JP2007000896A - Pressurizing device, pressurizing method, and heater unit - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pressurizing device where the object to be pressurized is held, pressurized, and simultaneously heated by oppositely arranged pressurizing dies, in which the time required for heating is reduced. <P>SOLUTION: Heater units 34, 44 arranged at pressurizing dies and performing heating to the object to be pressurized are provided with a flat heating element 56. The whole face of the flat heating element 56 is held by a metal sheet 60 provided with a recessed part 62 having a depth same as the thickness thereof, and a metal sheet 58 arranged so as to be a cover of the recessed part 62. Since a bending load does not act on the flat heating element, but only a compression load acts thereon, it can withstand high pressure. In this way, the thinning of the metal sheet 58 is possible, the heat capacity of the units can be reduced, and temperature rising time can be reduced. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a pressurizing apparatus and a pressurizing method in which an object to be pressed is sandwiched and pressed by a plurality of pressurizing molds and simultaneously heated by heat transfer from the pressurizing molds.

  Patent Documents 1 and 2 below describe apparatuses that sandwich and pressurize an object to be pressed with a pressurizing mold disposed opposite to the object to be pressed, and simultaneously heat and mold or press the object. In the apparatuses described in these documents, a heating plate is provided in a mold for sandwiching an object to be pressed from above and below. A cylindrical heater is embedded in the heating plate.

JP 2001-145911 A JP 2003-88998 A

  The heating means provided in the pressurization mold needs to have a structure that can withstand the pressure of the pressurization. In the heating plate in which the heater disclosed in the patent document is embedded, the heating plate is provided so that a large force is not applied to the heater. It is the structure which bears a load. For this reason, there existed a problem that the volume of a heating plate increased, heat capacity increased, and it took time for temperature rise of a to-be-pressurized object. Further, even if it is attempted to shorten the temperature raising time by increasing the heat generation amount of the heater, if the number of heaters is increased, the volume and heat capacity of the heating plate are increased, and eventually the temperature raising time is not shortened.

  The present invention provides a heater unit that is advantageous for shortening the temperature rise time of an object to be pressed, a pressurizing apparatus using the heater unit, and a pressurizing method.

  In the pressurizing apparatus according to the present invention, the heater unit provided in at least one pressurizing mold includes a planar heating element and a metal plate that sandwiches the entire surface of the planar heating element. By sandwiching the entire surface of the sheet heating element with the metal plate, it is possible to prevent the bending force from acting on the sheet heating element and to improve the pressure resistance.

  In addition, a sealed space for accommodating the planar heating element is formed between the metal plates, and the metal plates are brought into close contact with each other by reducing the pressure of the space. Unlike the local fixing such as bolts, the metal plate can be prevented from being deformed by being adsorbed and fixed by decompression. Thereby, a metal plate can be made thin and a heat capacity can be reduced.

  In addition, the processing method according to the present invention includes a step of sandwiching an object to be pressed with a pressurization mold and applying a predetermined pressure, and a step of heating with a heater unit while the pressure is being applied to the object to be pressed. The heater unit may include a planar heating element and a metal plate that sandwiches the entire surface of the planar heating element. By heating in a pressurized state, deformation of the metal plate due to heat can be suppressed, whereby the metal plate can be thinned, and the heat capacity can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a pressurizing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. The pressurizing device 10 is a device that sandwiches and pressurizes an object to be pressed 12 between an upper mold 14 and a lower mold 16. Furthermore, the side mold | type 18 can also be arrange | positioned so that the side periphery of the opposing direction of the upper-and-lower mold | dies 14 and 16 may be enclosed. The upper and lower molds 14 and 16 and the side mold 18 form a cavity 20 (see FIG. 3) which is a closed space, and the article to be pressed 12 is disposed therein.

  The upper die 14 descends toward the lower die 16 and includes a pressure head 22 that applies pressure to the object to be pressed 12 and a pressure pad 24 interposed between the pressure head 22 and the object to be pressed 12. . The pressure pad 24 is configured by holding a flexible layer 26 made of a flexible material such as rubber between two holding films 28. The holding film 28 is fixed to the holding frame 30 supported by the pressure head 22. The holding frame 30 is supported so as to be relatively movable in the vertical direction with respect to the pressure head. When the pressure is not applied, the holding frame 30 is positioned on the lowermost side of the moving range by the force of the spring 32. An upper heater unit 34 is disposed at the tip of the pressure head 22, that is, the surface facing the pressure pad. A detailed configuration of the upper heater unit 34 will be described later. A heat insulating layer 38 is provided between the upper heater unit 34 and the base portion 36 of the pressure head 22 to prevent the heat of the upper heater unit 34 from escaping.

  On the base 40 of the lower mold 16, a lower mold heater unit 44 is disposed via a heat insulating layer 42. The detailed configuration of the lower heater unit 44 will also be described later. The pressed object 12 is placed on the lower mold 16 while being placed on the transport plate 46. The transport plate 46 is transported on a carriage 50 that moves on a guide rail 48 that extends in a direction penetrating the paper surface of FIG.

  The side mold 18 is supported so as to be suspended from the upper mold 14 and movable in the vertical direction with respect to the upper mold. When the upper mold 18 is retracted upward, the side mold 18 is positioned at the lower end of the moving range by the biasing force of the spring 51. A seal member 52 is disposed on the contact surface with the lower mold 16. Further, the seal member 54 is also disposed on the side surface of the upper mold 14 of the side mold 18, specifically, the surface facing the outer surface of the holding frame 30. These sealing members 52 and 54 seal the cavity 20 (see FIG. 3) formed by the upper and lower molds 14 and 16 and the side mold 18.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the heater units 34 and 44 provided in the upper mold and the lower mold described above. In FIG. 2, the upper side is the surface facing the object to be pressed 12. The heater units 34 and 44 are configured by sandwiching the entire surface of the sheet heating element 56 between two metal plates 58 and 60. When distinguishing and explaining these metal plates, the metal plate 58 that opposes the pressed object 12 is referred to as a counter metal plate 58 and the other metal plate is referred to as a base metal plate 60. As the sheet heating element 56, for example, HEATWELL (registered trademark) ET-600 manufactured by Kawai Denki Seisakusho can be used. This heating element is obtained by sandwiching a nickel alloy as a resistor between mica, which is an insulating material. Mica is excellent in compression resistance, and does not easily break even when pressed. This product has a surface pressure resistance of 5.9 MPa. Further, heating can be performed at a power density of 17 W / cm ² . The two metal plates 58 and 60 are preferably made of a material having good thermal conductivity, for example, copper. In FIG. 2, a power line that supplies power to the planar heating element 56 is omitted.

  A recess 62 is formed in the base metal plate 60 to accommodate the planar heating element 56. The depth of the recess 62 and the thickness of the planar heating element 56 are substantially the same, and the entire surface of the planar heating element 56 is in close contact with the two metal plates 58 and 60. The thickness of the metal plates 58 and 60 is preferably as thin as possible in order to reduce the heat capacity of the heater unit. For example, the counter metal plate 58 is 3 to 5 mm and the base metal plate 60 is 6 to 10 mm. it can. When thinning the metal plate, particularly the opposing metal plate 58, the fixing method to the base metal plate 60 becomes a problem. In the heater units 34 and 44 of the present embodiment, the space between the two metal plates, that is, the space inside the recess 62 in which the planar heating element 56 is accommodated is decompressed by the vacuum pipe 64, thereby the two metal plates 58 and 60. Is firmly fixed. In order to seal the gap between the two metal plates 58 and 60, a seal member 66 such as an O-ring is disposed between them.

  On the opposite side of the surface of the base metal plate 60 where the recess 62 is provided, a cooling pipe 68 for flowing a cooling liquid is provided. After the heating, the heater units 34 and 44 are rapidly cooled by flowing a coolant through the cooling pipe 68 to prepare for the next operation.

  3 and 4 are explanatory diagrams of the process of the pressurizing operation of the pressurizing apparatus 10. As shown in FIG. 1, the article to be pressed 12 is conveyed while the upper mold 14 and the side mold 18 are separated from the lower mold 16 and placed on the conveyance plate 46. When the upper die 14 is lowered, the side die 18 supported by the upper die 14 is also lowered integrally. When the front end of the side mold 18 comes into contact with the transport plate 46, the transport plate 46 is pushed down slightly and comes into close contact with the upper surface of the lower mold 16. In this state in FIG. 3, the periphery of the object to be pressed 12 is a space (cavity 20) sealed from the outside surrounded by a plurality of molds. Air is extracted from the cavity 20 through the vacuum pipe 70.

  Further, when the upper mold 14 is lowered, the side mold 18 is already in contact with the lower mold 16 and therefore does not descend, but only the upper mold 14 is lowered (see FIG. 4). When the pressure pad 24 of the upper mold 14 abuts on the object to be pressed 12 and further pressurizes, the pressure pad 24 is deformed to follow the shape of the upper surface of the object to be pressed 12, and the entire object to be pressed 12. Is uniformly pressurized.

  In this pressurized state, power is supplied to the heater units 34 and 44 to generate heat. The object to be pressed 12 is heated with this heat. At this time, since the heater units 34 and 44 are pressurized, even if a partial difference in thermal expansion occurs, no deformation occurs. In other words, it is not necessary to consider deformation due to thermal expansion with respect to the thickness of the metal plate, and this can be reduced. If the metal plate is made thinner, the heat capacity becomes smaller, the temperature can be quickly raised, and the processing time can be shortened.

  After pressurization and heating for a predetermined time, a cooling liquid is passed through the cooling pipe 68 to cool the heater units 33 and 44. When the heater units 34 and 44 return to the initial temperature, the upper mold 14 is raised to release the pressure. This is because if the pressure is released while the heater units 34 and 44 are at a high temperature, the metal plate may be distorted due to thermal expansion. By forcibly cooling with the coolant, the pressure can be released at an early stage, and the processing time can be shortened.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the temperature rise of the unit using the heater unit of the present embodiment and a conventional cylindrical heater. The temperature on the vertical axis is the surface temperature of the surface of the heater unit facing the object to be pressed, and the horizontal axis is the elapsed time from the start of supplying power to the unit at room temperature. The temperature of the heater unit employing the above-mentioned planar heating element manufactured by Kawai Denki Seisakusho is indicated by a solid line, and the temperature of a conventional unit is indicated by a broken line. As shown in the figure, in the conventional heater unit, it took about 27 minutes to raise the temperature to 260 ° C., but in the heater unit of this embodiment, it is significantly shortened to about 2 minutes. In the case of an object to be pressurized whose temperature is not preferred to rise before pressurization, if it takes time to reach the required temperature from room temperature, the process time per piece becomes longer and productivity is hindered. The In the case of the heater unit of the present embodiment, the time required for the temperature increase is extremely short, so that the process time can be shortened.

  As mentioned above, in this embodiment, although the apparatus provided with the heater unit in both the upper mold and the lower mold has been described, the unit may be provided in only one of the molds according to the required performance. it can.

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the pressurization apparatus of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the detailed structure of a heater unit. It is explanatory drawing of a pressurization process. It is explanatory drawing of a pressurization process. It is the figure which compared the mode of the temperature rise of the heater unit of this embodiment, and the conventional unit.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Pressurizer, 12 Pressurized object, 14 Upper mold | type, 16 Lower mold | type, 18 Side type | mold, 22 Pressurization head, 24 Pressurization pad, 26 Flexible layer, 34 Upper mold | type heater unit, 44 Lower mold | type heater unit, 56 Sheet heating element, 58 counter metal plate, 60 base metal plate, 64 vacuum piping, 68 cooling piping.

Claims (7)

A pressurizing device that sandwiches and pressurizes an object to be pressed with a pressurizing mold disposed oppositely, and performs heating simultaneously,
At least one of the pressurization molds is provided with a heater unit for heating an object to be pressed,
The heater unit includes a planar heating element and a metal plate that sandwiches the entire surface of the planar heating element.
Pressurizing device.   2. The pressurizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a sealed space for accommodating the planar heating element is formed between the metal plates, and the sealed space is decompressed and the metal plates are in close contact with each other. .   The pressurizing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the metal plate opposite to the object to be pressed is provided with a pipe through which a cooling liquid for cooling the heated metal plate flows. apparatus. The pressurizing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A pressure pad having a flexible layer is provided on at least one surface of the pressure type facing the object to be pressed.
Pressurizing device. A pressurizing method of sandwiching and pressurizing an object to be pressed with a pressurizing mold disposed oppositely, and simultaneously heating,
Sandwiching an object to be pressurized with a pressure mold and applying a predetermined pressure;
In a state where pressure is applied to the object to be pressurized, the heater unit is provided with at least one of the pressure molds and includes a sheet heating element and a metal plate that sandwiches the entire surface of the sheet heating element. Heating the object,
A pressurizing method comprising:   The pressurizing method according to claim 5, wherein the pressurizing method includes a step of cooling the heater unit in a state where pressure is applied after the object to be pressed is heated. A heater unit that heats the object to be pressed, provided in the pressing mold of the pressurizing device that sandwiches and pressurizes the object to be pressed with the pressurizing mold that is disposed oppositely,
A planar heating element;
A metal plate that sandwiches the entire surface of the planar heating element and forms a sealed space that accommodates the metal plate;
Have
The sealed space is depressurized so that the metal plates are in close contact with each other and sandwich the planar heating element,
Heater unit.

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