JPS6347330A - Sealing method and device for continuous heat treatment furnace - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify operations for charging and taking-out of works and to shorten the time for the operations by housing the works in a case, transferring the case in a furnace by conveying rollers and bringing sealing members into tight contact with the case surface thereby providing sealing. CONSTITUTION:The works 16 are housed into the case 17 consisting of a cap 19 and a bottom plate 18. Vent ports 21 are respectively provided to the front and rear parts of the cap 19. Such cases 17 are held connected and are continuously loaded in this state by feed rollers 22 onto the conveying rollers 6 of sealing chambers 1, 2, 3. Upper rollers 13 are lowered by rods 12 and the cases 17 are pressed by the upper and lower rollers 13, 14 between the respective sealing chambers 1, 2, 3, by which the hermetic state between the sealing chambers 1, 2, 3 is maintained. The spacings between the cases 17 are properly opened and the heating treatment and cooling treatment are carried out in a heating chamber 4 and a cooling chamber 15; thereafter, the cases are again connected and are passed in this state through the sealing chambers 2, 1 in the same manner as mentioned above. The cases are taken out by taking-out rollers 23. The works 16 are thereby conveyed while the airtightness between the respective chambers is automatically and satisfactorily maintained, by which the operations for the continuous heat treatment is simplified and the time for the operations is shortened.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Field of Industrial Application" The present invention is directed to continuous sintering furnaces, 1.4-unit annealing furnaces, continuous hot press furnaces, etc. ! Sealing method and apparatus for continuous heat treatment furnace 1: Related.

"Prior Art" Conventionally, for example, as a continuous sintering furnace, one shown in Fig. 5 is known. This continuous sintering furnace has a grooved bottom from the front chamber A1 heating chamber, the cooling chamber 0% and the rear chamber D, and each chamber A%
d C is equipped with rollers e for conveyance, and t, which dislikes the presence of oxygen, moisture, etc., because the workpiece is under high temperature.
For this purpose, each chamber a % d is evacuated from a Makabe pump f2 (not shown) into a stink hole. In the conventional continuous sintering furnace mentioned above, the sintered workpiece (iron powder is pressure-formed and the next 4#) is placed on the tray g! Open the door h1 and move the conveyor roller θ inside the front chamber d.
After opening the upper C device, close the NHL and evacuate the inside of the front chamber d. Next, open the %nh2 and transfer the tray g with the workpiece into the heating chamber in a vacuum state.
Close h2 7 Then, during the transfer in the heating chamber, the workpiece is gradually heated and sintered by a heating device (not shown). thing f
While passing through the cooling chamber C, ζ2 is gradually cooled.
Open the door h3 and transfer the workpiece f into the rear chamber d.
After closing ih3, open the door h4 and take the workpiece f out of the furnace.
When closed, the outside or each room a * l) e Om 1
1 is cut off from each other.

``Problems to be Solved by the Invention'' However, in the conventional continuous sintering furnace described above, the sealing device does not allow the loading of the workpiece f into the furnace until the opening/closing door h1 is connected to the opening/closing door h4. It is necessary to open and close six doors h1 to h4 each time the workpiece f is loaded into the furnace and taken out from the furnace, and it is necessary to exhaust the inside of each chamber a and d. The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to charge the workpiece into the furnace. and 1 in taking it out of the furnace! An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for sealing a continuous heat treatment furnace, which can perform continuous sealing, significantly simplify work, and significantly reduce work time.

"Next Means to Solve the Problem" In order to achieve the above object, the method frame of the present invention and the workpiece are accommodated in a case, and the case is transported by a conveying roller. A sealing member is placed closely or close to the surface for sealing.

Then, by controlling the conveyor rollers, each case is transferred to the furnace inlet section in a connected state, and inside the furnace, each case is separated and then transferred to the furnace outlet section again. It is desirable to have them in a connected state.

Further, the apparatus of the present invention includes a case that accommodates the object to be processed;
, a sealing member provided to clamp the case in the transfer passage of the case, a sealed chamber partitioned by the sealing member, and an exhaust means for evacuating the sealing chamber.

"Operation" In the sealing method and apparatus for a continuous heat treatment furnace of the present invention, sealing is performed by bringing the case and the sealing member into close contact with each other or in close proximity to each other while transporting the case containing the first treated material.

"Implementation" An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

8g Figure 1 is a sectional view of the main parts, Figure 2 shows the overall arrangement.
Schematic structure and causes, FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the seal portion, and the fourth factor is a sectional view of a first part of the case. In these figures, the symbol 1
．． 2.3 is a sealing chamber, and 4.5 is a heating chamber and a cooling chamber, respectively. Seal chambers 1.2.3 are arranged on the upstream side C2 of the heating chamber 4, and seal chambers 1.2.3 and 1.2 are arranged on the downstream side of the cooling chamber 5, respectively. 2.
3.4.5 is provided with conveying rollers 6 and is evacuated to vacuum by a vacuum pump 7.8.9.10.11.

As shown in Figures 1 and 3, each of the seal chambers 1.2.3 has a top that can be moved up and down by a rod 12 that is connected to a drive source (not shown) such as a cylinder. It is divided by a roller 13 and a fixed lower roller 14. These upper and lower rollers 13 and 14 are made by fJI4 and are rotatably supported by bearings 15 (2).

At t7t, the rectangular case 17, which is held between the upper and lower rollers 13 and 14 and accommodates the object to be processed 16, is released from the bottom plate 18 and the lid 19, and the lid 19 is inserted into the bin 20.
The case 17 attached to the main body is made of graphite or the like, which has good heat resistance and thermal conductivity. Furthermore, the front and rear surfaces 19 & (2) of the lid 19 of the case 17 are formed by opening vent holes 21, and these vent holes 21 The opening positions of the cases 19a are shifted to the left and right so that they do not communicate with each other.Furthermore, the length L of the case 17 is set to be twice as large as the pitch P of the conveyance rollers 6, thereby ensuring stability during conveyance. We are trying to make this happen.

A heating device and a cooling device (not shown) are installed in the heating chamber 4 and the cooling chamber 5, respectively.

Nine, the speed of the conveying roller 6 is the same speed in each seal chamber 1.2, and the same speed in each chamber 3.4.5 -i! t1. The speed in the sealing chamber 2 is slightly slower than the speed in the sealing chamber 3 (the setting is slightly lower).And, on the upstream and downstream sides of the conveyance roller 6, there are a carry-in roller 22 and a carry-out roller 23, respectively. is installed, each roller 22.
23 has the same speed as the conveying roller 6 in each chamber 3.4.5. Among the delivery rollers 23, only a few of them near the sealing chamber 1 are set at a speed slightly slower than that of the conveying roller 6 in the sealing chamber 1.

Furthermore, the pressure in each chamber 1.2.3.4 is gradually lowered (the degree of vacuum is higher), so-called differential pumping is performed, and the pressure in each chamber 4.5 is the same pressure. It is said that

It was then configured as described above. A case will be described in which the method of the present invention is actually demonstrated using a 4i type heat treatment furnace.

First, the case 17 is conveyed into the sealing chamber 1 by multiple connection rollers 22 outside (in the atmosphere). In the ninth case, the speed of the carry-in roller 22 is p faster than the speed of the conveyance roller G, each case 1
7 comrades are securely in contact with each other, and the atmosphere outside the furnace does not enter the sealing chamber l through the vent 21 from the gap between the cases 17! In addition, the side wall 24 of the sealing chamber 1 (heat treatment furnace)
The atmosphere entering through the open gap 25 between the case 17 and the case 17 is continuously exhausted by the vacuum pump 7.

Next, when the case 17 is transferred from the seal chamber 1 to the seal chamber 2, it is sealed in the same manner as described above, and the seal chamber 2 is brought into a higher vacuum by the vacuum pump 8.

Furthermore, when the case 17 enters the sealing chamber 31, the speed of the conveying roller 6 in the sealing chamber 3 is faster than that of the conveying roller 6 in the sealing chamber 2. 17 are separated from each other to create a gap. Since the inside of the seal chamber 3 is evacuated by the vacuum pump 9, the inside of the case 17 is also evacuated through the vent 21, and the object to be processed 16 is degassed. Then, the T case 17 is carried into the heating chamber 4 and is gradually heated to sinter the workpiece 16.The workpiece 16 after the sintering process is then heated.
is gradually cooled while passing through the cooling chamber 5, and then passes through the sealing chamber 2.
, 1 in a sealed state by upper and lower rollers 13 and 14, and is transported to the atmosphere by a transport roller 23. In this case, since the speed of the conveying roller 6 in each sealing chamber 2.1 is set to be slower than the speed of the cooling chamber 5, the cases 17 that were separated in the cooling chamber 5 are connected again, Air enters through the vent 21 from the gap between the cases 17 (7i-), and the sealing performance is maintained well.

In addition, in the case of the workpiece 16 that requires a wax-removal process (in the case of an injection molded product such as a seven-layer product), a sealing chamber is provided between the heating chamber 3 and the cooling chamber 4, and this sealing chamber is However, the number of sealing chambers 1 and 2 at the front and rear may be increased according to the required true 9 degrees. To do this, fit the bottom plate 18 of the case 17 to the lid 19, and then close the bottom plate 1.
8 and the lid 19 (: the object to be processed 16 may be pinched and compressed.Furthermore, in this embodiment, the upper and lower rollers (: movable upper roller 13 and Using the fixed lower roller 147, the height H of the case 17 (
= By moving and adjusting the upper roller 13 up and down accordingly, the case 17 is sandwiched between the upper and lower rollers 13 and 14, and the upper and lower rollers 13 and 14 roll on the surface of the case 17, ensuring sealing performance. However, this is not limited to case 1.
The sliding member that slides on the surface of the case 17 is not designed to be movable up and down, or it is possible to use a seal member that is close to the surface of the case 17 and has a closed structure. (However, each 7c nitrogen pump 7.8.9
Maintain its sealing properties by continuously evacuation.

"Effects of the Invention" As explained above, according to present invention C2, the sealing member is brought into close contact with or close to the case while the case containing the object to be processed is being transported, thereby performing sealing. , it is possible to seal continuously, and the work of loading the workpiece into the furnace and taking it out of the furnace can be greatly simplified, and the working time can be significantly reduced. Mana, seal part [
The conveying rollers are controlled so that each case is connected at the furnace inlet and furnace outlet, and each case is separated inside the furnace. Processes such as degassing and wax removal can be carried out efficiently (%), thus improving product quality.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention,
Fig. 1 is a partial detailed view of the seal chamber, Fig. g2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the overall arrangement, Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the sealing part, Fig. 4 is a sectional view along the ■-y gland in Fig. 1, FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a conventional continuous sintering furnace. 1.2.3... Seal chamber 6... Conveyance roller 7.8.9... Vacuum pump 13... Upper roller 14... ... Lower roller 16 ... Processing object 17 ... Case 22 ... Carrying-in roller 23 ... Carrying-out roller.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A sealing method for a continuous heat treatment furnace in which a workpiece is heat-treated while being transported by a conveyance roller, wherein the workpiece is housed in a case, and the case is moved by the conveyance roller. A method for sealing a continuous heat treatment furnace, characterized in that, while the case is being transferred, a sealing member is placed in close contact with or in close proximity to the surface of the case to seal the case. 2) Controlling the conveyance rollers to transport the cases in a connected state at the furnace inlet, separate the cases inside the furnace, and connect the cases again at the furnace exit. A sealing method for a continuous heat treatment furnace according to claim 1, characterized in that: 3) In a sealing device for a continuous heat treatment furnace in which a workpiece is heat-treated while being transferred by a conveyance roller, a case for accommodating the workpiece and a seal provided to sandwich the case in a transfer passage of the case are used. 1. A sealing device for a continuous heat treatment furnace, comprising a member, a sealing chamber partitioned by the sealing member, and an exhaust means for evacuating the inside of the sealing chamber.