JP3173515B2 - Method and apparatus for bending glass plate - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for bending a glass plate into a double curved surface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a glass sheet formed into a double curved surface in the automobile industry, that is, as shown in FIG. 3, a glass sheet 8 is bent in the longitudinal direction and the width direction at the radii of R ₁ and R ₂ respectively. A glass plate 8 having a double curved surface has been required.

[0003] One example of the proposed bending apparatus as an apparatus for forming a multi-curved surface in FIG. 4 is shown. According to the bending apparatus 10, the glass plate 8 is conveyed on the hearth beds 13, 13,... While having a radius R along a direction axis perpendicular to the conveying direction.
_The bending is performed at 2 and then the hearth beds 14, 1 formed in a curved shape along the axis of the glass plate 8 in the conveying direction.
6, the glass sheet 8 is bent along the transport direction axis with a radius R ₁ , and then cooled and strengthened at the blow port 18. Thereby, a double curved surface of the glass plate 8 as shown in FIG. 3 is formed.

[0004]

In such a glass manufacturing line, the proportion of the molding furnace occupied by equipment investment is extremely large. Therefore, it is advantageous if the equipment for the double curved glass production line and the conventional single curved glass production line can be shared as much as possible, especially if the forming furnace can be shared. However, there are various difficulties in using a furnace and the like in common as described below.

[0005] That is, if the existing single-curved glass production line and the multi-curved glass production line as shown in FIG. 4 are to be shared, hearth beds 14, 16 for multi-curved surfaces,
It is necessary to exchange the blow port 18 with a hearth bed or the like for a single curved surface. However, in the above-described conventional bending apparatus for a double curved surface, the hearth beds 14, 16 for bending and forming the glass sheet in the longitudinal direction are continuously provided with a downward slope so that the glass sheet advances smoothly. So
As shown in FIG. 4, the glass plate falls greatly from the height (H2) before molding to the height (H1) after molding (the amount of depression is (H) in the figure). Therefore, if the forming furnace of the single curved glass sheet production line and the multi-curved glass sheet production line are shared, when the multi-curved glass sheet is produced, the dropping position (H1) where the longitudinal direction has been bent and formed is completed. )
It is necessary to specially provide a lifting means for lifting the glass plate to a position (H2) before falling from the glass plate.

The drop position (H1) differs not only between a glass plate having a single curved surface and a glass plate having a double curved surface, but also varies depending on the specifications of the glass plate having a multiple curved surface. Therefore, it is inevitable to use a dedicated lifting means depending on the bending specification of the glass plate or to use a general-purpose lifting means adjusted for each specification. Dedicating the lifting means and preparing each type of glass plate is not preferable because it greatly disadvantages capital investment. Also, adjusting the general-purpose lifting means for each specification,
It takes too much time and effort to change varieties and is not practical.

In addition, in the conventional apparatus, pulling the glass sheet from the drop position (H2) to the position (H1) before the drop itself is actually accompanied by great technical difficulties.

That is, the conventional single-curved glass sheet bending line usually has a distance (L) between the forming furnace 12 and the post-process conveyor 20 in order to minimize the equipment space. It is set short (usually several meters or less).
Therefore, if the existing single-surface glass sheet forming line forming furnace is applied to the production of double-curved glass sheets,
At this short distance (L), it is necessary to raise the glass sheet from the drop position (H1) of the formed glass sheet to the height (H2) before the drop.

In such a case, since the curvature and the inclination change greatly between the conveying surface of the blowing port 18 and the conveying surface of the lifting device, it is extremely difficult to stably convey the glass plate at this boundary. If the distance (L) can be increased to more than tens of meters, this difficulty is eased, but it does not meet the demand for space saving, and the existing single curved glass sheet manufacturing line is used for forming a double curved surface. It cannot be diverted.

[0010] The object of the present invention has been made in view of such circumstances .
An object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for bending a multi-curved glass sheet, which can utilize most of the existing facilities of a single-curved glass sheet production line and can be performed only by simple equipment changes.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for bending a double curved glass sheet which occupies as little space as possible.

It is another object of the present invention to share a forming furnace for forming a single curved glass sheet and a forming furnace for forming a multi-curved glass sheet having various specifications.

Further, another object of the present invention is to stabilize the amount of drop of the glass plate during the formation of a double curved surface, thereby making the position (H2) before the drop from the drop position (H2).
Means for raising the glass sheet up to 1) are common regardless of the specification of the double curved surface shape of the glass sheet, and the trouble of equipment adjustment when changing the specification of the glass sheet is reduced as much as possible.

It is another object of the present invention to improve the stability of pulling by suppressing the pulling distance to be small.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention conveys a glass sheet onto a conveying surface in a forming furnace.
When heating the glass plate to near its softening point,
In the glass sheet bending method, the glass sheet is bent by its own weight into a shape along the transfer surface .
At least the transfer surface near the exit is set to an upward slope.
A multi-curved bending conveyance surface having a multi-curved surface shape;
The glass plate is transported on the
A double bending process for forming a sheet into a shape substantially along the double bending and conveying surface. <br/> The double bending process and the glass plate discharged from the outlet of the forming furnace are substantially continuous with the double bending and conveying surface. Forming a double curved surface shape, and at least a part of the glass sheet bent at least partly while being conveyed on a cooling conveying surface arranged on a downward slope. Provide a way.

Further, the present invention provides a method for bending a glass sheet, further comprising a step of transferring the glass sheet to a height of a post-processing step conveying path after the cooling strengthening step. I do.

Further, before the double bending step, a single-curve bending transfer surface having a single-curved surface shape that is upwardly convex with a predetermined curvature along an axis perpendicular to the transfer direction in a forming furnace. A method of bending a glass sheet, comprising a single bending step of bending by its own weight into a shape substantially along the single bending bending transfer surface by transporting the glass sheet in a substantially horizontal direction.

Further, the hearth bed constitutes a transfer surface for bending a double curved surface, and when the glass plate is transferred on the transfer surface for bending a double curved surface, the glass plate is transferred on the transfer surface for bending a double curved surface.
To provide a method for bending a glass sheet, characterized in being levitated supported through a gas layer comprising a pressurized et gas blown.

Further, a forming furnace for heating the glass plate to the vicinity of the softening point temperature, at least carry-out port vicinity of the forming furnace
With a rising slope and a double curved surface
The formed transfer surface, and the glass sheet is
While heating to near the softening point temperature of the double curved surface shape
By transporting the transport surface, the glass plate is turned into the double curved surface
A double-curved bending conveyance surface for forming a double-curved bending shape with its own weight in a shape substantially along the shape, and a double-curved surface shape substantially continuous with the double-curved bending conveyance surface, at least a part of which is disposed on a downward slope. and a cooling conveyor surface, is provided an apparatus for bending characteristics and be Ruga <br/> lath to have a glass plate cooled strengthening means disposed in the vicinity of the cooling conveyor surface is there.

[0020] Further, there is provided a transfer means provided on the downstream side of the strengthening transfer surface in the transfer direction for transferring the glass plate to a height of a transfer path for a post-processing step. The present invention provides an apparatus for bending a glass sheet.

[0021] Further, it is preferable that the apparatus further comprises a single-curve bending conveyance surface provided on the upstream side of the multi-bending conveyance surface in the conveyance direction and having a single-curved surface shape that is upwardly convex along a direction axis perpendicular to the conveyance direction. A feature of the present invention is to provide a glass sheet bending apparatus.

Moreover, further forms a molding conveyor surface hearth bed bending double curved surface, the conveying surface for bending double curved molding, blown plurality curved bending conveying surface or al gas, a layer made of the gas It is an object of the present invention to provide a bending apparatus for a glass sheet, wherein a supporting means for floating and supporting the glass sheet is provided.

According to the technical means as described above, the glass sheet conveyed on the conveying surface provided in the forming furnace is heated to a temperature near the glass softening temperature in the forming furnace, and is conveyed by its own weight. After being formed into a multi-curved surface shape substantially along the line, the glass sheet is cooled and strengthened by cooling strengthening means, and further introduced into a post-processing step conveyance path for conveying the glass sheet to a place where post-processing such as washing is performed.

In such a technical means, at least a means for heating a glass sheet to be formed to a softening temperature and a glass sheet are conveyed on the forming furnace for bending a glass sheet. The design may be changed as appropriate as long as it includes the transfer surface. In this case, as a heating means, there is a means by radiant heat heating by a heater. Further, a high-temperature gas may be blown out from a lower portion of the hearth bed formed of the refractory brick through a hole provided in the hearth bed, and the gas may be heated to around the softening temperature of the glass plate. . In this case, the glass plate is levitated and supported via the layer made of the gas. Therefore, in this case, the hearth bed of the forming furnace becomes the transfer surface. If the heating is performed by the gas from the lower part of the hearth bed, the transfer surface and the glass plate do not come into contact with each other. Therefore, it is desirable from the viewpoint of preventing the glass plate from being damaged during the transfer.

The transport means may be any as long as it can transport a glass plate in a forming furnace, and various structures can be adopted. In particular, FIG. 5 shows an example of the conveying means suitable for the case where the glass plate is heated by the gas from the lower part of the hearth bed. The glass plate 51 is levitated and supported via a gas layer made of gas blown up through a hole 55 provided in the hearth bed 50, and is conveyed in the direction of the arrow. The hearth bed 50 is inclined 1 to 5 degrees, preferably 2 to 4 degrees around the transport direction from the horizontal direction, and a drive chain 53 driven in the glass sheet transport direction is provided near the lower side of the inclination of the hearth bed 50. Is arranged. Further, holders 52 and 52 and pushers 54, which are support members for glass plates, are attached to the drive chain 53. When driving the drive chain 53 in the direction of the arrow, along with it, the holder 52 and the pusher 5 4 is moved while contacting holding the glass plate 51, the glass plate is conveyed. The above structure is one example, and the transporting means of the present invention is not limited to this.

Further, the glass sheet cooling and strengthening means may be appropriately changed in design as long as the glass sheet is appropriately strengthened while maintaining the shape formed in the forming furnace. Particularly, a cooling blowout module group in which a large number of nozzle-shaped blowouts are arranged at appropriate intervals above and below the transfer path through which the glass plate is transferred is provided, and the air blown from the blowout blows the glass plate. From the viewpoint of uniformly strengthening the glass plate, it is preferable to perform cooling strengthening from both sides. Further, the cooling can be divided into two stages. That is, first, the steel sheet is cooled down to a temperature below the strain point while applying uniform reinforcement (primary cooling), and then cooled to almost normal temperature (secondary cooling). If the primary cooling only when the above cooling mouthpiece module group as used only when the primary cooling reinforcement is applied, saving capital investment cooling mouthpiece modules.

The conveying surface of the glass sheet in the present invention has a double curved surface shape that is upwardly convex along both the conveying direction axis and the axis perpendicular to the conveying direction in the forming furnace. At least in the vicinity of the carry-out port, a multi-curve bending forming transfer surface having the upwardly sloped portion disposed therein, and a multi-curved surface shape substantially continuous with the double-curve bent transfer surface, and at least a part thereof is disposed on a down slope. And a provided cooling transfer surface .

The angle of the upward slope can be determined as appropriate according to the shape of the bent glass plate. In addition, the curvature of the transfer surface is also determined as corresponding to the shape of the glass sheet to be formed, but in order to stably transfer, along the direction axis perpendicular to the transfer direction,
The present invention may be applied to molding having a radius of curvature of 500 mm, preferably 1000 mm or more, and a radius of curvature of 10,000 mm or more, preferably 20000 mm or more along the transport direction axis.

Further, the curvature of the transfer surface may be appropriately changed depending on the position on the transfer surface. For example, in the initial stage of conveyance, the curvature is reduced, and the curvature is gradually increased toward the downstream of the conveyance path, so that the conveyance surface has a curvature substantially matching the desired bent shape of the glass sheet near the outlet of the forming furnace. Is also good.

In the present invention, even when the shape of the double curved surface of the glass sheet changes variously depending on the product type, it is possible to easily apply the existing equipment of the production line for the single curved curved glass sheet to form the glass sheet. In view of this, it is preferable that a transfer means for transferring the glass sheet to the height of the post-processing step transfer path is provided along the downstream side of the cooling transfer surface in the transfer direction. This makes it possible to guide the glass sheet to the post-processing step conveyance path only by adjusting the inclination of the transfer means while keeping the post-processing step fixed, so that many types of glass sheets having different curvatures can be produced. Ru can easily cope with. As the transfer means, any means capable of transferring a glass plate, such as a disk conveyor or a belt conveyor, can be widely used.

In applications where relatively deep bending is required only in one direction (such as the horizontal direction when mounted on a car), such as a normal automobile glass plate, the above-mentioned multi-curved transfer surface is used. It is preferable to provide a single-bend conveying surface curved at a predetermined curvature only along an axis orthogonal to the conveying direction on the upstream side of the sheet. In this case, the glass sheet is placed on the single-bending transfer surface and the glass sheet is transferred in a forming furnace such that the direction in which the bending is required to be performed with a large curvature is perpendicular to the transfer direction. Accordingly, the bending process can be performed in advance along the direction axis perpendicular to the transport direction before forming the double curved surface.

Further, in such a case, if there is a difference in inclination between the double-bend conveying surface and the single-bending conveyance surface near the boundary between the surfaces, the double-bending conveyance surface when the glass sheet passes through this boundary. , And may cause distortion or the like on the glass plate.
In order to prevent such a situation, it is effective to incline the single-bend conveying surface so that the conveying surface is slightly inclined in the conveying direction. In addition, if there is a difference in inclination between the single-bending conveyance surface and the multi-bending conveyance surface, a reverse sled may occur in the glass sheet near the boundary, but after the glass sheet passes near the boundary, There is no problem because the final shape is formed on the multi-curved conveying surface.

[0033]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a glass sheet bending method according to the present invention;

FIG. 1 is a side view of a glass sheet bending apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part thereof. A hearth bed 34, 34,... And a hearth bed 35, which are single-bending transfer surfaces forming a transfer surface of the glass plate 32, are provided in the gas furnace 30 as a forming furnace. Hearth bed 34,
34 ... surface and hearth bed 35 surface, the radius of curvature R ₂ along the axis perpendicular to the traveling direction of the glass plate 32, has a convex curved surface upward. Also, the hearth bed 34 is substantially horizontal in the transport direction,
Is provided at a slight upward gradient in the transport direction. In addition, these hearth bed 34, 34 ... and Hasube head 35
Is inclined at 3 to 4 degrees around the transport direction axis.

The glass plate 32 has hearth beds 34, 34
On .. surface and hearth bed 35 on the surfaces of which are levitated supported through a gas layer blown from Hasube' de surface. In the figure, reference numerals 34A, 34A,..., 35A denote gas chambers for blowing up gas for floating and supporting the glass plate from the lower part of the hearth bed to the upper part of the surface. In a state where the glass plate 32 is floated on the hearth beds 34 and 35, as shown in FIG.
The glass plate 3 is driven and brought into contact with the glass plate via a support bracket or a drive disk. Glass plate 32
With the movement of the support bracket, the hearth bed 34,
34... And the hearth bed 35 are continuously conveyed. During this transfer, the glass plate 32 is heated to a predetermined temperature near the softening point, and by its own weight, the hearth beds 34, 35
Is formed into a shape substantially conforming to the surface curved shape.

Between the hearth bed 35 and the outlet 30A, there is a curved shape having a radius of curvature R ₂ along a direction axis perpendicular to the traveling direction and a radius of curvature R ₁ along the traveling direction axis. A hearth bed 36 having an upward slope is provided. The outside of the gas furnace 30 is connected to the hearth bed 36 in a substantially continuous manner and has a substantially same curved shape (that is, having a radius of curvature R ₁ , R ₂ ) for cooling, and a wind for blowing cooling air to the glass plate. The cooling blowout module group 38A serving as a cold surface is disposed so as to form a downward slope surface. Above the cooling blowout module group 38A, a cooling blowout module group 38B having the same curvature is provided so as to face the cooling blowout module group 38A. Mouth module group 3
The quenching is strengthened by 8A and 38B.
The air blow-off box boxes 40 and 42 are air chambers connected to the cooling blow-out module groups 38A and 38B.

Further, a disk conveyor 44 is provided at the downstream end of the cooling blowout module group 38A. In FIG. 1, the disk conveyor 44 is formed to be inclined downward from the right end of the cooling blowout module group 38A to 45. As the disk conveyor 44, a heat-resistant rubber is applied to the peripheral surface of an existing disk roller 44A, and a heat-resistant resin ring such as bakelite is attached to the periphery.

In this embodiment, the cooling step has two steps. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing this state. In the first stage, the glass plate 32 is used for cooling blow module group 38A.
It is conveyed on the top and quenched, and at the same time is uniformly strengthened (primary cooling). In FIG. 6, the upper cooling blowout module group 38B is omitted. In the second stage, while being transported on the disk conveyor 44,
The glass plate 32 is further cooled by air from a blow port 43 provided at a lower portion of the disk conveyor 44, and the cooled glass plate 32 is separated from a supporting bracket (see FIG. 5) and carried to the next step (secondary cooling). .

The method of separating the glass plate from the support is not particularly limited, but the following two methods are preferred. The first method is to raise the drive chain 53 and the supporting bracket attached thereto from the height of the transport surface near the position where the glass plate 32 is cooled to almost room temperature, and to increase the disk roller 44A.
Is increased by about 1 to 5%. The second method is to gradually change the inclination of the transfer surface around the transfer direction in the transfer direction. That is, the transport surface inclined in the direction of the drive chain 53 is changed so as to incline in the direction opposite to the drive chain 53 as it advances in the transport direction, so that the glass plate 32 is displaced by its own weight on the transport surface.

In the case of this embodiment, since the shape of the transfer surface is determined by the shape formed on the surface of the disk roller 44A, to shift the glass plate 32 on the transfer surface by the second method,
It is necessary to gradually change the surface shape of the disk roller 44A toward the downstream in the transport direction. As described above, in order to gradually change the inclination of the disk roller 44A, it is preferable to use an expand roller as the disk roller. The expand roller preferably has a heat-resistant metal spring such as stainless steel inside a surface made of heat-resistant rubber. Therefore, by determining the positions of both ends of the roller, the curvature of the surface and the inclination thereof can be freely determined. FIG. 6 shows an apparatus relating to a cooling step in a case where the expand roller is used.

At the downstream end in the transport direction of the disk conveyor 44, an up-slope belt conveyor 4 for transferring the glass plate 32 to a belt conveyor 48 for a post-processing step.
6 are provided continuously, and the upper end of the belt conveyor 46 is set at substantially the same height as the belt conveyor 48 for the post-process. The belt conveyor 46 uses a heat-resistant V-belt 46A.

If the downstream end of the disk conveyor 44 and the height of the post-process belt conveyor 48 are substantially the same, the glass plate 32 can be directly conveyed from the disk conveyor 44 to the post-process belt conveyor. In such a case, there is no need to provide the belt conveyor 46, which is extremely preferable from the viewpoint of facility simplicity.

However, usually, the transport distance required for bending and the transport distance required for cooling enhancement do not always coincide. These vary depending on the required shape of the double curved surface of the glass plate. Therefore, the above-mentioned belt conveyor 46
It is practically preferable to provide the following so as to be able to cope with a change in the specification of the glass plate shape by slightly adjusting the gradient of the conveyance of the belt conveyor 46.

That is, according to the present invention, the gradient of the hearth beds 34, 35, 36, the cooling blowout module group 3
By adjusting the gradient of 8A, the disk conveyor 4
The height of the downstream end of No. 4 can be adjusted to a considerable extent regardless of the specifications of the glass plate. Therefore, it is possible to cope with these specification changes with a slight adjustment of the conveying gradient of the belt conveyor 46. Further, by adjusting the gradient of the hearth bed or the like, the height of the downstream end of the disk conveyor 44 in the transport direction and the height of the post-process conveyor 48 can be set so as not to change much. Therefore, the provided belt conveyor 46 does not need to have a steep gradient, and the conveyance can be performed extremely stably.

Hereinafter, the operation of the apparatus according to this embodiment will be described.

The glass plate 32 is conveyed on a hearth bed 34, 34...
It is heated to a high temperature required for air cooling tempering with along the conveying direction and perpendicular axis is formed by bending at a desired radius of curvature R _2. This glass plate 32 serves as a hearth bed 35.
Through, it provided on unloading port 30A near near the gas furnace 30,
Upon reaching the desired curvature radius R ₁ on the hearth bed 36 having along the conveying axis, it is bent along a radius of curvature R ₁ in the longitudinal direction along the curvature of the hearth bed 36. Thereby the glass plate 32 in the width direction with a radius of curvature R _2, the double curved surface is formed by bending at a radius of curvature R ₁ in the longitudinal direction.

The glass plate 32 thus formed is carried out from the carry-out port 30A of the gas furnace 30 and conveyed onto the cooling blow-off module group 38A, and the blow-out ports 40 and 4
2, the air is cooled to about 400 degrees by the air cooling through the cooling blowout module groups 38A and 38B. The cooled glass plate 32 descends on the disk conveyor 44 and is further air-cooled by the blow port 43 without using the cooling blow module group. Then, after the glass plate 32 has a predetermined shape and strength, the glass plate 32 is separated from the support bracket attached to the drive chain 53, and further, the belt conveyor 46.
Conveyor belt 48 for the post-process through the rising slope surface
Transported to

When the glass plate 32 is formed by bending a single curved surface curved only along the width direction, as is often the case with the specifications of the conventional bent glass plate, an upward slope near the outlet 30A of the gas furnace 30 is required. The hearth bed 35, the curved hearth bed 36, the cooling blowout module group 38A outside the gas furnace 30, the disk roller 44, and the belt conveyor 46 are removed. By connecting the beds 34, 34... And the post-process conveyor 48, it is possible to cope with almost the same equipment. Thereafter, when the glass plate 32 is conveyed in the same manner as described above, the glass plate 32 is bent and formed along the width direction of the glass plate 32 so as to conform to the surface shape of the hearth bed 34, 34.

The glass plate 32 in this manner, according to the onset Akira
Since the longitudinal bending is performed while temporarily increasing the height of the glass plate 32, the drop amount (H) of the glass plate 32 can be reduced. Therefore, in the existing production line in which only the width direction of the glass plate 32 is bent, even if the distance (L) between the gas furnace 30 and the post-process conveyor 48 is short, the height (H2) of the lowered position is obtained. To the height (H1) of the post-process conveyor 48. As a result, a glass sheet bending production line that can use the existing glass bending line and the forming furnace and most of the other facilities in common, and form a glass sheet into a double curved surface simply by replacing a part of it is obtained. Can be

[0050]

According to the bending method and apparatus of the present onset Ming glass plate according to the present invention, a glass plate which is along a direction bending perpendicular to the direction of conveying in the gas furnace from raising once in a gas furnace the glass plate along the conveying direction bending molding, intends rows that <br/> cooling enhanced while lowering as well as unloaded from the gas furnace. Thus, the difference in from the cooling strengthened glass plate depressed position to the belt conveyor in a subsequent step height can be made small suppress obtain, therefore, it is easy to bend molded handling of the glass plate.

Therefore, even when the distance from the gas furnace of the existing equipment to the post-process conveyor is short, the glass sheet is bent in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction and in the conveyance direction using the existing production equipment such as a molding furnace. The glass sheet can be formed into a curved surface by bending.

According to the second and seventh aspects of the present invention, existing glass sheet production line equipment can be more flexibly applied to a line for forming a double curved surface.

According to the third and eighth aspects of the present invention, a compact and space-saving device is required for an application that requires relatively deep bending in only one direction, such as a normal glass plate for automobiles. A bending method and equipment are provided.

According to the fourth and ninth aspects of the present invention, since the glass sheet does not contact the conveying surface, distortion during conveyance of the glass sheet is less likely to occur, and a method of obtaining a higher quality bent glass sheet is provided. Facilities are provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic overall view of a glass sheet bending apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of the glass sheet bending apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a glass sheet bent into a double curved surface.

FIG. 4 is a schematic overall view of a conventional glass sheet bending apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of a glass sheet conveying means.

FIG. 6 is an essential part perspective view showing an apparatus relating to a cooling step in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 30 gas furnace 32 glass plate 34, 35, 36 hearth bed 38 cooling blowout module group 40, 42 blowout 44 disk conveyor 46 belt conveyor 48 post-process conveyor

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Teruji Nagaoka 426-1, Ozawa Uehara, Kakuda, Aikawa-cho, Aiko-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside the Sagami Works of Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. JP-B-48-43363 (JP, B1) U.S. Pat. No. 3,337,093 (US, A) European Patent Application Publication 346200 (EP, A2) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) C03B 23/025 C03B 35/24

Claims (10)

(57) [Claims] 1. A glass sheet is transferred onto a transfer surface in a forming furnace.
When heating the glass plate to near its softening point,
In the glass sheet bending method in which the glass sheet is bent by its own weight into a shape along the transfer surface, at least the transfer surface in the forming furnace near the discharge port is inclined upward
And a multi-curved bending transfer surface with a multi-curved surface shape.
And transporting the glass plate onto the double-bending transport surface.
Bending the glass plate into a shape that is approximately along the conveying surface
A bending process complex shape to bending, arranged a glass plate that is transported from the carry-out port of the forming furnace, the complex shape bending conveying surface and forms a double curved shape continuous to substantially continuously, and at least in part on the down slope And a cooling strengthening step of strengthening the cooling while transporting the glass sheet on the cooled cooling transport surface. 2. The method of bending a glass sheet according to claim 1, further comprising a transfer step of transferring the glass sheet to a height of a post-processing step transport path after the cooling strengthening step. A method for bending a glass plate. 3. The method of bending a glass sheet according to claim 1, wherein, prior to the double bending step, the glass sheet is upwardly projected with a predetermined curvature along an axis perpendicular to a conveying direction in a forming furnace. It is characterized by having a single bending step of bending by itself under the shape of a single curved bending conveyance surface by transporting in a substantially horizontal direction on a single bending bending conveyance surface having a single curved surface shape. The method of bending a glass sheet. 4. The method of bending a glass sheet according to claim 1, wherein the hearth bed of the forming furnace forms a double-bending conveyance surface, and when the glass sheet is conveyed on the double-bending conveyance surface, plate method for bending a glass sheet, characterized by being levitated supported through a gas layer made of gas blown conveying surface or et bending complex shape. 5. The glass according to claim 1, wherein
A method for bending a glass sheet , wherein the double-curved conveying surface is convex upward . 6. A forming furnace for heating a glass sheet to a temperature near the softening point , and provided at least near a carry-out port in the forming furnace.
The transfer surface has a slope and is formed into a multi-curved surface.
Thus, the glass sheet is heated near its softening point by the forming furnace.
Conveys the multi-curved transfer surface while heating up to
By doing so, the glass plate is shaped substantially along the double curved surface shape
A double-curved bending transfer surface to be formed by double-curved bending with its own weight, forming a double-curved surface shape that is substantially continuous with the double-curved bent transfer surface, at least a part of which is a cooling transfer surface disposed on a downward slope. , bending apparatus features and be Ruga lath to have a glass plate cooled strengthening means disposed in the vicinity of the cooling conveyor surface. 7. The apparatus for bending a glass sheet according to claim 6 , further comprising the step of moving the glass sheet provided on the downstream side in the transport direction of the cooling transport surface to a height of a transport path for a post-processing step. And a transfer means for transferring the glass sheet. 8. The apparatus for bending a glass sheet according to claim 6 , further comprising an upstream side in the transport direction of the double-bending transport surface.
A bend forming apparatus for a glass sheet, comprising a single-curved transfer surface having a single-curved surface shape convex upward along a direction axis perpendicular to the transfer direction. 9. A bending apparatus for a glass plate according to claim 6, hearth bed forming furnace forms the conveying surface bending complex shape, the conveying surface curved complex shape, the conveying surface or et bending plurality songs Blows out the gas,
An apparatus for bending and forming a glass sheet, comprising a support means for levitating and supporting the glass sheet via the layer made of the gas. 10. The glass according to any one of claims 6 to 9.
An apparatus for bending a glass sheet , wherein the double-bending conveying surface is convex upward .