JPH02195194A - Treating material conveyor in multi-chamber furnace - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the conveyance structure of a tray by providing a rack along the longitudinal direction of a furnace body on the bottom face of the tray while a plurality of pinions engaged with respective racks to rotate are set on the bottom part of each chamber at specified intervals. CONSTITUTION:A tray T on which a material to be treated is mounted is supported by a roller 15 while it is arranged in a furnace body 1 in a condition to engage any pinion 21 with a rack 20 formed on the bottom face thereof. When the pinions 21 is rotated by a drive source 23, the tray T is sent on the roller 15 ahead, and the tray T is sent ahead further since the front edge part of the rack 20 is engaged with another pinion 21 adjoined in the ahead side as soon as the rear end part of the rack 20 reaches the position of the pinion 21. When the tray is conveyed between chambers A-D after a door 3 is opened, a roller support 17 is climbed to make all of uniform height of the roller support 17 and roller supports of interior chambers A2, B2, C2 or the roller support 16 of a cooling chamber D so as to convey the tray T.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a device for transporting a workpiece attached to a furnace having a structure in which a plurality of chambers are connected, such as a multi-chamber vacuum sintering furnace. It is.

"Prior art and its problems" In a multi-chamber furnace, which has a structure in which a plurality of chambers are arranged in a row along the longitudinal direction inside the furnace body, the workpiece is sequentially conveyed between each chamber. transport equipment is essential.

Conveying devices attached to such multi-chamber furnaces include hearth rollers that rotate and drive a series of rollers installed in each chamber and between each chamber, and a chain pusher that moves the workpiece forward. Conventionally, extrusion type, etc. have been generally adopted.

In a conveyance device using hearth rollers, the structure must be complicated because many rollers must be driven at the same time, and the many drive shafts for rotating the hearth rollers all touch the furnace wall. Since the method has to be penetrated, particularly when applied to a multi-chamber vacuum furnace, a high degree of vacuum sealing must be applied to a large number of the penetrated parts, resulting in an increase in equipment and maintenance costs.

Furthermore, in the case of using a chain pusher, the conveyance stroke cannot be made too thick, and therefore, it may not be applicable to large-sized furnaces.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an effective workpiece conveyance device that can reduce equipment costs and maintenance costs, and can also be applied to large furnaces. It is intended to.

``Means for Solving the Problems'' The present invention has a furnace body in which a plurality of chambers are arranged in series along the longitudinal direction thereof, and a tray on which a workpiece is placed is supported at the bottom of each chamber. At the same time, the tray is attached to a multi-chamber furnace which is provided with a series of rollers for transporting along the longitudinal direction of the furnace body, and the workpiece is transferred to each of the chambers by supporting and transporting the tray by the rollers. The apparatus is a device for transporting a workpiece across a chamber, in which a rack is provided at the bottom of the tray along the longitudinal direction of the furnace body, and a plurality of pinions that can be rotated by meshing with the rack are installed in each chamber. It is characterized in that it is provided at the bottom of the furnace body at a predetermined interval in the longitudinal direction of the furnace body, and is equipped with a drive source and a power transmission mechanism for rotating each of the binions.

1. In the conveying device of the present invention, 1. At least one of a plurality of pinions is sequentially engaged with a rack provided on the bottom of the tray, and the tray is conveyed by rotating the pinions. That is, the workpiece is placed on a tray, the tray is supported by rollers, and the rack provided on the bottom of the tray is placed in the furnace with at least one pinion meshing with the rack.

Then, when the pinion meshing with the rank is rotated by the drive source via the power transmission mechanism, the tray is conveyed on the rollers in the longitudinal direction of the furnace body, and as a result, the tray is conveyed on the rollers in the longitudinal direction of the furnace body. It meshes with the rank and subsequently the tray is further transported by its bunion.

"Embodiment" An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a part of a multi-chamber vacuum sintering furnace equipped with the conveying device of this embodiment, and FIGS. is a cylindrical furnace body capable of maintaining a vacuum. Inside this furnace body 1, a partition wall 2
and a door 3 that opens and closes an opening provided in the partition wall 2, dividing the chamber into a plurality of chambers, namely, from the left in FIG. 1, a dewaxing chamber A, a degassing chamber B, and a sintering chamber C.
1 cooling room is installed in series.

The doors 3 that partition the above-mentioned chambers A to D are moved up and down by pneumatic cylinders 4 provided at the top of the furnace body 1 to open and close the openings. They are stored in the upper parts of door storage chambers B, C, and D, which are provided adjacent to the degassing chamber B, the sintering chamber C1, and the cooling chamber, respectively.

Further, on the left side of the wax removal chamber A, another wax removal chamber and a front chamber are connected in the same way, but these are constructed almost similarly to the above-mentioned wax removal chamber A and cooling chamber. Therefore, illustrations and explanations thereof will be omitted.

Inside the dewaxing chamber A, the degassing chamber B1, and the sintering chamber C, an inner chamber A3. B2. C,
The openings provided at the front and rear of each of the inner chambers A t, B t, and Ct are connected to a door 7 that moves up and down by a pneumatic cylinder 6, and a door 3 that is connected to the door 3 and moved together with the door 3. Door 8 that moves up and down by pneumatic cylinder 4
It is opened and closed by In addition, inner room B,
, C, are provided with bangs 9 at the top and bottom, respectively, and these bangs 9 are opened and closed by a pneumatic cylinder 10.

In the multi-chamber vacuum sintering furnace described above, the workpiece W is placed on a tray T made of graphite, for example, and the tray T is placed in each chamber A.
-D, and a transport device for this purpose is provided.

That is, roller supports 16 to which a large number of rollers 15 are rotatably attached are arranged at the bottoms of the inner chambers A, B, C, and the bottom of the cooling chamber, respectively, and each door storage chamber A roller support 17 to which similar rollers 15 are rotatably attached is arranged at the bottom of B, , C, and D, and the tray T is supported by the series of rollers 15 and extends along the longitudinal direction of the furnace body 1. It is designed to be conveyed along the direction (left-right direction in FIG. 1).

The above-mentioned roller supports 16 provided in each of the inner chambers A t, B t+ Cx and the cooling chamber are supported by a support member 18 from the bottom of the furnace body 1 or the bottom of the inner chambers B, C,. Although it is fixed, each door storage room B,, CI
+D, the roller supports 17 provided at the bottom of the furnace can be raised and lowered by a pneumatic cylinder 19 provided at the bottom of the furnace body, and these roller supports 17 are lowered when the door 3 is closed. When the door 3 is opened and the tray T is transported between the chambers A and D, the roller supports 1 rise and are positioned in front and behind the door 3 to allow the door 3 to close.
6 and the height is now the same.

In addition, on the bottom surface of the tray T on which the workpiece W is placed, there is a
A rack 20 is formed in the center along the longitudinal direction of the furnace body 1. The groove 2o may be formed by processing the bottom surface of the tray T when the tray T is manufactured, or the rack 20 may be separately manufactured and attached to the bottom surface of the tray T.

Each of the above-mentioned roller supports 16 and 17 is provided with a pinion 2 that can rotate by meshing with a rack 2o formed on the bottom surface when the tray T is supported by the roller 15.
1 is attached to each.

That is, two pinions 21 are attached at a predetermined interval to the roller support 16 fixedly provided in the inner chambers B, C, and each pinion 21 is arranged as shown in FIG. is attached to a drive shaft 22 at approximately the center position in the width direction of the roller support 16, and the drive shaft 22 is connected to the furnace body 1 and the inner chamber B7. It penetrates the heat insulating material 5 forming the C, and at its base end there is a power transmission device consisting of a chain 24 and a sprocket 25 connected to a drive source 23 such as an electric motor or a hydraulic motor installed outside the furnace. They are connected via a mechanism 26. Thereby, when the drive source 23 is operated, the drive shaft 22 rotates via the power transmission mechanism 26, and the pinion 21 also rotates.

Further, one pinion 21 is attached to the roller support 17, which is movable up and down in the door storage chambers B, C, and D, at approximately the center position in the longitudinal direction. As shown in Figure 3, roller support-1-
17 is attached to a driven shaft 30 at approximately the center position in the width direction, and both ends of the driven shaft 30 are supported by the roller support 17, and a gear 31 is attached to one end thereof. Further, a drive shaft 32 that is rotated by a drive source 23 and a power transmission mechanism 26 similar to those described above is provided passing through the furnace body 1, and a roller support 17 is attached to the tip of the drive shaft 32 when the drive shaft 32 is raised. A gear 33 that can mesh with the shaft 31 is attached to the shaft. In this way, when the roller support 17 is raised, the drive shaft 32 and the driven shaft 30 are connected by the gears 33 and 31, so that when the roller support 17 is raised, the drive source 2
The rotational force of 3 is transferred to the power transmission mechanism 26, the drive shaft 32, and the driven shaft 3.
0 can be transmitted to rotate the pinion 21, and the roller support 17 can be lowered without any trouble.

Each of the roller supports 16. Mutual 1? of each pinion 21 attached to l 7? J [ is set to be slightly smaller than the length dimension of tray T, so that at least one of the binions 2
1 always meshes with a rack 20 formed on the bottom surface of the tray T, and two mutually adjacent binions 21 can mesh with both front and rear ends of the rack 20 at the same time.

In the multi-chamber vacuum sintering furnace equipped with the transport device configured as described above, first, the workpiece W is placed on the tray T, and the tray T is supported by the rollers 15, and the rack formed on the bottom surface of the tray T is supported by the rollers 15. 20 and one of the pinions 21 is placed in the furnace body 1 in mesh with the pinion 21. When the pinion 21 is rotated by the drive source 23, the tray T is supported by the roller 15 and sent forward on the suspension roller 15, and at the same time the rear end of the rack 20 reaches the position of the picon 21. Since the front end of the rack 20 meshes with another pinion 21 adjacent to the front side, the tray T is subsequently sent further forward by the pinion 21 on the front side. In this way, by sequentially engaging the pinion 21 with the rack 20 formed on the bottom surface of the tray T, the tray T can be conveyed continuously or intermittently in the longitudinal direction of the furnace body 1.

When transporting the tray T between the chambers A and D, the roller support 17 is raised after the door 3 is opened, and the roller support 17 and the inner chamber A! ＋B
, C, or the roller supports 16 in the cooling chamber, the tray T can be transported in exactly the same manner as described above.

According to the above-mentioned conveyance device, the number of vacuum seal portions in the furnace body penetrating portion can be greatly reduced compared to a conventional conveyance device using hearth rollers. That is, for example, in the case of the roller support 16 provided in the interior chamber B, in the past, it was necessary to connect all of the rollers 15 with drive shafts, and therefore 8 drive shafts were connected to the furnace body. 1, but in the above-mentioned conveying device, only the two drive shafts 22 for rotating the two pinions 21 need to be penetrated, and the need for sophisticated vacuum seals can be reduced accordingly. become. Therefore, it is not only easy to maintain the vacuum inside the furnace body l, but also it is advantageous in terms of equipment costs and maintenance costs.

In addition, in the above conveying device, by providing the pinions 21 at predetermined intervals over the entire length of the furnace body l, that is, at intervals slightly smaller than the length dimension of the tray T, it is possible to Therefore, it does not have the disadvantage that it cannot be applied to large furnaces unlike the conventional conveying device using a chain bushing.

In the above embodiment, one rack 20 is provided at the center of the bottom surface of the tray T, and each pinion 21 is correspondingly provided in a row at the center of the roller support 16, 17 in the width direction. However, two or more racks 20 are provided in parallel to each other on the bottom surface of the tray T, and correspondingly pinions 21 are provided in a plurality of rows,
The plurality of pinions 21 may be rotated in synchronization. This prevents the tray T from rotating in the horizontal plane when being transported.

Further, in the above embodiment, each pinion 21 is driven by a separate drive source 23, but it is possible to add an appropriate power transmission mechanism to rotate a plurality of pinions 21 simultaneously by one drive source 23. It is also possible to configure

Further, in the above embodiment, the roller supports 17 provided in the door storage chambers B, C, D1 are configured to be raised and lowered so as not to interfere with the closing operation of the door 3. If it does not interfere with the opening and closing of the door 3, it is sufficient to set it fixedly at the same height as the other roller supports 16 without being able to raise and lower it.
It goes without saying that this can be omitted when applied to a furnace that does not have l+ CI+ D.

Furthermore, the conveying device of the present invention can be applied not only to the above multi-chamber vacuum sintering furnace, but also to various types of multi-chamber furnaces, regardless of whether or not they have an inner chamber. Of course you can.

"Effects of the Invention" As explained in detail above, the conveying device of the present invention has a rack provided on the bottom of the tray along the longitudinal direction of the furnace body, and a plurality of racks that can be meshed with the racks and rotated. The structure has pinions installed at the bottom of each chamber at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction of the furnace body, so it is possible to transport trays by engaging the pinions with the racks and rotating them. The structure is simpler than a conveyor using rolls, and there are fewer penetrations through the furnace body, which reduces equipment costs and maintenance costs, and can also be used with large furnaces. It has an excellent effect that it can be applied.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention,
Fig. 1 is a partial side sectional view of a multi-chamber vacuum sintering furnace equipped with the conveying device of this embodiment, Fig. 2 is a view taken along the line
The figure is a view taken along line III-I in FIG. 26... Power transmission mechanism, 30... Driven shaft, 31.33... Gear, 32... Drive shaft.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A plurality of chambers are arranged in series along the longitudinal direction of the furnace body, and a tray on which the workpiece is placed at the bottom of each chamber is supported and transported along the longitudinal direction of the furnace body. A workpiece conveying device is attached to a multi-chamber furnace provided with a series of rollers, and transports the workpiece between the chambers by supporting and conveying the tray with the rollers. A rack is provided along the longitudinal direction of the furnace body on the bottom of the tray, and a plurality of pinions that can be rotated by meshing with the racks are installed at a predetermined interval in the longitudinal direction of the furnace body at the bottom of each chamber. What is claimed is: 1. A device for transporting a workpiece in a multi-chamber furnace, characterized in that the device is provided at a central location and includes a drive source and a power transmission mechanism for rotating each of the pinions.