JP2009236367A - Heat treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heat treatment device capable of performing forced cooling immediately after a treated object is heated. <P>SOLUTION: The heat treatment device 10 is provided with a heating chamber 11 and a cooling fluid tank 30 arranged below the heating chamber 11. A first opening part 20 is formed on the bottom part of the heating chamber 11, and a second opening part 31 is formed on the upper part of the cooling fluid tank 30. The first opening part 20 is opened/closed by a shutter member 22. The treated object W is held by a holding member 13, and the holding member 13 is lifted/lowered by a lifting/lowering mechanism 14 between the heating chamber 11 and the cooling fluid tank 30 through the first and second opening parts 20, 31. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a heat treatment apparatus that performs heating and forced cooling of an object to be processed.

Patent Document 1 below discloses a quenching and combined furnace that forcibly cools a heated workpiece by immersing it in a coolant. This quenching furnace is installed in a front chamber / cooling chamber in which the front chamber and the cooling chamber are integrated, a heating furnace disposed on the side of the front chamber / cooling chamber, and below the front chamber / cooling chamber. And a quenching tank.
This quenching furnace uses a heating furnace to heat the workpiece, then moves the workpiece to the front chamber / cooling chamber to the side, then lowers the workpiece and immerses it in the quenching tank. Yes.

JP-A-5-33035

By the way, in order to reuse scrap silicon generated when semiconductor silicon is manufactured, a technique is known in which scrap silicon is heated and then forcibly cooled to make it brittle and facilitate scrap silicon crushing. .
Therefore, for example, in order to heat and forcibly cool scrap silicon, it is conceivable to use a quenching furnace as in Patent Document 1. However, the quenching / compression furnace of Patent Document 1 has a front chamber / cooling chamber between the heating furnace and the quenching tank. In order to move scrap silicon from the heating furnace to the quenching tank, the front chamber / cooling chamber must be provided. Have to go through. For this reason, it takes time until the heated scrap silicon is moved to the quenching tank, during which time the scrap silicon is naturally cooled, and it becomes difficult to make the scrap silicon sufficiently brittle.

  An object of this invention is to provide the heat processing apparatus which can be forcedly cooled immediately after heating a to-be-processed object.

  The heat treatment furnace of the present invention includes a heating chamber having a first opening at the bottom, a second opening at the top, a coolant tank disposed below the heating chamber, and opening and closing the first opening. A shutter member that holds the workpiece, and a lifting mechanism that lifts and lowers the holding member between the heating chamber and the cooling liquid tank through the first and second openings. It is characterized by that.

  The heat treatment apparatus of the present invention heats the object to be processed held by the holding member in the heating chamber, then opens the shutter member to open the first opening, and lowers the holding member by the lifting mechanism. The processing object is moved to the cooling liquid tank, and the object to be processed is forcibly cooled in the cooling liquid tank. Therefore, the object to be processed can be directly moved between the heating chamber and the cooling liquid tank, and the time required for this movement can be shortened. Therefore, the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention is very useful for heat treatment of an object to be processed that requires forced cooling immediately after heating.

In the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention, a closing member that closes at least one of the first and second openings when the holding member is lowered by the elevating mechanism is provided above the holding member. preferable.
When the cooling liquid in the cooling liquid tank is water, water vapor is generated when an object to be processed is put into the cooling liquid tank. However, it is necessary to avoid a large amount of the water vapor from entering the heating chamber at a time from the viewpoint of ensuring stable operation while avoiding the influence on the in-furnace members. In the case of the present invention, when the holding member is lowered by the elevating mechanism and the object to be processed is put into the cooling liquid tank, at least one of the first and second openings is closed by the closing member. It is possible to appropriately prevent entry into the room.

  The closing member has a first tube portion and a second tube portion connected to the first tube portion so as to be relatively movable in the vertical direction, and the first tube portion is And an upper engaging portion that engages with the upper surface of the peripheral edge of the first opening when the holding member is lowered, and the second cylindrical portion is the second opening when the holding member is lowered. It is preferable to have a bottom wall portion that closes the portion.

  According to this configuration, when the holding member is raised by the elevating mechanism, the vertical dimension of the closing member is reduced by relatively moving the first cylinder part and the second cylinder part in the contracting direction. can do. Therefore, it is not necessary to secure a large space for disposing the closing member in the heating chamber, and the heating chamber can be made as small as possible. Further, when the holding member is lowered by the elevating mechanism, the lowering of the first cylindrical portion is restricted by engaging the engaging portion of the first cylindrical portion with the upper peripheral surface of the first opening, and the second By further lowering the cylindrical portion, the closing member can be extended, and the second opening portion can be closed by the bottom wall portion of the second cylindrical portion. Therefore, even when the distance between the first opening and the second opening is long, both the openings can be closed by the closing member, and water vapor can be reliably prevented from entering the heating chamber.

  According to the present invention, after the object to be processed is heated, it can be forcibly cooled immediately.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a schematic front sectional view of a heat treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic side sectional view of the heat treatment apparatus.
The heat treatment apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes a heating chamber 11, a cooling chamber 12 disposed below the heating chamber 11, a holding member 13 that holds the workpiece W, the heating chamber 11, and the cooling chamber 12. And a lifting mechanism 14 that lifts and lowers the holding member 13 between them.

  The heating chamber 11 includes an outer wall member 16 formed of a heat insulating material, a heater 17 provided on the inner side of the outer wall member 16, and a circulation fan 18 made of a sirocco fan or the like. As shown in FIG. 2, openings 19 and 20 are formed in the front wall and the bottom wall of the outer wall member 16, respectively, and these openings 19 and 20 are airtight by shutter members 21 and 22 having heat insulation properties, respectively. Is closed.

  The opening 19 formed in the front wall of the outer wall member 16 is used for taking the workpiece W into and out of the heating chamber 11. The shutter member 21 is supported by the outer wall member 16 so as to be movable (slidable) in the vertical direction, and is moved up and down by an opening / closing drive mechanism 23 such as a hydraulic cylinder. Then, as shown by an arrow a in FIG. 2, the shutter member 21 closes the opening 19 by being lowered and opens the opening 19 by being raised.

  An opening (first opening) 20 formed in the bottom wall of the outer wall member 16 communicates the heating chamber 11 and the cooling chamber 12. The shutter member 22 is supported by a guide rail 24 provided at the upper part of the cooling chamber 12 so as to be movable (slidable) in the front-rear direction. The shutter member 22 is moved in the front-rear direction by an unillustrated opening / closing drive mechanism, and as shown by an arrow b in FIG. 2, the shutter 20 is moved forward to close the opening 20 and moved backward to open the opening 20. Open.

  The heater 17 is configured to rise in the heating chamber 11 to a desired temperature (for example, about 200 ° C. to 700 ° C.). The circulation blower 18 includes a fan main body 25, a motor 26, and a belt transmission mechanism 27 that interlocks and connects the fan main body 25 and the motor 26, and the fan main body 25 is rotated by the operation of the motor 26. By circulating the atmosphere, the heat generated by the heater 17 is rapidly transferred to make the temperature in the heating chamber 11 uniform.

  The cooling chamber 12 includes a frame member 29 that constitutes the outline of the cooling chamber 12, and the frame member 29 is open at the top and front. A cooling liquid tank 30 is disposed in the cooling chamber 12, and a cooling liquid such as water is accommodated in the cooling liquid tank 30. An opening (second opening) 31 is formed in the upper part of the cooling liquid tank 30, and this opening 31 is used for taking the workpiece W into and out of the cooling liquid tank 30.

As shown in FIG. 1, traveling wheels 32 are provided in the lower portion of the coolant tank 30, and the traveling wheels 32 travel on a rail 33 provided in the front-rear direction at the lower portion of the cooling chamber 12. The coolant tank 30 is configured to be movable in the front-rear direction between an accommodation position accommodated in the cooling chamber 12 and an extraction position drawn forward of the cooling chamber 12.
When the cooling liquid tank 30 is disposed at the storage position, the opening 31 is positioned so as to correspond to the lower part of the opening 20 of the heating chamber 11. Further, when the cooling liquid tank 30 is pulled out to the front side of the cooling chamber 12, it is possible to easily perform the replacement of the cooling liquid, the cleaning of the cooling liquid tank 30, and the like.
As shown in FIG. 2, an exhaust pipe 35 is provided at the rear part of the cooling liquid tank 30, and the vapor of the cooling liquid generated in the cooling liquid tank 30 is discharged to the outside by the exhaust pipe 35.

  The holding member 13 can be in any form as long as it can be supported from below with the workpiece W placed thereon. A closing member 37 is provided on the upper portion of the holding member 13, and this closing member 37 is formed when the holding member 13 is moved to the cooling chamber 12 and between the opening 20 of the heating chamber 11 and the cooling liquid tank 31. It has a function of closing the opening 31. Details of the closing member 37 will be described later.

The elevating mechanism 14 includes an elevating frame 39 connected to the upper part of the holding member 13 and the closing member 37, a guide mechanism 40 for guiding the elevating frame 39, an elevating drive body 41 for elevating the elevating frame 39, and an elevating drive body 41. And a rope-like member 42 for connecting the lift frame 39 to the frame.
The elevating frame 39 has two guide rods 43 extending upward from the closing member 37, and the guide rods 43 protrude upward through the upper wall of the heating chamber 11. The upper ends of the two guide rods 43 are connected by a connecting member 44.

The guide mechanism 40 includes a plurality of guide rollers 45 that roll on the heating chamber 11 while sandwiching the guide rod 43 from both sides. The guide rod 43 is guided by a guide roller 45 so as to be able to move vertically in the vertical direction.
The raising / lowering drive body 41 consists of a hydraulic cylinder etc., and the rod part 46 of the raising / lowering drive body 41 is connected to the raising / lowering frame 39 via the cord-like member 42. The cord-like member 42 is made of a chain, a wire, or the like, and is wound around an idler 47 attached to an upper portion of a mechanism frame 48 erected on the upper portion of the heating chamber 11.

  The holding member 13 moves up and down through the cord-like member 42 and the lifting frame 39 by operating the lifting drive body 41. And the holding member 13 is arrange | positioned in the heating chamber 11 when it raises, and is arrange | positioned in the cooling chamber 12 when it descend | falls. Further, the holding member 13 is arranged so as to face the opening 19 of the heating chamber 11 when raised, and by opening the shutter member 21, the workpiece W can be taken in and out through the opening 19. ing. Further, the holding member 13 is put into the coolant tank 30 through the openings 20 and 31 when lowered.

  The closing member 37 is formed in a double cylinder structure by an inner cylinder part (first cylinder part) 50 and an outer cylinder part (second cylinder part) 51. The outer cylinder portion 51 includes an outer cylinder wall 53 and a bottom wall portion 52 that closes the lower end of the outer cylinder wall 53. The inner cylindrical portion 50 has an inner cylindrical wall 54 that is slidably fitted to the inner peripheral surface of the outer cylindrical wall 53 and an annular engaging portion 55 that protrudes outward from the upper end of the inner cylindrical wall 54. is doing. The closing member 37 can be expanded and contracted in the vertical direction by sliding the inner cylindrical wall 54 and the outer cylindrical wall 53.

  When the holding member 13 is disposed in the heating chamber 11, the inner cylinder portion 50 slides downward with respect to the outer cylinder portion 51, and the closing member 37 is contracted. Further, when the holding member 13 is lowered from the heating chamber 11 toward the cooling chamber 12, the engaging portion 55 of the inner cylindrical portion 50 is engaged with the peripheral edge of the opening portion 20 during the lowering, and the lowering of the inner cylindrical portion 50 is lowered. Limited. Further, when the holding member 13 is lowered to the inside of the coolant tank 30, the outer cylinder portion 51 slides downward with respect to the inner cylinder portion 50, and the closing member 37 is extended. Then, when the outer peripheral portion of the bottom wall portion 52 of the outer cylinder portion 51 is engaged with the peripheral edge of the opening portion 31 of the coolant tank 30, both the opening portions 20 and 31 are closed by the closing member 37.

Hereinafter, a heat treatment process using the heat treatment apparatus 10 of the present embodiment will be described.
Before the start of the heat treatment operation, the openings 19 and 20 of the heating chamber 11 are closed by shutter members 21 and 22, respectively, and the holding member 13 is disposed in the heating chamber 11. Then, in order to set the workpiece W in the heating chamber 11, the shutter member 21 is opened, the workpiece W is loaded into the heating chamber 11 through the opening 19 by a transport device such as a hand lifter, and the holding member 13. To hold the workpiece W.

  Next, the shutter member 21 is closed and the heater 17 and the circulation fan 18 are operated to heat the workpiece W for a predetermined time. When the heating is completed, the opening 20 is opened by opening the shutter member 22, and then the lifting mechanism 14 is immediately operated to lower the holding member 13. The workpiece W held by the holding member 13 is put into the cooling liquid tank 30 through the openings 20 and 31, and is forcibly cooled by the cooling liquid. At the same time, the openings 20 and 31 are closed by the closing member 37.

  When the forced cooling of the workpiece W is completed, the lifting mechanism 14 is activated and the workpiece W rises to the heating chamber 11. At this time, the closing member 37 is detached from the openings 20 and 31, and the openings 20 and 31 are opened. When the holding member 13 is completely accommodated in the heating chamber 11, the opening 20 is closed by the shutter member 22. By returning the workpiece W after forced cooling back to the heating chamber 11, the workpiece W can be dried. Next, the heating chamber 11 is opened by opening the shutter member 21, and the workpiece W is taken out from the heating chamber 11 through the opening 19, thereby completing one batch process.

  As described above, the heat treatment apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment moves the workpiece W heated in the heating chamber 11 directly to the cooling chamber 12 and forcibly cools it by the cooling liquid tank 30. The time required for the movement of W can be shortened. Therefore, the workpiece W is not naturally cooled during the movement, and the workpiece W can be forcibly cooled immediately. Therefore, the heat treatment apparatus 10 of the present embodiment can be effectively used for heat treatment of the workpiece W that is required to be forcibly cooled immediately after heating, such as scrap silicon.

  Since the closing member 37 closes the heating chamber 11 and the openings 20 and 31 of the cooling liquid tank 30 when the workpiece W is put into the cooling liquid tank 30 in the heat treatment apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, the heating chamber It is possible to prevent the vapor of the coolant from entering the inside 11. Therefore, inconvenience due to vapor entering the heating chamber 11 can be avoided.

  In the heat treatment apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, the closing member 37 is configured to be extendable in the vertical direction, and the closing member 37 contracts in the heating chamber 11 when the holding member 13 is raised. The vertical dimension of the closing member 37 can be reduced, and it is not necessary to secure a wide space for accommodating the closing member 37 in the heating chamber 11. Therefore, the heating chamber 11 can be made as small as possible. On the other hand, when the holding member 13 is lowered, both the openings 20 and 31 are closed by the extension of the closing member 37, so that it is possible to reliably prevent the vapor from entering the heating chamber 11. .

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the design can be changed as appropriate.
The heat treatment apparatus 10 of the present invention can be used not only for heating and forced cooling of scrap silicon, but also for heating and forced cooling of other substances such as metals (including noble metals), quartz, and glass. Further, the cooling liquid for forced cooling is not limited to water, and any nonflammable liquid that does not generate harmful vapor can be employed without any particular limitation.
The closing member 37 is not limited to a double cylinder structure of the outer cylinder part 51 and the inner cylinder part 50, but can also be a triple or more cylinder structure.

1 is a schematic front sectional view of a heat treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic side sectional view of the heat treatment apparatus shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Heat processing apparatus 11 Heating chamber 12 Cooling chamber 13 Holding member 14 Lifting mechanism 19 Opening part 20 Opening part (1st opening part)
21 Shutter member 22 Shutter member 30 Coolant tank 31 Opening (second opening)
37 Closing member 50 Inner cylinder (first cylinder)
51 Outer cylinder part (second cylinder part)
52 Bottom wall portion 55 Engagement portion

Claims (3)

A heating chamber having a first opening at the bottom;
A coolant bath having a second opening at the top and disposed below the heating chamber;
A shutter member for opening and closing the first opening;
A holding member for holding a workpiece;
An elevating mechanism that elevates and lowers the holding member between the heating chamber and the cooling liquid tank through the first and second openings.   2. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a closing member that closes at least one of the first and second openings when the holding member is lowered by the elevating mechanism is provided on an upper portion of the holding member.   The closing member has a first tube portion and a second tube portion connected to the first tube portion so as to be relatively movable in the vertical direction, and the first tube portion is And an upper engaging portion that engages with the upper surface of the peripheral edge of the first opening when the holding member is lowered, and the second cylindrical portion moves the first when the holding member is lowered. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a bottom wall portion that closes the two openings.

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