JPH01102338A - Automatic measurement of hardness and apparatus therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the automatic and precise measurement of the hardness of a sample, by a method wherein a plurality of samples accommodated in a constant temperature bath are delivered sequentially to a hardness measuring position while kept at a prescribed temperature. CONSTITUTION:A plurality of sample holders 18 holding samples W respectively are stacked in a multistage manner and held inside a guide holder 19. Next, at least one holder 19 is set at a prescribed position in a constant temperature bath 5 equipped with a temperature control device 4. Then, the holder 18 lowering under its own weight and located at a discharge port in the lower-most position of the holder 19 is pushed out to a sectioned measuring position X communicating with the inside of the constant temperature bath 5 and is set on a table 24. A push needle of a hardness measuring device 6 whereon a prescribed weight is applied is lowered from a position eccentric to the center of rotation of the table 24, and thereby the hardness of the sample W held in the holder 18 can be measured automatically.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an automatic hardness measurement method and device,
More specifically, the present invention relates to an automatic hardness measuring method and apparatus for automatically supplying a sample of rubber material, plastic material, etc. and automatically measuring its hardness.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, as a device for automatically measuring the hardness of rubber materials, plastic materials, etc., for example,
No. 7, JP-A-59-216036.

Various devices have been proposed, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 143739/1983.

However, all of these conventional measuring devices have -
Although a method for measuring the hardness of individual samples has been disclosed, a method for continuously supplying the sample or continuously measuring several locations on one sample has not been disclosed. Setting the sample in the measuring device, moving the sample, and removing the sample are all done manually, which poses the problem of extremely low work efficiency.

In addition, a method of measuring the hardness of a sample in a constant temperature bath where the temperature is kept constant is also disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 17447/1982 and Japanese Unexamined Utility Model No. 62950/1983. Regarding the device, only a method for measuring the hardness of one sample at a time is disclosed, and therefore a method for automatically measuring hardness while continuously supplying samples is not disclosed, and the conventional example described above is not disclosed. Similarly, there was a problem in that setting the sample in the measuring device, moving the sample, and removing the sample all had to be done manually.

[Purpose of the invention]

This invention was devised by focusing on such conventional problems, and its purpose is to sequentially feed a plurality of samples housed in a thermostatic chamber to a hardness measurement position while keeping them at a predetermined temperature. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic hardness measuring method and an apparatus therefor, which make it possible to automatically and accurately measure the hardness of a sample.

[Structure of the invention]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, this invention installs an openable/closeable and sealable constant temperature bath equipped with a temperature control device on a mount, and slides a sample holder containing a sample into a predetermined position inside the constant temperature bath. At least one guide holder stacked in multiple stages is placed on the side of the outlet of the sample holder that descends inside the guide holder due to its own weight, and is activated by a control device by sensing the temperature inside the thermostatic chamber. At the same time, a sample supply device is installed to push out a sample holder containing a sample to a divided measurement position communicating with a thermostatic chamber, and a rotatable table for placing the sample holder at the measurement position;
A hardness measuring device equipped with a hardness meter is installed above it, and the method of measuring the hardness of the sample is to stack multiple sample holders containing samples in multiple stages inside the guide holder. Then, place at least one sample holder at a predetermined position in a constant temperature chamber equipped with a temperature control device, and place the sample holder located at the lowest discharge port of the guide holder that descends due to its own weight into the constant temperature chamber. When the inside of the sample reaches the set temperature, this is sensed and the control device operates the supply device to push the sample to a divided measurement position communicating with the thermostatic chamber, and at this measurement position the hardness of the sample in the sample holder is measured. The gist of the present invention is that after the hardness is measured by the hardness measuring device, the sample is discharged to the outside together with the sample holder via the supply device.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be described in detail below based on the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of an automatic hardness measuring device embodying the present invention. 5 and a hardness measuring device 6 are installed adjacent to each other.

The constant temperature bath 5 includes a casing body 7 formed in a hollow cylinder shape installed on a pedestal l, and a cap body attached to an upper opening 8 of the casing body 7 via a hinge 9 so as to be openable, closable, and airtight. The side walls of the casing body 7 and the cap body 10 are made of a heat insulating material 11 to block the outside temperature.

The cooling coil 2 is spirally wound around the outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical guide tube 12 installed in the casing body 7,
It is connected to a cooling device (not shown).

Further, the heater 3 is disposed on the inner periphery of the cap body 1O while being suspended from the upper wall of the cap body 10, and a fan 14 is connected to the center of the cap body 10 via a drive motor 13. is provided.

In the case of this embodiment, for example, -60°C to 15°C
The sample W is kept warm under conditions of 0° C. to enable measurement of hardness.

A cylindrical guide tube 1 installed inside the casing body 7
A communication hole 17 is formed in the bottom wall of the central part of the frame 1 to communicate the tunnel-shaped measurement chamber 15 defined at the bottom of the pedestal l with a thermostatic chamber 16. (
In this embodiment, a cylindrical guide holder 19 is removably mounted, in which plate-shaped sample holders 18 containing plate-shaped rubber materials are slidably stacked in multiple stages.

A discharge port is provided at the lower part of the guide holder 19, and the sample holders 18 that accommodate the samples W are installed so that they are located one by one in the measurement chamber 15, and the sample holders 18 stacked in multiple stages are It is designed to descend due to its own weight.

In addition, if a plurality of guide holders 19 that accommodate sample holders 18 as described above are accommodated in the casing body 7, it is also possible to automatically supply a large amount of samples W and perform automatic measurements.

At the side of the outlet of the sample holder 18 that descends inside the guide holder 19 due to its own weight, that is, at the side of the measurement chamber 15, there is a sample supply device 21 that senses the temperature inside the thermostatic chamber 16 and is operated by the control device 20. is installed, and this sample supply device 21 transfers the sample holder 18 containing the sample W to the thermostatic chamber 16.
This is an operation to push the measuring chamber 15 to the measuring position X in the divided measuring chamber 15 communicating with the measuring chamber 15.

The sample supply device 21 includes a pusher 22 that pushes out the sample holder 18 containing the sample W, and the thermostatic chamber 16.
The actuating cylinder 23 senses the internal temperature and moves the pusher 22 forward or backward in response to commands from the control device 20.

Further, at the measurement position X of the measurement chamber 15, a rotatable table 24 on which the sample holder 18 containing the sample W is placed, and a hardness measuring device 6 equipped with a hardness meter 25 above the table 24 are installed. The table 24 is connected to a drive motor 28 via a transmission mechanism 27 such as a gear mechanism to a rotating shaft 26, and the table 24 is intermittently rotated via the transmission mechanism 27 by the intermittent rotation of the drive motor 28. It has become.

Further, the hardness measuring device 6 equipped with a hardness meter (not shown) provided on the table 24 has a hardness measuring device 6, as shown in FIG.
An elevating cylinder 30 is attached to a base 29 that supports the gantry 1.

A plate 31 is horizontally attached to the tip of the rod 30a of this lifting cylinder 30, and a plate 33 attached to the tips of a plurality of rods 32 erected on this plate 31 is connected to the plate 33 for hardness measurement. A bearing 34 supporting the device 6 is provided, and the plate 33 is fixed and integrated with the sliding pipe 37 of the hardness measuring device 6 by a fixing nut 47.

Furthermore, a load holder 35 for applying a vertical load to the sample W is installed in the upper part of the sliding pipe 37, and a weight 38 is installed in the load holder 35. Therefore, the vertical load on the sample W is applied to the plates 31, 33, . Rod 32.32 and said sliding pipe 37. Load holder 35. All of the weights 38 are lowered, and a total vertical load is applied to the surface of the sample W by the indenter 40 and the contact surface 48.

Furthermore, when the lifting cylinder 30 and the rod 30a continue to rotate and descend after the load is applied, the rod 30a comes off from the horizontal plate 31, and only the true load is applied to the sample W. In this case, a plurality of support pins 50.50 are connected to the rod 30a in order to prevent the rotation of the horizontal plate 31 and to increase the applied load after measuring the hardness. It penetrates between the horizontal plates 31 with a gap 51.51.

The hardness meter 25 is similar to a conventional hardness meter,
As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, a pusher needle 40 pushed out by a prescribed spring pressure 42 is housed inside a guide pipe 39 formed in a hollow shape. Further, a detector 41 (linear sensor) for detecting the hardness value is attached to the sliding pipe 37 via a bracket 36 fixed to the sliding pipe 37. It is installed on a support stand 46 fixed to the indenter 40 so that the indenter 40 can be moved.

A moving hole 49 is provided in a part of the sliding pipe 37 so that the support base 46 can be moved up and down as well as the pusher needle 40. The tip of the pusher needle 40 is arranged at a position eccentric from the rotation center of the table 24, and is set at a predetermined length from the tip of the guide pipe 39 (according to JIS standards) by a spring 42 built into the sliding pipe 37. 2.54+u) Protruding. Then, the detection rod 43 that comes into contact with the rear end of the pusher needle 40 measures the amount of retraction when the sample W is applied with a load and the tip of the pusher needle 40 comes into contact with it, that is, the amount that the pusher needle 40 is buried in the guide pipe 39. The hardness of the sample W is electrically detected by a detector 41 via the hardness of the sample W.

Note that 44 is an outlet for the sample W provided on the side wall of the measurement chamber 15, and 45 is a shutter provided at a location where the indenter 40 enters the measurement chamber 15.

FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, in which the sample W is continuously supplied at atmospheric temperature without using the constant temperature bath 5 as in the first embodiment. The difference from the first embodiment is that the sample W is continuously supplied at a predetermined temperature with emphasis on hardness measurement accuracy. In contrast, in the case of the second embodiment, the sample W is continuously supplied and the hardness is continuously and efficiently measured without placing much emphasis on temperature. It is intended for this purpose.

Therefore, the only difference in configuration from the first embodiment is the constant temperature bath 5, and since the other configurations are completely the same, the same reference numerals will be given and explanations will be omitted.

Next, a method for automatically measuring the hardness of the sample W will be described.

First, a plurality of specimens (in this example, 20
A number of dish-shaped sample holders 18 (approximately 1,000 pieces) are stacked and housed in a cylindrical guide holder 19 in multiple stages. Then, at least one guide holder 19 is placed at a predetermined position in the constant temperature bath 5 provided with the temperature control device 4.

In this state, the temperature inside the thermostatic chamber 15 is set to -60°C to 1°C.
The control device 20 is set within the range of 50°C, and when the temperature inside the thermostatic chamber 15 reaches the set temperature, the control device 2
The pusher 22 of the sample supply device 21 is
The guide holder 1 is lowered by its own weight.
The sample holder 18 located at the lowest discharge port of the sample holder 9 is pushed out to a divided measurement position X that communicates with the inside of the thermostatic chamber 15, and placed in a predetermined position on the rotatable table 24.

Then, when the sample holder 18 containing the sample W is placed on the table 24, the lifting cylinder 30 is actuated by a command from the control device 20, and the hardness measuring device 6, on which a predetermined weight is applied, is operated. The indenter 40 is lowered from an eccentric position relative to the center of rotation of the table 24 and brought into contact with the upper surface of the sample W housed in the sample holder 18 .

The amount of retraction when the tip of the pusher needle 40 is brought into contact with the pusher needle 40, that is, the amount that the pusher needle 40 is buried in the guide pipe 39, is detected by the detector 41 using an electric current via the detection rod 43 that contacts the rear end of the pusher needle 40. The hardness of the sample W is automatically measured using a method similar to the conventional method.

That is, when the amount that the pusher needle 40 is buried in the guide pipe 39 is detected by the detector 41 (linear sensor) via the detection rod 43 that contacts the rear end of the pusher needle 40, the detected value is detected by an amplifier (not shown). The detected value is amplified and converted to a digital value via an up/down counter and converter,
- Display the measured value of hardness on the hardness display device through a peak hold circuit that holds the peak value of the detected value for a certain period of time.

In this way, when the hardness measurement at one point on the sample W is completed, the lifting cylinder 30 is activated and the pusher needle 40 of the hardness measuring device 6, on which a predetermined weight is applied, is temporarily raised to its original position. Then, the drive motor 28 is rotated by a predetermined angle, and the table 24 is rotated by a predetermined angle via the transmission mechanism 27. Then, a position different from the measured position is repeatedly measured by the same operation as above.

In this way, several locations (JIS
After measuring the hardness at a minimum of 3 locations (according to the standard) and completing the measurement, the sample supply device 21
The sample W whose measurement work has been completed by operating the button shear 22
is discharged to the outside from the discharge port 44.

When the sample W has been discharged, the busher 22 of the sample supply device 21 is moved back to its original position, and the next sample W maintained at a constant temperature is placed at a predetermined position on the rotatable table 24 in the same manner as above. The hardness is measured using the same measuring method as above.

Such automatic supply and automatic measurement can be performed at least at the sample W stored stacked in the cylindrical guide holder 19.
By continuously measuring the hardness of the sample W kept at a predetermined temperature, it is possible to measure the hardness of the sample W with high accuracy. It can be done efficiently.

Further, the number of guide holders 19 is not limited to one as described above, but if a plurality of guide holders 19 are accommodated in the constant temperature bath 5 and sequentially supplied to a predetermined position, - guide holders 19 may be accommodated. It is also possible to perform continuous measurements by continuously supplying several times the sample W.

Furthermore, since the sample W is supplied and measured while being supported by the dish-shaped sample holder 18, the sample W
Soil supply work can be carried out efficiently because the positioning of the soil is easy.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention stores a plurality of sample holders containing samples stacked in multiple stages inside the guide holder, and places the sample holders at a predetermined position in a constant temperature bath equipped with a temperature control device. When the inside of the thermostatic chamber reaches the set temperature, the control device senses this and supplies the sample holder, which is placed at the outlet at the bottom of the guide holder that is loaded with one or more specimens and lowers due to its own weight, to the supply device. The hardness of the sample in the sample holder is measured at this measurement position by activating the
After measuring with the hardness measuring device, the sample is discharged to the outside together with the sample holder via the supply device, so the process from supplying the sample to measuring the hardness of the sample and discharging the sample can be carried out continuously without manual intervention. Therefore, the efficiency of the measurement work can be significantly improved.Also, since the hardness measurement can be performed while the sample is supplied while being maintained at a set temperature, it can be carried out under various temperature conditions. Also, since the sample is supplied while being housed in the dish-shaped sample holder, there is no movement of the sample and the sample can be supplied in a stable state.

In addition, this invention installs an openable/closeable and sealable constant temperature chamber equipped with a temperature control device on a mount, and slides and stacks sample holders containing samples at predetermined positions in this constant temperature chamber in multiple stages. At least one guide holder is placed on the side of the discharge port of the sample holder that descends inside the guide holder due to its own weight, and is activated by a control device by sensing the temperature inside the thermostatic chamber, and the sample is accommodated. A hardness tester is installed that pushes out the sample holder to a divided measurement position that communicates with a constant temperature bath, and a rotatable table on which the sample holder is placed at the measurement position, and a hardness meter above the table. Since a measuring device is installed, samples can be supplied and measured under various temperature conditions, measurements can be made without being affected by the temperature inside the thermostatic chamber, and the thermostatic chamber is compact. Therefore, it does not take up much space and can be manufactured at a relatively low cost due to its simple configuration.Also, the error is only ±0.5℃ to ±1℃ over the entire temperature range (accurate measurement is possible. Furthermore, the hardness value is extracted as an electrical signal, and by using the control device together with the temperature value signal, it is possible to accurately capture changes in the hardness temperature, time after the start of measurement, etc.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of an automatic hardness measuring device embodying the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially sectional side view of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is an enlarged front view of the hardness measuring device, and Fig. 4 is a Bottom view of hardness measuring device,
FIG. 5 is a side view of FIG. 3, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view of an automatic hardness measuring device showing another embodiment. l... Frame, 4... Temperature controller, 5... Constant temperature chamber, 6
... Automatic hardness measuring device, 18 ... Sample holder, 1
9... Guide holder, 20... Control device, 21.
...Sample supply device, X...Measurement position, W...Sample. Agent Patent Attorney Nobuo Ogawa −

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Inside the guide holder, a plurality of sample holders containing samples are stacked in multiple stages, and the sample holders are placed at least at a predetermined position in a constant temperature bath equipped with a temperature control device. The sample holder, which is placed at the lowest discharge port of the guide holder and which lowers due to its own weight, is placed with one or more specimens.
When the inside of the constant temperature chamber reaches the set temperature, this is sensed and the control device operates the supply device to push the sample to a divided measurement position communicating with the constant temperature chamber, and at this measurement position, the sample in the sample holder is 1. An automatic hardness measurement method, characterized in that after measuring the hardness of a sample using a hardness measuring device, the sample is discharged to the outside together with a sample holder via the supply device. 2. Install a thermostat that can be opened, closed, and sealed with a temperature control device on the mount, and a guide holder in which sample holders containing samples are slid and stacked in multiple stages is installed at a predetermined position inside the thermostat. At least one sample holder is placed on the side of the outlet of the sample holder, which lowers by its own weight inside the guide holder, and is activated by a control device by sensing the temperature in the thermostatic chamber. A sample supply device that pushes out a sample to a divided measurement position communicating with a constant temperature bath is installed, and a rotatable table on which a sample holder is placed and a hardness measuring device equipped with a hardness meter above the table are installed at the measurement position. An automatic hardness measuring device characterized by the installation of an automatic hardness measuring device.