JP7267590B2 - sheet forming equipment - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a sheet forming apparatus that forms a sheet by heating it with a hot plate.

Among resin products, there are those in which a textured sheet is adhered to the outer surface of a base material to cover the base material. This type of grained resin product is widely distributed as, for example, automobile interior parts. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the process of manufacturing a textured resin product, a preprocess of applying textures by transfer to a sheet having a flat surface before texture transfer is performed before molding. As a subsequent step, the sheet after the texture transfer (texture-attached sheet) with the texture uniformly applied to the surface is supplied to the sheet forming apparatus. In the sheet molding machine, the textured sheet is pressed against the base material set in the mold while being heated by the hot plate above the mold, and the base material is tightly covered. and molded. An example of such a sheet forming apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-200012.

The apparatus of Patent Document 1 is a thermoforming apparatus using hot plate heating, which is used in carrying out the post-process described above. In this thermoforming apparatus, the heating surface of the hot plate, which is the contact surface with the sheet, is provided with fine irregularities with a surface roughness of 10 μm or less. The air circulation portion formed by the unevenness is secured by the sheet attached to the heating surface of the hot plate. This air circulation portion suppresses the occurrence of air accumulation as the sheet softens due to heating.

Japanese Patent No. 5651263

However, there are the following problems. In recent years, the market needs for textured resin products have tended to produce a wide variety of products in small quantities. On the other hand, in molding a resin product with texture using a conventional sheet molding apparatus, the supplied sheet with texture is a ready-made product manufactured under a mass production system by a sheet manufacturer. Therefore, when sheet manufacturers try to individually produce sheets with textures that meet customer specifications in order to meet the diverse needs of customers, it is difficult to shift from a mass production system to high-mix low-volume production. This may lead to high costs.

In addition, when a ready-made grained sheet is supplied to a conventional sheet forming apparatus to mold a grained resin product, the following problems arise. When the textured resin product has a three-dimensional curved surface shape, the curved portion with a particularly small radius of curvature and the curved corner portion, etc., of the covered sheet with texture are positioned more outward than the other portions. Stretched. As a result, in such a portion, the embossment spreads and becomes thin. Therefore, even if the texture is uniformly applied to the textured sheet before molding, the texture becomes non-uniform over the entire product after molding. This poses a problem in terms of product quality control.

The apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a hot plate having fine unevenness on the heating surface. It is also conceivable to use such fine unevenness as a pattern for embossing to be transferred to a sheet. In general, the embossing mold requires that the imprinting surface of the embossing has a certain level difference of several tens to several hundred μm, and is engraved with regularity in the arrangement position. However, the unevenness described in Patent Document 1 is not sufficient for the required height difference of several tens to several hundred μm. Therefore, with the unevenness described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-200012, the texture having a design cannot be clearly transferred to the sheet. Therefore, the unevenness described in Patent Document 1 does not have regularity in the arrangement position and is shallow enough not to satisfy the size and shape required for the grain mold, and therefore does not function as a grain transfer mold.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and is a sheet that can reduce the man-hours involved in manufacturing a product in which the outer surface of a base material is coated with a sheet with texture. It is an object of the present invention to provide a molding apparatus.

A sheet forming apparatus, which is one aspect of the present invention that has been made to solve the above problems, includes a base on which a base material to be covered with a sheet is placed in an internal space with an upper opening. a mold provided at a position lower than a part; and a heating plate having a heating part for heating the sheet and configured to be movable in a direction toward or away from the internal space, and set in the mold. A sheet forming apparatus for forming the sheet by heating and pressing the sheet with the hot plate to cover the outer surface of the base material on the base, wherein the sheet is placed on the hot plate side. a suction unit configured to be capable of selectively sucking from both the base and the base; a pressure unit configured to be able to press the sheet from at least the hot plate side; A control unit that controls suction by the suction unit and pressure by the pressure unit, and the heating unit of the hot plate forms a pattern, which is a transfer type of grain to be transferred onto the sheet. characterized in that

According to this aspect, in manufacturing a product in which the outer surface of the base material is coated with the textured sheet, the transfer of the texture to the sheet and the thermoforming of the sheet and the base material are performed simultaneously in one apparatus. be able to. Therefore, compared to the conventional manufacturing process in which the pre-process of transferring the texturing onto the sheet and the post-process of thermally forming the base material of the textured sheet are performed separately by separate equipment, the number of processing equipment used is reduced. The number and work man-hours can be reduced. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the product can be suppressed. In addition, there are cases in which custom-made sheets are required by the market for high-mix low-volume production for sheets with various designs. Even in this case, the sheet forming apparatus according to the present invention can easily manufacture products by high-mix low-volume production. In particular, the market sometimes demands sheets with embossed designs that meet various needs, such as original designs and designs that have not yet been commercialized. The sheet forming apparatus according to the present invention can flexibly respond to market demands and inexpensively manufacture products covered with such a sheet.

In the sheet forming apparatus according to the present invention, the term "pattern" means that the surface of the sheet is designed to have a characteristic pattern, pattern, letter, three-dimensional shape, or the like. It means a transfer mold for transferring onto the surface of a sheet. This embossing transfer mold is originally a heating part of a hot plate provided with a heat source for heating a sheet, and a processing machine is used to create unevenness with a height difference of, for example, several tens to several hundreds of μm at the arrangement position. Engraved with regularity. In the sheet forming apparatus according to the present invention, by carving such unevenness in the heating portion of the hot plate, a mold corresponding to the shape of a single element constituting the grain is formed as a single or a plurality of aggregates. is defined as a "pattern".

In the above aspect, the pattern has a pattern element that is a mold element corresponding to a single portion of the texture to be transferred, and the first pattern is provided with the pattern element in a shape that serves as a reference for the texture to be transferred. and the pattern elements provided in the first pattern portion are formed by changing at least one of the depth of engraving, the size of engraving, and the arrangement interval of engraving. and a second pattern portion provided with the pattern element.

According to this aspect, even if the product in which the outer surface of the base material is coated with the sheet with the grain applied has a three-dimensional shape exhibiting a three-dimensional curved surface, the product can be obtained regardless of the shape of the outer surface of the base material. The embossing that appears in the entire image is transferred in a uniform and uniform manner, with no difference in densities or sizes.

In the above aspect, when the texture is transferred to the sheet, the control unit controls the heating unit of the hot plate to heat the sheet to a texture transfer temperature required for transferring the texture, The sheet at the texture transfer temperature is sucked from the hot plate side by the suction unit, and after the texture is transferred, the sheet is formed from the texture transfer temperature to the heating unit of the hot plate. When the base material is coated with the sheet after adjusting the sheet forming temperature to the required sheet forming temperature, the sheet at the sheet forming temperature is sucked from the base side by the suction unit, and at the same time, the sheet is It is preferable that the pressurizing part controls the pressurization from the hot plate side.

According to this aspect, the sheet on which the texture is transferred with high accuracy can be stretched along the outer surface of the base material while suppressing wrinkles and twists.

A sheet forming apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention, which has been made to solve the above problems, is configured to be movable in a direction toward or away from a sheet set on a pedestal, and includes a heating unit for heating the sheet. a sheet forming apparatus for forming the sheet on the pedestal by heating and pressing the sheet with the hot plate, wherein the sheet is sucked from the side of the hot plate. and a control unit that controls the suction unit, and the heating unit of the hot plate is formed with a pattern that is a transfer type of grain to be transferred to the sheet, and the pattern is a first pattern portion having a pattern element that is a pattern element corresponding to a single portion of the texture to be transferred, and provided with the pattern element in a shape that serves as a reference for the texture to be transferred; a pattern element formed by changing at least one of the depth of engraving, the size of engraving, and the arrangement interval of engraving with respect to the pattern elements formed in the second pattern. It is characterized in that it is formed by partitioning into a part and a part.

According to this aspect, when forming a sheet using the sheet forming apparatus according to the present invention, a sheet with a desired design, such as an original design or a design that has not been commercialized, can be produced according to market demand. We can be flexible and offer low prices. In particular, there are cases where custom-made sheets are required from the market for high-mix low-volume production for sheets with various designs. Even in this case, the sheet forming apparatus according to the present invention can easily manufacture sheets by high-mix low-volume production. In addition, the textured sheet formed by the sheet forming apparatus according to the present invention may be coated on the outer surface of a three-dimensionally shaped product exhibiting a three-dimensional curved surface. In such a case, the embossing appearing in the entire product has a uniform appearance without any difference in shading or size.

According to the sheet forming apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the man-hours involved in manufacturing a product in which the outer surface of the base material is covered with the sheet with texture.

1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a sheet forming apparatus according to Embodiment 1, and is a first step diagram showing a state in which a sheet and a base material are set in a mold in this sheet forming apparatus in a product manufacturing process. FIG. FIG. 2 is a second process diagram showing a state in which the hot plate is lowered to heat the sheet and simultaneously transfer the texturing, following the first process diagram shown in FIG. 1 ; It is the 3rd process drawing which shows the state which coat|covers the sheet|seat softened by heating on the base material following the 2nd process drawing shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a third process diagram showing a state in which the product in which the base material is coated with the molded sheet is removed from the mold after the hot plate is raised, following the third process diagram shown in FIG. 3 ; FIG. 4 is a perspective view schematically showing a state in which grains are uniformly transferred to a flat sheet; FIG. 3 is a plan view schematically showing the entire pattern of the hot plate mounted on the sheet forming apparatus according to Embodiment 1; 7 is an enlarged plan view showing pattern elements of a pattern formed on the heating surface shown in FIG. 6; FIG. In FIG. 1, it is an enlarged view of the X section. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of an electromagnetic valve configured in the sheet forming apparatus according to Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a sheet forming apparatus according to Embodiment 2, and is a first step diagram showing a state in which a sheet is set on a pedestal in this sheet forming apparatus in a grain transfer process. FIG. 11 is a second process diagram showing a state in which the hot plate is lowered to heat the sheet and simultaneously transfer the texture, following the first process diagram shown in FIG. 10 ; FIG. 12 is a third process diagram showing a state in which the sheet after texture transfer is taken out from the pedestal after the heating plate is raised, following the third process diagram shown in FIG. 11 ; FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram partially using a cross-sectional view to show an example of a product in which a base material is coated with a textured sheet formed by a conventional sheet forming apparatus.

Embodiments 1 and 2 embodying a sheet forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a sheet forming apparatus according to Embodiment 1. FIG. Further, FIG. 1 is also a first process drawing showing a state in which a sheet and a base material are set in a mold in this sheet forming apparatus in the manufacturing process of a product. For convenience of explanation, each figure after FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram in which the configuration of the apparatus is simplified and schematically shown. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram partially using a cross-sectional view showing an example of a product in which a base material is coated with a textured sheet formed by a conventional sheet forming apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 13, the sheet forming apparatus 1 according to Embodiment 1 is used to manufacture a product 2 such as a product 2X having a three-dimensional curved surface. The product 2 is obtained by forming a sheet 4 after transfer with a texture 5 (post-molding sheet 4B) into a shape along the outer surface 3a of the base material 3, and bonding and covering the outer surface 3a of the base material 3. It becomes The sheet 4 is, for example, a general thermoplastic resin sheet such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). In the first embodiment, the sheet forming apparatus 1 is mainly intended for thermoforming sheets 4 having a thickness of about 200 to 500 μm. Of course, the thickness of the sheet 4 may be outside the range of 200-500 μm.

Note that the JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards) packaging terminology standard specifies that a thin plate-like plastic material with a thickness of 250 μm or more is a sheet, and a membranous plastic material with a thickness of less than 250 μm is a film. However, in Embodiments 1 and 2, plastic materials to be thermoformed by the sheet forming apparatus 1 are not distinguished by thickness, and plastic materials having a thickness within the category of film are collectively referred to as a sheet.

Next, the configuration of the sheet forming apparatus 1 will be described. The sheet molding apparatus 1 heats and presses a pre-molding sheet 4A (sheet 4) set in a mold 10 with a hot plate 20 in a sealed state to form a substrate on a base 13. It is a device that coats and molds the outer surface 3a of the material 3. As shown in FIG. 1, the sheet forming apparatus 1 includes a mold 10, a hot plate 20, an electric control panel 30 (control section), a temperature control unit 31 (control section), a suction section 40, a pressure It includes a portion 50, an electromagnetic valve 64, and the like.

First, the mold 10 will be described. The mold 10 is made of a metal member. The mold 10 is placed on a pedestal provided with a linear slide mechanism below a hot plate 20, which will be described later. Thereby, the mold 10 is provided so as to be movable between the sheet 4 feeding position and the molding position (the position shown in FIG. 1) by the hot plate 20 .

The mold 10 has a role of thermoforming the sheet 4 . The mold 10 is formed in the shape of a bottomed cylinder having an inner space 11S with an upper opening. A base 13 is provided at a position lower than the opening 11 in the internal space 11S of the mold 10 . The base 13 mounts and holds the substrate 3 to be covered with the sheet 4 . A seal member 15 is provided on the outer peripheral edge surface 12 positioned on the outer periphery of the internal space 11S on the opening 11 side of the mold 10 . At the time of molding, the pre-molding sheet 4A (sheet 4) is placed on the outer peripheral surface 12 of the mold 10 as shown in FIG. 1 in the first embodiment. The sheet 4 placed on the outer peripheral surface 12 is arranged and set above the base material 3 held on the base 13 . The internal space 11S of the mold 10 is provided with an air circulation hole 14 that communicates with the mold-side channel 61 that is the air channel.

Next, the hot plate 20 will be described. The hot plate 20 is provided movably in the direction of approaching or separating from the opening 11 of the internal space 11S of the mold 10 . The hot plate 20 serves to soften the sheet 4 by heating and to transfer the texture 5 to the sheet 4 . The hot plate 20 is made of, for example, a metal material such as carbon steel or aluminum. The hot plate 20 has a heating surface portion 21 that heats the flat pre-molding sheet 4A (sheet 4) before texture transfer.

The hot plate 20 has a heater 23 as a heat source for the heating surface portion 21 on the side opposite to the heating surface portion 21 . The temperature that can be heated from the heating surface portion 21 by the heater 23 is 80 to 250° C. as a softening temperature range of a general thermoplastic sheet. The sheet 4 placed on the outer peripheral surface 12 of the mold 10 is placed under the heating surface portion 21 of the hot plate 20 and heated. The heater 23 is electrically connected to the electric control board 30 via the temperature control unit 31 .

The electric control panel 30 controls, for example, the up-and-down motion of the hot plate 20, the sliding motion of the mold 10, the operation of the vacuum pump 41 and the compressor 51, the operation of the electromagnetic valve 64, and the like. The temperature of the heating surface portion 21 of the hot plate 20 can be adjusted to an arbitrary set temperature by the temperature control unit 31 .

FIG. 6 is a plan view schematically showing the entire pattern of the hot plates attached to the sheet forming apparatus according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 7 is an enlarged plan view showing pattern elements of a pattern formed on the heating surface portion shown in FIG. 6. FIG.

Further, the hot plate 20 transfers the texture 5 based on the pattern 25 by heating to the pre-molding sheet 4A. At the same time, the hot plate 20 has the function of heating the outer surface 3a of the substrate 3 for coating. That is, the heating surface portion 21 of the hot plate 20 is provided with a pattern 25 as shown in FIG. The pattern 25 is a transfer mold of the grain 5 to be transferred to the flat sheet 4 before grain transfer (the pre-molding sheet 4A). In the product 2, the pattern 25 is formed in a form adjusted according to the shape of the outer surface 3a of the base material 3 so that the texture 5 reflected on the molded sheet 4B covering the base material 3 is uniform. .

Here, the aspect of the pattern 25 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 5 and 13. FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view schematically showing how grains are uniformly transferred to a flat sheet. Among thermoformed products, as shown in FIG. 13, there is also a product 2 having a three-dimensional curved surface shape, such as product 2X. Conventionally, in manufacturing such a curved surface product, as shown in FIG. It was fed to a molding station and thermoformed.

The grains 5 are originally printed on the sheet 4 with a uniform size, depth, and arrangement intervals. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 13, the outer surface 3a of the base material 3 of the product 2X has a curved portion and a corner portion forming a part thereof. In the product 2X, of the sheet 4 that covers the outer surface 3a of the base material 3, the portion attached to such a curved portion is stretched outward along the shape of the outer surface 3a. Therefore, the grains 5 appearing on the curved portions and corner portions of the outer surface 3a are deformed with the partial elongation of the sheet 4 compared to other portions. Specifically, the texture projected onto the product 2X is an aggregate of individual single elements. Single elements of the grain appearing in the curved part of the product 2X, etc., change in size (expanded grain), change in depth (thinned grain), and change in arrangement interval (single elements of adjacent grain are closer together). This is the embossing deformation portion 5X (a portion where the dot display is rough in FIG. 6). Therefore, the embossing 5 becomes non-uniform over the entire product 2X. Therefore, product 2X poses a problem in terms of quality control.

In the sheet forming apparatus 1 according to Embodiment 1, the pattern 25 is provided on the heating surface portion 21 of the hot plate 20 . The pattern 25 is formed for the purpose of avoiding the grain deformation portion 5X. The pattern 25 has a depth of engraving, a size of engraving, or an arrangement interval of engraving according to the shape of a curved portion or a corner portion forming a part of the outer surface 3a of the base material 3. are formed by changing at least one or more of them. Specifically, the pattern 25 is formed within the heating surface portion 21 by dividing it into, for example, a first pattern portion 25A and a second pattern portion 25B in the first embodiment.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the pattern 25 has a pattern element 25S that is a pattern element corresponding to a single portion of the texture 5 to be transferred. As shown in FIG. 7, the first pattern portion 25A and the second pattern portion 25B are composed of pattern element convex portions 25Sa and pattern element concave portions 25Sb. The pattern element projections 25Sa have the function of forming recesses of the texture 5 on the surface of the sheet 4 after the texture 5 has been transferred. The pattern element concave portions 25Sb have the function of forming convex portions of the grain 5 on the surface of the sheet 4 after the grain 5 has been transferred. The difference in height between the pattern element convex portions 25Sa and the pattern element concave portions 25Sb is approximately 0.1 mm, although it varies depending on the use of the texture 5 to be transferred to the sheet 4. FIG. The surface roughness of the pattern element protrusions 25Sa and the pattern element recesses 25Sb is 0.5 μm or less.

The first pattern portion 25A is a transfer type for the texture 5 that performs transfer in a state equivalent to or close to the uniform texture 5 shown in FIG. In other words, the first pattern portion 25A is a reference transfer pattern used for a portion where the grain 5 to be transferred is hardly or not changed by coating the outer surface 3a of the base material 3 . In the first pattern portion 25A, a group of pattern elements 25S are formed in a reference shape with respect to the texture 5 to be transferred.

The second pattern portion 25B is a group of pattern elements 25S responsible for transferring the texture 5 corresponding to the range of the texture deformation portion 5X in the entire sheet 4 to be covered. In forming the second pattern portion 25B, the range of the texturing deformation portion 5X that occurs in the entire product 2X is specified in advance. Under this precondition, the second pattern portion 25B has the depth of engraving, the size of engraving, or the arrangement interval of engraving with respect to the pattern elements 25S provided in the first pattern portion 25A. The pattern elements are formed with at least one or more varied shapes. Specifically, the pattern elements 25S provided in the second pattern portion 25B are slightly reduced in size, deepened in depth, or separated from each other by the pattern elements 25S provided in the second pattern portion 25B. This is a transfer mold for the texturing 5, which is formed by appropriately adjusting the processing, etc., in which the arrangement interval is slightly narrowed.

Such a pattern 25 is preferably formed by a processing machine that carves pattern elements based on coordinates of a processing position set and input in advance under computer numerical control. Examples of processing machines include CNC (CNC: Computerized Numerical Control) machining centers and CNC laser engraving machines. The reason for this will be described with reference to the three-dimensional product 2X.

In order to know the area of the grain deformation portion 5X generated in the product 2X, for example, it is conceivable that the region of the grain deformation portion 5X of the product 2X is measured by a measuring device such as a three-dimensional measuring machine equipped with computer numerical control. . In this case, the coordinate values of each point indicating the area of the texturing deformation portion 5X can be acquired through measurement.

By the processing machine described above, the region of the pattern portion, such as the second pattern portion 25B, to which the reference transfer mold is to be adjusted is processed. At this time, it is possible to feed back the actually measured values of such coordinates obtained from the measuring device as the coordinate values of the processing position of the area of the pattern portion by the processing machine. Further, in the first embodiment, it may be desired to adjust the shape of the pattern element 25S formed in the second pattern portion 25B with respect to the transfer mold of the first pattern portion 25A serving as a reference. Therefore, when adjusting the shape of the pattern element 25S, the range of the second pattern portion 25B, the size and depth of the pattern element 25S, and the like are finely adjusted based on the coordinate values of the processing position set and input. It is because it becomes easy to adjust. As a result, the second pattern portion 25B, which is precisely adapted to the range of the possible embossing deformation portion 5X, can be formed with high accuracy. The product is then finished with high quality.

Next, the suction portion 40 and the pressure portion 50 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 9. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of an electromagnetic valve configured in the sheet forming apparatus according to Embodiment 1. FIG.

As described above, the internal space 11S of the mold 10 is provided with the air circulation hole 14 that communicates with the mold-side channel 61 . After forming the product 2 by the sheet forming apparatus 1, a portion of the sheet 4 is trimmed. It is preferable that the air circulation hole 14 is located in a portion of the sheet 4 that is discarded after trimming. Specifically, with respect to the portion of the molded sheet 4B disposed in the internal space 11S, the vicinity of the sandwiched portion between the outer peripheral edge surface 12 of the mold 10 and the contact surface 22 of the hot plate 20 is Cut after completion of thermoforming. It is preferable that the air circulation hole 14 is located in such a vicinity that does not interfere with the intended front of the product 2 . This is because the air circulation holes 14 do not leave traces on the sucked sheet 4 when the sheet 4 is sucked in the second step of the product 2 to be described later.

The mold-side channel 61 is connected to and communicates with the pressurizing section 50 . The pressurizing section 50 is composed of a compressor 51 and a pressurizing tank 52 . The pressurization tank 52 stores air compressed by the compressor 51 .

In addition, as shown in FIG. 1, the hot plate 20 is provided with fine air circulation holes 24 that communicate with the hot plate-side channels 62 that are air channels. The hot plate-side channel 62 is connected to and communicates with the suction portion 40 . The suction unit 40 is composed of a vacuum pump 41 and a vacuum tank 42 . The vacuum tank 42 can maintain a state of being decompressed by the vacuum pump 41 . The vacuum tank 42 is effective in reducing decompression loss.

The mold-side channel 61 is connected in parallel with and communicates with the connection channel 63 . Further, the hot plate side channel 62 is also connected in parallel with the connection channel 63 and communicates with them. A solenoid valve 64 is piped to the connection flow path 63 . The solenoid valve 64 is electrically controlled by the electric control board 30 . As shown in FIG. 9, the solenoid valve 64 is a valve capable of controlling the flow of air in five different ways. Specifically, the vacuum pump 41 is the first fluid control that communicates with the hot plate-side channel 62 and sucks air. This is the second fluid control for simultaneously sucking air through communication between the vacuum pump 41 and the mold-side channel 61 and pressurizing air through communication between the compressor 51 and the hot plate-side channel 62 . The vacuum pump 41 and the compressor 51 are the third fluid control that interrupts the communication between the mold-side channel 61 and the hot-plate-side channel 62 . A compressor 51 is a fourth fluid control that communicates with the mold-side channel 61 and pressurizes the air. That is, the suction unit 40 is configured to selectively suck the sheet 4 from both the hot plate 20 side and the base 13 side. The pressure unit 50 is configured to be able to press the sheet 4 at least from the hot plate 20 side. The electromagnetic valve 64 together with the electric control panel 30 controls the suction by the suction section 40 and the pressure by the pressure section 50 .

Next, the manufacturing process of the product 2 using the sheet forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG. FIG. 2 is a second process diagram, following the first process diagram shown in FIG. 1, showing a state in which the hot plate is lowered to heat the sheet and simultaneously transfer the texture. FIG. 3 is a third process drawing showing a state in which a base material is covered with a sheet softened by heating, following the second process drawing shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a fourth process diagram following the third process diagram shown in FIG. 3, showing a state in which the product in which the molded sheet covers the base material is removed from the mold after the hot plate is raised.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the first step of the product 2, the mold 10 is placed at a retracted position away from the molding position. At the retracted position of the mold 10, the substrate 3 is set on the base 13 in the internal space 11S of the mold 10 with the outer surface 3a facing upward. After that, the preformed sheet 4A carried into the sheet forming apparatus 1 is set on the outer peripheral surface 12 of the mold 10 under atmospheric pressure. As a result, the opening 11 of the internal space 11S of the mold 10 is closed with the pre-molding sheet 4A. After the substrate 3 and the pre-molding sheet 4A are set in the mold 10, the mold 10 is slid to the molding position. At this time, the hot plate 20 is at a retracted position away from the mold 10 . The gap between the mold 10 and the hot plate 20 that have reached the molding position is, for example, about 5 mm. After the mold 10 reaches the molding position, the hot plate 20 is lowered toward the mold 10 .

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, in the second step of the product 2, the contact surface 22 of the lowered hot plate 20 and the outer peripheral edge surface 12 of the mold 10 are in close contact with the sealing member 15. The pre-formed sheet 4A set on the outer peripheral edge surface 12 is sandwiched. Thereby, the internal space 11S of the mold 10 becomes airtight with the outside. Next, the heater 23 of the hot plate 20 is operated to raise the temperature of the heating surface portion 21 to a texturing transfer temperature of 180° C., for example. At the same time, the vacuum pump 41 is operated, the electromagnetic valve 64 is set to the first fluid control, and the sheet 4 set on the outer peripheral surface 12 of the mold 10 is sucked. As a result, the pre-molding sheet 4A (sheet 4) is adhered to the pattern 25 of the heating surface portion 21 in a state of being softened by heating. By maintaining this adsorption state for a predetermined time, the texture 5 is transferred to the sheet 4 based on the pattern 25 .

Next, as shown in FIG. 3, in the third process of the product 2, when the transfer of the texture 5 is completed, the temperature control unit 31 changes the heating surface portion 21 from the texture transfer temperature of 180° C. to a sheet such as an example sheet. The molding temperature is lowered to 160°C. Also, the operation of the vacuum pump 41 is temporarily stopped, and the suction of the sheet 4 is stopped. Switch the solenoid valve 64 to the third fluid control. As a result, a pressure difference is generated between the upper and lower regions sandwiching the sheet 4 with respect to the internal space 11S. Then, the sheet 4 to which the texture 5 has been transferred is separated from the heating surface portion 21 of the hot plate 20 and released.

The solenoid valve 64 is then switched to the second fluid control. The vacuum pump 41 is operated to suck the sheet 4 from the mold 10 side. Simultaneously with this suction, the compressor 51 is also operated to press the sheet 4 from the hot plate 20 . As a result, the softened sheet 4 onto which the embossing 5 has been transferred is transferred to the substrate 3 on the base 13 by the pressure difference between the air suction from the mold 10 side and the air pressure from the hot plate 20 side. It covers along the outer surface 3a of the. Also, this sheet 4 is pressed against the outer surface 3 a of the substrate 3 . This sheet 4 is then bonded to the outer surface 3a of the fused substrate 3 in close contact therewith. This sheet 4 becomes a post-molding sheet 4B thermally deformed along the inner wall of the internal space 11S of the mold 10 .

8 is an enlarged view of the X section in FIG. 1. FIG. Here, as shown in FIG. 8, a surface treatment layer 28 may be laminated on the pattern 25 of the heating surface portion 21 of the hot plate 20 . The surface treatment layer 28 is made of a material that is releasable from the contacting sheet 4 and heat resistant to the heating temperature of the sheet 4 . The surface treatment layer 28 on the heating surface portion 21 is, for example, a coating treatment layer made of polytetrafluoroethylene or other fluororesin. With such a surface treatment layer 28, the softened sheet 4, which has been adsorbed to the pattern 25 of the heating surface portion 21 in the third step of the product 2, is more easily peeled off from the heating surface portion 21 after the transfer of the texture 5 is completed. Because it becomes Instead of the surface treatment layer 28, a release agent or the like that is chemically stable and has heat resistance may be applied to the heating surface portion 21. FIG.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, in the fourth step of the product 2, after the sheet 4 is attached to the outer surface 3a of the base material 3, both the vacuum pump 41 and the compressor 51 are stopped. Also, the electromagnetic valve 64 is switched to the third fluid control. Thereby, the internal space 11S is returned to the atmospheric pressure. Next, the hot plate 20 is raised and moved to the retreat position of the hot plate 20 . Thereby, the hot plate 20 and the mold 10 are separated from each other. Also, the mold 10 is slid from the molding position to the retracted position. Next, the product 2 is removed from the mold 10 at the retracted position of the mold 10 . This completes the series of steps related to the manufacturing process of the product 2 . Thus, the product 2 in which the outer surface 3a of the substrate 3 is covered with the sheet 4 is manufactured by the sheet forming apparatus 1. FIG.

Next, functions and effects of the sheet forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment will be described. In the sheet forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment, as described above, the pattern 25, which is a transfer mold of the texture 5 to be transferred to the sheet 4 before the texture is transferred, is formed on the heating surface portion 21 of the hot plate 20. FIG. The hot plate 20 is characterized by transferring the embossing 5 based on the pattern 25 to the sheet 4 and performing heating necessary for coating the outer surface 3 a of the base material 3 .

Due to this feature, when manufacturing the product 2 and the like in addition to the product 2X, the transfer of the texture 5 to the sheet 4 and the thermoforming of the sheet 4 and the base material 3 can be performed simultaneously with one apparatus. Therefore, compared to the conventional manufacturing process in which the pre-process of transferring the texturing onto the sheet and the post-process of thermally forming the base material of the textured sheet are performed separately by separate equipment, the number of processing equipment used is reduced. The number and work man-hours can be reduced. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the product 2 and the like can be reduced.

Therefore, according to the sheet forming apparatus 1 of Embodiment 1, when manufacturing the product 2 or the like in which the outer surface 3a of the base material 3 is covered with the sheet 4 with the texture 5, the man-hours involved in manufacturing can be reduced. It has an excellent effect of being able to

In addition, there are cases where the sheet 4 with the texture 5 having diversified designs is required by the market for high-mix low-volume production as a made-to-order product. Even in this case, the sheet forming apparatus 1 can easily manufacture the products 2 and the like by high-mix low-volume production. In particular, there is a demand from the market for a sheet 4 having a grain 5 with a design that meets various needs, such as an original design or a design that has not been commercialized. The sheet forming apparatus 1 can flexibly respond to market demands and manufacture the product 2 covered with such a sheet 4 at a low cost.

Further, in the sheet forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment, as described above, the pattern 25 has the pattern element 25S which is a mold element corresponding to a single part of the texture 5 to be transferred. , the depth of engraving, the size of engraving, or the size of engraving with respect to the first pattern portion 25A provided with the pattern elements 25S having a reference shape, and the pattern elements 25S provided in the first pattern portion 25A. and a second pattern portion 25B provided with pattern elements 25S formed by changing at least one of the arrangement intervals.

With this feature, even if the product 2 such as the product 2X illustrated in FIG. 13 has a three-dimensional shape exhibiting a three-dimensional curved surface, the product can be Grains 5 appearing in the entire 2nd order have a uniform appearance with no difference in shading or size.

In addition, in the sheet forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment, the electric control panel 30 transfers the texture 5 to the sheet 4 in the second process of the product 2, and the texture is applied to the heating surface portion 21 of the hot plate 20. Control is performed to heat the sheet 4 to a transfer temperature (eg, 180° C.). At the same time, the electric control panel 30 sucks the sheet 4 at this texture transfer temperature from the hot plate 20 side by the suction portion 40 . After transferring the texture 5, in the third process of the product 2, the electric control panel 30 controls the heating surface portion 21 of the hot plate 20 from the texture transfer temperature to the sheet molding temperature (for example, 160° C.). , the sheet 4 is coated onto the substrate 3 . At this time, the electric control panel 30 controls the suction unit 40 to suck the sheet 4 at the sheet molding temperature from the base 13 side, and at the same time, the pressure unit 50 presses the sheet 4 from the hot plate 20 side. characterized by: Due to this feature, the sheet 4 onto which the texture 5 has been transferred with high accuracy can be stretched along the outer surface 3a of the base material 3 while suppressing wrinkles and twists.

In addition, in the sheet forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment, the pattern 25 of the hot plate 20 is provided with a surface treatment layer having releasability from the contacting sheet 4 and heat resistance to the heating temperature of the sheet 4. characterized in that Due to this feature, after the texture 5 is transferred to the sheet 4 , the softened sheet 4 that has been attracted to the pattern 25 of the heating surface portion 21 is more easily separated from the hot plate 20 .

(Embodiment 2)
Next, a sheet forming apparatus 101 according to Embodiment 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 to 12. FIG. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a sheet forming apparatus according to Embodiment 2. FIG. Further, FIG. 10 is also a first process drawing showing a state in which the sheet is set on the pedestal in this sheet forming apparatus in the grain transfer process.

In the sheet forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment described above, the heat plate 20 transfers the texture 5 to the softened sheet 4 before transfer based on the pattern 25 formed on the heating surface portion 21 . In addition, molding was performed to cover the outer surface 3a of the base material 3 placed in the mold 10 with the sheet 4 onto which the texture 5 was transferred. However, the sheet forming apparatus 101 according to the second embodiment is used to transfer only the texture 5 to the sheet 4 before the texture is transferred based on the pattern 25 formed on the heating surface portion 21 . Embodiment 2 is different from Embodiment 1 in the presence or absence of the mold 10, etc., but other parts are the same as those in Embodiment 1. FIG. Therefore, the description will focus on the parts that are different from the first embodiment, and the description of the others will be simplified or omitted.

As shown in FIGS. 10 to 12, the sheet forming apparatus 101 according to the second embodiment is used to manufacture the sheet 4 with the texture 5 by transferring the texture 5 to the sheet 4 before the texture transfer. The sheet 4 with the texture 5 is coated on the surface of the product 2 or the like, as shown in FIG. The sheet molding device 101 is a device that heats and presses the sheet 4 with a hot plate 20 (corresponding to the hot plate 20 of the first embodiment) to form the sheet 4 set on the frame 110 .

The sheet forming apparatus 101 includes a hot plate 20, a suction unit 40, an electromagnetic valve 164 (control unit) that controls the suction unit 40, and the like. The suction unit 40 is composed of a vacuum pump 41 and a vacuum tank 42 . The solenoid valve 164 is a valve that enables two types of fluid control for the flow path of air. Specifically, the vacuum pump 41 is the first fluid control that communicates with the hot plate-side channel 62 and sucks air. This is a second fluid control that cuts off the communication between the vacuum pump 41 and the hot plate-side channel 62 .

In this sheet forming apparatus 101, a pattern 25, which is a transfer mold for the grain 5, is formed on the heating surface portion 21 of the hot plate 20, as in the sheet forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment. As described above, the pattern 25 has the pattern element 25S, which is a mold element corresponding to a single portion of the texture 5 to be transferred. The pattern 25 is divided into a first pattern portion 25A and a second pattern portion 25B. In the first pattern portion 25A, a group of pattern elements 25S are formed in a reference shape with respect to the texture 5 to be transferred. The second pattern portion 25B has a shape in which at least one of the depth, size, and arrangement interval of the carved pattern elements 25S provided in the first pattern portion 25A is changed. The pattern element is formed by

Due to this feature, when forming the sheet 4 using the sheet forming apparatus 101, the sheet 4 with the texture 5 having a design that meets various needs, such as an original design or a design that has not been commercialized, is required by the market. It will be possible to flexibly respond to and provide at low cost. In particular, there is a case where the sheet 4 with the texture 5 having a diversified design is required by the market for high-mix low-volume production as a made-to-order product. Even in such a case, the sheet forming apparatus 101 can easily manufacture the sheet 4 by high-mix low-volume production. In addition, the sheet 4 having the texture 5 formed by the sheet forming apparatus 101 may cover the outer surface of the three-dimensional product 2 having a three-dimensional curved surface. In such a case, the embossing 5 appearing in the entire product 2 has a uniform appearance with no difference in shading or size.

In the above, the present invention has been described in accordance with Embodiments 1 and 2, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described Embodiments 1 and 2, and can be appropriately modified and applied without departing from the scope of the invention. .

For example, in Embodiment 1, the texture 5 based on the pattern 25 formed on the heating surface portion 21 is transferred to the pre-molded sheet 4A by the hot plate 20, and the heat necessary for coating the outer surface 3a of the base material 3 is applied. The sheet forming apparatus 1 that manufactures products by performing Further, in the second embodiment, the sheet forming apparatus 101 that manufactures the sheet 4 with the grain by transferring the grain 5 based on the pattern 25 formed on the heating surface portion 21 to the pre-formed sheet 4A by the hot plate 20 is mentioned. .

However, when manufacturing a product, the product is manufactured not only by cover molding, but also by using the sheet 4 with grains manufactured by the sheet molding device 101, for example, by vacuum molding or air pressure molding for molding into a mold shape. can be That is, in the method of forming a product using the sheet 4 with texture, general thermoforming methods are applicable.

Further, in the hot plate 20 of the first embodiment, the first pattern portion 25A is used as a reference transfer mold, and the second pattern portion 25B is formed by adjusting the shape of the pattern element 25S with respect to the first pattern portion 25A. One was incorporated within pattern 25 . However, with respect to the pattern portion serving as the reference transfer mold, another pattern portion for adjusting the shape of the pattern element is limited to the first embodiment in terms of quantity, positional relationship with the pattern portion serving as the reference transfer mold, and the like. not something. The pattern portion for adjusting the shape of the pattern element may be appropriately changed each time according to the shape of the outer surface of the base material of the product to be molded.

Further, in forming the second pattern portion 25B, the pattern elements 25S have the following six modes in comparison with the pattern elements 25S of the first pattern portion 25A. That is, as a first mode, the second pattern portion 25B is formed of pattern elements 25S having different carved depths. As a second mode, the second pattern portion 25B is formed of pattern elements 25S having different engraved sizes. As a third aspect, the second pattern portion 25B is formed of pattern elements 25S having different intervals between carved arrangements. As a fourth aspect, the second pattern portion 25B is formed of pattern elements 25S having variations in both the engraved depth and size. As a fifth aspect, the second pattern portion 25B is formed of pattern elements 25S having variations in both the engraved size and the arrangement interval. As a sixth aspect, the second pattern portion 25B is formed of pattern elements 25S with variations in all of the engraved depth, size, and arrangement interval. Under these six aspects, the pattern portion for adjusting the shape of the pattern element may be appropriately changed each time according to the shape of the outer surface of the base material of the product to be molded. .

Further, in the first embodiment, in the second step of the product 2, the vacuum pump 41 is operated while the internal space 11S of the mold 10 is under the atmospheric pressure to move the sheet 4 to the pattern 25 of the heating surface portion 21 of the hot plate 20. adsorbed to. However, even if the vacuum pump 41 adsorbs the sheet 4 to the pattern 25 of the heating surface portion 21 and at the same time, the compressor 51 presses the sheet 4 from the base 13 side through the mold side flow path 61 and the air circulation hole 14. good.

Moreover, in Embodiment 1, the suction unit 40 and the pressurizing unit 50 are connected by the connection flow path 63 , and the connection flow path 63 is provided with the solenoid valve 64 . Then, the electromagnetic valve 64 selectively controls the suction on the mold 10 side and the suction on the hot plate 20 side. However, the suction unit is configured to be able to selectively suck the sheet from both the hot plate side and the base side. The pressure unit is configured to be able to press the sheet from at least the hot plate side. If the control unit controls the suction by the suction unit and the pressurization by the pressure unit, the piping system between the suction unit and the pressure unit is limited to that of the first embodiment. Anything is fine.

Further, in the pattern 25 formed on the hot plate 20 of Embodiment 1, the pattern element 25S is illustrated as "A" in FIG. 7 for convenience of explanation. However, the pattern element is merely an example in the first embodiment, and is not limited in any way.

In Embodiment 1, in the manufacturing process of the product 2 using the sheet forming apparatus 1, the process contents such as the forming procedure and the forming procedure described in the first to fourth processes are merely examples. , can be changed as appropriate without being limited to the embodiment. For example, in the second step of the product 2 according to the first embodiment, the temperature of the heating surface portion 21 of the hot plate 20 is increased to heat the pre-molding sheet 4A (sheet 4) to a texture transfer temperature of 180° C., which is an example. , the sheet 4 set on the outer peripheral surface 12 of the mold 10 was sucked. However, in the second step of the product 2, the pre-molding sheet 4A (sheet 4) heated to an example texturing temperature of 160° C. is sucked while being set on the outer peripheral surface 12 of the mold 10. The heating surface portion 21 of the hot plate 20 may be heated to heat the sheet 4 to a texturing transfer temperature of 180° C., for example.

1, 101 Sheet forming apparatus 2, 2X Product 3 Base material 3a Outer surface of base material 4 Sheet 4A Sheet before forming (sheet)
4B Sheet after molding (sheet)
5 Grain 10 Mold 11 Opening 11S Internal space 13 Base 20 Hot plate 21 Heating surface 25 Pattern 25A First pattern 25B Second pattern 25S Pattern element 30 Electric control panel (control unit)
31 temperature control unit 40 suction unit 50 pressure unit 64 solenoid valve 110 pedestal

Claims (3)

a mold in which a base on which a substrate to be coated with a sheet is placed is provided at a position lower than the opening of the internal space in the internal space with an upper opening;
A hot plate having a heating unit for heating the sheet and configured to be movable in a direction to approach or separate from the internal space,
A sheet forming apparatus that heats and presses the sheet set in the mold with the hot plate to cover the outer surface of the base material on the base with the sheet and forms the sheet,
a suction unit configured to selectively suck the sheet from both the hot plate side and the base side;
a pressure unit configured to be able to press the sheet from at least the hot plate side;
a control unit that controls suction by the suction unit and pressurization by the pressure unit with respect to the sheet;
The heating portion of the hot plate is formed with a pattern, which is a transfer mold for embossing to be transferred to the sheet,
a first pattern portion in which the pattern has a pattern element that is a pattern element corresponding to a single part of the texture to be transferred, and the pattern element is provided in a shape that serves as a reference for the texture to be transferred;
The pattern formed by changing at least one of the depth of engraving, the size of engraving, and the arrangement interval of engraving with respect to the pattern elements provided in the first pattern portion. The second pattern portion provided with the element is divided and formed,
A sheet forming device characterized by: In the sheet forming apparatus according to claim 1 ,
The control unit controls the heating unit of the hot plate to heat the sheet to a texture transfer temperature required for transferring the texture when the texture is transferred to the sheet, and controls the state of the texture transfer temperature. sucking the sheet from the hot plate side by the suction unit,
After transfer of the texture, the heating portion of the hot plate is adjusted from the texture transfer temperature to the sheet molding temperature required for molding the sheet, and when the sheet is coated on the base material, the sheet molding temperature is adjusted. the sheet in the state is sucked from the base side by the suction section, and at the same time, the sheet is controlled to be pressed from the hot plate side by the pressure section;
A sheet forming device characterized by: A hot plate configured to be movable in a direction toward or away from a sheet set on a pedestal and having a heating unit for heating the sheet is provided. In a sheet forming apparatus for forming the sheet above,
a suction unit configured to be able to suck the sheet from the hot plate side;
and a control unit that controls the suction unit,
The heating portion of the hot plate is formed with a pattern, which is a transfer mold for embossing to be transferred to the sheet,
the pattern has a pattern element that is a pattern element corresponding to a single portion of the texture to be transferred, and a first pattern portion provided with the pattern element in a shape that serves as a reference for the texture to be transferred;
The pattern formed by changing at least one of the depth of engraving, the size of engraving, and the arrangement interval of engraving with respect to the pattern elements provided in the first pattern portion. The second pattern portion provided with the element is divided and formed,
A sheet forming device characterized by:

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