JPH0694066B2 - Production equipment with batch type vacuum heat treatment furnace - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a production facility using a batch type vacuum heat treatment furnace that heat-treats an object using a preheating furnace, a batch type vacuum heating furnace, and a cooling furnace.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, as a production facility using a vacuum heat treatment furnace,
A continuous vacuum furnace as shown in the figure is used.

This continuous vacuum furnace 1 includes a front chamber R1, a preheating furnace R2, and a heating chamber.
It consists of R3 and rear room R4. These chambers R1, R2, R3, R4 are partitioned by an intermediate door 2, and each of the chambers R1, R2, R3, R4 is equipped with a vacuum pump 3 system. The front chamber R1 is, for example, a degreasing chamber, and the heating chamber R3 is, for example, a brazing chamber.

In order to perform heat treatment with such a continuous vacuum furnace 1,
First, the rack on which the objects to be processed are loaded is continuously loaded into the front room R1 from the loading site by the entry-side carriage 4. Then, the object to be processed is sequentially and continuously passed through the front chamber R1, the preheating furnace R2, the heating chamber R3, and the rear chamber R4 by a transfer means such as a dock chain drive. Meanwhile, the object to be processed is heat-treated as expected. For example, degreasing is performed in the front chamber R1, preheating is performed in the preheating furnace R2, brazing is performed in the heating chamber R3, and cooling is performed in the rear chamber R4.
The object to be processed which has passed through the rear room R4 is carried out to the unloading site by the output side carriage 5.

As described above, the conventional production equipment has continuously heat-treated the object to be processed by the continuous vacuum furnace 1.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, the production system using the continuous vacuum furnace 1 as described above has the following problems.

The continuous vacuum furnace 1 is suitable for the production of the same product because the objects to be treated are continuously charged, but different shapes,
Not suitable for processing size parts. That is,
The heat treatment cycle cannot be changed until all the objects to be processed that have already been charged are processed and carried out, resulting in a dead time waiting for charging.

Since three or four partitioned furnaces are connected, it is difficult to perform maintenance such as internal inspection and cleaning. .

When some of them break down, we have to stop all equipment and production stops.

It is difficult to increase the production volume.

When degreasing was performed in the front chamber R1, the dirty atmosphere could enter the heating chamber R3 for brazing and impair the brazing quality.

The present invention solves such a problem.

[Means for Solving Problems] A production facility using a batch type vacuum heat treatment furnace of the present invention includes at least one preheating furnace, one or more batch type vacuum heating furnaces, and at least one cooling furnace. Between the loading line for the workpiece formed between the loading position of the workpiece and the at least one preheating furnace, and the at least one preheating furnace and the one or more batch-type vacuum heating furnaces A transfer line for the object to be processed, a transfer line for the object to be processed formed between the one or more batch-type vacuum heating furnaces and the at least one cooling furnace, and the at least one group. A unloading line for the object to be processed formed between the cooling furnace and the unloading position for the object to be processed, and a control unit for controlling the loading, carrying, and unloading lines to carry the object to be processed by an appropriate route. It is characterized by being provided.

[Operation] The production facility of the present invention comprises at least one preheating furnace and one
A batch-type vacuum heating furnace of at least one group and a cooling furnace of at least one group are operated in association with each other to efficiently process a wide variety of objects in parallel.

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

In the figure, 11 is a degreasing furnace (preheating furnace), 12 is a batch type vacuum heating furnace (hereinafter simply referred to as "vacuum furnace"),
Reference numeral 13 denotes one cooling furnace, which is arranged in association with two robot cranes 14 having a transfer line L1 in the left-right direction in the drawing.

The degreasing furnace 11 is arranged near one side (the lower side in the drawing) of the transfer line L1 in a plan view, and the inlet / outlet of the object to be processed is directed to the one side of the transfer line L1. A door 11a that slides open is attached to the inlet / outlet of the degreasing furnace 11, and the body of the degreasing furnace 11 is provided with related devices such as an exhaust device 11b. Also, four vacuum furnaces 12
Two of them are placed near one side of the transfer line L1, and the other two are placed near the other side of the transfer line L1 (upper side in the figure). The mouth is facing the transport line L1. A door 12a that slides open is attached to the inlet / outlet port of each vacuum furnace 12, and the main body of each vacuum furnace 12 is provided with related devices such as an exhaust device 12b. Further, the cooling furnace 13 is provided near the other side of the transfer line L1,
The inlet / outlet of the object to be processed is directed to one side of the transfer line L1. A door 13a that opens as indicated by a chain double-dashed line in the drawing is attached to an inlet / outlet port of the cooling furnace 13, and a main body of the cooling furnace 13 is provided with related devices such as a blower device 13b.

Each of the two robot cranes 14 lifts a rack 15 on which the objects to be processed are loaded and travels on the transfer line L1 to selectively move the rack 15 to one of the inlets and outlets of the furnaces 11, 12, and 13. It is designed to be located at. In addition, this robot crane 14 has a rack 15
Is equipped with a slide mechanism that slides up and down in the figure.

Further, the other side position of the transfer line L1 is a loading place P1 for the processed objects, and the one side position of the transfer line L1 is a wholesale place P2 for the processed objects. Objects to be processed are loaded into the loading field P1 from the outside, and two loaders 16 in total are provided at the left and right positions in the drawing of the loading field P1. The loader 16 is for loading the objects to be processed on the rack 15, and is constituted by, for example, a chain conveyor or the like, and is capable of conveying the rack 15 in the vertical direction in the drawing.

On the other hand, the wholesale place P2 is designed to carry out the heat-treated object to the outside, and a total of two unloaders 17 are arranged at the left and right positions in the figure of the wholesale place P2. The unloader 17 is for loading and unloading objects to be processed from the rack 15, and is composed of, for example, a chain conveyor or the like, and is capable of transporting the rack 15 in the vertical direction in the figure. .

Next, the operation will be described.

The workpieces loaded on the rack 15 at the loading station P1 are robot-crane driven together with the rack 15 by chain drive.
It is pulled in by 14 and suspended by the robot crane 14. The robot crane 14 travels to a position facing the loading / unloading port of the degreasing furnace 11, and moves the suspended rack 15 into the degreasing furnace 11. After that, the degreasing furnace 11 closes the door 11a and degreases the object to be processed by vacuum heating as expected. Then, after the degreasing is completed, the robot crane 14 pulls out the object to be treated in the degreasing furnace 11 together with the rack 15 and suspends it again.

The robot crane 14 travels toward one of the four vacuum furnaces 12 which is vacant this time, and the rack 15 suspended from the robot crane 14 faces the inlet / outlet of the vacant vacuum furnace 12. Transfer to the vacuum furnace 12. The vacuum furnace 12 closes its door 12a, and vacuum heat-treats the object to be processed by vacuum heating as expected. After the vacuum heat treatment, the robot crane 14 pulls out the object to be processed in the vacuum furnace 12 together with the rack 15 and suspends it again.

The robot crane 14, in turn, travels to a position facing the inlet / outlet port of the cooling furnace 13, and moves the suspended rack 15 into the cooling furnace 13. Then, the cooling furnace 13 closes its door 13a to cool the object to be processed as expected. After the cooling, the robot crane 14 pulls out the object to be processed in the cooling furnace 13 together with the rack 15 and suspends it again.
Robot Crane 14 is now an unloader for wholesale P2
Travel to a position facing 17 and transfer the suspended rack 15 onto the unloader 17. After that, the object to be processed is unloaded from the rack 15 on the unloader 17, and is transported to a warehouse or the like through an inspection process.

In this way, the robot crane 14 degreases the object to be processed.
11 inside, vacuum furnace 12 inside, and cooling furnace 13 inside. At that time, as for the vacuum furnace 12, one of the four vacuum furnaces which is vacant is searched for and the object to be processed is transferred into it. By the way, usually a vacuum furnace
The time of vacuum heat treatment by 12 is longer than the time of degreasing work and cooling work. Therefore, it is possible to simultaneously operate the four vacuum furnaces 12 at different timings, and it is possible to process the objects to be processed in different furnaces in parallel. Further, by operating the two robot cranes 14, the two loaders 16, the two unloaders 17, the degreasing furnace 11, the four vacuum furnaces 12, and the cooling furnace 13 in association with each other,
It is possible to efficiently process a wide variety of products to be processed and to control the production amount. Note that this production facility is controlled by a computer (control unit) so that the furnace does not play in consideration of the processing order, processing time, etc. for each product type. It can also be operated by manual operation.

By the way, in the above embodiment, the transfer line L1 is formed between the degreasing furnace 11, the vacuum furnace 12, and the cooling furnace 13. However, between the degreasing furnace 11 and all the vacuum furnaces 12 and all The transfer line may be formed separately between the vacuum furnace 12 and the cooling furnace 13. Further, the configurations of the carry-in line for carrying in the object to be processed and the carry-out line for carrying out the processed object to be processed are arbitrary and not specified in the above embodiments.
Further, the number of deployed furnaces is not limited to the number of deployed furnaces in the above embodiment, and at least one degreasing furnace 11, one vacuum furnace 12 or more, and at least one cooling furnace 13 may be installed.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the production facility of the present invention relates to at least one preheating furnace, one or more batch-type vacuum heating furnaces, and at least one cooling furnace. Since the configuration is adopted so that it can be operated by connecting them appropriately while being deployed, the following effects can be obtained.

Parts with different heat treatment times can be processed in parallel for each furnace.

A wide variety of products can be processed efficiently.

Even if one of the vacuum heating furnaces fails, operation can be continued by the remaining furnaces and damage can be suppressed to a small level.

The production control can be easily adjusted by the operation control for each furnace.

The facility can be easily expanded by increasing the number of furnaces.

The operation can be diversified by automatic or remote operation of the equipment.

Since the respective furnaces are independent, the atmospheric gas of each furnace does not enter into the other furnace, and the adverse effect due to the invasion of the atmospheric gas of the other furnace can be avoided in advance.

It is possible to perform maintenance for each furnace without stopping the production line.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of the entire equipment of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the entire equipment of the conventional example. 11 …… Degreasing furnace (preheating furnace), 12 …… Vacuum furnace, 13 …… Cooling furnace, 14 …… Robot crane, 15 …… Rack, 16 …… Loader, 17 …… Unloader.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. At least one preheating furnace, one or more batch type vacuum heating furnaces, at least one cooling furnace, between a position for carrying in an object to be treated and the at least one preheating furnace. A transport line for the formed object to be processed;
A pre-heating furnace and one or more batch type vacuum heating furnaces for conveying the object to be treated, the one or more batch type vacuum heating furnaces and the at least one cooling furnace The transfer line for the object to be processed, the unloading line for the object to be processed formed between the at least one cooling furnace and the unloading position for the object to be processed, and the carry-in, transfer, and unloading lines. A production facility using a batch type vacuum heat treatment furnace, comprising: a control unit that controls and conveys an object to be processed through an appropriate route.