JPH10314523A - End face sealing system and manufacture of honeycomb filter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for manufacturing a honeycomb filter capable of enhancing productivity and cost performance. SOLUTION: First, through holes 2 formed on the both end faces 1a, 1b of a honeycomb molding 7 are sealed with a sealant P1. In this case, the honeycomb molding 7 is retained between a pair of opposing filling devices 11 by pressing the honeycomb molding 7 from its both end faces 1a, 1b sealant P1 is packed into the through holes 2 in such a state. Following this step, the honeycomb molding 7 after its end faces are sealed, is backed to obtain the honeycomb filter.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an end face sealing system for sealing an end face of an object to be sealed by filling a viscous sealing material, and a method for manufacturing a honeycomb filter.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a honeycomb filter made of a ceramic sintered body is often provided on an exhaust path of a diesel engine mounted on an automobile as a means for purifying exhaust gas. Such a honeycomb filter has many cells. Further, in order to form the cells, it is necessary to seal a large number of through holes of the honeycomb formed body in a checkered pattern. Hereinafter, a conventional procedure for manufacturing a honeycomb filter will be briefly described.

[0003] First, a honeycomb molded body is manufactured by extrusion molding of a ceramic material, and a ceramic sealing paste is prepared as a sealing material. Next, a flexible sealing film made of paper or resin is attached to the entire end face of the honeycomb formed body, and a hole serving as a paste introduction hole is formed in a predetermined portion of the film. In this state, the end surface on the film sticking side is dipped in a sealing paste. Then, the paste flows in through the paste introduction hole provided in the sealing film, and the opening of the through hole is sealed. In addition to the dipping method, for example, a method of filling the paste by pressurizing the sealing paste with a pressing tool such as a piston (press-fitting method) is known.

[0004] Following the above paste filling step,
Paste cutting process, paste drying process, paste correction process, film peeling process, end face treatment process using a spatula,
Perform a hole correction process and the like. Then, after sealing the other end surface in the same procedure, the honeycomb formed body is fired. Then, the honeycomb formed body and the sealing material are sintered together, so that a honeycomb filter having a large number of cells can be obtained.

[0005]

However, in the related art, the above-described series of steps is performed one by one by hand, although it is troublesome. For this reason, productivity was extremely poor. In addition, simplification was desired because the number of steps was large as a whole.

[0006] Furthermore, conventionally, since expensive sealing films are disposable, a large amount of material is wasted, and this has been one of the causes that hinders improvement in cost performance. The present invention has been made to solve the above problems,
An object of the present invention is to provide an end face sealing system and a method for manufacturing a honeycomb filter which can improve productivity and cost.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an end sealing device for sealing an end surface of an object to be sealed by filling a viscous sealing material. Stopping system, comprising a conveying means for conveying the object to be sealed in a predetermined direction, and a pair of filling devices arranged to face each other so as to sandwich the conveying means, wherein the object to be sealed by the pair of filling devices is provided. The object of the present invention is to provide an end face sealing system characterized in that the object to be sealed is held by pressing from both end faces thereof, and the sealing material is filled in this state.

In the invention described in claim 2, in claim 1, the filling of the sealing material is performed simultaneously by the pair of filling devices. In the invention according to claim 3,
In Claim 1 or 2, the said conveyance means conveys the said to-be-sealed thing in a horizontal state, The said filling apparatus has an open container which stores the said sealing material, and a side of the open container. A mask to be installed, the mask having an opening at a position corresponding to a through-hole opening at an end face of the object to be sealed, and enclosing the sealing material through the opening by applying vibration to the sealing material. And a vibration applying means for sending the stopper to the outside of the mask.

In the invention according to claim 4, a step of sealing the through holes opened at both end faces of the honeycomb formed body with a sealing material, and a step of firing the honeycomb formed body after the end face sealing is performed. In the method for manufacturing a honeycomb filter including the above, in the sealing step, the honeycomb formed body is held by pressing the honeycomb formed body from both end faces thereof by a pair of filling devices arranged opposite to each other, and in this state, The gist of the present invention is a method for manufacturing a honeycomb filter, wherein the sealing material is filled into a through hole.

Hereinafter, the "action" of the present invention will be described. According to the first aspect of the invention, the object to be sealed is continuously conveyed by the conveying means. When the object to be sealed reaches between a pair of filling devices arranged opposite to each other, the two filling devices press the object to be sealed from the end face side, and the object to be sealed is held in a positioning state between the filling devices. . By filling the sealing material with the filling device in this state, the end face of the object to be sealed is continuously sealed. Therefore, the productivity is improved as compared with the related art in which the filling operation is manually performed. In addition, since the pair of filling devices are arranged to face each other, the filling of the sealing material can be performed on both end surfaces while the conveying means is conveying the object to be sealed. Therefore, the time required for the end face sealing operation is shorter than in the conventional case where the sealing material has to be filled one by one. Therefore, this also improves productivity.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the sealing material is simultaneously filled by the pair of filling devices. As a result, the time required for the end face sealing operation is extremely shortened, and the productivity is further improved.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the atmospheric pressure is constantly applied to the sealing material contained in the open container.
When vibration is applied to the sealing material by the vibration applying means in this state, the sealing material is gradually sent out of the mask little by little through the opening. Therefore, a predetermined amount of the sealing material is uniformly filled into a predetermined portion of the object to be sealed arranged outside the mask by the action of the atmospheric pressure and the vibration.

Further, according to the filling device provided with the mask, a sealing film for closing a portion other than the filling portion is not required, so that a laborious film sticking operation and a film peeling operation by hand are required. Disappears. Furthermore, since the sealing material is uniformly filled and the sealing material does not adhere to the outer surface of the object to be sealed, a troublesome manual repair work is not required. From the above, the number of steps is surely reduced, and the productivity is further improved.

Further, since it is not necessary to dispose of the expensive film as a disposable material, no waste of material is caused, and the cost is improved. According to the invention as set forth in claim 4, when the honeycomb formed body reaches between the pair of filling devices arranged opposite to each other, the two filling devices press the honeycomb formed body from the end face side, and the honeycomb formed body is placed between the filling devices. Is held in the positioning state. In this state, by filling the sealing material into the through holes by the filling device, the end face of the honeycomb formed body is continuously sealed. Then, the desired honeycomb filter can be obtained by sintering the honeycomb formed body and the sealing material in a firing step. Therefore, the productivity is improved as compared with the related art in which the filling operation is manually performed. In addition, since the pair of filling devices are disposed to face each other, the time required for the end face sealing operation is reliably reduced as compared with the related art. for that reason,
This also increases productivity.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in a method for manufacturing a honeycomb filter using an end face sealing system will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows a honeycomb filter F1 manufactured by the manufacturing method of the present embodiment. The honeycomb filter F1 serves to remove diesel particulates on the exhaust path of the diesel engine.

The honeycomb structure 1 constituting the honeycomb filter F1 has a quadrangular prism shape (33 mm × 33 mm ×
150 mm) and is made of a ceramic sintered body (a porous silicon carbide sintered body in the present embodiment). In addition, other than silicon carbide, for example, silicon nitride, alumina, cordierite, or the like can be selected. In the honeycomb structure 1,
A plurality of through holes 2 having a substantially square cross section are formed regularly along the axial direction. Each through hole 2 is separated from each other by an inner wall 3. The opening of each through-hole 2 is sealed by a sealing body 4 (porous silicon carbide sintered body in the present embodiment) on one end face 1a, 1b side.
a and 1b are in a checkered pattern as a whole. As a result, cells 5 and 6 having a square cross section are formed in the honeycomb structure 1 and open at one of the gas inflow side end face 1a and the gas outflow side end face 1b. Cell 5,
On the inner wall 3 of 6, an oxidation catalyst composed of a platinum group element, another metal element, an oxide thereof, or the like is carried. In addition,
In this embodiment, the average pore diameter is 14 μm, and the porosity is 40 μm.
%, The wall thickness of the inner wall 3 is set to 0.3 mm, and the cell pitch is set to 1.8 mm.

When the honeycomb filter F1 configured as described above is arranged in the exhaust passage, the flow of the exhaust gas is as follows. As shown by the arrow A1 in FIG. 1C, the exhaust gas flows into the cell 5 which is open at the gas inflow side end face 1a. Next, the exhaust gas passes through the inner wall 3 and flows out of the adjacent cell 6, that is, the cell 6 opened at the gas outflow end face 1b. At this time, the movement of the particulates contained in the exhaust gas is prevented by the inner wall 3, so that the particulates are trapped therein. As a result, the purified exhaust gas is discharged from the gas outflow end 1b.

In manufacturing the honeycomb filter F1, it is necessary to first form a honeycomb formed body 7 having a plurality of through-holes 2 by a conventionally known extrusion molding method using a slurry containing silicon carbide as a starting material. Specifically, in the present embodiment, extrusion molding is performed using a material obtained by adding a predetermined amount of an organic binder and water to a silicon carbide powder and kneading the mixture, as a material. The sealing material (sealing paste) P1 which becomes the sealing body 4 by firing is, for example, 100 parts by weight of silicon carbide powder, 1 to 5% by weight of an organic binder, 1 to 5% by weight of a lubricant, It is prepared by kneading a mixture of 1% to 5% by weight of a plasticizer and 20% to 30% by weight of water.

Next, the honeycomb filter F1 of the present embodiment
The outline of the end face sealing system 41 used at the time of manufacturing will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, the lower half of the main body 42 constituting the end face sealing system 41 is provided with a control unit 43 for controlling the system 41.
It has become. The upper side of the control unit 43 is protected by a transparent cover 44. An operation unit 45 is provided above and on the front side of the control unit 43. The operation unit 45 is exposed from the cover 44.

In a housing space formed by the cover 44 and the upper surface of the control section 43, a conveyor 46 as a conveying means, a paste filling device 11, a hot plate 48 as a drying means,
A scraper 49 or the like as a sealing material scraping means is accommodated.

Conveyor belt 5 constituting conveyor 46
1 is endless and two. Both conveyor belts 51
The control unit 43 is horizontally arranged at a predetermined interval at the center of the upper surface of the control unit 43. The fixed interval is set to be slightly shorter than the length of the workpiece (here, the honeycomb formed body 7) which is the work. This is because both ends of the honeycomb formed body 7 are supported on both conveyor belts 51 so that the honeycomb formed body 7 is placed horizontally. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the total length of the conveyor belt 51 is
, Both ends of the conveyor belt 51 project outside the cover 44. Each of the conveyor belts 51 is interposed in a motor 52 as a driving unit. By driving these motors 52, both conveyor belts 51 convey the honeycomb formed body 7 horizontally and horizontally from right to left in FIGS. Therefore, in the same figure, the right end side of the conveyor 46 is the transport side, and the left end side is the unloading side. At the time of transportation, both end surfaces 1a and 1b of the honeycomb formed body 7 face in a direction orthogonal to the traveling direction.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the system 41 includes a paste filling device 11. A plurality (two in the present embodiment) of the paste filling device 11 exists on the upper surface of the control unit 42. A pair of paste filling devices 1
Numerals 1 are opposed to each other so as to sandwich the conveyor 46 in the middle of the transport path. The pair of filling devices 11 are for filling the sealing paste P1 in a state where the honeycomb formed body 7 is pressed and held from both end surfaces 1a and 1b. The detailed structure of the paste filling device 11 will be described later.

This system 41 includes a first work lifter 5
3 is provided. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, the first work lifter 53 is arranged between the pair of filling devices 11 so as to face upward. The first work lifter 53 holds the honeycomb formed body 7 conveyed to the position of the filling device 11.
Is lifted vertically to the required height. Here, the predetermined height refers to the height of the metal mask 13 provided in the filling device 11. As this type of work lifter 53, for example, an air cylinder or the like is used. It is preferable that a stopper structure for stopping the honeycomb formed body 7 being conveyed is formed at the tip of the rod of the air cylinder. First
The lifting state by the work lifter 53 is maintained until the paste filling step and the paste scraping step described later are completed. Thereafter, the first work lifter 53 descends to the original height, and releases the honeycomb formed body 7 on the conveyor belt 51.

This system 41 has a work chuck 54 as work positioning means. As shown in FIG. 4, the work chuck 54 is disposed above the first work lifter 53. Work chuck 54
Position the honeycomb molded body 7 before filling by gripping the outer peripheral surface side of the honeycomb molded body 7 lifted by the first work lifter 53.

This system 41 has a scraper 49 as a sealing material scraping means. As shown in FIG. 3 and the like, a plurality of (two in the present embodiment) scrapers 49 exist. The pair of scrapers 49 are provided in the paste filling device 11.
Is disposed immediately opposite to the conveyor 46 so as to sandwich the conveyor 46 therebetween. The scraper 49 includes a blade unit 55, an arm unit 56, and a driving unit 57 (not shown). A plurality of blade portions 55 are provided at the tip of the arm portion 56. The tip of the arm 56 extends forward and reaches the metal mask 13. The base end of the arm 56 is supported by the driving means 57. The driving means 57 drives the arm 56 two-dimensionally in the horizontal direction. As such a driving means 57, for example, there is a driving means in which two air cylinders are arranged orthogonally. The driving of the arm portion 56 by the driving means 57 is performed after the filling of the sealing paste P1 by the paste filling device 11 is completed. As a result, the sealing paste P1 attached to the outer surface of the mask 13
Is scraped off and removed by the blade section 55 before the drying step.

The system 41 further includes a hot plate 48 as a drying means. As shown in FIG. 3 and the like, a plurality of hop plates 48 (two in this embodiment)
One) exists. The pair of hot plates 48 are arranged opposite to each other so as to sandwich the conveyor 46 at a stage subsequent to the paste filling device 11 and the scraper 49. The heating section of the hot plate 48 is located higher than the conveyor 46. The heating portion of the hot plate 48 is always energized. The set temperature is adjusted by changing the amount of current. When the honeycomb formed body 7 approaches these heating sections, the temperature around the end surfaces 1a and 1b of the honeycomb formed body 7 increases,
Volatile components in the sealing paste P1 are removed. That is,
The sealing paste P1 is dried.

The system 41 includes a second work lifter 5
8 is provided. The second work lifter 58 is arranged near the hot plate 48. As shown in FIG. 5, the grip portion of the second work lifter 58 is located in the middle of the pair of hot plates 48. The honeycomb formed body 7 transported to this position is vertically lifted to a predetermined height while being held by the holding portion.
Here, the predetermined height refers to a height at which the heating portion of the hot plate 48 is located. The second work lifter 58 descends to its original height after a preset time has elapsed. Then, the honeycomb formed body 7 is released on the conveyor belt 51. The drying time of the honeycomb formed body 7 by the hot plate 48 is desirably set to be substantially the same as the time required for paste filling by the paste filling device 11.

Next, a specific configuration of the paste filling device 11 will be described with reference to FIGS. A pair of support brackets 59 are erected on the upper surface of the controller 43. These support brackets 59 are opposed to each other with the conveyor 46 interposed therebetween. The mounting plate 17 for mounting the paste filling device 11 and the like is installed on the outer side surfaces of both support brackets 59. On the other hand, a filling device driving unit (not shown) is accommodated inside each support bracket 59. These filling device driving means horizontally move the paste filling device 11 in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction so as to move the pair of paste filling devices 11 between the retracted position and the use position. In the use position where the paste filling devices 11 are close to each other, the honeycomb formed body 7 is pressed and held between the two.

The paste filling device 11 of this embodiment includes a tank 19 as an open container, a metal mask 13, a stirring body 14 as a vibration imparting means, and the like. The tank body 12 constituting the tank 19 shown in FIG. 6 and the like is a metal container for storing the sealing paste P1 which is a viscous substance. An upper opening 15 is formed on the upper surface of the tank body 12. The tank body 12 is supported by a mounting plate 17 via a tank holder 16. A heater (not shown) is provided in the tank body 12. This heater plays a role of keeping the sealing paste P1 at a constant temperature. This tank body 12
A communication port for communicating with the metal mask 13 side is formed on one side surface of the metal mask 13.

FIG. 8 shows the metal mask 13. The metal mask 13 is chamfered at four corners and has many openings 21. The openings 21 are arranged in a checkered pattern substantially at the center of the metal mask 13. Each opening 21 corresponds to the opening position of the through-hole 2 of the honeycomb formed body 7 which is an object to be sealed. The size of the opening 21 is preferably slightly smaller than the opening of the through hole 2 to be filled. Specifically,
In this embodiment, the thickness of the metal mask 13 is 0.3 m.
m, material of metal mask 13 is SUS304, opening 2
1 has a rectangular shape, and the size of the opening 21 is 1.0 mm square to 1.mm.
It is 2 mm square.

As shown in FIGS. 6, 9 and the like, the metal mask 13 is provided on one side surface of the tank 19, that is, on the side having the communication port. More specifically, on the side surface of the tank body 12, two support plates 22, 23, a rubber plate 24, and two mask fixing plates 2 are provided.
5, 26 are fixed. At substantially the center of these plate members 22 to 26, through holes are respectively formed. The metal mask 13 includes two mask fixing plates 25, 2
6 and fixed.

As shown in FIG. 6, the stirrer 14 as the vibration applying means includes a motor 31 as a driving means, an eccentric shaft 32, pins 33 and 37, a link plate 34, a stirring arm 35, and a pair of stirring pieces 36. And so on. The motor 31 is horizontally fixed to the upper end of the mounting plate 17. An eccentric shaft 32 is provided on the output shaft of the motor 31 projecting in the horizontal direction. Bearings are provided at the upper and lower ends of the link plate 34, respectively. These bearings have pins 33, 37, respectively.
Are supported in the inserted state. The upper end side of the link plate 34 and the eccentric shaft 32 are connected by a pin 33. On the other hand, the lower end of the link plate 34 and the stirring arm 3
5 is connected to the upper end side by a pin 37. Therefore, when the motor 31 is driven to rotate, the rotational motion of the eccentric shaft 32 is converted into a linear motion of the stirring arm 35 (here, a reciprocating motion in the vertical direction).

The stirring arm 35 extends vertically.
The lower end is inserted into the tank 19 from the upper opening 15 of the tank body 12. The stirring arm 35 plays a role of gradually sending out the sealing paste P1 to the outer surface side of the metal mask 13 through the opening 21 by directly vibrating the sealing paste P1 by its own linear motion. . The stirring arm 35 is formed in a plate shape in order to reduce the movement resistance in the viscous sealing paste P1. At the lower end of the stirring arm 35, a metal piece bent in a substantially U-shape is fixed. As a result, the pair of stirring pieces 36 are formed. These stirring pieces 36 are spaced at a predetermined interval and are in a parallel positional relationship. The stirring surface of the stirring piece 36 is orthogonal to the reciprocating direction of the stirring arm 35. In addition, the stirring piece 36 as described above
The reason why is provided is that if the lower end of the stirring arm 35 has a simple shape, the stirring action is weakened, and the sealing paste P1 may not be sufficiently stirred.

Specifically, in the present embodiment, the reciprocating stroke of the stirring arm 35 is set to 3 mm as a preferable range.
To 15 mm, the number of reciprocating movements of the stirring arm 35 to 60 times / minute to 360 times / minute, and the separation distance between the stirring pieces 36 to 5 mm.
From the free end of the stirring piece 36 to the metal mask 13
The separation distance to the inner surface of the
Are set to 30 mm × 30 mm × 3 mm, respectively. Further, the viscosity of the sealing paste P1 is set at 30,000.
It is set to cps to 60000cps.

As shown schematically in FIG. 9, the sealing paste P1 is placed in the tank body 12 of the tank 19. In this case, the liquid level 8 of the sealing paste P1 needs to be constantly maintained at a position higher than the opening forming region of the metal mask 13. Otherwise, the filling amount may vary or an unfilled portion may be formed. The tank body 12 has an upper opening 15. A paste supply means (not shown) successively supplies the sealing paste P1 from the upper opening 15 thereof. It should be noted that atmospheric pressure is constantly applied to the liquid surface 8 located at the upper opening 15 (see the hollow arrow in FIG. 9). However, the sealing paste P1 has viscosity and the size of the opening 12 is sufficiently small. Therefore, when no vibration is applied, the sealing paste P1 does not spontaneously leak from the opening 21 by the action of only the atmospheric pressure.

On the other hand, when the stirring arm 35 is reciprocated in the vertical direction, the pair of stirring pieces 36 at the lower ends also reciprocate in the vertical direction, whereby the sealing paste P1 is stirred. Then, in addition to the atmospheric pressure acting,
When the vibration is directly applied to the sealing paste P1, the sealing paste P1 is gradually sent to the outside of the metal mask 13 little by little.

Next, a procedure for manufacturing the honeycomb filter F1 will be described. First, a step of manufacturing the honeycomb formed body 7 and the sealing paste P1 is performed. Thereafter, the honeycomb formed body 7 is continuously supplied to the carry-in side of the conveyor 46 of the end face sealing system 41. At this time, the honeycomb formed body 7 is placed laterally on the pair of conveyor belts 51. The honeycomb formed body 7 conveyed by a predetermined distance is stopped by the first work lifter 53 and lifted to a predetermined height. As a result, the end faces 1a and 1b of the honeycomb formed body 7 face the metal mask 13, respectively. At this time, the paste filling device 11 is still held at the retracted position.

Next, the end faces 1 a and 1 b of the honeycomb formed body 7 are positioned with respect to the metal mask 13 by holding the lifted honeycomb formed body 7 with the work chuck 54. To be more precise, the holes to be filled out of the through holes 2 opened on the end faces 1a and 1b correspond to the respective openings 21 formed in the metal mask 13. After the positioning of the honeycomb formed body 7 is completed, both of the paste filling devices 11 are moved from the retracted position to the use position by driving the filling device driving means. Then, both metal masks 13 approach each other, and both end surfaces 1 of the honeycomb formed body 7 are formed.
a, 1b. As a result, the honeycomb formed body 7 is held in a positioned state by being pressed from the end surfaces 1a and 1b, and the filling step can be performed.

Next, the drive of the motor 31 is started, and the stirring arm 35 and the stirring piece 36 are reciprocated in the vertical direction.
The sealing paste P1 is stirred for a predetermined time and at a predetermined speed,
A suitable vibration is applied to the sealing paste P1. The opening of the through hole 2 is sealed by sending the sealing paste P1 by a predetermined amount to the outer surface of the metal mask 13 in this manner. After the paste filling is completed, the driving of the motor 31 is stopped in advance and the metal mask 1
The paste filling device 11 is returned to the standby position so as to separate the honeycomb molded body 3 from the honeycomb formed body 7. Next, scraper 4
9 is driven, the sealing paste P1 attached to the outer surface of the metal mask 13 is scraped off by the blade 55 (see FIG. 7).

After the paste filling step and the paste scraping step are completed, the first work lifter 53 is lowered,
The honeycomb formed body 7 is released on the conveyor belt 51. When the honeycomb formed body 7 is again conveyed by a predetermined distance, the honeycomb formed body 7 is now moved to the second work lifter 58.
And is raised to the height of the heating portion of the hot plate 48. When a predetermined time has elapsed and the drying step has been completed, the second work lifter 58 descends and releases the honeycomb formed body 7 on the conveyor belt 51. Thereafter, the honeycomb formed body 7 is conveyed to a carry-out section, and is taken out of the end face sealing system 41 therefrom.

After a series of steps are completed as described above, the sintering is performed for a predetermined time and at a predetermined temperature.
The honeycomb formed body 7 and the sealing paste P1 are sintered. As a result, the honeycomb filter F1 shown in FIG. 1 can be obtained.

Now, the characteristic effects of the present embodiment will be enumerated below. (A) In the present embodiment, by filling the sealing paste P1 with the paste filling device 11 as described above, the end faces 1a and 1b of the honeycomb formed body 7 are continuously sealed. Therefore, productivity is surely improved as compared with the related art in which the filling operation is manually performed. Further, since the pair of paste filling devices 11 are arranged to face each other,
Can be simultaneously filled on both end surfaces 1a and 1b while the honeycomb molded body 7 is being conveyed. Therefore, the time required for the end face sealing operation is extremely short as compared with the conventional technique in which the sealing paste P1 has to be filled one by one. This also contributes to improving productivity.

(B) In the present embodiment, the tank 19 in which the viscous sealing paste P1 is put, and the metal mask 1 having the opening 21 and installed on the side surface of the tank 19
The paste filling is performed by using a paste filling device 11 provided with a stirrer 3 and a stirrer 14. Atmospheric pressure is constantly applied to the sealing paste P1 placed in the tank 19. When vibration is applied to the sealing paste P 1 in this state, the sealing paste P 1 is gradually sent out to the outer surface of the metal mask 13 through the opening 21.
Therefore, the honeycomb formed body 7 is formed on the outer surface of the metal mask 13.
Are positioned and arranged, the opening of the through hole 2 can be uniformly filled with the sealing paste P1 in a predetermined amount by the action of the atmospheric pressure and the vibration. Therefore, the end faces 1a and 1b of the honeycomb formed body 7 can be reliably sealed.

In the paste filling device 11, the amount of the sealing paste P1 can be easily and reliably controlled by appropriately adjusting the magnitude and time of the vibration. Therefore, the paste filling device 11 is extremely suitable for use in sealing a large number of fine through holes 2, that is, for use in the present embodiment for sealing the end face in the manufacture of the honeycomb filter F1.

(C) Since the paste filling device 11 includes the metal mask 13, a sealing film for closing the through holes 2 that should not be filled in the honeycomb formed body 7 is unnecessary unlike the conventional case. Therefore, troublesome film sticking work and film peeling work by hand are not required. Furthermore, the sealing paste P1 is uniformly filled, and the sealing paste P1 does not adhere to the outer peripheral surface of the end portion of the honeycomb formed body 7, so that troublesome manual repair work is not required. From the above, the number of steps is surely reduced, and productivity is improved.

(D) Further, the paste filling device 11
In the case where is used, it is not necessary to dispose of an expensive sealing film in a disposable manner. Therefore, there is no waste of materials,
Cost performance is improved as compared with the related art.

(E) In the paste filling device 11, the stirring member 14 constituted by the motor 31, the link plate 34, the stirring arm 35, the stirring piece 36 and the like is used as the vibration applying means. The stirring arm 35 and the stirring piece 36, which are part of the stirring body 14, are inserted through the upper opening 15 of the tank 19, and stir the sealing paste P1 by reciprocating up and down by itself. Therefore, vibration is directly applied to the sealing paste P1, and the sealing paste P1 is sent out to the outer surface side of the metal mask 13 with the vibration. With such a configuration, the tank 19
The driving force of the motor 31 can be reduced as compared with the case where the vibration is caused to indirectly vibrate the sealing paste P1. This is because it is sufficient to only agitate the viscous substance instead of driving a large thing like the tank 19. In addition, since a large driving means is not required, complication of the mechanical structure is avoided. From the above, cost performance is further improved.

(F) The end face sealing system 41 is provided with a hot plate 48 for drying the sealing paste P1 as a drying means at the subsequent stage of the paste filling device 11. Therefore, the sealing paste P1 is dried continuously without manual operation. Further, since both end surfaces 1a and 1b are simultaneously dried by the hot press plates 48 which are opposed to each other so as to sandwich the conveyor 46, the time required for the operation is reliably shortened. All this contributes to even higher productivity.

(G) This end face sealing system 41 is provided with a scraper 49 as a sealing material scraping means for removing the sealing paste P1 attached to the outer surface of the metal mask 13 before performing the drying step. ing. Accordingly, the scraping of the sealing paste P1 is continuously performed without manual operation. In addition, since scraping work is simultaneously performed on both metal masks 13 by the scrapers 49 disposed so as to sandwich the conveyor 46, the time required for the work is reliably reduced. All this contributes to a further increase in productivity as well.

(H) The end face sealing system 41 is provided with a work chuck 54 for positioning the honeycomb formed body 7 before the paste filling step is performed, as positioning means. Therefore, since the positioning of the honeycomb formed body 7 with respect to the metal mask 13 is continuously performed without manual operation, the productivity can be further improved. Another advantage is that leakage of the sealing paste P1 due to the displacement is prevented beforehand.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be changed to, for example, the following forms. The drying means is not limited to the hot plate 48 as in the embodiment, but may be, for example, a means for blowing air to both end surfaces 1a and 1b of the honeycomb formed body 7.

◎ Sealing paste P1 is metal mask 1
In the case where the scraper 3 does not adhere so much, the scraper 49 can be omitted. ◎ As shown in FIG. 10, a pair of paste filling devices 1
When the honeycomb formed body 7 is pressed and held from both end surfaces 1a and 1b sides in 1, for example, the paste filling device 11 itself may be entirely vibrated. By virtue of this, vibration is indirectly applied to the sealing paste P1, whereby the sealing paste P1 is filled in the through holes 2. However, in such a configuration, the mechanical structure tends to be complicated.
Therefore, in this regard, the configuration of the embodiment is more advantageous.

The filling step and the drying step at the same height without lifting the honeycomb formed body 7 with the first work lifter 53 or the second work lifter 58 are also allowed.

A paste filling device having a configuration different from that of the embodiment and the paste filling device 11 may be used. In this case, for example, a stirring body may be configured using a screw or the like. Also, the sealing paste P1 may be formed by a method other than stirring.
For example, an ultrasonic vibration device or a bubbling device may be employed as the vibration applying means. However, from the viewpoint that the controllability of the filling amount is high, it is desirable that the stirring body 14 is also the same as the above embodiment.

The paste filling device used in the end face sealing system 41 may be of a type that fills the sealing paste P1 without applying vibration, for example. The pair of paste sealing devices 11 may not be of the same type as in the embodiment, and may be of different types.

A conveyor that transports the honeycomb formed body 7 in a state where it is not placed horizontally, for example, in a vertical state, may be employed as the transporting means. Further, the transport direction by the transport means is not necessarily limited to the horizontal direction, but may be the vertical direction or the like. Furthermore, it is also possible to use a different type of conveying means than the conveyor 46 of the embodiment. In the case where the transfer is performed in the vertical position as described above, the installation location of the metal mask 13 needs to be changed to the bottom or top surface of the tank 19 instead of the side surface of the tank 19.

Here, in addition to the technical ideas described in the claims, the technical ideas grasped by the above-described embodiments are listed below together with their effects. (1) The end face sealing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a drying unit for drying the sealing material at a stage subsequent to the filling device. With this configuration, since the drying of the sealing material is performed continuously without manual operation, productivity can be further improved.

(2) In any one of the first to third aspects and the technical idea 1, a sealing material scraping means for removing the sealing material adhered to the mask outer surface before drying is provided. An end face sealing system characterized by the above-mentioned. With this configuration, since the scraping of the sealing material is performed continuously without manual operation, the productivity can be further improved.

(3) An end face sealing system according to the technical ideas 1 and 2, wherein the drying means and the sealing material scraping means are arranged to face each other so as to sandwich the transport means.

(4) Claims 1-3, technical ideas 1-3
2. The end face sealing system according to claim 1, further comprising: positioning means for positioning the object to be sealed before performing the sealing material filling step. With this configuration, since the positioning of the object to be sealed with respect to the mask is performed continuously without manual operation, the productivity can be further improved.

(5) In Claim 3, the vibration imparting means is a stirrer inserted into the open container from an upper opening of the open container, and the stirrer is sealed by its own linear motion. An end face sealing system for directly applying vibration to a material. According to this configuration, the sealing material is agitated by the linear motion of the stirrer, so that vibration is directly applied to the sealing material and the sealing material is sent out of the mask. Also, compared to the case where the viscous substance is indirectly vibrated by vibrating the open container,
A small driving force is required, and the structure is not complicated. Therefore, cost performance is further improved.

The technical terms used in the present specification are defined as follows. "Ceramic sintered body: means a silicon carbide sintered body, alumina sintered body, silicon nitride sintered body, cordierite sintered body, etc."

[0064]

As described in detail above, according to the first to third aspects of the present invention, it is possible to provide an end face sealing system capable of improving productivity and cost.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the time required for the end face sealing operation is extremely short, the productivity can be further improved. According to the third aspect of the invention, productivity and cost can be further improved.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a method for manufacturing a honeycomb filter capable of improving productivity and cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
(A) is a perspective view showing a honeycomb filter, (b) is a partially broken cross-sectional view taken along line AA of the honeycomb filter,
(C) is sectional drawing in the BB line | wire of the same honeycomb filter.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of the end face sealing system.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of the end face sealing system.

FIG. 4 is a partial schematic cross-sectional view of the end face sealing system taken along line CC of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a partial schematic cross-sectional view of the end face sealing system taken along line DD of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway side view of the paste filling device.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a tank of the paste filling device.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a mask installed in the paste filling device.

FIG. 9 is a schematic side sectional view showing a main part of the paste filling device.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which a honeycomb formed body is pressed and held between a pair of paste filling devices in a filling step.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a, 1b: end face, 2: through hole, 7: honeycomb formed body as sealed object, 11: paste filling device as filling device, 13: metal mask as mask, 14: stirrer as vibration applying means 19, a tank as an open container, 41, an end face sealing system, 46, a conveyor as a conveying means, F1, a honeycomb filter, P1, a sealing paste as a viscous sealing material.

Claims (4)

[Claims] An end face sealing system for sealing an end face of an object to be sealed by filling a viscous sealing material, comprising: a conveying means for conveying the object to be sealed in a predetermined direction; A pair of filling devices arranged opposite to each other so as to sandwich the transporting means, and the sealed objects are held by pressing the sealed objects from both end surfaces thereof by the pair of filling devices. An end face sealing system, wherein the sealing material is filled. 2. The end face sealing system according to claim 1, wherein the filling of the sealing material is performed simultaneously by the pair of filling devices. 3. The transporting means transports the object to be sealed in a horizontal state. The filling device is provided on an open container for storing the sealing material and on a side of the open container. A mask, the mask having an opening at a position corresponding to a through-hole opening on the end face of the object to be sealed, and applying a vibration to the sealing material to form the sealing material through the opening. And a vibrating means for sending the outside of the mask to the outside of the mask. 4. A method for manufacturing a honeycomb filter, comprising: a step of sealing a through hole opened at both end surfaces of a honeycomb formed body using a sealing material; and a step of firing the honeycomb formed body after sealing the end face. In the sealing step, the honeycomb formed body is held by pressing the honeycomb formed body from both end surfaces thereof by a pair of filling devices arranged opposite to each other, and in this state, the sealing into the through hole is performed. A method for manufacturing a honeycomb filter, comprising filling a stopper material.