JPS642876B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a hot press apparatus and an operating method thereof that press a workpiece in a uniaxial direction while heating it in a vacuum or an inert gas atmosphere, and in particular relates to a hot press apparatus and an operating method thereof, which press a workpiece in a uniaxial direction while heating it in a vacuum or an inert gas atmosphere. It relates to products used for pressure sintering of metal powders, diffusion bonding of metals, etc.

[Prior Art] As shown in FIG. 4, a conventional batch-type hot press apparatus has a separate structure in which a vertical integral sealed container a has a heating chamber b in its upper part and a cooling chamber c in its lower part. A heating element f for heating the workpiece e is provided in a heating chamber surrounded by a heat insulating wall d, and an upper ram g and a lower ram h for pressing the workpiece e pass through the furnace body. The lower ram h is connected to a press cylinder j attached to the lower part of a fixed press frame i, and by moving up and down, it also serves to transport the workpiece e between the heating chamber b and the cooling chamber c.

To operate the hot press device configured in this way, first open the door k on the side of the cooling chamber and open the cooling chamber c.
The workpiece e charged into the furnace is received at the upper end of the lower ram h, then pushed up to the heating chamber b, the door k is closed, the inside of the furnace is evacuated, and then hot pressed. After the treatment is completed, cooling gas is introduced into the furnace, the product is lowered into the cooling chamber c, and after being cooled to a predetermined temperature, the door k is opened and the product is taken out of the furnace.

Therefore, while the product is being cooled, the heating device and the press device stop operating, and the next workpiece remains waiting outside the furnace.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional batch type hot press apparatus, as described above, until the product is taken out from the furnace, the next workpiece remains waiting outside the furnace. Moreover, the operating efficiency of accessory devices such as a press device, a heating power source, and a vacuum evacuation device was poor, and a large amount of processing time was required for one cycle, making it impossible to increase productivity.

Furthermore, in terms of structure, in conventional equipment, the press cylinder j also serves to raise and lower the workpiece e, so the cylinder stroke becomes long and the press cylinder j must be housed in a deep bit l. , the overall height of the equipment was increasing. Furthermore, the lower ram h, which serves as the press shaft, becomes a long axis, and during hot pressing, the center of the axis tends to come off, resulting in a one-sided press state.
The press operation became unstable, and since the press frame i was fixed, it was difficult to open the furnace top m and perform maintenance and inspection inside the furnace.

[Object of the Invention] The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems and provide a hot press device that reduces the height of the equipment, shortens the press shaft, stabilizes the press operation, and is easy to maintain and inspect. It is to be.

Further, the object of the present invention is to provide an economical equipment configuration,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for operating a hot press apparatus that can semi-continuously perform hot press processing and improve productivity.

[Summary of the Invention] The configuration of the device of the present invention in accordance with the above object consists of a furnace body whose bottom part is floating above the base, a body part having a heating chamber inside which also serves as cooling, and upper and lower furnace walls that can be opened and closed. 3
A plurality of vertical electric heating furnaces are installed with a pair of press rams which are divided into parts and penetrate through the upper and lower lids to clamp the workpiece in the heating chamber of the body, and along the rails laid on the base mentioned above. A moving traveling mechanism is provided, and this mechanism is equipped with a pair of press rams passing through the upper and lower covers of the plurality of furnace bodies, and at least one gate-shaped press frame having a press rod that engages and disengages. It is something.

Further, the press frame is provided with a hanging beam for lifting the furnace lid.

Furthermore, the structure of the method of the present invention in accordance with the above object is that the furnace main body, whose bottom part is floating above the base, is divided into three parts: a body part having a heating chamber inside that also serves as cooling, and upper and lower furnace lids that can be opened and closed. A plurality of vertical electric heating furnaces are installed in parallel, each of which is equipped with a pair of press rams that pass through the upper and lower lids and clamp the workpiece in the heating chamber of the body, and along the rails laid on the base. A hot press device comprising a moving traveling mechanism, and at least one gate-shaped press frame having a press rod that engages and disengages a pair of press rams that pass through the upper and lower lids of each of the furnace bodies. When operating the hot press, at the point when one furnace starts cooling after being heated by electricity, the electricity is switched to the side of the other furnace where the charging of the material to be processed has been completed, and heating of the other furnace is started, and then the hot press is heated. For this reason, after hot pressing is completed, the press frame on the furnace side of one is removed from the ram, and then moved to the side of the other furnace, and the press rod is engaged with the ram, and the press frame is moved to the side of the other furnace. Hot pressing is started and hot pressing is performed in a plurality of furnaces in sequence.

According to the above configuration, at least one gate-shaped press frame equipped with a press rod that engages and disengages from the pair of press rams is moved by the traveling mechanism to a plurality of cooling vertical electric heating furnaces equipped with a pair of press rams. They are moved to perform hot pressing or cooling respectively.

In this way, one electric furnace has the functions of a heating chamber and a cooling chamber in one chamber in the body, so that the furnace volume is small and the height of the equipment is low. Furthermore, since heating and cooling can be performed in separate electric furnaces, operating time is shortened and production efficiency is improved. Further, since the press ram and the press rod are separated, at least one press frame to which the press rod is attached becomes movable relative to a plurality of electric heating furnaces to which a pair of press rams are attached. Furthermore, since the furnace body is divided into three parts, the body and the upper and lower lids, maintenance and inspection inside the furnace is facilitated.

Further, since the hanging beam is provided on the press frame, the furnace wall can be easily opened and closed.

[Example] An example of the present invention will be described below based on FIGS. 1 to 3. Here, we will describe a hot press device for firing ceramics as the hot press device, and a resistance heating method as the heating method, but the present invention is not limited to these. diffusion bonding and manufacturing of FRM (fiber reinforced metal), etc.
It can also be applied to hot press equipment that performs hot pressing at lower temperatures, and to equipment that uses other heating methods such as induction heating in addition to resistance heating.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a basic batch type hot press apparatus is composed of a vertical electric heating furnace 1 and a press frame 2. As shown in FIGS.

The furnace body constituting the vertical electric heating furnace 1 has a vertical water-cooled double wall structure and is divided into three parts: an upper furnace lid 3, a cylindrical body 4, and a lower furnace lid 5. By supporting 4 on the frame 6, the whole is floated from the base 7.

Inside the furnace, there is provided a heating chamber 9 which doubles as a cooling chamber and is surrounded by a heat insulating wall 8. A graphite mold 10 is introduced and arranged in this heating chamber, and a heating power source (not shown) is connected to the surrounding area from a terminal nozzle 11. A graphite heater 12, which is supplied with

The mold 10 is filled with a ceramic raw material 15 as a workpiece sandwiched between an upper punch 13 and a lower punch 14, and these are placed together at the upper end of the lower ram 16.

The lower ram 16 penetrates the furnace lower wall 5 and is supported by a ram guide 18 at a flange 17 in the middle, and hangs down from the furnace lower lid 5. Further, the upper ram 19 passes through the furnace upper lid 3 and is connected to a ram guide 21 by an upper ring 20.
It is supported by the upper punch 13 and hangs down from the furnace upper lid 3 directly above the upper punch 13. Therefore, the upper and lower rams 19, 16
Both are allowed upward movement.

In order to charge the mold 10 that integrates the upper and lower punches 13, 14 and the ceramic raw material 15 into the furnace and to carry it out of the furnace from below instead of from the side of the furnace body, the lower furnace lid 5 is , for example, is supported by a frame 6 by a plurality of screw jacks 23 driven by a geared motor, and can be opened and closed by horizontally moving up and down. On the other hand, the furnace lid 3
is simply attached to the body 4 by means of bolts, nuts, etc.
It is removably attached to the.

In this way, a vertical electric heating furnace 1 having a pair of upper and lower rams 19 and 16 built into the furnace body is constructed.

On the other hand, the press frame 2 is as shown in FIG.
It has a gate-shaped steel plate welded structure, and has press columns 24, 24 on the left and right sides located outside the frame 6. A hydraulic cylinder 27 as a press cylinder for raising and lowering a cylinder rod 26 is fixed to the lower bed 25, and the upper The bed 28 is provided with a pressure receiving portion 29. A wheel unit 30 is attached to the lower part of the press support column 24, and the electric heating furnace 1
It is designed to run on rails 31 laid down by a hydraulic cylinder 32.

Therefore, after moving the press frame 2 with the lower furnace lid 5 closed and bringing it to a position where it surrounds the outer periphery of the electric heating furnace 1, the cylinder rod 26 is pivoted to the lower end of the lower ram 16 that is hanging down. In total, lower ram 16
, the upper punch 13 comes into close contact with the lower end of the upper ram 19 and pushes up the upper ram 19, but the upper end of the upper ram 19 touches the upper bed 28 of the press frame 2.
The ceramic raw material 15 inside the mold 10 is pressed because it is regulated by the pressure receiving part 29.

In this way, according to the vertical electric heating furnace of the above embodiment, heating and cooling are performed in one chamber, so the furnace volume is small, and the vacuum pump capacity of the vacuum evacuation device can be significantly reduced. In addition, it is economical because the amount of atmospheric gas used is small.

Furthermore, since the press frame 2 is not fixed but movable, the height of the equipment is reduced. As the press frame 2 is made movable, the lower ram 16 is separated from the cylinder rod 26, so the lower ram 16 can be made as short as possible. Since it is guided and supported by the ram guides 18 and 21 in the furnace body penetrating portion, the pressing force is extremely stable.

Furthermore, by retracting the press frame 2, not only the lower furnace lid 5 but also the upper furnace lid 3 can be opened and closed easily, and maintenance and inspection inside the furnace can be easily performed.

By the way, in this embodiment, the above-mentioned vertical electric heating furnace 1
A two-furnace hot press apparatus is constructed by combining a plurality of press frames (two in the illustrated example) and at least one press frame 2 as shown in FIG. That is, the two vertical electric heating furnaces 1 and 1 are installed side by side on a common frame, but the frame support 33 is erected outside the movement range R of the press frame 2, and while the press frame 2 is moving, the lower bed 25 and the frame are Avoid interference with the support column 33.

A hanging beam 34 for lifting and removing the furnace top cover 3 is attached to the upper bed 28 of the press frame 2, so that maintenance and inspection of the inside of the furnace can be performed from above. Also, this beam 3
4 can also be used to install and remove parts inside the furnace.

Now, a method of operating the two-furnace hot press apparatus as described above will be explained with reference to the time chart shown in FIG. In Fig. 1, the furnace on the left is the No. 1 furnace, and the furnace on the right is the No. 2 furnace. . In the figure, the No. 1 furnace is in a hot pressing state, and the No. 2 furnace is in a state where the mold is being replaced.

First, the press frame 2 was evacuated from the No. 1 furnace, the screw jack 23 of the No. 1 furnace was driven, the furnace lower lid 5 was lowered and opened, and the upper and lower punches 13 and 14 were integrated. Mold 10 to loader 3
5 and carry it to just above the lower ram 16 (S ₁ ). Next, the lower furnace lid 5 supporting the lower ram 16 is raised by the screw jack 23, the mold 10 is transferred from the loader 35 to the lower ram 16, and the furnace lower lid 5 is closed. At this time, the mold 10 in the furnace is set at a predetermined position in the heating chamber 9.

Next, the No. 1 furnace is evacuated through the vacuum exhaust port 36 by a vacuum exhaust device (not shown) (G ₁ ), and after the inside of the furnace reaches a predetermined degree of vacuum, a heating power source (not shown) is connected to the heater 12. energize H ₁ to start vacuum heating. Then, at the time _T1 when the predetermined temperature is reached, the press frame 2 is moved to the No. 1 furnace, and the lower ram 16
After aligning the axis of the cylinder rod 26 at the lower end, oil is supplied to the press cylinder 27 to advance the cylinder rod 26 and push up the mold 10.
Hot press ceramic raw material 15 within 0
_P1 . Here, the temperature is raised from room temperature to 2000°C in 4 hours, and after soaking at 2000°C for another 4 hours, the power to the heater 12 is cut off (H ₂ ), and then cooling gas is introduced into the furnace from the cooling gas inlet 37. is introduced to start cooling the mold 10 (G ₂ ).

On the other hand, the No. 2 furnace has completed insertion of the mold 10 at that point (G ₂ ) (S ₂ ), has started evacuation (G ₃ ), and as soon as the heating preparation is completed, the heater 12 is turned on. Switch the electricity to the No. 2 furnace side and start heating the No. 2 furnace (H ₂ ). In the No. 1 furnace, after the press operation is completed (P ₂ ), the cylinder rod 26 is moved back, and cooling is continued while the lower ram 16 is lowered to the supporting position of the ram guide 18. Then, move the press frame 2 with the cylinder rod 26 back to the No.
The mold 10 in the No. 2 furnace is moved to the No. 2 furnace side, and at time T ₂ when the temperature of the mold 10 in the No. 2 furnace has risen to a predetermined temperature, hot pressing is started (P ₂ ).

On the contrary, in the No. 1 furnace, which continued cooling from 2000℃ to 150℃ for about 8 hours, after cooling was completed (T ₃ )
The lower furnace lid 5 is opened and the mold 10 on the lower ram 16 is transferred to the loader 35 in the reverse order to the above, completing the hot pressing process of the No. 1 furnace.

In this way, by reciprocating the press frame 2 between the two furnaces 1 and 1 and repeating the hot pressing process alternately, it is possible to start the hot pressing process in the other furnace before the hot pressing process in one furnace is completed. This eliminates the need for the next workpiece to wait outside the furnace until the hot press process in one furnace is completed, and the production cycle for finished products is shortened to about half that of batch operation using one furnace, and productivity is reduced to approx. 2
The improvement is doubled, making it possible to approach continuous operation.

Furthermore, by hot pressing alternately, the press equipment can be used in common between each furnace, and the capacity of the vacuum pump is sufficient for one furnace unless vacuum cooling requires evacuation of two furnaces at the same time. This also applies to the case of atmosphere heating instead of vacuum heating.
Furthermore, by simply adding a furnace switching device to switch the power supply to the heater, the capacity of the heating power source is sufficient for one furnace.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a press cylinder 27 is attached to the lower bed 25 of the press frame 2.
The case has been described in which the ceramic raw material 15 is charged downward by opening and closing the furnace lower lid 5 with the furnace lid 5 attached, but it is also possible to open and close the furnace upper lid 3 with a cylinder or the like and charging the ceramic raw material 15 upward.

In addition, the press cylinder 27 is connected to the press frame 2.
It is also possible to attach it to the upper bed 28 of the machine and roll it down with the upper ram 19 instead of the lower ram 16, and in that case, the material to be processed, such as ceramic raw materials, can be charged either upward or downward.

[Effects of the Invention] In summary, the present invention exhibits the following excellent effects.

(1) According to the device of the present invention, since heating and cooling are performed in one chamber, the furnace volume is smaller and the height of the equipment can be lowered.In addition, the press ram and press rod are separated to shorten the press rod. Operation is stabilized, and the furnace wall can be opened and closed, making maintenance and inspection inside the furnace easier.

(2) According to the method of the present invention, a plurality of batch-type electric heating furnaces are installed in parallel and hot-pressing is performed alternately using a movable press frame.
Wrapped hot press processing can be performed in each furnace without waiting for each furnace to complete, allowing for semi-continuous processing that increases productivity. equipment can be shared between each furnace,
It is possible to improve productivity by improving the operating rate of each device.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a front sectional view showing an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention and a hot press apparatus for carrying out the method of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side view of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is an operation of the apparatus of Fig. 1. Timing chart explaining the order,
FIG. 4 is a schematic front sectional view showing a conventional hot press device. In the figure, 1 is a vertical electric heating furnace, 2 is a press frame,
3 is the furnace upper lid, 4 is the body, 5 is the furnace lower lid, 7 is the base,
9 is a heating chamber that also serves as a cooling chamber; 15 is a ceramic raw material to be processed; 16 is a lower ram; 19 is an upper ram;
25 is the lower bed, 26 is the cylinder rod, 28
3 is an upper bed, 30 is a wheel unit as a traveling mechanism, and 31 is a rail.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. The furnace body with the bottom floating above the base is divided into three parts: a body having a heating chamber that also serves as cooling, and upper and lower furnace walls that can be opened and closed; A plurality of vertical electric heating furnaces are equipped with a pair of press rams that penetrate through the heating chamber and clamp the workpiece in the heating chamber of the body, and a traveling mechanism that moves along the rails laid on the base. A hot press apparatus characterized in that this mechanism is equipped with at least one gate-shaped press frame to which a pair of press rams passing through the upper and lower covers of the plurality of furnace bodies and a press rod that engages and disengages is attached. 2. The hot press apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the press frame is provided with a suspension beam for lifting the furnace lid. 3 The furnace body, whose bottom is floating above the base, is divided into three parts: a body that has a heating chamber that also serves as cooling, and upper and lower furnace lids that can be opened and closed, and the body is inserted through the upper and lower lids. A plurality of vertical electric heating furnaces equipped with a pair of press rams for holding the workpiece in the heating chamber are installed in parallel, and a traveling mechanism that moves along the rails laid on the base is provided, and this mechanism is equipped with a traveling mechanism that moves along the rails laid on the base. When operating a hot press machine comprising at least one gate-shaped press frame equipped with a pair of press rams penetrating the upper and lower lids of each furnace body and a press rod that engages and disengages, one furnace after electrical heating is operated. At the start of cooling, the electricity is switched to the other furnace side that has completed charging the workpiece to start heating the other furnace, and then the press frame on the furnace side of 1 is turned on for hot pressing. After the hot pressing is completed, the press rod is removed from the ram and moved to another furnace, and the press rod is engaged with the ram to start hot pressing in the other furnace, and multiple furnaces are sequentially operated. A method of operating a hot press device, characterized in that it performs hot pressing.