JP2009143767A - Molding method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce an installment area by reducing the handling distance of a robot arm. <P>SOLUTION: A tray accumulation part 15, an intermediate stand 16 and a molding part 17 are arranged on a straight line. The tray accumulation part 15 is provided with a plurality of shelves 19 arranged in a vertical direction. A tray 21 for a stock stored with a molding stock 20, and a tray for a molded article storing a molded article, are individually set onto each shelf 19. The molding stock is transferred to the intermediate stand 16 from the tray 21 for a stock, and is applied with residual heat, and then transferred to the molding part 17. The molded article is recovered from the molding part 17 to the tray for molding via the intermediate stand 16. In this way, most handling passages are directed along one straight line and in a vertical direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention handles molding material from the material tray and supplies it to the mold, molding the molding material with the molding die to make a molded product, and handling the molded product to collect and collect it in the molded product tray It relates to a method and a device.

  In recent years, some glass lenses are made by a glass mold in which a glass lump called a preform is placed in a mold as a molding material and is pressed and pressed by a mold in a heat-softened state. In the production of glass molds, the process is simplified compared to conventional grinding and polishing methods, and even in the case of aspherical lenses, etc., if the mold is made in a desired shape, a lens with the desired shape can be made. There is a merit that you can.

  As the material for the glass mold, preforms made of glass materials having various optical characteristics in various shapes and sizes are supplied. A precision glass mold technique has been developed in which this preform is transferred to a mold, heated and softened, and then pressed to produce a glass lens that does not require polishing. This technique first requires preform molding. As the preform, a precision gob or a polished lens preform (hereinafter referred to as “molding material”) is used.

  The precision bumps have a surface close to a mirror surface and a size close to that of the target lens, and particularly those having a substantially spherical shape are often used. For almost spherical preform molding, a method of making molten glass by dropping it into a liquid, or a method of making nitrogen gas blown out from the bottom of a funnel and dropping it into the liquid to cool and solidify it while floating in the air. It has been known. The polishing lens preform is made into a substantially spherical shape by conventional thermoforming, grinding and polishing. Using a molding material obtained by such preform molding, a molded product is obtained by heating and pressing with a molding apparatus.

  The mold is composed of a lower mold, an upper mold, and a barrel mold. By setting a molding material on the lower mold, fitting the barrel mold on the lower mold, and further inserting the upper mold into the barrel mold The mold is assembled and the entire mold is heated to heat the molding material to the molding temperature, and a predetermined pressure is applied between the upper mold and the lower mold to perform press molding. After the press molding, after the mold is gradually cooled, the upper mold and the barrel mold are separated, and the press-molded molded article is taken out from the lower mold.

In order to mass-produce lens molding, it is necessary to automate the entire press molding system. Therefore, there is known a molding apparatus that automatically repeats a continuous operation until a molding material is carried into a molding die, press-molded, and then a finished molded product is unloaded from the molding die (Patent Document 1, Patent). Reference 2).
JP 2004-99344 A Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-81949

  The apparatuses described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are provided with a robot that transfers molding materials one by one to a mold for automation. By the way, for mass production, it is necessary to supply a molding material quickly. For this reason, conventionally, a plurality of molding materials are stored in a tray, and a plurality of trays are arranged side by side in a supply position. However, if a plurality of trays are arranged in a plane at the supply position, the handling distance of the robot becomes long. For this reason, the area of the apparatus itself is increased, and there is a disadvantage that a large installation floor area is required. Moreover, considering that the tray for collecting the molded product is set at the same position, the area is considerably wide.

  The molding apparatus is provided in a clean environment because it is necessary to keep the molding environment clean. For this reason, when the handling distance becomes long, the suspended fine particles in the air are easily diffused, and the air cleanliness may be lowered. Moreover, when a large molding space is required, the cost for a clean environment is also increased.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a molding method and apparatus capable of saving space by shortening the handling distance as much as possible.

  In the present invention, the tray stacking unit for setting the material tray and the molded product tray and the molding unit for molding the molding material to form the molded product are arranged adjacent to each other, and the holding unit transfers the molding material to the molding material. A dustproof cover provided with an opening for the holding portion to enter from the same direction as the supply direction to the supply port, and a vertical direction in the dustproof cover at an interval allowing the holding portion provided on the robot arm to enter through the opening. And a shelf for individually positioning and setting the material tray and the molded product tray is provided in the tray stacking unit.

  By the way, after the molded product is directly transferred from the molding part to the molding product tray, the molding material is directly transferred from the material tray to the molding part. Increases the molding efficiency. Therefore, an intermediate mounting table is arranged on a trajectory along which the holding unit moves from the tray stacking unit toward the supply port of the molding unit, a pair of recesses is provided in the intermediate mounting table, and a molding material transferred from the tray stacking unit is formed. If the molded product held in one of the concave portions and the molded product held in the molding portion is transferred to the other concave portion, the intermediate mounting table and the molded portion with respect to the distance between the tray stacking portion and the molded portion Since the distance between the two is shorter, the molded product can be taken out and the molding material can be supplied quickly. Thereby, molding efficiency can be improved. In addition, the operation of transferring the molding material and the molded product between the intermediate mounting table and the tray stacking unit can be performed in parallel with the molding operation, which is preferable. Note that the molded product tray and the material tray may be combined. In this case, the molded product may be stored in an empty storage space after the molding material is taken out.

  Further, in the molding method of the present invention, the molding material is held from the tray by the holding unit provided on the robot arm, and the molded material is transferred from the tray stacking unit before being transferred to the molding die of the molding unit. A first step of transferring to one of the pair of recesses provided on the intermediate mounting base arranged on the trajectory of the holding unit moving toward the supply port of the unit; holding the molded product molded by the mold A second step of transferring the held molded product to the other concave portion provided in the intermediate mounting table before transferring the molded product to the tray; and holding the molding material by the holding portion in one concave portion A third step of transferring the held molding material to the molding die through the supply port; a fourth step of molding the molding material with the molding die to produce a molded product; and The holding part supplies the molding material to the supply port. And a fifth step of transferring to a tray set in a vertical direction at an interval allowing entry of the holding portion into an opening provided in a direction in which the holding portion enters from the same direction as the direction in which the holding portion enters. It is a thing.

  According to this, the 4th process which is a forming process, and the 1st process and the 5th process which transfer a forming material and a molded article between an intermediate stand and a tray accumulation part can be performed in parallel. .

  According to the present invention, the tray stacking unit and the molding unit are arranged adjacent to each other, and the tray stacking unit is provided with a plurality of trays arranged along the vertical direction. Since the movement path of the robot arm is short, the space of the apparatus can be saved.

  A plurality of lens molding apparatuses adopting the present invention are arranged in line in an industrial clean room. As shown in FIG. 1, each lens molding apparatus 10 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and a molding chamber 11 is provided above. A transparent window is provided around the molding chamber 11. The molding chamber 11 is also a space in a clean environment where contamination control is performed. A door 13 is provided in the window portion 12. The door 13 is opened, and the tray containing the molding material is carried into the molding chamber 11 and the tray containing the molded product is carried out.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, a tray stacking unit 15, an intermediate mounting table 16, a molding unit 17, and a robot 18 are arranged in the molding chamber 11. Among these, the tray stacking unit 15, the intermediate mounting table 16, and the forming unit 17 are arranged on a straight line (on a line parallel to the Y direction shown in the figure) at intervals.

  The tray accumulating unit 15 includes a dustproof cover 14 and a shelf 19. The dust-proof cover 14 is provided with an opening 14a through which the arm 40 enters from the same direction (arrow A direction) as the direction in which the arm 40 supplies the molding material to the supply port 35 of the molding unit 17. A plurality of shelves 19 are provided in the dust cover 14 so as to be arranged in the vertical direction with an interval allowing the robot arm to enter. On these shelves 19, a material tray 21 for storing a plurality of molding materials 20 and a molded product tray 22 are individually set.

  A molded product 23 is stored in the molded product tray 22. Information on which of the plurality of shelves 19 to set the molded product tray 22 or the material tray 21 is input to the control unit 24 in advance. For example, in the case of a total of four shelves, the upper two stages are determined as the shelves 19 on which the molded product trays 22 are set, and the lower two stages are determined as the shelves 19 on which the material trays 21 are set. Each shelf 19 is provided with a positioning member 25 for positioning the trays 21 and 22.

  The material tray 21 is provided with recesses for storing the molding material 20 in a positioned state, for example in a matrix. The molded product tray 22 is also provided with recesses for storing the molded product 23 in a positioned state, for example in a matrix. The molding material 20 is, for example, a precision gob or a polishing lens preform, and is handled in a form stored in the tray 21 in order to remove inferior products or perform cleaning such as cleaning to remove dust and dirt. Yes. The molded product 23 is, for example, a single-sided convex single-sided glass lens with an edge.

  The intermediate mounting table 16 is provided with two concave portions 26 and 27 arranged on the straight line. One recess 26 is disposed forward in the Y direction with respect to the other recess 27. The molding material 20 to be handled from the material tray 21 is temporarily placed in the recess 26. In the other concave portion 27, the lens molded product 23 taken out from the molding portion 17 is temporarily placed. One of the recesses 26 includes a preheating mechanism 28, and the preheating mechanism 28 preheats the molding material 20 through the one recess 26 before press molding. The pair of recesses 26 and 27 may be arranged in reverse.

  The molding part 17 is covered with a box 29 in order to perform in an inert gas atmosphere such as nitrogen gas. Inside the box 29, a forming die 30 and a forming mechanism 31 are provided. The molding die 30 includes upper and lower dies 32 and 33 and a barrel die 34, and the barrel die 34 and the upper die 32 are moved between a press position and an open position with respect to the lower die 33 by the operation of the molding mechanism 31. Move with. The molding material 20 is transferred to the molding surface center of the lower mold 33. The molding mechanism 31 performs heating, press molding, and slow cooling using the molding die 30.

  A supply port 35 for carrying in the molding material 20 and carrying out the lens molded product 23 is formed in the box 29. The supply port 35 is closed by a shutter 36 in order to maintain an inert gas atmosphere. The shutter 36 opens and closes the supply port 35 by driving the drive mechanism 37. The driving mechanism 37, the forming mechanism 31, and the driving of the robot 18 are controlled in synchronization by the control unit 24.

  The robot 18 is, for example, a rectangular coordinate robot, and a suction pad (holding unit) 41 is provided at the tip of the arm 40 in a posture with the suction surface facing downward. The suction pad 41 can suck either the molding material 20 or the lens molded product 23. The arm 40 has a bar shape protruding rearward in the Y direction, and the operation of the robot 18 can access the suction pad 41 to an area including the tray stacking unit 15, the intermediate mounting table 16, and the molding unit 17. Instead of the suction pad 41, a holding unit such as a three-claw chuck type may be used.

  The work performed by the lens molding apparatus 10 is roughly divided into a first work to a ninth work as shown in FIG. The first operation is to access the arm 40 to the tray stacking unit 15, suck one molding material 20 from the material tray 21 with the suction pad 41, and access the arm 40 to the intermediate mounting table 16 while sucking. This is an operation of transferring the molding material 20 to the recess 26 of the above. The movement of the arm 40 in the attracted state at this time is a movement path from the reference C to a reference D through the two-dot chain line shown in FIG. 4, that is, a path along the Z direction and the Y direction. Note that the arm 40 is moved in the Z direction when sucking and releasing the suction. In addition, since a large number of molding materials 20 are stored in the material tray 21, when the molding material 20 stored in a position shifted in the X direction from the straight line is adsorbed, the width direction of the tray 21 ( The arm 40 is moved in the X direction within a length along the X direction.

  In the second operation, the shutter 36 is opened. In the third operation, the arm 40 is accessed to the intermediate mounting table 16, the molding material 20 placed in one of the recesses 26 is adsorbed by the suction pad 41, and the arm 40 is accessed to the molding unit 17 while being adsorbed to form the molding material. 20 is an operation of transferring 20 to the center of the molding surface of the lower mold 33. The movement of the arm 40 in the attracted state at this time is a path from the code D to the code F through the two-dot chain line shown in FIG. Note that when the shutter 36 is opened, the mold 30 is in a state where the mold is opened.

  The fourth operation is an operation for closing the shutter 36 after the arm 40 is retracted. The fifth operation is a press molding operation. The press molding operation includes three operations of heating, press molding, and cooling. The cooling operation includes a mold opening operation after reaching a predetermined mold opening temperature.

  The sixth operation is an operation for opening the shutter 36 after the press molding is completed, and is the same as the second operation described above. In the seventh operation, the arm 40 is accessed to the molding portion 17, the lens molded product 23 placed on the lower mold 33 is sucked by the suction pad 41, and the arm 40 is accessed to the intermediate mounting table 16 while being sucked. This is an operation of transferring the molded product 23 to the other concave portion 27. The movement of the arm 40 in the adsorbed state at this time becomes a movement path from the symbol F shown in FIG. 4 to the symbol E through the two-dot chain line, that is, a route along only the Y direction.

  In the eighth operation, the arm 40 is accessed to the intermediate mounting table 16, the lens molded product 23 in the other concave portion 27 is sucked by the suction pad 41, and the tray stacking unit 15 is accessed while being sucked so that the molded product tray is 22 is an operation of transferring the lens molded product 23 to the lens 22. At this time, the movement of the arm 40 in the attracted state is a movement path from the symbol E to the symbol C through the two-dot chain line shown in FIG. At this time, when the lens molded product 23 is transferred to a position shifted in the X direction from the straight line of the molded product tray 22, the length of the tray 22 in the width direction (X direction) is within the length. The arm 40 is moved in the X direction.

  In this manner, the tray stacking unit 15, the intermediate mounting table 16, and the molding unit 17 are arranged in a straight line, and the trays 21 and 22 for material supply and molded product collection are stacked in the vertical direction (Z direction). Since the tray stacking unit 15 is configured in the above-described form, the arm 40 does not have to be moved a long distance in the X direction. Therefore, the area of the molding chamber 11 can be reduced. The center of the mold 30 and the center of the supply port 35 are arranged on the straight line. Therefore, it is desirable to arrange the pair of recesses 26 and 27 on the straight line.

  By the way, if the operations described with reference to FIG. 4 are performed in order, there are many preparatory operations other than the press forming operation (operations from the fourth operation to the sixth operation), so that the forming is awaited and the efficiency is poor. Therefore, an intermediate mounting table 16 is provided. Thereby, the lens molded product 23 can be taken out and the molding material 20 can be quickly supplied to the molding unit 17. Moreover, since the intermediate mounting table 16 is provided, the first work and the eighth work can be performed in parallel during the press forming work as shown in FIG. Thereby, the waiting time for molding can be shortened.

  In the above embodiment, the intermediate mounting table 16 is provided, but may be omitted. Also in this case, as described above, the arm 40 in the sucked and held state moves along the Z direction and the Y direction, so that the same effect as in the above example can be obtained. The pair of recesses 26 and 27 may be arranged in the X direction. In this case, it is preferable to set the interval within the width of the trays 21 and 22.

  Moreover, in each said embodiment, although the tray stacking part 15 is arrange | positioned ahead of the Y direction (refer FIG. 2) with respect to the supply port 35 of the shaping | molding part 17, as shown in FIG. On the other hand, the tray stacking unit 15 may be arranged on the left or right side in the X direction. In this case, the opening 14 a may be provided in the direction in which the arm 40 enters from the same direction as the direction in which the arm 40 supplies the molding material 20 to the supply port 35. In the case where the intermediate mounting table 16 is provided, it is desirable that the intermediate mounting table 16 is disposed in front of the supply port 35, that is, on the trajectory along which the arm 40 moves from the tray stacking unit 15 toward the supply port 35.

  Furthermore, in each of the above embodiments, the molding material 20 and the molding product 23 are stored in separate trays 21 and 22, but the molding product tray 22 and the material tray 21 may be combined. In this case, what is necessary is just to accommodate the molded article 23 in the empty recessed part after taking out the shaping | molding raw material 20. FIG.

  In each of the above embodiments, the rectangular coordinate robot 18 is described. However, any known robot such as a cylindrical coordinate robot, a polar coordinate robot, and a joint robot can be used.

  Furthermore, in each said embodiment, although demonstrated as a shaping | molding apparatus which makes a glass molded product from a glass raw material, it is not restricted to this in this invention, For example, the shaping | molding apparatus which makes a resin molded product using a resin material may be sufficient, The molded product may be other than a lens.

It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of the lens shaping apparatus which employ | adopted this invention. It is a top view which shows a molding chamber. It is a perspective view which shows a molding chamber. It is a side view which shows a molding chamber, and has cut and shown the principal part. It is a flowchart figure which shows operation | movement of a lens shaping apparatus. It is a timing chart figure which shows operation | movement of a lens shaping | molding apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other example which has arrange | positioned the tray stacking part beside the shaping | molding part.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Lens shaping | molding apparatus 11 Molding chamber 14 Dust-proof cover 14a Opening 15 Tray stacking part 16 Intermediate stand 17 Molding part 18 Robot 33 Lower mold 35 Supply port 36 Shutter 40 Arm 41 Suction pad

Claims (5)

A tray stacking unit for stacking a material tray for storing a plurality of molding materials and a molding tray for storing a plurality of molded products;
A molding part that has a supply port to which the molding material is supplied and forms the molded product by molding the molding material supplied from the supply port;
It has a holding part which can be held to both the molding material and the molded product, and holds either one of the molding material and the molded product by the holding unit, and holds the one of the trays. In a molding apparatus provided with a robot that transfers between a stacking unit and the molding unit,
While arranging the tray accumulation part and the molding part adjacently,
The tray accumulating unit has a dust-proof cover provided with an opening for the holding unit to enter from the same direction as the holding unit supplies the molding material to the supply port, and the dust-proof cover at an interval at which the holding unit enters. A molding apparatus comprising: a plurality of vertical arrangements in a cover; and a shelf for individually positioning and setting the material tray and the molded product tray.   One concave portion for temporarily placing the molding material to be transferred from the tray stacking portion before being transferred to the molding portion, and the molded product held by the molding portion to the molded product tray An intermediate mounting table disposed on a trajectory along which the holding unit moves from the tray stacking unit toward the supply port of the molding unit. The molding apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:   The molding apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the molded product tray is also used as the material tray. After holding the molding material from a tray stacking unit in which a tray for storing a plurality of molding materials is set by a holding unit provided in a robot arm and transferring it to a molding die provided in the molding unit through a supply port of the molding unit, In the molding method in which the molding material is molded with the molding die to form a molded product, and then the molded product is held by the holding unit and transferred from the molding die to the tray through the supply port.
The molding material stored in the tray is held by the holding unit, and the holding unit moves from the tray stacking unit toward the supply port before the held molding material is transferred to the molding unit. A first step of transferring to one of the pair of recesses provided on the intermediate mounting table disposed on the trajectory,
The molded product molded by the molding die is held by the holding portion, and the held molded product is transferred to the other concave portion provided in the intermediate mounting table before being transferred to the tray through the supply port. A second step;
A third step of holding the molding material by the holding portion in the one concave portion and transferring the held molding material to the molding die through the supply port;
A fourth step of molding the molding material with the molding die to produce a molded product;
The molded product is held by the holding portion in the other recess, and the held molded product is provided in a direction in which the holding portion enters from the same direction as the direction in which the holding portion supplies the molding material to the supply port. A fifth step of transferring to the tray set in the vertical direction at an interval that allows the holding portion to enter the formed opening;
A molding method comprising:   The molding method according to claim 4, wherein the fourth step, the first step, and the fifth step are performed in parallel.

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