JPH0649365Y2 - Continuous production equipment for wire conductors for electric wires and cables - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention mainly relates to an apparatus for continuously producing wire conductors for electric wires or cables for electric power or communication.

[0002]

BACKGROUND ART When manufacturing a wire conductor for electric wires and cables as described above, a continuous wire material made of, for example, copper or a copper alloy is subjected to wire drawing treatment and annealing treatment, and in many cases, for example, in a molten state. It is common to perform a molten metal plating treatment using tin as a plating bath. And, as a time-series combination of the above-mentioned treatment steps, one in which each step is carried out separately as a batch process, and wire drawing and annealing are simultaneously performed using a continuous wire drawing annealing device, and plating treatment is performed in different steps. It is known to do as.

In the known embodiments of the above-mentioned steps, the unit yield is limited, so that the yield of products is low,
In addition, it has an inherent defect inherent in the batch process that the quality of the product tends to vary. In order to stabilize the product quality, it is necessary to increase the unit processing amount, but it is difficult to improve productivity while effectively preventing the occurrence of variations.

Further, the following peculiar problems have been pointed out when wire drawing and annealing are simultaneously performed. That is, in such a case, generally, an annealing apparatus having at least a pair of movable rollers is used, and the movable rollers are used as electrodes to energize the linear material to heat the material to perform annealing. However, slipping is likely to occur between the filament material and the electrode roll, and the sparks caused by the instantaneous interruption of the current at the time of slipping tend to melt the material surface and cause defective products with external damage. For that purpose, strictly control the diameter of the electrode surface of the electrode roller,
The wear of the electrode surface is prevented as much as possible to take measures to prevent the instantaneous interruption of the contact between the filament material and the electrode roll, and a considerable expense is required for the measures.

[0005]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to propose a continuous manufacturing apparatus for a wire conductor for electric wires and cables, which can solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art all at once. In order to achieve this object, the present invention is configured so that the plating treatment of the linear conductor material, which has been conventionally performed only in one tank, is sequentially performed in the first and second plating tanks. The material is kept in an inert atmosphere and the molten metal in both plating tanks is used as an energizing electrode for causing the material to generate heat up to the temperature required for annealing.

[0006] The gist of the present invention is to provide a first and a second molten metal baths for sequentially performing a molten metal plating treatment on a continuous raw material of a wire conductor for wire and cable, and the raw material between the two molten metal baths. And a pipe filled with an inert gas, which forms a transition path of the molten metal, to heat the material held in the pipe in an inert atmosphere to the temperature required for the annealing. A power supply circuit for charging between the plating baths of the bath, the first molten metal bath is arranged at a position higher than the second molten metal bath, and is adjacent to the upstream end of the pipeline. A die for allowing passage of the raw material and blocking the outflow of the molten metal in the first molten metal tank is arranged on the side wall of the first molten metal tank, and the downstream end of the pipeline is connected to the second molten metal. Open in the area above the surface of the molten metal in the metal tank It is characterized in that to.

Thus, according to the present invention, since the molten metal in both plating baths is used as an energizing electrode for annealing,
It is possible to surely prevent melting damage on the material surface as in the conventional technology using an electrode roller, and to perform wire drawing, plating and annealing treatment steps on the material completely continuously, resulting in high quality products. It enables continuous production with high productivity.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing each step of a manufacturing method to which a continuous manufacturing apparatus for wire and cable filament conductors according to the present invention is applied. Explaining an example in which the linear conductor is made of copper or copper alloy,
The continuous material 1 of the wire conductor is first drawn in the wire drawing station 2 so as to have a predetermined diameter. The wire drawing apparatus used for this wire drawing is of a known type having a die having an appropriate structure. Next, the drawn wire material is washed with, for example, a dilute sulfuric acid solution in the pickling station 3 to remove the copper oxide on the surface, and at the same time, activate the molten metal so that the molten metal uniformly adheres to the surface. In the present invention, the molten metal plating treatment of the material 1 which has conventionally been performed in only one tank is sequentially performed in the first and second plating stations 4 and 6 as described in detail below. Annealing station 5 is arranged between 6 and the material 1 is annealed in the annealing station 5 in an inert atmosphere. Further, the raw material which has been subjected to the respective processes of wire drawing, plating and annealing as described above is, for example, water-cooled in the cooling station 7, and the metal adhered to the surface of the raw material by molten metal plating, for example, tin is cooled to obtain the final product. To get 8.

A concrete apparatus for continuously producing a linear conductor according to the present invention, which comprises first and second plating stations 4 and 6 and an annealing station 5 which are configured to plate and anneal a material in the manner as described above. As the configuration, FIG.
The following is a description of those exemplified in.

First, the first plating station 4 comprises a molten metal bath 10 having an open top, and the bath 10 is made of a heat-resistant hard insulating material such as ceramic. An electric heater 11 is arranged below the tank 10 and is configured so that the metallic tin for plating loaded in the tank 10 can be heated to about 250 to 350 ° C. to be melted. The top of the tank 10 can be closed by a top cover 12, and a protrusion 13 immersed in molten tin is attached to the lower surface of the cover 12. Furthermore, a rod-shaped material guide member 14 is attached to the side surface of the protrusion 13. Further, as will be described later, the top cover 12 is connected to a DC power source, so that the tank 10 is provided for the purpose of ensuring work safety.
The whole of is stored in the protective cover 15. The material inlet and outlet to the tank 10 are constituted by diamond dies 16 and 17 arranged on the upstream and downstream walls of the tank 10. The die 16 on the inlet side is arranged so that the material is introduced substantially horizontally into the tank 10, and the die 17 on the outlet side is arranged so that the material is discharged obliquely downward from the tank 10. The inlet-side and outlet-side dies 16 and 17 both allow passage of the raw material 1 and prevent the molten metal from flowing out of the tank 10.

The second plating station 6 has the same construction as the first plating station 4, the molten metal tank 20, the electric heater 21, the top cover 22, the projection 23, and the material guide member 24.
And a protective cover 25. In connection with arranging the exit side die 17 in the first plating station 4 so that the material is discharged obliquely downward from the tank 10,
The second plating station 6 is located lower than the first plating station 4. The material inlet to the tank 20 of the second plating station does not include a die, and is configured by the outlet side end of the annealing station described later. On the other hand, the outlet of the material from the tank 20 is constituted by a diamond die 27 arranged on the wall on the downstream side of the tank 20 so as to discharge the material almost horizontally. This die 27
The material 1 is allowed to pass through and the molten metal in the tank 20 is prevented from flowing out.

An annealing station 5 arranged between the first and second plating stations 4, 6 as described above.
Includes a conduit 30 which forms a material transfer path between both plating stations. This pipe 30 has an upstream end portion of the molten metal tank 10 at the first plating station.
It is placed adjacent to the exit side die 17. The downstream end of the pipe 30 is the molten metal tank in the second plating station.
An opening is made in a region located above the surface of the molten metal in 20. That is, as the first plating station 4 is arranged at a higher position than the second plating station 6, the conduit 30 is arranged obliquely downward toward the downstream end thereof. . The annealing station 5 further includes an inert gas supply source (not shown) for filling the pipe 30 with an inert gas such as nitrogen, and the top covers of the tanks 10 and 20 for energizing the material in the pipe 30. It is provided with a DC power supply 31 and a power switch 32 connected to 12, 22. The inert gas supply source is not only in the pipe 30 but also in the first and second
It is desirable that the top spaces of the molten metal tanks 10 and 20 are communicated with the insides of the tanks 10 and 20 so that they can be maintained under an inert atmosphere. This makes it possible to prevent the surface of the molten metal in each of the molten metal tanks 10 and 20 from deteriorating due to oxidation due to contact with oxygen in the atmosphere. Also,
The DC power supply 31 applies a predetermined DC voltage to both ends of the material located in the conduit 30 via the molten metal in the first and second plating stations, and utilizes Joule heat generated by energizing the material to remove the material. The heat is generated up to the temperature required for the annealing. The value of this DC voltage is, for example, 50 to 50 depending on the length of the conduit 30 and the diameter of the material.
Can be set to 150V.

In the first and second plating stations 4 and 6 and the annealing station 5 having the above-mentioned structure, the continuous filament material 1 supplied from the wire drawing station 2 and the pickling station 3 is melted as described above. The metal plating treatment and the annealing treatment are performed in the following manner. That is, the material 1 supplied from the wire drawing station 2 and the pickling station 3 is introduced into the tank 10 substantially horizontally through the die 16 on the inlet side of the first plating station 4, and is guided by the guide member 14 in the tank 10. It is deflected and discharged from the exit side die 17. The material 1 is further introduced obliquely downward into the tank 20 in the second plating station 6 via the pipe 30 in the annealing station 5, is deflected by the guide member 24 in the tank 20, and is discharged substantially horizontally from the exit side die 27. To be done. Subsequently, the material 1 is supplied to the cooling station 7 as described above.

When the electric heaters 11 and 21 in the first and second plating stations are energized while the material 1 is being conveyed as described above, the metallic tin in the baths 10 and 20 is heated and melted. As a result, the material 1 is hot-dip plated, and the thickness of the plated layer is controlled by the dies 17 and 27 on the outlet side so as to be within a predetermined range. The dies 16, 17 and 27 on the inlet side and the outlet side of both plating stations 4 and 6 were made of molten tin tanks 10 and 2 respectively.
It also exerts the function of blocking outflow from within 0. Material 1 discharged from the first plating station 4
When passing through the pipe 30 in the annealing station 5, the pipe 30 is filled with an inert gas to hold the material 1 in an inert atmosphere. At the same time, the power switch 32 is turned on to apply a DC voltage between the tanks 10 and 20 in the first and second plating stations 4 and 6 by the DC power supply 31. As a result, an electric current flows through the material 1 located in the pipe 30 through the guide members 14 and 24 in each tank 10 and 20 and the molten metal, and the material 1 is kept in an inert atmosphere due to the Joule heat generated thereby. It becomes possible to anneal. Note that the annealed material 1 is introduced into the second plating station and is immersed in the molten tin in the tank 20 to be cooled to the temperature of the molten tin, and subsequently, for example, water cooling is performed in the cooling station. The temperature is lowered to room temperature.

Next, generally used for communication transmission lines,
An example of using the continuous production apparatus for the linear conductor of the present invention when performing softening treatment while applying tin plating to a copper wire having a conductor diameter of 0.4 to 0.9 mmφ will be described. In this example, the set values of the die diameter in each molten metal tank, and the measured values of the tin plating layer attachment and the core wire diameter are shown in Table 1.
As listed in. Further, the measured values of the conductor temperature at the first and second plating stations 4 and 6 and the annealing station 5 are as listed in Table 2.

[0016]

[Table 1]

[0017]

[Table 2]

The diameter of the conductor material 1 is controlled to ± 0.001 mm, and the diameter of the die 16 on the inlet side of the tank 10 in the first plating slate 4 is set to the standard diameter of the material 1. The diameter of outlet die 17 is about 0.002 than the diameter of inlet die 16.
Set smaller by ~ 0.003mm. This is material 10 tank 10
This is because the molten tin is pulled when passing through, and as a result, the material 1 is tensioned. Needless to say, the diameter of the die 17 corresponds to the diameter of the material 1 at the outlet of the tank 10, and the material 1 that has passed through the tank 10 has the same diameter as the diameter of the die 17. The same applies to the tank 20 in the second plating slation 6. That is, by setting the diameter of the outlet die 27 of the tank 20 to be smaller than the diameter of the material 1 that has passed through the tank 10 by 0.002 to 0.003 mm, a tin plating layer having a required thickness can be obtained on the surface of the material 1. In this case, the thickness of the tin plating layer is determined according to the diameter of the dies 16, 17, 27 and the diameter of the material. The thickness of the tin-plated layer as a conductor used for general communication wires is usually about 0.5 to 1.5 μm. Therefore, in carrying out the present invention, in order to control the thickness of the tin plating layer, the diameters of the dies 16, 17, and 27 are appropriately set, and the diameter of the die and the diameter of the material are very small. It is necessary to manage the difference with sufficient accuracy.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a tin-plated annealed copper wire as a filament conductor manufactured according to the above-described embodiment. This conductor is composed of an alloy of copper and tin on the outer periphery of a central conductor 41 made of pure copper. The middle layer 42 and the outermost layer made of pure tin
43 and. The hot dipping method used in the present invention is different from other plating methods such as the electroplating method and the electroless plating method in that the alloy intermediate layer 42 is formed. Incidentally, the thickness of the tin-plated layer formed by the hot dipping method is usually the thickness of the intermediate layer 42 and the outermost layer 43.
Expressed as the sum of the thicknesses of.

In the production of the linear conductor shown in FIG. 3, the raw material 1 is heated in the bath 10 of the first plating station 4 to a molten tin temperature of 280 to 320 ° C. Electricity is supplied to station 6 to raise the temperature to a softening temperature of 450-500 ° C.
The molten tin temperature (280 to 32
It is cooled to 0 ℃). The softening temperature is changed according to the required material of the annealed copper wire. Needless to say, it is necessary to set the diameter of the raw material 1 and the diameter of the die in each plating station 4, 6 according to the required finished diameter of the annealed copper wire.

In the present invention, since the molten metal in both plating stations is used as a current-carrying electrode during annealing of the material, even if the mechanical contact between the material 1 and the guide members 14 and 24 is momentarily interrupted. Can always be kept energized. Therefore, compared with the case where at least one of the pair of energizing electrodes is composed of a movable roller as in the conventional technique, the material surface damage caused by sparks accompanying the momentary interruption of mechanical contact between the electrode and the material is completely eliminated. It is possible to avoid it. Further, when the material 1 is guided by the guide members 14 and 24 in the baths at both plating stations, the molten metal is always present between the material 1 and the guide members 14 and 24, so that the molten metal serves as a lubricant. Also, it becomes possible to reduce the contact frictional resistance between the material and the guide member and effectively prevent the elongation of the material due to such resistance.

Further, according to the present invention, since all the processing steps required in the production of the wire conductor for electric wires / cables can be carried out completely continuously, it is possible to prevent the variation of product quality. There is also an advantage that productivity can be greatly improved.

It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned specific embodiments, but can be implemented in various modes within the scope. For example, in the embodiment of FIG. 2, the top covers of the molten metal plating tanks 10 and 20 are shown.
The material guide members 14 and 24 are attached to the projections 13 and 23 provided on the plates 12 and 22, and the top covers 12 and 22 are connected to the DC power supply 31.
It can be attached to the side walls of the tanks 10 and 20 separately from the tanks 2 and 22. In this case, the protrusions 13 and 23 of the top covers 12 and 22 are the tank 1
It is desirable to form it as having a volume in which the level of the molten metal surface within 0, 20 can be adjusted appropriately. That is, by appropriately setting the volumes of the protrusions 13 and 23, for example, when the protrusions 13 and 23 are pulled up from the molten metal when the top covers 12 and 22 are lifted, the molten metal surface level is lowered and the tank 10 Advantageously, the material guiding members 14, 24 and the dies 16, 17, 27 in the insides of 20, 20 are exposed to the atmosphere. By lowering the molten metal surface level as described above, it becomes possible to easily and reliably carry out the work required for passing the material through the die and for engaging with the guide member. . In addition,
When such a configuration is adopted, the DC power source 31 is connected to the tanks 10, 20
It can be connected to the guide members 14, 24 via the side walls of the.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing each step of a manufacturing method to which the continuous manufacturing apparatus for wire / cable filament conductors of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the continuous production apparatus for wire / cable filament conductors of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a filament conductor manufactured using the device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Material 4 1st plating station 6 2nd plating station 10, 20 Molten metal plating tank 16, 17, 27 Dice 30 Pipeline 31 Power circuit

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A first and a second molten metal tanks (10, 20) for sequentially performing a molten metal plating treatment on a continuous material (1) of a wire conductor for electric wire / cable, and both molten metal tanks (10). , (20) between which the material (1) is transferred and which is filled with an inert gas (3)
0) and a charge between the plating baths of both molten metal baths in order to heat the material (1) held in the pipe line (30) under an inert atmosphere to the temperature required for the annealing. And a power supply circuit (31) for performing the above, the first molten metal tank (10) is arranged at a position higher than the second molten metal tank (20), and the upstream end of the pipeline (30) is provided. The material (1) on the side wall of the first molten metal tank (10) adjacent to the part
A die (17) for allowing the passage of the molten metal and blocking the outflow of the molten metal in the first molten metal tank (10), and the downstream end of the pipe line (30) is provided in the second molten metal tank. (20) A continuous production apparatus for a linear conductor, which is opened in a region located above the surface of the molten metal in (20).