Drag chain step heating equipment

Abstract

The present invention discloses a drag chain type step heating device, comprising: a heating furnace body, a heating furnace chamber is formed in the heating furnace body, a heating device is arranged in the heating furnace chamber, a front furnace door and a rear furnace door are arranged on opposite sides of the heating furnace body, a drag chain device is fixedly arranged on the bottom plate of the heating furnace body, and the upper part thereof has a drag chain that can be driven to move back and forth, and the two ends of the drag chain are respectively located at the front furnace door and the rear furnace door, and at least one set of furnace lifting devices is arranged on the bottom plate of the heating furnace body below it; at least one workpiece sent into the heating furnace chamber and placed on the drag chain of the drag chain device is lifted, supported and lowered by the at least one set of furnace lifting devices, so as to cooperate with the reciprocating movement of the drag chain of the drag chain device, and the at least one workpiece is heated. Accordingly, the present invention has the advantages that the heating furnace body parts have a long service life and are easy to maintain, are suitable for the heat treatment of workpieces of various shapes and carried in tooling, have high heat treatment efficiency, low heat loss, and can achieve the beneficial effects of continuous production.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the field of heat treatment of parts, and in particular to a drag chain type step heating device. Background Art

[0002] In the past decade, with the rapid development of my country's industrial technology, various advanced heat treatment technologies with high efficiency, high quality, energy saving and environmental protection have been widely used in industrial production, and heat treatment process technology and equipment have been continuously updated. This is especially evident in the heat treatment process and equipment of automobile parts. The development of the automobile industry in my country over the past few decades has been very eye-catching. While bringing convenience to people, automobiles have also brought about three major problems: fuel consumption, safety, and environmental protection. One of the important ways to solve these three major problems is to make automobiles lightweight, that is, to use thinner steel plates to manufacture automobile parts. The lightweight of automobiles must be based on the safety of drivers and passengers. For this reason, an important solution is to use high-strength steel to manufacture automobile body parts. Since the elongation of high-strength steel at room temperature is not as good as that of conventional body steel, it faces the problem of difficult forming in the cold state. This requires heating the high-strength steel to a high temperature to increase its elongation, and then hot stamping the high-strength steel at a high temperature and cooling it quickly to ensure that the parts after cooling and forming have not only high strength, but also high elongation. In the process of heating and cooling parts, one of the most important equipment is the heating equipment.

[0003] At present, the major auto parts manufacturers have only two types of equipment for heating high-strength steel: roller-type heating furnaces and box-type heating furnaces. In the application process, roller-type heating furnaces face the problems of limited roller width and small load capacity, easy breakage and difficult replacement and repair after breakage, easy corrosion of rollers by surface coatings of parts or forming adhesive residues, low positioning accuracy of rollers for parts and affecting the accuracy of part transmission, emergency backup power supply is required when the roller-type heating furnace is shut down to prevent deformation and damage of rollers, large heat loss on the surface of roller-type heating furnaces, poor energy-saving effect, and roller-type heating furnaces are not suitable for heat treatment of parts that need to be carried by tooling, but only for processing flat parts; the biggest problem of box-type heating furnaces in the application process is that it is not easy to achieve automated continuous production. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of the technical deficiencies in the existing parts heating treatment equipment, the technical problem to be solved by this technical solution is to provide a drag chain type step-by-step heating equipment, which realizes the step-by-step transmission of the parts to be heated in the heating furnace by adopting a fire-resistant and high-temperature resistant drag chain with a certain degree of freedom of movement and an in-furnace lifting device. The heating equipment has a large load capacity, the parts transmission device is not easy to be damaged, easy to maintain and has a long service life, the parts transmission positioning accuracy is high, and it is suitable for the heat treatment process of parts of various shapes and parts that need to be carried in tooling, and the heat loss of the furnace body of the heating equipment is small, and continuous production can be achieved.

[0005] In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present technical scheme provides a drag chain type step heating equipment, which includes: a heating furnace body, the heating furnace body includes: a heating furnace chamber, a heating device, a front furnace door, a rear furnace door, a drag chain device and at least one group of furnace lifting devices; wherein, the heating furnace chamber is formed in the heating furnace body, the heating device is arranged in the heating furnace chamber, the front furnace door and the rear furnace door are respectively arranged on the opposite sides of the heating furnace body, the drag chain device is located in the heating furnace chamber and fixed on the bottom plate of the heating furnace body, the upper part of the drag chain device has a drag chain that can be driven to move back and forth, the two ends of the drag chain device are respectively located at the front furnace door and the rear furnace door, and at least one group of furnace lifting devices is arranged on the bottom plate of the heating furnace body below the drag chain device; at least one workpiece sent into the heating furnace chamber and placed on the drag chain of the drag chain device is lifted, supported and lowered by at least one group of furnace lifting devices to cooperate with the reciprocating movement of the drag chain of the drag chain device, so as to heat the at least one workpiece.

[0006] As another implementation of the technical solution, the drag chain device includes: at least one set of drag chain support rails, at least one set of drag chains and at least one drag chain driving motor, the at least one set of drag chain support rails is fixed on the bottom plate of the heating furnace body and the two ends of the at least one set of drag chain support rails are respectively located at the front furnace door and the rear furnace door, at least one set of drag chains is correspondingly embedded on the at least one set of drag chain support rails, and at least one drag chain driving motor is arranged outside the heating furnace body and connected to drive at least one set of drag chains to slide back and forth on the at least one set of drag chain support rails. Accordingly, one or more sets of drag chain support rails and matching drag chains can be flexibly arranged in the heating furnace body, so that the heating equipment can meet the needs of different production volumes and production efficiencies.

[0007] As another implementation of the technical solution, each set of drag chain support slide rails includes at least two drag chain support slide rails, and a rail groove is opened on the upper part of the drag chain support slide rails. Each set of drag chains includes at least two drag chains, and the drag chains are correspondingly embedded in the rail grooves. The number of drag chain drive motors is two and is divided into a feed end drag chain drive motor and a discharge end drag chain drive motor and is respectively arranged on the outer side of the front furnace door and the outer side of the rear furnace door. The feed end drag chain drive motor is connected to drive the feed end of the drag chain, and the discharge end drag chain drive motor is connected to drive the discharge end of the drag chain. The feed end drag chain drive motor and the discharge end drag chain drive motor are alternately operated for a step time, so that the drag chain moves back and forth a step distance.

[0008] As another implementation of the present technical solution, the drag chain device also includes several chains, two drag chain tensioning devices, several sprockets and two transmission shafts. The feed end or the discharge end of the drag chain extends outward by an extension distance not less than the stepping distance, so that the drag chain made of fire-resistant and high-temperature resistant materials can be in the high-temperature heating furnace chamber when being driven to and fro, and other components of the drag chain device can be prevented from entering the heating furnace chamber and being damaged by the high temperature during the reciprocating movement; one end of the several chains corresponds to the connection of the drag chain At the feed end and the discharge end, the other ends of several chains are respectively connected to two drag chain tensioning devices arranged on the outside of the front furnace door and the outside of the rear furnace door, several sprockets are respectively fixed on two transmission shafts, and the two transmission shafts are respectively connected to the output end of the feed end drag chain driving motor and the output end of the discharge end drag chain driving motor, and several sprockets are correspondingly engaged with several chains, and the feed end drag chain driving motor and the discharge end drag chain driving motor alternately run the step time to drive the sprocket to drive the chain to make the drag chain travel back and forth the step distance. Among them, the drag chain tensioning device can adopt multiple methods such as power tensioning or counterweight tensioning. The configuration of the drag chain tensioning device can make the drag chain taut and stably embedded in the drag chain support slide rail, and make several drag chains keep moving synchronously under the connection drive of several chains.

[0009] As another implementation of the technical solution, the drag chain device also includes a plurality of drag chain lubricating blocks, which are evenly arranged in the rail groove, so that the drag chain lubricating blocks are closely fitted to the drag chain, and always keep in contact with the friction surface of the drag chain in a high temperature environment, so as to reduce the wear of the drag chain during travel and extend its service life.

[0010] As another implementation of the present technical solution, each group of in-furnace lifting devices includes a lifting drive motor, a lifting structure, several lifting columns and several support beams. The lifting drive motor is arranged outside the heating furnace body, the lifting structure is arranged at the lower part of the heating furnace body, and several lifting columns are symmetrically arranged on the upper part of the lifting structure. The upper ends of the several lifting columns penetrate the bottom of the heating furnace body and extend into the heating furnace chamber and are located on both sides of the drag chain support slide rail of the drag chain device. Several support beams are parallel to the drag chain support slide rail and are respectively fixed on the upper ends of the several lifting columns. The lifting drive motor drives the lifting structure to rise or fall horizontally, thereby driving the several support beams to be higher or lower than the drag chain support slide rail, thereby supporting and lifting the workpiece on the drag chain, or placing the workpiece on the drag chain.

[0011] As another implementation of the technical solution, it also includes a feeder and a discharging machine, which are respectively arranged on the outside of the front furnace door and the outside of the rear furnace door. The feeder and the discharging machine both include a frame, a material fork arm, a material fork, a material fork lifting device and a material fork translation device. The material fork arm, the material fork lifting device and the material fork translation device are all arranged on the frame, and the material fork is horizontally arranged on the material fork arm. The material fork lifting device can drive the material fork arm to drive the material fork to rise or fall, and the material fork translation device can drive the material fork arm to drive the material fork to move horizontally forward, backward, left and right. The feeder and the discharging machine can replace manual loading and unloading operations for workpieces, which can effectively improve the heat treatment efficiency of the heating equipment for workpieces and the degree of operation standardization, and can reduce the investment in labor costs.

[0012] As another implementation of the present technical solution, it also includes a tooling lifting device and at least one tooling return and storage device; the tooling lifting device includes four columns, a tooling lifting device at the discharge end, and a tooling lifting device at the feed end, the four columns are respectively vertically fixed on both sides outside the front furnace door and the rear furnace door, the tooling lifting device at the discharge end and the tooling lifting device at the feed end are respectively arranged on two columns outside the rear furnace door and two columns outside the front furnace door; at least one tooling return and storage device is located above the heating furnace body and is sequentially fixed on the four columns from bottom to top, the tooling return and storage device receives the tooling transported by the tooling lifting device at the discharge end to reserve the tooling or transport the tooling to the tooling lifting device at the feed end. Accordingly, when the heating equipment uses tooling to carry workpieces for heat treatment, the tooling return and storage device can replace manual handling operations on the tooling, and can realize the continuous use of the tooling, thereby improving the production efficiency of the heating equipment.

[0013] As another implementation of the present technical solution, the tooling lifting device at the discharge end and the tooling lifting device at the feed end have the same structure and are both composed of a pair of tooling lifting forks. The tooling lifting fork includes a lifting drive device, a lifting fork arm, a tooling fork and a fork telescopic drive device. The lifting drive device is arranged on the lifting fork arm. One end of the lifting fork arm is arranged on the column. The lifting fork arm is driven by the lifting drive device and can move up and down along the column. The other end of the lifting fork arm is provided with a tooling fork and a fork telescopic drive device. The two tooling forks of the tooling lifting device at the discharge end and the tooling lifting device at the feed end are arranged opposite to each other and are driven by the fork telescopic drive device to clamp or release the tooling.

[0014] As another implementation of the present technical solution, the tooling return and storage device includes a tooling bracket, at least two sets of main chains, a chain drive motor, a feed end flip bracket, a discharge end flip bracket and several flip drivers. The tooling bracket is horizontally fixed on four columns. Both ends of the tooling bracket have main rotating shafts set by bearings. At least two main chain sprockets and one main sprocket are fixed on the two main rotating shafts respectively. At least two sets of main chains are arranged on the tooling bracket and at least two main chain sprockets are sleeved and meshed at both ends. The chain drive motor is arranged at one end of the tooling bracket and is drive-connected to the adjacent main rotating shaft. The feed end flip bracket and the discharge end flip bracket are hinged at On the main rotating shafts at the two ends of the tooling bracket, the ends of the feed end flip bracket and the discharging end flip bracket adjacent to the tooling bracket are each provided with a slave rotating shaft arranged through a bearing, at least two slave chain sprockets and one slave sprocket are respectively fixed on the two slave rotating shafts, the feed end flip bracket and the discharging end flip bracket are respectively provided with at least two sets of slave chains, and the ends of the slave chains adjacent to the slave rotating shafts are sleeved and meshed with corresponding slave chain sprockets, the slave sprockets on the two slave rotating shafts and the main sprockets on the two main rotating shafts are correspondingly linked by sleeved with two sets of transmission chains, one end of several flip drivers is respectively hinged to the two ends of the tooling bracket, and the other ends are respectively hinged to the bottom of the feed end flip bracket and the discharging end flip bracket.

[0015] Compared with the existing parts heat treatment equipment, this technical solution has a large carrying capacity for parts in the heating furnace body, the drag chain is not easy to be damaged, easy to repair and has a long service life, the drag chain has high positioning accuracy for part transmission, and can be applied to the heat treatment process of parts of various shapes and parts that need to be carried in tooling, the heat loss of the heating furnace body is small and no backup power supply is required during repair and maintenance, and the heating equipment can achieve the beneficial technical effect of continuous production. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of a first embodiment of a drag chain type step heating device of the present invention;

[0017] Figure 2It is a transverse cross-sectional schematic diagram of the first embodiment of the drag chain type step heating device of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the drag chain in the drag chain type step heating device of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of a second embodiment of a drag chain type step heating device of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 5 It is a transverse cross-sectional schematic diagram of a second embodiment of a drag chain type step heating device of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of the positional relationship between the tool lifting device and the tool return and storage device in the second embodiment of the drag chain type step heating device of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the first state of the feed end flip bracket in the second embodiment of the drag chain type step heating device of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 8 It is a schematic diagram of the second state of the feed end flip bracket in the second embodiment of the drag chain type step heating equipment of the present invention.

[0024] Explanation of symbols in the accompanying drawings:

[0025] 1 Heating furnace body; 11 Heating furnace chamber; 2 Front furnace door; 3 Rear furnace door; 4 Heating device; 41 Customized heater; 5 Drag chain device; 51 Drag chain support rail; 52 Drag chain; 521 Single chain link; 522 Connecting plate; 523 Connecting pin; 53 Drag chain tensioning device; 54 Sprocket; 55 Transmission shaft; 6 Furnace lifting device; 61 Lifting structure; 62 Lifting column; 63 Support beam; 71 Feeder; 72 Discharger; 73 Frame; 74 Material fork arm; 75 Material fork; 8 Tool lifting device; 81 Lifting material fork arm; 82 Tool material fork; 83 Material fork telescopic drive device; 9 Tool return and storage device; 91 Column; 92 Tool bracket; 93 Main chain; 94 Chain drive motor; 95 Feed end flip bracket; 96 Discharging end turning bracket; 97 turning driver; 921 main rotating shaft; 922 main chain sprocket; 923 main sprocket; 951 slave rotating shaft; 952 slave chain sprocket; 953 slave sprocket; 954 slave chain; 96 transmission chain; 10 workpiece; 12 tooling. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] The detailed description and technical contents of the present invention are described as follows with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the accompanying drawings are only provided for reference and description and are not intended to limit the present invention.

[0027] The present invention provides a drag chain type step heating device, which is mainly used for the heat treatment production of steel parts in the shape of flat plates, rods, tubes, special-shaped structures, etc., and is particularly suitable for the heat treatment production of automobile body parts.

[0028] like Figure 1 , 2 The figure shows a first specific embodiment of the present invention, which comprises: a heating furnace body 1, the heating furnace body 1 comprises: a heating furnace chamber 11, a heating device 4, a front furnace door 2, a rear furnace door 3, a temperature control system (not shown), a drag chain device 5 and at least one set of furnace lifting devices 6; wherein, the heating furnace chamber 11 is formed in the heating furnace body 1, the heating device 4 is arranged in the heating furnace chamber 11, the front furnace door 2 and the rear furnace door 3 are respectively arranged on opposite sides of the heating furnace body 1, and the drag chain device 5 is located in the heating furnace chamber 11 and fixed on the bottom plate of the heating furnace body 1 , the upper part of the drag chain device 5 is provided with a drag chain 52 which can be driven to travel back and forth, the two ends of the drag chain device 5 are respectively located at the front furnace door 2 and the rear furnace door 3, and at least one set of furnace lifting devices 6 is arranged on the bottom plate of the heating furnace body 1 below the drag chain device 5; at least one set of furnace lifting devices 6 is used to lift and support and lower at least one workpiece 10 sent into the heating furnace chamber 11 and placed on the drag chain 52 of the drag chain device 5, so as to cooperate with the drag chain 52 of the drag chain device 5 to travel back and forth, and heat the at least one workpiece 10. Under the control of the temperature control system, the maximum working temperature of the heating furnace chamber 11 in the present invention can reach 1050°C, and the general working temperature range is ≤1000°C. The atmosphere inside the heating furnace chamber 11 can be an air atmosphere or a protective atmosphere. The size and shape of the heating furnace chamber 11 are not fixed and can be flexibly customized according to the shape of the workpiece 10 and the requirements of the heat treatment process. In addition, the heating element of the heating device 4 can be an electric heating element or a gas heating element. In addition, a customized heater 41 may be installed in the heating furnace chamber 11. The customized heater 41 may perform local customized heating on the workpiece 10 with special heat treatment requirements, so as to achieve special requirements for different mechanical properties of different parts of the workpiece after quenching.

[0029] In detail, the drag chain device 5 includes: at least one set of drag chain support rails 51, at least one set of drag chains 52 and at least one drag chain driving motor (not shown). Among them, the at least one set of drag chain support rails 51 is fixed on the bottom plate of the heating furnace body 1, and its two ends are respectively located at the front furnace door 2 and the rear furnace door 3, at least one set of drag chains 52 is correspondingly embedded on the at least one set of drag chain support rails 51, and at least one drag chain driving motor is arranged outside the heating furnace body 1 and connected to drive at least one set of drag chains 52 to slide back and forth on the at least one set of drag chain support rails 51. Therefore, one or more sets of drag chain support rails 51 and the matching drag chains 52 can be flexibly arranged in the heating furnace body 1 according to the volume of the heating furnace chamber 11 and the specifications of the workpiece to be heat treated, so that the drag chain type step heating equipment of the present invention can meet the requirements of different production volumes and production efficiencies. In the present invention, each set of drag chain support rails 51 may include at least two drag chain support rails 51 according to the specifications of the workpiece to be heat treated, and a rail groove (not shown) is provided on the upper part of the drag chain support rails 51, and each set of drag chains 52 matched therewith includes at least two drag chains 52, and the drag chains 52 are correspondingly embedded in the rail groove. In this embodiment, it is explained that each set of drag chain support rails 51 includes two drag chain support rails 51 and each set of drag chains 52 includes two drag chains 52; the number of the drag chain drive motors is two and they are divided into a feed end drag chain drive motor and a discharge end drag chain drive motor and they are respectively arranged on the outside of the front furnace door and the outside of the rear furnace door, the feed end drag chain drive motor is connected to drive the feed end of the drag chain, and the discharge end drag chain drive motor is connected to drive the discharge end of the drag chain, and the feed end drag chain drive motor and the discharge end drag chain drive motor are alternately operated at intervals of one step time, so that the drag chain moves back and forth a step distance.

[0030] More specifically, the drag chain device also includes several chains (not shown in the figure), two drag chain tensioning devices 53, several sprocket wheels 54 and two transmission shafts 55. The feed end or the discharge end of the drag chain 52 extends outward by an extension distance that is not less than the stepping distance, so that the drag chain 52 made of refractory and high-temperature resistant materials can be driven to and fro in the high-temperature heating furnace chamber 11, and other parts of the drag chain device 5 are prevented from entering the heating furnace chamber 11 and being damaged by the high temperature during the reciprocating movement; one end of the several chains is respectively connected to the feed end and the discharge end of the drag chain, and the other ends of the several chains are respectively connected to the two drag chain tensioning devices 53 arranged on the outside of the front furnace door 2 and the outside of the rear furnace door 3. The drag chain tensioning device 53 can adopt a variety of methods such as power tensioning or counterweight tensioning. In this embodiment, counterweight tensioning is adopted. The method is explained, the drag chain tensioning device 53 (counterweight) is in a suspended state after being connected to the several chains, and its own weight makes the drag chain taut and stably embedded in the track groove of the drag chain supporting slide rail, the several sprocket wheels 54 are respectively fixed on two transmission shafts 55, and the two transmission shafts 55 are respectively connected to the output end of the feed end drag chain driving motor and the output end of the discharge end drag chain driving motor, the several sprocket wheels 54 correspondingly engage with several chains, and the feed end drag chain driving motor and the discharge end drag chain driving motor alternately run the stepping time, so as to drive the sprocket wheel 54 to drive the chain to make the drag chain 52 move back and forth the stepping distance, wherein the configuration of the drag chain tensioning device 53 can make the drag chain 52 taut and stably embedded in the track groove of the drag chain supporting slide rail 51, and make the several drag chains 52 keep moving synchronously under the connection drive of the several chains. In addition, in order to reduce the degree of wear between the drag chain and the rail groove of the drag chain supporting slide rail during movement, reduce the friction coefficient and extend its service life, the drag chain device also includes a plurality of drag chain lubricating blocks (not shown in the figure). The plurality of drag chain lubricating blocks are evenly arranged in the rail groove, so that the drag chain and the drag chain lubricating blocks are tightly fitted, and the drag chain lubricating blocks are always kept in contact with the friction surface of the drag chain in a high temperature environment. The drag chain lubricating block can be a graphite lubricating block, etc. The present invention does not limit the type of drag chain lubricating block.

[0031] like Figure 3As shown, the drag chain 52 in the present invention is a strip-shaped chain assembly with a certain degree of freedom of movement, which is composed of several long single chain links 521, several connecting pieces 522 and several connecting pins 523. The two ends of the single chain link 521 are respectively penetrated with through holes (not shown in the figure), and the two ends of the connecting piece 522 are respectively provided with through openings (not shown in the figure). The connecting piece 522 is arranged across the adjacent ends of two single chain links 521, so that the two through openings on the connecting piece 522 are aligned with the through holes on the adjacent ends of the two single chain links 521 and penetrate the connecting pin 523 so that several single chain links 521 are connected in series to form a drag chain 52. Among them, the shape of the single chain link 521 can be designed according to the shape, weight, etc. of the workpiece and the tooling. The single chain link 521, the connecting piece 522 and the connecting pin 523 are all made of fireproof and high temperature resistant materials, such as steel materials, silicon carbide materials or ceramic materials. The chain in the present invention can be a roller chain.

[0032] like Figure 1 , 2 As shown, the furnace lifting device 6 in the present invention can be one group or several groups. Each group of the furnace lifting device 6 includes a lifting drive motor (not shown), a lifting structure 61, a plurality of lifting columns 62 and a plurality of support beams 63. The lifting drive motor is arranged outside the heating furnace body, the lifting structure 61 is arranged at the lower outer part of the heating furnace body 1, and the plurality of lifting columns 62 are symmetrically arranged on the upper part of the lifting structure 61, and the upper ends of the plurality of lifting columns 62 pass through the bottom of the heating furnace body 1 and extend into the heating furnace chamber 11 and are located on both sides of the drag chain support slide rail 51 of the drag chain device 5. The plurality of support beams 63 are parallel to the drag chain support slide rail 51 and are respectively fixed on the upper ends of the plurality of lifting columns 62. The lifting drive motor drives the lifting structure 61 to rise or fall horizontally, thereby driving the plurality of support beams 63 to be higher or lower than the drag chain support slide rail 51, so as to cooperate with the reciprocating movement of the drag chain 52 to support and lift the workpiece 10 on the drag chain 52, or place the workpiece 10 on the drag chain 52.

[0033] The first embodiment of the present invention also includes a feeder 71 and a discharging machine 72, which are respectively arranged on the outer side of the front furnace door 2 and the outer side of the rear furnace door 3. The feeder 71 and the discharging machine 72 have the same structure and both include a frame 73, a material fork arm 74, a material fork 75, a material fork lifting device (not shown in the figure) and a material fork translation device (not shown in the figure), wherein the material fork arm 74, the material fork lifting device and the material fork translation device are all arranged on the frame 73, the material fork 75 is horizontally arranged on the material fork arm 74, the material fork lifting device can drive the material fork arm to drive the material fork to rise or fall, and the material fork translation device can drive the material fork arm to drive the material fork to move horizontally forward, backward, left and right. Among them, the material fork lifting device and the material fork translation device can be a driving device composed of a driving motor, a gear and a rack, or a driving device composed of a driving motor, a track, a sprocket and a chain, or a driving device composed of a driving motor and a driving member with internal and external threads, or a driving device composed of a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder. The present invention does not limit the driving structure of the material fork lifting device and the material fork translation device. The shape of the material fork 75 is determined according to the workpiece to be heat treated, and is made of fireproof and high temperature resistant materials, such as steel materials or silicon carbide materials, ceramic materials, composite materials, etc. In addition, in order to reduce the heat loss of the heating furnace body when the discharger 72 takes out the workpiece or the tooling carrying the workpiece, an opening (not shown in the figure) is also provided on the rear furnace door, and an openable and closable discharge door (not shown in the figure) is provided on the outer side of the opening. When the discharger takes the workpiece or the tooling carrying the workpiece, the discharge door is first opened, and the discharger material fork extends into the heating furnace chamber from the opening to support the workpiece or the tooling carrying the workpiece. Then the rear furnace door is opened, and the discharger material fork supports the workpiece or the tooling carrying the workpiece and quickly moves it out of the heating furnace chamber, and the rear furnace door and the discharge door are closed. To ensure the above-mentioned operation of taking out the workpiece or the tooling carrying the workpiece, the opening is connected to an edge of the rear furnace door, and the rear furnace door can be opened by sliding in a sliding manner in the direction opposite to the edge connected to the opening. Of course, the rear furnace door may not be opened when the discharger material fork takes the workpiece or the tooling, but only the discharge door is opened and closed. The operation of taking materials by the discharger and whether the rear furnace door is opened or not depends on the size, type and operation requirements of the workpiece or the tooling. The feeder 71 and the discharging machine 72 can replace manual loading and unloading operations of workpieces or tooling, which can effectively improve the heat treatment efficiency and operation standardization of the drag chain stepping heating equipment of the present invention for workpieces and reduce the investment in labor costs.

[0034] The drag chain type step heating device of the present invention can also meet the heat treatment operation of the workpiece to be carried in the tooling, and can realize the return and storage of the tooling without manual operation. Figures 4 to 8As shown, it is a second specific embodiment of the present invention, the drag chain type step heating equipment also includes a tool lifting device 8 and at least one tool returning and storage device 9. The tooling lifting device 8 includes four columns 91, a tooling lifting device at the discharge end and a tooling lifting device at the feed end. The four columns 91 are respectively vertically fixed on the two sides outside the front furnace door 2 and the two sides outside the rear furnace door 3. The tooling lifting device at the discharge end and the tooling lifting device at the feed end are respectively arranged on the two columns 91 outside the rear furnace door 3 and the two columns 91 outside the front furnace door 2. Among them, the tooling lifting device at the discharge end and the tooling lifting device at the feed end have the same structure and are both composed of a pair of tooling lifting forks. The tooling lifting forks include a lifting drive device (not shown in the figure), a lifting fork arm 81, a tooling fork 82 and a fork telescopic drive device 83. The lifting drive device is arranged on the lifting fork arm. The lifting drive device can be a driving device composed of a driving motor, a track, a sprocket and a chain, or a driving device composed of a driving motor, a gear and a rack. , or a driving device composed of a driving motor and a driving member with internal and external threads. The present invention does not limit the driving structure of the lifting drive device. One end of the lifting material fork arm 81 is arranged on the column 91. More specifically, the lifting material fork arm 81 can be provided with a guide wheel (not shown in the figure), and the column 91 can be provided with a vertical guide rail (not shown in the figure). The guide wheel is embedded in the guide rail so that the lifting material fork arm can be driven by the lifting drive device and can move up and down along the column. The other end of the lifting material fork arm 81 is provided with a tooling material fork 82 and a material fork telescopic driving device 83. The material fork telescopic driving device 83 can be a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder. The two tooling material forks 82 of the tooling lifting device at the discharge end and the tooling lifting device at the feed end are arranged opposite to each other and are driven by the material fork telescopic driving device 83 to clamp or release the tooling.

[0035] The at least one tool return and storage device 9 is located above the heating furnace body 1 and is fixed on four columns 91 in order from bottom to top. The tool return and storage device 9 is used to receive the tool 12 transported by the tool lifting device at the discharge end to store the tool 12 or transport the tool 12 to the tool lifting device at the feed end. Figure 4As shown, in this embodiment, two tooling return and storage devices 9 are used for explanation, wherein the lower tooling return and storage device 9 is mainly used for the operation of returning the tooling 12 from the discharge end to the feed end, and the upper tooling return and storage device 9 is mainly used for the storage of the tooling 12. Of course, the present invention can also be provided with multiple tooling return and storage devices, which can be determined according to the actual usage of the tooling. Accordingly, when the heating equipment uses the tooling 12 to carry the workpiece for heat treatment, the tooling return and storage device 9 can replace the manual handling operation of the tooling 12, and can realize the continuous use of the tooling, thereby improving the production efficiency of the heating equipment. More specifically, the tooling return and storage device 9 includes a tooling bracket 92, at least two sets of main chains 93, a chain drive motor 94, a feed end flip bracket 95, a discharge end flip bracket 96 and a plurality of flip drivers 97. The tooling bracket 92 is horizontally fixed on four columns 91, and both ends of the tooling bracket 92 have a main shaft 921 set by a bearing. At least two main chain sprockets 922 and a main sprocket 923 are fixed on the two main shafts 921 respectively. The main chain 93 is arranged on the tooling bracket 92 and at both ends are sleeved and meshed with at least two main chain sprockets 922. The chain drive motor 94 is arranged at one end of the tooling bracket 92 and is drivingly connected to the adjacent main rotating shaft 921. The present invention does not limit the number of chain drive motors. If the heating furnace body of the heating equipment is longer, so that the tooling bracket is also longer, chain drive motors can be set at both ends of the tooling bracket, or a chain drive motor can be added in the middle of the tooling bracket. The feed end flip bracket 95 and the discharge end flip bracket 96 are hinged on the main shaft 921 at both ends of the tooling bracket 92 through bearings. The ends of the feed end flip bracket 95 and the discharge end flip bracket 96 adjacent to the tooling bracket 92 are provided with a slave shaft 951 set through a bearing. At least two slave chain sprockets 952 and one slave sprocket 953 are fixed on the two slave shafts 951 respectively. The feed end flip bracket 95 and the discharge end flip bracket 96 are respectively provided with at least two sets of slave chains 954, and the slave chains 954 are sleeved on the ends adjacent to the slave shafts 951 and meshed with the corresponding slave chain sprockets 952. However, the other end of the slave chain 954 is also sleeved and meshed with the sprockets (not shown) arranged on the rotating shafts at the end of the feed end flip bracket 95 and the discharge end flip bracket 96. The slave sprockets 953 on the two slave rotating shafts 951 and the main sprockets 923 on the two main rotating shafts 921 are correspondingly linked by sleeved with two sets of transmission chains 96. One end of several flip drivers 97 is respectively hinged to the two ends of the tooling bracket 92, usually hinged to the bottom of the end of the tooling bracket, and the other end is respectively hinged to the bottom of the feed end flip bracket 95 and the discharge end flip bracket 96. The flip driver 97 can be a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder.

[0036] In order to improve the efficiency of picking up and placing workpieces or tooling carrying workpieces, the present invention may be provided with a positioning device for the workpiece or the tooling carrying the workpiece (not shown in the figure) on the material forks of the feeder and the discharging machine and the tooling bracket. The present invention does not limit the structure of the positioning device. The workpiece positioning device in the prior art, such as the workpiece positioning device on the parts production and transportation line, can be applied to the present invention to perform a position correction or modification on the workpiece or the tooling carrying the workpiece to ensure the correct position of the workpiece or the tooling.

[0037] The operation of the drag chain type step heating device of the present invention is described below by taking the heat treatment process of the workpiece carried in the tooling as an example:

[0038] First, the material fork 75 of the feeder 72 is driven by the material fork lifting device and the material fork translation device to rise and lift up to a working surface higher than the drag chain 52, and then the tooling material fork 82 of the tooling lifting device at the feed end or other devices other than the heating equipment transfers the empty tooling (the workpiece to be heat treated will be placed in the empty tooling later) or the tooling carrying the workpiece to the material fork 75 of the feeder 71, and the tooling is accurately positioned by the positioning device, and then the front furnace door 2 of the heating furnace body 1 is opened, and the material fork lifting device and the material fork translation device drive the material fork 75 to move toward the heating furnace body 1. After the material fork 75 moves into place, the material fork lifting device and the material fork translation device drive the material fork 75 to descend, place the tooling 12 on the drag chain 52, and then drive the material fork 75 back to its original position and close it. The front furnace door 2 is closed; the original position of the lifting device 6 in the furnace is in the descending position, and the drag chain driving motor at the discharge end drives the drag chain 52 to move a step distance on the drag chain supporting slide rail 51 toward the rear furnace door 3, and the lifting device 6 in the furnace drives the supporting beam 63 to rise to lift the tooling 12 on the drag chain 52 to separate from the drag chain 52, and then the drag chain 52 is driven by the drag chain driving motor at the feed end to move a step distance toward the front furnace door 2 to return to its original position, and the lifting device 6 in the furnace descends to the original position to place the tooling 12 on the drag chain 52, so that the workpiece carried in the tooling 12 is subjected to step-by-step heat treatment in the heating furnace body 1; when the supporting beam 63 of the lifting device 6 in the furnace located at the rear furnace door 3 rises to lift the tooling 12, the material fork 7 of the discharge machine 72 5 is driven by the material fork lifting device and the material fork translation device to pass through the opening on the rear furnace door (the discharge door is open), the furnace lifting device 6 is lowered to place the tooling 12 on the material fork 75 of the discharge machine 72, and then the rear furnace door is opened, and the material fork 75 of the discharge machine 72 is driven by the material fork lifting device and the material fork translation device to return to its original position, and the rear furnace door and the discharge door are closed, and the positioning device on the material fork 75 of the discharge machine 72 positions the taken-out tooling 12, and then the material taking device outside the heating device takes the workpiece away from the tooling; the tooling lifting material fork of the tooling lifting device at the discharge end clamps and lifts the empty tooling on the material fork 75 of the discharge machine 72, and rises to the discharge end flip bracket 96 of the tooling return and storage device 9 under the drive of the lifting drive device, and is then The discharge end flip bracket 96 rotates upward and rises into position, and the tooling lifting fork descends again to release the empty tooling on the discharge end flip bracket 96, and the empty tooling is transferred to the main chain 93 on the tooling bracket 92 by the slave chain 954 on the discharge end flip bracket 96, and the empty tooling is repositioned by the positioning device, and the empty tooling is stored on the tooling bracket 92 or transferred to the feed end flip bracket 95. If there is no need to store tooling, the tooling lifting fork of the tooling lifting device at the feed end clamps and lifts up the empty tooling on the feed end flip bracket 95, and then the feed end flip bracket 95 rotates downward and returns to its original position, and the tooling lifting fork of the tooling lifting device at the feed end descends under the drive of the lifting drive device to place the empty tooling on the material fork 75 of the feeder 71.

[0039] The drag chain type step heating device of the present invention can directly control the heating furnace body, the drag chain device, the furnace lifting device, the feeder, the discharging machine, the tool lifting device and the tool return and storage device by manual operation to achieve the heat treatment process of the workpiece or the workpiece carried in the tool. In addition, the automatic operation of the drag chain type step heating device can also be achieved by configuring an electrical control system and the closed-loop servo and various sensors included therein for realizing precise positioning control. The present invention does not limit the operation control method of the drag chain type step heating device.

[0040] The stepping action cycle of the drag chain type stepping heating equipment of the present invention is generally 15 seconds, and the shortest action cycle can reach 10 seconds. The dew point in the furnace can be controlled at <-20°C, and there is no need to provide emergency backup power supply during power outages. Since there are no roller devices on both sides of the heating furnace body, the heat loss on the surface of the furnace shell of the heating furnace body is small. Compared with the roller type heating furnace and the box type heating furnace mainly used in the prior art, the drag chain type stepping heating equipment of the present invention has the following beneficial technical effects: it is suitable for heating workpieces of various shapes and those that need to be carried in tooling, the drag chain has a long service life, the furnace can heat treat more workpieces at the same time, the operation energy consumption is low, the workpiece positioning accuracy is high, the maintenance cost is low, and the production efficiency is high.

[0041] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the patent scope of the present invention. Other equivalent changes made using the patent concept of the present invention should fall within the patent protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A drag chain type step heating device, comprising: A heating furnace body, the heating furnace body comprising: a heating furnace chamber, a heating device, a front furnace door and a rear furnace door, the heating furnace chamber is formed in the heating furnace body, the heating device is arranged in the heating furnace chamber, and the front furnace door and the rear furnace door are respectively arranged on two opposite sides of the heating furnace body; it is characterized in that the heating furnace body also comprises: a drag chain device, at least one group of furnace lifting devices, the drag chain device is located in the heating furnace chamber and fixedly arranged on the bottom plate of the heating furnace body, the upper part of the drag chain device has a drag chain that can be driven to move back and forth, the two ends of the drag chain device are respectively located at the front furnace door and the rear furnace door, the at least one group of furnace lifting devices is arranged on the bottom plate of the heating furnace body below the drag chain device; through the at least one group of furnace The internal lifting device lifts, supports and lowers at least one workpiece that is sent into the heating furnace chamber and placed on the drag chain of the drag chain device, so as to cooperate with the reciprocating movement of the drag chain of the drag chain device to heat the at least one workpiece; the drag chain type stepping heating equipment also includes a tooling lifting device and at least one tooling return and storage device, the tooling lifting device includes four columns, a tooling lifting device at the discharge end and a tooling lifting device at the feed end, the four columns are respectively vertically fixed on both sides outside the front furnace door and on both sides outside the rear furnace door, the tooling lifting device at the discharge end and the tooling lifting device at the feed end are respectively arranged on two columns outside the rear furnace door and two columns outside the front furnace door, the at least one tooling return and storage device is positioned at the bottom of the workpiece. Above the heating furnace body and fixed on the four columns in sequence from bottom to top, the tooling return and storage device receives the tooling transported by the tooling lifting device at the discharge end to store the tooling or transport the tooling to the tooling lifting device at the feed end; the drag chain device includes: at least one group of drag chain supporting rails, at least one group of the drag chains and at least one drag chain driving motor, the at least one group of drag chain supporting rails is fixed on the bottom plate of the heating furnace body and the two ends of the at least one group of drag chain supporting rails are respectively located at the front furnace door and the rear furnace door, the at least one group of drag chains is correspondingly embedded on the at least one group of drag chain supporting rails, the at least one drag chain driving motor is arranged outside the heating furnace body and is connected to drive the at least one group of drag chains to the The at least one group of drag chain support rails slides back and forth; each group of drag chain support rails includes at least two drag chain support rails, and a rail groove is provided on the upper part of the drag chain support rails. Each group of drag chains includes at least two drag chains, and the drag chains are correspondingly embedded in the rail grooves. The number of the drag chain drive motors is two and they are divided into a feed end drag chain drive motor and a discharge end drag chain drive motor and are respectively arranged on the outer side of the front furnace door and the outer side of the rear furnace door. The feed end drag chain drive motor is connected to drive the feed end of the drag chain, and the discharge end drag chain drive motor is connected to drive the discharge end of the drag chain, and the feed end drag chain drive motor and the discharge end drag chain drive motor are alternately operated at intervals of one step time, so that the drag chain moves back and forth a step distance;The drag chain device also includes several chains, two drag chain tensioning devices, several sprocket wheels and two transmission shafts. The feed end or the discharge end of the drag chain extends outward by an extension distance not less than the stepping distance. One ends of the several chains are respectively connected to the feed end and the discharge end of the drag chain, and the other ends of the several chains are respectively connected to the two drag chain tensioning devices arranged on the outside of the front furnace door and the outside of the rear furnace door. The several sprocket wheels are respectively fixed on the two transmission shafts, and the two transmission shafts are respectively connected to the output end of the feed end drag chain drive motor and the output end of the discharge end drag chain drive motor. The several sprocket wheels correspondingly mesh with the several chains, and the feed end drag chain drive motor and the discharge end drag chain drive motor are operated alternately at intervals. The stepping time is to drive the sprocket to drive the chain to make the drag chain travel back and forth the stepping distance; the tooling lifting device at the discharge end and the tooling lifting device at the feed end have the same structure and are both composed of a pair of tooling lifting material forks, the tooling lifting material forks include a lifting drive device, a lifting material fork arm, a tooling material fork and a material fork telescopic drive device, the lifting drive device is arranged on the lifting material fork arm, one end of the lifting material fork arm is arranged on the column, the lifting material fork arm is driven by the lifting drive device and can move up and down along the column, the other end of the lifting material fork arm is provided with the tooling material fork and the material fork telescopic drive device, the two tooling material forks of the tooling lifting device at the discharge end and the tooling lifting device at the feed end are arranged opposite to each other and are driven by the The tooling is driven by a telescopic drive device of a material fork to clamp or release the tooling; the tooling return and storage device includes a tooling bracket, at least two sets of main chains, a chain drive motor, a feed end flip bracket, a discharge end flip bracket and several flip drivers, the tooling bracket is horizontally fixed on the four columns, and both ends of the tooling bracket have a main rotating shaft set by a bearing, and at least two main chain sprockets and one main sprocket are fixed on the two main rotating shafts respectively, the at least two sets of main chains are arranged on the tooling bracket and the two ends are sleeved and meshed with the at least two main chain sprockets, the chain drive motor is arranged at one end of the tooling bracket and is drivingly connected to the adjacent main rotating shaft, the feed end flip bracket and the discharge end flip bracket The main rotating shafts at both ends of the tooling bracket are hinged by bearings, and the ends of the feed end flip bracket and the discharge end flip bracket adjacent to the tooling bracket are provided with slave rotating shafts provided by bearings, and at least two slave chain sprockets and one slave sprocket are respectively fixed on the two slave rotating shafts, and the feed end flip bracket and the discharge end flip bracket are respectively provided with at least two sets of slave chains, and the ends of the slave chains adjacent to the slave rotating shafts are sleeved and meshed with corresponding slave chain sprockets, and the slave sprockets on the two slave rotating shafts and the main sprockets on the two main rotating shafts are correspondingly linked by sleeved with two sets of transmission chains, and one end of the several flip drivers is respectively hinged to the two ends of the tooling bracket, and the other end is respectively hinged to the bottom of the feed end flip bracket and the discharge end flip bracket. ; 2. The drag chain type step heating device according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The drag chain device also includes a plurality of drag chain lubricating blocks, and the plurality of drag chain lubricating blocks are evenly arranged in the rail groove.

3. The drag chain type step heating device according to claim 1 is characterized in that: Each group of in-furnace lifting devices includes a lifting drive motor, a lifting structure, several lifting columns and several support beams. The lifting drive motor is arranged outside the heating furnace body, the lifting structure is arranged at the lower part of the heating furnace body, the several lifting columns are symmetrically arranged on the upper part of the lifting structure, and the upper ends of the several lifting columns pass through the bottom of the heating furnace body and extend into the heating furnace chamber and are located on both sides of the drag chain support slide rail of the drag chain device. The several support beams are parallel to the drag chain support slide rail and are respectively fixed on the upper ends of the several lifting columns. The lifting drive motor drives the lifting structure to rise or fall horizontally, thereby driving the several support beams to be higher or lower than the drag chain support slide rail.

4. The drag chain type step heating device according to claim 1 is characterized in that: It also includes a feeder and a discharging machine, which are respectively arranged on the outside of the front furnace door and the outside of the rear furnace door, and the feeder and the discharging machine both include a frame, a material fork arm, a material fork, a material fork lifting device and a material fork translation device, the material fork arm, the material fork lifting device and the material fork translation device are all arranged on the frame, the material fork is horizontally arranged on the material fork arm, the material fork lifting device can drive the material fork arm to drive the material fork to rise or fall, and the material fork translation device can drive the material fork arm to drive the material fork to move horizontally forward, backward, left and right.

Images