JP5613943B2 - Continuous sintering furnace - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a continuous sintering furnace in which a metal is heat-treated and sintered.

  Conventionally, as a continuous sintering furnace, as shown in FIG. 1 of Patent Document 1, the dewaxing part is continuous with the sintering part without partitioning, and the workpiece is processed while being conveyed in the horizontal direction from start to finish. There is something.

JP 60-13002 A

  Since the conventional type is a type in which the workpiece is conveyed in the horizontal direction from start to finish, a large space is required for disposing the furnace. In addition, since the dewaxed portion and the sintered portion communicate with each other without partitioning, it is difficult to perform processing under the optimum conditions for each portion in terms of atmosphere and temperature, which has been a bottleneck in reducing processing time. Furthermore, since the dewaxing part and the sintered part communicate with each other without partitioning, the contaminated gas in the dewaxed part may move to the sintered part depending on the gas flow, and the sintered part is contaminated. There are also problems such as.

  The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances as described above, can save the installation space, can contribute to shortening the processing time, in addition, the sintered portion is not contaminated by the gas containing wax, It intends to provide a continuous sintering furnace.

In order to solve the above-described problems, a continuous sintering furnace according to the present invention is provided with a preheating chamber and a sintering chamber adjacent to each other so that the workpiece can be processed under independent conditions. A workpiece carry-in device that sequentially carries the workpiece to the receiving position is disposed, and a pre-heating chamber workpiece transfer device that sequentially moves the workpiece in the vertical direction from the workpiece receiving position to the workpiece delivery position is disposed in the preheating chamber. The partition between the preheating chamber and the sintering chamber is provided with a work transfer passage that communicates the workpiece feeding position of the preheating chamber and the workpiece receiving position of the sintering chamber, and the workpiece transfer passage is A first work transfer device that is openable and closable by a partition door and moves the work in the preheating chamber to the sintering chamber through the work transfer passage is disposed in the sintering chamber when the work is received. Send workpiece from position A second workpiece transfer device for sequentially transferring the workpiece at the workpiece feeding position in the sintering chamber from the sintering chamber, wherein a workpiece transfer device for the sintering chamber for sequentially moving the workpiece to the position in the vertical direction is disposed; And at least one of the preheating chamber work transfer device and the sintering chamber work transfer device is configured by a combination of a plurality of stages of fixed shelves and a plurality of stages of moving shelves disposed facing each other. The movable shelf is configured to be movable back and forth with respect to the fixed shelf and movable in the vertical direction, so that the workpiece can be sequentially moved in the vertical direction on the fixed shelf (Claim 1). .

  According to the present invention, the workpiece is sequentially carried into the workpiece receiving position of the preheating chamber by the workpiece carrying device. Correspondingly, the workpiece at the position when the workpiece is received in the preheating chamber is sequentially moved up and down to the position when the workpiece is delivered by the workpiece transfer device for the preheating chamber. During this time, the workpiece is heated in the preheating chamber and subjected to dewaxing treatment.

  The workpieces that have reached the workpiece delivery position in the preheating chamber are sequentially transferred by the first workpiece transfer device to the workpiece reception position in the sintering chamber via the workpiece transfer passage. The partition door is opened and closed each time the workpiece is transferred.

  Also in the sintering chamber, similarly to the preheating chamber, the workpiece at the workpiece receiving position is sequentially moved up and down to the workpiece feeding position by the sintering chamber workpiece transfer device. During this time, the workpiece is heated in the sintering chamber and undergoes a sintering process.

  The workpieces that have reached the workpiece delivery position in the sintering chamber are sequentially carried out of the sintering chamber by the second workpiece transfer device. And it is naturally cooled, or it is conveyed to a cooling chamber and forcedly cooled.

  According to the present invention, since the workpiece can be processed under independent conditions in the preheating chamber and the sintering chamber, dewaxing and sintering can be performed under the optimum conditions, and the processing time can be reduced. It leads to shortening.

  Further, since the moving direction of the workpiece in the preheating chamber and the sintering chamber is the vertical direction, the areas of the preheating chamber and the sintering chamber can be reduced, and the installation space can be saved.

  Further, since the preheating chamber and the sintering chamber are partitioned by the partition wall and the partition door, the sintering chamber is not contaminated by the gas containing wax generated in the preheating chamber.

As an embodiment of the present invention, a cooling chamber for cooling the workpiece is provided, and the cooling chamber is supplied with a workpiece from a workpiece receiving position for receiving the workpiece carried out of the sintering chamber by the second workpiece transfer device. A cooling chamber work transfer device that sequentially moves the work up and down to the hour position may be provided (Claim 2 ).

One embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the shelves movable rack fixed shelf and said plurality of stages of said plurality of stages may be a mode which is forked (claim 3).

1 is an overall plan (cross-sectional) view of a continuous sintering furnace according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is AA arrow sectional drawing of FIG. It is BB arrow sectional drawing of FIG. It is CC sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is DD sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the workpiece conveyance procedure by the workpiece conveyance apparatus for preheating chambers. It is explanatory drawing which shows the workpiece conveyance procedure by the workpiece conveyance apparatus for sintering chambers. It is EE arrow sectional drawing of FIG.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a continuous sintering furnace 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a carry-in part 2, a preheating part 3, a sintering part 4, a cooling part 5, and a carry-out part 6. These are arranged continuously. A predetermined number of works are placed on the tray T, and a large number of trays T are conveyed one by one from the carry-in unit 2 to the preheating unit 3, the sintering unit 4, the cooling unit 5, and the carry-out unit 6 in this order. The predetermined process is completed. In the preheating part 3 and the sintering part 4, the workpiece can be processed under independent conditions.

  An example of the workpiece is a valve seat of an internal combustion engine. In the internal combustion engine, this valve seat serves as a valve seat for an intake valve and an exhaust valve, and is a component that keeps the airtightness of the combustion chamber in contact with each valve. As an example, ten valve seats are stored in one thin tray. However, the specific content of the workpiece, the specific mode of the tray, and the like need not be limited to those described above.

  The carry-in unit 2 is a zone for loading a tray T (hereinafter simply referred to as a tray) on which a workpiece is placed into the preheating unit 3. A work loading device 7 is disposed in the loading unit 2. In the illustrated example, the work loading device 7 includes an inlet pusher 8, an inlet lifter 9 (see FIG. 2), and a charging pusher 10, all of which operate using an air cylinder as an actuator. The tray is pushed by the inlet pusher 8 and placed on the inlet lifter 9, and is raised to a predetermined charging height position by the inlet lifter 9. The trays T are sequentially inserted into the preheating unit 3 one by one by the operation of the charging pusher 10.

  In addition, it is preferable that the said carrying-in part 2 shall be made into inert gas atmosphere, suppress the inflow of oxygen to the preheating chamber 11, and suppress the oxidation of a workpiece | work.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the preheating unit 3 includes a preheating furnace body 12 that defines a preheating chamber 11 therein, and a work inlet 13 is formed on one side wall of the preheating furnace body 12. The tray T is pushed by the loading pusher, passes through the workpiece loading inlet 13, and is loaded into the workpiece receiving position 14.

  The preheating chamber 11 is provided with a preheating chamber work transfer device 16 for sequentially moving the work downward from the work receiving position 14 to a predetermined work sending position 15. In the present embodiment, the work transfer device 16 for the preheating chamber is formed by a combination of a multi-stage fork-type fixed shelf 17 and a multi-stage fork-type movable shelf 18. For both the fixed shelf 17 and the movable shelf 18, the forks 17 f and 18 f are sized to support the tray T. The number of forks 18f of the movable shelf 18 is set to be one less than the number of stages of the forks 17f of the fixed shelf 17, and the vertical interval between the steps is substantially the same for both the movable shelf 18 and the fixed shelf 17. Is even. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the shape of the fork 18 f of the movable shelf 18 is a shape that can pass up and down while entering between the upper and lower forks of the fixed shelf 17.

  Even if either the fixed shelf or the movable shelf is a fork type and the other is, for example, a rectangular shelf, it may have a shape and a function that can pass up and down as described above. If there is, it does not exclude the outside shape.

  The fixed shelf 17 and the movable shelf 18 are disposed with the forks 17f and 18f facing each other. The movable shelf 18 is configured to be movable back and forth with respect to the fixed shelf 17 and movable in the vertical direction, whereby the tray T is sequentially moved from the top to the bottom of the fixed shelf 17. In the illustrated example, as shown in FIG. 2, the uppermost fork 17 f of the fixed shelf 17 is the workpiece receiving position 14, and the lowermost fork 17 f of the fixed shelf 17 is the workpiece feeding position 15. It is said.

  The forward / backward movement and the vertical movement of the movable shelf 18 are realized by the following configuration. As shown in FIG. 2, the multistage forks 18 f of the movable shelf 18 are attached to a common column 19. The support column 19 is movable forward and backward and vertically movable with respect to the fixed shelf 17.

  First, the advance and retreat movement of the movable shelf 18 will be described in detail. The column 19 penetrates the preheating furnace body 12 up and down, and the column upper end 19a and the column lower end 19b projecting up and down from the preheating furnace 12 are: The horizontal upper guide rail 20 and the lower guide rail 21 are engaged with each other by using a plurality of pairs of upper and lower guide rollers 22. The upper guide rail 20 and the lower guide rail 21 extend horizontally from the movable shelf 18 toward the fixed shelf 17. A heat insulating seal body 23 is disposed between the support column 19 and the preheating furnace body 12 so as to maintain the sealing property of the preheating chamber 11. The heat insulating seal body 23 slides along the upper and lower outer surfaces of the preheating furnace body 12 as the support column 19 advances and retreats, and allows the support column 19 to move up and down. A pusher 24 having an air cylinder as an actuator is connected to the support upper end 19a and the support lower end 19b for driving, and the movable shelf 18 is moved forward and backward with respect to the fixed shelf 17 by the operation of these pushers 24. .

  Next, the vertical movement of the movable shelf 18 will be described in detail. The upper guide rail 20 is connected to a jack 25 controlled by a servo motor as a lifting actuator. On the other hand, the lower guide rail 21 is provided with a lifting guide mechanism 26 for guiding the vertical movement of the support column 19 in accordance with the operation of the jack 25. The movable rack 18 is moved up and down as the column 19 is moved up and down by the operation of the jack 25.

  In the above-described configuration, the tray T can be sequentially moved from the top to the bottom by the combination of the forward / backward movement and the vertical movement of the movable shelf 18 with respect to the fixed shelf 17.

  Specifically, the movable shelf 18 is horizontally separated from the fixed shelf 17, and the uppermost fork 18f of the movable shelf 18 is the second uppermost fork 17f of the fixed shelf 17 when viewed from the side. The state shown in FIG. 2 positioned between the fork 17 f is the initial state of the movable shelf 18. At this time, the number of forks on the movable shelf 18 is one less than the number of forks on the fixed shelf 17 (in the example shown, the fixed shelf 17 has a four-fork configuration and the movable shelf 18 has a three-fork configuration). All the forks 18f are located between the upper and lower forks of the fixed shelf 17 when viewed from the side.

  As shown in FIG. 6A, as a first operation, from the initial state, the movable shelf 18 moves forward toward the fixed shelf 17, and each fork 18f of the movable shelf 18 moves up and down the fixed shelf. It rushes between 17f and 17f.

  As shown in FIG. 6B, as the second operation, the movable shelf 18 rises by one fork. As a result, the tray T on the fork 17 f of the fixed shelf 17 is lifted up by the fork 18 f of the moving shelf 18.

  As shown in FIG. 6C, as a third operation, the movable shelf 18 is retreated in a direction away from the fixed shelf 17.

  As shown in FIG. 6D, as a fourth operation, the movable shelf 18 is lowered by one fork.

  As shown in FIG. 6E, as the fifth operation, the movable shelf 18 moves forward toward the fixed shelf 17, and each fork 18 f of the movable shelf 18 moves between the upper and lower forks 17 f and 17 f of the fixed shelf 17. Rush into.

  As shown in FIG. 6F, as the sixth operation, the movable shelf 18 is lowered by one fork. As a result, the tray T on the fork 18 f of the movable shelf 18 is transferred onto the fork 17 f of the fixed shelf 17.

  As shown in FIG. 6G, as a seventh operation, the movable shelf 18 is retreated in a direction away from the fixed shelf 17.

  As shown in FIG. 6 (h), as the eighth operation, the movable shelf 18 rises by one fork and returns to the initial state shown in FIG.

  6C to FIG. 6H, that is, during the third operation to the eighth operation, the next tray T is at the workpiece receiving position 14 of the preheating chamber 11 by the workpiece carry-in device 7. It is sequentially carried onto the uppermost fork 17 f of the fixed shelf 17. By repeating the series of operations, the tray T on each fork 17f of the fixed shelf 17 is sequentially moved onto the lower fork 17f.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the preheating furnace body 12 is provided with a number of heaters 27. These heaters 27 heat the atmospheric gas in the preheating chamber 11 and the workpieces placed on the tray T. In the illustrated example, a large number of rod-shaped heaters (only part of which are shown) 27 are disposed so as to horizontally cross the preheating chamber 11, and both end portions of each heater 27 are supported on opposite side walls of the preheating furnace body 12. ing. The preheating chamber 11 is heated by the heater 27 to a predetermined dewaxing temperature in the range of 800 to 1300 ° C., for example. That is, when the work moves from the carry-in unit 2 to the preheating chamber 11, the work is heated very rapidly. Specifically, since the temperature is raised to the dewaxing temperature in a few minutes, the dewaxing time can be performed in a very short time compared to the conventional case.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the preheating furnace body 12 is formed with an inlet 28 and an outlet 29 for a preheating atmosphere gas. The preheating atmosphere gas inlet 28 is formed at the bottom of the preheating furnace body 12, and the preheating atmosphere gas outlet 29 is formed at the ceiling of the preheating furnace body 12. The atmospheric gas supplied from the inlet 28 circulates upward while filling the preheating chamber 11, and is taken out from the outlet 29. Since the extracted gas contains a degreasing part (binder) from the workpiece, it is recombusted by an afterburner (not shown).

  Note that the preheating atmosphere gas is, for example, a mixed gas of nitrogen and hydrogen. In order to smoothly discharge the gas component generated by dewaxing upward, the atmospheric gas is preferably flowed from below to above, and the dewaxing component adheres to the work immediately before moving to the sintering chamber 30 and the firing is performed. It is preferable to move the workpiece from the top to the bottom in order to suppress adverse effects on the result.

  With the above configuration, the tray (work) is dewaxed in the heated preheating atmosphere gas while descending stepwise on the fork 17 f of the fixed shelf 17 in the preheating chamber 11.

  The trays T that have reached the fork 17f at the lowermost stage of the fixed shelf 17 (work delivery position 15) are sequentially sent to the sintering section 4.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the sintering unit 4 includes a sintering furnace body 31 that defines a sintering chamber 30 therein. The sintering furnace body 31 shares one side wall 32 with the preheating furnace body 12. For this reason, the dissipated heat in the preheating chamber 11 and the sintering chamber 30 is reduced, and the thermal efficiency is good. The one side wall 32, that is, the partition wall 32 between the preheating chamber 11 and the sintering chamber 30, has a workpiece feeding position 15 of the preheating chamber 11 and a workpiece receiving position 33 of the sintering chamber 30. A work transfer passage 34 for communication is formed. The work transfer passage 34 can be freely opened and closed by a partition door 35. The partition door 35 is driven up and down using the air cylinder 35a as an actuator. The workpiece transfer passage 34 is opened and closed each time the tray T that has reached the workpiece delivery position 15 of the preheating chamber 11 is sent to the sintering chamber 30.

  The tray T is transferred through the work transfer passage 34 by the first work transfer device 80. The first work transfer device 80 is a pusher having an air cylinder as an actuator, and is supported by the preheating furnace body 12 in the illustrated example. The first work transfer device 80 is extended when the tray T is transferred, extends across the preheating chamber 11, pushes the tray T in the preheating chamber 11 at the workpiece delivery position 15, and The tray T is conveyed to the workpiece receiving position 33 in the sintering chamber 30 through the workpiece transfer passage 34 opened by lowering 35.

  In order to avoid interference with the pusher 37, the lowermost fork 17f of the fixed shelf 17 of the preheating chamber 11 and the lowermost fork 37f of the fixed shelf 37 of the sintering chamber 30 are notched on the upper surface. 50 is formed (see FIGS. 2 and 4).

  The sintering chamber 30 is provided with a sintering chamber workpiece transfer device 36 that sequentially moves the workpiece upward from the workpiece receiving position 33 to the workpiece delivery position 51. In the present embodiment, like the preheating chamber work transfer device 16, the sintering chamber work transfer device 36 is formed by a combination of a multistage fork type fixed shelf 37 and a multistage fork type moving shelf 38. The For both the fixed shelf 37 and the movable shelf 38, the forks 37f and 38f are sized to support the tray T. The number of forks 38f of the movable shelf 38 is one less than the number of the forks 37f of the fixed shelf 37, and the vertical distance between the steps is substantially the same for both the movable shelf 38 and the fixed shelf 37. Is even. Further, as in the relationship between the fixed shelf 17 and the movable shelf 18 in the preheating chamber work transfer device 16, the shape of the fork 38 f of the movable shelf 38 is in a state of entering between the upper and lower forks of the fixed shelf 37. The shape can be passed through up and down.

  In the illustrated example, the fixed shelf 37 has a fork 11-stage configuration, the moving shelf 38 has a 10-fork configuration, and the number of forks is larger than that of the preheating chamber work transfer device 16. This is to make the processing time in the sintering furnace 30 longer than the processing time in the preheating chamber 11.

  In addition, even if either the fixed shelf 37 or the movable shelf 38 is a fork type and the other is a rectangular shelf, for example, it is sufficient if it has a shape and a function that can pass up and down as described above. If it has the said function, the other shape is not excluded.

  The fixed shelf 37 and the movable shelf 38 are disposed with the forks 37f and 38f facing each other. The movable shelf 38 is configured to be movable back and forth with respect to the fixed shelf 37 and movable in the vertical direction, whereby the tray T is sequentially moved from the bottom to the top. In the illustrated example, the lowermost fork 37f of the fixed shelf 37 is set as the workpiece receiving position 33, and the uppermost fork 37f of the fixed shelf 37 is set as the workpiece sending position 51.

  The forward / backward movement and the vertical movement of the movable shelf 38 are realized by the following configuration. The multi-stage forks 38 f of the moving shelf 38 are attached to a common column 39. The column 39 is movable forward and backward and vertically movable with respect to the fixed shelf 37.

  First, the advance and retreat movement of the movable shelf 38 will be described in detail. The support column 39 penetrates the sintering furnace body 31 up and down and protrudes up and down from the sintering furnace body 31 and the support column lower end part. 39b is engaged with each of the horizontal upper guide rail 40 and the lower guide rail 41 using a plurality of pairs of upper and lower guide rollers 42, 42. The upper guide rail 40 and the lower guide rail 41 extend horizontally from the movable shelf 38 toward the fixed shelf 37. A heat insulating seal body 43 is disposed between the support column 39 and the sintering furnace body 31 so as to maintain the sealing property of the sintering chamber 30. The heat insulating seal body 43 slides along the upper and lower outer surfaces of the sintering furnace body 31 as the column 39 moves forward and backward, and allows the column 39 to move up and down. A pusher 44 having an air cylinder as an actuator is connected to the support upper end portion 39a and the support lower end portion 39b for driving. The operation of the pusher 44 causes the movable shelf 38 to move forward and backward with respect to the fixed shelf 37. .

  Next, the vertical movement of the movable shelf 38 will be described in detail. A jack 45 controlled by a servo motor (not shown) is connected to the upper guide rail 40 as a lifting actuator. On the other hand, the lower guide rail 41 is provided with an elevating guide mechanism 46 for guiding the vertical movement of the support column 39 accompanying the operation of the jack 45. The movable shelf 38 is moved up and down as the column 39 is moved up and down by the operation of the jack 45.

  In the above-described configuration, the tray T can be sequentially moved from the bottom to the top by combining the forward and backward movement of the movable shelf 38 with respect to the fixed shelf 37 and the vertical movement.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the movable shelf 38 is horizontally separated from the fixed shelf 37, and the lowermost fork 38 f of the movable shelf 38 is the lowermost fork of the fixed shelf 37 when viewed from the side. The state at a position slightly lower than 37f is the initial state of the movable shelf. At this time, the forks 38f of the movable shelf 38 are positioned between the upper and lower forks of the fixed shelf 37 when viewed from the side, except for the bottom one.

  As shown in FIG. 7A, as a first operation, the movable shelf 38 moves forward toward the fixed shelf 37 from the initial state. As a result, the lowermost fork 38 f of the movable shelf 38 enters the space below the lowermost fork 37 f of the fixed shelf 37, and the other forks of the movable shelf 38 enter between the upper and lower forks of the fixed shelf 37.

  As shown in FIG. 7B, as the second operation, the movable shelf 38 is raised by one fork. As a result, the tray T on the fork of the fixed shelf 37 is lifted up by the fork 38 f of the movable shelf 38.

  As shown in FIG. 7C, as a third operation, the movable shelf 38 is retreated in a direction away from the fixed shelf 37.

  As shown in FIG. 7D, as the fourth operation, the movable shelf 38 is raised by one fork.

  As shown in FIG. 7E, as a fifth operation, the movable shelf 38 moves forward in the direction of the fixed shelf 37, and each fork 38f of the movable shelf 38 is a fixed shelf except for the uppermost one. It rushes between 37 upper and lower forks. The uppermost fork of the movable shelf 37 enters the upper space of the uppermost fork 37 f of the fixed shelf 37.

  As shown in FIG. 7F, as the sixth operation, the movable shelf 38 is lowered by one fork. As a result, the tray T on the fork 38 f of the movable shelf 38 is transferred onto the fork 37 f of the fixed shelf 37.

  As shown in FIG. 7G, as the seventh operation, the movable shelf 38 is retreated in a direction away from the fixed shelf 37.

  As shown in FIG. 7 (h), as the eighth operation, the movable shelf 38 is lowered by one fork and returns to the initial state.

  During the period from FIG. 7C to FIG. 7H, that is, from the third operation to the eighth operation, the next tray T is received by the first work transfer device 80 in the sintering chamber 30. It is sequentially loaded onto the lowermost fork 37f of the fixed shelf 37 at the hour position 33. Then, by repeating the series of operations, the tray T on each fork 37f of the fixed shelf 37 sequentially moves onto the upper fork.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a large number of heaters 47 are disposed in the sintering furnace body 31. These heaters 47 heat the atmospheric gas in the sintering chamber 30 and the workpieces placed on the tray. In the illustrated example, a large number of rod-shaped heaters 47 are disposed horizontally across the sintering chamber 30, and as shown only partially in FIG. 4, both ends of each heater 47 are connected to each other of the sintering furnace body 31. It is supported by the opposite side wall. The inside of the sintering chamber 30 is maintained at, for example, about 1100 to 1400 ° C. by the heater 47.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the sintering furnace body 31 is formed with an inlet 48 and an outlet 49 for a sintering atmosphere gas. A sintering atmosphere gas inlet 48 is formed at the bottom of the sintering furnace body 31, and a sintering atmosphere gas outlet 49 is formed at the ceiling of the sintering furnace body 31. The atmospheric gas supplied from the inlet 48 flows upward while filling the sintering chamber 30 and is taken out from the outlet 49. The taken-out gas is preferably reburned by an afterburner (not shown). Note that the sintering atmosphere gas is, for example, a mixed gas of nitrogen and hydrogen.

  With the above configuration, the tray (work) T is sintered in the heated sintering atmosphere gas in the sintering chamber 30 while being raised step by step on the fork 37f of the fixed shelf 37. The

  The trays T that have reached the uppermost fork 37f of the fixed shelf 37 (work delivery position 51) are sequentially sent to the cooling unit 5. For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 3, a workpiece transfer passage that communicates the workpiece feeding position 51 of the sintering chamber 30 with the workpiece receiving position 52 of the cooling unit 5 in the sintering furnace 31. 53 is formed. As shown in FIG. 5, the work transfer passage 53 can be freely opened and closed by a partition door 54. The partition door 54 is driven up and down using the air cylinder 55 as an actuator. The workpiece transfer passage 53 is opened and closed each time the tray T that has reached the workpiece delivery position 51 of the sintering chamber 30 is sent to the cooling unit 5.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the transfer of the tray T through the work transfer passage 53 is performed by a second work transfer device 56. The second work transfer device 56 is a pusher having an air cylinder as an actuator, and is supported by the sintering furnace 31 in the illustrated example. The second workpiece transfer device 56 extends when the tray T is transferred and extends across the sintering chamber 30, and pushes the tray T at the workpiece delivery position 51 in the sintering chamber 30, The tray T is transported to the workpiece receiving position 52 of the cooling unit 5 through the workpiece transfer passage 53 opened by raising the partition door 54.

  In order to avoid interference with the pusher, a notch 57 is formed on the upper surface of the uppermost fork 37f of the fixed shelf 37 of the sintering chamber 30 (see FIG. 4).

  As shown in FIG. 5, the cooling unit 5 includes an internal / external double water-cooling jacket 59 that defines a cooling chamber 58, and a cooling chamber work transfer device 60 and a blower 61 are provided in the cooling chamber 58. Is arranged. In the cooling chamber 58, the cooling chamber work transfer device 60 sequentially moves the workpiece in the vertical direction from the workpiece receiving position 52 to the workpiece sending position 62. While the work is being transferred by the cooling chamber work transfer device 60, the blower 61 blows air to the work and forcibly cools it. Cooling water is circulated in the water cooling jacket 59. As a result, the workpiece is efficiently cooled to, for example, about 100 ° C. in the cooling chamber 58.

  The cooling chamber work transfer device 60 is of a chain conveyor type. That is, in this embodiment, the cooling chamber work transfer device 60 is equidistantly attached to a chain conveyor 66 in which two chains 65 are wound between a pair of upper sprockets 63 and a pair of lower sprockets 64. A large number of receiving shelves 67 are arranged so that these receiving shelves 67 circulate in a vertical loop shape. As a circulation drive source, a servo motor (not shown) that drives either the upper or lower sprocket is used. The position of the receiving shelf 67 that has reached a predetermined position on the upper part of the chain conveyor 66 is defined as the workpiece receiving position 52. At this time, the position of the receiving shelf 67 that has reached the predetermined position on the lower part of the chain conveyor 66 is referred to as the workpiece. The sending position 62 is set. A position detector such as a photoelectric sensor (not shown) detects that the receiving shelf 67 has reached the workpiece receiving position 52, and a drive source such as the servo motor is controlled using a signal obtained here. By repeating this, the receiving shelf 67 moves from the top to the bottom (step 10 in the drawing) from the workpiece receiving position 52 to the workpiece sending position 62 by one step.

  The tray T that has reached the workpiece delivery position 51 of the sintering chamber 30 is transferred by the workpiece final transfer device 56 onto the receiving shelf 67 stopped at the workpiece reception position 52 of the cooling chamber 58. The The trays are sequentially sent downward by the intermittent operation of the cooling chamber work transfer device 60, and at the same time, the next trays T are sequentially placed on the subsequent receiving shelves 67. When the receiving shelf 67 on which the tray T is placed stops at the workpiece delivery position 62, the workpiece carry-out device 68 (see FIG. 1) is activated and the tray T is taken out from the cooling chamber 58 to the carry-out unit 6. In order to take out the workpiece, a workpiece carry-out port 69 is formed in the water cooling jacket 59 at a position that is lateral to the workpiece delivery position 62.

  The work carry-out device 68 is a pusher 70 using an air cylinder as an actuator, and is supported by the water cooling jacket 59 in the illustrated example. The workpiece unloading device 68 is extended when the tray T is transferred and extends across the cooling chamber 58. The workpiece unloading device 68 pushes the tray T at the workpiece delivery position 62 in the cooling chamber 58 from the workpiece unloading port 69. Unload to the unloading unit 6.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an outlet lifter 71 and an outlet pusher 72 are appropriately disposed in the unloading unit 6 so that the workpiece can be smoothly unloaded.

  Although not shown, the preheating chamber 11, the sintering chamber 30, and the cooling chamber 58 are provided with temperature measuring elements such as thermocouples in order to constantly detect the temperature in each chamber.

  According to the continuous sintering furnace 1 according to the present embodiment, the workpiece can be processed under independent conditions in the preheating chamber 11 and the sintering chamber 30, respectively. Can be performed under various conditions, leading to a reduction in processing time.

  For example, when the valve seat was used as a workpiece and degreasing and sintering were performed in a conventional general-purpose furnace, it took 6 to 7 hours. On the other hand, when the same valve seat was processed by the apparatus of the present embodiment, a processed product having a quality not inferior to the processed product by the conventional general-purpose furnace was obtained in a processing time of 48 to 50 minutes. That is, if the movement of the tray in each chamber is set to move by one stage in 2 minutes, the processing time of one tray is 6 minutes in the preheating chamber, 22 minutes in the sintering chamber, and 20 minutes in the cooling chamber. The total processing time is 48 to 50 minutes. The quality equivalent to that of the prior art could be realized in a significantly shorter processing time than that of the prior art.

  In addition, since the moving direction of the workpiece in the preheating chamber 11, the sintering chamber 30, and the cooling chamber 58 is the vertical direction, the areas of the preheating chamber 11, the sintering chamber 30, and the cooling chamber 58 can be small. The installation space can be saved.

  Further, since the preheating chamber 11 and the sintering chamber 30 are partitioned by the partition wall 32 and the partition door 35, the sintering chamber is not contaminated by the gas containing wax generated in the preheating chamber 11. .

  Within the scope of the present invention, various modifications can be made to the embodiment.

  For example, contrary to the embodiment, the tray T is moved from the bottom to the top in the preheating chamber 11, the tray T is moved from the top to the bottom in the sintering chamber 30, and the cooling chamber 58 is moved. The tray T may be moved from the bottom to the top inside.

  In addition, the preheating chamber work transfer device 16 and / or the sintering chamber work transfer device 36 may be of a chain conveyor type, similar to the cooling chamber work transfer device 60, or the cooling chamber work transfer device 60. May be in the form of the preheating chamber work transfer device 16 and the sintering chamber work transfer device 36.

7 Work Loading Device 11 Preheating Chamber 14 Position when Preheating Chamber Receives Work 15 Position when Preheating Chamber Sends Work 16 Work Transfer Device for Preheating Chamber 30 Sintering Chamber 32 Bulkhead 33 Position when Sintering Chamber Accepts Work 34 Work Transfer Path 35 Partition door 36 Sintering chamber workpiece transfer device 51 Sintering chamber workpiece feed position 56 Second workpiece transfer device 80 First workpiece transfer device

Claims (3)

A preheating chamber capable of processing workpieces under independent conditions and a sintering chamber are disposed adjacent to each other, and a workpiece loading device for sequentially loading the workpieces to the workpiece receiving position of the preheating chamber is disposed, and the preheating is performed. The chamber is provided with a workpiece transfer device for a preheating chamber for sequentially moving the workpiece in the vertical direction from the workpiece receiving position to the workpiece feeding position, and the partition between the preheating chamber and the sintering chamber is provided with the preheating chamber A workpiece transfer passage is provided that communicates the workpiece delivery position and the workpiece receiving position of the sintering chamber, and the workpiece transfer passage is openable and closable by a partition door, and the preheating chamber is opened through the workpiece transfer passage. A first workpiece transfer device for moving the workpiece into the sintering chamber is disposed, and the sintering chamber sequentially moves the workpiece in the vertical direction from the workpiece receiving position to the workpiece feeding position in the sintering chamber. For Click transfer device is disposed, said sintering chamber of the workpiece delivery time position the second work transfer apparatus sequentially carried out from the sintered chamber work is disposed, wherein the sintering between the preheating chamber for workpiece transfer device At least one of the work transfer devices for binding rooms is composed of a combination of a plurality of fixed shelves and a plurality of movable shelves arranged facing each other, and the movable shelves can move forward and backward with respect to the fixed shelves. A continuous sintering furnace that is configured to be movable in the vertical direction so that the workpiece can be sequentially moved in the vertical direction on the fixed shelf . A cooling chamber for cooling the workpiece is provided, and in the cooling chamber, the workpiece is sequentially moved in the vertical direction from the workpiece receiving position for receiving the workpiece carried out from the sintering chamber by the second workpiece transfer device to the workpiece feeding position. The continuous sintering furnace according to claim 1, wherein a workpiece transfer device for the cooling chamber to be moved is disposed . The continuous sintering furnace according to claim 1 or 2, wherein at least one of the plurality of fixed shelves and the plurality of moving shelves is a fork type .

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