JP2738527B2 - Glazing method and glazing equipment for ceramics - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a glaze method and a glaze apparatus which can be adjusted without depending on the amount of glaze adhered.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in the production of glaze tile, glaze is applied to a dry-molded product of the cloth as follows. The dried molded product is hung on a hanger and transported by a transport device,
While this passes through the glaze station, the glaze is pumped from the glaze tank and poured onto the dry molded product. Here, the glaze is in the form of a slurry suspended in water to a predetermined concentration in advance, and the water of the sprayed glaze soaks into the dry molded product, so that a glaze layer is applied to a required portion of the surface of the dry molded product. Is formed. Excess glaze dripped from the dried product is returned to the glaze tank again.

By the way, in the case of this kind of ceramic products such as glaze tiles, the thickness of the glaze adhered to a dry molded product (glaze thickness)
If the amount is small, an appropriate color is not obtained, resulting in a defective product. Conversely, if the glaze thickness is excessive, expensive glaze is not only wasted, but also sometimes causes abnormal coloring, glaze dripping, twisting, and the like, which is also a cause of failure.

[0004] Therefore, it is important to attach a glaze to a dry molded product of a tile by a proper thickness, and various methods that do not rely on intuition for controlling the thickness of the glaze have been tried in the past. One of the most common methods is to test and glaze dry molded products and estimate the glaze thickness from the change in weight.

[0005]

However, in this method, since the width of the glazed area affects the weight of the glaze to be applied, the glazed area must always be constant in order to accurately measure the glazed thickness. However, it is considerably difficult, and as a result, there is a problem that an accurate glazing thickness cannot be measured. In addition, this method has a drawback that the measurement of the weight of the product must be performed precisely, and thus the measurement is not easy. However, the concentration of some of the glazed glaze gradually increases with the lapse of working time because it is returned to the glaze tank, and the concentration changes significantly when new glaze is introduced to make up for the depleted glaze. Under the circumstances, it is desirable to frequently measure the thickness of the glaze, so that the above-mentioned weighing method is not practically sufficient.

Since the thickness of the glaze will be proportional to the concentration (specific gravity) of the glaze solution, a method of measuring the specific gravity of the glaze solution using a floating hydrometer has been attempted. However, in this method, the glaze solution adheres to the scale of the hydrometer and the scale is difficult to read, so that there is still a problem in that the measurement is not easy, and an error due to surface tension occurs, resulting in a lack of accuracy.

Further, since the thickness of the glaze will be proportional to the viscosity of the glaze solution, the viscosity is measured based on the time required for the glaze to flow out of a predetermined perforated container, or the viscosity is measured using a rotational viscometer. There is also a method of estimating the thickness of the glaze. However, these methods still lack the convenience of measurement, and have the problem that measurement errors are likely to occur due to components such as glue contained in the glaze water.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a glaze method capable of easily measuring the amount of glaze adhered and easily managing the amount. It is an object of the present invention to provide a glazing device which makes it easy to control the amount of glaze applied.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems and Functions / Effects]

<Invention of claim 1> According to the method for glazing ceramics according to claim 1, the glaze suspended in water is stored in a glaze tank, and glaze is sent out of the glaze tank while compensating for the decrease in the glaze tank. The present invention is characterized in that the glaze concentration is adjusted while measuring the concentration of the glaze based on its electrical conductivity.

[0010] The concentration of the glaze can be determined by measuring the concentration of metal ions contained in the glaze because the glaze is in the form of a slurry in which a glaze raw material is suspended in water.
Then, the concentration of the metal ions should be known by measuring the electrical conductivity of the glaze slurry. The present invention has been made based on such findings.

[0011] To measure the electric conductivity, it is only necessary to dispose an electrode in the glaze and to supply an electric current, so that the measurement is excellent in simplicity. Therefore, if electrodes are placed in the glaze tank, continuous measurement is possible, and even if the glaze concentration fluctuates over time, it can be easily measured at any time. Management can be performed easily.

<The invention of claim 2> The glaze method according to claim 2 is characterized in that, in the above invention of claim 1, the concentration of the glaze is measured by temperature-correcting the measured electric conductivity according to the glaze temperature. Having.

In this way, even if the metal ions are contained in the same amount in the glaze or the electric conductivity varies depending on the glaze temperature, the glaze concentration can be measured more accurately. Thus, the glaze thickness can be more accurately controlled.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the glaze apparatus, the glaze suspended in water is stored in the glaze tank, and the glaze is sent out of the glaze tank while compensating for the decrease in the glaze tank. It is characterized in that a glaze concentration measuring device for measuring the concentration of glaze based on electric conductivity is provided on a ceramic glazed.

According to the glaze apparatus having the above-described structure, even if the glaze concentration fluctuates with time, the glaze concentration can be easily measured in the same manner as in the above-mentioned invention. Can be obtained.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the glaze apparatus of the second aspect, further comprising a temperature sensor for measuring the glaze temperature, and correcting the electric conductivity by the glaze temperature measured by the temperature sensor. It is characterized by measuring the concentration of glaze.

[0017] In this case, similarly to the second aspect of the present invention, since the temperature is corrected, the glaze concentration can be measured more accurately, and the control of the glaze thickness can be performed more accurately.

<Invention of Claim 5> The ceramic glazing apparatus according to claim 5 is provided with a display for graphically displaying the temporal change of the glaze density measured by the glaze density measuring apparatus in addition to the above glaze apparatus. It has features in other places.

According to this configuration, the temporal change of the glaze concentration can be checked at a glance, so that empirical prediction is possible and glaze thickness management with higher accuracy is possible.

<Invention of claim 6> In the ceramic glazing apparatus according to claim 6, the glazing apparatus according to claims 3 to 5 is provided with a mixing tank separately from the glaze tank, and the glazing material is provided in the mixing tank. Is supplied to mix the glaze, and the glaze is supplied to the glaze tank. The feature is that glaze concentration measuring devices are provided in both the glaze tank and the blending tank.

According to this configuration, the glaze can be preliminarily prepared to a required concentration in the preparation tank and supplied to the glaze tank, so that a change in the concentration of the glaze tank can be suppressed as much as possible, and a more accurate glaze thickness can be obtained. The effect of being able to manage is obtained.

[0022]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

First Embodiment A first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a continuous glaze tile glazing apparatus will be described below with reference to the drawings. The dried molded product 1 obtained by molding and drying the tile material is hung on a hanger 2 and transported from the right side to the left side in the figure by a trolley 3 as transporting means, and passes through a glaze station A on the way. A glaze machine 4 is disposed at the transfer station A, and the glaze stored in the glaze tank 5 is pumped up by the pump 6 on the dry molded product 1 passing therethrough, and the glaze is adhered to the dry molded product 1. Excess glaze that does not adhere to the dried molded article 1 or drip from the dried molded article 1 in the glaze machine 4 is returned to the glaze tank 5 through the return chute 7.

The glaze tank 5 is provided with a rotatable agitator 8 for stirring the glaze stored therein, and the agitator 8 is rotated by a stirring motor 9. Further, a glaze stock solution is stored in a stock solution tank 10, from which a glaze stock solution can be supplied to the glaze tank 5 via a pump 11. The glaze tank 5 has a water supply pipe 1 for dilution of the unglaze solution.
2 are connected via a manual valve 13 and the manual valve 1
3 is opened so that tap water can be supplied into the glaze tank 5.

The glaze tank 5 is provided with a glaze concentration measuring device 14. This is to measure the electric conductivity and the temperature of the glaze by the sensor 15 and to measure the concentration based on them. In the present embodiment, the electric conductivity is obtained by using a four-electrode type conductivity meter shown in FIG. Make up. Specifically, the electrode 15b is connected to one input terminal of the comparison amplifier 16, and the electrode 15c is connected to the other input terminal of the comparison amplifier 16 via an oscillation circuit 17 that oscillates at a predetermined frequency. The output terminal of the comparison amplifier 16 is connected to the electrode 15a, and the last electrode 15d is connected to the current-voltage conversion circuit 18.

In this circuit configuration, when the electrodes 15a to 15d are arranged in a line and a current i flows between the electrodes 15a to 15d,
A voltage V is generated between the electrodes 15b and 15c according to the resistance R of the solution. The comparison amplifier 16 controls the electrodes 15a-15 so that the output voltage VS of the oscillation circuit 18 is equal to the voltage V.
Since the voltage between d is controlled, the current i and the voltage V satisfy the following relationship.

I = V / R · K i: current between electrodes 15a-15d V: voltage between electrodes 15b-15c R: current between electrodes 15b-15c K: electrode cell constant In the above equation, 1 / R · K Since K is the definition of electric conductivity, if it is G, i = VG · G. Since V is constant, it can be understood that the current i is proportional to the electric conductivity G. If the voltage is converted by the voltage conversion circuit 18, the electrical conductivity can be measured from the voltage output.

When the electric conductivity is measured by such a four-electrode method, the electric conductivity is hardly affected by the polarization action and the dirt.
Further, an advantage of being hardly affected by cable resistance and electrode impedance is obtained, which is suitable for measuring the electrical conductivity of the glaze as in the present embodiment.

In this embodiment, the sensor 15 is provided with a thermistor, which is a temperature sensor for measuring the glaze temperature. The thermistor measures the glaze temperature, and the electric conductivity G measured as described above is, for example, 5 ° C. The temperature is corrected by multiplying a temperature compensation coefficient of -2% per degree in a temperature range of -45 ° C. The electric conductivity G measured after the temperature correction as described above is displayed in digital form on the display 19 of the glaze concentration measuring device 14.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. The dry molded product 1 of the tile fabric is hung on a hanger 2 and a trolley 3
And is glazed at the glazing station A on the way. The glaze is supplied in a glaze tank 5 by a pump 6, and the glaze is stirred in the glaze tank 5 by an agitator 8.

As the glazing operation proceeds, the glaze in the glaze tank 5 gradually decreases, and the concentration tends to increase due to the excess glaze returned through the return chute 7. The concentration is always measured by the glaze concentration measuring device 14, and the numerical value is displayed on the display 19. When the concentration exceeds the upper limit determined for each type of glaze, the operator turns on the pump 11 of the stock solution tank 10. It is sufficient to open the manual valve 13 of the water supply pipe 12 while driving. Then, the glaze stock solution and tap water for dilution are supplied into the glaze tank 5,
The stirring is performed by the agitator 8 which is continuously operated.

As a result, the amount of glaze in the glaze tank 5 recovers. The concentration is determined by the amount of the supplied glaze stock solution and tap water, but the concentration at that time is measured by the glaze concentration measuring device 14 and displayed on the display 19, so if the concentration is higher than the target concentration, The manual valve 13 is opened to replenish the tap water so that the target concentration is obtained. If the tap water is thin, the pump 11 may be operated to replenish the glaze stock solution.

As described above, in this embodiment, since the glaze concentration in the glaze tank 5 is always measured by the glaze concentration measuring device 14, the operator looks at the display on the display 19 and adjusts the concentration to the target value. It is only necessary to replenish the undiluted glaze solution or tap water, and it is possible to prevent the glaze concentration from becoming abnormally high or low and causing firing failure. Of course, since the concentration is measured based on the electrical conductivity and temperature of the glaze, it is extremely simple and continuous measurement compared to those that measure the weight of glazed products or use a hydrometer. This makes it possible to monitor the concentration at all times, and to control the fluctuation of the concentration and thus to control the glaze thickness with high accuracy.

When the glazing device is operated continuously,
Although it is inevitable that the glaze temperature in the glaze tank 5 changes with time due to a change in the environmental temperature between daytime and nighttime and a rise in temperature caused by rotation of the agitator 8, the glaze temperature is measured in the present embodiment. Since the electric conductivity is temperature-corrected by the method, measurement with higher accuracy is possible, and the thickness of the glaze can be controlled with higher accuracy.

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. A major difference from the first embodiment is that a mixing tank 21 is provided separately from the glaze tank 5. . The mixing tank 21 is also provided with an agitator 22 and a stirring motor 23, and the sensor 1 of the glaze tank 5
A sensor 24 similar to 5 is arranged so as to be able to measure the electric conductivity and temperature of the glaze in the preparation tank 21, and this is connected to a glaze concentration measuring device 25. The above sensor 2
The principle and configuration of the glaze concentration measurement by 4 are the same as those by the sensor 15 on the glaze tank 5 side. Further, the glaze concentration measuring device 25 is provided with two displays 26 capable of displaying graphs, so that the temporal change of the glaze concentration in the glaze tank 5 and the glaze concentration in the blending tank 21 can be graphically displayed. Has become. The mixing tank 2
The glaze prepared in 1 is supplied into the glaze tank 5 by the pump 27 when the liquid level in the glaze tank 5 drops.

According to this configuration, the glaze stock solution from the stock solution tank 10 and the tap water from the water supply pipe 12 are once supplied into the mixing tank 21, where they are stirred by the agitator 22. Therefore, the worker looks at the display 26 of the glaze concentration measuring device 25 and adjusts to a predetermined concentration.
Then, it may be supplied to the glaze tank 5 by the pump 27. As a result, the concentration change in the glaze tank 5 can be minimized as compared with a configuration in which the unglaze solution or tap water is directly supplied to the glaze tank 5, and this is more effective for high-precision control of the glaze thickness.

Further, in this embodiment, the temporal change of the glaze concentration is displayed in a graph, so that the tendency of the change can be easily grasped as compared with a simple numerical display at the present time, and the future prediction is made. Can be easily done empirically, which is more effective for high-precision control of the glaze thickness.

<Other Embodiments> The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above with reference to the drawings and drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. In addition to the following, various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

(1) In the above embodiments, when measuring the glaze concentration, not only the electric conductivity is measured, but also the glaze temperature is measured to correct the temperature. In an environment or when high measurement accuracy is not required, the temperature correction can be omitted.

(2) In the second embodiment, the temporal change of the glaze concentration is displayed as a graph. However, this is not always necessary, and may be numerically displayed as in the first embodiment. .

(3) In each of the above embodiments, an example in which the present invention is applied to a glaze device for glaze tiles has been described.
It can be widely used for sanitary ware and other porcelain.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing a principle of measuring electric conductivity in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Glaze tank 8, 22 Agitator 9, 23 Stirring motor 10 Undiluted tank 12 Water supply pipe 14, 25 Glaze concentration measuring device 15, 24 Sensor 19, 26 Display 21 Mixing tank

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A glaze method in which glaze suspended in water is stored in a glaze tank, and glaze is sent out of the glaze tank and glazed on ceramics while compensating for the decrease in the glaze tank. A glaze method for ceramics, wherein the amount of glaze is adjusted while measuring the concentration based on the electric conductivity. 2. The method for glazing ceramics according to claim 1, wherein the concentration of the glaze is measured by temperature-correcting the measured electric conductivity according to the glaze temperature. 3. A glaze apparatus, wherein glaze suspended in water is stored in a glaze tank, and glaze is sent from the glaze tank to compensate for the decrease in the glaze tank so as to glaze the ceramic. A glaze apparatus comprising a glaze concentration measuring device for measuring a concentration based on electric conductivity. 4. A glaze concentration measuring device is provided with a temperature sensor for measuring glaze temperature, and the temperature of the electric conductivity is corrected by the glaze temperature measured by the temperature sensor to measure the glaze concentration. The glazing device according to claim 3. 5. A glaze apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a display for graphically displaying a temporal change of the glaze density measured by the glaze density measuring apparatus. 6. A glaze concentration measuring device, comprising a blending tank separately from the glaze tank, supplying glaze material to the blending tank to blend glaze, and supplying the glaze to the glaze tank. The glaze apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the apparatus is provided in both the glaze tank and the blending tank.