JPH0519141Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a pressure forming apparatus for pressure forming difficult-to-process materials such as titanium alloys using gas pressure.

[Prior Art] When a difficult-to-process material such as a titanium alloy is held at a constant temperature and a constant load and pressure-formed using gas pressure, conventionally, a third As shown in the figure, plate material c is inserted between upper and lower molds a and b, upper and lower molds a and b are fastened together with bolts d, and then the fastened molds a and b are set in a vacuum heating furnace. , the atmosphere in the space o of the upper mold a is evacuated from the vacuum exhaust hole n, and the lower mold b is evacuated.
Connect the gas supply pipe to the gas supply port e of the lower mold b.
The atmosphere in the space f is also evacuated through the gas supply pipe, and after being evacuated, the upper and lower molds a,
B and plate c are heated to a predetermined temperature, and then pressure-controlled Ar gas or the like is supplied from the gas supply pipe to space f, and plate c is shaped into the concave shape g of upper mold a by gas pressure and vacuum pressure. Copy molding is performed.

However, with the above-mentioned apparatus, it is necessary to dismantle and assemble the upper and lower molds a and b every time molding is performed, so it takes time to prepare for molding and the work becomes intermittent.
Therefore, production efficiency is poor, and since the upper and lower molds a and b must be heated and cooled every time molding is performed, heating work and cooling work increase, resulting in a waste of energy.

Therefore, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present inventors attached the upper and lower molds a and b shown in Fig. 3 to a pressure ram in a vacuum heating furnace, and disassembled and assembled the upper and lower molds during molding. We investigated unnecessary heating and pressure molding equipment.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] However, even with the above-mentioned heating and pressure forming apparatus that does not require disassembling and assembling the mold during forming, it is not possible to determine the amount of forming at a certain time during the process of forming the plate material. Therefore, it is necessary to control the molding gas pressure by relying on the intuition of the operator, which poses the problem that it is difficult to perform proper molding, and at the same time, automation of the molding operation cannot be achieved.

The present invention has been developed in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, with the object of making it possible to detect the amount of molding of a plate material during molding.

[Means for Solving the Problem] The present invention involves sandwiching a plate material between a pair of molds each having a concave space, supplying molding gas into the space of one mold, and supplying molding gas into the space of the other mold. In a pressure forming device that evacuates the space inside the mold and forms the plate material so as to follow the inner surface of the other mold, one end of which protrudes outside the other mold and the other end is capable of contacting the plate material. A sensor rod is made to pass through the other mold so as to be movable in the axial direction, and a portion of the sensor rod protruding outside the other mold urges the sensor rod in a direction away from the one mold during pressure molding. It is connected to a fluid pressure cylinder.

[Function] One end of the sensor rod is in contact with a plate material held between a pair of molds, and when the plate material is formed by gas pressure, the sensor rod moves outward from the mold by the amount of deformation of the plate material. Therefore, it is possible to know the amount of plate material to be formed in the forming process, and it is possible to optimally control the gas pressure supplied to the mold and automate the forming operation. In addition, since the plate material is pressure-formed to follow the inner surface of the other mold, the dimensional accuracy of the product is good.Furthermore, the sensor rod is urged away from one mold by a fluid pressure cylinder, so the sensor rod is The vacuum pressure acting on its cross-sectional area prevents it from being drawn into the plate, which prevents the sensor rod from damaging the plate.Furthermore, since the space in the other mold is under vacuum pressure, one Good pressure molding can be performed even if the pressure of the gas supplied to the mold space is low.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figures 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which a lower heating furnace 2 equipped with a heat insulating material 3 inside is arranged on a bed 1 fixed so as not to rise or fall, and inside the heat insulating material 3. A heater 4 is attached to the.

A vertical lower pressure ram 5 is fixed to the bed 1, and the upper end of the lower pressure ram 5 inside the lower heating furnace 2 has a
A spacer 7 is fixed via a lower mold mounting plate 6, and a lower mold 8 is attached to the upper surface of the spacer 7. The upper surface of the lower mold 8 is adapted to place and position a plate material 9 to be molded, and gas is supplied from a gas supply pipe 11 into a space 10 formed between the plate material 9 and the lower mold 8. A gas supply port 12 is provided in a protruding manner in the lower mold 8 so that the gas can be supplied.

Above the lower heating furnace 2 is a crown 1 which can be raised and lowered by a lifting jack (not shown).
An upper heating furnace 15 having a heat insulating material 16 inside is suspended from a vertical fluid pressure cylinder 14 attached to the crown 13, and a heater 17 is provided inside the heat insulating material 16. installed.

A vertical upper pressure ram 18 is fixed to the crown 13, and a spacer 20 is fixed to the lower end of the upper pressure ram 18 inside the upper heating furnace 15 via an upper mold mounting plate 19, and an upper mold 21 is attached to the underside of the spacer 20. The upper mold 21 has a concave space 22 and is capable of clamping the plate material 9 in cooperation with the lower mold 8 by means of a lower end protrusion 21a.

A vertically penetrating hole is provided in the axial center of the upper pressurizing ram 18, the upper mold mounting plate 19, and the upper mold 21, and a sensor rod supported by a slide bearing 23 so as to be freely raised and lowered is inserted into the hole. 24 is inserted. A stopper 25 is fixed to the upper end of the sensor rod 24, and an engaging member 27 is connected to a vertical hydraulic cylinder 26 disposed on the crown 13.
is adapted to come into contact with the lower surface of the stopper 25. Also, the lower end of the sensor rod 24 is connected to the upper and lower molds 2.
It is designed so that it can come into contact with the upper surface of the plate material 9 held between 1 and 8.

A position detection sensor 28 such as a magnescale for detecting the amount of elevation of the sensor rod 24 is disposed on the crown 13, and a position signal detected by the position detection sensor 28 can be given to an arithmetic and control unit 29. ing. Further, the gas passed through the pressure control valve 31 and fed into the gas tank 30 can be supplied to the space 10 from the gas supply pipe 11, and from the arithmetic and control device 29 to the pressure control valve 31. It is designed to be able to give command signals.

In addition, in the figure, 32 is an O-ring, 33 is a pressure detector, 34 is an exhaust hole drilled in the spacer 20, and 3
5 is the upper mold 2 so that the sensor rod 24 passes through it.
This is the hole drilled in 1.

Before the start of molding, the crown 13 is raised to the upper limit position by the lifting jack, and the piston rod of the fluid pressure cylinder 14 is also located at the uppermost position. For this purpose, the upper pressurizing ram 18 and the upper heating furnace 1
5 is also stopped at the upper limit position, and there are required gaps between the upper heating furnace 15 and the lower heating furnace 2 and between the upper mold 21 and the lower mold 8. The sensor rod 24 is also raised to the upper limit position by the fluid pressure cylinder 26.

When forming, the plate material 9 is passed between the upper heating furnace 15 and the lower heating furnace 2 and placed on the lower mold 8 by appropriate means, and then positioned, and then the crown 13 is lowered by a lifting jack. As a result, the upper pressurizing ram 18 and the upper heating furnace 15 are lowered. Therefore, the upper mold 21 also descends. Further, at the same time as the crown 13 is lowered, the fluid pressure cylinder 14 is operated to project the piston rod, and the upper heating furnace 1
Lower 5. Therefore, the plate material 9 is the upper and lower molds 21,
The lower end of the upper heating furnace 15 comes into contact with the upper end of the lower heating furnace 4 and the upper heating furnace 15 and the lower heating furnace 2 are sealed together before being sandwiched between the upper and lower heating rams 18. , 5 to the upper mold 21 and the lower mold 8
It is held with a constant load by the Moreover, when the upper and lower heating furnaces 15, 2 are sealed, the upper and lower heating furnaces 15,
By evacuating the inside of 2 using a vacuum device,
Exhaust hole 34 of spacer 20 and hole 3 of upper mold 21
The space 22 of the upper mold 21 is evacuated via 5,
The upper and lower heating furnaces 15 and 2 are heated by the heaters 17 and 4.
Then, the sensor rod 24 is lowered by the fluid pressure cylinder 26, and its lower end is brought into contact with the upper surface of the plate material 9 held between the upper and lower molds 21 and 8.

At this time, the pressure on the rod side of the fluid pressure cylinder 26 is controlled to prevent the sensor rod 24 from moving upward by controlling the pressure on the rod side of the fluid pressure cylinder 26 so as not to load the plate 9 with the sensor rod pulling force due to the weight of the sensor rod 24 and the vacuum pressure acting on the cross-sectional area of the sensor rod 24. energize.

The interior is heated by heaters 4 and 17,
When the plate material 9 reaches the desired temperature, the temperature is maintained and a command is sent to the pressure control valve 31 to set it to a predetermined opening degree, and Ar gas, etc. is supplied to the plate material 9 and the lower mold 8 through the gas supply pipe 11. The molding material is supplied to the space 10 where the molding is performed, and molding is started. The temperature of the plate material 9 may be detected by inserting a thermocouple into the sensor rod 24, or may be estimated by detecting the temperatures within the upper and lower heating furnaces 15, 2.

When gas is supplied to the space 10, the plate 9 starts to expand upward, and therefore the sensor rod 24 also starts to rise in proportion to the amount of the plate 9 formed. The amount of rise l of the sensor rod 24 is detected by the position detection sensor 28 and given to the arithmetic and control unit 29, and the arithmetic and control unit 29 sends a command signal of the gas pressure P corresponding to the amount of molding of the plate material 9 to the pressure control valve 31.
given to. Therefore, the gas pressure to the gas tank 30 is controlled to a predetermined pressure by the pressure control valve 31, and the gas is supplied from the gas tank 30 to the space 10.
Furthermore, by confirming that the sensor rod 24 does not rise, it is possible to detect that the plate 9 has been molded into a shape that follows the concave shape of the upper mold 21.

As described above, by detecting the amount of movement of the sensor rod 24, it is possible to supply gas at an optimal pressure corresponding to the molding process, so that proper molding can be performed and molding can be automated.

Since the plate material 9 is pressure-formed to follow the inner surface of the upper mold 21, the dimensional accuracy of the product is good, and since the sensor rod 24 is urged upward by the fluid pressure cylinder 26, the inner surface of the upper mold 21 is pressed. Even if the space 22 becomes vacuum pressure, the weight of the sensor rod 24 and the retraction force due to the vacuum pressure will not act on the plate 9, so the plate 9 will not be damaged, and the space 22 of the upper mold 21 will not be damaged. Because of the vacuum pressure, the plate material 9 can be easily pressure-formed even if the gas pressure supplied to the space 10 of the lower mold 8 is low.

When the molding is completed, the heaters 4 and 17 are stopped, the vacuum in the upper and lower heating furnaces 15 and 2 is released, and the upper heating furnace 15 is closed by the fluid pressure cylinder 14.
is raised, the sensor rod 24 is raised by the fluid pressure cylinder 26, the crown 13 is raised by the lifting jack, and the upper pressurizing ram 18 and the upper mold 21 are raised. For this reason, the molded workpiece is placed in the lower mold 8 and placed in the upper heating furnace 1.
5 and the lower heating furnace 2 and between the upper mold 21 and the lower mold 8
A predetermined gap is formed between them, and the workpiece is taken out from the gap, and the next plate material is inserted, and the above-described procedure is performed again. The upper mold 21 and the lower mold 8 do not need to be taken out of the heating furnace for disassembly and assembly every time they are molded, and there is no need to cool them for disassembly and assembly. Therefore, at the time of the next molding, the upper and lower molds 21 and 8 have not yet become compressed, and therefore the amount of heat required for heating may be small.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it goes without saying that various changes may be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[Effects of the invention] According to the pressure forming apparatus of the present invention, since the process of forming the plate material can be seen, there is no need to rely on the intuition of the operator to control the forming gas pressure, and therefore, proper forming can be performed. In addition, the forming process can be easily automated, and the dimensional accuracy of the product is improved because the plate material is formed to follow the inner surface of the mold, where the space is under vacuum pressure. Sometimes, the sensor rod is forced by a fluid pressure cylinder in a direction away from the mold whose space is supplied with gas, so even if the space in the mold that the plate follows is under vacuum pressure, the sensor rod will be forced to move away from the mold where gas is supplied to the space. It is not drawn into the space, so there is no risk of the plate material being damaged by the sensor rod, and the space in the mold where the plate material follows is under vacuum pressure, so the gas pressure supplied during pressure molding is low. Various excellent effects can be achieved, such as being able to perform good pressure molding.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of one embodiment of the pressure molding apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the same gas pressure control system, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example. In the figure, 2 is a lower heating furnace, 5 is a lower pressurizing ram, 8 is a lower mold, 9 is a plate material, 10 is a space, 11 is a gas supply pipe, 15 is an upper heating furnace, 18 is an upper pressurizing ram, 2
1 is an upper mold, 22 is a space, 24 is a sensor rod, 26 is a fluid pressure cylinder, 28 is a position detection sensor, 34 is an exhaust hole, and 35 is a hole.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A plate material is sandwiched between a pair of molds each having a concave space, a molding gas is supplied into the space of one mold, and the space in the other mold is evacuated, and the plate material is placed between the two molds. In a pressure molding device for molding to follow the inner surface of the other mold, a sensor rod having one end protruding outside the other mold and the other end capable of contacting the plate material is movably moved in the axial direction. A fluid pressure cylinder is connected to a portion of the sensor rod that penetrates the mold and projects out of the other mold to urge the sensor rod in a direction away from the one mold during pressure molding. Pressure forming equipment.