Heat treatment facility

Abstract

To provide heat treatment facilities allowing a space for roll replacement to be secured while keeping space efficiency and transportation efficiency of an object to be processed, by suppressing installation intervals of heat treatment chambers.SOLUTION: A heat treatment facility 1 comprises: a plurality of heat treatment chambers 12 that are arranged along a transportation track 5 and are provided with rollers 54 for supporting and transporting objects W to be processed; and a transportation unit 20 that includes a transportation chamber 60 provided with a roller 84 for supporting and transporting the objects W to be processed, moves along the transportation track 5, and performs handover of the objects W to be processed between the heat treatment chambers 12. The heat treatment facility 1 is provided with first heat treatment chamber moving means for moving the heat treatment chambers 12 in an approaching and departing direction with respect to the transportation unit 20.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a heat treatment facility for performing heat treatment on an object to be treated. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, Patent Document 1 listed below discloses a heat treatment facility in which a plurality of identical or different processing chambers, each of which is responsible for part of a series of heat treatment steps, are arranged along a transport track, and a transport unit running on the transport track is used to transfer the workpiece between the processing chambers and perform a series of heat treatments on the workpiece.

[0003] Here, when a telescopic transfer arm is used as a means for transferring the workpiece as in Patent Document 1, a space must be secured to accommodate the transfer arm in the chamber on the transfer unit side, and the chamber volume becomes large. This causes problems such as poor space efficiency when installing the equipment and a long time required for evacuation each time the workpiece is transferred.

[0004] As a means for transferring the workpiece, it is possible to use a transport roll instead of a telescopic transport arm, but this requires a space for roll replacement on the side of the processing chamber, which is long enough to accommodate the roll punching, and when multiple processing chambers are arranged side by side, the spacing between them becomes wide. In this case, problems arise in terms of space efficiency and the reduction in the transport efficiency of the workpiece. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2006-063363 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] In light of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a heat treatment facility that can reduce the installation spacing of heat treatment chambers to maintain high space efficiency and workpiece transport efficiency while also ensuring space for roll replacement. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The heat treatment equipment according to the first aspect of the present invention is defined as follows: A plurality of heat treatment chambers are arranged along a transport track and provided with rolls for supporting and transporting the workpiece; a transport unit having a transport chamber provided with rolls for supporting and transporting the workpiece, the transport unit moving along the transport track to deliver the workpiece to and from the heat treatment chamber; A heat treatment facility comprising: A first heat treatment chamber moving means is provided for moving the heat treatment chamber in a direction toward and away from the transport unit.

[0008] According to the heat treatment equipment of the first aspect, by moving only the target heat treatment chamber in the approaching / separating direction during roll replacement, a roll replacement space equivalent to the roll removal allowance can be secured to the side of the target heat treatment chamber, thereby reducing the installation spacing of the heat treatment chambers and maintaining high space efficiency and transport efficiency of the workpiece.

[0009] a gate door that moves vertically to open and close an opening of the heat treatment chamber and / or an opening of the transfer chamber; A support roll may be provided which is disposed below the gate door, rises to a transport height of the workpiece when the gate door is in a raised state, and supports the transport of the workpiece (second aspect). In this way, a new support roll is added to the opening where the roll pitch is wider than other locations, thereby improving the transport stability of the workpiece W.

[0010] In this invention, the first heat treatment chamber moving means can be configured to include a moving track laid in a direction approaching or moving away from the transport unit, and a mobile carriage supporting the heat treatment chamber and moving on the moving track (third aspect).

[0011] In addition, this invention can be configured to further include a second heat treatment chamber moving means comprising a connecting carriage that supports the heat treatment chamber and is movable on the movable carriage, and a cylinder that moves the connecting carriage in the approaching and moving away directions (fourth aspect). The second heat treatment chamber moving means, which uses a cylinder to move the heat treatment chamber, is suitable for moving the heat treatment chamber only a short distance.

[0012] The fifth aspect of the present invention is defined as follows: In the heat treatment equipment according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the heat treatment chamber arranged on one side of the transport track and the heat treatment chamber arranged on the other side are arranged to face each other such that their openings face each other, the transfer chamber has openings on side surfaces facing the heat treatment chambers facing each other, By moving the heat treatment chamber arranged on one side and the heat treatment chamber arranged on the other side in a direction approaching the transport chamber, the openings of the heat treatment chamber and the transport chamber can be airtightly connected to each other.

[0013] According to the heat treatment equipment of the fifth aspect defined in this manner, a workpiece treated in one heat treatment chamber can be transported to the other opposing heat treatment chamber in a straight line by passing directly through the transport chamber, thereby significantly reducing the time required to transfer the workpiece.

[0014] In the heat treatment equipment of the fifth aspect, the transfer chamber of at least one of the plurality of transfer units can be configured as a vacuum chamber not equipped with a heating means (sixth aspect). For a linear path where the transfer of the workpiece W is completed in a short time, if the transfer chamber of the transfer unit is a vacuum chamber that can transfer the workpiece in a vacuum state (reduced pressure state), a heating means such as a heater is not required. By using a transfer unit configured with a vacuum chamber without a heating means as a transfer unit dedicated to the linear path, the number of transfer units equipped with more expensive heating means can be reduced. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing a schematic overall configuration of a heat treatment facility according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of a heat treatment chamber and a transfer unit in the embodiment. FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a view showing a roll and its surroundings disposed in the heat treatment chamber. [Figure 4] FIG. 13 is a view showing a state where one of the heat treatment chambers has been moved to a roll exchange position. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a plan view of the heat treatment chamber and the transfer unit. [Figure 6] This is a modified example in which the doors of the heat treatment chamber and the transfer chamber are configured as gate doors. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic overall configuration of a heat treatment facility according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of a heat treatment chamber and a transfer unit in the embodiment. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] Next, a heat treatment facility according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 shows a schematic overall configuration of a heat treatment facility 1 of the first embodiment. In the figure, 5 denotes a rail that serves as a conveying track extending linearly in the left-right direction in the figure, and multiple batch-type heat treatment chambers 12A, 12B, 12C, and 12D are arranged linearly along this rail 5 with openings 44 (see Fig. 2) described below facing in the same direction, that is, upward in the figure. In the following, the heat treatment chambers 12A, 12B, 12C, and 12D may be collectively referred to as "heat treatment chambers 12." Further, a charging table 16 is provided at the left end in FIG. 1, and an extraction table 18 is provided at the right end in the same figure.

[0017] Reference numeral 20 denotes a transport unit that travels on the rails 5. For example, the transport unit 20 receives the workpiece W on the loading table 16, travels on the rails 5, and loads the workpiece W into one of the heat treatment chambers 12 (for example, 12B). Alternatively, the workpiece W after a part of a series of heat treatment steps has been carried out in the heat treatment chamber 12B is received from the heat treatment chamber 12B, travels on the rails 5, and is loaded into another heat treatment chamber 12 (for example, 12D). Furthermore, the transport unit 20 receives the workpiece W after the other parts of the series of heat treatment steps have been carried out in the heat treatment chamber 12D, and travels on the rails 5 to transport it to the extraction table 18.

[0018] FIG. 2 shows the internal structure of the heat treatment chamber 12B and the transfer unit 20. As shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the heat treatment chamber 12B has a bottomed, cylindrical, pressure-resistant furnace shell 22 and an insulating material 24 disposed therein. The insulating material 24 constitutes a bottomed, cylindrical insulating wall 25. The insulating wall 25 defines a treatment chamber 26 inside. The heat treatment chamber 12B is provided with a vacuum exhaust port 32. The vacuum exhaust port 32 is connected to a vacuum pump (not shown), and the inside of the heat treatment chamber 12 is put into a vacuum state (reduced pressure state) by the vacuum pump.

[0019] The heat treatment chamber 12B is also provided with a supply port 34 for supplying nitrogen gas as an inert gas into the heat treatment chamber 12B. The nitrogen gas supplied from the supply port 34 is once led to a header 36, and is then introduced into the heat treatment chamber 12, more specifically, into the treatment chamber 26 inside the heat insulating wall 25, through a branch pipe 37 connected to the header 36 and a nozzle 38 provided on the branch pipe 37. Here, one nozzle 38 is provided on the branch pipe 37, but multiple nozzles 38 may be provided.

[0020] The heat insulating wall 25 is provided with a convection fan 39 for stirring and convecting the nitrogen gas supplied into the processing chamber 26 and promoting the temperature rise during the temperature rise period of the workpiece W, and a motor 40 for rotating the fan 39. The heat insulating wall 25 is also provided with a water-cooled panel 41 for protecting the motor 40 from heat, near the motor 40. The processing chamber 26 is also provided with a heater 28 as a heating means.

[0021] The heat treatment chamber 12B is provided with a sliding door 42 that opens and closes an opening 44. The door 42 slides on the inner surface of a flange 48 by a cylinder 46, and in the closed state, the opening 44 is airtightly sealed via a rubber packing. A plate-shaped insulating material 43 is provided on the door 42 so as to move integrally therewith, and the opening 52 of the cylindrical insulating wall 25 is closed by the insulating material 43. In the heat treatment chamber 12B, a water-cooled panel 51 is also provided on the inner surface side of the door 42 to protect the rubber packing that air-tightly seals the opening 44 from heat.

[0022] The heat treatment chamber 12B is of a roller hearth type in which the workpiece W is transported to the treatment chamber 26 by the rotation of rolls 54 and is heat-treated while supported by the rolls 54, and multiple rolls 54 are arranged side by side in the heat treatment chamber 12B. As shown in Fig. 3, both ends of the rod-shaped roll 54 are rotatably supported by support members 55. A sprocket 56 is fixed to one end of the roll 54 (the end on the left side in the figure). The sprocket 56 connects adjacent rolls via a chain. A sprocket 57 is further fixed to some of the rolls 54, and the sprocket 57 is connected to a drive motor 58 for rotating the roll 54. In this example, the drive motor 58, the sprockets 56 and 57, the chain stretched between the sprockets, etc., constitute the roll drive means. The plurality of rolls 54 are rotated forward and backward by the roll drive means to transport the workpiece W.

[0023] 3, 30 is an opening formed in the side surface of the furnace shell 22, and 31 is a lid for closing the opening 30. The opening 30 is used as an outlet for removing the roll 54 during roll replacement, etc.

[0024] As shown in FIG. 1, in the space in which the heat treatment chamber 12B is installed, a rail 6 serving as a movement track is provided extending in a direction perpendicular to the rail 5, and the heat treatment chamber 12B is movable along this rail 6. 2, the heat treatment chamber 12B is supported by a movable carriage 150 which moves on rails 6. The movable carriage 150 is equipped with a drive motor (not shown) which rotates front, rear, left and right wheels 151 to move the heat treatment chamber 12 along the rails 6. As shown in FIG. 1, the rails 6 extend a long way to the rear side (opposite the opening 44) of the heat treatment chamber 12B in the normal position where heat treatment is performed, and the heat treatment chamber 12B can be moved to a roll exchange space on the rear side when exchanging the roll 54. In this embodiment, the rails 6 and the moving carriage 150 constitute a first heat treatment chamber moving means for moving the heat treatment chamber 12B in a direction perpendicular to the rails 5 (the direction approaching and moving away from the transport unit 20).

[0025] 4 is a diagram showing the state where the heat treatment chamber 12B has been moved to the roll exchange space. As shown in the figure, the positions of the rolls 54 installed in the heat treatment chamber 12B that has been moved to the roll exchange space do not overlap with the outer shells 22 of the adjacent heat treatment chambers 12A and 12C, so that the rod-shaped rolls 54 can be exchanged through the openings 30 (see FIG. 3) provided on the side of the heat treatment chamber 12B.

[0026] The structure of the heat treatment chamber 12B has been described above, but the other heat treatment chambers 12A, 12C, and 12D are basically configured in the same way. However, unlike the heat treatment chamber 12B used in the heating step in the series of heat treatment steps, the heat treatment chambers used in the slow cooling step and the like can be configured to be equipped with a cooling means such as a heat exchanger that lowers the temperature of the internal atmospheric gas by heat exchange in addition to or instead of a heating means such as a heater.

[0027] Next, the transport unit 20 will be described. The transport unit 20 has a traveling cart 90 that runs on rails 5, and further has a connecting cart 92 that moves back and forth on the traveling cart 90 in the left-right direction in Figure 2, which is a direction perpendicular to the rails 5, and connects and disconnects the transport chamber 60 to and from the heat treatment chamber 12B. Reference numeral 94 denotes a cylinder that moves the connected cart 92 back and forth by small strokes in the left and right direction in Fig. 2, and the transfer chamber 60 is moved back and forth in the left and right direction in Fig. 2 by this cylinder 94 along with the rolling of rollers 96. In this embodiment, the connected cart 92, cylinder 94, etc. form a transfer chamber back and forth moving means.

[0028] The transfer chamber 60 has a heat insulating material 78 inside a bottomed cylindrical pressure-resistant furnace shell 76, and the heat insulating material 78 constitutes a heat insulating wall 80. The heat insulating wall 80 forms an accommodation chamber 82 inside, in which the workpiece W is accommodated. A plurality of rolls 84 are arranged in the storage chamber 82, and the workpiece W in the storage chamber 82 is supported on the rolls 84. These rolls 84 rotate forward and backward in cooperation with a roll driving means (not shown) to transport the workpiece W.

[0029] The transfer chamber 60 is provided with a heater 120 as a heating means for keeping the workpiece W warm inside the insulating wall 80. The transfer chamber 60 is also provided with doors 110, 112 made of insulating material for opening and closing an upper opening 104 and a lower opening 106 of the insulating wall 80, which are opened and closed by cylinders 114, 116.

[0030] The transfer chamber 60 is provided with a vacuum exhaust port 86 for evacuating the atmospheric gas therein as shown in FIG. 5, and this vacuum exhaust port 86 is connected to the above-mentioned vacuum pump 64 through an exhaust pipe 66B as shown in FIG. 5. An on-off valve 68B consisting of an electromagnetic valve is provided on the exhaust pipe 66B, and communication between the vacuum exhaust port 86 and the vacuum pump 64 is established or cut off by opening and closing the on-off valve 68B.

[0031] The transfer chamber 60 also has a supply port (not shown) in the furnace shell 76 for supplying nitrogen gas as a cooling gas into the inside. The transfer chamber 60 has a heat exchanger (not shown) for cooling the nitrogen gas supplied into the inside as a cooling gas, a cooling fan 100 (see FIG. 2) for agitating the cooled nitrogen gas and circulating it within the transfer chamber 60, and a motor 102 for rotating the cooling fan 100, which constitute a gas cooling device for the workpiece W.

[0032] In this gas cooling device, the rotation of the cooling fan 100 causes the nitrogen gas, whose temperature has been reduced, to flow upward through the opening 106 at the bottom of the insulating wall 80, hit the workpiece W, cool it, and then flow out of the opening 104 at the top of the insulating wall 80, pass through the heat exchanger again, and have its temperature reduced there. The workpiece W is cooled while generating such a circulating flow. Reference numeral 118 denotes a cooling water pipe provided above the opening 104 to prevent the cooling fan 100 from overheating. That is, in this embodiment, the transfer chamber 60 is provided with a cooling function in addition to a heat-retaining function for keeping the workpiece W warm.

[0033] As shown in FIG. 2, an opening 122 is provided at the left end of the transfer chamber 60 in the figure, and this opening 122 is opened and closed by a door 128 that slides on the inner surface of a flange 126 by a cylinder 124.

[0034] Similar to the heat treatment chamber 12B described above, the door 128 of the transport chamber 60 is also provided with a plate-shaped insulating material 130 that moves integrally with the door 128 to open and close the opening 129 in the insulating wall 80, and a water-cooled panel 132 is provided on the door 128 to protect the rubber packing that airtightly seals the opening 122 from heat.

[0035] A pressure-resistant square cylindrical wall 61 is provided from the opening 122 of the transport chamber 60 toward the heat treatment chamber 12, and a support roll 62 is disposed inside the wall 61 and supported for free rotation at the same height as the roll 84 of the transport chamber 60. This cylindrical wall 61 is provided with a vacuum exhaust port 63 (see Figure 5), and this vacuum exhaust port 63 is connected to a vacuum pump 64 shown in Figure 5 through an exhaust pipe 66A, so that the inside of the cylindrical wall 61 is evacuated to a vacuum by the vacuum pump 64. An on-off valve 68A made of a solenoid valve is provided on the exhaust pipe 66A, and communication between the vacuum exhaust port 63 and the vacuum pump 64 is established or cut off by opening and closing the on-off valve 68A.

[0036] 5, a supply port 70 is provided in the cylindrical wall 61, and nitrogen gas is supplied into the cylindrical wall 61 through this supply port 70. The front end of the cylindrical wall 61, i.e., the left end in FIG. 2, is an opening 72 without a door, and a flat frame-shaped packing 74 is provided around this opening 72. By moving forward toward the heat treatment chamber 12B, the cylindrical wall 61 and the transfer chamber 60 are docked with the heat treatment chamber 12 such that the frame-shaped packing 74 is in airtight contact with the outer surface of the heat treatment chamber 12B.

[0037] Next, a series of heat treatment operations using the heat treatment equipment 1 in this embodiment will be specifically described. Here, the workpiece W is heat-treated in the heat treatment chamber 12B, and then transferred to the heat treatment chamber 12D and slowly cooled in the heat treatment chamber 12D. First, the transport unit 20 receives the workpiece W on the loading table 16 (see FIG. 1) by roll transport and stores it in the transport chamber 60. Thereafter, the transport unit 20 moves to the position of the heat treatment chamber 12B and transports the workpiece W (see FIG. 1).

[0038] Thereafter, the transport unit 20 uses the cylinder 94 to move the cylindrical wall 61 and the transport chamber 60 forward a small distance toward the heat treatment chamber 12B, and docks the transport chamber 60 with respect to the heat treatment chamber 12B so that the frame-shaped gasket 74 at the tip of the transport chamber 60 is in close contact with the outer surface of the heat treatment chamber 12B.

[0039] The vacuum pump 64 evacuates the cylindrical wall 61 and the inside of the transfer chamber 60 through the vacuum exhaust ports 63, 86, and the cylindrical wall 61 and the inside of the transfer chamber 60 are depressurized to a vacuum pressure similar to that of the heat treatment chamber 12B.

[0040] When the pressure inside the cylindrical wall 61 and the transport chamber 60 reaches a vacuum pressure equivalent to the pressure inside the heat treatment chamber 12B, the door 42 of the heat treatment chamber 12B is opened and the workpiece W inside the transport chamber 60 is loaded into the treatment chamber 26 inside the heat treatment chamber 12B by roll transport.

[0041] When the workpiece W is loaded into the heat treatment chamber 12B, heating of the workpiece W is started, and the temperature of the workpiece W is raised to a target heating temperature (for example, 700° C.).

[0042] At this time, in order to promote the temperature rise, nitrogen gas is supplied into the heat treatment chamber 12B from the supply port 34, and the convection fan 39 is rotated, so that the temperature of the workpiece W is quickly raised to the target heating temperature by the convection heating of the convection fan 39 and the radiant heat of the heater 28. When the temperature of the workpiece W is raised to the target heating temperature, the nitrogen gas inside the heat treatment chamber 12B is evacuated through the vacuum exhaust port 32, and the inside of the heat treatment chamber 12B is depressurized to a set vacuum pressure (e.g., 10 Pa).

[0043] When the heat treatment of the workpiece W is completed, the transfer unit 20, which had once left the heat treatment chamber 12B, is moved forward again toward the heat treatment chamber 12B, and the cylindrical wall 61 and the transfer chamber 60 are docked with the heat treatment chamber 12B. Then, the inside of the cylindrical wall 61 and the transfer chamber 60 are evacuated by the vacuum pump 64, and the door 128 is opened.

[0044] Thereafter, the door 42 of the heat treatment chamber 12B is opened, and the workpiece W after the heat treatment in the heat treatment chamber 12B is moved into the transfer chamber 60, and the workpiece W is accommodated in the transfer chamber 60. The transfer chamber 60 is preheated to 700° C. by energizing the heater 120, and the accommodated workpiece W is kept at 700° C., during which the transfer unit 20 moves to the next heat treatment chamber 12D.

[0045] Next, the transport unit 20 loads the workpiece W into the heat treatment chamber 12D. Note that the transfer operation of the workpiece W between the heat treatment chamber 12D and the transport unit 20 is similar to the transfer operation between the heat treatment chamber 12B and the transport unit 20 described above, so a detailed description of the subsequent transfer operations will be omitted.

[0046] The heat treatment chamber 12D in which the workpiece W, whose temperature is maintained at 700° C., is loaded performs slow cooling of the workpiece W. During this process, nitrogen gas is supplied into the heat treatment chamber 12D from the supply port 34, and the convection fan 39 is rotated, so that the workpiece W is slowly cooled to the next target temperature by the convection heat transfer caused by the convection fan 39.

[0047] Then, the workpiece W cooled to a predetermined temperature is discharged onto the extraction table 18 at the right end in Fig. 1. This completes a series of heat treatments of the workpiece W. The workpiece W discharged onto the extraction table 18 is then taken to a downstream process.

[0048] The heat treatment equipment 1 of this embodiment configured as described above does not require space to accommodate an arm within the chamber on the transport unit 20, compared to the case where a telescopic arm is used when transferring the workpiece W, and can reduce the size of the chamber on the transport unit 20 and shorten the time required for evacuation each time the workpiece W is transferred. Normally, when the heat treatment chamber is of the roller hearth type, it is necessary to secure space to remove the transport roll, which results in a problem of the heat treatment chambers having to be spaced apart more widely. However, in this embodiment, the heat treatment chamber can be moved to a space on the rear side of the heat treatment chamber where the rolls can be replaced, so that multiple heat treatment chambers 12 can be arranged with narrower spacing than when a telescopic arm is used.

[0049] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a modification of the first embodiment. In the first embodiment described above, the door 42 for opening and closing the opening 44 of the heat treatment chamber 12 and the door 128 for opening and closing the opening 122 of the transport chamber 60 were both sliding doors, but the example in Figure 6 is an example in which these are gate doors that move in the vertical direction. In the figure, air cylinder type opening and closing devices are denoted by 140 and 145. The gate door 42C and the heat insulating material 43 on the heat treatment chamber 12B side are connected to a drive shaft 140a extending downward from the opening and closing device 140 and move up and down. Compared to a sliding door, a new space is created below the gate door 42C, and in this embodiment, a support roll 142 is provided therein. Both ends of the support roll 142 are rotatably supported on the upper ends of a drive shaft 143a extending from a lift device 143 serving as a lifting means. The support roll 142 is lifted up to the conveying height of the workpiece W by the drive shaft 143a in cooperation with the gate door 42C at the timing when the gate door 42C opens the opening 44.

[0050] Similarly, the gate door 128C and the heat insulating material 130 on the transfer chamber 60 side are connected to a drive shaft 145a extending downward from an opening / closing device 145, and are movable up and down. In this example, a support roll 147 is provided below the gate door 128C. The support roll 147 has both ends rotatably supported on the upper end of a drive shaft 148a extending from a lift device 148 serving as a lifting means, and is lifted by the drive shaft 148a to the transport height of the workpiece W in cooperation with the gate door 128C at the timing when the gate door 128C opens the opening 122.

[0051] According to the example of FIG. 6 configured as above, new support rolls 142, 147 are added to the openings 44, 122 where the roll pitch is wider than other portions, so that the transport stability of the workpiece W can be improved.

[0052] Next, a heat treatment equipment according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a schematic overall configuration of a heat treatment equipment 1B according to the second embodiment. However, the charging table 16 and the extraction table 18 are omitted. As shown in the figure, the heat treatment equipment 1B includes a plurality of batch-type heat treatment chambers 12A-12H (hereinafter, when collectively referred to, they may be referred to as "heat treatment chambers 12") and a plurality of transport units 20A, 20B (hereinafter, when collectively referred to, they may be referred to as "transport units 20") that move on rails 5. Among these components, components common to the above-mentioned heat treatment equipment 1 are indicated by the same reference numerals, and their description will be omitted.

[0053] In this embodiment, a plurality of heat treatment chambers 12 are arranged in a straight line on both the upper and lower sides of the rail 5 in the figure, with their openings 44 facing the rail 5. Here, the heat treatment chambers 12A, 12B, and 12C on the lower side of the figure are heating chambers that perform the process of heating the workpiece W, and the remaining heat treatment chambers 12D to 12H are annealing chambers that perform the process of annealing after the heating process. When the direction perpendicular to the rail 5 is taken as the rail perpendicular direction, the heat treatment chambers (e.g., 12A and 12E) that face each other on either side of the rail 5 are arranged such that their openings 44 overlap when viewed in the rail perpendicular direction.

[0054] In addition, in order to transport the workpiece W that has been processed in the heat treatment chamber at the bottom of the figure (e.g., heat treatment chamber 12A) to the opposing heat treatment chamber at the top of the figure (e.g., heat treatment chamber 12E), the transport units 20A and 20B are provided with openings 122 and 122B at two opposing locations perpendicular to the rail 5 to allow the workpiece W to pass through (see Figure 8).

[0055] 8 shows a cross section of the transport unit 20A in a direction perpendicular to the rail 5. An opening 122 is formed in a flange 126 of the transport unit 20A on the side facing the heat treatment chamber 12A, similar to the transport unit 20 of the first embodiment, and a cylindrical wall 61 having a support roll 62 therein extends toward the heat treatment chamber 12A.

[0056] An opening 122B is formed in a flange 126B on the side of the transport unit 20A facing the heat treatment chamber 12E, and a cylindrical wall 61B having a support roll 62B therein extends toward the heat treatment chamber 12E. The opening 122B and the door 128B and cylindrical wall 61B provided in its periphery are symmetrical to the opening 122 and the door 128 and cylindrical wall 61 provided in its periphery. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the transport path of the workpiece W from the heat treatment chamber 12A to the heat treatment chamber 12E is linear, so that the workpiece W can be transported directly to the heat treatment chamber 12E without the transport unit 20A moving left or right.

[0057] In this case, it is desirable to realize a state in which both the heat treatment chamber 12A and the transfer unit 20A are docked, and the heat treatment chamber 12E and the transfer unit 20A are docked. For this reason, in this embodiment, each heat treatment chamber 12 is provided with a second heat treatment chamber moving means for moving the chamber a small distance and docking with the transfer unit 20A.

[0058] The second heat treatment chamber moving means will be described using the heat treatment chamber 12A as an example. FIG. 8 shows a cross section of the transport unit 20A in a direction perpendicular to the rail 5. In the figure, the heat treatment chamber 12A has a connecting carriage 155 that moves forward and backward in the left and right directions in the figure perpendicular to the rail 5 on a moving carriage 150 that runs on the rail 6, and connects and disconnects the heat treatment chamber 12A to the transport chamber 60. 157 is a cylinder that moves the connecting carriage 155 forward and backward in a small stroke in the left and right directions in FIG. 8, and the heat treatment chamber 12A is moved forward and backward in the left and right directions in FIG. 8 by the cylinder 157 accompanied by the rolling of a roller 159. In this embodiment, the connecting carriage 155, the cylinder 157, etc. form the second heat treatment chamber moving means of the present invention.

[0059] That is, in this embodiment, the heat treatment chamber 12 is equipped with a first heat treatment chamber moving means suitable for moving a relatively long distance in a direction perpendicular to the rail 5 (the approaching / moving direction of approaching and moving away from the transport unit 20), and a second heat treatment chamber moving means suitable for moving a short distance in a direction perpendicular to the rail 5. For example, the moving distance of the heat treatment chamber 12 by the first heat treatment chamber moving means may be equal to or greater than the depth of the heat treatment chamber (ie, the length of the heat treatment chamber 12 in the approaching / moving direction). Furthermore, for example, the distance the heat treatment chamber is moved by the second heat treatment chamber moving means can be about 10 to 1000 mm.

[0060] The transport operation of the workpiece W in the heat treatment equipment 1B of this embodiment configured as described above will be described. When the workpiece W that has been heated in the heat treatment chamber 12A is transported to the heat treatment chamber 12E in a straight line, as shown by the arrow L1 in FIG. 7, the heat treatment chamber 12A is moved forward from the disconnected state shown in FIG. 7 toward the transport chamber 60 by the second heat treatment chamber moving means using the cylinder 157, and the heat treatment chamber 12A is docked to the transport chamber 60 via the cylindrical wall 61. At the same time, the heat treatment chamber 12E is moved forward toward the transport chamber 60, and the heat treatment chamber 12E is docked to the transport chamber 60 via the cylindrical wall 61B. Then, the cylindrical walls 61, 61B and the inside of the transport chamber 60 are evacuated by the vacuum pump 64. When the inside of the cylindrical walls 61, 61B and the transfer chamber 60 reaches a vacuum pressure similar to that of the heat treatment chambers 12A, 12E, the doors 42, 42 of the heat treatment chambers 12A, 12E are opened, and the heat treatment chamber 12A and the heat treatment chamber 12E are connected via the transfer chamber 60. Here, by rotating the rollers of the heat treatment chamber 12A, the transfer chamber 60, and the heat treatment chamber 12E, the workpiece W in the heat treatment chamber 12A can be directly loaded into the heat treatment chamber 12E.

[0061] On the other hand, as shown by the arrow L2 in FIG. 7, when the workpiece W that has been subjected to the heating process in the heat treatment chamber 12C is transported to the heat treatment chamber 12H via a bypass route, the heat treatment chamber 12C is moved forward from the disconnected state shown in FIG. 7 toward the transport chamber 60, and the heat treatment chamber 12C is docked to the transport chamber 60 via the cylindrical wall 61. Then, the inside of the cylindrical wall 61 and the transport chamber 60 are evacuated by the vacuum pump 64. When the inside of the cylindrical wall 61 and the transport chamber 60 reaches a vacuum pressure similar to that of the heat treatment chamber 12C, the door 42 of the heat treatment chamber 12C is opened, the workpiece W in the heat treatment chamber 12C is moved into the transport chamber 60, and the workpiece W is temporarily accommodated in the transport chamber 60. The accommodated workpiece W is maintained at a predetermined temperature, and during that time, the transport unit 20 moves to the next heat treatment chamber 12H.

[0062] After the transfer unit 20 has moved to the front of the heat treatment chamber 12H, the heat treatment chamber 12H is moved forward toward the transfer chamber 60, and the heat treatment chamber 12H is docked with the transfer chamber 60 via the cylindrical wall 61B. The inside of the cylindrical wall 61B and the transfer chamber 60 are then evacuated by the vacuum pump 64. When the inside of the cylindrical wall 61B and the transfer chamber 60 reaches a vacuum pressure similar to that of the heat treatment chamber 12H, the door 42 of the heat treatment chamber 12H is opened, and the workpiece W from the transfer chamber 60 is loaded into the heat treatment chamber 12H.

[0063] As described above, in the heat treatment equipment 1B of this embodiment, the workpiece W can be transported to the opposing heat treatment chamber along a straight path, and compared to the case where the workpiece W is transported along a detour path, the transport unit 20 does not need to move on the rails 5, and the time required to transport the workpiece W can be significantly reduced. In addition, compared to the case where the workpiece W is delivered along a detour path, there is an advantage that the number of times evacuation is performed on the transport unit side can be reduced.

[0064] In this embodiment, the transport units 20A and 20B have the same configuration, but for the straight path where the transfer of the workpiece W is completed in a short time, if the vacuum chamber allows transport in a vacuum state (reduced pressure state), heating means such as a heater is not required. For example, one of the transport units 20A can be configured as a vacuum chamber without a heating means and used as a transport unit exclusively for the straight path, while the transport unit 20B equipped with a heating means can be used for the detour path where transport while keeping warm is required. In this way, the number of transport units equipped with more expensive heating means can be reduced.

[0065] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, these are merely examples. For example, in the above embodiment, the heat treatment chamber is connected to the transport unit by using the second heat treatment chamber moving means using a cylinder, but it is also possible to connect the heat treatment chamber to the transport unit by using the first heat treatment chamber moving means that moves the heat treatment chamber together with the moving carriage by using a drive motor. In addition, in the above embodiment, the heat treatment chamber and the transport chamber are connected via a cylindrical wall equipped with a support roll, but in some cases it is also possible to connect the heat treatment chamber and the transport chamber without using a cylindrical wall. Furthermore, the number of heat treatment chambers and transport units may be changed as appropriate, and the present invention may be embodied in various modified forms without departing from the spirit of the invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0066] 1,1B Heat treatment equipment 5 Rail (transport track) 6 Rail (moving track) 12, 12A~12H Heat treatment chamber 20, 20A, 20B Transport unit 42C,128C Gate door 44 Opening 60 Transfer chamber 62,62B,142,147 Support roll 120 Heater (heating means) 122,122B opening 150 Mobile trolley 155 Articulated trolley 157 Cylinder W Processing object

Claims

1. A plurality of heat treatment chambers are arranged along a transport track and provided with rolls for supporting and transporting the workpiece; a transport unit having a transport chamber provided with rolls for supporting and transporting the workpiece, the transport unit moving along the transport track to deliver the workpiece to and from the heat treatment chamber; A heat treatment facility comprising: a first heat treatment chamber moving means for moving the heat treatment chamber in a direction toward and away from the transport unit;

2. a gate door that moves vertically to open and close an opening of the heat treatment chamber and / or an opening of the transfer chamber; A support roll is disposed below the gate door, and rises to a transport height of the object when the gate door is in a raised state, and supports the transport of the object; The heat treatment facility of claim 1 .

3. The heat treatment equipment according to claim 1, wherein the first heat treatment chamber moving means includes a moving track laid in a direction approaching and moving away from the transport unit, and a mobile carriage supporting the heat treatment chamber and moving on the moving track.

4. 4. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a second heat treatment chamber moving means including a coupling carriage supporting the heat treatment chamber and movable on the movable carriage, and a cylinder for moving the coupling carriage in the approaching / separating direction.

5. the heat treatment chamber disposed on one side of the transport track and the heat treatment chamber disposed on the other side are disposed opposite each other such that their openings face each other; the transfer chamber has openings on side surfaces facing the heat treatment chambers facing each other, 5. The heat treatment equipment according to claim 1, wherein the openings of the heat treatment chamber and the transport chamber can be air-tightly connected to each other by moving the heat treatment chamber arranged on one side and the heat treatment chamber arranged on the other side in a direction approaching the transport chamber.

6. 6. The heat treatment facility according to claim 5, wherein the transfer chamber of at least one of the plurality of transfer units is configured as a vacuum chamber not equipped with a heating means.

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