JP2009186107A - Sealing material curing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sealing material curing device for curing thermosetting sealing material capable of adequately curing by efficiently controlling hot air to be blown while measuring temperature of the sealing material, and heating the sealing material just enough. <P>SOLUTION: The sealing material curing device is provided with a hot air blowing means 1 including a blowing part 11 and a heater part 12 for blowing down the hot air to the sealing material 51, wherein air is blown by the blowing part 11 and is heated by the heater part 12 at predetermined temperature, a heat part control means 2 for controlling heat generation of the heater part 12, an output control means 3 for instructing a heat value to be generated by the heater part 12 to the heater part control means 2, and a temperature measuring means 4 for measuring the temperature of the sealing material 51 in a noncontact state with the sealing material 51 and supplying the measured temperature information to the output control means 3. The output control means 3 determines the heat value generated by the heater part 12 based on the temperature information supplied from the temperature measuring means 4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sealing material curing device that cures a thermosetting sealing material applied to an overlapping edge portion of a sheet metal workpiece.

In automobile manufacturing plants, for example, when manufacturing doors, the outer panel and inner panel are overlapped, and the pre-cure type sealant is applied to the overlapping edge part of the hemming part of the edge to prevent rust and cut. It is protected (see Patent Document 1).
Normally, this sealant is applied as a pre-treatment on the coating line and is thermoset in the electrodeposition process. However, it is difficult to apply the seal in a state where it is assembled to the body, such as the door hinge. In some cases, the sealing material is applied in advance in the door assembly process. In this case, in order to prevent damage to the sealing material due to external contact after application, it is essential to cure the sealing material.

Various methods such as hot air heating, infrared heating, and high-frequency heating are used for the curing treatment by heating the sealing material.
Among them, in the conventional hot air heating method, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the duct 61 of the hot air blower 60 is brought close to the thermosetting sealing material 51 applied to the edge of the door 50, and the blower 62. The air blown by is heated by the heater 63, and hot air passing through the duct 61 is blown onto the sealing material 51 to perform the curing process.
Here, the sealing material 51 is cured when it reaches a predetermined high temperature, but in order to properly cure without excessive or insufficient heating, the temperature reached by the sealing material 51 is measured, and the measured temperature is blown from the hot air blower 60. It is desirable to feed back to the hot air temperature.

However, since the sealing material 51 is in a liquid state, there is a problem that when the temperature measurement element is directly brought into contact for measurement, the appearance of the measurement part is deteriorated after curing.
Therefore, conventionally, the measurement element is avoided from contacting the sealing material 51, and the atmosphere in the semi-sealed duct 61 is measured, and hot air at a predetermined temperature is blown to the sealing material 51 for a predetermined time. It was only managed.

That is, in the conventional configuration example shown in FIG. 4, a thermocouple 64 is installed as a temperature sensor in the duct 61 that is close to the sealing material 51, and the detected temperature is supplied to the temperature control unit 65. Based on the supplied detected temperature, the temperature control unit 65 instructs the heater control unit 66 that controls the heat generation of the heater 63 to the heater heat generation amount.
JP 2004-337893 A

By the way, the air volume of the hot air blown from the air outlet of the duct 61 becomes smaller from the central part to the edge part of the air outlet, and the thermal energy output in proportion thereto becomes smaller.
For this reason, the site | part of the sealing material 51 to which the hot air blown from the edge part vicinity of the ventilation port is sprayed requires time until it reaches hardening conditions compared with another site | part.

However, in the configuration shown in FIG. 4, since the temperature of the sealing material 51 itself cannot be measured accurately, it is not possible to control the blowing of hot air in consideration of the variation in the curing time. There is a possibility that an uncured part may remain.
For this reason, conventionally, in order to surely cure the entire sealing material 51, the set temperature of the heater 63 is gradually changed and visually inspected after a predetermined time has passed, and the set temperature of the heater 63 is set while confirming whether or not it is completely cured. There was a need to decide.
In addition, since there is a concern that the temperature of hot air blown to the sealing material may decrease due to the ambient atmospheric conditions, the set temperature must be set higher considering the safety factor, and the hot air blowing time must be secured longer. I had to. As a result, excessive heat treatment is performed on the sealing material 51, leading to an increase in cost.

  The present invention has been made under the circumstances as described above, and in a sealing material curing device for curing a thermosetting sealing material, efficient control of hot air blown while measuring the temperature of the sealing material. An object of the present invention is to provide a sealing material curing device capable of heating the sealing material without excess and deficiency and curing it appropriately.

In order to solve the above-described problems, a sealing material curing apparatus according to the present invention is a sealing material curing apparatus that blows and cures hot air on a thermosetting sealing material applied to a hemming portion overlapping edge portion of a sheet metal workpiece. A hot air blowing means that has a blower section and a heater section, blows hot air that is blown by the blower section and is heated to a predetermined temperature by the heater section, and heat generation control of the heater section. Heater unit control means for performing heating, output control means for instructing the heater unit control means to generate heat to the heater unit, and measuring the temperature of the sealing material in a non-contact state with the sealing material. Temperature measuring means for supplying the temperature information to the output control means, and the output control means causes the heater unit to generate heat based on the temperature information supplied from the temperature measuring means. Characterized in that to determine the heating value.
In addition, it is preferable that the said temperature measurement means detects the infrared rays radiated | emitted from the said sealing material, and performs temperature measurement based on the amount of the detected infrared rays.

By measuring the temperature of the sealing material that is blown and hardened in this way in a non-contact manner by the temperature measuring means, the temperature of the sealing material itself can be measured, so it is necessary to make trial and error to set the heater temperature. In addition, the optimum temperature can be set.
In addition, since the temperature of the sealing material during the curing process can be known, the temperature of the hot air blown by the hot air blowing means and the blowing time can be set without excess and deficiency, and the entire sealing material is properly cured, Cost increase due to heat treatment can be suppressed.

  In addition, the temperature measuring means desirably empirically sets at least the two ends in the longitudinal direction of the region of the sealing material to which the hot air from the hot air blowing means is blown, and the output control means When the temperature measured at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the region of the sealing material to which the hot air from the hot air blowing unit is blown reaches a predetermined temperature, the heater unit control unit It is desirable to stop the heat generation operation.

  In this way, in the region of the sealing material to which the hot air is blown from the hot air blowing means, if the portions at both ends in the longitudinal direction are set as the measurement points, the heat energy supplied to the measurement points is smaller than the other portions. Since the amount of air is small and curing takes time, the entire sealing material can be reliably cured by controlling the output of hot air to be blown based on the measurement temperature at the measurement point.

  According to the present invention, in the sealing material curing device that cures the thermosetting sealing material, the hot air is efficiently controlled while measuring the temperature of the sealing material, and the sealing material is heated without excess or deficiency. It is possible to obtain a seal material curing device that can be cured appropriately.

Embodiments of a sealing material curing device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a sealing material curing device according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, this sealing material curing device 100 is, for example, a thermosetting sealing material 51 (for example, cured at 170 ° C.) applied to the edge of the door 50 (sheet metal work) (the overlapping edge portion of the outer panel and the inner panel). This is an apparatus that heats and cures a pre-curing sealer curing agent) with hot air.

  The sealing material curing device 100 includes a hot air blower 1 (1a, 1b) that blows hot air of a predetermined temperature and air volume, and a heater as heater unit control means that performs heat generation control of the heater unit 12 (12a, 12b) of the hot air blower 1 The control unit 2 (2a, 2b), the hot air output control unit 3 (3a, 3b) as output control means for controlling the heater control unit 2 so that the heater unit 12 generates heat at a desired temperature, and the sealing material 51 A temperature measuring unit 4 (4a, 4b, 4c, 4d) is provided as a temperature measuring unit that measures the temperature in a non-contact manner and supplies measured temperature information to the hot air output control unit 3.

1, a hot air blower 1 in which two units (1a, 1b) are provided in parallel includes a duct 10 (10a, 10b) serving as a hot air blowing path and a blower 11 (11a) serving as a blowing unit for sending air into the duct 10. , 11b) and a heater unit 12 (12a, 12b) that heats the air blown by the blower 11 and raises the temperature to a predetermined temperature.
The heater unit 12 is a heater that generates heat when, for example, a current flows through a conductor, and is electrically connected to the heater control unit 2 (2a, 2b). The magnitude of the current supplied by the heater control unit 2 is as follows. The amount of heat generated is made variable by the above. Therefore, the air blown by the blower 11 becomes hot air having a predetermined temperature due to heat generated by the heater unit 12.

  The temperature measuring unit 4 is preferably an infrared radiation thermometer. That is, the infrared ray radiated from the sealing material 51 is detected, and the temperature of the sealing material 51 itself is measured in a non-contact manner (without externally affecting the sealing material 51) based on the detected amount of infrared rays. Is supplied to the hot air output control unit 3.

Here, the measurement part of the temperature in the sealing material 51 is determined in consideration of the arrangement position of the air blowing ports of the ducts 10 a and 10 b close to the sealing material 51.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the ducts 10 a and 10 b are arranged so that hot air blown from the ducts 10 a and 10 b is blown over the entire sealing material 51. And when using the duct 10 diameter-expanded in the trumpet shape, the heat energy of the hot air output from the ventilation opening of the duct 10 becomes the area | region of the area E shown with a dashed-two dotted line. That is, since the air volume decreases in the vicinity of the edge of the air outlet of each of the ducts 10a and 10b, the heat energy (hot air temperature) becomes the lowest.

Therefore, in the region of the sealing material 51 to which hot air is blown from the ducts 10a and 10b, if the portions at both ends in the longitudinal direction are the measurement points P1, P2, P3, and P4, these measurement points are located at other portions. In comparison, since it takes time to reach the curing condition, the entire sealing material 51 can be reliably cured by controlling the output of the hot air to be blown based on the measurement temperature at the measurement point.
In the illustrated example, the hot air output from one hot air blower 1 (for example, 1a) is controlled based on the measured temperatures at points P1 and P2, and the other hot air blower 1 (for example, based on the measured temperatures at points P3 and P3). The hot air output from 1b) is controlled.

In the sealing material curing device 100 configured as described above, the curing work of the sealing material 51 is performed according to the flow shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, for example, a sealing material 51 (for example, a pre-cure sealer curing agent having a curing temperature of 170 ° C.) applied to the edge of the door 50 is brought close to the blower opening of the blower 10 of the hot air blower 1, The whole 51 is started to blow with an initial setting output (for example, heater output 100%) (step S1 in FIG. 3).

When the blowing of hot air to the sealing material 51 is started, the temperature measuring unit 4 detects the infrared rays radiated from the sealing material 51 so that the temperature of the sealing material 51 is continuously or every predetermined short period. taking measurement. And the information of the measured temperature is immediately supplied to the hot air output control part 3 (step S2 of FIG. 3).
In the example shown in FIG. 1, the temperature measurement units 4a and 4b measure the measurement points P1 and P2 of the sealing material 51 heated by the hot air from the hot air blower 1a, and supply the measurement results to the hot air output control unit 3a. To do. Moreover, the temperature measurement parts 4c and 4d measure the measurement points P3 and P4 of the sealing material 51 heated by the hot air from the hot air blower 1b, and supply the measurement results to the hot air output control part 3b.

  The hot air output control unit 3 sets the temperature of the hot air to be blown from the hot air blower 1 based on the supplied measured temperature value (step S3 in FIG. 3), and sets the current corresponding to the set temperature to the heater unit 12. To the heater controller 2 (command the amount of heat generated by the heater unit 12 / step S4 in FIG. 3). Specifically, in this example, since the curing temperature (target temperature) of the sealing material 51 is 170 ° C., the heater output can be efficiently performed without supplying an excessive amount of heat so that the temperature of the sealing material 51 becomes 170 ° C. Control is performed by the hot air output control unit 3 so as to adjust the air flow.

In the heater control unit 2, a current based on the control signal from the hot air output control unit 3 is supplied to the heater unit 12 (step S <b> 5 in FIG. 3), whereby hot air at a controlled temperature is supplied from the hot air blower 1 to the sealing material 51. (Step S6 in FIG. 3).
In the hot air output control unit 3, when the measurement results supplied from the corresponding two temperature measurement units 4 (4a, 4b or 4c, 4d) both reach a predetermined temperature (170 ° C.) (step S7 in FIG. 3), the setting is made. The heater control unit 2 is instructed to stop the heat generation operation of the heater unit 12 after a predetermined holding time has elapsed while maintaining the temperature (step S8 in FIG. 3).
And the heater control part 2 stops the electric current supply to the heater part 12, and the hot air ventilation from the hot air blower 1 is complete | finished (step S9 of FIG. 3).

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the temperature of the sealing material 51 that is cured by blowing hot air is measured by using the non-contact temperature measuring element (temperature measuring unit 4), thereby measuring the temperature. Since the load on the element is reduced and the element life is not shortened, an increase in cost related to the measurement element can be suppressed.
Moreover, since the temperature of the several site | part of the sealing material 51 during a hardening process can be known, it sets the temperature and ventilation time of the hot air blown with the hot air blower 1 without excess and shortage, considering the dispersion | variation in hardening time. Thus, the entire sealing material 51 can be appropriately cured, and an increase in cost can be suppressed.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the sealing material 51 is cured by blowing hot air from the two hot air blowers 1a and 1b has been described, but the present invention can be applied regardless of the number of the sealing materials 51.
Moreover, although the site | part of the both ends of the longitudinal direction was made into the temperature measurement points P1 and P2 (P3, P4) among the area | regions of the sealing material 51 to which hot air is sprayed, in this invention, in addition to that, many more A temperature measurement point may be added. That is, the accuracy of hot air heating can be improved by measuring the temperature of a large number of parts.
In addition, the temperature measuring means detects infrared rays radiated from the sealing material 51, and performs temperature measurement based on the detected amount of infrared rays. For example, other methods may be used.

  The present invention relates to a seal material curing device that cures a thermosetting seal material applied to, for example, an overlapping portion of sheet metal workpieces, and can be suitably used in, for example, the manufacturing industry of automobile parts.

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a sealing material curing device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a distribution of thermal energy output from a blower port of a hot air blower included in the sealing material curing device of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a flow showing a flow of control of hot air temperature by the sealing material curing device of FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a conventional sealing material curing device.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Hot air blower 2 Heater control part (heater part control means)
3 Hot air output control unit (output control means)
4 Temperature measurement unit (temperature measurement means)
10 Duct 11 Blower (Blower part)
12 Heater 50 Door (Sheet metal work)
51 Sealing material 100 Sealing material curing device

Claims (4)

A sealing material curing device that blows and cures hot air on a thermosetting sealing material applied to a hemming portion overlapping edge portion of a sheet metal work,
A hot air blowing means that has a blower section and a heater section, blows hot air that is blown by the blower section and is heated to a predetermined temperature by the heater section, and a heater that controls heat generation of the heater section Part control means, output control means for commanding the amount of heat generated in the heater part to the heater part control means, temperature of the sealing material measured without contact with the sealing material, and measured temperature information Temperature measuring means for supplying to the output control means,
The said output control means determines the emitted-heat amount which the said heater part heat-generates based on the temperature information supplied from the said temperature measurement means, The sealing material hardening apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.   2. The sealing material curing device according to claim 1, wherein the temperature measuring means detects infrared rays emitted from the sealing material, and performs temperature measurement based on the detected amount of infrared rays.   3. The temperature measuring unit according to claim 1, wherein, in the region of the sealing material to which the hot air from the hot air blowing unit is blown, both end portions in the longitudinal direction thereof are at least measurement sites. Sealing material curing device.   When the temperature measured at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the region of the sealing material to which the hot air from the hot air blowing unit is blown reaches a predetermined temperature, the output control unit causes the heater unit control unit to 4. The sealing material curing device according to claim 3, wherein the heating operation of the heater unit is stopped.

Images