JPH11304130A - Inflator treating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inflator treating device which can be operated continuously and can efficiently treat an inflator. SOLUTION: In an inflator treating device 2 which treats an inflator 50 thrown in an inflator treating furnace by heating the inflator 50 with a burner 32, a basket-like explosion chamber 16 which holds the inflator 50 thrown in the treating furnace is provided. The explosion chamber 16 has a cylindrical shape having an inclined bottom and rotates around the center axis of the cylindrical shape. The burner 32 is provided below the explosion chamber 16 and treats the inflator 50 by directly heating the inflator 50 from the bottom side of the explosion chamber 16.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inflator processing apparatus for processing an inflator such as an airbag apparatus and a seatbelt pretensioner when discarding the airbag apparatus and a seatbelt pretensioner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, occupant protection devices such as airbag devices and seatbelt pretensioners have been mounted on vehicles. These occupant protection devices are devices that deploy the bag with the gas generated by the inflator or take up the seat belt to restrain the occupant, thereby protecting the occupant in the event of a vehicle collision or the like.

The inflator provided in the occupant protection device includes a gas generating agent and an igniter for igniting the gas generating agent in the housing. Need to dispose of these chemicals after processing. Therefore, when disposing of the occupant protection device, the applicant must file a Japanese Patent Application No. 9-26980.
No. 4,574, the inflator processing furnace or the like disclosed in the inflator processing furnace.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned inflator processing furnace, the inflator is processed by injecting an inoperable inflator every predetermined number, and the inside of the furnace is filled with the processed inflator. At that point, the processing by the inflator processing furnace is stopped, the furnace hearth is opened after cooling, the residue after operation is removed, and the batch processing for the next cycle is basically performed. Therefore, in general, the inflator process is performed in the daytime, the furnace is stopped in the evening, the furnace is cooled down at night, the hearth is opened the next morning, the residue is removed, and the batch process is performed on a daily basis for the next cycle. For this reason, there is a problem that the time during which the inflator processing furnace can be used for processing the inflator is limited.

[0005] Further, the inside of the furnace is heated for inflator processing, and a method of controlling the flow rate of dilution air is employed as a method for keeping the temperature inside the furnace constant. Therefore,
It is necessary to heat the combustion furnace before heating the inflator, and the amount of heat dissipated from the furnace body also increases. In addition, because temperature control is performed by adjusting the flow rate of dilution air, a certain amount of fuel must be burned regardless of changes in the load caused by changes in the furnace temperature, changes in the amount of heat dissipated, etc. Not economical.

[0006] In addition, the inflator often uses aluminum as a material and can recover metallic aluminum from the residue after the treatment. However, as described above, the flow rate of the dilution air is controlled by controlling the temperature for heating. Therefore, there is also a problem that the oxygen concentration in the heating atmosphere increases and the amount of aluminum that can be oxidized and recovered as metal decreases.

An object of the present invention is to provide an inflator processing apparatus capable of continuously operating and efficiently processing an inflator.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an inflator processing apparatus for performing an inflator process by heating an inflator charged in the inflator processing furnace with a burner. And a cage-like explosion chamber for holding the inflator charged into the inflator processing furnace.

According to the inflator processing apparatus of the present invention, since the basket-shaped explosion chamber for holding the inflator charged into the inflator processing furnace is provided, when the inflator in the explosion chamber is heated and operated, the inflator is operated. The gas generated by the above can be released outside the explosion chamber. On the other hand, even when the inflator body bursts and scatters, the scattered matter can be held in the explosion chamber.

Further, in the inflator processing apparatus according to a second aspect, the explosion chamber of the inflator processing apparatus according to the first aspect has a cylindrical shape having a bottom portion inclined, and the explosion chamber is formed around a central axis of the cylindrical shape. It is characterized by rotating.

According to the inflator processing device of the second aspect, the bottom of the cylindrical explosion chamber is inclined, and the explosion chamber rotates around the central axis of the cylindrical shape. The inflator introduced into the chamber can be collected at one place in the explosion chamber, and can be efficiently heated.

According to a third aspect of the invention, the burner of the first or second aspect is provided below the explosion chamber, and the inflator is heated from below the explosion chamber. It is characterized by doing.

According to the inflator processing apparatus of the third aspect, the burner is provided below the explosion chamber and the inflator is heated from below the explosion chamber. Therefore, the inflator in the explosion chamber is directly heated by the flame of the burner. Can be.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An inflator processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 is a side sectional view of the inflator processing device 2, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the inflator processing device 2, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the inflator processing device 2 (FIG. 1) taken along line AA,
FIG. 4 is a front view of the inflator processing device 2.

The reference numeral 10 in the drawing denotes an inflator processing furnace main body. The inflator processing furnace main body 10 has a cylindrical shape with one end closed, and one end of a cylindrical rotating casing 12 at an open end. The ends are fitted. The other end of the rotating casing 12 is closed by a side wall member 14, and inside the rotating casing 12 is provided a cage-shaped explosion chamber 16 made of a stainless steel rigid material. The explosion chamber 16 has an outer shape of a truncated cone, and is arranged in a state where the constricted end is in contact with the wall surface of the side wall member 14. A through hole is provided in the wall surface of the side wall member 14, and one end of the inflator charging passage 17 is inserted into the end of the explosion chamber 16 on the narrow side through the through hole. In addition, the first automatic damper 17 a and the second automatic damper 17
b is provided.

At the open end of the explosion chamber 16, an opening / closing door 18 is provided. Here, the opening / closing door 18 is opened / closed by a door driving device 20 attached to the outer wall of the inflator processing furnace main body 10.

The explosion chamber 16 is fixed to the inner wall of the rotary casing 12 via a support post 22. A rail 24 and external teeth 26 are provided on the outer periphery of the rotary casing 12. The rail 24 is supported by rollers 28 provided on a rotary casing support 27 and the external teeth 26 mesh with a gear 30. The rotation casing 12 and the explosion chamber 1
The rotary casing 12 is rotated as a unit so that the rotary casing 12 functions as a rotary kiln. The rotation of the rotary casing 12 causes the explosion chamber 16 to rotate around the central axis of the cylindrical shape.

A burner 32 is provided on the side wall member 14 below the inflator charging passage 17. A jack 34 is provided at a lower portion of the rotating casing support 27 on the side wall member 14 side, and the angle of the bottom of the explosion chamber 16 is adjusted by adjusting the height of the rotating casing 12 on the side wall member 14 side.

A heating burner 36 is provided on the side wall of the inflator processing furnace main body 10, and the inflator processing furnace main body 1
A temperature sensor 38 is provided above the zero. In addition, a silencing elbow 40 that also functions as a gas outlet and a secondary combustion chamber is provided at an upper portion of the inflator processing furnace main body 10. The silencing elbow 40 has a secondary combustion burner 42 and a heating wire mesh 4.
4 and a temperature sensor 45 are provided.

A residue discharge damper 46 is provided below the opening / closing door 18 of the inflator processing furnace body 10. Further, the inflator processing furnace main body 10 is provided with an inspection port 48 through which a worker enters and exits for inspection. The entire surface of the inflator processing furnace main body 10 is provided with ceramic fiber wool or the like for the purpose of reducing operation noise and keeping the furnace body warm.

Next, the inflator processing in the inflator processing device 2 will be described. First, when a non-operated inflator 50 packed in a predetermined number of bags is inserted through the inlet of the inflator insertion path 17 and placed on the first automatic damper 17a, the first automatic damper 17a is opened and the inflator 50 is opened. Is dropped on the closed second automatic damper 17b. Next, the first automatic damper 17a
Is closed and the second automatic damper 17b is opened, whereby the inflator 50 is charged into the explosion chamber 16 via the inflator charging path 17. Thus, the inside of the furnace and the inlet are always partitioned by the first and second dampers 17a and 17b.

Since the explosion chamber 16 rotates integrally with the rotary casing 12, the inflator 50 introduced into the explosion chamber 16 is positioned at the lowermost corner of the explosion chamber 16 on the side of the opening / closing door 18 by gravity. It will be. The inflator 50 is directly heated by the flame of the burner 32. Thereby, the inflator 50 operates. A temperature sensor (not shown) is attached to the opening / closing door 18. The temperature sensor detects the temperature inside the explosion chamber 16 and ignites and burns a gas generating agent whose temperature inside the explosion chamber is set in advance. The heating temperature by the burner 32 is adjusted so as to surely increase the temperature to the temperature at which the heating is performed.

The plosive sound generated by the operation of the inflator 50 is absorbed by the inner surface of the inflator processing furnace main body 10 and is further silenced by the silence elbow 40. Also,
Although a large amount of gas generated at this time contains a stimulating component, the stimulating component is heated by heating the inside of the furnace by a heating burner 36 attached to the side wall of the inflator processing furnace main body 10 and keeping the inside of the furnace at a certain temperature or higher. Is thermally decomposed. Further, the gas is heated by the secondary heat burning burner 42 and the heating wire mesh 44 in the secondary heat firing chamber also serving as the silencing elbow 40, thereby completely decomposing the stimulating components in the gas.

The heating burner 36 is controlled at a constant temperature based on the furnace temperature detected by the temperature sensor 38.
Further, the secondary combustion burner 42 is controlled to a constant temperature based on the temperature inside the silencing elbow 40 detected by the temperature sensor 45. The gas that has been heat-treated in this manner is supplied to the discharge port 40a.
It is released outside the furnace.

After the operation process, the inflator 50 becomes a residue, which is taken out by opening the door 18 and dropped onto the damper 46. After the door 18 is closed, the take-out damper 46 is opened to take it out of the furnace via the chute 47. With the above processing, one processing is completed, and the next processing can be performed.

Therefore, according to the inflator processing apparatus 2, since the furnace body cooling or the like is not required when removing the residue, the inflator processing apparatus 2 can be operated continuously, and the restriction on the operation time is eliminated. be able to.

Further, since the control of the burners 32, 36, 42 in the inflator processing apparatus 2 is all performed by controlling the combustion amount by the temperature sensor, it is possible to reduce the heat radiation loss as compared with the case where the temperature is adjusted by dilution air. Become. Further, when removing the inflator residue, since the furnace body cooling is not required, the amount of heat required for furnace body cooling and reheating can be reduced. Further, since the burners 32, 36, and 42 are controlled by controlling the amount of combustion, the oxygen concentration in the furnace can be kept low, and the problem of resource recovery can be solved.

Further, according to the inflator processing apparatus 2, even when the inflator 50 is operated to ignite and burn the gas generating agent therein and a large amount of gas is instantaneously released, the explosion chamber 16 is formed in a basket shape. Since the gas is formed, the gas at the time of operation can be instantaneously released from the explosion chamber 16, and even if the inflator body ruptures and scatters, the scattered matter can be held in the explosion chamber 16, and the inflator processing can be performed. An impact can be prevented from being applied to the furnace body 10, the burner 32, and the like. Further, the explosion chamber 16 and the opening / closing door 18 which are subjected to the most impact and heat load and deteriorate quickly can be easily replaced as consumables.

[0029]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since a basket-like explosion chamber for holding the inflator charged into the inflator processing furnace is provided, when the inflator in the explosion chamber is heated and operated, the inflator is used. The generated gas can escape to the outside of the explosion chamber instantly. On the other hand, even when the inflator body bursts and scatters, the scattered matter can be held in the explosion chamber.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the bottom of the cylindrical explosion chamber is inclined, and the explosion chamber rotates around the central axis of the cylindrical shape. The inflator injected into the explosion chamber can be collected at one location in the explosion chamber, and can be efficiently heated.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the burner is provided below the explosion chamber and heats the inflator from below the explosion chamber, the inflator in the explosion chamber can be directly heated by the flame of the burner. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view sectional view of an inflator processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the inflator processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of the inflator processing apparatus (FIG. 1) according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the inflator processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... inflator processing apparatus, 10 ... inflator processing furnace main body, 12 ... rotating casing, 16 ... explosion chamber, 17 ... inflator charging furnace, 18 ... opening and closing door, 32 ... burner, 36
... a heating burner, 40 ... a silencing elbow, 42 ... a secondary heating burner, 50 ... an inflator.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An inflator processing apparatus for processing an inflator by heating the inflator charged into the inflator processing furnace with a burner, wherein the inflator is charged into the inflator processing furnace. An inflator processing device comprising a basket-shaped explosion chamber for holding a blast. 2. The inflator processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the explosion chamber has a cylindrical shape with a bottom portion inclined, and rotates around a central axis of the cylindrical shape. 3. The inflator processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the burner is provided below the explosion chamber, and heats the inflator from below the explosion chamber.