WO2009125794A1

WO2009125794A1 - Sealing mechanism and heat treatment furnace employing the same

Info

Publication number: WO2009125794A1
Application number: PCT/JP2009/057209
Authority: WO
Inventors: 和彦勝俣
Original assignee: 株式会社Ihi
Priority date: 2008-04-09
Filing date: 2009-04-08
Publication date: 2009-10-15
Also published as: JP5272486B2; JP2009250389A

Abstract

Disclosed is a sealing mechanism comprising a sealing member having a rigid pad portion and a flexible elastic portion. The rigid pad portion is caused to protrude from an annular groove to enable prompt sealing of an opening and the opening can be continuously and reliably sealed with very little deformation of the rigid pad portion when the opening has been sealed. Also disclosed is a heat treatment furnace employing this sealing mechanism, which can perform the heat treatment of an article to be treated according to a set treatment process and under set treatment conditions to produce a treated article possessing desired properties.

Description

Sealing mechanism and heat treatment furnace using the same

The present invention relates to a sealing mechanism for a structure including a wall having an opening and a door for sealing the opening, and a heat treatment furnace using the same.
This application claims priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-101117 for which it applied to Japan on April 9, 2008, and uses the content here.

Generally, in a heat treatment furnace that performs heat treatment of metal or the like, a heat treatment chamber for performing heat treatment on a product to be processed and a cooling treatment chamber for performing cooling treatment are disposed adjacent to each other. In the partition wall that separates the heat treatment chamber and the cooling treatment chamber, an opening for moving the product to be processed, an intermediate door that can seal the opening, and the opening disposed on the intermediate door And a sealing mechanism for sealing. In particular, when the cooling process chamber is filled with an inert gas and the product to be processed is cooled, the opening is sealed and the opening is sealed.

As one of the sealing mechanisms for such a structure, as is well known, an O-ring that is fixed to the facing surface of the door facing the opening and surrounds the opening in a state where the opening is sealed with the door, And a pressing device that presses the door against the wall with the opening sealed with the door.

Further, Patent Document 1 below discloses an annular groove formed in a portion corresponding to the periphery of the opening of the hermetic chamber or the periphery of the opening of the hermetic chamber of the door, and both openings of the opening of the groove. A packing holding portion provided on the edge along the groove, and a sheet-like packing having an annular outer shape and covering the entire opening of the groove and having both edges held by the packing holding portion. An enclosed sealing mechanism is disclosed. In this sealing resin, an airtight chamber is formed by supplying a high-pressure working fluid into the space between the groove and the packing to bulge the packing and bringing it into contact with a portion of the door or the airtight chamber facing the groove. The opening is sealed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-257498

However, the sealing mechanism provided with the O-ring has a problem in that it takes a long time to seal the opening by pressing the door against the wall. When such a sealing mechanism is used in the heat treatment furnace exemplified above, the cooling process cannot be performed until the sealing is completed, so that the heat treatment is delayed and the desired quality of the product to be processed cannot be obtained.

Further, in the sealing mechanism described in Patent Document 1, when the sealing mechanism is used under high pressure or reduced pressure, the sheet-like packing is greatly deformed by this pressure, and the sheet-like packing is opposed to the concave groove. There is a problem that the contact with the part of the door or the airtight chamber to be released is eliminated, and the opening is not sealed. When such a sealing mechanism is used in the heat treatment furnace exemplified above, there is a high possibility that the inert gas filled in the cooling treatment chamber leaks into the heat treatment chamber, and the atmosphere changes during the cooling treatment and the article to be treated. The desired quality may not be obtained.

This invention is made | formed in view of the situation mentioned above, and aims at the following.
(1) The opening is sealed quickly and the opening is continuously sealed.
(2) The product to be treated is heat-treated in a constant atmosphere without delay, and desired properties are obtained for the product to be treated.

The present invention employs the following means in order to solve the above problems.
That is, the present invention is directed to a structure including a wall having an opening and a door that seals the opening as a first solving means related to a sealing mechanism, and the opening is used as the door. An annular groove formed to surround the opening on at least one of the wall surface and the door surface opposed to each other in a sealed state, and a fluid sealing portion disposed in the annular groove. An internal sealing member, and the sealing member has a rigid pad portion that is configured to be thick at least on the open side of the annular groove portion, and is connected to the rigid pad portion, and is more rigid than the rigid pad portion. In a sealing mechanism comprising a thin and thin flexible expansion / contraction section that can expand and contract within the annular groove, the sealing member is deformed by controlling the pressure of the fluid and the opening is sealed by the door. Use a means to stop.

Further, as a second solving means related to the sealing mechanism, in the first solving means related to the sealing mechanism, the flexible stretchable portion includes a bent portion, and the sealing member is bent into the annular groove portion. Use a means of housing.
Further, as a third solving means related to the sealing mechanism, in the first solving means related to the sealing mechanism, the fixing member includes a fixing member that fixes the sealing member. A means is adopted in which the ring groove portion is fixed in close contact with the forming surface.

Further, as a fourth solving means related to the sealing mechanism, in the first solving means related to the sealing mechanism, the rigid pad portion includes a protruding portion extending toward the open side of the annular groove portion. , Is adopted.
Further, as a means for solving the heat treatment furnace, the opening is a carry-in / out port for communicating the internal space and the external space of the heat treatment chamber for housing the product to be processed, and the first to third related to the sealing mechanism. The means of using the sealing mechanism in any of the solution means is adopted.

According to the sealing mechanism according to the present invention, since the sealing member includes the rigid pad portion and the flexible expansion / contraction portion, the rigid pad portion is hardly deformed in an atmosphere in which the sealing mechanism is used. The flexible telescopic part expands and contracts when fluid enters and exits the part. Therefore, the opening can be quickly sealed by protruding the rigid pad portion from the annular groove, and the deformation of the rigid pad portion with the opening sealed is made extremely small, and the opening can be continuously and reliably secured. Can be sealed.

Moreover, according to the heat treatment furnace according to the present invention, since the sealing mechanism as described above is used, it is possible to quickly heat-treat by quickly sealing the opening, and in a certain atmosphere. Heat treatment can be performed. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a product to be processed having desired properties by performing a heat treatment on the product to be processed in the set processing steps and processing conditions.

It is an appearance lineblock diagram showing structure 1 in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a partial cross section figure which shows the sealing door 5 seen from the door-plate surface 5a side in embodiment of this invention. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of the sealing door 5 in the embodiment of the present invention, and is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of the sealing door 5 according to the embodiment of the present invention, and is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. It is an operation | movement figure of the sealing mechanism 10 in embodiment of this invention. It is an operation | movement figure of the sealing mechanism 10 in embodiment of this invention. It is an operation | movement figure of the sealing mechanism 10 in embodiment of this invention. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing an overall configuration of a multi-chamber heat treatment furnace 30 that employs a sealing mechanism 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a horizontal sectional view showing the whole multi-chamber heat treatment furnace 30 configuration in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a composition sectional view showing the composition of slide mechanism 52 in an embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 ... Wall part, 5 ... Sealing door (door), 10 ... Sealing mechanism, 11 ... Ring groove part, 13 ... Sealing member, 13a ... Rigid pad part, 13b ... Flexible expansion-contraction part, 13c ... Projection part, 13e ... Bending part, 13s ... Encapsulating part, 15 ... Fixing member, 30 ... Multi-chamber heat treatment furnace (heat treatment furnace), R1 ... Heat treatment room (heat treatment room), R2 ... Cooling treatment room (heat treatment room), A ... Air ( fluid)

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, first, the sealing mechanism according to the present invention will be described, and then a heat treatment furnace using the sealing mechanism will be described.

FIG. 1 is an external configuration diagram showing a structure 1 according to the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the structure 1 includes a main body 4 in which a sealed chamber R is configured by a wall 3 or the like in which an opening 2 is formed, and a sealing door (door) 5 that seals the opening 2. A lifting device 6 for moving the sealing door 5 up and down, a slide guide 7 (7A, 7B) for restricting the movement of the sealing door 5 in a direction other than the vertical direction, and a sealing mechanism 10 for sealing the opening 2 It is roughly composed.

The main body 4 is configured by a wall portion 3 standing upright on the floor G, a top plate portion 4a and the like, and a sealed chamber R is formed by the wall portion 3 and the top plate portion 4a and the like. The wall 3 that forms the sealed chamber R is formed with an opening 2 that communicates the sealed chamber R with the external space and has a rectangular opening cross section.
The sealed chamber R has a relatively high pressure when the sealing door 5 seals the opening 2 and the sealing mechanism 10 seals the opening 2.

The sealing door 5 has a substantially rectangular plate shape including door plate surfaces 5 a and 5 b having an area larger than the opening area of the opening 2. The sealing door 5 can be moved in the vertical direction along the wall portion 3 by the lifting device 6 and the slide guide 7, and the opening portion 2 can be sealed.

The lifting device 6 includes a wire winding device 6a fixed to the top plate portion 4a, a pulley 6b disposed above the sealing door 5, a wire winding device 6a and the sealing door 5 via the pulley 6b. And the sealing door 5 is moved up and down.

The slide guide 7 (7A, 7B) is a member that is formed in an elongated shape and has a substantially L-shaped cross section. The slide guide 7 is disposed opposite to both sides of the opening 2 with a length substantially the same as the length of the sealing door 5 in the short direction. More specifically, after the wall surface of the slide guide 7 (7A, 7B) extends in the direction orthogonal to the wall 3 by a length substantially the same as the thickness of the sealing door 5, the other slide guide 7 (7A, 7B) 7B) and bends in the same direction so as not to overlap the opening 2.

That is, when the sealing door 5 is sandwiched between the slide guide 7 (7A, 7B) and the wall portion 3, the movement of the sealing door 5 other than the vertical direction is restricted. A stopper (not shown) for restricting the downward movement of the sealing door 5 is formed at the lower part of the slide guide 7 (7A, 7B). When this stopper contacts the sealing door 5, the sealing door 5 seals the opening part 2 in a fixed position. In the following, unless otherwise specified, the state where the sealing door 5 seals the opening 2 refers to the sealed state at this fixed position.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the sealing door 5 viewed from the door plate surface 5a side. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the main part of the sealing door 5. FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2, and FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the sealing mechanism 10 includes an annular groove 11 formed in the sealing door 5, a sealing member 13 disposed in the annular groove 11, and the sealing member 13 as the annular groove 11. And a pump mechanism 17 (see FIG. 3B) that supplies air (air) A to the sealing member 13 and exhausts air A.

The annular groove 11 is formed on the door plate surface 5 a facing the wall 3 so as to surround the opening 2 in a state where the sealing door 5 seals the opening 2. More precisely, in a state where the sealing door 5 seals the opening 2, it is formed in an annular shape so as to surround the projection line 2 p that projects the opening 2 on the door plate surface 5 a.
As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the annular groove 11 has a rectangular cross section in the groove depth direction, and groove side surfaces 11a and 11b formed so as to be orthogonal to the door plate surface 5a. A groove bottom surface 11c formed so as to be orthogonal to the groove side surfaces 11a and 11b.

In the groove bottom surface 11c, a plurality of bolt through holes 11d penetrating the groove bottom surface 11c and the door plate surface 5b are opened at a predetermined interval, and one groove penetrating the groove bottom surface 11c and the door plate surface 5b. The nozzle through hole 11e is opened (see FIG. 2).

The sealing member 13 is made of fluororubber, and is formed in an annular shape and disposed in the annular groove 11 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the sealing member 13 includes a rigid pad portion 13a, a flexible stretchable portion 13b, a protruding portion 13c, and a fixed portion 13d.

The rigid pad portion 13a is a thick portion located on the open side of the annular groove portion 11, is formed in an annular and plate shape, and is fitted into the annular groove portion 11 so as to be sandwiched between the groove side surfaces 11a and 11b. ing. The rigid pad portion 13a has a thickness equal to or greater than the length from the door plate surface 5a to the wall portion 3 (the groove depth direction of the annular groove portion 11). That is, even when a load is applied to the rigid pad portion 13a along the direction of the door plate surface 5a in a state where the rigid pad portion 13a is protruded and closely adhered to the wall portion 3, the load is received by the annular groove portion 11. Can be done.

In addition, each dimension of the rigid pad portion 13a is set so that deformation caused in the rigid pad portion 13a due to a pressure difference between the sealed chamber R and the external space becomes extremely small.
Specifically, in consideration of the mechanical properties of fluororubber, in the state where the rigid pad portion 13a is protruded and brought into close contact with the wall portion 3, a shear force (described later) acting on the pressure difference between the sealed chamber R and the external space. Dimensions that can sufficiently withstand

Further, the rigid pad portion 13a is formed with a protruding portion 13c extending to the open side of the annular groove portion 11. Specifically, the position on the virtual center plane Q extending in the direction orthogonal to the width direction from the center in the width direction of the groove bottom surface 11c of the annular groove portion 11 is symmetrical with respect to the virtual center plane Q. The protrusion 13c is formed with a certain distance between the two positions.

The flexible stretchable part 13b is a thin part extending from both ends of the rigid pad part 13a toward the groove bottom face 11c, and includes a bent part 13e. That is, the flexible stretchable part 13b gradually approaches the virtual center plane Q from the open side of the annular groove 11 toward the groove bottom face 11c and passes through the bent part 13e closest to the virtual center plane Q, and then the virtual center plane It is formed so as to be gradually separated from Q. That is, the cross section along the groove depth direction is formed in a substantially L shape or a substantially inverted L shape.

The fixed portion 13d is obtained by extending the sealing member 13 from the flexible expansion / contraction portion 13b toward the virtual center plane Q by a predetermined length. Further, the end portion of the fixed portion 13d is opposed to the virtual center plane Q, and is closely fixed to the groove bottom surface 11c by the fixing member 15.

The fixing member 15 is formed in an annular shape and is disposed in the annular groove portion 11, and has a height that is approximately half the groove depth of the annular groove portion 11. The fixing member 15 extends from the groove bottom surface 11c along the virtual center plane Q longer than the thickness of the fixed portion 13d, and then projects in the width direction of the groove bottom surface 11c, and then gradually toward the opening side of the annular groove portion 11. The overhang width is narrow.
The fixing member 15 is formed with a female screw 15a coaxial with the bolt through hole 11d and one air supply / exhaust hole 15b coaxial with the nozzle through hole 11e.

That is, the fixing member 15 fixes the sealing member 13 to the annular groove portion 11 with the fixed portion 13d sandwiched between the protruding portion and the groove bottom surface 11c. That is, when the bolt 16 is inserted into the bolt through hole 11d and screwed into the female screw 15a, the tightening force of the bolt 16 presses the fixed portion 13d against the groove bottom surface 11c, and the sealing member 13 is moved to the annular groove portion 11. It is firmly fixed to.
In addition, a nozzle 18 that is closely fixed to the air supply / exhaust hole 15b is disposed and fixed in the nozzle through hole 11e.

With such a configuration, the sealing member 13 is fixedly accommodated in the annular groove portion 11, and the inside thereof is an air A enclosing portion 13s. Further, the enclosing portion 13s communicates with the air supply / exhaust hole 15b (nozzle 18).

The pump mechanism 17 pumps and exhausts the air A, and makes it possible to control the pressure of the air A in the enclosing portion 13s.

Next, a method for sealing the opening 2 and a method for releasing this sealed state in the structure 1 having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 4.
First, as shown in FIG. 1, when the sealing door 5 is positioned above the opening 2 and the opening 2 is opened, the lifting device 6 is operated to move the sealing door 5 along the slide guide 7. Slide. Then, the opening 2 is sealed by bringing the sealing door 5 into contact with a stopper (not shown) of the slide guide 7.

In a state where the opening 2 is sealed with the sealing door 5, as shown in FIG. 4A, air A is supplied from the pump mechanism 17 to the enclosure 13s, and the pressure in the enclosure 13s is increased. As the pressure of the enclosing portion 13s increases, as shown in FIG. 4B, the flexible stretchable portion 13b quickly expands, and the rigid pad portion 13a extends along the annular groove portion 11 (groove side surfaces 11a and 11b). 11 is displaced to the open side, and the tip of the protrusion 13 c comes into contact with the wall 3.

Further, when the pressure of the enclosing portion 13s is increased, as shown in FIG. 4C, the rigid pad portion 13a is displaced toward the wall portion 3, and the rigid pad portion 13a is brought into close contact with the wall portion 3 while crushing the protruding portion 13c. The opening 2 is quickly sealed.

When the opening 2 is sealed and the sealed chamber R is sealed, an inert gas is injected into the sealed chamber R, and the pressure in the sealed chamber R increases. When the sealed chamber R becomes high pressure, a pressure difference is generated between the sealed chamber R and the external space, and a part of the rigid pad portion 13a protruding from the annular groove portion 11 is directed outward from the center of the door plate surface 5a. Receive the force to push. That is, a shearing force is generated in the rigid pad portion 13a along the direction of the door plate surface 5a.

The rigid pad portion 13a is deformed to a very small extent by a shearing force along the direction of the door plate surface 5a, but is not deformed so that the contact state with the wall portion 3 is eliminated. The part 2 is continuously sealed.

Finally, in order to open the opening 2 again, the inert gas injected into the sealed chamber R is exhausted from an exhaust pipe (not shown), and the sealed chamber R is decompressed. Thereafter, the air A is exhausted from the enclosing portion 13s to shorten the flexible expansion / contraction portion 13b, and the rigid pad portion 13a is separated from the wall portion 3 to release the sealing of the opening 2 (see FIG. 4B). . Furthermore, the pressure reduction of the enclosure part 13s is continued, and the rigid pad part 13a is accommodated in the annular groove part 11 so that the flexible elastic part 13b contacts the fixing member 15 (see FIG. 4A).
And in the state which accommodated the rigid pad part 13a in the annular groove part 11, the raising / lowering apparatus 6 is operated, the sealing door 5 is moved upwards and the opening part 2 is open | released (refer FIG. 1).

As described above, according to the sealing mechanism 10 of the structure 1, since the sealing member 13 includes the rigid pad portion 13a and the flexible elastic portion 13b, the opening 2 is quickly sealed. At the same time, the opening 2 can be sealed reliably.
That is, in a state where the rigid pad portion 13a is in close contact with the wall portion 3, a part of the rigid pad portion 13a on the groove bottom surface 11c side is fitted into the annular groove portion 11, so that the pressure acting on the rigid pad portion 13a is annular. It can be received by the groove 11. Moreover, each dimension of the rigid pad part 13a is set so that it can fully endure the shear force along the direction of the door board surface 5a, and the rigid pad part 13a is formed in thickness. As a result, even when the sealed chamber R is at a high pressure and there is a pressure difference with the external space, the deformation of the rigid pad portion 13a is extremely small, and the deformation that does not cause close contact with the wall portion 3 does not occur. Therefore, by keeping the rigid pad portion 13a in close contact with the wall portion 3, the opening portion 2 can be continuously and reliably sealed.
Further, when the air A is made to enter and exit from the enclosing portion 13s, the flexible elastic portion 13b expands and contracts. Thereby, at the time of sealing of the opening part 2, the rigid pad part 13a can be protruded from the annular groove part 11, and the opening part 2 can be sealed rapidly.
Therefore, the opening 2 can be quickly sealed and the opening 2 can be continuously and reliably sealed.

Moreover, since the flexible expansion-contraction part 13b is provided with a bending part, while the sealing member 13 can be folded and accommodated compactly, when sealing the opening part 2, it becomes possible to expand | extend quickly.
Further, since the fixing member 15 tightly fixes the fixed portion 13d to the groove bottom surface 11c of the annular groove portion 11, the sealing portion 13s can be reliably sealed. Therefore, the flexible telescopic part 13b can be favorably deformed by pumping or exhausting the air A.
In addition, since the rigid pad portion 13a includes the protruding portion 13c, the opening portion 2 can be reliably sealed by crushing the protruding portion 13c and bringing the rigid pad portion 13a into close contact with the wall portion 3.

Subsequently, a heat treatment furnace employing the above-described sealing mechanism 10 will be described. FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view showing the overall configuration of a multi-chamber heat treatment furnace (heat treatment furnace) 30 employing the sealing mechanism 10, and FIG. 6 is a horizontal cross-sectional view showing the overall configuration of the multi-chamber heat treatment furnace 30. It is. 5 to 7, the same components as those shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the multi-chamber heat treatment furnace 30 in this embodiment includes a vacuum heating furnace 40, a gas cooling furnace 60 disposed adjacent to the vacuum heating furnace 40 through the wall 3, and a vacuum A vacuum device 70 connected to the heating furnace 40 and the gas cooling furnace 60 (not shown in FIG. 5), a cooling gas supply device 80 connected to the gas cooling furnace 60 (not shown in FIG. 5), a vacuum heating furnace And a moving device 90 arranged at 40.

The vacuum heating furnace 40 has a function of heating the workpiece W carried therein under reduced pressure. The vacuum heating furnace 40 includes a vacuum vessel 41 that is designed to withstand pressure and forms a wall 3 and a heat treatment chamber (heat treatment chamber) R1, a box-type heat insulating material 42 that accommodates an article to be treated W, and an article to be treated. A mounting table 45 (not shown in FIG. 6) on which W is movably moved back and forth in the direction of the gas cooling furnace 60, and a heater 46 which is disposed in the internal space of the box-shaped heat insulating material 42 and heats the workpiece W. (Not shown in FIG. 6).

The vacuum vessel 41 is a box in which a substantially cylindrical portion 41a in which a box-shaped heat insulating material 42 is disposed and a space S in which a sealing door 5 capable of sealing the opening 2 of the wall portion 3 moves up and down is formed. It is comprised integrally from the type | mold part 41b.

The box-shaped heat insulating material 42 is formed with a front port 42a for putting the processed product W in and out in the direction of the gas cooling furnace 60 and a rear port 42b for bringing the moving device 90 into contact with the processed product W. Each has a front door 42c and a rear door 42d that can be opened and sealed.

As shown in FIG. 5, the mounting table 45 is configured such that an elongated frame 45 a is disposed facing the frame 45 a and a free roller F is attached to the frame 45 a. The mounting table 45 is arranged such that both ends in the longitudinal direction of the frame 45a face the opening with the front port 42a or the rear port 42b.
In the space S, a free roller F for moving the workpiece W between the vacuum heating furnace 40 and the gas cooling furnace 60 is provided at the same height as the free roller F of the mounting table 45. .

The wall portion 3 is disposed between the vacuum heating furnace 40 and the gas cooling furnace 60 and functions as a partition wall that separates the heat treatment chamber R1 from a cooling treatment chamber R2 described later. Further, the opening 2 of the wall 3 has a size through which the workpiece W can pass, and functions as an opening for carrying in and carrying the heat processing chamber R1 and the cooling processing chamber R2. .
Furthermore, the sealing door 5 is arrange | positioned at the heat processing chamber R1 side of the wall part 3, and the raising / lowering apparatus 51 which moves the sealing door 5 up and down is arrange | positioned above the box-shaped part 41b. Furthermore, a slide guide mechanism 52 that restricts the movement of the sealing door 5 in the direction other than the vertical direction is disposed in the space S, and the sealing mechanism 10 is provided on the door plate surface 5 a of the sealing door 5.

The elevating device 51 is composed of a pneumatic cylinder, and elevates and lowers the sealing door 5 up and down via a connecting member 51 a connected to the sealing door 5.
The slide guide mechanism 52 includes two clamp members 53 (53A and 53B) and four guide members 54.

FIG. 7 is a structural sectional view showing the structure of the slide guide mechanism 52, and is a partially enlarged view of FIG.
The clamp member 53 (53A, 53B) is a long and narrow quadrangular prism member, a main body portion 53a having a rectangular cross section, and a rail portion 53b having a rectangular cross section protruding from one side surface 53c of the main body portion 53a. It is equipped with. The rail portion 53b is formed at a position adjacent to the one side surface 53c of the main body portion 53a at right angles to the one side surface 53c, and from the mounting surface 53d formed along the longitudinal direction of the main body portion 53a. It protrudes at a position spaced apart by substantially the same length as the thickness of.
The

clamp members

53A and 53B are fixed to the wall portion 3 with bolts so that the rail portions 53b of the

clamp members

53A and 53B face each other with their longitudinal directions overlapped in the vertical direction.

The guide member 54 is a member having two bent portions, and a fixed portion 54a fixed in contact with the door plate surface 5b of the sealing door 5, and an end portion of the fixed portion 54a on the clamp member 53 side. An intermediate portion 54b formed in a direction orthogonal to the fixing portion 54a, a direction orthogonal to the intermediate portion 54b from an end portion of the intermediate portion 54b on the clamp member 53 side, and an extending direction of the fixing portion 54a. And a slide portion 54c formed in the opposite direction.
The guide member 54 is fixed to the sealing door 5 with a bolt so that the slide portion 54c and the door plate surface 5b of the sealing door 5 sandwich the rail portion 53b leaving a minute gap.
Note that a stopper (not shown) that restricts the downward movement of the sealing door 5 is formed in the lower part of the guide member 54 as in the slide guide 7 described above.

Such a slide guide mechanism 52 restricts the movement of the sealing door 5 in a direction other than the vertical direction, and always makes a constant gap between the sealing door 5 and the wall portion 3. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the sealing door 5 is configured to hang from the lifting device 51 via the connecting member 51 a.

As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the gas cooling furnace 60 cools the workpiece W after the heat treatment with the pressurized inert gas C. The gas cooling furnace 60 has a wall 3 designed to withstand pressure, a vacuum vessel 61 constituting a cooling processing chamber R2 (heat treatment chamber), a gas flow adjacent to the wall 3 and having a constant cross section in the vertical direction inside thereof. The flow regulating container 62 formed with a path, a mounting table 63 (not shown in FIG. 6) having the same configuration as the mounting table 45 disposed inside the flow regulating container 62, the inert gas C is cooled and the inert gas is cooled. And a gas cooling / circulating device 64 for circulating the gas C to the cooling processing chamber R2.

The vacuum vessel 61 accommodates a cylindrical vessel body 61b in which a flow rectifying vessel 62 is disposed and one end of which is joined to the wall 3 and a gas cooling / circulation device 64, and the other of the vessel body 61b. A circulation portion 61c that can be joined to the end portion, and a clutch ring 61e and a clamp 61d that can ensure airtightness are provided.
In such a vacuum container 61, the workpiece W is directly accommodated in the container body 61b by opening the clutch ring 61e and retracting the circulation part 61c from the container body 61b in the right direction in FIG. Further, the clutch ring 61e and the clamp 61d connect the end of the container body 61b and the circulation part 61c in a state where airtightness is ensured, seal the opening 2 of the wall 3 and the cooling processing chamber R2. It is designed to be sealed.

The vacuum device 70 is connected to the vacuum heating furnace 40 and the gas cooling furnace 60, and can depressurize the heat processing chamber R1 and the cooling processing chamber R2.
The gas supply device 80 is connected to the gas cooling furnace 60 and pressurizes and supplies an inert gas such as argon, helium, and nitrogen to the cooling processing chamber R2.

The moving device 90 is for moving the workpiece W between the vacuum heating furnace 40 and the gas cooling furnace 60. The moving device 90 includes an engaging portion 91a that can be engaged with the workpiece W at the tip, a transport rod 91 that can move horizontally under the free roller F, a rack and pinion mechanism that drives the transport rod 91, It has.

Next, a heat treatment process of the multi-chamber heat treatment furnace 30 having the above configuration will be described.
First, as shown in FIG. 5, the clutch ring 61 e is opened and the circulating portion 61 c is moved backward from the container body 61 b in the right direction in FIG. 5 to place the workpiece W on the placing table 63 of the rectifying vessel 62. . Thereafter, the circulation part 61c is joined to the container body 61b, and the clutch ring 61e is attached to make the joint between the circulation part 61c and the container body 61b airtight.

Next, the front opening 42a and the rear opening 42b of the box-shaped heat insulating material 42 and the opening 2 of the wall 3 are opened, and the conveying rod 91 is moved to the lower part of the article W to be processed. Engage with the workpiece W. Thereafter, the transfer rod 91 is moved from the cooling processing chamber R2 to the heating processing chamber R1, whereby the workpiece W is moved on the free roller F and accommodated in the box-shaped heat insulating material 42.

Next, the lifting device 51 is operated, and the sealing door 5 located above the opening 2 is slid downward to seal the opening 2. Then, the opening 2 is quickly sealed by the sealing mechanism 10, and the heat treatment chamber R1 and the cooling treatment chamber R2 are sealed. In this state, the heat treatment chamber R1 and the cooling treatment chamber R2 are depressurized to a predetermined degree of vacuum, and after the heat treatment chamber R1 reaches a predetermined degree of vacuum, the front port 42a is sealed with the

front door

42c, 42b is sealed with a rear door 42d.

In this state, the workpiece W is heated by the heater 46, and after a predetermined time has elapsed, the front opening 42a and the rear opening 42b are opened again, and the sealing of the opening 2 is released. And the raising / lowering apparatus 51 is operated and the sealing door 5 moves to the upper direction from the state which sealed the opening part 2. FIG. At this time, the sealing door 5 does not come into contact with the wall portion 3 and quickly moves upward to open the opening portion 2.

Then, the article W to be processed moves on the free roller F from the box-shaped heat insulating material 42 to the rectifying container 62 by the conveying rod 91. After the article to be processed W moves to the rectifying container 62, the lifting device 51 is operated to move the sealing door 5 downward from above to seal the opening 2. Thereafter, the opening 2 is quickly sealed by the sealing mechanism 10, and the heat treatment chamber R1 and the cooling treatment chamber R2 are sealed again.

In a state where the cooling processing chamber R2 is sealed, the gas supply device 80 pressurizes and supplies the inert gas C to the cooling processing chamber R2. Then, the inert gas C filled in the cooling processing chamber R <b> 2 is cooled and circulated by the gas cooling circulation device 64 to cool the workpiece W accommodated in the rectifying vessel 62. At this time, the cooling chamber R2 has a relatively high pressure, but the deformation of the rigid pad portion 13a of the sealing mechanism 10 is extremely small and does not deform so that the contact state with the wall portion 3 is eliminated. Continue to seal part 2. That is, the inert gas C does not leak into the heat treatment chamber R1.

After a predetermined time has passed, the inert gas C is exhausted through an exhaust pipe (not shown), the pressure in the cooling processing chamber R2 is reduced, and the clutch ring 61e is opened after the pressure reduction. Then, the circulating part 61c is moved backward from the container body part 61b in the right direction in FIG. 5 to collect the article W to be processed from the mounting table 63 of the rectifying container 62.

As described above, according to the multi-chamber heat treatment furnace 30, since the sealing mechanism 10 is used, the opening 2 can be quickly sealed and the cooling process can be quickly performed. Further, the inert gas C can be prevented from leaking into the heat treatment chamber R1, and the cooling process can be performed in a certain atmosphere. Therefore, it is possible to heat-treat the article to be processed W in the set processing steps and processing conditions and obtain the article to be processed W having a desired property.

Moreover, since the sealing door 5 having the above-described structure is suspended from the lifting device 51 via the connecting member 51a in a state in which a gap of a certain distance or more is always maintained from the wall portion 3, the lifting device 51 is operated. The opening 2 and the windbreak can be quickly opened.

In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, For example, the following modifications can be considered.
(1) In the above embodiment, the sealing groove 5 is formed on the sealing door 5 to configure the sealing mechanism 10. However, the sealing mechanism 10 is formed by forming the annular groove near the periphery of the opening 2 in the wall 3. May be configured.
(2) In the above embodiment, the fluoro rubber is used as the material of the sealing member 13 of the sealing mechanism 10, but other materials such as silicon rubber may be used.
(3) In the above embodiment, air A is used as a fluid to be sealed in the sealing portion 13s, but a liquid or other gas may be used.
(4) In the above embodiment, the sealing door 5 is configured to be movable up and down. For example, a wheel or the like is provided below the sealing door 5 so as to be movable in the left and right direction (horizontal direction). May be.
(5) In the above embodiment, the case where the opening 2 is sealed by the sealing door 5 functioning as a partition wall between the heat treatment chamber R1 and the cooling treatment chamber R2 has been described. The present invention may be applied to a case where a charging extraction port communicating with the processing chamber R1 or the cooling processing chamber R2 is provided and sealed.
(6) In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to the multi-chamber heat treatment furnace 30, but other heat treatment furnaces such as a single-chamber heat treatment furnace that performs heat treatment and cooling treatment in one heat treatment chamber, The present invention can also be applied to a heat treatment furnace in which a heat treatment furnace and a cooling treatment furnace are provided in a row and a transfer furnace is provided that moves between them to convey an object to be processed.

Claims

A wall having an opening;
For a structure including a door that seals the opening,
An annular groove formed so as to surround the opening in at least one of the surface of the wall and the surface of the door facing each other in a state where the opening is sealed with the door;
A sealing member disposed in the annular groove and having a fluid sealing portion therein;
With
The sealing member is
A rigid pad portion configured to be thick at least on the open side of the annular groove portion;
A flexible stretchable portion that is connected to the rigid pad portion and is thinner than the rigid pad portion, and is stretchable within the annular groove portion;
In a sealing mechanism comprising
A sealing mechanism that deforms the sealing member by controlling the pressure of the fluid and seals the opening by the door.
The flexible telescopic part includes a bent part,
The sealing mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the sealing member is folded and accommodated in the annular groove.
2. The sealing mechanism according to claim 1, further comprising a fixing member that fixes the sealing member in close contact with a formation surface of the annular groove portion.
2. The sealing mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the rigid pad portion includes a protruding portion extending toward an open side of the annular groove portion.
The opening is a loading / unloading port that communicates an internal space and an external space of a heat treatment chamber that accommodates an object to be processed,
A heat treatment furnace using the sealing mechanism according to claim 1.