JPS62850B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a novel apparatus for manufacturing shaped glass, that is, plate glass having an uneven pattern on one side.

The purpose of patterned glass is to prevent see-through and create a unique taste through its pattern and the scattering of light that passes through or reflects it.

Conventionally, these molded glasses are produced by installing one or two rollout machines each having a set of rollers consisting of a mold roller and a rolling roller in the vicinity of the glass outlet of a tank kiln that melts the glass substrate, and horizontally rolling out the glass from the tank kiln. The glass sheet pulled out was passed between these rollers to form a continuous pattern, and the glass sheet with the pattern formed was then passed through an annealing oven called a layer and slowly cooled to below the strain temperature. It is then manufactured by cutting.

The mold rollers are extremely expensive, and two rollout machines are installed and used alternately.
Even if one mold roll is replaced while the other is in operation, until the temperature distribution returns to normal when switching rollout machines,
Since a considerable amount of defective products are produced, it has been impossible to produce a wide variety of products in small quantities using conventional methods. Furthermore, in this method, since the diameter of the roller is limited, large motifs cannot be expressed, and usually only relatively small, repeating patterns can be expressed.

From the manufacturer's perspective, shaped glass is not only about its pattern, but also its thickness, whether it is wired or wired, etc.
There are various classifications such as how to insert the net and steel wire, and these must be supplied through complicated distribution channels. In addition, preferences for patterns change dramatically over time, and trends rise and fall and are subject to rapid renewal.

However, from the consumer's point of view, they all have very similar motifs, and what's more, it is inconvenient that if one of the several window glasses breaks, you will never be able to obtain the same one. .

Furthermore, if it became possible to express magnificent landscapes, flowers, birds, scenery, and motifs from famous paintings using large numbers of large panes of glass in private residences and buildings, reforms would be made that would completely change traditional architectural styles. Will.
However, conventional manufacturing methods cannot provide such a shaped glass.

The present invention has been made from the above viewpoint, and its purpose is to be able to freely create any motif without using a mold roller or the like, and to create different motifs for each sheet if necessary. It is possible to produce patterned glass with ivy motifs, as well as large quantities of glass with the same pattern, such as 4.5m x 2.4m.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a molded glass manufacturing device that can produce not just repeating patterns but complex and varied patterns and paintings even on large glass such as 3.5m x 3.0m.

According to the present invention, glass templates arbitrarily selected from a wide variety of tens of thousands or more types can be sent in a specified order and in a specified quantity, and can be delivered continuously and economically. It can be manufactured.

The gist of the present invention is that the glass sheet pulled out from the tank kiln is heated to a strain temperature (viscosity of about 4×10 ¹⁴ P) inside a slow cooling kiln called a layer.
A pattern is engraved on the surface of the glass sheet using a high-energy density laser beam or a laser and a high-pressure gas injection nozzle before the glass sheet is cooled to a temperature of .

Location of laser oscillator and high pressure gas injection nozzle,
The position and action are numerically controlled, and in the case of high-energy density laser beam irradiation, not only is a part vaporized and scattered due to extremely local instantaneous remelting and vaporization, but also due to the remelting and vaporization. 50~ in the relevant part
When high pressure on the order of 500 kg/cm ² is generated to destroy the glass surrounding the irradiated area, and when high-pressure gas injection is also used, the energy density is not as high as in the case of laser beam irradiation alone. However, in any case, the glass that is momentarily and partially remelted by laser irradiation is removed by a high-pressure gas jet.
It is sucked and collected by a collection device, and a unique pattern is created on the surface of the glass sheet.

The glass temperature when applying this patterning process may be below the working temperature (viscosity of about 10 ³ P), but preferably below the softening temperature (viscosity of 10 ⁷ P), and more preferably at the slow cooling temperature (viscosity of about 10 ¹³ P) and above the strain temperature (viscosity 4×10 ¹⁴ P). This glass temperature is related to the texture and precision of the pattern being processed. Generally, large, rounded patterns are processed at high temperatures, while sharp, detailed, and precise patterns are processed at low temperatures.

The laser pulse waveform, intensity, illuminance, irradiation point position, irradiation direction, injection gas pressure, flow rate, injection point position, and injection direction are numerically controlled.

The details of the present invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of the molded glass manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially cutaway plan view showing the main parts of the pattern engraving apparatus, and Fig. 3 is the middle part of Fig. 2. It is a sectional view showing a cross section.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a tank kiln for melting glass raw materials, 2 is melted glass, 3, 3 is a pull-out roller, 4, 4 is a conveyance roller, 5 is a fire polishing device, 6 is molten metal, 7 and 8 are burners, 9
1 is a glass sheet, 10 is a high-temperature slow cooling kiln, 11 is a soaking kiln equipped with a large number of pattern engraving devices 12, 12;
13 is a low-temperature slow cooling kiln, and 14 is a cutting factory.

The glass 2 melted in the tank kiln 1 is pulled out by pull-out rollers 3, 3, and sent to the fire polishing device 5 by conveying rollers 4, 4, where the melting glass 2 whose temperature is precisely controlled inside is drawn out. It is floated on a metal 6, undergoes fire refining, has its parallelism and flatness adjusted, and is sent to an annealing kiln as a polished glass sheet 9.

The slow cooling kilns 10 and 13 are long tunnel kilns, and the inlet of the high temperature slow cooling kiln 10 is kept at the slow cooling temperature (approximately 550°C for soda lime glass), and the outlet of the low temperature slow cooling kiln 13 is kept at a predetermined temperature below the strain temperature. , and a predetermined temperature distribution is given during that time.

Thus, the pattern engraving devices 12, 12 are installed at a location where the glass sheet 9 has been cooled to a predetermined temperature.

Details of the pattern engraving devices 12, 12 are shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Note that although a plurality of these pattern engraving devices are usually provided, since their configurations are the same, only one device will be described below.

In Figure 2, 15 is a trolley on which the main parts of the device are mounted;
16, 16 are guide rails for the trolley 15, 17, 17
is a hydraulic cylinder that moves the trolley 15, 18,1
8 is a hydraulic switching valve; 19 is an encoder for detecting the position of the cart 15; 20 is an engraving unit whose details are shown in FIG. 3; 21, 21 are engraving unit guide rails; 22 is for moving the engraving unit 20. Hydraulic cylinder, 23 its piston rod, 2
4 is an encoder for detecting the position of the engraving unit 20, 25 is a moving scale whose one end is connected to the engraving unit 20, 26 is a hydraulic switching valve, 27 is a laser oscillation device, 28 is a heat shield cover, and 29 is a numerical control device. be.

The truck 15 is moved by hydraulic cylinders 17, 17.
It is moved along the rails 16, 16 in the x-axis direction (longitudinal direction of the glass sheet 9) in the figure, and its position is detected by the encoder 19.

The engraving unit 20 is moved in the y-axis direction in the drawing along guide rails 21, 21 on the carriage 15 by a hydraulic cylinder 22, and its position is detected by an encoder 24.

Next, FIG. 3 will be explained.

In FIG. 3, 30 is a base attached to the free end of the piston rod 23 by a bolt 31;
is attached to the base 30, and the rails 21, 2
1, a wheel 33 running on the base 30 and a truck movably supporting the base 30 via its axle 34; 35, a reflecting mirror; 36, a condensing lens; 37, a lens frame;
8 is a nozzle for injecting gas at an appropriate pressure, 39 is a water-cooled jacket, 40 is a laser beam intake pipe, 41 is a pressure gas supply source, 42 is a pressure regulating valve, 43 is an electromagnetic shut-off valve, 44 is a glass recovery device, and 45 is a Blower, 4
6 and 47 are water supply and drainage pipes for circulating cooling water, and 48 is a laser beam.

The gas supplied from the gas supply source 41 is the same type of atmospheric gas of the slow cooling furnace 10, or air,
Alternatively, an inert gas such as nitrogen gas is used depending on the type and properties of the glass, and the temperature of the injection gas is equal to or higher than that of the glass that is normally processed, but depending on the purpose of processing, shape, etc. For this purpose, room temperature or cooled gas may be used.

The water cooling jacket 39 has a water jacket 39a that connects to the water supply and drainage pipes 46 and 47, and prevents the internal equipment from being overheated by the water flow circulating inside the jacket. Intake duct 39b, annular chamber 39c and outlet port 3
9d, and defines an injection gas recovery path between the nozzle 38 and the base 30 inside thereof. This gas recovery path is connected to the glass recovery device 44 via the lower central duct 30a of the base.

Therefore, the pressure gas supplied from the supply source 41 is reduced to a predetermined pressure by the pressure regulating valve 42, and then flows into the annular chamber 3 via the electromagnetic on-off valve 43 and the intake duct 39b.
9c, and further flows into the nozzle 3 from the outlet 39d.
The liquid is introduced into the conical chamber 38b inside the nozzle 38 through a duct 38a provided in the nozzle 8, and is then injected onto the lower surface of the glass sheet 9 from the injection hole 38c provided at the upper end.

On the other hand, laser light 48 oscillated from laser oscillation device 27 enters through intake tube 40, is reflected by reflecting mirror 35, and is focused by lens 36 to form a focal point near the lower surface of glass sheet 9.

For this reason, the glass surface that is focused and irradiated with the laser beam is ignited and locally remelted, and at the same time, high-pressure gas that has been ignited by the same laser beam is injected there, so that part of the molten glass is ignited. Some parts are blown away and some are locally deformed. In this case, if the irradiation energy of the laser beam is sufficiently large and concentrated at a high density (for example, Q switching), the glass in the laser beam irradiation area will not only re-melt, but will instantly turn into gas or vapor and expand. Therefore, a pressure of 50 to 500 kg/cm ² acts on the laser beam irradiation part, as if it were to explode from within.
For this reason, processing is performed not only by vaporization and scattering, but also by blowing away the surrounding molten, semi-molten, or non-molten parts, or by destroying and scattering them. All you have to do is take it away and collect it.

The glass debris carried or blown away by the propellant gas is sent to the glass recovery device 44 at high speed through the above recovery path and duct 30a together with the propellant gas.
It is sucked into the interior, where it is cooled and collected as cullet.

The positions of the nozzle 38 and the laser irradiation point are determined by operating the hydraulic switching valves 18, 18 and 26 and adjusting the position of the hydraulic cylinders 17, 17 and 15, as shown in FIG.
It is controlled by activating the .

The numerical control device 29 operates these hydraulic switching valves 18 and 1 according to a predetermined program.
8 and 26 as well as the laser oscillator 27 and the electromagnetic shut-off valve 43, a desired pattern appears on the lower surface of the glass sheet 9.

The reason why a plurality of pattern engraving devices 12, 12 are provided is that they can divide and share the glass sheet surface, or they can divide the fine background pattern and the large pattern, so that large glass can be carved at high speed. This is to make it possible to process it.

In addition, solid-state lasers such as YAG, ruby, and glass are used for creating delicate patterns, but they have high conversion efficiency for heavy processing.
Additionally, it is recommended to use a CO ₂ laser that emits far-infrared light (10.6 μ), which is highly absorbed by ordinary soda-lime glass.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the laser beam irradiated onto the glass sheet surface and the gas jet are coaxial and symmetrical, but they can also be asymmetrical and have different axes from each other. It is.
For example, if the laser beam irradiation source has high energy and can irradiate with high energy density, there is no need to blow away the laser-irradiated molten glass with the jet gas, so the gas jet is parallel to the glass surface and the glass processing steam is , and other processing debris may be carried away from the laser irradiation area. Furthermore, other processing means may be used, for example, when using the high-pressure gas injection nozzle described above, hard solid particles such as SiC, A1 ₂ O ₃ , SiO ₂ etc. may be mixed and ejected into the gas, or ultrasonic irradiation, etc. It is also possible to use them together or to switch between them.

Further, in the above embodiment, a truck and a rail, as well as a hydraulic cylinder and an encoder are used as means for moving the nozzle, but these may be replaced by other known means.

Furthermore, the present invention is applicable not only to the above-mentioned float process, but also to plate glass manufacturing apparatuses using other processes, such as apparatuses such as the Full Coal process and the Colburn process, apparatuses using a stop-cooling type, and apparatuses using wire inserting or steel wire inserting. It can be used in combination with a plate glass manufacturing device, and the pattern engraving device can be installed at a portion where the temperature of the glass sheet is equal to or higher than the strain point. However, it goes without saying that the temperature of the glass during processing has a great influence on the shape and texture of the pattern formed.

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it is possible to freely manufacture a wide variety of glass templates simply by replacing the NC tape, and as long as the NC program is appropriate, it is possible to manufacture a single piece of glass to order. In addition to being able to handle large-sized motifs and templates with unique textures that could not be produced using conventional roller-type equipment, it is also possible to inexpensively produce templates with unique textures.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of the molded glass manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially cutaway plan view showing the main parts of the pattern engraving apparatus, and Fig. 3 is the middle part of Fig. 2. It is a sectional view showing a cross section. 1... Tank kiln, 5... Fire polishing device, 9... Glass sheet, 10, 13... Slow cooling kiln, 11... Soaking oven, 12, 12... Pattern engraving device, 15, 32 ...Dolly, 16,21...Guide rail, 17,22...Hydraulic cylinder, 18,26
...Hydraulic switching valve, 19, 24...Encoder, 2
0...Engraving unit, 27...Laser oscillation device,
28... Heat shield cover, 29... Numerical control device, 3
5... Reflector, 36... Condensing lens, 38... Nozzle, 41... High pressure gas supply source, 42... Pressure regulating valve, 43... Electromagnetic shut-off valve, 44... Glass recovery device, 45... Blower .

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a part of the glass sheet passage between the outlet of the tank kiln where glass is melted and the point where the temperature of the drawn glass sheet drops to the strain point, the following items a to f are installed. A molded glass manufacturing device, characterized in that it is provided with a pattern engraving device consisting of the components described above. a A laser oscillation device having a laser irradiator capable of irradiating a glass sheet surface with laser light. b In the laser irradiation area on the glass sheet surface,
A nozzle that can inject pressurized gas. c. A gas supply device capable of supplying desired pressure gas to the nozzle. d. A support device for the laser irradiator, comprising a drive device that allows the laser irradiator to face the glass sheet surface in a desired attitude and to move the laser irradiator over the entire width of the glass sheet in at least one axis direction. e. A numerical control device capable of controlling the position of the laser irradiator and the oscillation of the laser. f A device for collecting glass debris melted by a laser beam and blown away by an air stream jetted from a nozzle.