JPH0362997B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a hot isostatic press apparatus that stores a workpiece in a heating furnace in a high-pressure container and processes the workpiece under high temperature and high pressure.

The hot isostatic press equipment (HIP equipment) stores the workpiece in a heating furnace built into a high-pressure container, and heats the inert gas such as argon gas sealed inside to high temperature and high pressure. The heating furnace has a space surrounded by a heat insulating layer, that is, a furnace chamber. However, in order to improve the thermal efficiency inside the furnace, the insulation layer is made of a material with particularly excellent heat resistance and insulation performance, and the temperature inside the furnace can now be raised to around 2000 degrees Celsius and around 2000 atm. At the same time, the processed product after hot isostatic pressing is heated at 100 to 150℃ in the furnace.
It is necessary to cool down the material to a certain degree before taking it out, and it takes a long time to cool down the inside of the furnace, which is surrounded and defined by a heat insulating layer. Therefore, conventionally, a cooling means for forcibly circulating a refrigerant within the furnace has been employed in order to actively lower the temperature inside the furnace.

However, in the conventional cooling method using forced circulation, it is difficult to flow the refrigerant into every corner of the triple structure consisting of a high-pressure container, a heat insulating layer, and a heating mechanism, and a satisfactory cooling effect cannot be obtained. However, this method requires a complicated forced circulation device, which increases the size of the entire device.

The present invention was developed in order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks in the heating furnace of a conventional hot isostatic press apparatus, and is a high-pressure container body surrounded by a cylindrical heat insulating layer, and a heating furnace. In a heat-sensitive isostatic press device equipped with a furnace chamber containing a built-in heater, an air inlet passage having an air intake check valve is provided on the lower side of the furnace chamber, and an air inlet passage with an air intake check valve is provided on the upper side of the furnace chamber. A cooling passage is provided from the exhaust check valve to the cooling pipe in the cooling chamber at the lower part of the hearth via a passage within the heat insulating layer, and the cooling passage is connected from the exhaust check valve on the outlet side of the cooling pipe to the flow passage outside the heat insulating layer. It is characterized by being connected to the furnace gas exhaust passage leading to the furnace, and its purpose is to efficiently cool the heating furnace inside the high-pressure vessel by incorporating a simple cooling mechanism into the heating furnace. The present invention provides a heating furnace for hot isostatic press equipment.

The present invention has the above-mentioned structure, and when the pressure inside the flow path outside the heat insulation layer is reduced upon completion of the hot isostatic pressing process, the reduced pressure opens the exhaust check valve and reaches the flow path inside the heat insulation layer, and is then used for exhaust. As the check valve is opened and the gas reaches the furnace chamber, the high-temperature, high-pressure gas in the furnace chamber is cooled and discharged through the heat insulating layer inner flow path, the cooling flow path, and the outer heat insulation layer flow path. By press-fitting, the inside of the flow path outside the heat insulating layer is cooled, and the air inlet check valve opens due to the relative negative pressure inside the furnace chamber, and the gas inside the furnace is replaced by the low-temperature gas flowing in from the inlet air path. By repeating depressurization and pressurization (injection of low-temperature gas), the entire interior of the high-pressure vessel, including the furnace chamber, can be efficiently cooled in a short time, and the hot isostatic press processing capacity can be increased by shortening the cycle time. It can be significantly improved.

Furthermore, in the present invention, since the cooling mechanism is provided with a cooling passage between the lower end of the insulating layer passage in the furnace gas discharge passage and the discharge passage, the cooling effect of the furnace gas being discharged is improved. This significantly reduces heat damage to discharge check valves, high-pressure vessel intake/exhaust ports, exhaust piping, etc., greatly improving their durability, and also reduces the risk of low-temperature gas in the heat insulating layer flow path and cooling flow path. Encapsulation has advantages such as shortening the time required for enclosing the inert gas for processing and miniaturizing the apparatus by incorporating the simple structure of the cooling mechanism into the heating furnace.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. An embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2,
In the figure, 1 is a high-pressure container main body, 2 is a bottom lid having a sealing 2a, and 3 is a top lid having a sealing 3a. ), and a bottom cover 3 and a top cover 2 are closely attached to the top and bottom of the high-pressure container main body 1 as shown in the figure to form a closed high-pressure container with a structure that can withstand high temperatures and high pressures.

Further, on the upper side of the bottom lid 2, upper and lower members 4a,
A hearth 5 made of a heat insulating material is disposed via a support member 4 having a support member 4b.
A cylindrical heat insulating layer 10 having an upper surface is placed at an appropriate distance around the periphery of the high-pressure vessel. Furnace chamber A surrounded and defined
A sealed heating furnace is provided, and the heating furnace is equipped with a heating mechanism, that is, a heater 6, as shown in the figure, and heats the processing inert gas (argon gas, etc.) sealed in the furnace chamber A to a high temperature. The structure is such that it is possible to apply hot isostatic pressing to the housed items to be processed (not shown) under high pressure.

Furthermore, the heat insulating layer 10 includes an inner heat insulating layer 10
a. Consisting of an outer heat insulating layer 10b and an exterior plate 11, a flow path B within the heat insulating layer extending from the top surface to the lower side is provided between the inner heat insulating layer 10a and the outer heat insulating layer 10b, and the inner and outer heat insulating layers A cover ring 13 inserted into the protruding lower end 11a of the exterior plate 11 is disposed on the lower end sides of the exterior plates 10a and 10b, and the lower end 11a of the exterior plate 11 is removably fitted into the support member 4. The heat insulating layer 10 has hanging tools 14,
It is suspended by the upper lid 3 via the upper lid 3 and can be stored in and taken out from the high-pressure container together with the upper lid 3.

Furthermore, on the lower side of the heating furnace, there is an inlet check valve 15 that is attached to the lower member 4b of the support member 4 and that allows air to flow only to the furnace chamber A side, and an upper member 4 of the heating furnace.
an air inlet passage consisting of an air inlet hole 16 extending through the hearth 5, and an inner heat insulating layer 10 at the upper part of the furnace.
A is provided with an exhaust check valve 17 that communicates with the flow path B in the heat insulating layer and allows flow only to the flow path side, and the flow path B in the heat insulating layer is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the cover ring 13.
A cooling spiral channel 13a is provided which communicates with the lower end of the spiral channel 13a, and further communicates with the lower end of the spiral channel 13a with upper and lower members 4a and 4b of the support member 4.
A cooling pipe 18 with fins is disposed in the cooling chamber D between the exterior plate 11 and reaches the lower end 11a of the exterior plate 11. A discharge check valve 19 that can flow only to the side of the flow path C outside the heat insulation layer is provided, and a cooling flow path consisting of the exhaust check valve 17, the flow path B inside the heat insulation layer, the spiral flow path 13a and the cooling pipe 18, and the discharge The check valve 19 and the flow path C outside the heat insulating layer constitute an in-furnace gas discharge path.

Further, an intake/exhaust port 20 is provided in the upper part of the high-pressure container, that is, the upper lid 3, and an intake/exhaust pipe 21 having an on-off valve 22 is connected to the intake/exhaust port 20. The entrance space E between the bottom cover 2 and the lower member 4b of the support member 4
The air is communicated with the lower part of the flow path C outside the heat insulating layer through an opening (not shown) provided in the lower end 11a of the exterior plate 11, and further, air flows in from the inlet side space E via the intake check valve 15. The cooled low-temperature gas flows through the cooling chamber D in the support member 4 and into the furnace chamber A through the air inlet hole 16.

Note that 30 in FIG. 1 is a sealing member between the lower end of the inner heat insulating layer 10 a and the lower end 11 a of the exterior plate 11 and the cover ring 13 .

The illustrated embodiment has the above-mentioned configuration, so the upper cover 3 is removed from the high-pressure container body 1 and the heat insulating layer 1 is removed.
0, the furnace chamber A in the high-pressure vessel main body 1 can be opened, and the products to be processed are placed on the hearth 5 and accommodated. Then, as shown in the figure, a heat insulating layer 10 is placed inside the high-pressure vessel main body 1, an upper lid 3 is fitted, and an appropriate mechanism (not shown) is used to supply a processing inert gas such as argon gas to the inside and outside of the heating furnace inside the high-pressure vessel. Pressurize gas,
By enclosing the inert gas in the furnace chamber A at high temperature and high pressure using the heater 6, the workpiece (not shown) on the hearth 5 is subjected to hot isostatic pressing, that is, powder sintering, etc. It is possible to perform molding processing.

If the item to be processed is taken out immediately after the processing is finished, extremely high-temperature and high-pressure gas inside the furnace will blow out, making it difficult and dangerous to handle the high-temperature item. Container must be opened. In the embodiment described above, when the hot isostatic pressing process is completed, the on-off valve 22 is opened to exhaust the inside of the flow path C outside the heat insulating layer and the pressure is reduced, and the reduced pressure opens the discharge check valve 19 to open the cooling pipe 18 and the spiral flow path. 13a, the exhaust check valve 17 is opened, and the high-temperature, high-pressure furnace gas in the furnace chamber A flows from the exhaust check valve 17 through the furnace gas discharge path. It is discharged from the flow path C outside the heat insulating layer to the intake/exhaust port 20 and the intake/exhaust pipe 21 .

The inside of the high-pressure container after hot isostatic pressing is
The temperature inside the furnace chamber A is high, and the flow path B in the heat insulating layer
Spiral flow path 13a, cooling pipe 18, flow path C outside the heat insulation layer
Since the temperature on both sides is relatively low, the high-temperature and high-pressure furnace gas in the furnace chamber A is cooled while flowing through those channels, and then is discharged from the intake and exhaust ports 20 of the high-pressure vessel.
Heat damage to the discharge check valve 19, intake/exhaust port 20, intake/exhaust pipe 21, on-off valve 22, etc. is significantly reduced and durability is enhanced.

Next, after the pressure reduction, the intake/exhaust pipe 21, the intake/exhaust port 2
Low temperature gas is pressurized from 0 into the flow path C outside the heat insulating layer and pressurized. The low-temperature gas cools the flow path C outside the heat insulating layer and also flows into the air intake space E of the air intake check valve 15.
Therefore, the air flows into the cooling chamber D through the inlet check valve 15, which is opened in connection with the pressure reduction in the furnace chamber A, and cools the cooling pipe 18. The gas flows into the furnace and replaces the gas in the furnace. By repeating the depressurization and pressurization (low-temperature gas injection) on the side of the flow path C outside the heat insulating layer, it is possible to efficiently cool and depressurize the entire area of the high-pressure vessel including the inside of the heating furnace.

By repeating the above depressurization and pressurization, temperature characteristics T and pressure characteristics P as shown in FIG. 3 are obtained, and the temperature decrease progresses smoothly and cooling can be performed efficiently.
At the same time, the pressure is reduced.

Furthermore, at the end of the cooling process, the article to be processed is newly accommodated and a processing inert gas for generating high temperature and high pressure gas is sealed. As a result, the time required for sealing is shortened, the time required for cooling is shortened, the cycle time is shortened, and the throughput is significantly improved.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the flow path B in the heat insulating layer
On the lower end side, there is a spiral channel 13a that is cooled by low-temperature gas that is press-injected into the heat insulating layer internal channel C through the lower end 11a of the exterior plate 11, and a spiral channel 13a that is cooled by the low-temperature gas in the cooling chamber D. Since the cooling pipes 18 are arranged in series, the heat damage to the discharge check valve 19 is particularly reduced due to the cooling effect of this part, and the discharged furnace gas is further cooled, and the high pressure vessel and attached thereto are further cooled. The effect of preventing heat damage to piping, equipment, etc. can be further enhanced.

Furthermore, the cooling mechanism in this embodiment has a simple structure and is compactly arranged within the heating furnace, making the device excellent in durability, reliability, and compactness.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to embodiments, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to such embodiments, and that various design modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a hot isostatic pressure device showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing the structure of the covering portion of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a temperature diagram of the present embodiment. , is an explanatory diagram of pressure characteristics. 1: High pressure container body, 2: Bottom lid, 3: Top lid, 5:
hearth, 6: heating mechanism (heater), 10: heat insulation layer,
13: Covering, 13a: Spiral channel, 1
5: Air intake check valve, 16: Air intake hole, 1
7: Exhaust check valve, 18: Cooling pipe, 1
9: Discharge check valve, 20: Intake and exhaust port,
A: furnace chamber, B: flow path within the heat insulation layer, C: flow path outside the heat insulation layer, D: cooling chamber, E: entrance space.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 The high pressure container body is surrounded by a cylindrical heat insulating layer,
In a hot isostatic press apparatus equipped with a furnace chamber containing a built-in heater, an air inlet passage having an air intake check valve is provided on the lower side of the furnace chamber, and an air inlet passage having an air intake check valve is provided on the upper side of the furnace chamber. A cooling passage is provided from the exhaust check valve at the upper part of the hearth through a passage in the heat insulating layer to the cooling pipe in the cooling chamber at the lower part of the hearth, and the cooling passage is connected from the exhaust check valve at the exit side of the cooling pipe to the heat insulating layer. A heating furnace of a hot isostatic press device, characterized in that it is connected to an in-furnace gas discharge passage leading to an outside flow passage.