JPH0329124B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A. Field of Industrial Application This invention is mainly used in a manufacturing device that heats and softens a straight pipe valve held horizontally, bends it into an annular shape, and performs an exhaust operation.

B. Prior art In general, annular fluorescent lamps are manufactured through a process of applying a fluorescent film to the inner peripheral surface of a straight tube bulb and firing it, and a process of welding and enclosing a stem with electrodes at both ends of the straight tube bulb. The process of heating and softening the bulb and bending it into an annular shape using a two-part bending drum, and activating the electrode by evacuating the inside of the bulb through an exhaust pipe led out from one end of the bent annular bulb. It is manufactured through an exhaust process in which the exhaust pipe is tipped off after being filled with the necessary inert gas. The above heating and bending process is usually carried out by gripping the upper end of the straight tube valve 1 with a chuck 3 attached to a horizontally traveling conveyor 2 such as a turntable or chain conveyor, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. The exhaust pipe 4 extending from the upper end is connected to a working head 5 including an exhaust head mounted on the carrier 2, and the straight pipe valve 1 is suspended vertically by its own weight, and in this state, the heating furnace 6 is first The lower end of the straight tube type bulb 1 is gripped by a claw 8 protruding from a part of the outer periphery of the two-part curved drum 7 and the curved drum 7 is rotated. This is done by raising the straight pipe valve 1 and bending it into an annular valve 1'. In addition, the bent annular valve 1' is sent to the subsequent position while being supported by the chuck 3, where the exhaust electrode inside the valve is activated and an inert gas such as argon or mercury is filled into the valve. Finally, the base of the exhaust pipe 4 is tipped off with a burner flame.

This manufacturing method, in which the straight pipe valve 1 is suspended vertically, heated, and bent, causes the straight pipe valve 1 to stretch too much under its own weight, resulting in variations in wall thickness, which can easily break later. There was a problem in that the straight pipe valve 1 swayed and was difficult to grip with the curved drum 7, making it difficult to speed up the manufacturing system. Therefore, recently, in the same way as in the production of straight tube fluorescent lamps, we have been developing straight tube bulbs 1.
A horizontal manufacturing method in which the metal is held horizontally, heated, and bent has attracted attention as a manufacturing method that solves the above problems, and manufacturing equipment using this method has been proposed. However, as shown in the figure, the exhaust pipe 4 extending from the straight valve 1 is long and bent so as not to get in the way during the valve bending process. Processing of step 4 was extremely difficult, which delayed the realization of horizontal manufacturing equipment.

C. OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for manufacturing an annular fluorescent lamp which enables the production of an annular fluorescent lamp by a horizontal method and which can significantly improve mass productivity.

D. Structure of the Invention The present invention provides an exhaust system for an annular fluorescent lamp.
A conveyor that moves in one horizontal direction, a head support fixed to the conveyor, a chuck fixed to the head support or the conveyor to grip the valve end on the exhaust pipe side, and a chuck that grips the valve end on the exhaust pipe side. The working head coaxially receives the exhaust pipe led out diagonally with respect to the valve shaft and is slidably mounted on a head support base to move forward and backward relative to the tip of the exhaust pipe. The working head is located between the ends of the annular valve. According to the present invention, the exhaust pipe extending from the valve can be made sufficiently short due to the slidable working head, and the exhaust pipe can be easily processed by employing the horizontal method, thereby achieving the above object.

E Example In FIGS. 4 to 6, 9 is a straight pipe valve with both ends sealed and before bending, and 10 is a short length (approximately 50 to 80 mm) drawn out from one end of the straight pipe valve 9. The tip of the exhaust pipe is bent at a constant angle θ with respect to the valve center line. Reference numeral 11 denotes a conveyor such as a chain conveyor that is cyclically driven in one horizontal direction by continuous or intermittent feeding; 12, 12... are head supports fixed at predetermined intervals on the conveyor 11; Opening/closing chucks 13, 13..., sliding working heads 14, 14..., and opening/closing tip-off burner plates 15, 15... are installed in pairs. Reference numeral 16 denotes a conveying body that is paired with the conveying body 11 and moves parallel to the conveying body 11 at the same height and in the same direction at a constant speed. Reference numerals 17, 17, . . . are chuck supports fixed to the portions of the second conveyor 16 facing the head supports 12, 12, . Installed. One straight pipe valve 9 is connected to a pair of opposing first carriers 1.
The exhaust pipe side end is gripped by chuck 13 on top of 1,
The non-exhaust pipe side end is held horizontally by the chuck 17' on the second conveyor 16, and the chuck is conveyed in the orthogonal direction to be heated and softened, or the chuck that has been heated and softened first is transferred to the chucks 13, 17. ', and when it comes to the bending position, the bending drum 18 grips the non-exhaust pipe side end and rotates to the exhaust pipe side end, bending the straight valve 9 into an annular valve 9'. The curved drum 18 is then processed from the annular valve 9'.
is removed and the work head 14 is used to exhaust the annular valve 9' and fill in inert gas, etc., and burner plate 1
At step 5, the exhaust pipe 10 is tipped off. still,
Valve gripping by curved drum 18 is check 1
7' is removed from the straight pipe valve 9 and carried out directly.
Alternatively, the chuck 17 is removably attached to the chuck support 17, and this is done indirectly via this chuck 17'; in the latter method, the chuck 17' is removed from the chuck support 17 and the chuck 17' is removed together with the chuck 17'. The bending drum 18 is rotated to perform the valve bending process, and after the bending process, the bending drum 18 is rotated.
Return the chuck 17 to the original chuck support stand 17.
This is done by returning to .

A specific example of the work head 14 will be explained with reference to FIG. 5. The head body 19 is fitted to the head support base 12 so as to be slidable at a constant stroke in an oblique direction at an angle θ, and the head body 20 is moved diagonally upward. 21 is an elastic sealing material such as a ring-shaped compression rubber inserted into the opening in the center of the upper end of the head body 19; 22 is a ring-shaped cap screwed onto the upper outer periphery of the head body 19; The cap 22 is rotated from the outside by a plate cam or the like via a lever 23 protruding from a part of the outer circumference, and when the cap 22 is tightened, the sealing material 21 is compressed and its inner diameter is reduced. The inner diameter of the sealing material 21 when uncompressed is set larger than the outer diameter of the exhaust pipe 10. 24
25 is a work space provided inside the head body 19;
and 26 are two first and second working holes formed by penetrating the head support base 12 from above and below, and when the head body 19 is in the uppermost position (state in FIG. 5), the working space 24 and the first working hole 25 are opened. This communication is cut off when the head body 19 is at the lowest position (the state in FIG. 6). The second working hole 26 is a utility hole communicating with two burner nozzles 27, 27 shown in FIG. 7, mounted on the burner plate 15, for example. 1st
The working hole 25 is fixed to an external exhaust system 28 and a gas supply system 29 containing mercury, and the second working hole 26 is fixed to an external utility supply system 30, for example, along the conveyance direction of the head support base 12, and the upper surface thereof is fixedly arranged. The head support base 12 is connected via a long block 31 that slides in close contact with the head support base 12. Block 31 is head support stand 12
comes to the predetermined exhaust position P1, the exhaust system 28
and the first working hole 25, and when the next gas supply position P2 is reached, the gas supply system 29 and the first working hole 2 are connected.
5 and selectively have a plurality of working holes 32, 32', 32'' which communicate the power supply type 30 and the second working hole 26 when reaching the final position P3.
In addition, each working hole 32, 3 of this long block 31
2' and 32'' are not shown in the figure, but when the head support stand 12 is slidingly moving and the head support stand 12 is not placed above each working hole 32, 32'32'', the head support stand 12 is moved. The door is closed by a closing means that is driven to open and close at the same time.

Next, the operating procedure of the work head 14 and burner plate 15 will be explained.

When the head support base 12 comes to a predetermined valve supply position, the chuck 13 and burner plate 15 are opened, and the working head 14 is lowered to the lowest position by an external cam drive or the like as shown in FIG. The pipe-shaped valve 9 is supplied with the tip of the exhaust pipe 10 facing downward, and first, both ends of the straight-tube valve 9 are gripped by the chucks 13 and 17', and the burner plate 1 is
5 is closed and the burner nozzles 27, 27 are connected to the exhaust pipe 10.
Next, the working head 14 is raised by the force of the spring 20 and fitted onto the tip of the exhaust pipe 10. Subsequently, the cap 22 is tightened to the head body 19 by the rotational force of the lever 23, whereby the sealing material 21 comes into elastic contact with the exhaust pipe 10 and the working space 24 is sealed.
Note that this sealing of the working space 24 is performed before entering the heating oven. When the straight pipe valve 9 is inserted into the heating oven, the following steps are taken to clean up impurity gas generated by heating.
is repeated.

Evacuation and filling with inert gas such as N ₂ Since all of these operations are performed through the first working hole 25, they are directly connected to the exhaust system 28 and the inert gas filling system 29 each time. Furthermore, before a straight pipe valve is bent into an annular valve,
The valve is filled with inert gas at about 1 atmosphere through the working space 24 and the first working hole 25, the first working hole 25 is closed, and the working space 24 is opened to the atmosphere.

In this state, the straight pipe valve 9 is bent into an annular shape.

Next, when the head support 12 comes to the exhaust position P1, the first working hole 25 is directly connected to the exhaust system 28, the working space 24 is evacuated, and the annular valve 9' is evacuated through the exhaust pipe 10. Activation of the electrodes is performed before and after. The head support stand 12 moves away from the exhaust position P1 and moves to the next gas supply position.
When reaching P2, the first working hole 25 is directly connected to a gas supply system 29 instead of the exhaust system 28, and an inert gas such as argon or mercury is supplied from the exhaust pipe 10 into the annular valve 9'. Next, when the head support base 12 reaches the final position P3, the second working hole 26 is supplied with a mixture of combustible gas and air necessary for tipping off the exhaust pipe to the burner plate 15 directly connected to the power supply system 30. 10 is a burner nozzle 27,
It is fused by the burner flame from 27. Immediately before the tip-off is completed, the work head 14 descends and separates the tip of the tip-off exhaust pipe from the root.
Discharge the separated exhaust pipe at the rear position.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments; for example, the burner plate may be integrally attached to the work head to provide a tip-off function, or the drawings of FIGS. 4 to 7 may be turned upside down and the valve may be mounted downward. It is also possible to have a structure in which Further, although the description has been made using a straight pipe valve that has not been bent, the valve that is attached to the work head may be an annular valve that has been bent.

F. Effects of the Invention As explained above, according to the present invention, since the working head is located between the ends of the annular valve, the exhaust pipe extending from the valve can be made sufficiently short. This makes it easier to manufacture ring-shaped fluorescent lamps, improves mass productivity and quality, and reduces material costs by shortening the exhaust pipe.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially schematic front view of a conventional annular fluorescent lamp manufacturing apparatus, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are A--A in FIG. 1.
4 is a schematic perspective view showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of the main part of FIG. 4, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a part of the burner plate shown in FIG. 5. 9,9'...Valve, 10...Exhaust pipe, 11...
...Conveyor, 12...Head support stand, 13...Chuck, 14...Working head.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An exhaust system for annular fluorescent lamps, which includes a carrier that circulates in one horizontal direction, a head support fixed to the carrier, and an exhaust pipe fixed to the head support or the carrier. A chuck that grips the end of the side valve and coaxially receives the exhaust pipe led out from the end of the valve in a direction diagonal to the valve axis, and can slide on the head support base to move forward and backward from the tip of the exhaust pipe. 1. An annular fluorescent lamp manufacturing device characterized by comprising a work head attached to the lamp.