TW201930804A - Heat treatment furnace and method for manufacturing heat treatment furnace - Google Patents

Abstract

This heat treatment furnace performs a heat treatment on an object to be treated. The heat treatment furnace is provided with: a heat treatment part that is provided with a space for performing a heat treatment on the object to be treated; and a plurality of conveyance rollers that are arranged in the heat treatment part and that convey the object. The conveyance rollers arranged within the prescribed range of the heat treatment part include, when the conveyance rollers are divided into n number of regions in the axial direction, mi (i=1-n; mi ≥ 0) number of conveyance rollers of an i type (i=1-n) having a position, where the magnitude of the curvature of the conveyance rollers in an axis perpendicular direction is largest, located in an i region (i=1-n). Regarding at least one of the conveyance rollers of a type in which mi is more than one, the number the conveyance rollers of said type arranged successively is less than a prescribed number.

Description

Heat treatment furnace and manufacturing method thereof

The technique disclosed in this patent specification relates to a heat treatment furnace for heat-treating a workpiece and a method of manufacturing the same.

The object to be treated is sometimes subjected to heat treatment using a heat treatment furnace (for example, a roller hearth furnace or the like). The heat treatment furnace includes a plurality of conveyance rollers, and the workpiece is conveyed by rotating the conveyance roller while the workpiece is placed on the conveyance roller. An example of a heat treatment furnace is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2015-64189.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In such a heat treatment furnace, in order to increase the productivity, a plurality of the conveyance rollers may be arranged in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction (hereinafter also referred to as the first direction) and horizontally (hereinafter referred to as a second direction). The processed object and the plurality of processed objects are simultaneously carried. In this case, a plurality of objects to be processed are conveyed in the heat treatment furnace in a state in which they are aligned in the second direction. However, the conveyance roller may be deformed by warpage or the like which occurs at the time of manufacture. Therefore, the workpiece may be conveyed obliquely due to deformation caused by the conveyance roller. When the workpiece is conveyed obliquely, there is a problem that the conveyance of another workpiece to be placed and placed in the second direction is hindered or the side wall of the heat treatment furnace is collided. This problem is particularly remarkable in a heat treatment furnace in which the handling distance of the workpiece is long.

This patent specification discloses a technique for suppressing a plurality of objects to be processed which are arranged in a horizontal direction and arranged in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction (second direction) and placed thereon.
[Means for solving the problem]

The object to be treated is heat-treated in the heat treatment furnace disclosed in this patent specification. The heat treatment furnace includes a heat treatment portion including a space for heat-treating the workpiece, and a plurality of conveyance rollers disposed in the heat treatment portion to carry the workpiece. The plurality of transport rollers disposed in a predetermined range of the heat treatment portion include mi (i=1 to n, mi≧0) in the i-th region when the transport roller is divided into n regions in the axial direction. =1 to n) The conveyance roller of the i-th type (i=1 to n) having the position where the warpage of the conveyance roller in the direction perpendicular to the axis is the largest. At least one of the plurality of conveyance rollers of the type of mi is not disposed at a predetermined number or more of the conveyance rollers of the type.

After the review by the inventors of the present invention, it is found that when the conveyance roller which is located in a specific region (for example, the region on the same end side) in a predetermined region of the heat treatment portion has a predetermined number of continuous or more, the specific region is The processed objects placed in the vicinity of the house become easy to snake. In the heat treatment furnace described above, since at least one of the conveyance rollers of the i-th type in which the warpage is large is located in a specific region is not more than a predetermined number of discontinuities, it is possible to suppress the workpiece to be placed in the vicinity of the region. Snake.

Further, in the method for producing a heat treatment furnace disclosed in the present specification, a heat treatment furnace is provided, the heat treatment furnace comprising: a heat treatment portion including a space for heat-treating the workpiece; and a plurality of conveyance rollers disposed in the heat treatment And transporting the workpiece; the plurality of transport rollers disposed in a predetermined range of the heat treatment unit include mi (i=1~n, mi≧) when the transport roller is divided into n regions in the axial direction. 0) a conveyance roller having an i-th type (i=1 to n) in which the size of the warpage of the conveyance roller in the direction perpendicular to the axis is the largest in the i-th region (i=1 to n); The manufacturing method includes a measuring step of measuring each of a plurality of conveying rollers disposed in at least a predetermined range of the heat treatment portion, and measuring the conveying roller at each of a plurality of measurement positions of the conveying roller in the axial direction. The size of the warp in the direction perpendicular to the axis; and the setting step of at least one of the plurality of types of transport rollers from the measurement result obtained in the measuring step, so that the transport roller of the type is not configured to be continuous More than the predetermined count The manner in which the set range is set in the measuring step has been measured by the warping of the plurality of carrying rolls.

In the method of manufacturing the heat treatment furnace described above, the plurality of conveyance rollers are provided in a predetermined range of the heat treatment unit, and the conveyance roller having the position where the warpage of the conveyance roller in the direction perpendicular to the axis is maximized in the same region is provided. At least one of them is not configured to be continuously more than a predetermined number. Therefore, the object to be processed placed in the vicinity of the area can be suppressed from being snaked.

The main features of the embodiments described below are listed in advance. Further, the technical elements described below are independent of each other, and are technically useful individually or in various combinations, and are not limited to the combinations described in the patent application scope when the patent is filed.

(Feature 1) The heat treatment furnace disclosed in this patent specification may be a predetermined number of the maximum number of conveyance rollers to which the workpiece abuts when one of the objects to be processed is placed on the conveyance roller. half. According to this configuration, when the conveyance roller of a predetermined number or more is not continuously disposed, when the workpiece to be processed is placed in the vicinity of the region where the warpage is large, the object to be treated can be avoided. Among the portions in contact with the conveyance roller, the number of contacts with the portion having large warpage is half or more. Therefore, it is possible to suitably suppress the inclination of the conveyance direction of the workpiece.
[Examples]

Hereinafter, the heat treatment furnace 10 of the embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 1 , the heat treatment furnace 10 includes a heat treatment unit 20 , a loading unit 34 , a carry-out unit 40 , and a conveyance device 50 . In the heat treatment furnace 10, the workpiece 12 is conveyed between the workpieces 12 in the heat treatment unit 20 by the conveyance device 50, and the workpiece 12 is heat-treated.

The material to be processed 12 is, for example, a laminate in which a dielectric body (base material) made of ceramics and an electrode are laminated, or a positive electrode material or a negative electrode material of a lithium ion battery. When the ceramic laminate is heat-treated using the heat treatment furnace 10, the objects to be processed are placed in a flat carrier plate and conveyed in the furnace. Further, when the positive electrode material or the negative electrode material of the lithium ion battery is heat-treated by using the heat treatment furnace 10, the objects to be processed are stored in a box-shaped crucible and conveyed in the furnace. In the heat treatment furnace 10 of the present embodiment, the conveyance roller 52 (described later) can be conveyed in a state in which a plurality of sheet carriers or rafts are arranged in the conveyance direction. Hereinafter, in the present embodiment, the entirety of the substance to be heat-treated, the carrier plate on which the material to be heat-treated, or the material containing the substance is placed is referred to as "substance 12". In addition, in the following description, the direction in which the workpiece 12 is conveyed (the direction perpendicular to the YZ plane in FIG. 1) may be referred to as "transport direction" or "first direction", and the level and the first direction may be horizontal. The vertical direction (the direction perpendicular to the XZ plane of Fig. 1) is referred to as the "second direction".

The heat treatment unit 20 includes a substantially rectangular box-shaped furnace body, and an outer wall 22 is provided inside the furnace body to surround the surrounding space 24. An opening 26 is formed in the front end surface (the end surface on the -X side in Fig. 1) of the outer wall 22, and an opening 28 is formed in the rear end surface (the end surface on the +X side in Fig. 1) of the outer wall 22. The workpiece 12 is transported from the opening 26 into the heat treatment unit 20 by the transport device 50, and is transported from the opening 28 to the outside of the heat treatment unit 20. That is, the opening 26 is used as the carry-in port of the heat treatment portion 20, and the opening 28 is used as the carry-out port of the heat treatment portion 20.

In the space 24, a plurality of conveyance rollers 52 and a plurality of heaters 30 and 32 are disposed. The heaters 30 are disposed at a position above the conveyance roller 52 at equal intervals in the conveyance direction, and the heaters 32 are disposed at positions below the conveyance rollers 52 at equal intervals in the conveyance direction. The heaters 30, 32 heat up the space 24 by heating. Further, in the present embodiment, the heaters 30 and 32 are arranged at equal intervals in the conveyance direction, but are not limited to such a configuration. The heater may be appropriately changed to a desired position and disposed, for example, in accordance with the type of the workpiece 12 or the heat treatment condition of the heat treatment portion 20. Further, in the present embodiment, the heaters 30 and 32 are disposed in the space 24, but the configuration is not limited thereto. As long as the heating can be performed in the space 24, for example, a gas burner or the like may be provided in the space 24.

As shown in FIG. 2, the heat processing unit 20 arranges and conveys a plurality of objects 12 to be processed in the second direction. In the present embodiment, in the heat treatment unit 20 (that is, the entire heat treatment furnace 10), three objects 12 to be processed are arranged and transported in the second direction. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the dimension of the heat treatment portion 20 in the second direction is larger than the size of the three workpieces 12 arranged in the second direction, but the dimension of the heat treatment portion 20 in the second direction is not special. Limited. The size of the heat treatment unit 20 in the second direction may be arranged in the second direction and the size of the workpiece 12 that is more than three may be transported. Further, the dimension of the heat treatment portion 20 in the conveyance direction is relatively large, about 100 m, but the dimension of the heat treatment portion 20 in the conveyance direction is not particularly limited. For example, the dimension of the heat treatment portion 20 in the conveyance direction may be smaller than 100 m, may be 30 m to 100 m, or may be larger than 100 m. In addition, in the following description, the center side of the second direction in the case where the workpiece 12 is plurally arranged in the second direction is referred to as "inside", and the center side in the second direction is referred to as "end side" (+Y direction) And the -Y direction) is called "outside". Further, the workpiece 12 is continuously carried into the heat treatment portion 20 at a predetermined interval. Therefore, the objects 12 to be processed are arranged not only in the second direction but also in the conveyance direction.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, in the present embodiment, among the three objects 12 to be placed and placed in the second direction, the person placed on the +Y direction side in the second direction is regarded as the object to be processed. In the 12a, the center (inside) of the second direction is regarded as the object to be processed 12b, and the person placed on the -Y direction side in the second direction is treated as the object to be processed 12c. Hereinafter, other constituent elements may be described using letters along the word when it is necessary to distinguish the constituent elements. When it is not necessary to distinguish the constituent elements, the letters along the word are omitted, and only the numbers are described.

The loading unit 34 is located on the upstream side of the heat treatment unit 20 (that is, on the upstream side in the conveyance direction, and in the -X direction of the heat treatment unit 20 in Fig. 1). The loading unit 34 receives the workpiece 12 conveyed from the outside of the heat treatment furnace 10, and carries the received workpiece 12 into the space 24 of the heat treatment unit 20. The conveyance unit 34 is provided with a conveyance roller 52, and conveys the workpiece 12 conveyed from the outside of the heat treatment furnace 10 by the conveyance roller 52.

The carry-out portion 40 is located on the downstream side of the heat treatment portion 20 (that is, on the downstream side in the conveyance direction, and in the +X direction of the heat treatment portion 20 in Fig. 1). The unloading unit 40 carries out the workpiece 12 from the space 24 of the heat treatment unit 20, and then delivers the workpiece 12 that has been carried out to the outside of the heat treatment furnace 10. In the carry-out unit 40, the conveyance roller 52 is provided, and the workpiece 12 is conveyed to the outside of the space 24 by the conveyance roller 52.

The conveying device 50 includes a plurality of conveying rollers 52, a driving device 60, and a control device 62. The conveyance device 50 conveys the workpiece 12 conveyed to the loading unit 34 from the loading unit 34 through the opening 26 into the space 24 of the heat treatment unit 20 . Further, the conveying device 50 is placed in the space 24, and conveys the workpiece 12 from the opening 26 to the opening 28. Further, the transport device 50 transports the workpiece 12 from the space 24 to the carry-out unit 40 via the opening 28 . The workpiece 12 is transported from the loading unit 34 to the carry-out unit 40 by the transport roller 52.

The conveyance roller 52 has a cylindrical shape, and its axis extends in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction. The plurality of transport rollers 52 all have the same diameter and are arranged at equal intervals at a fixed pitch in the transport direction. Further, the diameter of the transport roller provided in the heat treatment portion 20 may be different from the diameter of the transport roller provided in the carry-in portion 34 and the carry-out portion 40. Further, the conveyance roller 52 provided in the heat treatment unit 20 may be disposed at a different pitch from the conveyance roller 52 provided in the loading unit 34 and the delivery unit 40. The conveyance roller 52 is disposed in a plurality of branches in the heat treatment unit 20, the carry-in unit 34, and the carry-out unit 40. The dimension of the conveyance roller 52 in the axial direction is larger than the dimension of the heat treatment part 20 in the 2nd direction (refer FIG. 2). The carrying roller 52 is supported to be rotatable about its axis and rotated by the driving force of the driving device 60. Specifically, the conveyance roller 52 is connected to the drive unit 60 at one end in the axial direction (the end on the +Y direction side in Fig. 2), and the other end (the end on the -Y direction side in Fig. 2) is a free end. . In the following description, the end side of the conveyance roller 52 connected to the drive unit 60 (that is, the +Y direction side) may be referred to as the "drive side" in the axial direction of the conveyance roller 52, and may be carried. The free end side of the roller 52 (i.e., the -Y direction side) is referred to as a "driven side".

The drive unit 60 (see FIG. 1) is a drive unit (for example, a motor) that drives the conveyance roller 52. The drive unit 60 is connected to the conveyance roller 52 via a power transmission mechanism. When the driving force of the driving device 60 is transmitted to the conveying roller 52 via the power transmission mechanism, the conveying roller 52 rotates. As the power transmission mechanism, a well-known person can be used, for example, a mechanism (not shown) composed of a sprocket and a chain is used. The drive unit 60 drives the respective conveyance rollers 52 to rotate the conveyance rollers 52 at substantially the same speed. Further, in the present embodiment, the driving device 60 drives the respective conveying rollers 52 to rotate the conveying rollers 52 at substantially the same speed, but the configuration is not limited thereto. For example, the heat treatment furnace 10 may include a plurality of driving devices having different driving forces, and the plurality of driving devices may be configured to be disposed in the conveying roller 52 provided in the heat treatment portion 20 and in the loading portion 34 and the carrying portion 40. The conveying roller 52 rotates at a different speed. The drive unit 60 is controlled by the control unit 62.

In the present embodiment, the plurality of transport rollers 52 disposed in the heat treatment portion 20 are classified into a plurality of groups in accordance with the position at which the amount of warpage (the amount of warpage in the direction perpendicular to the axis) is maximized (the position in the axial direction). Specifically, each of the transport rollers 52 is divided into a plurality of regions in the axial direction, and measurement points for measuring the amount of warpage are set in the respective regions. Further, for each of the transport rollers 52, the amount of warpage is measured at each measurement point, and the specific warpage amount becomes the largest measurement point. After the specific warpage amount becomes the largest measurement point, the plurality of conveyance rollers 52 are grouped according to the region where the measurement point is set. For example, the conveyance roller 52 is divided into n regions Ri (i = 1 to n) in the axial direction, and one measurement point Pi (i = 1 to n) is set in each region Ri. In addition, the measurement point in which the amount of warpage is the largest belongs to the region R ₁ as the first group, and the measurement point in which the amount of warpage is the largest belongs to the region R ₂ as the second group, and is grouped as follows. In the present embodiment, the conveying rollers belonging to a specific group among the plurality of groups grouped as exemplified above are referred to as conveying rollers 52a, 52b. Therefore, the conveyance rollers 52a and 52b may mean that the position where the warpage of the conveyance roller 52 in the direction perpendicular to the axis is the largest when the conveyance roller 52 is divided into a plurality of regions in the axial direction becomes the divided region. Specific area. As a method of dividing the conveyance roller 52 into a plurality of regions in the axial direction, for example, the conveyance roller 52 can be divided into three regions of a region on the driving side, a region in the vicinity of the center, and a region on the driven side. In addition, as a specific area, for example, it can be regarded as a region on the end side of the conveyance roller 52 when the conveyance roller 52 is divided into a plurality of portions in the axial direction, that is, a region on the drive side or a region on the driven side of the conveyance roller 52. .

This will be more specifically explained using FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, in the present embodiment, the conveyed rollers 52 are arranged in the second direction and placed on the three objects 12a to 12c. Therefore, the conveyance roller 52 is a first region 54 as a region closer to the drive side than the center of the workpiece 12a placed on the drive side, and the vicinity of the center of the workpiece 12a placed on the drive side is A region between the vicinity of the center of the workpiece 12c placed on the driven side is regarded as the second region 56, and is regarded as a region closer to the driven side than the center of the workpiece 12c placed on the driven side. Third region 58. One measurement point A is set in the first area 54, three measurement points B, C, and D are set in the second area 56, and one measurement point E is set in the third area 58. In the present embodiment, the position where the warpage of the conveyance roller 52 in the direction perpendicular to the axis is maximized is present in the first region 54 as the conveyance roller 52a (that is, the conveyance roller having the largest amount of warpage at the measurement point A). The position where the warpage of the conveyance roller 52 in the direction perpendicular to the axis is the largest is present in the third region 58 as the conveyance roller 52b (that is, the conveyance roller having the largest amount of warpage of the measurement point E).

The conveyance rollers 52a and 52b are arranged in the heat treatment unit 20 so as to be discontinuous or more than a predetermined number. In the present embodiment, the conveyance rollers 52a and 52b are disposed to be half or more of the number of the conveyance rollers 52 on which the workpiece 12 is not continuously placed. Here, when the number of the conveyance rollers 52 on which the workpiece 12 is placed is changed between the conveyed objects 12, the conveyance rollers 52a and 52b are disposed so that the conveyance of one workpiece 12 is not continuously placed. The number of rolls 52 is more than half of the maximum. For example, the workpiece 12 is placed in a size of up to six transport rollers 52 (i.e., is always placed in the size of six transport rollers 52, or placed on six transport rollers 52 or loaded In the case where the size of the five transport rollers 52 is placed, the heat transfer unit 20 arranges the transport rollers 52a and 52b so as to be discontinuous three or more. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 1, when the workpiece 12 is placed on the size of a maximum of three transport rollers 52, the transport rollers 52a and 52b are disposed in the heat treatment unit 20 so as to be discontinuous or more. For example, at a position adjacent to the conveyance roller 52a, a conveyance roller 52b or a conveyance roller 52c that is different from the conveyance roller 52a is disposed (the conveyance roller 52c is a conveyance roller in which the position where the warpage is the largest is located at a specific position). As an example, as shown in FIG. 1, the conveyance roller 52c is arrange|positioned at the position (downstream side) adjacent to the conveyance roller 52a. In the same manner, the conveyance roller 52c is disposed at a position (upstream side) adjacent to the conveyance roller 52b. In this manner, the conveyance rollers 52a and 52b are each arranged in two or more discontinuous positions. By disposing in this manner, it is possible to suppress the meandering of the objects 12a and 12c placed on the end side.

Next, a method of manufacturing the heat treatment furnace 10 will be described with reference to Fig. 3 . Further, in the present embodiment, the step of measuring the warpage of the conveyance roller 52 and the step of disposing the conveyance roller 52 including the conveyance rollers 52a and 52b in the heat treatment section 20 are characterized, and other steps can be used. A well-known step in the past. Therefore, only the features of the embodiment will be described below, and the description of the other steps will be omitted.

The manufacturing method of the heat treatment furnace 10 of the present embodiment includes a measuring step of measuring a plurality of measurement positions (measurement points A to E) of the conveyance roller 52 in the axial direction, and measuring the direction of the conveyance roller 52 at a right angle of the shaft. The size of the warpage and the arrangement step are the specific conveyance rollers 52a and 52b from the measurement results obtained in the measurement step, and the conveyance rollers 52 are not disposed in the heat treatment unit 20 so as to continuously arrange the conveyance rollers 52a and 52b having a predetermined number or more. .

First, by the measurement step, the amount of warpage of the conveyance roller 52 in the direction perpendicular to the axis is measured at each of a plurality of measurement positions (measurement points A to E) of the conveyance roller 52 in the axial direction. The measurement steps were carried out in accordance with the following procedures. First, both ends of the conveying roller 52 are supported to be rotatable. For example, two V-shaped blocks are used to support both ends of the conveying roller 52.

Next, the magnitude of the warpage of the plurality of portions (measurement points A to E) of the conveyance roller 52 in the axial direction is measured using, for example, a gauge of a dial gauge. As a plurality of portions of the conveyance roller 52 in the axial direction, for example, a portion near the center of the conveyance roller 52 and a conveyance roller 52 when the conveyance roller 52 is arranged in the second direction and placed in a plurality of objects 12 are placed. A portion in the vicinity of a portion in contact with the end portion of each of the workpieces 12 in the second direction. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, since the conveyance rollers 52 are arranged in the second direction and placed on the three objects 12a to 12c, the end portion side (+Y direction side) of the workpiece 12a is placed. The vicinity of the end portion is referred to as the portion A, and the vicinity of the boundary between the workpiece 12a and the workpiece 12b is referred to as the portion B, and the vicinity of the center of the conveyance roller 52 in the axial direction is referred to as the portion C, and the workpiece 12b and the workpiece are treated. The vicinity of the boundary of 12c is regarded as the portion D, and the vicinity of the end portion on the end side (-Y direction side) of the workpiece 12c is regarded as the portion E. Therefore, in the measuring step, the magnitude of the warpage of each of the portions A to E (measuring points A to E) of the conveyance roller 52 in the axial direction is measured. Specifically, a gauge is placed on the portion A, and the conveyance roller 52 is rotated one turn around the axis, and the difference between the conveyance roller 52 at the uppermost position and the state where the conveyance roller 52 is not warped (hereinafter also referred to as warpage) is also described. size). For the portions B to E, the same measurements as above were also performed.

After measuring the warpage of each of the plurality of support rollers 52 in the axial direction A to E, a plurality of transport rollers 52 including the transport rollers 52a and 52b are provided in the heat treatment portion 20 by the installation step. The configuration steps are implemented according to the following procedures. First, from the measurement results obtained in the measurement step, it is determined for each of the conveyance rollers 52 which of the sizes of the warpages of the respective portions A to E measured in the measurement step has the largest warpage. Further, the portion where the size of the warpage is the largest is present in the transport roller 52 of the first region 54 as the transport roller 52a, and the transport roller 52 having the largest warpage in the third region 58 is specified as the transport roller 52b. .

As described above, when the conveyance rollers 52 are arranged in the second direction and the three objects to be processed 12a to 12c are placed, the area closer to the drive side than the center of the workpiece 12a placed on the drive side is regarded as The first area 54. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the first region 54 includes only the portion A in each of the portions A to E. Therefore, the conveyance roller 52 which has the largest magnitude of the warpage of the location A is specified as the conveyance roller 52a. In addition, since the region closer to the driven side than the center of the workpiece 12c placed on the driven side is regarded as the third region 58, the third region 58 includes only the portion E in each of the portions A to E. . Therefore, the conveyance roller 52 which has the largest magnitude of the warpage of the location E is specified as the conveyance roller 52b. On the other hand, the area between the vicinity of the center of the workpiece 12a placed on the driving side and the vicinity of the center of the workpiece 12c placed on the driven side is regarded as the second area 56, so the second The region 56 includes the portions B, C, and D in each of the portions A to E. Therefore, the conveyance rollers 52 having the largest warpage of any of the portions B, C, and D are not specified as the conveyance rollers 52a and 52b. In this manner, the conveyance rollers 52a and 52b are specified from the plurality of conveyance rollers 52.

Next, the conveyance roller 52a is provided in a predetermined number of discontinuities or more, and the conveyance roller 52b is set to be a predetermined number of discontinuous or more. For example, when the workpiece 12 to be heat-treated is placed on the size of a maximum of six transport rollers 52, the transport roller 52a is formed to be discontinuously three or more, and the transport roller 52b is formed to be three or more discontinuous. Further, in the present embodiment, the conveyance rollers 52a and 52b are each provided with a predetermined number of discontinuous or more. For the other procedures of the installation procedure, since a conventionally known method can be used, the other steps regarding the installation steps are omitted. Detailed description of the program.

Next, the operation of the heat treatment furnace 10 when the workpiece 12 is subjected to heat treatment will be described. In order to heat-treat the workpiece 12, first, the heaters 30 and 32 are operated to set the ambient gas temperature of the space 24 to the set temperature. Next, the three objects 12 to be processed are respectively moved from the outside of the heat treatment furnace 10 to the conveyance rollers 52 provided on the loading unit 34. At this time, the objects 12 to be processed are arranged in the second direction and placed three. Next, the drive device 60 is operated to transport the three objects 12 arranged in the second direction from the loading unit 34 to the space 24 of the heat treatment unit 20 via the opening 26 . The workpiece 12 conveyed into the space 24 is transported from the opening 26 to the opening 28 in the space 24. Thereby, the workpiece 12 is subjected to heat treatment. Then, the workpiece 12 that has been subjected to the heat treatment is conveyed to the carry-out portion 40 through the opening 28, and is then carried out from the carry-out portion 40.

The objects to be processed 12 are arranged and placed in the second direction in order to increase productivity. Since the conveyance roller 52 is warped or deformed at the time of manufacture, it is impossible to make all the conveyance rollers 52 provided in the heat treatment furnace 10 into the identical shape. In addition, when the conveyance rollers 52a and 52b having large warpage generated on the same end side (that is, the drive side or the driven side) in the axial direction of the conveyance roller 52 are continuously disposed, they are easily conveyed obliquely on the outer side of the conveyance roller 52. The processed objects 12a and 12c are placed. When the objects 12a and 12c are conveyed obliquely toward the inside, the conveyance of the other objects 12b (that is, the objects 12b in the center) arranged and placed in the second direction may be hindered. Further, when the objects 12a and 12c are conveyed obliquely toward the outside, the side walls of the furnace body of the heat treatment unit 20 may be collided. In particular, since the heat treatment furnace 10 of the present embodiment has a relatively long dimension in the conveyance direction, the inclination of the workpiece 12 placed on the outer side of the conveyance roller 52 is likely to increase between the conveyance of the heat treatment unit 20.

In the present embodiment, the conveyance roller 52a is set to have a predetermined number of discontinuities or more, and the conveyance roller 52b is set to be a predetermined number of discontinuous or more. By setting the conveyance roller 52a to a predetermined number of discontinuities or more, it is possible to suppress the meandering of the workpiece 12a placed on the driving side. In addition, by setting the conveyance roller 52b to a predetermined number of discontinuities or more, it is possible to suppress the meandering of the workpiece 12c placed on the driven side. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the objects 12a and 12c placed on the outer side of the conveyance roller 52 from interfering with the conveyance of the workpiece 12b placed on the inside of the conveyance roller 52, and to avoid stopping the heat treatment of the heat treatment furnace 10. Further, it is possible to prevent the objects 12a and 12c from coming into contact with the side surfaces of the furnace body, and it is possible to suppress damage of the side walls of the furnace body.

Further, in the present embodiment, the conveyance roller 52 is divided into three regions in such a manner that the first region 54 includes only the portion A in each of the portions A to E, and the second region 56 is in each portion A~ E includes the portions B, C, and D, and the third region 58 includes only the portion E in each of the portions A to E, but the configuration is not limited thereto. The position of the boundary between the adjacent regions is not limited to the above example. For example, the first region may include the portions A and B in each of the portions A to E, and the second region includes only the portion C and the third region including the portion D. In the manner of E, the conveyance roller 52 is divided into three regions in the axial direction. Further, in the present embodiment, the conveyance roller 52 is divided into three regions in the axial direction, but the conveyance roller 52 may be divided into regions larger than three.

In the present embodiment, the transport roller 52 in which the portion of the transport roller 52 having the largest warpage is present in the region closest to the end portion side is specified as the transport rollers 52a and 52b, but the configuration is not limited thereto. As long as the transport roller having the largest size of the transport roller 52 in the specific region is disposed at a predetermined number of discontinuous or more, it is also possible to treat any one of the regions in which the transport roller 52 is divided in the axial direction as "specific" Area". Even if the area other than the area closest to the end side is set to the "specific area", it is possible to suppress the object 12 placed in the vicinity of the "specific area" from being snaked.

Further, in the present embodiment, the size of the warpage of the five portions A to E in the axial direction of the conveyance roller 52 is measured, but the configuration is not limited thereto. The portion where the warpage of the transport roller 52 is measured may be a portion larger than five, or a portion smaller than five. Further, in the present embodiment, the measurement portion is determined based on the position of the workpiece 12 arranged and placed in the second direction, but the measurement may be set regardless of the position of the workpiece 12 placed on the conveyance roller 52. The part of the size of the warp.

In the present embodiment, the conveyance rollers 52a and 52b are arranged discontinuously in all of the conveyance rollers 52 provided in the heat treatment unit 20, but the configuration is not limited thereto. For example, a part of the conveyance rollers 52 provided in the heat treatment unit 20 (for example, a region on the inlet side) may be arranged such that the conveyance rollers 52a and 52b are discontinuous.

The specific examples of the technology disclosed in the present specification are described in detail above, but these are merely examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the patent application. The technology described in the patent application scope includes various modifications and changes to the specific examples described above. Further, the technical elements described in the specification or the drawings are technically useful individually or in various combinations, and are not limited to the combinations described in the claims.

10‧‧‧heat treatment furnace

12‧‧‧Processed objects

20‧‧‧ Heat Treatment Department

22‧‧‧ outer wall

24‧‧‧ Space

26‧‧‧ openings

28‧‧‧ openings

30‧‧‧heater

32‧‧‧heater

34‧‧‧ Moving into the Department

40‧‧‧ Moving out

50‧‧‧Transportation device

52, 52a, 52b, 52c‧‧‧ carrying rollers

60‧‧‧ drive

62‧‧‧Control device

1 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a heat treatment furnace of an embodiment, and is a longitudinal cross-sectional view when the heat treatment furnace is cut in a plane parallel to the conveyance direction of the workpiece.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II of Fig. 1.

3 is a view showing a portion where the size of the warpage of the conveyance roller is measured, and a region in which the conveyance roller is divided into a plurality of portions in the axial direction.

Claims (3)

A heat treatment furnace is a heat treatment furnace for heat-treating a workpiece, and the system includes: The heat treatment portion includes a space for heat-treating the object to be processed; and a plurality of transport rollers are disposed in the heat treatment portion and transport the processed object; The plurality of conveyance rollers disposed in a predetermined range of the heat treatment portion include mi (i=1 to n, mi≧0) in the i-th region when the conveyance roller is divided into n regions in the axial direction ( i = 1 to n) a conveyance roller having an i-th type (i = 1 to n) in which the size of the warpage of the conveyance roller in the direction perpendicular to the axis is the maximum; At least one of the plurality of conveyance rollers of the type of the mi is not disposed at a predetermined number or more of the conveyance rollers of the type. The heat treatment furnace according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined number is one of a maximum number of the conveyance rollers to which the workpiece is abutted when one of the objects to be processed is placed on the conveyance roller . A method of manufacturing a heat treatment furnace, the heat treatment furnace comprising: The heat treatment portion includes a space for heat-treating the object to be processed; and a plurality of transport rollers are disposed in the heat treatment portion and transport the processed object; The plurality of conveyance rollers disposed in a predetermined range of the heat treatment portion include mi (i=1 to n, mi≧0) in the i-th region when the conveyance roller is divided into n regions in the axial direction ( i = 1 to n) a conveyance roller having an i-th type (i = 1 to n) in which the size of the warpage of the conveyance roller in the direction perpendicular to the axis is the maximum; The manufacturing method includes: The measuring step is to measure each of the plurality of conveying rollers disposed in at least a predetermined range of the heat treatment portion, and measure the direction of the conveying roller at a right angle of the shaft at each of a plurality of measurement positions of the conveying roller in the axial direction. The size of the warp; and In the setting step, at least one of the plurality of conveyance rollers of the type obtained from the measurement result obtained in the measurement step is set in the predetermined range so that the conveyance roller of the type is not continuously set to a predetermined number or more. A plurality of transport rollers have been measured for warpage at this measurement step.