JPH047511Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] A. Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a continuous processing apparatus, and for example, to a continuous heat processing apparatus suitable for continuously performing heat treatment on electronic components.

B. Prior art Semiconductor parts, thick film integrated circuits formed by forming a predetermined circuit pattern on a ceramic substrate by screen printing and firing, or glass substrates for liquid crystal display devices on which alignment films and deflection films are formed, etc. When heat-treating electronic components, the quality of the electronic components deteriorates significantly due to adhesion of dust, so the heat treatment must be performed in a clean atmosphere.

It is advantageous from the viewpoint of productivity to perform the heat treatment of the electronic components continuously. Conventionally, such continuous heat treatment furnaces place electronic components on a conveyor that passes through the furnace body from the charging port to the discharge port.
This conveyor is driven to transport the electronic components within the furnace body, and the electronic components are moved within the furnace body with a predetermined temperature distribution and subjected to a prescribed heat treatment. However, since the conveyor is designed to move on a guide, it will rub against the upper surface of the guide when it is driven. This rubbing generates undesirable metal powder, and if this metal powder floats in the furnace body and adheres to the workpiece, the quality of electronic parts deteriorates and there is a problem of low yield.

C. Purpose of the invention The purpose of the invention is to provide a continuous processing device that is capable of processing in a highly clean atmosphere, with high quality workpieces, and with a high yield. .

D. Structure of the invention In other words, the present invention provides a continuous processing apparatus in which an object to be processed is moved within the main body of the processing apparatus by means of a conveyance means, and a predetermined process is performed on the object to be processed during this movement. The present invention relates to a continuous processing apparatus characterized in that it has a dust suction means for suctioning dust generated from a portion of the conveyance means during the movement.

Example Examples of the present invention will be described below.

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of the continuous heat treatment apparatus along the direction of conveying the processed material (cross-sectional view taken along the - line in Figure 2), Figure 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the - line in Figure 1, and Figure 3 is the cross-sectional view taken along the - line in Figure 2. It is a partially enlarged view.

The ceiling 3A, the hearth 3B, and the side walls 3C of the furnace body 1 are made of fireproof insulation material, and these are made of a steel plate furnace shell 5.
covered in. An infrared heater 2 is attached to the ceiling 3A, and the ceiling 3A, hearth 3B, and side wall 3C are
The heater 2 is also covered with a stainless steel plate 4. Furthermore, if necessary, the inner surface of the stainless steel plate 4 may be lined with heat-resistant ceramics or quartz. In this way, dust is prevented from entering the furnace body 1.

Inside the furnace body 1, a heat-resistant steel plate case 12 that is bent at four points is installed in contact with the hearth 3B and side walls 3C. On the inside of the case 12 in the section 20, band-shaped magnetic bodies 7, 7, each of which is made of rubber containing ferrite powder or the like, are fixed in a predetermined area with screws or a heat-resistant adhesive.

In addition, the guide rail 8 is connected to the charging port 1a and the discharge port 1.
b protrudes from and is fixed on a heat-resistant steel plate inside the bottom of the case 12, and the chain 9 is positioned thereon so as to be guided by the guide rail 8. Support plates 10 are fixed to every other inner pin link plate 9a of the chain 9 so as to face outward (upward in FIG. 3), and shafts 10a protrude from the support plates 10 into the furnace main body. is fixed. A hollow workpiece mounting tube 11 made of quartz or heat-resistant ceramics (stainless steel may also be used for heat treatment at a relatively low temperature (300° C. or lower)) is fitted onto the shaft 10a, and
A workpiece W is placed on the workpiece mounting tube 11 . By using the above-mentioned material for the workpiece mounting tube 11, there is no generation of scale due to surface oxidation.
No dust is generated when the object to be processed is placed, and the rigidity and creep resistance at high temperatures are sufficiently high.

Figure 4 shows case 12, chain 9, and support plate 1.
0 is an enlarged plan view of the workpiece mounting tube 11 and the workpiece W indicated by imaginary lines, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view excluding the case.

The chain 9 protrudes from the case 12 outside the furnace body 1, is hung on sprockets 13A and 13B, and is rotated in the direction of the arrow by the drive of the sprocket 13A. In the figure, 14, 14
is a tension sprocket installed so that the chain 9 does not loosen outside the furnace body. The chain 9, sprockets 13A, 13B, and tension sprockets 14, 14 constitute a chain conveyor.

The heat treatment is performed as follows. Heater 2
The sprocket 13A is driven to rotate the chain 9, and the workpiece is placed on the two mounting tubes 11 immediately after the sprocket 13B on the side of the charging port 1a. Place W. The objects to be treated W are transported through the furnace body 1 one after another by the drive of a chain conveyor, are subjected to a predetermined heat treatment, are discharged from the furnace body 1 one after another from the discharge port 1b, and are loaded just before the sprocket 13A. Placement pipe 11
It is removed from the pipe and sent to the next process.

The chain system described above uses chain 9 during transportation.
is not exposed in the furnace, so metal oxides such as scale are less likely to be generated.

The chain 9 is connected to the guide rail 8 within the case 12.
It moves above and rubs against it, and this rubbing generates dust (abrasion powder) D. However, the generated dust D is
As shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 3, even if it tries to enter the furnace main body through the opening 20 of the case 12, it is attracted by the magnetic bodies 7, 7 present in the opening 20. Therefore, the dust D does not float in the processing area within the furnace main body. In addition, since the sliding parts in the furnace body are only in the case 12 and not in the heat treatment area, there is almost no dust adhering to the workpiece W, and the workpiece after heat treatment is of high quality. Become a thing,
Yield is also high. Note that this example mainly describes the case of heat treatment at a relatively low temperature of 200° C. or lower.

Next, actual operational results will be explained.

The internal length of the furnace body 1 is 5 m, the maximum heating temperature inside the furnace body is 200°C, the atmospheric gas inside the furnace body is nitrogen gas, the supply rate and discharge rate are 300/min, the length is 400 mm, and the width is 400 mm. A 300 mm plate-shaped workpiece (in this example, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device) was transported through the furnace main body at a transport speed of 14 mm/sec to undergo continuous heat treatment. As a result, the cleanliness inside the furnace body is class
It was 10 ² . This value is an order of magnitude lower than that of Class ¹⁰⁵ in a conventional continuous heat treatment furnace that uses a mesh belt conveyor to transport the processed material. The above cleanliness is expressed by the diameter of suspended particles and the number of suspended particles per cubic foot. For example, class 10 is the number of suspended particles per cubic foot.
The class indicates that there are 10 or less particles of 0.5 μm.
10 ² is also less than 100, class 10 ⁵
similarly indicates that the number is 100,000 or less.

FIGS. 6 to 9 are schematic diagrams and cross-sectional views of the case and its surroundings, showing examples in which different magnetic materials are used as described above.

Figures 6 to 9 show a colloidal fluid made by suspending fine powder such as ferrite as a magnetic material in kerosene or the like (this is used, for example, as a seal to close the gap that occurs between a rotating shaft and the structure that supports it). This is an example using a colloidal fluid with ferromagnetism (referred to as a magnetic fluid in the following explanation), and the basic structure is almost the same as the above example. The explanation will be omitted, and the following explanation will mainly focus on other different points.
Note that a detailed explanation of the above magnetic fluid is given, for example, on pages 132 to 142 of the special issue of Science New Materials published by Nikkei Science on December 20, 1983, so the details will be omitted here.

Note that the examples shown in FIGS. 6 to 9 mainly describe the case of heat treatment at 200° C. or higher.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the case 2 is made of a heat-resistant steel plate that is bent at six points.
2, a hollow guide rail 18 is installed in the same manner as in the above example, and cylindrical pipes 19, 19 are installed in a predetermined area of the opening 30 formed on the upper side of the case 22. Fixed inside. Then, the guide rail 18 and the pipe 1
Magnetic fluids 17 are sealed in each of 9 and 19, and they are magnetized by an external magnetic field (not shown) (the same applies to the following examples), and as shown in FIG. A circulation loop for circulating the magnetic fluid 17 is formed inside and outside the magnetic fluid 17 using pipes 31 and the like. Here, 32 in the figure is a heat exchanger, which allows the magnetic fluid 17 to be cooled and circulated. Further, in FIGS. 6 and 7, reference numeral 33 is a circulation pump, 24 is a heat-resistant steel plate, and 35 is a heat insulating material.

This example was the same as the previous example except that the maximum heating temperature inside the furnace body was 550°C, and the cleanliness inside the furnace body was also approximately the same as in the previous example.

As explained above, according to the continuous heat treatment apparatus according to this example, the guide rail 18 and the pipe 1
Since the magnetic fluid 17 is sealed inside the 9 and 19,
Even if the dust D tries to enter the furnace main body from inside the case 22 through the opening 30 as in the above example, it will be adsorbed on the guide rail 18 and the pipes 17, 17, as shown in FIG. Therefore, it is possible to prevent dust D from entering the processing area within the furnace main body.

In addition, in this example, as described above, since the guide rail 18 itself is used as the first suction means for dust D, the dust D generated by the sliding friction between the guide rail 18 and the chain 9 is effectively absorbed. It can be adsorbed to
Furthermore, the dust D that cannot be absorbed by the guide rail 18 can be stopped by a second adsorption means (pipe 19 filled with magnetic fluid) provided in a predetermined area of the opening 30.

Further, as described above, since the magnetic fluid 17 is cooled and circulated by the heat exchanger 32, the inside of the case 22, etc. can be cooled, and the inside of the case 22 can be cooled.
It is very convenient to prevent scale and the like from occurring inside the heat treatment equipment and to improve the durability of the continuous heat treatment equipment.

The example shown in FIG. 8 has basically the same structure as the examples shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, but the difference is that the case 36 itself has a double wall structure, and the space therein is filled with magnetic fluid. 17 is made conductive. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, since the magnetic fluid 17 is conducted through the double-walled case 36 provided to surround the guide rail 8 and the chain 9,
As in the above example, the dust D can be effectively adsorbed, and the dust D can be prevented from entering the furnace body. Further, since the case 36 itself is used as a cooling medium, the inside thereof can be efficiently cooled, which is very advantageous for improving durability.

The example shown in FIG. 9 has a basic structure that is almost the same as the example shown in FIG.
A hollow presser guide rail 28 is fixed to the upper side of the holder. And those guide rails 18
The magnetic fluid 17 is conducted through the pipes 19 and 28, respectively, to form a circulation loop as shown in FIG. In place of this, a holding guide rail 28 is provided to form a circulation loop.) By the guide rail 28, the chain 9
will no longer wobble up and down while moving. Also,
In this example, unlike the above-mentioned example, instead of the workpiece mounting tube 11, a protrusion 10b protrudes inward from the shaft 10a provided at the upper end of the support plate 10.
are fixed, and the object W to be processed is placed on the protrusions 10b. Note that 34 in the figure is a heat-resistant steel plate, and 37 is a case made of a heat-resistant steel plate that is bent at three points.

As explained above, this example also has the same advantages as the above-mentioned example, so that heat treatment can be performed in a highly clean atmosphere, and a highly reliable continuous heat treatment apparatus can be provided.

FIG. 10 shows another example of the present invention, the main structure of which is almost the same as the example shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 above, but in this example, the case 42 is Hollow part 42a on the upper side (opening 20 side)
are provided on opposite sides, and their hollow parts 42a
Cooling water 47 and the like are connected to the two. Further, a heat insulating material 35 is provided to surround the case 42.

Therefore, by adopting the structure as shown in FIG. 10 described above, even the examples shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 can be used as a heat treatment apparatus at temperatures of 200°C or higher, thereby providing a highly reliable continuous heat treatment apparatus. can.

In addition to the attraction means of the embodiments described above, for example, ordinary magnets, electromagnets, etc. may be used, and static electricity or the like may also be used. Further, dust can also be adsorbed to a dust collecting bag or the like by reducing the pressure or the like.

Furthermore, in all of the above embodiments, a chain conveyor is used to transport the objects to be processed, but other transport methods may also be used. In addition to the above-mentioned heat treatment of glass substrates for liquid crystal display devices, the objects to be processed include electronic parts such as thick film integrated circuits, thermal recording heads for various printers, and various other ceramic substrates, as well as steel plates, cast products, and forged products. It can be applied as a device that continuously performs heat treatment and sub-zero (below zero) treatment on materials such as products and shapes. In these cases, the mounting means for placing the object to be processed may be a quartz or heat-resistant steel tube, or a mounting member of an appropriate shape, and the material used may vary depending on the object to be processed and the type of heat treatment. Any suitable material can be used.

Incidentally, it is of course possible to use it in combination with the dust discharge means previously disclosed in Utility Application No. 170036/1983 by the present applicant. That is, the dust discharge means supplies atmospheric gas into the furnace main body and discharges dust generated within the furnace main body together with the supplied atmospheric gas to the outside of the furnace main body using an exhaust pump or the like. . For example, a discharge port shown by the broken line 71 in FIG. 3 may be provided at a predetermined position of the case 12, etc., and the dust may be sucked out using an exhaust pump, or the same method as described above may be used at a predetermined position near the object W to be processed. It can also be tilted to suck out dust. Therefore, by using both the dust discharge means and the dust adsorption means, floating of dust in the processing area can be more effectively prevented.

Furthermore, the present invention is applicable not only to the heat treatment described above but also to various other continuous treatment apparatuses such as atmospheric treatment and drying treatment.

F. Effects of the invention As described above, the present invention uses a dust adsorption means to adsorb dust generated in the conveying means (particularly in the conveying means and/or its vicinity) when the object to be processed is moved. Therefore, the dust hardly ever enters the processing area within the main body of the continuous processing apparatus. Therefore, extremely good cleanliness is maintained in the processing area, and hardly any dust adheres to the object to be processed. As a result, especially for objects to be processed that must be processed in a clean atmosphere, the quality of the objects after processing is extremely high, and the processing is carried out with a high yield.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings all show embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the continuous heat treatment apparatus along the direction of conveyance of the processed material, FIG. The figure is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial plan view of the chain, support plate, workpiece mounting tube, and workpiece, FIG. 5 is a perspective view, and FIG.
The figures are schematic partial front views showing main parts of continuous heat treatment equipment according to other examples, FIGS. 7, 8, 9, and 1.
FIG. 0 is an enlarged partial sectional view of a continuous heat treatment apparatus according to another example. In addition, in the symbols shown in the drawings, 1...furnace body, 2...heater, 3A...ceiling, 3B...hearth, 3C...side wall, 4...liner stainless steel plate, 7...magnetic band Body, 8, 18, 28... Guide rail, 9... Chain, 10... Support plate, 1
0b...Protrusion for placing the object to be processed, 11...Object placement tube, 12, 22, 34, 36, 42...
Case, 13A, 13B...Sprocket, 17
...Magnetic fluid, 19...Pipe, 20,30...
Opening, D...Dust, W...Object to be treated.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a continuous processing device in which a workpiece is moved within a processing device main body by a transport means and a predetermined process is applied to the workpiece during this movement, 1. A continuous processing device comprising a dust adsorption means for adsorbing dust.