WO2023218792A1

WO2023218792A1 - Degreasing apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2023218792A1
Application number: PCT/JP2023/013496
Authority: WO
Inventors: 優田中
Original assignee: 株式会社島津製作所
Priority date: 2022-05-13
Filing date: 2023-03-31
Publication date: 2023-11-16
Also published as: TW202344322A

Abstract

Provided is a degreasing apparatus 100 with which maintenance can be performed at an appropriate time to ensure the maximal operation time of the apparatus, and even when an unexpected abnormality occurs, the factor of the abnormality can more accurately be identified. For that purpose, the apparatus comprises: a heating furnace 1 for accommodating and degreasing an object W to be treated; a measurement device 2 for measuring the amount of generated gas that has been generated in the degreasing, or a value that indirectly represents same (hereinafter, will be referred to as the generated gas amount); and an information processing device 7 for calculating, on the basis of the generated gas amount that has been measured by the measurement device 2, management information that is information relating to management including an inspection/maintenance time.

Description

Degreasing equipment

The present invention relates to a degreasing device that performs degreasing treatment on objects to be treated such as ceramic materials.

This type of conventional degreasing device as shown in Patent Document 1 requires regular maintenance. For example, a heating furnace that stores and degreases objects to be processed is provided with an opening for taking the objects in and out, and this opening is hermetically sealed with a lid during degreasing; The provided seal member is replaced during regular maintenance.

In addition, inspections and repairs are also performed when some abnormality occurs in the equipment, such as a malfunction in the processing process, and various parts, including the sealing members mentioned above, are replaced and adjusted at that time. .

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-43704

However, if the equipment is operated until an abnormality occurs, the parts may suffer significant damage and it may take more time and money than expected to restore the equipment. However, if the frequency of periodic maintenance is increased in order to prevent abnormalities from occurring, it is inevitable that the operating time of the equipment will be reduced.

Furthermore, with conventional devices, for example, when a sudden problem occurs in a treatment process, it may not be possible to fully identify the cause.

Therefore, the present invention has been developed to enable maintenance to be carried out at an appropriate time in this type of heating device for degreasing, thereby preventing abnormalities from occurring in the device and ensuring the maximum operating time of the device. , even if an unexpected abnormality occurs, the purpose is to be able to identify the cause with more precision.

In other words, the degreasing apparatus according to the present invention includes a heating furnace for storing and degreasing an object to be treated, and an amount of generated gas generated during the degreasing treatment or a value indirectly indicating this (hereinafter referred to as the amount of generated gas). ), and an information processing device that calculates management information, which is information related to management including inspection and maintenance timing, based on the amount of gas generated measured by the measuring device. That is.

According to the above configuration, inspection and maintenance can be performed at appropriate times based on the amount of gas generated, thereby preventing abnormalities in the equipment and ensuring maximum equipment operating time. Even if an unexpected abnormality occurs, the cause can be identified with greater accuracy.

1 is an overall schematic diagram of a degreasing device in one embodiment of the present invention. It is a graph showing the time course of the absorbance spectrum. 2 is a graph showing a change over time in the waveform area of a CH group shown in an absorbance spectrum. It is a graph showing a calibration curve between the amount of generated gas and the integrated value. It is a flowchart which shows the operation of the amount calculation part of generated gas in the same embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation of the management information calculation part in the same embodiment.

Hereinafter, a degreasing device according to this embodiment will be explained with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, this degreasing apparatus 100 includes a heating furnace 1 that accommodates a processing target W such as a ceramic molded body and performs a degreasing process, and a heating furnace 1 for degreasing the processing target W in the heating furnace 1. It is equipped with a measuring device 2 that in-line measures the weight of gas generated by decomposition and vaporization of the organic binder contained therein, or a value indirectly indicating this (hereinafter also referred to as the amount of generated gas).

The heating furnace 1 includes, for example, a metal furnace body 11 provided with an opening for taking in and taking out the object W to be treated, and a metal door 12 that closes the opening. By maintaining this heating furnace 1 at a predetermined temperature for degreasing, the gas generated from the object W to be treated is discharged from the heating furnace 1 together with the degreasing gas such as inert gas and superheated steam introduced inside. is configured to be

To this end, this heating furnace 1 is connected to a gas inlet pipe 3 for supplying the degreasing gas and a gas exhaust pipe 4 for discharging the generated gas, as well as controlling the inside of the heating furnace 1 using temperature control means such as a thermocouple. A heater 5 for maintaining a predetermined degreasing temperature, a fan 6 for circulating degreasing gas within the heating furnace 1, and the like are provided.

Further, a control device (not shown) is further provided for automatically performing a predetermined degreasing sequence by controlling the valve (not shown) provided in the gas introduction pipe 3, etc., the fan 6, the heater 5, etc.

The measuring device 2 includes a gas detection device 21 that detects the generated gas, and a gas amount calculation section 22 that calculates the amount of generated gas based on the detection data output from the gas detection device 21. be.

The gas detection device 21 detects a predetermined component (for example, a gas having a C--H group) of the generated gas, and here, it is an FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectrometer), which is one of the absorbance meters. is used. This gas detection device 21 is installed near the exhaust port of the heating furnace 1, but the installation location may be any position where generated gas is detected, such as any location within the heating furnace 1 or a gas exhaust pipe. It doesn't matter if it's within 4. Further, the gas detection device 21 is not limited to FTIR, and includes, for example, an NDIR (non-dispersive infrared absorption method) type gas sensor, GC (gas chromatograph), FID (flame ionization detector), TOC meter (total organic carbon meter). etc. may also be used.

Here, the function of the gas amount calculation unit 22 is performed by the information processing device 7. This information processing device 7 is a so-called computer equipped with a CPU, a memory, an I/O interface, a communication interface, etc. The information processing device 7 is a computer equipped with a CPU, a memory, an I/O interface, a communication interface, etc. It functions as the gas amount calculation section 22.

Note that this information processing device 7 does not need to be physically integrated, and may be composed of a plurality of computers that are communicably connected to each other, and for example, the control device may control all or all of this information processing device 7. It may be configured to take on some functions.

In addition to the gas amount calculation unit 22, the information processing device 7 also functions as a management information calculation unit 71 that calculates management information that is information related to management including inspection and maintenance timing.

Next, in order to provide a detailed explanation of the gas amount calculation unit 22 and the management information calculation unit 71, their operations will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 5 and 6.

When the degreasing process is started (step S11), the gas amount calculation unit 22 acquires the detection data output from the gas detection device 21 at each sampling time (step S12) (step S13), By applying background correction and the like, an absorbance spectrum as shown in FIG. 2 is calculated (step S14). Note that FIG. 2 is an example of the absorbance spectra of the generated gas at the first time, second time, and third time during the degreasing process.

By the way, the waveform area of the C-H group in this absorbance spectrum has a constant relationship (proportional relationship) with the amount of gas generated at that sampling time, and the value obtained by integrating this waveform area over time over the degreasing treatment period. In other words, the integrated value of the waveform area at each sampling time has a certain relationship (proportional relationship) with the amount of gas generated during the degreasing process, and becomes a value that indirectly indicates the amount of gas generated during the degreasing process. The present inventor has discovered that.

According to this principle, the gas amount calculation unit 22 calculates the area of the waveform caused by the CH group (the area of the shaded portion shown in FIG. 2) in the absorbance spectrum at each sampling time (step S15).

Then, the gas amount calculation unit 22 calculates an integrated value (hereinafter also referred to as an actual measured integrated value) of the waveform area at each sampling time during the degreasing process (step S17). Note that the waveform area and integrated value calculated in each degreasing process are recorded in a predetermined area of the memory as log data.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing an example of a change in the waveform area of a CH group when the horizontal axis represents elapsed time, and represents a change in the amount of gas generated over time. From this graph, it can be seen that after a certain amount of time has passed since the start of the degreasing process, the amount of gas generated begins to gradually increase, passes a peak, and finally reaches 0, indicating the completion of degreasing. The area of the peak waveform in this graph (indicated by diagonal lines) becomes the integrated value.

Note that, as shown in FIG. 4, a calibration curve showing the relationship between the integrated value and the amount of gas generated (amount of weight reduction of the object W to be processed) is determined in advance through experiments or the like. In this embodiment, calibration curve data indicating this calibration curve is stored in a calibration curve data storage section 72 set in a predetermined area of the memory in the form of a calculation formula, a table, or the like.

Furthermore, the amount of gas generated by normal degreasing treatment is determined for each type of object W to be treated, and can be determined from experiments, past degreasing treatment data, etc. In this embodiment, the expected amount of generated gas for each type of object W to be processed (hereinafter also referred to as expected amount of generated gas) is stored in advance in the expected amount of generated gas storage section 73 set in a predetermined area of the memory. I have let you.

The management information calculation unit 71 recognizes the type of the object W to be degreased based on the operator's input, and refers to the estimated gas amount storage unit 73 to calculate the estimated gas generation of the object W to be degreased. The amount is acquired (step S21).

Further, the management information calculation unit 72 refers to the calibration curve data and calculates an estimated integrated value that is an integrated value corresponding to the estimated amount of generated gas (step S22).

Next, the management information calculation unit 71 calculates a difference by subtracting the assumed integrated value from the actual measured integrated value (step S23), and when the difference value exceeds a predetermined threshold (step S24), the management information Information indicating that the inspection/maintenance period, which is one of the following, has been reached is output (step S25). This information is output and displayed on the display of the information processing device 7 or a mobile terminal connected to the information processing device 7 by wire or wirelessly.

The reason why the measured integrated value exceeds the expected integrated value can be the start of deterioration of door seals, fan shaft seals, etc. When these seals begin to deteriorate, the amount of air mixed in from the outside increases, which accelerates the decomposition of the generated gas, even though it does not lead to abnormalities in the degreasing process or equipment failure. This is because the amount) increases. In addition, a similar situation may occur depending on the storage condition of the object to be processed.

Upon receiving the management information, the operator temporarily stops the operation of the degreasing device 100 and performs inspection and maintenance such as leak testing and seal replacement.

According to the configuration described above, seal deterioration etc. can be detected quickly, so inspection and maintenance can be carried out at the exact timing when inspection and maintenance need to be performed. Therefore, while preventing abnormalities from occurring in the degreasing apparatus 100, wasteful inspection and maintenance can be made unnecessary, and the maximum operating time of the apparatus can be ensured.

Furthermore, even if an unexpected abnormality occurs, the log data and the difference between the integrated value and the expected integrated value are recorded in memory and can be referenced, so the cause can be identified more accurately. can. In this respect, the log data and the difference value can be said to be feedback information for quality control of the processing object W, which is one type of management information.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments.

For example, in the embodiment described above, the inspection/maintenance period is defined as the point in time when the difference value obtained by subtracting the estimated integrated value from the actual measured integrated value exceeds a predetermined threshold value. Then, based on the speed at which the amount of change increases, a time in the future when the difference value will exceed a predetermined threshold may be predicted, and the predicted time may be output in advance as the inspection/maintenance time.

In the embodiment described above, the necessity of inspection and maintenance was determined by comparing the measured integrated value and the assumed integrated value, but by converting using the calibration curve data, the amount of gas generated and the estimated gas generated It may be determined by comparing with the quantity.

In the embodiment, the amount of generated gas was measured based on its absorbance spectrum, focusing on the C--H group contained in the generated gas, but other functional groups or components may be used. In this respect, in the above embodiment, FTIR is used as the gas detection device, and it is possible to measure and analyze various components of the generated gas, so more information can be obtained and used for inspection and maintenance, quality control, and abnormality identification. It can greatly contribute to such things.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit thereof.
The features of the configuration described above are summarized as follows.

[1] A heating furnace that accommodates and degreases the object to be treated, and in-line measurement of the amount of gas generated during the degreasing process or a value that indirectly indicates this (hereinafter referred to as the amount of gas generated). A degreasing device comprising: a degreasing device; and an information processing device that calculates management information that is management information including inspection and maintenance timing based on the amount of gas generated measured by the measuring device.
With this kind of equipment, inspection and maintenance can be carried out at appropriate times based on the amount of gas generated, thereby preventing equipment abnormalities and ensuring maximum equipment operating time. , Even if an unexpected abnormality occurs, the cause can be identified with greater accuracy.

[2] The information processing device calculates the management information based on the difference between the amount of gas generated measured by the measuring device and the amount of gas generated that is assumed to be generated from the object to be treated. The degreasing device described in ].
If this is the case, highly accurate management information can be calculated.

[3] The degreasing apparatus according to [1] or [2], wherein the management information includes feedback information for quality control of the object to be processed.
If this is the case, it is possible to improve the degreasing treatment protocol and the storage of objects to be treated.

[4] The measuring device includes a gas detection device that detects the generated gas, and a gas amount calculation unit that calculates the amount of generated gas based on the detection data of the gas detection device [1], [ 2] or the degreasing device according to [3].
With such a device, the amount of gas generated can be measured in-line in real time.

[5] The degreasing apparatus according to [4], wherein the gas detection device includes an FTIR.
With such a device, it is possible to perform measurements focusing on various components of the generated gas, and more information can be obtained, which can greatly contribute to inspection and maintenance, quality control, abnormality identification, etc.

Since inspection and maintenance can be performed at appropriate times based on the amount of gas generated, it is possible to prevent abnormalities from occurring in the equipment, ensure maximum equipment operating time, and prevent unexpected abnormalities from occurring. However, the cause can be identified with greater precision.

100 Degreasing device W Processing object 1 Heating furnace 2 Measuring device 21 Gas detection device 22 Generated gas amount calculation unit 7 Information processing device 71・Management information calculation department

Claims

a heating furnace for accommodating and degreasing an object to be treated; a measuring device for measuring the amount of gas generated during the degreasing treatment or a value indirectly indicating this (hereinafter referred to as the amount of gas generated); A degreasing device comprising: an information processing device that calculates management information that is management information including inspection and maintenance timing based on the amount of gas generated measured by the measuring device.
The information processing device calculates the management information based on the difference between the amount of gas generated measured by the measuring device and the amount of gas generated that is assumed to be generated from the object to be processed. Degreasing equipment.
The degreasing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the management information includes feedback information for quality control of the object to be processed.
The degreasing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the measuring device includes a gas detection device that detects the generated gas, and a gas amount calculation unit that calculates the amount of generated gas based on detection data of the gas detection device. .
The degreasing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the gas detection device is equipped with an FTIR.
A heating furnace that accommodates and degreases the object to be treated; a measuring device that in-line measures the amount of gas generated during the degreasing process or a value that indirectly indicates this (hereinafter referred to as the amount of gas generated); Applicable to a degreasing device equipped with
A program that causes the degreasing device to perform a function of calculating management information that is information related to management including inspection and maintenance timing based on the amount of gas generated measured by the measuring device.
A heating furnace that accommodates and degreases the object to be treated; a measuring device that in-line measures the amount of gas generated during the degreasing process or a value that indirectly indicates this (hereinafter referred to as the amount of gas generated); Applicable to a degreasing device equipped with
A method characterized in that management information, which is information regarding management including inspection and maintenance timing, is calculated based on the amount of generated gas measured by the measuring device.