the removed plug to the plug mounting means, the steel pipe being connected by the plug In the continuous heat treatment apparatus that performs induction heating while transporting, the plug is provided with insertion portions that are in watertight contact with the inner periphery of the heat-treated steel pipe at both ends, and the circumferential groove for holding the plug and detecting the position of the plug Consists of a hollow tube provided in the middle.

  In this way, in a continuous heat treatment apparatus that performs induction heating while connecting and transferring a steel pipe by a plug, if a plug consisting of a hollow pipe provided with a circumferential groove is used for the connection of the steel pipe, the plug position is caused by the circumferential groove. Is easily detected, so that a plug made of the same material as the steel pipe can be used, and the end of the steel pipe is heated to a uniform temperature, thereby improving the yield. In addition, since the plug is securely held, there is an advantage that the plug can be easily removed after the heat treatment even if the gap between the steel pipe and the plug is reduced.

The plug mounting means includes a plug receiving rail that receives and places the plug transferred from the plug removing means, a plug mounting base that receives the plug moved from the plug receiving rail, and is mounted on the plug mounting base. Plug insertion means for inserting the plug into the heat-treated steel pipe, and a plurality of notch disks having fan-shaped notches for receiving the plugs are swung on the plug receiving rail and received by the notches. It is desirable to provide intermittent moving means for transferring the plug to the plug mounting base in order, and plug monitoring means for monitoring the presence or absence of the plug on the plug receiving rail.
If it carries out like this, it will become smooth and easy to insert the plug circulated from the plug removal means into the pipe end of a new heat-treated steel pipe.

  The plug detaching means includes a detecting means for detecting a circumferential groove of the plug at a connection portion of the heat-treated steel pipe to be transferred, and moves in the transfer direction in synchronization with the transfer speed by grasping the steel pipe behind the transferred steel pipe. A rear chuck, a front chuck that grips the circumferential groove of the plug of the connection portion of the heat-treated steel pipe and moves in the transfer direction relative to the rear chuck, and a gripping steel pipe that is transferred A steel pipe removing means that moves in a transfer direction relative to the front chuck, detects a connection position of the steel pipe by the detecting means, grips the rear steel pipe by the rear chuck, and plugs the plug by the front chuck. The tip chuck is moved in the transfer direction relative to the rear chuck to remove the plug from the rear steel pipe, and the steel pipe is removed by the steel pipe removing means. After removing the plug from the other party steel pipe relatively moves the transport direction with respect to the jack, it is desirable to discharge the plug to release the grip of the other party chuck.

  The plug removing means of the present invention detects the position of the circumferential groove by the contact or non-contact detecting means to detect the plug position of the steel pipe connecting portion, so that even if the plug material is the same as the steel pipe, it is easily detected. Is done. Thus, by making the material of the plug the same as that of the steel pipe, the end of the steel pipe is uniformly heated and quenched. Further, by adopting the above-described configuration for the plug removing means, the steel pipe can be easily extracted from the steel pipe that is continuously transferred without stagnation of the progress of the steel pipe.

The continuous heat treatment apparatus for steel pipes by induction heating according to the present invention has the following effects.
1. Using a plug with a circumferential groove, the position of the circumferential groove is detected to detect the connection part of the steel pipe, so the plug of the same material as the steel pipe can be used, and the end of the steel pipe is heated to a uniform temperature, yield. Will improve.
2. Since a plug having a circumferential groove is used, the plug can be securely held, and the plug can be easily attached and detached even if the steel pipe and the plug are watertight.
3. As a result, the cooling water does not enter from the end of the tube during quenching of the quenching heat treatment, the tube periphery is cooled unevenly, and the tube shape is not deformed by heat treatment, and the occurrence of rust inside the heat treatment is reduced.
4). By making the plug into a hollow tube, the heating power can be reduced and the tube circumference can be heated uniformly.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described with reference to an illustrated embodiment. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a continuous heat treatment apparatus for steel pipes according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a detailed sectional view showing a state in which a plug is attached to a steel pipe, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a plug attachment means, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the plug removing means.

  Based on FIG. 1, the whole structure of the heat processing apparatus of this invention is demonstrated. In the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, a material steel pipe is loaded from the left steel pipe loading table 1 and transferred to the right, heated to the heat treatment temperature by the heating coil 4, and then rapidly cooled by the water cooling jacket 5. Then, it is heat treated and discharged to the steel pipe discharge table 10.

  More specifically, a heat treated steel pipe (hereinafter referred to as a workpiece) W is placed on the leftmost loading base 1 in FIG. 1, and the plug P is attached to the tip of the work W in the vicinity of the charging base 1. A mounting means 2 is placed. Conveyor 3, heat treatment heating coil 4, water cooling jacket 5, conveyor 6, pinch roller 7, plug removing means 8, pinch roller 9, and steel pipe discharge table 10 are arranged in this order from the left in the figure. And the guide roller 11 is provided between each apparatus, and the steel pipe transfer means is comprised with the conveyors 3 and 6 and the pinch roller 9. FIG.

  Further, between the plug removing means 8 and the plug mounting means 2, a plug conveyor 12 that is a circulating means for the plug P is provided. Thereby, the plug P removed from the work at the position of the plug removing means 8 is circulated and delivered to the position of the plug attaching means 2.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the plug P consists of a hollow tube with steps on both sides, the outer diameter of the small diameter portion at both ends of the large diameter portion Pa is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the workpiece W, and the tip is tapered. The insertion portion Pb is configured. And the circumferential groove Pc is provided in the intermediate part of the large diameter part Pa. The insertion parts Pb on both sides are inserted into the inner periphery of the end part of the workpiece W to connect the preceding and succeeding workpieces W1, W2. The circumferential groove Pc in the middle part of the plug P serves as a position detection and grip guide in the plug removal means 8 to be described later in detail.

  First, the plug mounting means 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. The plug P removed by the plug removing means 8 is sent to the base 13 of the plug attaching means 2 by a plug conveyor 12 which is a plug circulating means. The table 13 is provided with a pusher 23 for moving the transferred plug P to the intermittent movement means 15. Further, a photoelectric tube 24 of plug monitoring means for monitoring the plug on the rail 16 is provided above the cutout disc 17 at the left end.

  A plug receiving rail 16 and an intermittent movement means 15 are provided from the base 13 toward the plug mounting base 21. The intermittent movement means 15 is composed of four cutout discs 17 and is provided between two plug receiving rails 16 on which the plug is placed and moved. The plug receiving rail 16 is preferably inclined from the base 13 toward the plug mounting base 21 in order to move the plug smoothly. The notch disc 17 is a disc provided with a fan-shaped notch 17b for receiving a plug. The notch direction is the same and the shaft 17a is sandwiched between the plug receiving rails 16 at equal intervals. It is pivotally supported by the shaft. A crank pin 17 c provided on each notch disk 17 is connected by a crank arm 18. A plunger 19 a of an air cylinder 19 is connected to one end of a hinge 18 a of the crank arm 18.

  A plug mounting base 21 is provided at the opposite end of the base 13 of the plug receiving rail 16. The plug mounting base 21 is formed of a V block having a V-shaped groove orthogonal to the plug receiving rail 16 at the upper portion, and the plug is moved and placed in the V-shaped groove. Then, the plug moved onto the plug mounting base 21 is pushed by the plunger 22a of the insertion cylinder 22 constituting the plug insertion means provided in the V-shaped groove direction so that the plug P is inserted into the tip of the workpiece W. It has become.

  As a result, the plug P transferred from the plug removing means 8 by the plug conveyor 12 and placed on the table 13 is pushed by the pusher 23 and moved onto the plug receiving rail 16, and the first notch disk at the left end. It is moved to the position of 17 notches 17b. Here, when the cylinder 19 is actuated to move the crank arm 18 leftward, the four cutout discs 17 rotate clockwise via the crankpin 17c, and the cutout disc 17 at the left end cuts out. The plug P received by 17b is moved between the outer periphery of the next second notch disk. Then, when the cylinder 19 is operated to the right again and the crank arm 18 is moved to the right, the plug P between the outer circumferences of the first and second cutout discs 17 is cut off from the second cutout disc 17. It can be received by the notch 17b. By repeating this operation, the plug P is moved to the right and placed on the V-shaped portion of the plug mounting base 21. The plug P is inserted into the tip of the workpiece W by the insertion cylinder 22. Then, the workpiece W having the plug inserted at the tip is sent to the charging table 1.

Next, the configuration of the plug removing means 8 will be described with reference to FIG.
The plug detaching means 8 is roughly divided into a rear chuck block 30 at the rear of the work traveling direction and a front chuck block 40 at the front. Both the rear chuck block 30 and the front chuck block 40 are disposed on the slide base 26. The slide base 26 is installed on the fixed base 25 so as to be able to slide forward and backward in the moving direction of the work, and is moved in the moving direction on the fixed base 25 in synchronization with the moving speed of the work by a ball screw 46 driven by a stepping motor 45. It is supposed to do. Above the rear chuck block 30, a seam detecting means 50 for detecting the circumferential groove Pc of the plug P of the work seam is provided.

  The configuration of the rear and front chuck blocks 30 and 40 will be described. The configuration of the rear and front chuck blocks 30 and 40 is the same. The rear and front chuck blocks 30 and 40 are provided with a pair of rear chuck claws 31 and 31 and front chuck claws 41 and 41, which are opened and closed synchronously by hydraulic cylinders 32, 32 and 42 and 42, respectively. Is to be gripped and released.

  The rear chuck block 30 is fixed to the slide base 26, and the blade portion of the rear chuck claw 31 is shaped to easily grasp the outer circumference of the workpiece.

  The shape of the blade portion of the chuck claw 41 of the front chuck block 40 is provided with a protrusion that grips the outer periphery of the plug P and engages with the circumferential groove Pc. This ensures that the plug is gripped. The front chuck block 40 is fixed on the front chuck base 27, and the front chuck base 27 is placed on the slide base 26 so as to be movable back and forth in the advancing direction. Then, the front chuck base 27 is rapidly moved forward and rearward in the advancing direction by a quick moving means 43 such as an air cylinder, and operates so that the plug P gripped by the front chuck claw 41 is removed from the workpiece W.

  Pinch rollers 7 and 9 are provided at the front and rear of the plug removing means 8, respectively. Since the feed speed of the pinch roller 9 constituting the steel pipe extracting means is faster than that of the pinch roller 7, the pinch roller 9 operates to pull out the workpiece W 1 from the plug P gripped by the front chuck claw 41.

  The details of the operation of removing the plug by the plug removing means 8 configured as described above will be further described. When the workpiece W with the plug P mounted is heated and cooled and quenched and transferred, and the plug P of the front and rear workpieces reaches the position of the rear chuck block 30 of the plug detaching means 8, it is detected by the seam detecting means 50. The When the plug P of the seam is detected, the stepping motor 45 drives the ball screw 46 to move the work W sent by the pinch roller 7 through the slide base 26 on which both the rear and front chuck blocks 30 and 40 are mounted. Synchronize with the direction of travel. Then, the rear and front chuck blocks 30 and 40 are operated, the rear workpiece W2 is gripped by the rear chuck claw 31 of the rear chuck block 30, and the plug P is gripped by the front chuck claw 41 of the front chuck block 40.

  When the cylinder 43 of the front chuck block 40 is driven in a state where the workpiece W2 and the plug P are gripped by the respective rear front chuck claws 31 and 41 in this way, the front chuck base 27 rapidly moves in the advancing direction, The plug P gripped by the chuck claws 41 is pulled out from the rear workpiece W2. At this time, since the circumferential groove Pc of the plug P is engaged with the front chuck claw 41, even if the gripping force of the front chuck claw 41 is small, the plug is securely gripped and pulled out. When the plug P is pulled out from the rear workpiece W2, the cylinder 43 stops. And the pinch roller 9 which comprises a steel pipe extraction means moves the other workpiece | work W1 to an advancing direction, and pulls out the workpiece | work W1 from the plug P. FIG. That is, since the feed speed of the pinch roller 9 is made larger than the feed speed of the pinch roller 7, the speed of the workpiece W1 fed by the pinch roller 9 becomes faster than the movement speed of the plug P held by the front chuck claw 41. The plug P is removed from the front work W1 and remains.

  Thus, when the plug P is removed from the preceding workpieces W1 and W2, the front chuck claw 41 is released, and the removed plug P is dropped onto the plug conveyor 12 and carried to the position of the original plug mounting means 2. It is used in circulation. The workpiece W from which the plug P has been removed is sent to the steel pipe discharge table 10 by the pinch roller 9.

  Here, the rear chuck claw 31 of the rear chuck block 30 is also opened. Then, the stepping motor 45 rotates in the reverse direction, and the rear front chuck claws 31 and 41 of the rear front chuck blocks 30 and 40 on the slide base 16 are returned to the standby position.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the overall operation will be described with reference to FIG. The plug P shown in FIG. 2 is mounted by the plug mounting means 2 on the tip of the rear workpiece W2 placed on the loading table 1 as described above. The workpiece W with the plug P attached to the tip is sent to the transfer position 1a of the loading table 1 in FIG. 1, and is sent in the right direction in the figure by a feeding means such as a pusher (not shown). Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the insertion portion Pb of the plug P inserted into the tip of the rear workpiece W2 is inserted into the rear end of the front workpiece W1. As a result, the front work W1 and the rear work W2 are connected by the plug P and sent to the right in the figure.

  The connected workpieces W1 and W2 are transferred by the conveyor 3 and heated to the heat treatment temperature by the heat treatment heating coil 4. The heated workpiece W is quenched and quenched by the water cooling jacket 5.

  At this time, since the outer periphery of the plug P and the inner periphery of the workpiece W are watertight, the cooling water is prevented from entering the hollow portion of the steel pipe during the heat treatment cooling. As a result, the entire circumference of the steel pipe is uniformly cooled. Therefore, heating and cooling are conventionally performed while rotating the workpiece. However, since the heat treatment can be performed uniformly over the entire circumference without rotation, the heat treatment apparatus is simplified and the cost is reduced.

  When the workpiece is further transferred by the pinch roller 7 and the plug mounted between the workpieces W1 and W2 reaches the position of the plug removing means 8, the plug position is detected by the joint detecting means 50, and the plug P is detected by the plug removing means 8. Is removed from the workpiece W.

  As described above, according to the continuous heat treatment apparatus of the present invention, the plug is attached to the abutting portion of the first and second heat-treated steel pipes, the first and second steel pipes are connected and transferred, and the continuous heat treatment is performed. No bending due to softening occurs, and man-hours such as bending after heat treatment are not required.

  In addition, since the plug uses a watertight hollow tube at the inner periphery of the connecting portion of the tube, cooling water does not penetrate into the tube and the tube periphery is less likely to be cooled unevenly, and heat treatment deformation due to uneven cooling is not likely to occur. Absent. Thus, even if a watertight hollow tube is used for the plug, since the circumferential groove is provided in the plug, the plug can be reliably gripped and removed reliably.

  In addition, by making the plug into a hollow tube, even if water that has entered the tube suddenly evaporates due to heating, the vapor is discharged from the hole provided in the plug, so the pressure inside the tube is avoided and the pressure rises It is possible to prevent troubles caused by unplugging due to, and line stoppage associated therewith. Furthermore, by making the plug into a hollow tube, the heating power can be reduced and the tube circumference can be heated uniformly.

  As described above, according to the continuous heat treatment apparatus for steel pipes by induction heating according to the present invention, heat treatment steel pipes that are not bent or deformed can be continuously heat treated with a simple apparatus. The effect is exhibited in the heat treatment of the heat-treated steel pipe, and the cost of these parts can be reduced.

It is a figure explaining the structure of the continuous heat processing apparatus of the steel pipe by the induction heating of this invention embodiment. It is sectional drawing which shows the mounting state of the plug of embodiment of this invention. It is a top view of the mounting means of the plug of embodiment of this invention. It is a side view of the mounting means of the plug of embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the removal means of the plug of embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Steel pipe loading table, 2 plug mounting means, 3 conveyor, 4 heat treatment heating coil, 5 water cooling jacket, 6 conveyor, 7 pinch roller, 8 plug removing means, 9 pinch roller (steel pipe removing means), 10 steel pipe discharge table, 11 Guide roller, 12 Plug conveyor (plug circulating means), 13 units, 15 intermittent movement means, 16 Plug receiving rail, 17 Notched disk, 18 Crank arm, 19 cylinder, 20 Hinge, 21 Plug mounting table, 22 Insert cylinder, 23 Pusher, 24 Photoelectric tube (plug monitoring means), 25 Fixed base, 26 Slide base, 27 Front chuck base, 30 Rear chuck block, 31 Rear chuck claw, 32 cylinder, 40 Front chuck block, 41 Front chuck claw, 42 cylinder, 43 Rapid moving means, 45 Stepping motor , 46 ball screw, 50 seam detection means, P plug, W workpiece (heat treated steel pipe)

Claims (3)

Plug attachment means for attaching a plug to the tip of the heat-treated steel pipe before heat treatment, induction heating means for induction heating while transferring the heat-treated steel pipe connected by the plug, and plug removal for removing the plug from the heat-treated steel pipe after heat treatment And a plug circulating means for transferring the removed plug to the plug mounting means, wherein the plug is connected to the inner circumference of the steel pipe to be heat-treated by induction heating while connecting and transferring the steel pipe by the plug. An induction heating steel tube characterized by comprising a hollow tube provided with water-tight insertion parts at both ends, and a circumferential groove for gripping the plug and detecting the position of the plug. Continuous heat treatment equipment. The plug mounting means includes a plug receiving rail that receives and places the plug transferred from the plug removing means, a plug mounting base that receives the plug moved from the plug receiving rail, and is mounted on the plug mounting base. Plug insertion means for inserting the plug into the heat-treated steel pipe, and a plurality of notch disks having fan-shaped notches for receiving the plugs are swung on the plug receiving rail and received by the notches. 2. The induction heating according to claim 1, further comprising: intermittent movement means for sequentially transferring the plug to the plug mounting base; and plug monitoring means for monitoring the presence or absence of the plug on the plug receiving rail. Continuous heat treatment equipment for steel pipes. The plug detaching means includes a detecting means for detecting a circumferential groove of a plug at a connection portion of a heat-treated steel pipe to be transferred, and a rear that grips the transferred steel pipe and moves in the transfer direction in synchronization with the transfer speed. A chuck, a tip chuck that grips the circumferential groove of the plug at the connection portion of the heat-treated steel pipe and moves in the transfer direction relative to the rear chuck, and a tip chuck that grips the steel pipe to be transferred and the tip A steel pipe removal means that moves in the transfer direction relative to the chuck, detects the connection position of the steel pipe by the detection means, grips the rear steel pipe by the rear chuck, and circles the plug by the front chuck. The front chuck is moved in the transfer direction relative to the rear chuck by gripping the circumferential groove, and the plug is removed from the rear steel pipe, and the front steel pipe is removed by the steel pipe removing means. 2. The induction heating according to claim 1, wherein the plug is discharged after the gripping of the tip chuck is released after the plug is removed from the tip steel pipe by moving in a transfer direction relative to the tip. Continuous heat treatment equipment for steel pipes.

Images