JP2009216257A - Inert gas atmosphere furnace device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a drying processing device or a firing processing device capable of minimizing an opening for taking in and out a workpiece to prevent or minimize leakage of an inert gas. <P>SOLUTION: An insert gas atmosphere furnace device for processing a processed workpiece under an inert gas atmosphere, is composed of a furnace body and a big door 14, and includes a plurality of workpiece holding means, at least one workpiece transferring opening, a small door 34, a big door moving means 30, a small door opening and closing means, a workpiece transferring robot, a sealing means 20 and a clamp means, and a seal means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention generally relates to an inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus. More specifically, the present invention relates to an inert gas drying apparatus for drying an object to be processed in an inert gas atmosphere such as nitrogen gas or argon gas, or an inert gas baking apparatus for baking an object to be processed. More specifically, the present invention relates to a workpiece loading / unloading system configured to prevent inert gas from leaking from the apparatus when the workpiece to be processed in the apparatus is loaded / unloaded into the inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus. The present invention relates to an inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus having an opening for the purpose.

  In general, when a flat plate workpiece such as a glass substrate for flat panel display is subjected to a heat treatment such as drying or baking at a temperature of about 200 to 450 ° C., these workpieces often cause an undesirable oxidation reaction. It may happen. In order to prevent such an oxidation reaction, it is widely known that heat treatment is performed in an atmosphere of an inert gas such as nitrogen gas or argon gas. However, when a work is put into a processing apparatus having such a special atmosphere or when a processed work is taken out from the processing apparatus, an inert gas often leaks from the apparatus. For this reason, a furnace apparatus equipped with an open / close door that hardly leaks inert gas from the inside of the apparatus when the workpiece is taken in and out has been desired.

  Until now, a processing apparatus having a special opening / closing door has been announced. For example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-78134, a roller provided at the lower part of the door body is brought into contact with the guide by lowering the operating body from a predetermined height to a predetermined position, and the door is moved along the guide by the swinging movement of the lever. An opening sealing device is disclosed that guides the body towards the opening of the device. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-169169 discloses that the width of the furnace wall opening is formed wider than the width of the workpiece, and the upper edge of the furnace wall opening is above the uppermost workpiece placement position of the support base and supports the lower edge. Positioned below the lowest workpiece placement position of the table, a closing member for closing the opening is provided outside the furnace, and the closing member is formed by juxtaposing a plurality of constituent members that can move up and down, Disclosed is a processing apparatus having a closing member in which a part of an opening is opened by moving at least one of a plurality of constituent members up and down so that a workpiece can be taken in and out.

  All of these known furnace devices disclose a door or a closing member for taking a workpiece into and out of the heating furnace device. Therefore, when the door is opened for taking a workpiece in and out, What leaks from the inside of the furnace apparatus is usually air heated to a high temperature. Therefore, in these known techniques, even if the atmosphere inside the furnace apparatus leaks to the outside, there is no concern that an accident such as lack of oxygen will occur. As another known technique, there is known an article heat treatment apparatus for carrying out similar heat treatment inside (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-317514). This apparatus discloses an article heat treatment apparatus in which a part for feeding a work into the apparatus and a part for taking out the work are always open.

  On the other hand, in a furnace apparatus filled with an inert gas, it is prohibited that the inert gas leaks from the furnace apparatus when an article is inserted into the furnace or a treated article is taken out from the furnace apparatus. Absent. If a large amount of inert gas leaks from the inside of the apparatus to the work site, there is a risk that the worker working on the site will be in an oxygen deficient state. For this reason, until now, when a workpiece is dried or fired in such an inert gas atmosphere, the entire clean room is usually placed in an inert gas atmosphere, and the required treatment is performed inside the workpiece. For this reason, as far as the applicant knows, the existence of an apparatus for drying or baking a workpiece using an inert gas atmosphere in an independent type furnace apparatus is not known.

So far, for example, the following documents are known as a reactor apparatus equipped with a special opening / closing door. However, as described above, these are all apparatuses that perform a thermal reaction inside the furnace, and nothing is mentioned about preventing leakage of an inert gas having a completely different purpose of use.
4-78134 JP-A-6-317514 JP 2000-169169 A

  In a dry processing apparatus or a baking processing apparatus having an inert gas, the inert gas inside the apparatus leaks to the outside of the apparatus when the workpiece is supplied into or taken out of the apparatus. . If this amount of leakage becomes large, it is assumed that not only is the gas wasted, but it also causes great physical damage to the worker. In order to prevent or minimize such leakage, it is necessary to make the opening through which the workpiece is taken in and out of the apparatus as small as possible and to shorten the time for opening the opening as much as possible. However, in reality, the time that the opening must be opened is greatly influenced by the size of the workpiece to be processed and the performance of the workpiece transfer robot. In view of this, the present invention has an object to provide a drying processing apparatus or a baking processing apparatus having an inert gas in which an opening for taking in and out a workpiece is made as small as possible.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is an inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus 10 for processing a workpiece 22 in an inert gas atmosphere, the furnace body 12 having one side open, and the furnace body And a large door 14 for sealing and closing the opened one side, and a plurality of work holders arranged in a stack at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction inside the furnace body 12 Means 24, at least one workpiece transfer opening 26 formed in the large doors 14, 60, small doors 34, 56, 64 for opening and closing the workpiece transfer opening 26, and for moving the large door 14 in the vertical direction The workpiece to be processed is supplied to the workpiece holding means 24 in the furnace body 12 through the large door moving means 30, the small door opening / closing means for opening and closing the small door, and the workpiece transfer opening 26, and Processed Cooperating with the workpiece transfer robot 28 for picking up the workpiece from the workpiece holding means 24, the sealing means 20 and the clamping means 44 for sealing engagement between the furnace body 12 and the large door 14, and the separating means 36 Thus, there is provided an inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus comprising sealing means 40 for sealingly engaging the small door to the large door 14.

  In an inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus such as a drying processing apparatus or a baking processing apparatus having an inert gas of the present invention, when supplying a workpiece to the apparatus or taking out a workpiece from the apparatus, The opportunity for the inert gas to leak out of the apparatus is limited. For this reason, the gas is rarely wasted, and the physical damage to the worker can be greatly reduced or the physical damage can be almost completely prevented. This is provided with appropriate sealing means for both the large door and the small door so as to limit the opening through which the workpiece is taken in and out of the device and the internal atmospheric gas does not leak, and in addition to the opening This is because the time for opening the door is shortened as much as possible. Actually, the time that the opening must be opened is greatly influenced by the size of the workpiece to be processed and the performance of the workpiece transfer robot. In the present invention, the opening is left open. The time required for this is that the opening time can be reduced to about 10 seconds. As a result, it is possible to prevent human damage and economic damage associated with leakage of inert gas as in the past. Moreover, since the opening time of the small door is limited to be short, the production amount can be improved.

  1 to 4 are side sectional views for illustrating an outline of an internal structure of the inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus 10. The furnace apparatus 10 is a furnace body having a sealed box structure having a substantially rectangular cross section, and a furnace body 12 whose one side (right side in the drawing) is open. , And a large door 14 for closing one side of the open surface of the furnace body 12. A flange portion 18 is formed on the outer peripheral portion of the opening portion 16 formed on one side of the surface of the furnace body 12 in an open state so as to surround the entire periphery of the opening portion 16. A sealing means 20 is disposed around the front surface of the flange portion 18 so as to surround the entire circumference of the opening 16. The large door 14 that is provided to seal the opening 16 of the furnace body 12 usually has a cooperative action between the sealing means 20 and a pair of clamp means 44 described later in FIG. The opening 16 of the furnace body 12 is hermetically sealed. The inside of the furnace body 12 closed by the large door 14 is filled with an inert gas such as nitrogen gas or argon gas through a known inert gas replacement means (not shown), and the furnace body 12 Is maintained in an inert gas atmosphere.

  Further, in the furnace main body 12, a drying processing means or a firing processing means including a known heating means (not shown) is mounted depending on the purpose of use of the furnace apparatus 10. In addition, a plurality of workpiece holding means 24 arranged in a step-like manner at a predetermined interval are arranged in the furnace body 12 so as to accommodate and process a large number of workpieces, that is, workpieces 22 at a time. Yes. Each work holding means 24 is preferably composed of at least a pair of work holding arms (see FIGS. 11 and 12) whose one end is fixedly supported on the inner wall of the furnace body 12, and further, the upper surface of the work holding arm. It is preferable that a resin pin (not shown) made of, for example, polyimide or the like having a sharp tip portion for mounting and holding the workpiece 22 is mounted on the. Although the other end of each work holding arm extends to the vicinity of the opening 16, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, until the position where the work for moving the large door 14 up and down along the opening 16 is hindered. It is not growing. In addition, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that when the workpiece size is increased, the number of workpiece holding arms in each stage can be three or more.

  The large door 14 having a generally rectangular shape for hermetically sealing the opening 16 of the furnace body 12 has a width dimension substantially the same as the dimension defined by the flange dimension in the width direction of the furnace body 12, and the furnace body 12. The height dimension is approximately twice the dimension defined by the flange dimension in the height direction. In addition, a single workpiece transfer opening 26 extending in the width direction is formed in a substantially middle portion of the height dimension. The workpiece 22 is supplied into the furnace body 12 through the opening 26, and the workpiece after the desired processing is performed is taken out from the furnace body 12. The work loading / unloading work is performed by a work transfer robot 28 described later with reference to FIG. Of course, as will be described later, it will be understood that the large door moves in the horizontal direction when the workpiece 22 is arranged in the vertical direction.

  Further, in order to move the large door 14 in, for example, the vertical direction at a substantially intermediate position of the large door 14, a large door moving means 30 comprising a known piston / cylinder device as shown in FIG. Desirably, it is mounted on both sides of the large door 14. Of course, the moving means 30 can be attached to the central portion in the width direction of the upper end portion and / or the lower end portion of the large door 14 to be a device for pulling up and / or pulling down the large door. The large door moving means 30 can be installed only on one side of the large door 14 and a guide can be provided on the other side. The large door 14 is, for example, in the vertical direction along the opening 16 while maintaining the opening 16 of the furnace body 12 in a sealed state by the cooperative operation of the large door moving means 30 and the clamping means 44 (FIG. 6). It is movable.

  The large door 14 is provided with a workpiece transfer opening sealing means 32 (see FIGS. 5 and 7) for sealing and sealing the workpiece transfer opening 26 provided in the large door. The workpiece transfer opening sealing means 32 includes a small door 34 having a size that can completely cover the workpiece transfer opening 26 from the front surface (right side in FIGS. 1 and 7), and preferably the small door 34. The small door 34 is arranged on both sides and slightly lifted away from the work transfer opening 26 (see the position of the broken line in FIG. 7). For example, a separation / contact means 36 including a starting means such as a solenoid valve or an air cylinder for tightly sealing and sealing the transfer opening 26 (see the solid line position in FIG. 7) and a separation / contact means 36 are provided. A moving means 38 including a known starting means such as an electromagnetic valve and an air cylinder for positioning the work transfer opening 26 and moving the work transfer opening 26 from one position to an open state, and a small door 34 are large. The seal member 40 (see FIG. 7) is arranged around the work transfer opening 26 so as to hold the small door 34 in a sealed state with respect to the large door 14 when the work transfer opening 26 is closed. ) And. The separating means 36 for separating the small door from the surface of the large door and the moving means 38 for moving the small door along the large door provide small door opening / closing means. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, the workpiece transfer opening sealing means 32 is an appropriate fixing means on the vicinity of both side edges of the large door 14 and at a position outside the opening 16 of the furnace body 12. 42 is fixed.

  In the position shown in FIG. 1, the uppermost work holding means 24 a in which the large door 14 is pulled up to the uppermost position, for example, and the work transfer opening 26 formed in the large door 14 is attached inside the furnace body 12. It is located at a position opposite to. Further, the small door 34 that normally closes the workpiece transfer opening 26 in a sealed state is a retracted position completely above the workpiece transfer opening 26 by the action of the separating means 36 and the moving means 38 (FIG. 7). Has moved up. For this reason, the workpiece transfer opening 26 is completely open, and the workpiece transfer robot 28 is supplying the workpiece 22a to be processed onto the uppermost workpiece holding means 24a through the opening 26. ing.

  In the position shown in FIG. 2, the large door 14 is still at the uppermost position, and the work transfer robot 28 is completely pulled out of the furnace body 12 from the position shown in FIG. 1, so that the work 22a to be processed holds the uppermost work. A state is shown in which the small door 34 is mounted on the means 24a and closes the workpiece transfer opening 26 in a sealed state.

  In the position shown in FIG. 3, the large door 14 is lowered from the uppermost position by a distance corresponding to one step portion (one pitch) of the work holding means 24, and the work transfer opening 26 formed in the large door 14. Is positioned at a position facing the work holding means 24b in the second stage from the top attached to the inside of the furnace body 12. Further, the small door 34 that normally closes the work transfer opening 26 in a sealed state is retracted completely from the work transfer opening 26 to the retreat position by the action of the separating means 36 and the moving means. . For this reason, the workpiece transfer opening 26 is completely open, and the workpiece transfer robot 28 supplies the workpiece 22b to be processed to the second stage workpiece holding means 24b from above through the opening 26. ing.

  In the position shown in FIG. 4, the large door 14 is in the position shown in FIG. 3, the work transfer robot 28 is completely pulled out from the position shown in FIG. 3, and the work 22b to be processed is the second stage work holding means from the top. 24 shows a state where the small door 34 is mounted on 24b and the work transfer opening 26 is closed in a sealed state.

  As can be seen from FIGS. 1 to 4, when the workpiece 22 is mounted on each workpiece holding means 24, first, the workpiece transfer opening provided in the large door 14 by the large door moving means 30 (FIG. 5). The large door 14 is moved to a position where 26 faces the work holding means 24 to mount the work. In the case of this movement, strictly speaking, since a slight gap (for example, about 1-2 mm) is created between the large door 14 and the sealing means 20 and moved, subtle leakage is assumed. The time is only about 2-5 seconds, and thereafter, the sealing means 20 functions so that the inert gas and the high temperature atmosphere do not flow out from the inside of the furnace body 12. Next, the small door 34 is transferred to the upper position of the work transfer opening 26 via the floating means 36 and the moving means 38 of the work transfer opening sealing means 32. Of course, the small door 34 can be transferred to the lower position of the workpiece transfer opening 26 by appropriately arranging the floating means 36 and the moving means 38. The opening 26 is opened by the movement of the small door 34.

  After the workpiece transfer opening 26 is opened, the workpiece transfer robot 28 immediately supplies the workpiece 22 to the workpiece holding means 24. Immediately after the supply of the workpiece 22 is completed, the workpiece holding means 24 is extracted from the furnace body 12. As soon as the work holding means 24 is extracted from the furnace body 12, the work transfer opening sealing means 32 is activated to move the small door 34 to the closed position and seal the opening 26 hermetically. In normal work, the time for the small door 34 to return from the closed position to the closed position, that is, the time for the small door 34 to open in one operation is within about 10 seconds. In the illustrated example, the workpiece 22 is sequentially mounted on the workpiece supporting means 24 from the upper side to the lower side. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be mounted on the workpiece supporting means 24 on the upper side from the lower side. In addition, it is possible to mount the work support means on the work support means in a single step or every other step.

  As shown in FIG. 6, in the present invention, a clamp means 44 is provided for holding the inside of the furnace body 12 in a sealed state by forcibly pressing the large door 14 against the flange portion 18 of the furnace body 12. ing. The clamping means 44 is provided on the back side of the flanges on both sides of the flange portion 18 formed continuously around the upper and lower portions and both side portions so as to surround the opening portion 16. A mounting tool 46 whose inner end portion is fastened and fixed to the upper end side in FIG. 6 by known fastening means, an activation means 48 comprising an electromagnetic valve or the like attached to the outer end portion of the mounting tool 46, and The large door strong pressure tool 50 that is activated by the activation means 48 and is detachably engaged with the front side (the lower surface side in FIG. 6) of the large door 14 to forcibly engage the large door 14 with the flange side. Yes. The clamp means 44 is preferably arranged in a total of four sets at least two sets at a predetermined interval in the vertical direction with respect to the flanges on both sides when the furnace body 12 is viewed from the surface side. Of course, depending on the size of the furnace body, it is possible to arrange 6 or more sets of clamping means 44 on both sides of 3 sets on one side. Further, this clamping means 44 is preferably interlocked with the large door moving means 30. That is, when the large door moving means 30 is stationary with respect to the predetermined position, the starting means 48 of the clamping means 44 is activated, and the sealing means in which the large door 14 is installed on the flange portion 18. Forcibly approach 20 and the inside of the furnace body is sealed. On the other hand, when the large door moving means 30 moves the large door 14 in the vertical direction, the clamp means 44 is inactivated, and the large door can be moved in the vertical direction.

  It should be understood that when the large door moving means 30 is moving the large door 14 in the vertical direction, the clamping means 44 is in an inoperative state. The large door 14 is held close to the flange portion 18 so that the large door 14 is kept away from the sealing means 20 of the flange portion 18, and as a result, the large door 14 is held in the flange portion 18. However, the inert gas in the apparatus 10 is slightly prevented from leaking from the large door 14. It should be understood that this leakage time is only 2-5 seconds and at other times the sealing engagement between the large door 14 and the flange portion 18 is guaranteed.

  Next, the structure of the upper end portion and / or the lower end portion of the large door 14 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. For example, when the large door 14 is moved further downward from the position of FIG. 4 to the lowest position, the lower end portion of the large door 14 may contact the floor in the work chamber depending on the installation state of the apparatus. is there. Similarly, when the large door 14 is moved to the uppermost position as shown in FIG. 1, the upper end of the large door 14 may be in contact with the ceiling in a work room such as a clean room depending on the installation state of the apparatus. is there. If the lower end or the upper end of the large door 14 is in contact with the floor or ceiling, the large door 14 may be damaged, or a gap may be generated between the large door and the furnace body 12, and the desired optimum processing operation may be performed. There is a danger that cannot be done. Therefore, in the present invention, when the lower end portion or the upper end portion of the large door 14 is in contact with a fixed portion such as a floor surface or a ceiling, a part thereof can be freely bent. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, the large door 14 includes a main body door portion 14a and a bent door portion 14b at the lower portion of the main body door portion. In the illustrated example, an example in which one bent door portion 14b is provided on the lower side will be described. However, even when the bent door portion is on the upper side, it is also possible to provide two or more bent door portions on the lower or upper side. Those skilled in the art will readily understand that they can have substantially the same configuration.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the main body door portion 14a and the bent door portion 14b are provided with pins 14c and 14d fixed to both sides thereof, and both end portions of an elastic body 14e such as a coil spring with respect to these pins. Is locked. The main body door portion 14a and the bent door portion 14b are elastically connected to each other by these elastic bodies 14e. Further, on the side surface (left side surface in the figure) facing the opening 16 of these door portions 14a, 14b, the lower edge portion of the main body door portion 14a and the upper edge portion of the bent door portion 14b are: Cutting portions 14f and 14g having predetermined dimensions (preferably substantially the same) are formed in the vertical direction, the width direction, and the depth (ie, thickness) direction, respectively. In these cutting parts 14f and 14g, a sealing member 14h made of, for example, rubber, which is a gas-impermeable material and can be freely bent, is fixed in a sealed state.

  Thus, for example, when the large door 14 is moved downward and its lower end contacts the floor surface or the like, the bent door portion 14b at the lower end resists the elastic force of the elastic body 14e as shown in FIG. Then, it is possible to prevent the movement of the large door 14 from being hindered by bending toward the furnace main body side (left side in FIG. 9). Even when the bent door portion 14b is bent inward, the connecting portion between the main body door portion 14a and the bent door portion 14b is completely sealed by the sealing member 14h. Inert gas can be prevented from leaking. When the main body door portion 14a rises, the bent door portion 14b easily returns to the position shown in FIG. 8 by the elastic force of the elastic body 14e. If necessary, slider means such as a roller can be attached to the lower edge of the bent door portion 14b. As a result, the bent door portion 14b can be easily moved.

  Next, the operation of the workpiece transfer robot 28 that supplies the workpiece 22 to the workpiece transfer arm 54 in the furnace body 12 will be described with reference to FIGS. The workpiece transfer robot 28 is a robot known per se, and includes a robot drive unit 52 for driving the workpiece transfer robot 28, and a workpiece transfer arm 54 driven by the robot drive unit 52 and configured to transfer a workpiece. , Is composed of. The drive unit 52 is mounted on the linear drive unit 52a, which linearly moves the workpiece transfer robot 28 in an appropriate linear direction with respect to the direction of the large door 14 and the direction (XY direction) perpendicular thereto. The rotary drive unit 52b that rotationally drives the cage work transfer arm 54, and the vertical drive unit 52c that is mounted on the rotary drive unit 52b and drives the work transfer arm 54 vertically in the vertical direction (Z direction). Yes. For this reason, the workpiece transfer arm 54 attached to the drive unit 52 is adjusted so as to be able to freely perform a desired linear motion (front-rear and left-right motion), rotational motion, and vertical motion (vertical motion). ing.

  When supplying the unprocessed workpiece 22 to the workpiece holding means 24 in the apparatus 10, the workpiece transfer arm 54 first supports the unprocessed workpiece 22 pooled outside the system on the arm 54 (vertical motion). ) Thereafter, the workpiece transfer arm 54 rotates (rotates) together with the workpiece 22 to the direction facing the large door 14. Next, from that position, the arm 54 moves into the furnace main body 12 through the work transfer opening 26 in which the small door 34 is now moved to the retracted position (for example, FIG. 1 and FIG. 3) together with the work 22. Move (vertical motion and linear motion) to the optimum position for feeding the workpiece. In this position, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, the pair of arms 54 that support the workpiece 22 has a surface L defined by a pair of workpiece holding means 24 that are fixed at one end to the back wall of the furnace body 12. -The height is maintained such that the lower surface of the workpiece 22 is positioned slightly above L. Next, the workpiece transfer robot 28 moves the arm 54 vertically downward to mount the workpiece 22 on the pair of workpiece holding means 24 (FIG. 12). Thereafter, the workpiece transfer arm 54 is pulled out from the furnace body 12 to the outside. When the extraction of the arm 54 from the furnace body 12 is completed, the small door 34 that has been in the retracted position is returned onto the work transfer opening 26 and the opening is sealed (see, for example, FIGS. 2 and 4).

  On the other hand, when the workpiece 22 that has undergone predetermined processing in the furnace main body 12 is taken out from the furnace main body 12, the small door 34 is first retracted to the retreat position (for example, FIG. 1 and FIG. 3), and then there. The workpiece transfer arm 54 is sent to a position below the workpiece 22 as shown in FIG. Next, the arm 54 is slightly lifted to the position of FIG. 11 and the processed workpiece is mounted on the arm 54. Thereafter, the arm 54 is pulled out of the apparatus 10 together with the work. After the arm 54 is pulled out of the apparatus 10, the small door 34 is returned from the retracted position to the work transfer opening 26 to completely seal the opening 26, and at the same time, the work transfer arm 54 is moved to the processed pool outside the system. Rotate and transfer the processed workpiece to that position.

  FIG. 13 shows another embodiment of the present invention for opening and closing a small door. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, a floating means 36 and a moving means 38 are disclosed as means for opening and closing the small door 34. As described above, in this method, the small door 34 is slightly lifted from the large door 14, and then the small door 34 is retracted to the retracted position. Therefore, the opening / closing mechanism of the small door 34 is somewhat complicated. Therefore, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 13, the small door 56 is joined to the upper side or the lower side of the work transfer opening 26 of the large door 14 by, for example, a known rotary actuator or other auxiliary means such as a magnet means. The small door 56 is pivoted and retracted so that it can be pivoted. According to this method, the driving of the small door 56 can be achieved easily and quickly by a small and simple mechanism. Other operations are the same as those described above.

  FIG. 14 shows another embodiment relating to the large door 60 and the small door 62. 1 to 13 disclose a configuration in which one large door 14 is provided with one work transfer opening 26, and the work transfer opening 26 is opened and closed by one small door 34, 56. . For this reason, this structure has few opportunities for the gas inside the furnace to leak. However, since there is only one workpiece transfer opening, there is a problem that the moving distance of the large door 14 becomes large, and there is a problem that the time for supplying or taking out the workpiece from the furnace body becomes long. In some cases, the configuration shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 is required. On the other hand, the embodiment shown in FIG. 14 discloses a configuration in which the large door 60 can supply workpieces to many workpiece holding means at the same time only by moving a small distance. That is, in the embodiment of FIG. 14, it is assumed that the number of work holding means is 20 and that four work transfer openings 62 are provided in the large door 60, and these openings 62 are hermetically sealed by the small doors 64, respectively. It has stopped. As a method for attaching the small door 64, a method as shown in FIG. 7 and / or FIG. 13 can be appropriately employed. In addition, the work supply method and the take-out method can be executed by the same method as described above by disposing a work transfer robot corresponding to each work transfer opening.

  14A and 14E are views in which the large door 60 is at the uppermost position and the lowermost position, respectively, and FIGS. 14B and 14C are views at the intermediate positions thereof. Is shown. In the figure, the large door 60 is provided with four workpiece transfer openings 62 and four small doors 64 (64a, 64b, 64c, 64d, respectively) for sealing these openings 62. Here, by opening the small door 64a, it is possible to supply the work to the steps 1 to 6 as the work holding means 24, and the small door 64b can supply the work to the steps 6 to 11. The small door 64c can supply workpieces to the steps 11 to 16, and the small door 64d can supply workpieces to the steps 16 to 20. In this embodiment, since the correspondence relationship between the position of the work holding means 24 (step 1 to step 20) and the small doors 64a to 64d is specified in advance, for example, the same small door to the step 1 and the step 20 Since there is no need to supply the workpiece through the large door, it is not necessary to move the large door from the uppermost portion to the lowermost portion, the moving distance of the large door is shortened, and thus the response time is shortened. In this embodiment, the moving distance of the large door matches the number of steps of the work holding means handled by the small door.

  In this embodiment, for example, if the large door 60 is installed at the position shown in FIG. 14A and the robot can operate the four arms 54 simultaneously, the small doors 64a, 64b, 64c and 64d are all opened simultaneously. , Work supply to stage 1, stage 6, stage 11 and stage 16 can be achieved simultaneously. Next, when the large door 60 is lowered to the position of FIG. 14B by one pitch, and then the four small doors are simultaneously opened in the same manner, the work supply to the stage 2, the stage 7, the stage 12 and the stage 17 is achieved at the same time. I can do it. Furthermore, when the large door 60 is lowered by one pitch to the position shown in FIG. 14C and the four small doors are opened at the same time, the work supply to the steps 3, 8, 13, and 18 can be achieved simultaneously. I can do it. Furthermore, when the large door 60 is further lowered by one pitch to the position shown in FIG. 14D, and then the four small doors are opened at the same time, the work supply to the steps 4, 9, 14, and 19 is achieved at the same time. I can do it. Finally, lowering the large door 60 by one pitch to the position shown in FIG. 14E and simultaneously opening the four small doors simultaneously achieves the work supply to the steps 5, 10, 15, and 20. I can do it. In this way, each work holding means 24 can provide work to all 20 stages of work holding means simply by lowering the large door 60 in four stages. In this embodiment, preferably, the four small doors 64a, 64b, 64c and 64d are timed to open and close at the same time, and these small door opening and closing means (for example, the connecting / disconnecting means and moving means) and the large door The moving means, the clamping means, and the work transfer arm are timed so as to operate in synchronization with each other. Of course, if there is only one arm 54, leakage can be minimized by sequentially opening and closing the small doors 64a, 64b, 64c and 64d.

  It is clear from this example that the moving distance L (mm) of the large door can be calculated by [(number of steps / number of small doors) −1] × (step pitch mm). If this embodiment is used, it may be considered that more efficient work supply is possible if the work holding means and the small door are made to correspond one-to-one. However, according to the applicant's experiment, if the work holding means and the small door are made to correspond one-to-one, that is, if the number of the work holding means and the number of the small doors are the same, for each child door, Since it is necessary to install opening and closing means, the price is increased, and it is necessary to keep the entire periphery of each small door in a sealed state, it is required to install sealing means on each child door. In order to increase the manufacturing cost of the apparatus and to further secure the sealing efficiency, a width of, for example, at least 15 mm is required around the workpiece transfer opening as a dimension for fixing the seal. The vertical dimension of each workpiece transfer opening needs to be 15 × 2 mm, that is, at least about 30 mm. For this reason, there is a drawback that the number of work holding means provided in the apparatus 10 is drastically reduced. Therefore, it has been found that it is not practical to make the work holding means and the small door correspond one-to-one. As a result, according to the applicant's experiment, as a result of comprehensive consideration of factors such as the possibility of gas leakage in the apparatus, the moving speed of the large door, the opening / closing speed of the small door, the work loading / unloading speed, etc., one small door takes charge. It has been found that the number of work holding means, that is, the number of stages, is optimal from 4 to 6. Therefore, when the number of stages as the work holding means is 20 as shown in FIG. 14, it is estimated that the number of small doors is four to obtain the optimum result.

  The present invention is an inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus 10 for processing a workpiece 22 in an inert gas atmosphere, and a furnace body 12 having one side opened, and the furnace body 12 being opened. A large door 14 for hermetically closing the one side, and a plurality of work holding means 24 arranged in a stack at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction inside the furnace body 12, and the large door 14 and 60, at least one work transfer opening 26, small doors 34, 56 and 64 for opening and closing the work transfer opening 26, and large door moving means 30 for moving the large door 14 in the vertical direction. The workpiece to be processed is supplied to the workpiece holding means 24 in the furnace main body 12 through the small door opening / closing means for opening and closing the small door and the workpiece transfer opening 26, and the workpiece processed in the furnace main body 12 is processed. Work holding means The large door 14 cooperates with the workpiece transfer robot 28, the sealing means 20 and the clamping means 44 for sealing engagement between the furnace body 12 and the large door 14, and the separating means 36. An inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus is disclosed which comprises sealing means 40 for sealingly engaging the small door to the door. Also disclosed is an inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus in which the sealing means 20 is attached to a flange portion 18 formed around the open side of the furnace body 12. Moreover, the inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus by which the upper direction or the downward direction of a large door is bendable is disclosed. Furthermore, an inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus is disclosed in which the small door opening / closing means is composed of a separating means 36 for separating the small door from the surface of the large door and a moving means 38 for moving the small door along the large door. Furthermore, an inert gas atmosphere furnace device is disclosed in which the small door opening / closing means comprises swing means for swinging the small door with respect to the large door. The large door 60 has a plurality of work transfer openings 62 and a plurality of small doors 64 that seal the openings 62, and each of the work transfer openings 62 and the small doors 64 is processed. An inert gas atmosphere furnace device in which a plurality of workpiece holding means 24 for supplying or removing the workpiece 22 is specified in advance is disclosed.

  In the illustrated example, an example in which the horizontal steps are arranged in the vertical direction is described. However, the work to be processed is further enlarged, and the work is arranged in the vertical direction instead of the horizontal direction. For convenience, the same work can be executed in the same process even when the workpiece is arranged in the vertical direction. Of course, in that case, the work holding means 24 and the work transfer arm 54 are arranged in the vertical direction, the bent door portion 14b is provided not in the vertical position but in the left and right positions, and the large door moving means 30 is provided in the horizontal direction. Naturally, the small door 34 is also arranged along the vertical direction.

  The inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus according to the present invention restricts the number of openings, that is, small doors for inserting and removing workpieces from or into the apparatus, and sealing the openings and small doors of the apparatus. Since the performance is improved and the time for opening the opening is shortened as much as possible, the opportunity for the inert gas inside the apparatus to leak to the outside of the apparatus is extremely limited. For this reason, the production volume can be improved, gas is not wasted, and physical damage to workers can be prevented almost completely. It is possible to provide a drying processing apparatus or a baking processing apparatus having an active gas.

It is a figure which shows the operating state of the furnace apparatus which concerns on this invention, Comprising: It is a figure which shows the state which raises a large door to the uppermost position, opens a small door, and is supplying the workpiece | work to the uppermost work holding means. . It is a figure which shows the state which closed the small door, after supplying a workpiece | work to the uppermost workpiece | work holding means. It is a figure which shows the state which installed the large door in the position lowered | hung only 1 pitch from the uppermost position, opened the small door, and supplied the workpiece | work to the work holding means of the position lowered | hung by 1 pitch from the uppermost position. . It is a figure which shows the state which closed the small door, after supplying a workpiece | work to the workpiece | work holding means lowered by 1 pitch from the highest position. The large door seen from the open end part side of the furnace main body, the apparatus for moving this, the small door, and the apparatus for moving this are shown. It is the figure which showed the furnace main body of FIG. 5 in the cross section. It is a figure which shows the detail of a workpiece | work transfer opening sealing means. It is a figure which shows the detail of the main body door part and bending door part of a large door. It is a figure which shows the operation state of the main-body door part and bending door part of a large door. It is a figure which shows the state which a workpiece transfer robot transfers a workpiece | work to a workpiece holding means. It is a figure which shows the state which a workpiece conveyance arm supplies a workpiece | work to a workpiece holding means. It is a figure which shows the state which a workpiece conveyance arm takes out a workpiece | work from a workpiece holding means. It is a figure which shows another Example of the small door with which the large door was mounted | worn. It is a figure which shows another Example which shows the relationship between a large door and a small door.

Explanation of symbols

10: Inert gas atmosphere furnace device 12: Furnace body 14: Large door 14a: Main body door part 14b: Bent door part 14c, 14d: Pin 14e: Elastic body 14f, 14g: Cutting part 14h: Sealing member 16: Opening part 18 : Flange portion 20: Sealing means 22: Workpiece to be processed 24: Workpiece holding means 26: Workpiece transfer opening 28: Workpiece transfer robot 30: Large door moving means 32: Workpiece transfer opening sealing means 34: Small door 36: Separation / contact Means 38: Moving means 40: Sealing member 42: Fixing means 44: Clamping means 46: Mounting tool 48: Starting means 50: Large door moving means 52: Robot drive part 52a: Linear drive part 52b: Rotation drive part 52c: Vertical drive Portion 54: Work transfer arm 56: Small door 60: Large door 62: Work transfer opening 64: Small door

Claims (9)

An inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus 10 for processing a workpiece 22 in an inert gas atmosphere, the furnace body 12 having one side open, and the one side of the furnace body 12 being opened And a large door 14 for hermetically closing,
A plurality of work holding means 24 arranged in a stack at a predetermined interval in the furnace body 12;
At least one workpiece transfer opening 26 formed in the large doors 14, 60;
Small doors 34, 56, 64 for opening and closing the workpiece transfer opening 26;
A large door moving means 30 for moving the large door 14;
Small door opening and closing means for opening and closing the small door;
A workpiece transfer robot 28 for supplying a workpiece to the workpiece holding means 24 in the furnace body 12 through the workpiece transfer opening 26 and taking out the workpiece processed in the furnace body 12 from the workpiece holding means 24;
Sealing means 20 and clamping means 44 for sealing engagement between the furnace body 12 and the large door 14;
Sealing means 40 for sealingly engaging the small door to the large door 14 in cooperation with the separating / connecting means 36;
An inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus comprising:   The inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sealing means (20) is attached to a flange portion (18) formed around the open side of the furnace body (12).   The inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein one or the other of the large doors can be bent.   The inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein both end portions of the large door can be bent.   The inert gas according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the small door opening / closing means comprises separation means 36 for separating the small door from the surface of the large door and movement means 38 for moving the small door along the large door. Atmosphere furnace device.   The inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the small door opening / closing means comprises swing means for swinging the small door with respect to the large door.   The large door 60 has a plurality of workpiece transfer openings 62 and a plurality of small doors 64 that seal the openings 62, respectively. The workpiece transfer openings 62 and the small doors 64 are respectively workpieces 22 to be processed. The inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a plurality of work holding means 24 for supplying or taking out the material are specified in advance.   The inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the workpiece 22 is disposed in a horizontal direction.   The inert gas atmosphere furnace apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the workpiece 22 is arranged in a vertical direction.

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