JPH0827521A - Method and equipment for induction hardening for constant velocity joint - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To produce a work free from dispersion in hardened quality by conveying a work, having a shaft part and a grooved part to be hardened, to a hardening stage, hardening the grooved part in the lower part of a conveyance line, and then hardening the shaft part in the upper part of the conveyance line. CONSTITUTION:A work W of constant velocity joint member, requiring hardening for a shaft part 2 and a grooved part 3, is conveyed to a hardening stage and is then centered and lowered to a grooved part heating position. The lowered work W is turned by means of a lower part center mechanism 17, and the grooved part 3 is heated by a heating coil 7 for hardening the groove part and then cooled by a peripheral jacket 9 for cooling the grooved part. After cooling is completed, the work W is raised to a shaft part heating position, and the shaft part 2 is heated by a heating coil 8 for hardening the shaft part and then, without delay, the lowering of the work W is started, and simultaneously, cooling for the shaft part 2 is also started by means of a jacket 10 for cooling the shaft part. When the work W is lowered to the position of a conveyance line L, the work W is turned until the cooling for the shaft part 2 is completed. When cooling is completed, turning is stopped and centering is released.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an induction hardening method and apparatus applied to a work, such as a constant velocity joint member, which requires hardening at two places of a shaft and a groove.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a work requiring quenching in two places such as a shaft portion and a groove portion is hardened by using an automatic quenching device 51 of a system as shown in FIG. Has been done. The automatic quenching apparatus 51 has a shaft quenching stage 5B and a groove quenching stage 5D, and further, a cooling is performed between both quenching stages 5B and 5D so as to equalize the temperature before starting quenching. A stage 5C is provided.

[0003]

However, in the above-described conventional quenching automatic device 51, since the shaft portion quenching stage 5B and the groove portion quenching stage 5D are separately arranged, each quenching stage. Each of 5B and 5D requires a work up-and-down moving mechanism and an upper center mechanism and a lower center mechanism for work centering, which requires a large installation space as well as a complicated structure and high equipment cost. Further, in the conventional quenching automatic device 51, in order to reduce the influence of the residual heat after quenching one shaft portion, the cooling stage 5C is provided between both quenching stages 5B and 5D to cool the work. There was a need. If the work is not cooled, the air cooling time after quenching may vary depending on the timing when the work is loaded into the machine, which may cause deterioration in quenching quality. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to take measures such as sufficiently extending the cooling time after heating the work, which has a drawback that productivity is lowered.

For example, when quenching a work using the above-mentioned quenching automatic device 51, first, the work is taken in at the stage 5A, the shaft portion of the work is quenched at the quenching stage 5B, and the cooling stage 5C. The work is cooled at. Then, the groove portion of this work is set in the quenching stage 5
Quenching is performed at D and cooling is performed at the cooling stage 5E. Then, the shaft portion and the groove portion of the work are simultaneously tempered in the tempering stage 5F and cooled in the cooling stage 5G. After that, the work is delivered from the stage 5H to the outside of the apparatus and is conveyed to the subsequent process.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an induction hardening method for a constant velocity joint capable of obtaining a work without variation in hardening quality from the groove portion to the shaft portion. Another object of the present invention is to provide an induction hardening apparatus for a constant velocity joint, which can provide space saving, have a simple structure, and can reduce costs.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, in the present invention, a work requiring quenching at two places of a shaft portion and a groove portion is provided by an in-line type transfer mechanism. One of the quenching stages is conveyed, the groove portion of the work is heated and cooled below the conveying line in the quenching stage, and after the cooling of the groove portion is completed, the workpiece is conveyed above the conveying line in the quenching stage. The shaft portion is heated and cooled, and after the cooling of the shaft portion is completed, the work in which the groove portion and the shaft portion have been quenched is transported to the next stage by the transport mechanism.

Further, in another aspect of the present invention, an in-line type transfer mechanism for transferring a work requiring quenching in two places of a shaft part and a groove part, and a shaft part and a groove part of the work transferred by the transfer mechanism. And a quenching stage for performing both quenching, and a heating means for quenching a groove is provided below the transport line in the quenching stage, and the shaft quenching is provided above the transport line in the quenching stage. The heating means for inputting, the cooling means for the groove portion and the shaft portion are respectively arranged, and the elevating means for raising and lowering these cooling means and the work are provided.

[0008]

In the induction hardening method for a constant velocity joint according to the present invention, a work requiring quenching at two locations of a shaft portion and a groove portion is hardened at both the shaft portion and the groove portion in the same stage. Even if the stage for cooling the work required by the quenching method of No. 1 is eliminated, a work without quality variation from the groove quenching to the shaft quenching can be obtained.

Further, another induction hardening apparatus for a constant velocity joint according to the present invention has a hardening stage for hardening both a shaft portion and a groove portion of a work carried by a carrying mechanism. Groove quenching heating means is arranged below the conveying line in the hardening stage, and shaft quenching heating means, groove and shaft cooling means are arranged above the conveying line in the hardening stage. In addition, since the cooling means and the elevating means for elevating and lowering the work are provided, the installation space is about half that of the conventional one, and the necessary work up-and-down movement system and the unit such as the center mechanism are half of the conventional one. Only need a number.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below based on the illustrated embodiments.

1 to 4 show an embodiment of an induction hardening method for a constant velocity joint and an apparatus therefor according to the present invention.
In the induction hardening method of the present embodiment, both the shaft 1 and the groove 3 of the stage 1A for taking in the work W of the constant velocity joint member that requires hardening in two places of the shaft 2 and the groove 3. Quenching stage 1B for quenching, a first cooling stage 1C for cooling the work W, a tempering stage 1D for simultaneously tempering the shaft 2 and the groove 3 of the work W, a second cooling stage 1E for cooling the work W, a work The induction hardening apparatus 4 of the system is used which sequentially goes through the stage 1F for discharging W out of the apparatus. In addition, this induction hardening device 4
An in-line type (serial type, single line type) transfer device 5 for transferring the work W to each stage is provided, and the work W is transferred on the transfer line L.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, an automatic machine 6 for induction hardening is installed on the hardening stage 1B. The automatic machine 6 includes a groove quenching heating coil (groove quenching heating means) 7 arranged below the transfer line L, and a shaft quenching heating coil arranged above the transfer line L. A shaft portion quenching heating means 8, a groove portion cooling outer jacket (groove portion cooling means) 9 and a shaft portion cooling jacket (shaft portion cooling means) 10 are provided respectively.

The outer peripheral jacket 9 for cooling the groove portion and the jacket 10 for cooling the shaft portion do not interfere with the work W during conveyance,
In addition, they are attached to the same support bracket 11 in a position where they do not interfere with each other, and they are simultaneously moved by the jacket lifting cylinder 12. Moreover,
The support bracket 11 is attached to a carriage base (elevating means) 15 which is driven by a workpiece vertical movement motor 13 and a ball screw 14. The groove quenching heating coil 7 and the shaft quenching heating coil 8 are fixed to the automatic machine 6 side.

On the other hand, the work W is centered by the upper center mechanism 16 and the lower center mechanism 17, and is configured to move up and down together with the carriage base 15. The rotation of the work W is transmitted via the lower center mechanism 17 driven by the work rotation hydraulic motor 18. Therefore, the upper center mechanism 16 and the lower center mechanism 17 are configured to be lifted and lowered by the center lift cylinder 19. Moreover, a through hole 20 into which the quenching heating coil 7 is inserted is formed in the central portion of the lower center mechanism 17. Further, in FIG. 2, reference numerals 21 and 22 are controllers for controlling the heating coils 7 and 8 for quenching.

A machine of the prior art is installed in each stage other than the quenching stage 1B. That is, the stage 1A has a work take-in machine 23, the first and second cooling stages 1C and 1E have work coolers 24 and 25, the tempering stage 1D has a work tempering machine 26, and the stage 1F has a work payout machine. 27 are arranged respectively.

Next, the shaft portion 2 and the groove portion 3 of the work W described above.
The operation of quenching in the quenching stage 1B of the same stage will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 4A, the work W is carried from the stage 1A to the quenching stage 1B by the carrying device 5. Then, the work W is centered by the upper center mechanism 16 and the lower center mechanism 17, and then descends to the groove heating position together with the carriage base 15, as shown in FIG. 4B. At the same time, the outer peripheral jacket 9 for cooling the groove and the jacket 10 for cooling the shaft also descend to a predetermined position.

The work W lowered to the groove heating position is rotated via the lower center mechanism 17, and in this state, the groove 3 is heated by the groove quenching heating coil 7 and then cooled by the groove cooling outer jacket 9. It After the cooling of the groove portion 3 is completed, the work W is raised together with the carriage base 15 to the shaft portion heating position shown in FIG.

The shaft W of the work W that has been raised to the shaft heating position is heated by the shaft quenching heating coil 8. After the heating of the shaft portion 2 is completed, the work W immediately starts descending, and at the same time, the cooling of the shaft portion 2 is also started by the shaft portion cooling jacket 10. As shown in FIG. 4D, the work W descends to the position of the transfer line L and rotates at this position until the cooling of the shaft portion 2 is completed.

After the cooling of the shaft portion 2 is completed, the rotation of the work W is stopped, and the centering of the work W by the upper center mechanism 16 and the lower center mechanism 17 is released. Further, the groove portion cooling outer jacket 9 and the shaft portion cooling jacket 10 are raised to their original positions as shown in FIG. 4 (e). After the centering is released, the work W is transported to the next first cooling stage 1C by the transport device 5. After that, work W
Is subjected to a predetermined process in the first cooling stage 1C, the tempering stage 1D, the second cooling stage 1E, and the stage F, and is transported to the subsequent process.

In the induction hardening method of this embodiment, in the same quenching stage 1B, the groove portion 3 of the work W is heated by the groove quenching heating coil 7, and then the groove portion of the work W is heated by the outer circumferential jacket 9 for cooling the groove portion. Complete the cooling of 3,
Thereafter, the shaft quenching heating coil 8 heats the shaft 2 of the workpiece W, and then the shaft cooling outer peripheral jacket 10 is heated.
Since the cooling of the shaft portion 2 of the work W is completed by
It is possible to obtain a work W having no variation in quenching quality from the groove 3 to the shaft 2. Further, in the induction hardening apparatus 4, the groove hardening stage and the shaft hardening stage, which are conventionally separately arranged, are arranged in one hardening stage 1B,
Moreover, since the conventional cooling stage between the groove hardening stage and the shaft hardening stage is eliminated, the size of the entire apparatus can be reduced and the structure is simplified.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above.
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications and changes can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

[0023]

As described above, in the induction hardening method for a constant velocity joint according to the present invention, an inline type transfer mechanism is used to quench one work piece that requires quenching at two locations of a shaft portion and a groove portion. The workpiece is conveyed to a stage, the groove portion of the work is heated and cooled below the conveying line in the quenching stage, and after the cooling of the groove portion is completed, the shaft portion of the workpiece is moved above the conveying line in the quenching stage. After heating and cooling, and the cooling of the shaft portion is completed, the work in which the groove portion and the shaft portion have been quenched is transported to the next stage by the transport mechanism, so the quenching quality from the groove portion to the shaft portion It is possible to obtain a work having no variation, and it is possible to produce a product of excellent quality using this work.

Further, the induction hardening apparatus for a constant velocity joint according to the present invention is an in-line type transfer mechanism for transferring a work requiring hardening at two places of a shaft portion and a groove portion, and is transferred by the transfer mechanism. A quenching stage for quenching both the shaft portion and the groove portion of the work, and the groove portion quenching heating means is provided below the transport line in the quenching stage, and the workpiece is transported in the quenching stage. Since a heating means for quenching the shaft portion, a cooling means for the groove portion and the shaft portion are respectively provided on the upper side of the line, and an elevating means for elevating and lowering these cooling means and the work are provided, it is not necessary in the conventional quenching apparatus. It is possible to reduce the number of existing stages, save space, simplify the structure, and reduce the equipment cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing a quenching device used in an induction hardening method for a constant velocity joint according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing an automatic machine for quenching a work, which is installed on a quenching stage of the above system.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing an automatic machine for quenching the work.

4A to 4E are conceptual diagrams for sequentially explaining the quenching system for a work.

FIG. 5 is a system configuration diagram showing a hardening apparatus used in a conventional induction hardening method for a constant velocity joint.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1B Quenching stage 2 Shaft part 3 Groove part 4 Induction hardening device 5 Conveyor device 6 Automatic machine for quenching 7 Heating coil for quenching groove part 8 Heating coil for hardening part 9 Shaft part cooling jacket 10 Shaft part cooling jacket 11 Support Bracket 12 Jacket Lifting Cylinder 13 Work Lifting Motor 14 Ball Screw 15 Reciprocating Base 16 Upper Center Mechanism 17 Lower Center Mechanism 18 Work Rotating Hydraulic Motor 19 Center Lifting Cylinder W Work L Transfer Line

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location C21D 1/18 FF 16D 3/20

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An in-line type transfer mechanism transfers a work requiring quenching at two locations, a shaft and a groove, to one quenching stage, and the work is below the transport line in the quenching stage. The groove portion of the workpiece is cooled by heating, and after the cooling of the groove portion is completed, the shaft portion of the workpiece is heated and cooled on the upper side of the transfer line in the quenching stage, and after the cooling of the shaft portion is completed, the groove portion and the shaft A high-frequency induction hardening method for a constant velocity joint, characterized in that the work of which part has been hardened is carried to the next stage by the carrying mechanism. 2. An in-line type transfer mechanism for transferring a work requiring hardening at two places of a shaft and a groove, and quenching of both the shaft and the groove of the work transferred by the transfer mechanism. A quenching stage, the groove portion quenching heating means is disposed below the transport line in the quenching stage, and the shaft portion quenching heating means, the groove portion, and above the transport line in the quenching stage. An induction hardening apparatus for a constant velocity joint, characterized in that each of the cooling means for a shaft part is provided, and an elevating means for elevating and lowering the cooling means and the work are provided.