JP2008247644A - Optical element molding apparatus and heating method using the apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical element molding apparatus where a second barrel die can be rapidly heated beforehand and an optical element can be certainly molded and to provide a heating method using the apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The optical element molding apparatus comprises an optical element molding die 160 having a pair of upper and lower dies 162, 164 to mold the optical element 172, a first barrel die 166 to regulate the position of the upper and lower dies in a horizontal direction and the second barrel die 168 to regulate the pressing depth of the upper die or the lower die and molding the optical element by heating and pressing a preform 170 placed between the upper and lower dies and upper and lower dies units 112, 114 which are constituted of a plurality of upper and lower pairs and which heats or presses the optical element molding dies from upside and downside. At least one of the upper dies units has a heating part 118 to heat the optical element molding die and the second barrel die, a second barrel contacting part 113 being in contact with one face of the second barrel die and an opposing part 111 placed to be higher than a second barrel contacting face and opposed to one face side of the upper die. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical element molding apparatus and a heating method using the apparatus.

  In general, an optical element is manufactured by placing a preform (an optical material) on a mold and then pressing and molding the heat-softened preform. In order to manufacture an optical element, for example, a continuous optical element molding apparatus is used. The continuous optical glass molding apparatus includes a plurality of upper and lower pairs of upper and lower mold units capable of heating the molding die or pressing the molding die from above and below. The pair of upper and lower mold units have functions different from heating, pressing, and cooling, respectively.

  The mold for molding an optical element includes an upper mold, a lower mold, a trunk mold (first trunk mold), and a pass spacer (second trunk mold). When molding, first, a body mold, an upper mold, and a pass spacer are assembled in a state where a preform is disposed on the optical function transfer surface of the lower mold of the molding mold. In the heating upper and lower mold units, the assembled mold is heated together with the preform. Next, the upper mold is guided by the upper and lower mold units for pressing, and the upper mold is guided along the trunk mold and lowered downward while heating the molding mold, and the preform is pressed and molded.

  Thereafter, the temperature of the molding die is lowered to a predetermined temperature by the cooling upper and lower die units. Next, the molding die is taken out from the continuous optical element molding apparatus and opened. An optical element (for example, a lens, a prism, or the like), which is a press-molded product, is released from the upper mold, remains on the optical function transfer surface of the lower mold, and is taken out from the molding mold by an adsorption robot.

  Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose a technique for forming an optical element using a continuous optical element forming apparatus.

JP-A-4-357121 JP-A-8-259240

  By the way, the pass spacer in the molding die is a hollow cylindrical member, for example, for determining the size of the optical element after molding. The pass spacer is an upper die unit, and defines the indentation depth when the upper die of the molding die is pushed downward. For this reason, the pass spacer has a predetermined height, and the upper die unit abuts against the upper surface of the pass spacer, thereby preventing the upper die unit from pushing the upper die more than necessary.

  When the upper die unit is brought close to the upper die of the molding die assembled with the upper and lower die units for heating, the upper die unit having the heating portion can heat the molding die. Generally, the upper die and the pass spacer are pressed at the same time by the lower surface (planar die plate) of the upper die unit. It is arranged to be at the height. That is, at the start of the temperature raising process, the upper die is positioned higher than the pass spacer by the amount corresponding to the pressing stroke plus the thermal expansion of the pass spacer. Therefore, the lower surface of the pass spacer is heated in the temperature raising process, but the upper surface of the pass spacer is farther from the lower surface of the upper mold unit than the upper surface of the upper mold, and the pass spacer is difficult to be heated. was there. The broken line portion in FIG. 3 shows the time change of the temperature and thermal expansion of the conventional pass spacer.

  Further, when the molding die is moved to the next pressing step, in the upper and lower die units for pressing, the upper die unit pushes the upper die little by little, so the distance between the upper die unit and the pass spacer becomes shorter. Therefore, the temperature of the pass spacer is easily increased. That is, the pass spacer is not easily heated by the heating upper / lower unit, but is gradually heated by the pressing upper / lower unit. Therefore, the pass spacer continues to expand in the pressing process, and the height expands.

  In general, the peak of thermal expansion of the pass spacer occurs during the pressing process, and it is desirable that the pass spacer shrinks in the slow cooling process and the rapid cooling process. In the slow cooling process, it is necessary to press the upper die together with the shrinkage of the pass spacer. Therefore, a material having a large coefficient of thermal expansion such as stainless steel is used for the pass spacer. However, in the conventional method, the lower surface of the pass spacer is heated, but the upper surface is difficult to be heated. Therefore, as shown by the broken line portion in FIG. 3, the pass spacer is not sufficiently expanded at the start of the pressing process. Therefore, there is a problem that the upper mold is excessively pressed beyond the stroke limit position. As a result, there is a problem that the optical element cannot be molded in a desired shape.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to quickly heat the second barrel mold in advance and to reliably mold the optical element. It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved optical element molding apparatus and a heating method using the apparatus.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, according to one aspect of the present invention, a pair of upper and lower molds that form an optical element, and a pair of upper and lower molds in a horizontal direction are formed with a cavity including an optical function transfer surface. A preform having a predetermined height and a first body mold that defines a pushing depth of the upper mold or the lower mold, and a preform disposed between the upper and lower molds. An optical element molding die that molds an optical element by heating and pressing, and an upper and lower mold unit that is composed of a plurality of upper and lower pairs that are driven to open and close, and that heats or presses the optical element molding die from above and below. Among the upper and lower mold units, at least one upper mold unit includes a heating unit that heats the optical element molding die and the second barrel mold, and a second barrel mold abutting portion that abuts against one surface of the second barrel mold. And higher than the second body mold contact surface, and faces one surface of the upper mold Optical element forming apparatus is provided, characterized in that it comprises a facing portion that is provided on earthenware pots.

  With this configuration, the heating unit heats the optical element molding die and the second barrel mold, and the second barrel mold abutting portion is in contact with the abutting surface of the second barrel mold. The mold can be heated efficiently and quickly.

  When the second body mold contact portion contacts one surface of the second body mold, the facing portion may contact one surface of the upper mold. With this configuration, not only the second body mold but also the facing portion can be heated quickly.

  When the second body mold abutting portion abuts on one surface of the second body mold, the facing portion may be separated from the one surface of the upper mold. With this configuration, the pressure of the upper mold unit is not applied to the upper mold.

  The second body mold contact portion and the facing portion may be integrally formed. Further, the second body-type contact portion and the facing portion may be formed separately.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, a pair of upper and lower molds that form an optical element and a pair of upper and lower molds horizontally formed with a cavity including an optical function transfer surface are provided. A first body mold that defines a position in the direction, and a second body mold having a predetermined height that defines an indentation depth of the upper mold or the lower mold, and is disposed between the upper and lower molds. An optical element comprising: an optical element molding die that heats and presses a preform to mold an optical element; and an upper and lower mold unit that is composed of a plurality of upper and lower pairs that are opened and closed and that heats or presses the optical element molding die from above and below. A heating method using a molding apparatus, wherein at least one upper mold unit of a plurality of pairs of upper and lower mold units is in contact with one surface of a second body mold, and the upper mold unit faces the second body mold on one surface side. Using an optical element molding device characterized by heating from Heating method is provided.

  With this configuration, the upper die unit comes into contact with the second barrel die and heats the second barrel die, so that the second barrel die can be efficiently and quickly heated.

  According to the present invention, the second body mold can be quickly heated in advance, and the optical element can be reliably molded.

  Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, in this specification and drawing, about the component which has the substantially same function structure, duplication description is abbreviate | omitted by attaching | subjecting the same code | symbol.

(Configuration of the first embodiment)
First, the continuous optical element molding apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a side view showing a continuous optical element molding apparatus according to this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a side view showing a heating upper and lower unit of the continuous optical element molding apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  The continuous optical element molding apparatus 100 includes a plurality of upper and lower mold units, for example, a heating upper and lower mold unit 110, a first press upper and lower mold unit 120, a second press upper and lower mold unit 130, and a slow cooling upper and lower mold. A unit 140 and a rapid cooling upper and lower unit 150 are provided. The upper and lower mold unit is composed of upper and lower pairs that are driven to open and close, and heats or presses the molding die 160 from above and below. The continuous optical element molding apparatus 100 moves the molding die 160 inside the chamber 102, and the molding die 160 sequentially heats, presses, and cools the preform 170 (for example, optical glass material, plastic, etc.). The optical element 172 (for example, a lens, a prism, etc.) is molded.

  The continuous optical element molding apparatus 100 includes a chamber 102 that can be opened and closed, and includes an input unit 104 that inputs a molding die 160 into the chamber 102 and a take-out unit 106 that extracts the molding die 160 from the chamber 102. The molding die 160 is introduced into the chamber 102 by, for example, the pressing portion 105 attached to the insertion portion 104 side. For example, the molding die 160 is disposed on a base plate (not shown), and when the pressing die 105 is pressed, all the molding die 160 inside the chamber 102 moves.

  The heating upper / lower mold unit 110, the first press upper / lower mold unit 120, the second press upper / lower mold unit 130, the slow cooling upper / lower mold unit 140, and the rapid cooling upper / lower mold unit 150 are disposed in the chamber 102. Adjacent to each other. The heating upper / lower mold unit 110 is used in the temperature raising process of the molding mold 160, and the first press upper / lower mold unit 120 and the second press upper / lower mold unit 130 are used in the pressing process. The unit 140 and the rapid cooling upper / lower unit 150 are used in the cooling process.

  The heating upper / lower mold unit 110 includes an upper mold unit 112 and a lower mold unit 114. Since the upper mold unit 112 and the lower mold unit 114 have a heating unit 118, the molding mold 160 can be heated. it can.

  The first press upper / lower mold unit 120 and the second press upper / lower mold unit 130 each include an upper mold unit 122 and a lower mold unit 114, and the upper mold unit 122 and the lower mold unit 114 are heated upper / lower molds, respectively. Similar to the unit 110, the heating unit 118 is included. Further, the upper mold unit 122 includes a cylinder 116 that can press and press the molding mold 160. Therefore, the first press upper / lower die unit 120 and the second press upper / lower die unit 130 can press the molding die 160 while heating.

  The slow cooling upper / lower mold unit 140 includes an upper mold unit 122 and a lower mold unit 114, and the upper mold unit 122 and the lower mold unit 114 have a heating unit 118, similar to the upper / lower mold unit 110 for heating. ing. Further, the upper mold unit 122 includes a cylinder 116 that can press and press the molding mold 160. Therefore, the slow cooling upper / lower mold unit 140 can press the molding die 160 while controlling the temperature, and can gradually cool the molding die 160.

  The rapid cooling upper / lower mold unit 150 includes an upper mold unit 152 and a lower mold unit 154. The upper mold unit 152 and the lower mold unit 154 are not provided with a heating unit, and the rapid cooling upper and lower mold unit 150 cools while pressing the molding mold 160 lightly.

  Next, the molding die 160 will be described with reference to FIG. The molding die 160 includes a pair of an upper die 162 and a lower die 164, a body die 166, and a pass spacer 168. Here, the trunk mold 166 is an example of a first trunk mold, and the pass spacer 168 is an example of a second trunk mold.

  The upper mold 162 and the lower mold 164 have, for example, a cylindrical body part, a cavity including an optical function transfer surface is formed on one end side, and the diameter of the body part is formed on the other end side. A large flange surface is formed. The optical function transfer surface is a molding surface on which the optical element 172 is molded. The upper mold 162 and the lower mold 164 are arranged so that the optical function transfer surfaces of the upper mold 162 and the lower mold 164 face each other. The flange surfaces of the upper mold 162 and the lower mold 164 are arranged in contact with the upper mold units 112, 122, 152 and the lower mold unit 114, respectively.

  The trunk mold 166 has, for example, a hollow cylindrical shape, and the inner surface of the trunk mold 166 is slidably in contact with the outer surface of the upper mold 162, and the trunk mold 166 guides the vertical movement of the upper mold 162. be able to. The body mold 166 defines the horizontal position of the upper mold 162 and the lower mold 164. Further, the inner surface of the trunk mold 166 is in contact with the outer surface of the lower mold 164, and the trunk mold 166 is fitted to the lower mold 164.

  The path spacer 168 is, for example, a hollow cylindrical member for determining the size of the optical element 172 after molding. The pass spacer 168 defines the pushing depth when the upper die 162 pushes the upper die 162 of the molding die 160 downward. Therefore, the pass spacer 168 has a predetermined height, and the upper mold unit 122 pushes the upper mold 162 more than necessary by the upper mold unit 122 coming into contact with the upper surface of the pass spacer 168. To prevent.

  Next, the heating upper and lower unit 110 will be described with reference to FIG. The heating upper / lower mold unit 110 includes the upper mold unit 112 and the lower mold unit 114 as described above.

  The upper die unit 112 is disposed higher than the heating die 118 that heats the molding die 160 and the pass spacer 168, the spacer abutment surface 113 that abuts one surface of the pass spacer 168, and the spacer abutment surface 113. 162 has a facing surface 111 provided to face one surface side of 162. The spacer contact surface 113 is an example of a second body-type contact portion, and the facing surface 111 is an example of a facing portion.

  The heating unit 118 can heat the upper mold unit 112 and heat the path spacer 168 that contacts the spacer contact surface 113 and the upper mold 162 that faces the facing surface 111. The spacer contact surface 113 and the facing surface 111 are formed on the molding die 160 side in the upper die unit 112. From the relationship between the spacer contact surface 113 and the opposing surface 111, the cross section of the upper mold unit 112 has a U-shape as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, when the spacer contact surface 113 is in contact with the pass spacer 168, the facing surface 111 and the upper mold 162 may be separated from each other. On the other hand, although not shown, the spacer abutting surface 113 may be in contact with the pass spacer 168 and the opposing surface 111 and the upper mold 162 may be in contact with each other.

  When the facing surface 111 and the upper mold 162 are separated from each other, the pressure from the cylinder 116 is not directly applied to the upper mold 162, so that the preform 170 installed inside is damaged or broken. Does not occur.

  As described above, when the spacer contact surface 113 of the upper mold unit 112 having the heating unit 118 is in contact with the pass spacer 168 in the heating step, the pass spacer 168 is only on the lower surface side in contact with the lower mold unit 114. In addition, it is reliably heated from the upper surface side.

  The lower mold unit 114 has a stage on which the molding die 160 can be stably installed. The lower mold unit 114 includes a heating unit 118 as in the contact portion 115 of the upper mold unit 112. Provided.

(Operation of the first embodiment)
First, the assembled molding die 160 is introduced into the chamber 102 from the input unit 104, and at the same time as the molding die 160 is heated by the heating upper and lower mold units 110, as shown in FIG. The pass spacer 168 is heated (heating step). At this time, since the pass spacer 168 is heated from the upper surface and the lower surface of the pass spacer 168, the thermal expansion of the pass spacer 168 can also be rapidly increased.

  Next, the mold 160 is moved to the first press upper / lower mold unit 120, and the mold 160 is heated while the mold 160 is heated (first press step). Then, the molding die 160 is moved to the second press upper / lower mold unit 130, and the pressing is continued while the molding die 160 is heated (second press step). Unlike the lower surface of the heating upper / lower mold unit 110, the lower surface of the upper mold unit 122 for the first press and the upper mold unit 122 for the second press upper / lower mold unit 130 is smooth. Therefore, the pass spacer 168 and the upper mold unit 122 are separated from each other but are close to each other.

  Then, the molding die 160 is moved to the slow cooling upper / lower mold unit 140, and the molding die 160 is gradually cooled while controlling the temperature of the heating unit 118 of the slow cooling upper / lower mold unit 140 (slow cooling step). . At this time, the pass spacer 168 starts to contract together with the cooling, and can press the upper mold 163 in accordance with the contraction.

  Further, the molding die 160 is moved to the rapid cooling upper / lower mold unit 150 to cool the molding die 160 (rapid cooling step). At this time, the upper die unit 152 merely presses the molding die 160 lightly, and when the path spacer 168 contracts, the spacer contact surface 113 and the upper surface of the pass spacer 168 are separated from each other.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a continuous optical element molding apparatus 200 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a side view showing the heating upper and lower mold units of the continuous optical element molding apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in the upper and lower mold units 210 for heating, and in particular, the upper mold unit 212 is different. Therefore, the upper mold unit 212 will be described below.

  The upper die unit 212 is disposed higher than the heating die 218 that heats the molding die 160 and the pass spacer 168, the spacer abutment portion 213 that abuts one surface of the pass spacer 168, and the spacer abutment portion 213. 162 has a facing portion 211 provided to face one surface side of 162.

  In the present embodiment, unlike the first embodiment, the spacer contact portion 213 and the facing portion 211 are separate. The spacer contact portion 213 and the facing portion 211 are each connected to another cylinder 216 and can be individually operated.

  As described above, since the spacer contact portion 213 and the facing portion 211 are configured separately, the spacer contact portion 213 can be formed even if the height relationship between the upper surface of the upper mold 162 and the upper surface of the pass spacer 168 changes. The pass spacer 168 can be brought into contact, and the pass spacer 168 can be reliably heated.

  In the upper mold unit 212 of the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the heating unit 218 extends in the vertical direction. On the other hand, in the upper mold unit 112 of the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the heating unit 118 extends in the horizontal direction. Regardless of the first embodiment or the second embodiment, any one of these heating units 118 and 218 may be applied. When the spacer contact portion 213 and the facing portion 211 are formed separately, the heating portion 218 can be efficiently arranged by extending the heating portion 218 in the vertical direction.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described referring an accompanying drawing, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not limited to this example. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and these are naturally within the technical scope of the present invention. Understood.

  Further, for example, in the above embodiment, the case where the lower mold of the optical element molding die is fixed and the upper mold moves up and down has been described. However, the upper mold is fixed and the lower mold moves up and down. May be.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the optical element molding die is molded one by one is described. However, the optical element molding die may mold a plurality of optical elements at a time. It may be a type that can be made.

1 is a side view showing a continuous optical element molding apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a side view which shows the up-and-down type unit for a heating of the continuous optical element shaping | molding apparatus which concerns on the same embodiment. It is a graph which shows the time change of the thermal expansion of the pass spacer which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention, and a pass spacer. It is a side view which shows the up-and-down type unit for a heating of the continuous optical element shaping | molding apparatus which concerns on embodiment which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

100, 200 Continuous optical element molding apparatus 102 Chamber 104 Input part 105 Press part 106 Extraction part 110, 210, 310 Upper and lower mold units 111 Opposing surfaces 112, 122, 152, 212 Upper mold unit 113 Spacer contact surface 114, 154 Lower mold unit 116, 216 Cylinder 118, 218 Heating unit 120 First press upper / lower mold unit 130 Second press upper / lower mold unit 140 Gradual cooling upper / lower mold unit 150 Rapid cooling upper / lower mold unit 160 Molding mold 162 Upper mold 164 Lower mold 166 Body mold 168 Pass spacer 170 Preform 172 Optical element 211 Opposing part 213 Spacer contact part

Claims (6)

A pair of upper and lower molds that form an optical element, a first body mold that defines a horizontal position of the pair of upper and lower molds, and the upper mold or the lower mold, each having a cavity including an optical function transfer surface; An optical element for forming an optical element by heating and pressing a preform disposed between the upper and lower molds, and a second body mold having a predetermined height that defines a pressing depth of the mold Type,
An upper and lower mold unit that is configured by a plurality of upper and lower pairs that are driven to open and close, and that heats or presses the optical element molding die from above and below;
With
At least one upper mold unit among the plurality of upper and lower pairs of upper and lower mold units is:
A heating section for heating the optical element molding die and the second body die;
A second drum mold abutting portion that abuts against one surface of the second drum mold;
A facing portion that is disposed higher than the second body mold contact surface and is provided to face one surface of the upper mold;
An optical element molding apparatus comprising:   2. The optical element according to claim 1, wherein when the second body mold abutting portion abuts on one surface of the second body mold, the facing portion abuts on the one surface of the upper mold. Molding equipment.   The said opposing part is spaced apart from the said one surface of the said upper mold | type when the said 2nd trunk | drum type | mold contact part contact | abuts with one surface of the said 2nd body mold | die, The said 1st surface is characterized by the above-mentioned. Optical element molding device.   The optical element molding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second body mold contact portion and the facing portion are integrally formed.   The optical element molding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second body mold contact portion and the facing portion are formed separately. A pair of upper and lower molds that form an optical element, a first body mold that defines a horizontal position of the pair of upper and lower molds, and the upper mold or the lower mold, each having a cavity including an optical function transfer surface; An optical element for forming an optical element by heating and pressing a preform disposed between the upper and lower molds, and a second body mold having a predetermined height that defines a pressing depth of the mold Type,
An upper and lower mold unit that is configured by a plurality of upper and lower pairs that are driven to open and close, and that heats or presses the optical element molding die from above and below;
A heating method using an optical element molding apparatus comprising:
At least one upper mold unit of the plurality of upper and lower pairs of upper and lower mold units is in contact with one surface of the second body mold;
The heating method using an optical element molding apparatus, wherein the upper mold unit heats the second body mold from the one surface side.

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