JP5577199B2 - Automatic heat treatment method for metal rings - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a metal ring moving technique for moving an elastically deformable metal ring from a rack to a predetermined place.

  A rack is known that holds a metal ring by using an elastic restoring force of the metal ring (see, for example, Patent Document 1 (FIGS. 1 and 2)).

FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining the basic principle of the metal ring loading method according to the prior art, and the rack 100 is a stacking rack in which the metal rings 101 are stacked.
The metal ring 101 is moved to a predetermined position by the belt conveyor 102 and pushed up by the lift 103. At a predetermined position, the metal ring 101 is expanded by the expanding means 104 so that the predetermined direction becomes longer from the inside. The metal ring 101 is loaded on the stacking rack 100 by the transport device 105. The metal rings 101 are stacked on the rack 100 by raising and lowering or lowering the rack 100 and repeating the above operation.

By the way, the metal rings 101 stacked in the rack 100 are moved to the next process after being subjected to heat treatment, for example.
FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining a process of moving the metal ring. As shown in FIG. 17A, for example, the metal ring 101 that has been heat-treated is moved from the rack to the alignment stocker 106. The cylinder 107 is actuated to advance the workpiece hooking portion 108 as indicated by an arrow.

As shown in (b), the claw 109 of the workpiece hooking portion 108 rotates around the shaft 110, gets over the edge 111 of the metal ring 101, and is caught inside the edge 111.
As shown in (c), the metal ring 101 is pulled out in the direction of the arrow, and the metal ring 101 is placed on the delivery table 112.
As shown in (d), the metal ring 101 is separated from the claw 109 by rotating the delivery table 112 around the shaft 113 and tilting the delivery table 112 downward in the figure.

(E) is an e-arrow view of (d), and the delivery table 112 indicated by the imaginary line rotates and moves to the position of the delivery table 112 indicated by the solid line. The metal ring 101 slides along the slope and is moved to the conveyor 114. The alignment stocker 106 moves up and down one step, and similarly moves the next metal ring 101.
However, since the metal rings 101 are moved to the conveyor 114 one by one, time and man-hours increase until all the metal rings 101 are moved to the conveyor 114. That is, there is a need for a metal ring moving technique that can move a metal ring to a predetermined place by a simple method and reduce the number of steps.

JP 2008-240086 A

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a metal ring moving technique capable of moving a metal ring from a rack to a predetermined place by a simple method and reducing man-hours.

The invention according to claim 1 is an automatic heat treatment method for a metal ring that heat-treats a metal ring conveyed by a conveyor and moves to a predetermined place later. And aligning the center of the plurality of metal rings along the vertical axis, rotating the alignment stocker by 90 ° so that the center of the metal ring follows the horizontal axis, and from the alignment stocker to the heat-resistant rack Place the metal ring in the rack so that the center of the metal ring is along the horizontal axis, the step of transferring the metal ring, the step of inserting the rack into the heat treatment furnace and heat treating the metal ring, the step of removing the rack from the heat treatment furnace been, the outer peripheral surface of the metal ring, adsorbed in a plurality of electromagnets or vacuum pads provided on the lower side of the base, by raising the total number of metal rings Is properly a hand to pick up a plurality, the steps of: preparing an arm moving the hand from the rack to a predetermined location, by the arm, a step of approaching the hand to the rack, by the hand, the metal is housed in the rack ring A step of picking up all or a plurality of the above , a step of moving the hand from the rack to a predetermined place by the arm, and picking up the metal rings from the hand in a batch or in units of one And a step of separating.
The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the arm is a robot arm of an articulated robot.

In the invention according to claim 1 , a step of picking up all or a plurality of metal rings stored in the rack by the hand, a step of moving the hand from the rack to a predetermined place by the arm, and the metal ring being picked up Separating from the hand in units of one at a predetermined location. Since the metal ring is moved directly from the rack to a predetermined place and separated into the conveyor, there is no need to move the metal ring back to the alignment stocker and then move to the conveyor as in the prior art, and the metal ring moving man-hour can be reduced. it can.
In addition, since an alignment stocker is not required unlike the prior art, the cost of the moving mechanism can be reduced.

In addition, the invention according to claim 1 includes a step of transferring the metal ring from the alignment stocker to the heat-resistant rack, and a step of inserting the rack into a heat treatment furnace and subjecting the metal ring to heat treatment. Since the metal ring is heat treated together with the rack, the production efficiency can be further increased.
In addition, since many metal rings are moved without human intervention, the occurrence of other harmful scratches such as dropping of the metal rings is reduced as much as possible.
In the invention according to claim 2, the arm is a robot arm of an articulated robot.

It is a front view of the rack which concerns on this invention. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. It is a left view of a rack. It is a figure explaining the process of aligning a metal ring with an alignment stocker. It is a figure explaining the deformation | transformation process of a metal ring. It is a figure explaining the process transferred to a rack. It is a figure explaining the process of hanging a metal ring on a rack. It is a top view of the heat treatment furnace in which a rack is used. It is a figure explaining the process which pushes up a metal ring. It is a figure explaining the aspect by which the metal ring was pushed up. It is a figure explaining the process of making a hand approach a rack. It is a figure explaining the process of picking up a metal ring. It is sectional drawing of a hand. It is a figure explaining the process of separating a metal ring from a hand. It is a figure explaining another form of FIG. It is a figure explaining the loading method of the metal ring which concerns on a prior art. It is a figure explaining the movement technique of the metal ring which concerns on a prior art.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings are viewed in the direction of the reference numerals.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the shaft 12 of the metal ring 11 extends in the front-back direction and is elastically deformed by an external force in a direction perpendicular to the shaft 12.
The rack 10 includes a frame 13 surrounding the metal ring 11, a left member 14, a center member 15, and a right member 16 that are passed to the frame 13 and extend along the axis 12 on the left and right sides of the metal ring 11. Lower members 21 to 24 which are passed to the frame 13 and extend along the shaft 12 below the metal ring 11 are provided.

If there is no external force, the metal ring 11 has a substantially perfect circle shape, but when placed on the rack 10, the metal ring 11 becomes elliptical due to the external force. The metal ring 11 tries to return to a perfect circle shape by elastic restoring force. However, since the positions of the left member 14, the central member 15, and the right member 16 are higher than the shaft 12, the metal ring 11 is a lower member. It does not emerge from 21-24.
The frame 13 is composed of at least one member of a bar, a pipe, and a plate.
The rack 10 also has a polygonal opening 17 having a circumferential length larger than the circumferential length of the metal ring 11 that opens in the direction of the axis 12.

  In the embodiment, the metal rings 11 are arranged in two rows, but the present invention is not limited to this, and any metal ring can be mounted on the rack 10 in one row, three rows, or the like. In the embodiment, the polygonal opening 17 is rectangular, but it may be hexagonal or octagonal, and any polygonal opening 17 having a circumference longer than the circumference of the metal ring 11 may be used. Further, the frame 13, the left member 14, the central member 15 and the right member 16 are made of a material whose constituent elements of the receiving member 26 and the stopper member 27 are metal during various heat treatments such as nitriding. Any material may be used as long as it is made of an element or a substance that functions as a barrier against diffusion in the ring 11 or has a heat resistance such as a material plated with such an element or substance.

Next, the main part of the rack 10 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 2, the rack 10 includes a receiving member 26 that is provided on the central member 15 and receives the outer peripheral surface 25 of the metal ring 11, and is extended so as to sandwich the receiving member 26 from the central member 15. (FIG. 1, code | symbol 12) The stopper member 27 which restrict | limits moving to a direction is provided.

  Similarly, receiving members 26 for receiving the outer peripheral surface 25 of the metal ring 11 are provided on the lower members 21 to 24, the left member 14 and the right member 16 shown in FIG. A stopper member 27 that extends the metal ring 11 in the direction of the axis 12 is extended so as to sandwich the receiving member 26 from the side member 14 and the right side member 16.

  In addition, when the metal ring 11 is alternately placed on the left and right sides of the figure with the central member 15 as a boundary, when performing the nitriding process, the nitrogen can reach sufficiently and the nitriding process can be performed satisfactorily. In the lower members 21 to 24, the left member 14, and the right member 16, the receiving member 26 and the stopper member 27 are welded. Even if it is other than welding, there is no problem if the receiving member 26 and the stopper member 27 are provided on the members 14 to 16 and 21 to 24, such as press fitting. The material of the receiving member 26 and the stopper member 27 functions as a barrier against diffusion of constituent elements of the receiving member 26 and the stopper member 27 into the metal ring 11 during various heat treatments such as nitriding. It is assumed that the element is composed of an element or a substance to be plated, or is plated with the element or substance.

Next, a state where a plurality of metal rings are placed on the rack 10 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of metal rings 11 are placed on the rack 10 along the axis 12. Since the metal ring 11 is restricted from moving in the direction of the axis 12 by the stopper member 27, the adjacent metal rings 11 do not contact each other.

In addition, with the contents described above, the metal ring 11 is placed so that the shaft 12 is placed horizontally and can be elastically deformed, and becomes a perfect circle when the external force is removed, and the circumference greater than the circumference of the metal ring 11 And a step of preparing the rack 10 having the polygonal opening 17.
In the embodiment, 16 metal rings 11 are continuously mounted. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and there is no problem as long as one or a plurality of metal rings 11 are arranged.

The operation of the rack 10 described above will be described next.
The process of aligning the metal ring with the alignment stocker will be described.
As shown in FIG. 4, an alignment stocker 32 is provided above the lift 31. The alignment stocker 32 includes a column member 33, a plurality of shelves 34 provided in a stepped manner on the column member 33, and a shelf polygon opening 35 provided in the shelf 34.

  A deforming mechanism 37 is provided at the tip of the robot arm 36 of the general-purpose robot, and a plurality of robot hands 41 are provided on the deforming mechanism 37 so as to be movable toward or away from each other. The robot hand 41 includes a plurality of peak portions 42 and a plurality of valley portions 43. When the robot hand 41 spreads, a metal ring is applied to the valley portions 43. In the embodiment, the number of robot hands 41 is two, but may be three, four, etc., and the robot hand 41 may be widened according to the shape of the polygonal opening (FIG. 1, reference numeral 17). .

  The operation of the robot hand 41 will be described. The metal ring 11 is carried to the conveyor 44 and placed on the temporary table 45. The metal ring 11 placed on the temporary placement table 45 is stored in the shelf portion 34 via the push rod 47 by the cylinder 46. The metal ring 11 is positioned by contacting a positioning pin 48 provided on the shelf 34. When one metal ring 11 is stored in the shelf 34, the shelf 34 is moved up and down by one stage by the lift 31, and the metal ring 11 is stored in the next shelf 34.

A plurality of metal rings 11 are accommodated in an alignment stocker 32 indicated by an imaginary line as indicated by an arrow (1) in FIG. 6A, and the centers of the plurality of metal rings 11 are aligned along the vertical axis. The ring 11 is rotated by 90 ° so that the center of the ring 11 is along the horizontal axis, and the orientation of the alignment stocker 32 indicated by a solid line is obtained.
Then, as indicated by an arrow (2) in FIG. 6A, a plurality of robot hands 41 are inserted into the shelf polygon opening 35 and inserted into the plurality of metal rings 11.

Next, the deformation process will be described.
As shown in FIG. 5, the alignment stocker 32 is tilted sideways so that the center of the metal ring 11 is along the horizontal axis, but the metal ring 11 is in contact with the positioning pin 48 and aligned without being displaced. The state stored in the stocker 32 is maintained. By expanding the inserted robot hands 41 and 41 as indicated by an arrow (3), the metal ring 11 is elastically deformed so as to follow the shape of the shelf polygonal opening 35. Then, the metal ring 11 becomes the shape of the metal ring 11 shown by an imaginary line. The shelf polygon opening 35 is substantially the same as the shape of the polygon opening (FIG. 1, reference numeral 17). Further, the metal ring 11 indicated by the imaginary line that is elastically deformed is smaller than the shelf polygonal opening 35.

Next, the process of inserting into the rack 10 will be described.
FIG. 6B is a diagram for explaining a process of taking out the metal ring 11 from the alignment stocker 32. As described above, the alignment stocker 32 indicated by an imaginary line is rotated by 90 ° as indicated by an arrow (1) and indicated by a solid line. At the position of the alignment stocker 32. The robot hand 41 inserted into the shelf polygon opening 35 is moved as indicated by an arrow (4), and the metal ring 11 is taken out from the alignment stocker 32.

FIG. 6C is a diagram for explaining a process of transferring the metal ring 11 to the rack 10. The robot hand 41 is moved as indicated by an arrow (5), and the metal ring 11 is moved from the polygonal opening 17 into the rack 10. Insert into.
The alignment stocker 32 is connected to a control panel (not shown) and is controlled by a control circuit provided in the control panel, a control program stored in a storage unit, or the like.

Next, the step of locking will be described.
As shown in FIG. 7, the robot hands 41, 41 are contracted as indicated by the arrow (5). The external force of the metal ring 11 is removed, and the metal ring 11 has the shape of the metal ring 11 indicated by an imaginary line and is locked to the rack 10. In addition, since the inserted several metal ring 11 is latched at once, work efficiency can be achieved.

Next, a nitriding process will be described as an example of the heat treatment process.
As shown in FIG. 8, a batch nitriding furnace 51 as a heat treatment furnace is provided on a wall portion 52, a door 53 provided on one surface of the wall portion 52, and a wall portion 52 on the opposite side of the door 53. Fan 54 and heaters 55 and 56 provided on the wall 52.

  The metal carrying rack 10 on which the metal ring 11 is placed is placed in the batch nitriding furnace 51 and the door 53 is closed. A nitriding gas such as ammonia is supplied into the batch type nitriding furnace 51, and the temperature is raised to a nitriding temperature, for example, 500 ° C. by the heaters 55 and 56. Nitrogen gas is convected by the fan 54 to make the temperature distribution in the batch nitriding furnace 51 substantially uniform. At this time, the temperature of the contact point between the metal ring 11 and the rack 10 is substantially the same as the temperature of other portions of the metal ring 11.

The nitriding gas enters from the surface of the metal ring 11 and diffuses inside to form a nitride layer on the surface. Further, since the receiving member 26 and the stopper member 27 are formed with a coating layer of an element and a substance that function as a barrier against diffusion of the constituent elements of the receiving member 26 and the stopper member 27 into the metal ring 11, the receiving member 26. In addition, the constituent elements of the stopper member 27 can be prevented from diffusing into the metal ring 11, and the metal ring 11 can be nitrided satisfactorily.
In the step of taking out the rack, the metal ring 11 and the rack 10 that have been heat-treated are taken out from the batch nitriding furnace 51.

Next, the process of pushing up the metal ring will be described.
As shown in FIG. 9, the axis 12 of the metal ring 11 is at a lower position than the left member 14, the central member 15, and the right member 16. As a result, the metal ring 11 is firmly held by the rack 11.

The rack 10 is placed on a rack positioning table 57, and a ring push-up means 61 is disposed below the metal ring 11. The ring push-up means 61 comprises a lift cylinder 62, a lift rod 63, and a push-up work table 64. The elevating cylinder 62 is actuated to raise the push-up work platform 64 as shown by the arrow (6).
The ring push-up means 61 is connected to a control panel (not shown) and is controlled by a control circuit provided in the control panel, a control program stored in the storage means, or the like.

As shown in FIG. 10, the metal ring 11 is pushed up by the push-up work table 64. The axis 12 of the metal ring 11 is higher than the left member 14, the central member 15 and the right member 16. As a result, the metal ring 11 is easily pulled upward.
That is, the metal ring 11 that is firmly held by the rack 10 by being at a lower position than the left member 14, the center member 15, and the right member 16 is firmly held by the rack 10, and thus is difficult to remove. However, in other words, the metal ring 11 is pushed up from the position firmly held by the rack 10 to a position where it can be easily detached from the rack 10, so that the load on the hand 71 described later is reduced and pickup is facilitated. It can be carried out.

Next, the process of bringing the hand close to the rack will be described.
As shown in FIG. 11, the metal ring moving mechanism 70 includes a hand 71 that picks up all or a part of the metal ring 11 and an arm 72 that moves the hand 71 from the rack 10 to a predetermined location.
The arm 71 moves the hand 71 closer to the rack 10 as shown by the arrow (7).

Next, the process of picking up the metal ring will be described.
As shown in FIG. 12, the hand 71 is provided with electromagnets 73 as a plurality of magnets for magnetically attracting the metal ring 11. The metal ring 11 is attracted by these electromagnets 73, the hand 71 is raised as shown by the arrow (8), and the metal ring 11 is picked up. At this time, since the metal ring 11 is easily detached from the rack 10 by the ring push-up means 61, the load on the hand 71 is reduced and pickup can be performed easily.

Next, the hand 71 will be described based on a sectional view.
As shown in FIG. 13, the hand 71 includes a base 74, electromagnets 75 to 78 as a plurality of magnets that are provided below the base 74 and magnetically attract the metal ring 11, and these electromagnets 75 to 78. And a switch 79 for controlling the current provided to the electromagnets 75 to 78 via the wiring 79, respectively. The base 74 and the electromagnets 75 to 78 are insulated.
The switches 81 to 84 are connected to a control number (not shown), controlled by a control circuit provided in the control panel, a control program stored in the storage means, or the like, and interlocked with the ring push-up means 61. .
The switch 81 is open, and the electromagnet 75 separates the metal ring 11 without magnetically attracting it. The switches 82 to 84 are closed, and the electromagnets 76 to 78 magnetically attract the metal ring 11.

Next, the process of separating the metal ring from the hand will be described.
As shown in FIG. 14, the metal ring 11 is separated from the electromagnets 75 and 76 by turning off the current to the electromagnets 75 and 76 above the driven conveyor 85. Further, by cutting the current to the electromagnet 77, the metal ring 11 is separated from the electromagnet 77 as shown by the arrow (9). In this manner, the metal rings 11 are sequentially separated from the electromagnet 75 on the left side of the drawing, and the metal rings 11 are separated from the hand 71 one by one at a predetermined location. The separated metal ring 11 is conveyed to the next process by a conveyor 85 driven as indicated by an arrow (10).

Next, another embodiment of FIG. 13 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 15, the hand 71 includes a base 74, a plurality of negative pressure pads 86 to 89 that are provided under the base 74 and vacuum-suck the metal ring 11, and these negative pressure pads 86 to 89. And a valve 92 to 95 provided on the negative pressure pads 86 to 89 via the pipe 91 to control the negative pressure. The pipe 91 is connected to a negative pressure chamber 96 having a large space, and the negative pressure chamber 96 is connected to a decompression pump 97 as negative pressure generating means.
The valves 92 to 95 are connected to a control number (not shown), controlled by a control circuit provided in the control panel, a control program stored in the storage means, or the like, and interlocked with the ring push-up means 61. .
The valve 92 is closed, and the negative pressure pad 86 separates the metal ring 11 without vacuum suction. The valves 93 to 95 are opened, and the negative pressure pads 87 to 89 vacuum-suck the metal ring 11.

The effects of the metal ring moving mechanism 70 described above will be described below.
As shown in FIG. 11 above, in the metal ring moving mechanism 70 that picks up the metal ring 11 from the rack 10 in which a plurality of elastically deformable metal rings 11 are arranged and stored, and moves it to a predetermined place. The metal ring moving mechanism 70 includes a hand 71 for picking up all or part of the metal ring 11 and an arm 72 for moving the hand 71 from the rack 10 to a predetermined location, and picks up as shown in FIG. The metal rings 11 can be separated from the hand 71 at a predetermined location in a lump or in units of one.

  With this configuration, the plurality of metal rings 11 can be collectively picked up from the rack 10 by the hand 71 and separated from the hand 71 in units of one at a predetermined location. It is possible to move to a place (conveyor 85) by a simple method and reduce man-hours.

As shown in FIG. 13, the hand 71 is provided with magnets 75 to 78 for magnetically attracting the metal ring 11, or negative pressure pads 86 to 89 for vacuum suction shown in FIG.
With this configuration, since the magnets 75 to 78 or the negative pressure pads 86 to 89 are used, the structure of the hand 71 can be simplified and the cost of the hand 71 can be reduced.

As shown in FIG. 9 described above, the rack 10 is provided with a ring push-up means 61 that pushes up the metal ring 11.
With this configuration, the metal ring 11 is pushed up from the position where it is firmly held by the rack 10 and comes to a position where it can easily be removed from the rack 10, so that the load on the hand 71 is reduced and pickup can be performed easily.

As shown in FIG. 8 described above, the rack 10 is made of a heat-resistant material having heat resistance that can be charged into the heat treatment furnace 51.
With this configuration, the rack 10 can be inserted into the heat treatment furnace 51. Since the heat treatment step can be performed following the transfer step, production efficiency can be increased.

As shown in FIG. 11 above, in the method of moving a metal ring, the metal ring 11 is picked up from a rack 10 in which a plurality of elastically deformable metal rings 11 are arranged and stored, and moved to a predetermined place. A step of preparing a hand 71 for picking up all or a plurality of metal rings 11 and an arm 72 for moving the hand 71 from the rack 10 to a predetermined location; a step of causing the hand 71 to approach the rack 10 by the arm 72; The step of picking up all or a plurality of metal rings 11 housed in the rack 10 by the hand 71, the step of moving the hand 71 from the rack 10 to a predetermined place by the arm 72, and the pick-up shown in FIG. The process of separating the metal ring 11 from the hand 71 in units of one at a predetermined location , Consisting of.

By this process, the metal ring 11 is moved directly from the rack 10 to a predetermined place and separated into the conveyor 85. Therefore, unlike the prior art, there is no need to move the metal ring 11 back to the alignment stocker and then move it to the conveyor 85. It is possible to reduce the number of ring moving steps.
In addition, unlike the prior art, an alignment stocker is not required, so the cost of the moving mechanism 70 can be reduced.

As shown in FIG. 4, the metal ring 11 conveyed by the conveyor 44 is heat-treated as shown in FIG. The incoming metal rings 11 are put into the alignment stocker 32 one by one and aligned so that the centers of the plurality of metal rings 11 are along the vertical axis, and the alignment stocker 32 is aligned so that the centers of the metal rings 11 are along the horizontal axis. A step of rotating the metal ring 11 from the alignment stocker 32 shown in FIG. 6 to the heat-resistant rack 10, and a step of inserting the rack 10 into the heat treatment furnace 51 and subjecting the metal ring 11 to heat treatment. When a step of taking out the rack 10 from the heat treatment furnace 51, a hand 71 for all or pick plurality of metal rings 11 shown in FIG. 11, the wafer The arm 72 for moving the door 71 from the rack 10 to a predetermined location is prepared, the arm 72 moves the hand 71 closer to the rack 10, and the hand 71 moves the metal ring 11 accommodated in the rack 10. A step of picking up all or a plurality of pieces, a step of moving the hand 71 from the rack 10 to a predetermined place by the arm 72, and a metal ring 11 picked up shown in FIG. And separating from the hand 71 in units.
By this process, the metal ring 11 is heat-treated together with the rack 10, so that the production efficiency can be further increased. In addition, since many metal rings 11 are moved without human intervention, the occurrence of other harmful scratches such as dropping of the metal ring 11 is reduced as much as possible.
The arm 72 of the metal ring moving mechanism 70 is a robot arm such as an articulated robot (not shown), and the metal ring moving mechanism 70 is connected to a control panel (not shown). Or controlled by a control program or the like stored in the storage means. Further, the alignment stocker 32, the robot hand 41, the heat treatment furnace 51, and the metal ring moving mechanism 70 are controlled by a control circuit provided in a control panel (not shown) or a control program stored in a storage means so as to be interlocked. ing.

  Although the metal ring moving mechanism and moving method of the present invention are applied to the nitriding treatment in the embodiment, the metal ring moving mechanism and moving method may be applied to other heat treatments such as a sulfurating treatment.

  The moving mechanism and moving method of the metal ring of the present invention are suitable for nitriding a metal ring for CVT.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Rack, 11 ... Metal ring, 12 ... Metal ring shaft, 32 ... Alignment stocker, 44 ... Conveyor, 51 ... Heat treatment furnace (batch nitriding furnace), 61 ... Ring push-up means, 70 ... Metal ring moving mechanism, 71 ... Hand, 72 ... Arm, 73, 75-78 ... Magnet (electromagnet), 85 ... Conveyor (predetermined place), 86-89 ... Negative pressure pad.

Claims (2)

In the automatic heat treatment method of the metal ring that heat-treats the metal ring that has been conveyed by the conveyor and moves to a predetermined place later,
Placing the metal rings sent by the conveyor one by one into an alignment stocker and aligning the centers of the plurality of metal rings along a vertical axis;
Rotating the alignment stocker 90 ° so that the center of the metal ring is along a horizontal axis;
Transferring the metal ring from the alignment stocker to a heat-resistant rack;
Charging the rack into a heat treatment furnace and heat treating the metal ring;
Removing the rack from the heat treatment furnace;
The metal ring is placed on the rack so that the center of the metal ring follows the horizontal axis, and the outer peripheral surface of the metal ring is attracted by a plurality of electromagnets or a plurality of negative pressure pads provided on the lower side of the base, and then lifted be to a step of preparing a hand for all or pick more of the metal ring, and an arm for moving the hand from the rack to the predetermined location,
Making the hand approach the rack by the arm;
A step of picking up all or a plurality of the metal rings stored in the rack by the hand; and
Moving the hand from the rack to the predetermined location by the arm;
And a step of separating the picked-up metal rings from the hand at a predetermined location or in units of one at a time. The automatic heat treatment method according to claim 1, wherein the arm is a robot arm of an articulated robot.

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