JP2503825B2 - FRP production method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a production system for molding a fiber-reinforced resin molded product.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, FRP (glass fiber reinforced resin) products have come to be used for various molded products such as outer panels of automobiles. For example, in the case of an engine hood, molding of such a fiber-reinforced resin molded product is performed in advance in a mat shape by stacking a plurality of reinforcing fibers such as glass fibers in order to secure the rigidity and strength of the molded product. Resin transfer molding (hereinafter referred to as RTM) is employed in which molding is performed, the glass fiber mat is set in a molding die, and a molten resin is injected into the die for molding. As a molding die used for RTM, a resin injection pressure is low, and a lightweight die using a resin mold or an electroformed shell is used. In RTM, the injection pressure of resin is low, and in the case of an automobile outer plate, the required mold clamping force is usually several tens of tons, but the molding cycle requires several tens of minutes.

As a method for mass-producing FRP, a merry-go-round method is used for molding a bathtub incorporated in a unit bath. As shown in FIG. 4, this is a system in which a trolley 20 on which a molding die is placed is circulated in each work booth along a turntable 21 and a rail track 22, and the work steps are as follows. In the demolding of the step A, the product molded in the previous molding cycle is taken out from the mold and the molding surface of the mold is cleaned. Next, the trolley 20 on which the lower mold is mounted is washed with the booth 2
Moving to 3, the gel coat is applied to the molding surface of the lower mold, which is the surface side of the product, by spraying to improve the surface quality. This gel coat application step B is carried out in a washing booth or a dry dust collector as a dust countermeasure. In the next C step, the reinforcing fiber is set in the mold, and in the D step, hoist 24
Use to close the upper mold. Clamping press 25 for closed mold
Then, the mold is clamped (process E), the resin injecting machine 26 is set in the mold, and the resin from the resin tank 27 is injected into the mold (process F). After the resin injection, the mold moves to the next turntable and waits for curing (process G), and after a predetermined time has passed, the upper mold is lifted by the hoist 24 to open the mold (process H).
Then, the production process is completed and the process returns to the A process position.

[0004]

The above-mentioned merry-go-round method is suitable for mass production of the same product by allocating personnel according to the number of man-hours in each process, which enables continuous production with a constant takt time. When products with different sizes are mixed and produced, the gel coat application time of the B process, the resin injection time of the F process and the curing time of the G process increase or decrease, so the waiting time increases and the takt time increases. Production efficiency decreases. In addition, the transportation equipment such as a trolley, a track, and a turntable and the installation space for the equipment become large in scale, and the time required for transportation becomes long.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, abolishes the transportation of molds, eliminates the need for transportation equipment, and enables efficient production when products of different sizes are mixed. The purpose of this is to reduce the capital investment and enable the efficient arrangement of workers to improve the production efficiency.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a mold clamping device for a molding die having an upper die lifting mechanism and an upper and lower die clamping mechanism, in which the lower part of the front surface is opened and the upper part and both side parts are surrounded. A production line is configured with two sets of FRP production devices integrally installed with a dust collector having a wall, and from the coating of the two production devices to the demolding and mold cleaning of products.
The maximum number of workers required for each process is N
And at most the first step including the steps required by N people
(N-1) Time-sequentially divided into the second step that the person needs,
The other is the FRP production method in which the first step is carried out and the other the second step is carried out.

[0007]

In each production apparatus, the entire FRP production process can be performed without moving the molding die, and the gel coat can be applied without impairing the working environment. This production equipment 2
Since a set of bases is used and the work steps of the bases are shifted, the production can be performed by arranging the minimum number of workers.

[0008]

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a production apparatus used in the present invention, in which a solid line shows a mold clamping device and a two-dot chain line shows a dust collecting device integrally installed with this device. The mold clamping device uses a device similar to the mold clamping device previously filed by the present applicant (Japanese Patent Application No. 3-93035). This device has two base 1s. The upper pedestal 3 is attached by the column 2 and the lifting device 4 of the upper die pedestal 5 for mounting the upper die of the molding die is installed on the upper pedestal 3. As this lifting device, a known lifting device can be used, and although not shown in the figure, the upper frame 5 is suspended by a chain that is reciprocally driven by a driving motor and guided by a guide rail 8 installed on the column 2. Up and down. A chilled mechanism 6 is provided on the upper die mount 5 so that an upper die attached to the chilled mechanism 6 can be moved up and down and rocked. On the other hand, the lower die mount 7 for attaching the lower die is attached to the base 1 via the air spring 9. The dust collector is provided with a dust collector 10 having a water tank and a fan at the rear of the mold clamping device, a ceiling 11 and side walls 12 on both sides of the upper frame 3 of the mold clamping device, and a movable shutter above the front surface. 13 is installed and the lower part is opened.

In the state shown in FIG. 2, the upper die is mounted on the upper die mount 5 and the lower die is mounted on the lower die mount 7, and the upper die is lowered to clamp the mold.
Although RP is manufactured and a series of molding processes are performed without moving the molding die, each production process itself is the same as the conventional processes A to G described in FIG. A description will be given starting from the step of taking out a product through the molding process, cleaning the molding surface of the mold and applying gel coat for molding the next product. In the gel coat application step, the dust collector 10 is operated as a measure against dust, and the gel coat is applied to the molding surface of the lower mold by a spray gun while sucking air through the opening in the front surface. In this case, the wind speed on the upper surface of the lower mold can be controlled by moving the shutter 13 provided on the upper front surface up and down, and the coating efficiency of the gel coat can be improved according to the size of the product.

Next, the reinforcing fibers are set in the lower mold and the upper mold is closed. In this mold closing, when the raising / lowering device 4 is operated and the chain is fed out, the upper mold frame 5 supporting the upper mold is guided by the guide rails 8 and descends, and the upper mold is matched with the lower mold. Since the RTM molding die is provided with positioning on the die itself, the closed die is put in the die clamping step in this state. The mold is clamped by abutting the four corners of the upper mold base 5 and the columns 5'and 7'provided on the base 1, respectively, and inserting the wedges into the holes provided in them to fix the two, and sending air to the air spring 9 Since the mold base 7 is raised and the upper mold is supported by the base 1 by the columns 5'and 7 ', the mold clamping force is generated by the force of the air spring 9. Next, the nozzle of the resin injecting machine is set on the upper die to inject the resin into the die. The mold in which the resin has been injected waits for curing as it is, and after a predetermined time elapses, the columns 5'and 7'are uncoupled, the elevating device 4 is operated, and the upper mold is lifted together with the upper mold stand 5 to open the mold. Remove the product from the mold. Clean the molding surface of the mold before moving on to the next product. In this case, it is convenient for cleaning if the upper mold base 5 is swung by the chilling mechanism 6 and the front of the upper mold is tilted upward.

For example, when molding left and right fenders of an automobile, as shown in FIG.
The module base M1 is installed with 1 and m12 as one set. When the production amount is large, the module base M2 can be installed as one unit, and a plurality of module bases can be provided as needed. In this case, the resin tank 27 is common,
The resin injection machine 26 is installed for each module base.

The work schedule in the module base M1 of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. A dedicated worker is placed in each of the production devices m11 (No. 1 machine) and m12 (No. 2 machine) of the module base M1, each has a predetermined molding die attached, and each machine has the same A to H as described above. Although the process is performed, in the demolding process of A, the mold cleaning process and the fiber mat setting process of C, 2
It takes manpower. Therefore, a third worker is assigned to the module base, and one module base is in charge of three persons. At the start of the line, Unit 1 started work first,
Perform the process and the process C in collaboration with the third worker. At the time when the first half of the process of Unit 1 is completed (the mold matching is completed in Fig. 3), the work of Unit 2 is started. In this case, the third worker jointly performs the process A and the process C of the second unit. By doing so, the working time of the third worker in the first unit (one main line in FIG. 3) and the working time in the second unit (two main lines in FIG. 3) do not overlap. There will be some waiting time for the third worker, but this time will be devoted to other work. In the same manner, when three people work on the module base, two products can be obtained in one tact time T. If the product is large and the resin curing time in the G process is long, one worker can help the other A and C processes by using this waiting time, and two people can perform the work of one module. You can also

The production system of the present invention does not require large equipment such as the conventional merry-go-round type, and can be started with a small number of module bases at the start of production, and the number of module bases can be increased as the production volume increases. Therefore, it is possible to make effective capital investment. In addition, even if the model is changed, it can be handled simply by exchanging the molding die, and it is a large product
In the case of, it is possible to deal with the small modification only to improve the mold clamping force, so that it is possible to make an extremely effective capital investment.

The mold clamping device is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and any device having an upper die lifting mechanism and an upper die clamping mechanism can be used, and the dust collecting device is not limited to the washing type. It can also be a dry booth. Further, although the RTM molding die has been described in the above embodiments, the present invention can be applied to molding dies of other molding methods that are lightweight and have a low molding pressure. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be applied to the molding of automobile outer skins such as engine hoods, fenders, roofs, and trunk lids, and also can be used for suspensions, lower arms,
It is also applicable to structural members for automobiles such as upper arms and frames. Further, it can be applied to the molding of building structures other than automobile parts.

[0015]

The present invention eliminates the need to carry a molding die in each molding step by using a simple equipment in which a mold clamping device and a dust collecting device are combined, and mixes products of different sizes. In the case of production by simply changing the mold, it is possible to reduce capital investment and improve production efficiency. Further, since the production equipment is set as a set of two and the work steps of each group are shifted, it becomes possible to carry out the production by allocating the minimum number of workers. Since it is only necessary to add more facilities, capital investment can be made extremely efficiently.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a production apparatus used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a work process of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional production method.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 base 2 column 3 upper mount 4
Lifting device 5 Upper pedestal 6 Chilling mechanism 7 Lower pedestal 8
Guide rail 9 Air spring 10 Dust collector 11 Ceiling 1
2 Side wall M1 1st module M2 2nd module

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Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A dust collecting device having a wall which opens a lower part of a front surface and surrounds an upper part and both side parts, in a mold clamping device of a molding die having an upper die lifting mechanism and an upper die clamping mechanism. Of the FRP production equipment installed as a set to configure a production line, and from the gel coat application of the two production equipment
A series of work processes from product demolding and mold cleaning to each process
N is the maximum number of workers required for
The first step including the process and at most (N-1) people or the necessary second step
The process is divided into time series, and one is performing the first process.
The FRP production method is characterized in that the second step is carried out by the other when it is carried out.