WO2008155459A1 - Method and apparatus for bending and tempering a glass panel - Google Patents

Method and apparatus for bending and tempering a glass panel Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2008155459A1
WO2008155459A1 PCT/FI2008/050361 FI2008050361W WO2008155459A1 WO 2008155459 A1 WO2008155459 A1 WO 2008155459A1 FI 2008050361 W FI2008050361 W FI 2008050361W WO 2008155459 A1 WO2008155459 A1 WO 2008155459A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
bending
conveyor
rolls
glass panel
tempering
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/FI2008/050361
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Pete Harjunen
Veijo Valtonen
Original Assignee
Glaston Corporation
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Glaston Corporation filed Critical Glaston Corporation
Priority to CA002688482A priority Critical patent/CA2688482A1/en
Publication of WO2008155459A1 publication Critical patent/WO2008155459A1/en

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Classifications

    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C03—GLASS; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL
    • C03B—MANUFACTURE, SHAPING, OR SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSES
    • C03B35/00—Transporting of glass products during their manufacture, e.g. hot glass lenses, prisms
    • C03B35/14—Transporting hot glass sheets or ribbons, e.g. by heat-resistant conveyor belts or bands
    • C03B35/16—Transporting hot glass sheets or ribbons, e.g. by heat-resistant conveyor belts or bands by roller conveyors
    • C03B35/163—Drive means, clutches, gearing or drive speed control means
    • C03B35/164—Drive means, clutches, gearing or drive speed control means electric or electronicsystems therefor, e.g. for automatic control
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C03—GLASS; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL
    • C03B—MANUFACTURE, SHAPING, OR SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSES
    • C03B23/00—Re-forming shaped glass
    • C03B23/02—Re-forming glass sheets
    • C03B23/023—Re-forming glass sheets by bending
    • C03B23/025—Re-forming glass sheets by bending by gravity
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C03—GLASS; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL
    • C03B—MANUFACTURE, SHAPING, OR SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSES
    • C03B23/00—Re-forming shaped glass
    • C03B23/02—Re-forming glass sheets
    • C03B23/023—Re-forming glass sheets by bending
    • C03B23/025—Re-forming glass sheets by bending by gravity
    • C03B23/0252—Re-forming glass sheets by bending by gravity by gravity only, e.g. sagging
    • C03B23/0254—Re-forming glass sheets by bending by gravity by gravity only, e.g. sagging in a continuous way, e.g. gravity roll bending
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C03—GLASS; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL
    • C03B—MANUFACTURE, SHAPING, OR SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSES
    • C03B23/00—Re-forming shaped glass
    • C03B23/02—Re-forming glass sheets
    • C03B23/023—Re-forming glass sheets by bending
    • C03B23/03—Re-forming glass sheets by bending by press-bending between shaping moulds
    • C03B23/033—Re-forming glass sheets by bending by press-bending between shaping moulds in a continuous way, e.g. roll forming, or press-roll bending
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C03—GLASS; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL
    • C03B—MANUFACTURE, SHAPING, OR SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSES
    • C03B27/00—Tempering or quenching glass products
    • C03B27/04—Tempering or quenching glass products using gas
    • C03B27/0417—Controlling or regulating for flat or bent glass sheets
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C03—GLASS; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL
    • C03B—MANUFACTURE, SHAPING, OR SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSES
    • C03B27/00—Tempering or quenching glass products
    • C03B27/04—Tempering or quenching glass products using gas
    • C03B27/0422—Tempering or quenching glass products using gas for flat or bent glass sheets starting in an horizontal position and ending in a non-horizontal position
    • C03B27/0426—Tempering or quenching glass products using gas for flat or bent glass sheets starting in an horizontal position and ending in a non-horizontal position for bent glass sheets
    • C03B27/0435—Tempering or quenching glass products using gas for flat or bent glass sheets starting in an horizontal position and ending in a non-horizontal position for bent glass sheets the quench unit being variably adaptable to the bend of the sheet
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C03—GLASS; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL
    • C03B—MANUFACTURE, SHAPING, OR SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSES
    • C03B35/00—Transporting of glass products during their manufacture, e.g. hot glass lenses, prisms
    • C03B35/14—Transporting hot glass sheets or ribbons, e.g. by heat-resistant conveyor belts or bands
    • C03B35/16—Transporting hot glass sheets or ribbons, e.g. by heat-resistant conveyor belts or bands by roller conveyors
    • C03B35/161—Transporting hot glass sheets or ribbons, e.g. by heat-resistant conveyor belts or bands by roller conveyors specially adapted for bent sheets or ribbons
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C03—GLASS; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL
    • C03B—MANUFACTURE, SHAPING, OR SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSES
    • C03B35/00—Transporting of glass products during their manufacture, e.g. hot glass lenses, prisms
    • C03B35/14—Transporting hot glass sheets or ribbons, e.g. by heat-resistant conveyor belts or bands
    • C03B35/16—Transporting hot glass sheets or ribbons, e.g. by heat-resistant conveyor belts or bands by roller conveyors
    • C03B35/166—Transporting hot glass sheets or ribbons, e.g. by heat-resistant conveyor belts or bands by roller conveyors specially adapted for both flat and bent sheets or ribbons
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C03—GLASS; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL
    • C03B—MANUFACTURE, SHAPING, OR SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSES
    • C03B35/00—Transporting of glass products during their manufacture, e.g. hot glass lenses, prisms
    • C03B35/14—Transporting hot glass sheets or ribbons, e.g. by heat-resistant conveyor belts or bands
    • C03B35/16—Transporting hot glass sheets or ribbons, e.g. by heat-resistant conveyor belts or bands by roller conveyors
    • C03B35/18—Construction of the conveyor rollers ; Materials, coatings or coverings thereof
    • C03B35/187—Rollers specially adapted for both flat and bent sheets or ribbons, i.e. rollers of adjustable curvature

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a method for bending and tempering a glass panel, said method comprising the steps of - heating a glass panel in a heating furnace for bending and tempering,
  • the invention relates also to an apparatus for bending and tempering a glass panel, said apparatus comprising - a heating furnace for heating glass panels to a bending temperature
  • the bending conveyor comprising horizontal conveyor rolls
  • a particular object of the invention is to promote and facilitate the bending of a glass panel about a bending axis extending in the conveying direction.
  • Figs. 1-3 show schematically an apparatus of the invention in a side view during various working sequences.
  • Fig. 4 shows more closely a bending conveyor and a tempering conveyor in a configuration arched to a desired radius of curvature
  • Fig. 5 shows more closely a deflection mechanism for the bending conveyor's or the tempering conveyor's rolls, by means of which the bending conveyor's downstream end rolls can be deflected to a smaller radius of curvature compared to the bending conveyor's upstream end rolls.
  • the apparatus includes a heating furnace 1 for heating glass panels G therein to a bending temperature.
  • a heating furnace 1 for heating glass panels G therein to a bending temperature.
  • From a furnace conveyor 2 the glass panel is passed by way of an intermediate conveyor 3 onto a bending conveyor 4, including horizontal conveyor rolls 4a with press rolls 4b thereabove.
  • a gap between the conveyor rolls 4a and the press rolls 4b matches substantially the thickness of a glass panel.
  • a tempering conveyor 5 which also consists of horizontal conveyor rolls 5a and press rolls 5b spaced from the conveyor rolls by a distance matching the thickness of a glass panel.
  • the tempering conveyor 5 is covered over its entire length by upper and lower tempering air enclosures 7 and 8, tracing a curvilinear outline of the conveyor 5.
  • the bending conveyor 4 may also have tempering air enclosures 7 and 8 along its downstream end section.
  • Reference numeral 6 represents a vertical line, along which the bending conveyor 4 and the tempering conveyor 5 can be disengaged from each other.
  • the tempering conveyor 5 is typically slightly longer than the bending conveyor 4. Both conveyors 4 and 5 have their press rolls provided with a drive, i.e. rotated at a peripheral speed equal to that of the conveyor rolls, as a result of which the press rolls function also as conveyor rolls.
  • link bodies 9 along both sides of the conveyors 4, 5, which are fitted with bearings for the conveyor rolls and the press rolls.
  • two conveyor rolls 4a (5a) and two press rolls 4b (5b) are each time bearing-mounted on a common end piece 22, 23, which is pivoted by means of a lever element 16, 17. Consequently, a total of four rolls are deflected by means of the common lever element 16, 17.
  • the end pieces 22 and 23 are bearing elements present at the opposite ends of the rolls, on which the roll ends are mounted with bearings.
  • the lever elements 16, 17 present each time at the opposite ends of the same rolls 4a, 4b (5a, 5b) are pivoted by electric drives 18, 19, the first of which, a position identifying electric drive 18, is controlled by a master controller 20 and the second electric drive 19 is controlled by a slave controller 21.
  • a pulse transmitter of the first electric drive 18 is used to supply position data regarding the servomotor 18 (and hence also a motion element 18a) along an electronic data transfer bus (not shown) to the master controller 20.
  • the position data is in this case obtained from the pulse transmitter of the first electric drive 8.
  • the electronic data transfer medium 25 can be e.g. a cable for communicating an electronic pulse train 26 therealong.
  • the number of pulses in the pulse train 26 determines a position of the second electric drive 19, which is preferably the same as that of the first electric drive 18.
  • the rate of the pulse train 26 determines a speed of the electric drive 18, by which the electric drive 18, and thus also the lever element 16, changes positions.
  • the cable 25 constitutes a so-called electrical axis between the electric drives 18 and 19. It enables a location-synchronized positioning of each electric drive.
  • the above-described deflection control of the axles 4a, 4b (5a, 5b) can be utilized in the invention such that, during the bending of a glass panel, various conveyor rolls 4a (and press rolls 4b) of the bending conveyor 4 are deflected simultaneously with an unequal deflection radius, which becomes progressively smaller in the conveying direction. This assists and facilitates the bending of a glass panel about a bending axis extending in the conveying direction.
  • the link bodies 9 are in turn connected to each other with a link mechanism (not shown), which forces the link bodies to pivot relative to each other over the same extent as the conveyor is being arched.
  • a link mechanism has been described e.g. in the Applicant's patent EP-1385795 (Bl). Fig.
  • the power unit 10 can be a servomotor, which by way of a clutch operates a ball screw 10a, which in turn pushes and/or pivots the lever system 11 upon which rests a bridge established by the link bodies 9.
  • the end of said conveyor must not become disengaged from an articulation point common to the conveyors 4 and 5.
  • the upstream end of the conveyor 5 is set in position, e.g. by means of a photocell control.
  • the ends of the conveyors 4 and 5 are mechanically separate from each other in order to enable a curvature adjustment of the tempering conveyor 5 and to enable, whenever necessary, a disengagement of the tempering conveyor 5 from the bending conveyor 4.
  • the bending conveyor's 4 downstream end remains stationary at all times.
  • Indicated by arrows 15 are power units for bringing rollers 14 up and down (vertical action).
  • the rollers 14 are able to travel (while maintaining the relative distance between themselves) in a horizontal direction at the same time as a swing frame 13 supporting the conveyor 5 is pivoted while supported upon the rollers 14.
  • the swing frame 13 has its pivoting axis coinciding with the midpoint of an arch which extends through the articulated axles of the conveyor's 5 link bodies 9.
  • the arching mechanism for the tempering conveyor 5 comprises a motion element 12a, which is movable e.g. by a servomotor and which, through the intermediary of arms 12b, arches a bridge established by the link bodies 9, and at the same time the entire conveyor 5 resting upon the link bodies 9.
  • a glass panel G is heated in a heating furnace 1 to a temperature appropriate for bending and tempering.
  • the flat glass panel G is delivered from the furnace 1 onto a bending conveyor 4 while the latter is in a straight configuration (fig. 1).
  • a tempering conveyor 5 has been previously arched to a desired curve as early as or even prior to having the flat glass panel received by the straight bending conveyor 4.
  • the glass panel's exit speed from the furnace is e.g. 700 mm/s and the speed is decelerated over the period of e.g. 1 second to a speed of 400 mm/s at the same time as the glass panel passes onto the bending conveyor 4.
  • the deceleration of speed in the preceding stage is typically at least 30%, preferably more than 40%.
  • the exit speed from the furnace can also be lower, e.g. 550 mm/s, and the deceleration proceeds to a speed of less than 300 mm/s.
  • Arching of the bending conveyor 4 to a desired curve is initiated even before the glass panel's trailing end section has completely reached the bending conveyor 4.
  • Arching of the bending conveyor 4 is performed very quickly, typically over the period of 1-2 seconds. That period is enough for the glass panel's leading edge to reach a position in line with tempering air enclosures 7, 8 present at the downstream end of the bending conveyor 4.
  • the tempering blast can be ongoing and the speed can be increased to some degree.
  • the increase of speed can be e.g. 10-40%.
  • the tempering conveyor 5 can be disengaged from the bending conveyor 4, enabling the tempering conveyor 5 to be pivoted as a whole for diminishing the vertical drop between its discharge end and midpoint (see e.g. fig. 3). Consequently, the glass panel can be discharged from the tempering conveyor 5 at quite a low angle with respect to the horizontal plane, without having to move the glass panel in vertical direction.
  • the curvature of the tempering conveyor 5 is retained the same at all times. The only time that the curvature of the tempering conveyor 5 needs changing is when the desired glass panel curvature Rl changes.

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for bending and tempering a glass panel. On a bending conveyor (4), the glass panel is bent in two bending directions. The first bending direction is established by arching the bending conveyor (4). The second bending direction is established by deflecting the bending conveyor's (4) rolls (4a, 4b). Various conveyor rolls (4a, 4b) of the bending conveyor (4) are deflected during the course of bending the glass panel simultaneously with unequal deflection radii, which become progressively smaller in the conveying direction. This facilitates simultaneous bending in two different directions.

Description

Method and apparatus for bending and tempering a glass panel
The invention relates to a method for bending and tempering a glass panel, said method comprising the steps of - heating a glass panel in a heating furnace for bending and tempering,
- feeding a flat glass panel from the furnace onto a bending conveyor with the bending conveyor in a straight configuration,
- arching the bending conveyor and the glass panel to a desired curvature in a first glass-panel bending direction with the glass panel moving along the bending conveyor,
- deflecting conveyor rolls of the bending conveyor for bending the glass panel to a desired curvature in a second bending direction, and
- feeding the bent glass panel from the bending conveyor onto a tempering conveyor present as its extension, which has been previously arched in said first bending direction and which has its rolls previously deflected in said second bending direction.
The invention relates also to an apparatus for bending and tempering a glass panel, said apparatus comprising - a heating furnace for heating glass panels to a bending temperature
- a bending conveyor for bending glass panels, the bending conveyor comprising horizontal conveyor rolls
- means for arching the bending conveyor to a curve matching the desired curvature of a glass panel in a first glass-panel bending direction, - a tempering conveyor as an extension of the bending conveyor, and
- means for cooling the bent glass panel for tempering.
Such a method and apparatus are known for example from the Applicant's patent publication EP-1597208 (Bl). In this prior known apparatus, the bending and tempering processes are conducted on one and the same conveyor, which limits the apparatus in terms of its production capacity. On the other hand, patent publication FI- 101697 discloses a method and apparatus, wherein a bending conveyor and a cooling conveyor are present separately as extensions of each other. In this prior known apparatus, the bending conveyor is in a configuration previously arched to a curve as it receives the glass. This is adverse for the reason that the glass is forced to bend at a single point of bending. Regarding the quality of a final product, it is beneficial that the glass should bend simultaneously over its entire bending distance.
It is an object of the invention to eliminate the capacity and quality problems associated with the above prior known solutions and to provide a method and apparatus capable of producing high-quality tempered bent glass with a high capacity. A particular object of the invention is to promote and facilitate the bending of a glass panel about a bending axis extending in the conveying direction.
This object is achieved by a method presented in the appended claim 1. The object is also achieved by an apparatus presented in the appended claim 3. Preferred embodiments of the invention are presented in the dependent claims.
One exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be described more closely with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which
Figs. 1-3 show schematically an apparatus of the invention in a side view during various working sequences.
Fig. 4 shows more closely a bending conveyor and a tempering conveyor in a configuration arched to a desired radius of curvature,
Fig. 5 shows more closely a deflection mechanism for the bending conveyor's or the tempering conveyor's rolls, by means of which the bending conveyor's downstream end rolls can be deflected to a smaller radius of curvature compared to the bending conveyor's upstream end rolls.
The apparatus according to the invention includes a heating furnace 1 for heating glass panels G therein to a bending temperature. From a furnace conveyor 2 the glass panel is passed by way of an intermediate conveyor 3 onto a bending conveyor 4, including horizontal conveyor rolls 4a with press rolls 4b thereabove. A gap between the conveyor rolls 4a and the press rolls 4b (Fig. 5) matches substantially the thickness of a glass panel. Present as an immediate extension of the bending conveyor 4 is a tempering conveyor 5, which also consists of horizontal conveyor rolls 5a and press rolls 5b spaced from the conveyor rolls by a distance matching the thickness of a glass panel. The tempering conveyor 5 is covered over its entire length by upper and lower tempering air enclosures 7 and 8, tracing a curvilinear outline of the conveyor 5. The bending conveyor 4 may also have tempering air enclosures 7 and 8 along its downstream end section. Reference numeral 6 represents a vertical line, along which the bending conveyor 4 and the tempering conveyor 5 can be disengaged from each other. The tempering conveyor 5 is typically slightly longer than the bending conveyor 4. Both conveyors 4 and 5 have their press rolls provided with a drive, i.e. rotated at a peripheral speed equal to that of the conveyor rolls, as a result of which the press rolls function also as conveyor rolls.
In reference to fig. 4, there are shown link bodies 9 along both sides of the conveyors 4, 5, which are fitted with bearings for the conveyor rolls and the press rolls. In the illustrated case, two conveyor rolls 4a (5a) and two press rolls 4b (5b) are each time bearing-mounted on a common end piece 22, 23, which is pivoted by means of a lever element 16, 17. Consequently, a total of four rolls are deflected by means of the common lever element 16, 17. Thus, the end pieces 22 and 23 are bearing elements present at the opposite ends of the rolls, on which the roll ends are mounted with bearings. The lever elements 16, 17 present each time at the opposite ends of the same rolls 4a, 4b (5a, 5b) are pivoted by electric drives 18, 19, the first of which, a position identifying electric drive 18, is controlled by a master controller 20 and the second electric drive 19 is controlled by a slave controller 21. In order to carry out the control, a pulse transmitter of the first electric drive 18 is used to supply position data regarding the servomotor 18 (and hence also a motion element 18a) along an electronic data transfer bus (not shown) to the master controller 20. Hence, the position data is in this case obtained from the pulse transmitter of the first electric drive 8. From the master controller 20, the above-mentioned position data is communicated along an electronic data transfer bus 25 to the slave controller 21, from which the position and speed data is communicated to the second electric drive 19. The electronic data transfer medium 25 can be e.g. a cable for communicating an electronic pulse train 26 therealong. The number of pulses in the pulse train 26 determines a position of the second electric drive 19, which is preferably the same as that of the first electric drive 18. The rate of the pulse train 26 determines a speed of the electric drive 18, by which the electric drive 18, and thus also the lever element 16, changes positions. Accordingly, the cable 25 constitutes a so-called electrical axis between the electric drives 18 and 19. It enables a location-synchronized positioning of each electric drive. This arrangement, in which the second electric drive 19 is adapted to follow in a location-synchronized manner the movements of the first electric drive 18, enables ensuring that the lever elements 16 and 17 will be pivoted the same way. Thus, both ends of the rolls 4a, 4b (5a, 5b) shall be subjected to equal turning moments transmitted by the lever elements 16 and 17.
The above-described deflection control of the axles 4a, 4b (5a, 5b) can be utilized in the invention such that, during the bending of a glass panel, various conveyor rolls 4a (and press rolls 4b) of the bending conveyor 4 are deflected simultaneously with an unequal deflection radius, which becomes progressively smaller in the conveying direction. This assists and facilitates the bending of a glass panel about a bending axis extending in the conveying direction. The link bodies 9 are in turn connected to each other with a link mechanism (not shown), which forces the link bodies to pivot relative to each other over the same extent as the conveyor is being arched. Such a link mechanism has been described e.g. in the Applicant's patent EP-1385795 (Bl). Fig. 4 illustrates a power unit 10 and a lever system 11, by means of which the bending conveyor 4 is adjustable in terms of its radius of curvature. The power unit 10 can be a servomotor, which by way of a clutch operates a ball screw 10a, which in turn pushes and/or pivots the lever system 11 upon which rests a bridge established by the link bodies 9.
During a curvature adjustment of the conveyor 5 performed while the process is ongoing, the end of said conveyor must not become disengaged from an articulation point common to the conveyors 4 and 5. During a curvature adjustment, or immediately after the adjustment, the upstream end of the conveyor 5 is set in position, e.g. by means of a photocell control. Thus, what is carried out during a curvature adjustment, or immediately thereafter, is an interpolating position-setting for the ends of these conveyors. In the conveying direction, the ends of the conveyors 4 and 5 are mechanically separate from each other in order to enable a curvature adjustment of the tempering conveyor 5 and to enable, whenever necessary, a disengagement of the tempering conveyor 5 from the bending conveyor 4. The bending conveyor's 4 downstream end remains stationary at all times. Indicated by arrows 15 are power units for bringing rollers 14 up and down (vertical action). In addition, the rollers 14 are able to travel (while maintaining the relative distance between themselves) in a horizontal direction at the same time as a swing frame 13 supporting the conveyor 5 is pivoted while supported upon the rollers 14. The swing frame 13 has its pivoting axis coinciding with the midpoint of an arch which extends through the articulated axles of the conveyor's 5 link bodies 9.
The arching mechanism for the tempering conveyor 5 comprises a motion element 12a, which is movable e.g. by a servomotor and which, through the intermediary of arms 12b, arches a bridge established by the link bodies 9, and at the same time the entire conveyor 5 resting upon the link bodies 9.
The method according to the invention is implemented with the above- described apparatus as follows. A glass panel G is heated in a heating furnace 1 to a temperature appropriate for bending and tempering. The flat glass panel G is delivered from the furnace 1 onto a bending conveyor 4 while the latter is in a straight configuration (fig. 1). A tempering conveyor 5 has been previously arched to a desired curve as early as or even prior to having the flat glass panel received by the straight bending conveyor 4. The glass panel's exit speed from the furnace is e.g. 700 mm/s and the speed is decelerated over the period of e.g. 1 second to a speed of 400 mm/s at the same time as the glass panel passes onto the bending conveyor 4. The deceleration of speed in the preceding stage is typically at least 30%, preferably more than 40%. The exit speed from the furnace can also be lower, e.g. 550 mm/s, and the deceleration proceeds to a speed of less than 300 mm/s. Arching of the bending conveyor 4 to a desired curve is initiated even before the glass panel's trailing end section has completely reached the bending conveyor 4. Arching of the bending conveyor 4 is performed very quickly, typically over the period of 1-2 seconds. That period is enough for the glass panel's leading edge to reach a position in line with tempering air enclosures 7, 8 present at the downstream end of the bending conveyor 4. At the same time as the conveyor 4 is being arched, its rolls 4a, 4b are being deflected as described above at varying deflection speeds with the result that the leading part of a glass panel bends sooner than the trailing part, the latter not achieving the final curvature until it reaches the downstream end of the bending conveyor just before a tempering process. The tempering blast can be ongoing and the speed can be increased to some degree. The increase of speed can be e.g. 10-40%.
If necessary, the tempering conveyor 5 can be disengaged from the bending conveyor 4, enabling the tempering conveyor 5 to be pivoted as a whole for diminishing the vertical drop between its discharge end and midpoint (see e.g. fig. 3). Consequently, the glass panel can be discharged from the tempering conveyor 5 at quite a low angle with respect to the horizontal plane, without having to move the glass panel in vertical direction.
Whenever the apparatus is used to produce bent and tempered glass panels in succession with the same desired radius of curvature, the curvature of the tempering conveyor 5 is retained the same at all times. The only time that the curvature of the tempering conveyor 5 needs changing is when the desired glass panel curvature Rl changes.

Claims

Claims
1. A method for bending and tempering a glass panel, said method comprising the steps of - heating a glass panel in a heating furnace (1) for bending and tempering,
- feeding a flat glass panel (G) from the furnace (1) onto a bending conveyor (4) with the bending conveyor (4) in a straight configuration,
- arching the bending conveyor (4) and the glass panel to a desired curvature in a first glass-panel bending direction with the glass panel moving along the bending conveyor (4),
- deflecting conveyor rolls (4a, 4b) of the bending conveyor (4) for bending the glass panel to a desired curvature in a second bending direction, and
- feeding the bent glass panel from the bending conveyor (4) onto a tempering conveyor (5) present as its extension, which has been previously arched in said first bending direction and which has its rolls (5a,
5b) previously deflected in said second bending direction, characterized in that, during the bending of a glass panel, various conveyor rolls (4a, 4b) of the bending conveyor (4) are deflected simultaneously with unequal bending radii, which become progressively smaller in the conveying direction.
2. A method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the conveyor rolls (4a, 4b; 5a, 5b) of the conveyors (4, 5) are deflected by pivoting lever elements (16, 17), on which the ends of the conveyor rolls are mounted with bearings, characterized in that the lever elements (16, 17) present at the opposite ends of the same conveyor rolls (4a, 4b; 5a, 5b) are pivoted by means of electric drives (18, 19), the first of which, a position identifying electric drive (18), is controlled by a master controller (20) and the second electric drive (19) is controlled by a slave controller (21).
3. An apparatus for bending and tempering a glass panel, said apparatus comprising
- a heating furnace (1) for heating glass panels to a bending temperature - a bending conveyor (4) for bending glass panels, the bending conveyor (4) comprising horizontal conveyor rolls
- means (9) for arching the bending conveyor to a curve matching the desired curvature of a glass panel in a first glass-panel bending direction, - a tempering conveyor (5) as an extension of the bending conveyor (4), and
- means (7, 8) for cooling the bent glass panel for tempering, characterized in that the deflection of various conveyor rolls (4a, 4b) of the bending conveyor (4) is controlled to occur simultaneously with unequal bending radii, which become progressively smaller in the conveying direction.
4. An apparatus as set forth in claim 3, which, in order to deflect the conveyor rolls (4a, 4b; 5a, 5b) of the conveyors (4, 5), includes lever elements (16, 17), which are capable of being pivoted by power units (18, 19) and on which the ends of the conveyor rolls are mounted with bearings, characterized in that the lever elements (16, 17) present at the opposite ends of the same conveyor rolls are adapted to be pivoted by means of electric drives (18, 19), the first of which, a position identifying electric drive (18), receives its control from a master controller (20) and the second electric drive (19) receives its control from a slave controller (21).
5. An apparatus as set forth in claim 3 or 4, which has its bending conveyor (4) and its tempering conveyor (5) provided with lower conveyor rolls (4a, 5a) and upper press rolls (4b, 5b), the latter being provided with a drive and functioning also as conveyor rolls, characterized in that two conveyor rolls (4a, 5a) and two press rolls (4b, 5b) are each time bearing-mounted on a common end piece (22, 23), which has linked therewith a lever element (16, 17) capable of being pivoted by a power unit (18, 19) for deflecting said four rolls with the same deflection control.
PCT/FI2008/050361 2007-06-18 2008-06-13 Method and apparatus for bending and tempering a glass panel WO2008155459A1 (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA002688482A CA2688482A1 (en) 2007-06-18 2008-06-13 Method and apparatus for bending and tempering a glass panel

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FI20075464A FI120034B (en) 2007-06-18 2007-06-18 A method for bending and tempering a glass sheet
FI20075464 2007-06-18

Publications (1)

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Country Status (4)

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CA (1) CA2688482A1 (en)
FI (1) FI120034B (en)
TW (1) TW200906744A (en)
WO (1) WO2008155459A1 (en)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP2100859A1 (en) * 2008-03-14 2009-09-16 Asahi Glass Company, Limited Method and apparatus for bending a glass sheet
WO2011142814A1 (en) * 2010-05-12 2011-11-17 Pilkington Group Limited Method of shaping glass sheets

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US20060179885A1 (en) * 2003-02-21 2006-08-17 Pauli Reunamaki Method and apparatus for bending and tempering or heat-strengthening a bidirectionally curved glass panel

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US4773925A (en) * 1987-06-15 1988-09-27 Ppg Industries, Inc. Adjustable roll forming arrangement
FI92183B (en) * 1989-08-14 1994-06-30 Saint Gobain Vitrage Forming roll for a plant for bombardment of glass sheets
EP1006086A2 (en) * 1998-12-03 2000-06-07 Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. Curved glass manufacturing apparatus with improved bending and conveyor units
US20060179885A1 (en) * 2003-02-21 2006-08-17 Pauli Reunamaki Method and apparatus for bending and tempering or heat-strengthening a bidirectionally curved glass panel

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP2100859A1 (en) * 2008-03-14 2009-09-16 Asahi Glass Company, Limited Method and apparatus for bending a glass sheet
US8302429B2 (en) 2008-03-14 2012-11-06 Asahi Glass Company, Limited Method and apparatus for bending a glass sheet
WO2011142814A1 (en) * 2010-05-12 2011-11-17 Pilkington Group Limited Method of shaping glass sheets
JP2013531597A (en) * 2010-05-12 2013-08-08 ピルキントン グループ リミテッド Glass sheet forming method
JP2016196401A (en) * 2010-05-12 2016-11-24 ピルキントン グループ リミテッド Molding method of glass sheet

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FI20075464A0 (en) 2007-06-18
TW200906744A (en) 2009-02-16
CA2688482A1 (en) 2008-12-24
FI120034B (en) 2009-06-15

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