JPH0719693A - Cooling apparatus of workpiece - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a cooling apparatus which can cool down a heated workpiece to a prescribed temperature in a short time. CONSTITUTION:A cooling apparatus 20 for cooling a heated workpiece W is equipped with an airtight vessel 10 for accommodating the workpiece W. The airtight vessel 10 has a vessel main body 11 and an upper cover 12 which can be opened and closed. Besides, a cover driving mechanism 15 opening and closing the upper cover 12, a transfer mechanism 16 transferring the workpiece W into and out of the airtight vessel 10, a water supply mechanism 17 spraying water over the surface of the workpiece W in the airtight vessel 10, a vacuum means 18 for putting the inside of the airtight vessel 10 under a negative pressure by exhausting air in the vessel, a control means 19 for maintaining the negative pressure in the airtight vessel 10 for a prescribed time, etc., are provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for cooling a heated metal work or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a production facility for processing or assembling metal machine parts or the like, desired processing may be carried out while a work is heated to a high temperature. Then, after this heat treatment step, the temperature of the work may be lowered to about room temperature, and another step may be performed while the work temperature is stabilized.

For example, in a facility for manufacturing a work such as an engine transmission case by die casting, in order to ensure airtightness by filling a hole such as a "nest" formed in the work, glass, resin or the like is added to the work in the impregnation process. The process of impregnating the airtight material, heating to high temperature, and then cooling is performed. Such a work is subjected to a leak test such as an air differential pressure method in order to confirm the airtightness of the work after the impregnation step. Since this leak test is sensitive to the temperature of the work, it is necessary to cool the work to a substantially constant and stable temperature before performing the leak test. Moreover, it is necessary to cool the work rapidly in order to speed up the work.

Conventionally, as a device for cooling such a work to a desired temperature, a cooling means such as a chiller unit for causing air cooled by a refrigerant to act on the work, or air cooling by a blower fan lowers the temperature of the work to about room temperature. Facilities are known.

[0005]

However, among the above-mentioned conventional cooling means, the cooling by the chiller unit has a high cooling rate, but on the other hand, the work tends to be too cold when the downstream process after the cooling process is stagnant. However, there is a problem that it is difficult to obtain a stable work temperature. On the other hand, in the case of air cooling with a blower fan, a stable work temperature can be obtained, but on the other hand, it takes a long time to cool to a predetermined work temperature, which is inefficient, and moreover, it is necessary to arrange many fans on the cooling stage. The cooling stage accounts for a large proportion of the production equipment, and there was a problem in effectively utilizing the space. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a cooling device capable of lowering a heated work to a predetermined temperature in a short time.

[0006]

A work cooling device of the present invention developed to achieve the above object has an airtight container 10 for accommodating a work W to be cooled, as conceptually shown in FIG. Is equipped with. The airtight container 10 has a container body 11 and an upper lid 12 that can be opened and closed with respect to the container body 11. Further, a lid drive mechanism 15 for opening and closing the upper lid 12, a transfer mechanism 16 for putting the work W in and out of the container 10, a water supply mechanism 17 for spraying water on the surface of the work W, and the container 10 It is provided with a vacuuming means 18 for discharging the air inside the container 10 to make the container 10 a negative pressure, a control means 19 for maintaining the negative pressure in the container 10 for a predetermined time, and the like.

[0007]

As shown in FIG. 1, in a state where the work W is housed in the airtight container 10, water is attached to the surface of the work W by the water supply mechanism 17, and then the evacuation means 18 is used.
The inside of the container 10 is evacuated to a negative pressure state by. This negative pressure is maintained for a predetermined time by the control means 19. The degree of vacuum achievement may be, for example, about 10 to 700 Torr, but is appropriately selected as needed. By this evacuation, the water droplets attached to the surface of the work W are quickly evaporated, so that the work W is cooled in a short time by the heat of vaporization of water, and the work W is dried at the same time. The cooling rate and the like can be adjusted by controlling the degree of vacuum reached by the vacuuming means 18 and controlling the amount of water droplets attached to the work W by the water supply mechanism 17. Work W
When the sheet is cooled, the upper lid 12 is opened, and the work W is taken out of the container 10 by the transfer mechanism 16.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Work cooling device 2 illustrated in FIGS.
Reference numeral 0 includes a frame 21 that constitutes a base frame installed in a building such as a factory, and an airtight container 10 supported by the frame 21. The frame 21 includes a lower structure frame 22 constructed on the floor side of the building, a plurality of columns 23 standing on the lower structure frame 22, and a column 2
3, an upper structural frame 24 and the like provided on the upper end side.

The airtight container 10 is provided with a tank-shaped container body 11 having an opening 30 on the upper surface side, and an upper lid 12 provided on the upper side of the container body 11 so as to be openable and closable. The flange portion 31 of the container body 11 is supported by the lower structure frame 22. The flange portion 32 of the upper lid 12 is opposed to the upper side of the flange portion 31 of the container body 11. Between these flange portions 31 and 32, a sealing material 3 such as an O-ring for keeping the container 10 airtight when the upper lid 12 is closed.
3 is provided.

The upper lid 12 can be moved in the vertical direction by a lid driving mechanism 15 provided on the upper structural frame 24. The lid drive mechanism 15 includes a linear drive type cylinder mechanism 40 that utilizes fluid pressure as an example of a lifting drive actuator, a guide rod 41 that guides the upper lid 12 so that the upper lid 12 moves up and down straight, and an upper portion. The structural frame 24 includes a bearing member 42 for inserting a guide rod, a detection device 43 for detecting the rising end and the falling end of the upper lid 12, and the like. The detection device 43 detects a detected portion 45 provided on the upper portion of the guide rod 41 by a sensor 46.

The cylinder body 4 of the cylinder mechanism 40
7 is fixed to the upper structure frame 24. A rod portion 48 protruding below the cylinder body portion 47 is fixed to the upper lid 12. Therefore, when the rod portion 48 is lowered or raised, the upper lid 12 is moved as the rod portion 48 moves up and down.
Falls or rises. Then, when the cylinder 43 is stopped when the detection device 43 detects that the upper lid 12 has risen to a predetermined rising end, the upper lid 12 is stopped.
Is held at the rising end. When the upper lid 12 is closed, the cylinder mechanism 40 is stopped in a state where the flange portion 32 of the upper lid 12 is lowered to the position (lower end) where the flange portion 32 of the container main body 11 comes into contact with the upper lid 12.
Is kept completely closed.

A work cradle 50 is provided inside the container 10. As shown in FIG. 3 and the like, the work cradle 5
0 is supported by a pair of left and right guide rods 51 extending in the vertical direction so as to be able to move up and down in a stable posture. The upper end 51 a of the guide rod 51 is fixed to the upper structure frame 24. The lower end 51b of the guide rod 51 extends to the bottom side of the container body 11, and the horizontal connecting member 5 is provided.
The left and right guide rods 51 are connected to each other by 2.

A first slide bearing 55 is provided on the upper side of each guide rod 51. This slide bearing 55 is provided on the upper lid 12,
The upper lid 12 is allowed to move relatively smoothly in the axial direction (vertical direction) of the guide rod 51.

A second slide bearing 56 is provided on the lower side of the guide rod 51. The slide bearing 56 is attached to the work receiving base 50. Therefore, the work receiving base 50 can smoothly move relative to each other in the axial direction (vertical direction) of the guide rod 51. Positioning pins 57 are projectingly provided on the upper surface side of the work cradle 50. The pin 57 is provided at a position to be fitted in a positioning hole provided in the work W.

The work cradle 50 is vertically driven by a cradle drive mechanism 60. The cradle drive mechanism 60 includes a cylinder mechanism 61, which is an example of a cradle drive actuator fixed to the upper lid 12,
The cylinder mechanism 61 is provided with an extension rod 63 connected to the lower end of the rod 62, height detection means 64 for detecting the positions of the rising end and the falling end of the work receiving base 50, and the like. In the height detecting means 64, the dog 65 for detection in the vertical direction provided on the work cradle 50 and the detected portion 66 of the dog 65 have reached the rising end (state of FIG. 4) with respect to the upper lid 12. Rising side sensor 67 for detecting the
The sensor 6 includes a descending sensor 68 that detects that 6 has reached the descending end (the state shown in FIG. 2). The substrate 69 to which the sensors 67 and 68 are attached is provided on the upper lid 12.

A transfer mechanism 16 for loading / unloading the work W into / from the container 10 is provided on the side of the container 10. An example of the transfer mechanism 16 is a transfer machine that can intermittently reciprocate horizontally. The transfer mechanism 16 has a rail 75 extending in a direction (horizontal direction) orthogonal to the paper surface in FIG. 2, and a movable base 76 that is movable in the horizontal direction along the rail 75. A work support seat 77 that projects toward the container 10 is provided on the movable base 76. Positioning pins 78 project from the upper surface of the work support seat 77. The positioning pin 78 is adapted to be fitted into a positioning hole provided on the lower surface of the work W.

The movable table 76 can be moved forward / backward by a reciprocating drive mechanism (not shown) between an advance position shown in FIG. 2, that is, a position for entering the inside of the container 10 and a retracted position for retracting outside the container 10. is there. An example of the reciprocating drive mechanism may be a gear drive type using a rack and pinion or the like, or a linear drive type fluid actuator such as a hydraulic cylinder may be used. When the work support seat 77 is in the advanced position shown in FIG. 2,
It is formed in a shape that does not interfere with the work receiving table 50 in the vertical direction.

A spray nozzle 80 of the water supply mechanism 17 is provided inside the container 10. This spray nozzle 80
As shown in FIG. 1, the water supply tank 8 is connected via a water supply pipe 81.
Connected to 2. The water supply pipe 81 is branched into a plurality of systems according to the spray nozzle 80 provided at an appropriate position in the container 10. The water supply tank 82 is provided with a level switch 83 for detecting the upper limit side of the water level and a level switch 84 for detecting the lower limit side of the water level.
Water supply pipe 81a so that the water level is maintained between 3 and 84
Is replenished with water.

A drain pipe 85 connected to the bottom of the container body 11 is led to a water supply tank 82. An opening / closing valve 86 is provided in the middle of the drain pipe 85. Further, in the middle of the water supply pipe 81, the spray pump 87 and the electromagnetic opening / closing valve 88.
A throttle valve 89 for adjusting the spray amount and the like are provided.

The evacuation means 18 is used for the container body 11
Suction pipe 91 connected to the
2, a vacuum switch 93, a vacuum gauge 94, an electromagnetic opening / closing valve 95 for vacuuming, a filter 96, and a vacuum pump 97.
And so on. The signal lines of the pumps 87, 97 and the electromagnetic on-off valves 88, 92, 95, etc. are connected to the control means 19, and the control means 19 performs a predetermined sequence control as described below. An example of the control means 19 is a controller using a microcomputer or the like.

Next, the operation of the cooling device 20 of the above embodiment will be described. The heated work W is transferred to the transfer mechanism 16
2 is carried to the position shown in FIG. At this time, the upper lid 12 stands by in the open state because the rod portion 48 of the cylinder mechanism 40 has risen to the rising end, so the work support seat 77.
The work W on the carriage is loaded to a predetermined position inside the container 10.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 4, the rod 62 of the pedestal driving cylinder mechanism 61 moves to the rising end, so that the work is supported from the lower side of the work support seat 77 which has supported the work W until then. The cradle 50 rises to receive the work W. Then, the movable table 76 of the transfer mechanism 16 is retracted to the outside of the container 10, whereby the upper lid 12 can be closed.

After that, as shown in FIG. 5, the rod portion 48 of the upper lid driving cylinder mechanism 40 moves to the lower end, whereby the flange portion 32 of the upper lid 12 and the container body 1 are moved.
The upper lid 12 is lowered to a position where the first flange portions 31 are airtightly joined to each other, and the closed state is maintained.

A spray opening / closing valve 88 of the water supply mechanism 17
Is opened, the water in the water supply tank 82 is sprayed onto the work W through the spray nozzle 80 by the discharge pressure of the spray pump 87. Then, after a certain amount of water is sprayed, the spray opening / closing valve 88 is closed and the spray is stopped. After that, the vacuum pump 97 is started and the opening / closing valve 95 for vacuuming is opened, so that the vacuuming of the container 10 is started. When the pressure in the container 10 drops to the set value, the vacuum switch 93 is actuated to start time measurement by a timer, and the inside of the container 10 is maintained at a predetermined vacuum degree for a certain period of time. By this evacuation, the water droplets attached to the surface of the work W are evaporated in a short time, and the work W is cooled by the heat of vaporization.

After holding the vacuum for a certain period of time, the open / close valve 95 for vacuuming is closed and the vacuum pump 97 is also stopped. Further, by opening the open / close valve 92 for opening to the atmosphere, the container 10
The inside of is returned to atmospheric pressure. In addition, an on-off valve 86 for collecting the residual liquid
When the container is opened, the residual liquid in the container 10 becomes
Will be collected. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, after the upper lid 12 is lifted by the cylinder mechanism 40, the work support seat 77 of the transfer mechanism 16 again advances to the inside of the container body 11. After that, as shown in FIG. 2, the rod 62 of the pedestal drive cylinder mechanism 61 is lowered, and the work pedestal 50 is lowered to the lower side of the work support seat 77, so that the work W is supported. Handed over to Za 77. Then, the movable table 76 retracts to the original position, so that the work W moves to the transport position of the next process, and
The cycle ends.

The cooling device 20 is used to cool the work W in a series of work processing steps as shown in FIG. The work treatment step shown in FIG. 6 is an impregnation in which a die-cast work W is impregnated with an air-tight material such as a resin in a production facility for manufacturing a work W requiring air-tightness such as an engine transmission. Step S1, step S2 of heating the work W to cure the airtight material, primary cooling step S3 of rapidly cooling the work W using the apparatus 20 of the present embodiment, and bringing the work W to room temperature using a blower fan or the like. It includes a secondary cooling step S4 for keeping and an inspection step S5 for carrying out a leak test.

The impregnation step S1 includes an impregnation step of dipping the work W in an airtight material such as an uncured resin, a draining step of removing excess resin and the like by a centrifugal separator, a water washing step and the like. Heating step S performed after that
In 2, the work W is heated to, for example, about 90 ° C. in a heating furnace, so that the airtight material is hardened.

Then, in the primary cooling step S3, the work W is cooled in a short time by using the cooling device 20 as described above. The primary cooling step S3 also serves as a drying step because the surface of the work W can be dried by vacuuming. The work W cooled in this way to a substantially predetermined temperature in a short time is air-cooled by a blower fan or the like in the secondary cooling step S4, and further cooled to room temperature at a more accurate temperature. Then, in the inspection step S5, the work W is inspected for leakage by an air differential pressure type leak test or the like.

According to the cooling device 20 of this embodiment, the work W heated to a high temperature in the heating step S2 can be cooled to almost room temperature in a short time, and the amount of water sprayed to the work W and the vacuum can be reduced. It is possible to control the degree of cooling by controlling the achievement or the vacuum holding time. Therefore, the secondary cooling step S by the blower fan
The time required for 4 can be greatly reduced, the number of installed fans can be reduced, and the cooling stage can be shortened. Further, since the work can be dried at the same time, it is not necessary to separately provide a drying process, which can contribute to simplification of the process.

The cooling device of the present invention is not limited to the case of cooling the work W as described in the above embodiment,
In short, it goes without saying that the same can be applied to the case where it is desired to cool the heated work to the predetermined temperature as quickly as possible. Further, it goes without saying that the concrete aspects of the airtight container, the lid drive mechanism, the transfer mechanism, the water supply mechanism, the vacuuming means, the control means, etc. can be variously changed and implemented as necessary.

[0031]

According to the present invention, the work can be efficiently cooled in a short time, the degree of cooling can be controlled, and the space is effectively used because the cooling is efficiently performed in the airtight container. Can be planned.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a cooling device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a cooling device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the cooling device shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a state where a work cradle of the cooling device shown in FIG. 2 is raised.

5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the cooling device shown in FIG. 2 in a state where the upper lid is closed.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a work process including a cooling process in order of processes.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Airtight container, 11 ... Container body, 12 ... Upper lid, 15 ...
Lid drive mechanism, 16 ... Transfer mechanism, 17 ... Water supply mechanism, 18
... vacuuming means, 19 ... control means, 20 ... work cooling device, W ... work.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An airtight container having a container main body and an upper lid that can be opened and closed with respect to the container main body for accommodating a work to be cooled, a lid drive mechanism for opening and closing the upper lid, and a work in the container. A transfer mechanism for taking in and out of the container, a water supply mechanism for spraying water on the work in the container, a vacuuming means for discharging the air in the container to make the container negative pressure, and a negative pressure in the container. A work cooling device, comprising: a control means for maintaining a predetermined time.