JP3747950B2 - In-furnace transfer device for vacuum heat treatment furnace - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial application fields]
The present invention relates to an in-furnace conveying apparatus for conveying an object to be processed in a vacuum heat treatment furnace.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As illustrated in FIG. 5, the conventional vacuum heat treatment furnace is roughly classified into a two-chamber type (A) including a cooling chamber and a heating chamber, and a three-chamber type (B) further including a preparation chamber. The two-chamber vacuum heat treatment furnace, after carrying the workpiece into the cooling chamber, evacuates the interior, then opens the intermediate door and transports the workpiece to the heated chamber held in vacuum, and reverses the operation after the heat treatment is completed. Thus, the object to be heated is taken out from the cooling chamber. On the other hand, the three-chamber vacuum heat treatment furnace increases the efficiency of heat treatment by sequentially feeding the object to be heated in the order of the preparation chamber, the heating chamber, and the cooling chamber.
[0003]
The in-furnace transfer device of the present invention is used for both the two-chamber type and the three-chamber type described above, and in the vacuum heat treatment furnace, the object to be heated is carried into the heating chamber and the object to be heated is carried out from the heating chamber. Used for. Hereinafter, the in-furnace transfer apparatus will be described only for the two-chamber type, but the same applies to the case of the three-chamber type.
A conventional two-chamber type in-furnace transfer apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as an in-furnace transfer apparatus) has a configuration illustrated in FIG. In this figure, 1 is a cooling chamber, 2 is two rails arranged side by side in the cooling chamber, 3 is a fork that runs along the rail, 4a is two front wheels that guide and support the fork, and 4b is the same Two rear wheels, 5a is an entrance door, 5b is an intermediate door, 5c is a fan, 6 is a lifting device, 7 is a workpiece, and 8 is a heating chamber.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the above-described conventional in-furnace transfer apparatus, the fork 3 moves along the rail 2, and the workpiece 7 is carried into the heating chamber 8 and unloaded from the heating chamber 8. Therefore, there is a problem that a relatively large horizontal distance h is required between the front wheel 4a and the rear wheel 4b in order to receive the falling moment (clockwise in the figure). For this reason, useless space is required in the cooling chamber 1 (and the preparation chamber), and there is a problem that the overall length of the vacuum heat treatment furnace is extended, and the installation space, internal volume, and gas consumption are increased.
[0005]
In order to solve such a problem, in the “vacuum heat treatment furnace” of Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 3-41837, as shown in part in FIG. The vacuum heat treatment furnace is shortened by projecting only the rear heat wheel (from the rear wheel) (to the left in the figure). However, in such a vacuum heat treatment furnace, the internal volume and gas consumption itself can be reduced, but since the substantial length of the in-furnace transfer device is not shortened, as illustrated in FIG. When the above vacuum heat treatment furnaces are arranged side by side and the workpiece is carried into / out of each vacuum heat treatment furnace by the traverse device, the overhanging portion 9 storing the support portion interferes with the traverse device. As a result, there was a problem that the entire installation space could not be reduced.
[0006]
The present invention has been developed to solve the above-described problems. That is, the object of the present invention is to receive the fork overturning moment due to the object to be processed at a small horizontal distance, thereby reducing the overall length of the vacuum heat treatment furnace without the overhanging portion, its installation space, internal volume Another object of the present invention is to provide an in-furnace transfer apparatus for a vacuum heat treatment furnace that can reduce gas consumption.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to the configuration of the present invention, the fork cart that has one wheel on each of the left and right sides and is guided horizontally by the wheels in the front-rear direction, and the forward tilt prevention device that prevents the fork cart from falling forward. And a backward fall prevention device for preventing a backward fall of the fork cart, and the forward fall prevention device and the backward fall prevention device are respectively provided on the left and right sides of the fork cart with a vertical spacing therebetween. The upper and lower sprockets and one fall prevention chain that meshes with both upper and lower sprockets. The fall prevention chain of the forward fall prevention device is connected horizontally to the upper part of the upper sprocket. An upper horizontal portion that extends, an inclined portion that obliquely extends from the front of the upper sprocket to the rear of the lower sprocket, and a front end that extends horizontally from the lower portion of the lower sprocket to the fixed portion The fall prevention chain of the rear fall prevention device is composed of an upper horizontal portion that extends forward to the upper part of the upper sprocket with the front end connected to the fixed part, and slanted from the rear of the upper sprocket to the front of the lower sprocket. There is provided an in-furnace transfer device for a vacuum heat treatment furnace, characterized in that it comprises an inclined portion extending in a horizontal direction and a lower horizontal portion extending horizontally rearward from the lower portion of the lower sprocket and having a rear end connected to a fixed portion. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it further comprises a drive chain partially connected to the fork cart and driven horizontally in the front-rear direction.
[0008]
According to the present invention, the fork cart has one wheel on each of the left and right sides, and is guided horizontally by the wheels in the front-rear direction, and the forward tilt prevention device for preventing the forward tilt of the fork cart. , And a fall prevention device for preventing the backward fall of the fork cart, and the forward fall prevention device and the fall prevention device are respectively provided on the left and right sides of the fork cart with a vertical spacing. Each of the upper and lower sprockets, and one anti-falling chain that meshes with both the upper and lower sprockets, the forward-preventing device being further attached to the rear fixed part and driven to rotate, and the front fixed part The fall-prevention chain of the anti-tilt device is connected to the fork cart and horizontally to the lower part of the drive sprocket. An upper fixed part that extends, an upper horizontal part that extends horizontally from the drive sprocket to the upper part of the upper sprocket, an inclined part that extends obliquely from the front of the upper sprocket to the rear of the lower sprocket, and a horizontal part from the lower part of the lower sprocket to the driven sprocket There is provided an in-furnace transfer apparatus for a vacuum heat treatment furnace, comprising: a lower horizontal portion extending in a horizontal direction; and a lower fixing portion extending horizontally rearward from a driven sprocket and connected at the other end to a fork carriage.
[0009]
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the upper and lower sprockets of the forward-falling prevention device and the backward-falling prevention device are mounted on the same shaft. The fork cart has a horizontal roller conveyor including a plurality of free rollers. Furthermore, it is preferable to further include a lifting device that lifts and lowers an object to be heated in the heating chamber.
[0010]
[Action]
According to the configuration of the present invention, since there is only one wheel for horizontally guiding the fork carriage in the front-rear direction, there is no conventional rear wheel, and the horizontal distance between the front wheel and the rear wheel. Is virtually eliminated. In addition, the fork cart is prevented from falling forward and backward by an anti-tilt device and an anti-tilt device, and these devices are composed of an idle sprocket attached to the fork cart and a chain that meshes with the sprocket and extends forward and backward. Therefore, the fork cart can be set to the minimum length necessary for the conveyance (loading / unloading) of the workpiece. Therefore, it is possible to receive a fork overturning moment due to the object to be processed without providing an extra horizontal distance in the vacuum heat treatment furnace, thereby reducing the overall length of the vacuum heat treatment furnace without an overhanging portion.
[0011]
Further, if the fork cart is provided with a horizontal roller conveyor composed of a plurality of free rollers, the horizontal roller conveyor can further facilitate the loading / unloading of the workpiece. Furthermore, if an elevating device for raising and lowering the object to be heated in the heating chamber is provided, it is possible to carry the object to be heated into the heating chamber with a simple mechanism by simply moving the fork cart horizontally in the front-rear direction. Or it can be carried out.
[0012]
【Example】
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In each figure, common portions are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a vacuum heat treatment furnace provided with an in-furnace transfer apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of the in-furnace transfer apparatus. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the in-furnace transfer apparatus 10 of the present invention is stored in a two-chamber vacuum heat treatment furnace including a cooling chamber 1 and a heating chamber 8. In addition, as mentioned above, the in-furnace transfer apparatus of the present invention can be used similarly for both the two-chamber type and the three-chamber type.
[0013]
In FIG. 1, an in-furnace transfer apparatus 10 according to the present invention includes a fork cart 12 having one wheel 11 on each of left and right sides (in the direction orthogonal to the paper surface in this figure), and a forward view of the fork cart 12 (in this figure). A forward-falling prevention device 14 for preventing a rightward-facing fall and a backward-falling prevention device 16 for preventing a backward-facing (leftward in this figure) fall of the fork cart. Reference numeral 13 denotes a pair of rails extending horizontally in the front-rear direction, and the wheels 11 move in the front-rear direction along the rails 13 to guide the fork cart 12 horizontally in the front-rear direction while supporting the weight of the fork cart 12. It is supposed to be.
[0014]
As shown in FIG. 2, the fork cart 12 includes left and right frames 12a and upper and lower connecting beams 12b connecting the frames 12a. The frame 12a is composed of a vertical portion provided at the rear end of the carriage and a horizontal portion extending forward with the rear end fixed to the vertical portion, and a plurality of free rollers 12c shorter than the connecting beam 12b are provided inside the horizontal portion. It is mounted horizontally and constitutes a horizontal roller conveyor. The connecting beam 12b is provided at a position vertically spaced from the object to be processed so that the object to be processed can be horizontally loaded onto and unloaded from the free roller 12c. With this configuration, the workpiece can be placed on the horizontal roller conveyor and moved freely in the front-rear direction, and the workpiece can be carried into the fork cart 12 from the outside, or the workpiece can be fed from the fork cart 12 to the outside. Can be easily carried out by an appropriate means, for example, a known loading / unloading device on a traverse carriage (FIG. 7).
[0015]
In FIG. 2, the forward-falling prevention device 14 and the backward-falling prevention device 16 respectively include upper and lower sprockets 14 a, 14 b, 16 a, 16 b provided on the left and right sides of the fork cart 12 with a vertical spacing therebetween, and both It consists of one fall prevention chain 15 and 17 that meshes with the upper and lower sprockets. As shown in FIG. 2, the upper sprockets 14a and 16a and the lower sprockets 14b and 16b are respectively mounted on the same shaft. With this configuration, the chains 15 and 17 can be offset in the width direction and arranged in the front-rear direction. Each of the sprockets 14a, 14b, 16a, 16b is a free-running sprocket that can freely rotate around its axis, so that the sprockets 14a and 16a and 14b and 16b on the same shaft can also rotate independently of each other. It has become. Note that two sprockets on the same shaft may rotate together.
[0016]
FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing the relationship between each sprocket and each chain in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3A, the fall prevention chain 15 of the forward fall prevention device 14 includes an upper horizontal portion 15a, an inclined portion 15b, and a lower horizontal portion 15c, and the upper horizontal portion 15a has a rear end. Is connected to the fixed portion 1a in the cooling chamber and extends horizontally to the upper part of the upper sprocket 14a. The inclined portion 15b extends obliquely from the front of the upper sprocket 14a to the rear of the lower sprocket 14b, the lower horizontal portion 15c extends horizontally from the lower portion of the lower sprocket 14b, and its front end is a fixed portion 1a in the cooling chamber. It is connected to. Further, the upper horizontal portion 15a, the inclined portion 15b, and the lower horizontal portion 15c are always held in a state without sagging by appropriate means (such as a tension device).
[0017]
The above-described forward-fall prevention device 14 can support the clockwise rotational moment in FIG. 3 due to the weight of the fork cart and the object 7 to be processed by the tension of the upper horizontal portion 15a. Can be prevented. Further, since the upper sprocket 14a and the lower sprocket 14b are free-running sprockets that can freely rotate around the axis, even if the fork carriage 12 is moved back and forth, the sprockets 14a and 14b are idled and the upper horizontal portion 15a and the lower sprocket 14b Just by changing the length of the horizontal portion 15c, the above-described fall prevention mechanism can be maintained in the same manner during stoppage and movement.
[0018]
Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3B, the fall prevention chain 17 of the backward fall prevention device 16 includes an upper horizontal portion 17a that has a front end connected to the fixed portion 1a and extends horizontally to the upper portion of the upper sprocket 16a. An inclined portion 17b extending obliquely from the rear of the upper sprocket 16a to the front of the lower sprocket 16b, and a lower horizontal portion 17c extending horizontally from the lower portion of the lower sprocket 16c to the rear and having a rear end coupled to the fixed portion 1a. The other configuration is the same as that of the forward fall prevention device 14, and the backward fall prevention device 16 supports the counterclockwise rotational moment generated in FIG. 3 when the fork cart 12 is moved or stopped by the tension of the upper horizontal portion 17a. It is possible to prevent the fork cart 12 from falling backward. In addition, as with the forward tilt prevention device 14, the upper sprocket 16a and the lower sprocket 16b are free-running sprockets that can freely rotate around the axis, so that even if the fork carriage 12 is moved back and forth, each sprocket 16a, 16b The fall prevention mechanism described above can be similarly maintained during stoppage and movement only by idling and changing the length of the upper horizontal portion 17a and the lower horizontal portion 17c.
[0019]
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the in-furnace transfer apparatus 10 of the first embodiment further includes a drive chain 18 that is partially connected to the fork cart 12 and is driven horizontally in the front-rear direction. The drive chain 18 is moved horizontally by a drive sprocket 19a that is rotationally driven by a drive shaft 19 that passes through the wall of the cooling chamber 1 in an airtight manner. With this configuration, as shown in FIG. 3A, the fork cart 12 can be moved in the front-rear direction (left and right in FIG. 3) by the rotation of the drive shaft 19.
[0020]
FIG. 4 (A) is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the in-furnace transfer apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 (B) is a schematic view similar to FIG. 3 (A). In this figure, the forward-fall prevention device 14 further includes a drive sprocket 20a that is attached to the fixed portion 1a in the rear cooling chamber and is driven to rotate, and a driven sprocket 20b that is attached to the front fixed portion 1a so as to be freely rotatable. The drive sprocket 20a is rotationally driven by a drive shaft 19 that airtightly penetrates the wall of the cooling chamber. That is, instead of the drive chain 18 and the drive sprocket 19a in the first embodiment, the fall prevention chain 15 is directly driven by the drive sprocket 20a.
[0021]
Further, unlike the first embodiment, the fall prevention chain 15 of the forward fall prevention device 14 is connected to the fork carriage 12 at one end and extends horizontally to the lower part of the drive sprocket 20a, and an upper part from the drive sprocket 20a. An upper horizontal portion 15a that extends horizontally to the upper portion of the sprocket 14a, an inclined portion 15b that obliquely extends from the front of the upper sprocket 14a to the rear of the lower sprocket 14b, and a lower portion that extends horizontally from the lower portion of the lower sprocket 14b to the driven sprocket 20b. It consists of a horizontal part 15c and a lower fixing part 15e extending horizontally rearward from the driven sprocket 20b and having the other end connected to the fork cart 12. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment.
[0022]
The fork cart 12 can be moved back and forth by driving the tilting prevention chain 15 through the drive sprocket 20 a by the rotational drive of the drive shaft 19 by the forward tilt prevention device 14 described above. Further, since the upper fixing portion 15d and the lower fixing portion 15e are fixed to the fork carriage 12 and the sum of their lengths does not change, the sum of the lengths of the upper horizontal portion 15a and the lower horizontal portion 15c is also the first. As in the embodiment, it is constant, and the clockwise rotational moment in FIG. 4 due to the weight of the fork cart itself and the weight of the workpiece 7 can be supported by the tension of the upper horizontal portion 15a. Can be prevented.
[0023]
Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the in-furnace transfer device 10 of the vacuum heat treatment furnace according to the present invention further includes an elevating device 22 that elevates and lowers the object 7 to be heated in the heating chamber 8. The elevating device 22 is, for example, an elevating cylinder that passes through the heating chamber 8 in an airtight manner. The fork cart 12 moves forward, and the workpiece 7 is inserted into (into) the heating chamber 8. By slightly lifting upward, the workpiece 7 can be transferred from the fork cart 12 to the lifting device 22. Next, by moving the fork cart 12 backward and lowering the elevating device 22, the workpiece 7 can be placed in the heating chamber 8, the intermediate door 5b can be closed, and a predetermined heat treatment can be performed. Conversely, when unloading the object 7 to be processed, the lifting apparatus 22 once lifts the object 7 slightly upward and advances the fork cart 12 to insert a horizontal portion below the object 7 to be processed. The workpiece 7 can be transferred onto the horizontal roller conveyor of the fork cart 12 by lowering the lifting device 22.
[0024]
Of course, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
[0025]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the configuration of the present invention, since there is only one wheel on each of the left and right sides, there is no horizontal distance between the conventional front wheel and the rear wheel, and the fork cart has a longitudinal direction. The fall is prevented by an idle sprocket attached to the fork cart and a chain that meshes with the sprocket and extends back and forth, so that the fork cart is made the minimum length necessary for transporting (loading / unloading) the workpiece. be able to.
[0026]
Therefore, the in-furnace transfer device of the vacuum heat treatment furnace of the present invention can receive the fork overturning moment due to the object to be processed at a small horizontal distance, thereby shortening the overall length of the vacuum heat treatment furnace without an overhanging portion. The installation space, internal volume, and gas consumption can be reduced.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a vacuum heat treatment furnace equipped with an in-furnace transfer device of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of the in-furnace transfer apparatus.
FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing the relationship between each sprocket and each chain.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the in-furnace transfer apparatus.
FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a conventional vacuum heat treatment furnace.
FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a conventional two-chamber in-furnace transfer device.
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram (A) of a conventional vacuum heat treatment furnace and a diagram (B) showing a relationship between a traverse device.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cooling chamber 1a Fixed part 2 Rail 3 Fork 4a Front wheel 4b Rear wheel 5
6 Lifting device 7 Workpiece 8 Heating chamber 9 Overhanging portion 10 In-furnace transfer device 11 of vacuum heat treatment furnace Wheel 12 Fork carriage 12c Free roller 13 Rail 14 Forward-fall prevention device 14a, 14b Sprocket 15 Fall-prevention chain 15d Upper fixing portion 15e Lower fixed portion 16 Backward fall prevention device 16a, 16b Sprocket 17 Fall prevention chain 15a, 17a Upper horizontal portion 15b, 17b Inclined portion 15c, 17c Lower horizontal portion 18 Drive chain 19 Drive shaft 20a Drive sprocket 20b Driven sprocket 22 Lifting device

Claims (6)

A fork cart that has one wheel on each of the left and right sides and is guided horizontally by the wheels in the front-rear direction, an anti-tilt device that prevents the fork cart from falling forward, and a backward tilt of the fork cart And a fall prevention device for preventing
Each of the forward fall prevention device and the backward fall prevention device includes a freely movable upper and lower sprocket provided on the left and right sides of the fork cart with a vertical interval, and one fall prevention chain that meshes with both the upper and lower sprockets. And consist of
The fall prevention chain of the forward fall prevention device includes an upper horizontal portion whose rear end is connected to a fixed portion and extends horizontally to the upper portion of the upper sprocket, an inclined portion that obliquely extends from the front of the upper sprocket to the rear of the lower sprocket, and the lower sprocket It consists of a lower horizontal part that extends horizontally from the lower part of the front and the front end is connected to the fixed part,
The fall prevention chain of the rear fall prevention device includes an upper horizontal portion that is connected to a fixed portion at the front end and extends horizontally to the upper portion of the upper sprocket, an inclined portion that obliquely extends from the rear of the upper sprocket to the front of the lower sprocket, and a lower sprocket. An in-furnace transfer apparatus for a vacuum heat treatment furnace, comprising a lower horizontal portion extending horizontally rearward from the lower portion and having a rear end coupled to a fixed portion. The in-furnace transfer apparatus for a vacuum heat treatment furnace according to claim 1, further comprising a drive chain partially connected to the fork cart and driven horizontally in the front-rear direction. A fork cart that has one wheel on each of the left and right sides and is guided horizontally by the wheels in the front-rear direction, an anti-tilt device that prevents the fork cart from falling forward, and a backward tilt of the fork cart And a fall prevention device for preventing
Each of the forward fall prevention device and the backward fall prevention device includes a freely movable upper and lower sprocket provided on the left and right sides of the fork cart with a vertical interval, and one fall prevention chain that meshes with both the upper and lower sprockets. The front-end prevention device further includes a drive sprocket that is attached to the rear fixed portion and is driven to rotate, and a driven sprocket that is attached to the front fixed portion so as to be freely rotatable,
The fall-prevention chain of the forward-fall prevention device includes an upper fixed portion that is connected to a fork carriage and extends horizontally to the lower portion of the drive sprocket, an upper horizontal portion that extends horizontally from the drive sprocket to the upper portion of the upper sprocket, and the front of the upper sprocket. From the lower sprocket to the rear side of the lower sprocket, the lower horizontal part extending horizontally from the lower part of the lower sprocket to the driven sprocket, and the lower part fixed to the fork carriage. And an in-furnace transfer device for a vacuum heat treatment furnace. The in-furnace transfer device for a vacuum heat treatment furnace according to claim 1 or 3, wherein the upper and lower sprockets of the forward-falling prevention device and the backward-falling prevention device are mounted on the same axis. The in-furnace transfer apparatus for a vacuum heat treatment furnace according to claim 1 or 3, wherein the fork carriage has a horizontal roller conveyor including a plurality of free rollers. The in-furnace transfer apparatus for a vacuum heat treatment furnace according to claim 1 or 3, further comprising an elevating device for elevating an object to be heated in the heating chamber.

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