JPH0640571Y2 - Glass optical element molding equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a molding apparatus for manufacturing a glass optical element having high surface accuracy and surface roughness by press molding.

[Prior Art] Japanese Patent Publication No. 50-9 as a prior art of a molding apparatus for glass optical elements.
The glass product forming apparatus described in Japanese Patent No. 804 will be described with reference to FIG.

Thus, the glass product forming apparatus disclosed in the above publication places a predetermined amount of hot-melt glass in the cavity 33 of the mold 31, pushes it into the mold cavity of the plunger 30, and forms its molding surface 32.
Is a device for molding a glass product that is pressed while transferring to a molten glass, such as a thermocouple 42, a first temperature sensing device for sensing the temperature of the mold, and a thermocouple 34, for example. Controlling the cooling of the mold 31 in response to a second temperature sensing device for sensing the temperature of the plunger 30 and a first temperature sensing device, such as a thermocouple 42, to maintain that temperature at a predetermined constant value. And a first and second temperature sensing device, such as thermocouples 42, 34, to prevent the molded product from sticking to the plunger when the plunger is withdrawn from the mold cavity. In addition, the plunger controller 36 for controlling the cooling of the plunger 30 so as to keep the temperature of the plunger 30 lower than the temperature of the mold 31 by a predetermined value.
And a glass controller that is connected to a first temperature sensing device such as a plunger controller 36, a mold controller 49 and a thermocouple 42, and a function controller 47 for establishing a set temperature value for the plunger. is there.

Further, 35 and 44 are thermocouples of the mold 31 and the plunger 30.
The amplifiers 42 and 34, 43 is a conductor connecting the thermocouple 42 and the amplifier 44, 37 is a valve positioning device, which is located in a cooling air duct 39 that supplies cooling air a to the plunger 30 shown by arrow 40. Mechanically control valve 38.

48 is a selector for controlling the function controller 47, 49 is a controller,
When the temperature sensed by the thermocouple 42 exceeds the set temperature 50, the controller 49 causes the electric output of the controller 49 to operate the valve positioning device 51 to operate the valve 52 in the cooling air duct 53. It is opened and the cooling air port is guided in the direction of the mold 31 shown by the arrow 54.

Reference numeral 45 is a lead wire for sending the current signal of the amplifier 44 to the function controller 47, and 46 is a lead wire for sending the current signal to the mold controller 49 via the function controller 47.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] In the above-mentioned glass product molding apparatus, since the temperature difference between the plunger 30 and the mold 31 has already occurred before molding, the hot-melt glass contacts the plunger 30 and the mold 31 during molding. The surface of the hot-melt glass in contact with the mold at an instant low temperature is rapidly cooled and solidified and contracts, so that the surface shape of the mold is completely stable before being transferred and the transfer accuracy is poor, which is a drawback.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a glass optical element molding apparatus that eliminates the drawbacks of the conventional glass product molding apparatus, has a high mold transfer accuracy, and has a small glass sticking force to the mold (small mold releasing force). .

[Means and Actions for Solving the Problems] FIG. 1 shows a conceptual diagram of the present invention.

The temperature of the upper mold 1 is measured by the temperature sensor 3 as a means for separately heating the upper mold 1 and the lower mold 2 to near the transition temperature of the glass material 16 before press-molding the heat-softened glass material 16. This value should be near the above transition temperature
The upper die temperature controller 8 controls the upper die heater 5. The temperature around the transition temperature is set by the upper mold temperature value 10. In this way, the temperature of the upper mold 1 is controlled to be near the transition point temperature.
Similarly, in the temperature control of the lower mold 2, the lower mold temperature sensor 4 measures the temperature of the lower mold 2, and the lower mold temperature controller 9 controls the lower mold heater 6 so that this value is near the transition temperature. The temperature of the lower mold 2 is set by the lower mold temperature value 11. Next, immediately after pressing, after the surface shapes of the upper mold 1 and the lower mold 2 are completely transferred to the glass material 16, the cooling gas 15 is blown to the lower mold 2 from the nozzle 7 to lower the temperature of the lower mold 2. The valve 12 of the nozzle 7 opens and closes the cooling gas 15 and can control the flow rate of the cooling gas. The cooling gas control device 13 opens and closes the valve 12 at a molding timing 14 that is issued immediately after pressing. As a result, a temperature difference is created between the upper mold 1 and the lower mold 2, and the releasing force between the glass material 16 and the upper mold 1 and the lower mold 2 is reduced.

[Embodiment] An embodiment of a glass optical element molding apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an annular nozzle for blowing a cooling gas.

To measure the mold temperature of the upper mold 1, attach the upper mold thermocouple 17 to the mold. The upper thermocouple 17 can also be configured by another thermometer such as a radiation thermometer.

The output of the upper mold thermocouple 17 is amplified by the amplifier 19 and input to the upper mold temperature controller 8. Further, the amplifier 19 can be composed of an operation amplifier or the like, and it is desirable to adopt an instrument amplifier structure when high precision is required. The upper die temperature controller 8 sets the upper die heater 5 to PI by the value input from the upper die temperature input switch 23 and the value from the amplifier 19.
D control (integral-derivative-proportional control) is performed to control the temperature of the upper die 1 so that the value of the upper die temperature input switch 23 becomes the value. Heater driver
21 is the upper die heater 5 according to the input from the upper die temperature controller 8.
Give power to. The heater driver 21 is composed of a triac, a power transistor, and the like.

On the other hand, lower mold thermocouple 18, amplifier 20, lower mold temperature input switch
24, the lower die temperature controller 9, the heater driver 22, and the lower die heater 6 are composed of the upper die thermocouple 17, the amplifier 19, the upper die temperature controller 8, and the upper die temperature input switch 23 in the upper die 1 described above. The heater driver 21 and the upper heater 5 are configured in the same manner to control the lower die 2 to the value of the lower die temperature input switch 24.

The annular nozzle 27 for blowing the cooling gas has the configuration shown in FIG. 3, is connected to the gas supply nozzle 7 connected to the supply source of the cooling gas 5, and is arranged so as to surround the outer periphery of the lower mold 2. In addition, two or more blow-out holes 28 are formed on the inner peripheral surface of the annular pipe body so that the cooling gas 14 can be uniformly sprayed onto the outer surface of the lower mold 2.

Then, through the annular nozzle 27 having such a configuration,
Cooling gas 15 is sprayed from the gas supply nozzle 7 onto the lower mold 2 to uniformly cool it.

Further, the cooling of the lower mold 2 with the cooling gas 5 by the annular nozzle 27 is controlled while opening and closing the cooling gas 15 through the valve 12 constituted by an electromagnetic valve or the like provided in the gas supply nozzle 7. The timing is performed by the output of the cooling gas controller 13.

Further, the cooling gas controller 13 is constituted by a sequencer, a computer or the like, and opens / closes the valve 12 by using a signal of the molding timing 14 as an opening start point. Molding timing
14 is composed of a press operation command signal or a signal obtained by measuring the press operation with a sensor or the like.

Incidentally, in the above-mentioned configuration, the configuration in which the annular nozzle 27 is arranged on the lower die 2 to cool it in relation to the molding timing is shown, but instead of this, the upper die 1 or the upper die 1 and the lower die 2 An example can be given in which both are equipped with the annular nozzle 27 having the configuration shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 and the former respective configurations related thereto.
A detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In the molding apparatus having the above structure, the temperatures of the upper and lower molds 1 and 2 are measured by the upper and lower mold thermocouples 17 and 18, and the measured values are measured by the upper and lower mold temperature controllers 8 and 9 by the upper and lower mold temperature input switches. By outputting a control signal to the heater drivers 21 and 22 while comparing with the set values from 23 and 24, the heaters 5 and 6 of the upper and lower molds 1 and 2 are controlled, and the temperature of the upper and lower molds 1 and 2 is controlled by the glass material 16 The temperature is controlled to be near the transition temperature of.

On the other hand, immediately after press-molding the glass material 16 by the upper and lower molds 1 and 2, that is, after the surface shapes of the upper mold 1 and the lower mold 2 are completely transferred to the glass material 16, each blowout of the annular nozzle 27 via the gas supply nozzle 7. The cooling gas 14 is blown onto the outer peripheral surface of the lower mold 2 through the holes 28 to lower the temperature of the lower mold 2.

As a result, a temperature difference occurs between the mold temperatures of the upper and lower molds 1 and 2, and the releasing force between the glass material 16 and the upper and lower molds 1 and 2 is reduced, so that the mold durability is improved.

Moreover, as a result of the rapid cooling with the cooling gas, the molding time can be shortened.

Further, the annular nozzle 27 is arranged so as to surround the outer periphery of the lower mold 2, and the blowout holes 28 are arranged so that the cooling gas can be uniformly blown to the outer periphery of the lower mold 2. It can be cooled.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 25 is a flow rate control valve provided between the gas supply nozzle 7 for the cooling gas 15 and the cooling gas supply source, and the flow rate control valve 25 is constituted by a throttle valve or the like for controlling the flow rate of the cooling gas 15. .

The cooling gas controller 13 of the flow rate control valve 25 is provided with a flow rate data storage unit 26 including a semiconductor memory or the like. The flow rate data storage unit 26 is actually configured inside the sequencer of the cooling gas controller 13 or the computer.

In the flow rate data storage unit 26, the control flow rate in the flow rate control valve 25 is stored in advance as a control pattern, and in the cooling gas controller 13, the flow rate data storage unit 26 is output via the output signal of the molding timing 14. The data pattern is taken out and output to the flow rate control valve 25 for control.

Other configurations are the same as the configurations of the first embodiment, and the same reference numerals are given to omit the description of the configurations.

Further, in addition to the embodiment in which the lower die 2 is provided with a cooling means by the cooling gas 15 through the annular nozzle 27, an embodiment in which it is provided only in the upper die 1 or in both the upper and lower dies 1 and 2 The point that an example can be given is the same as that of the first embodiment.

Therefore, according to the molding apparatus having the above-described configuration, in order to change the cooling rate of the lower mold 2 at the time of molding, the lower mold 2 is controlled via the flow rate control valve 25 and its control pattern is stored in the flow rate data storage unit 26 in advance. It is stored in memory, and the cooling gas controller 13
Can be controlled to operate the flow control valve 25 according to a required control pattern.

5A and 5B show data patterns in the flow rate data storage unit 26 and corresponding change patterns of the flow rate of the cooling gas sprayed from the annular nozzle 27.

Therefore, according to the molding apparatus having the above structure, in addition to the effects of the molding apparatus of the first embodiment, the mold cooling rate for improving the mold transfer property and minimizing the mold releasing force can be freely controlled.

[Advantages of the Invention] According to the present invention, in a molding apparatus that presses a glass material to mold an optical element, a mold release force between the glass material and the mold is kept small, and a glass optical element with high mold transfer accuracy is molded. A device can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a glass optical element molding apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a structural view showing a first embodiment of the glass optical element molding apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the structure of an annular nozzle. ,
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the glass optical element molding apparatus of the present invention, and FIGS. 5A and 5B are lines showing the data pattern in the flow rate data storage device and the corresponding change pattern of the cooling gas flow rate. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a conventional glass product forming apparatus. 1 ... Upper mold 2 ... Lower mold 3 ... Upper mold temperature sensor 4 ... Lower mold temperature sensor 5 ... Upper mold heater 6 ... Lower mold heater 7 ... Nozzle 8 ... Upper mold temperature control unit 9 ... … Lower mold temperature control unit 10 …… Upper mold temperature value 11 …… Lower mold temperature value 12 …… Flow rate control unit 13 …… Cooling gas control unit 14 …… Molding timing 15 …… Cooling gas 16 …… Glass material 17… … Upper mold thermocouple 18 …… Lower mold thermocouple 19,20 …… Amplifier 21,22 …… Heater driver 23 …… Upper mold temperature input switch 24 …… Lower mold temperature input switch 25 …… Flow control valve 26 …… Flow rate data storage unit 27 …… Annular nozzle 28 …… Cooling gas outlet

Claims (2)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A temperature for setting each molding die to a respective molding temperature in a glass optical element molding apparatus that conveys a heat-softened glass material between a pair of upper and lower molding dies and performs pressure molding. Input switch, heating means for heating the molding die to a temperature set by each temperature input switch, temperature measuring means of the molding die, measurement output of the temperature measuring means and the temperature input switch Control means for controlling the heating means based on the comparison with the set value by, the cooling gas directly on the outer peripheral surface of the molding surface of the molding die after press molding of the glass material of the molding die. Cooling gas blowing means for blowing and lowering the temperature of the molding die from around the glass transition point, and a control flow rate for blowing the cooling gas, which is stored in advance as a control pattern. Molding of a glass optical element, characterized by comprising: an attachment data storage section, and a control means for controlling the blowing flow rate of the cooling gas along a required pattern in accordance with the control pattern stored in the data storage section. apparatus. 2. The cooling gas spraying means is an annular pipe that surrounds the outer peripheral surface of the molding die on the molding surface side and has a plurality of gas spraying holes formed in the inner periphery thereof. The apparatus for molding a glass optical element according to claim 1.