JPH039049B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an apparatus for bending and forming plate glass transported horizontally from a heating furnace between upper and lower molds or by gravity, and an apparatus using this apparatus. This invention relates to a bending method.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, as a means for forming curved glass such as automobile window glass, a sheet glass heated to near its softening point is conveyed in a vertical state, and this sheet glass is press-formed by left and right molds, A means of transporting flat glass heated to near its softening point in a horizontal state, press-forming the glass plate between an upper mold and a lower mold (including a ring mold), or molding it by gravity to follow the shape of the lower mold. There is.

Japanese Patent Publications No. 46-13272 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 53-12931 are known as apparatuses for forming plate glass in a horizontal state.

The device disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 13272/1983 is a device that handles sheet glass that has been conveyed horizontally to a forming position.
By raising the lower mold, the plate glass is shaped to follow the surface of the mold using gravity and inertia, and the device disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 12931/1983 uses gravity as well as the above. The glass plate is bent and formed using inertial force, and at the same time, the glass plate is strengthened using a quenching device.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In all of the conventional apparatuses described above, the glass plate on the conveying roller is picked up by the mold by raising the lower mold. When the glass plate is picked up upward from the conveying roller in this manner, the glass plate is bent downward due to inertia and gravity during the picking up, and the time during which a portion of the glass plate is in contact with the conveying roller increases. As a result, only the portion that is in contact with the conveyance roller is cooled, resulting in the disadvantage that optical distortion occurs in that portion.

Therefore, the applicant of the present invention has previously proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-151102 (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-63492) by lowering the conveyance roller located above the lower molding die. We proposed a device that transfers sheet glass onto a mold.

With this device, the contact time between the conveyance roller and the plate glass can be shortened, and there is no disadvantage such as roller marks, etc., but the mold is designed to prevent interference between the conveyance roller and the mold when the conveyance roller descends. A groove is formed that opens upward. For this reason, the upper surface of the mold becomes discontinuous at the position of the opening of the groove, and this discontinuous portion does not come into contact with the plate glass, and optical distortion due to reflected light may occur at the peripheral edge of the plate glass.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides that among the conveyance rollers that convey plate glass heated to near its softening point to the molding position, above the molding die placed below the molding position. The positioned conveyance roller is movable up and down, and a space or a recess is formed in the center of the mold to house the conveyance roller when the conveyance roller is lowered.

(Function) The plate glass, which has been conveyed horizontally to the forming position by the conveyance rollers, is prevented from being bent downward by the conveyance rollers descending at a speed approximately equal to the gravitational acceleration, and the entire circumference of the glass plate is not bent downward. is placed on the upper surface of the periphery of the mold, and is molded by its own weight or pressing force from the upper mold.

(Example) Examples of the present invention will be described below based on the accompanying drawings. In addition, in the example, the upper mold,
Here is a device that includes both a lower mold and a ring mold.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a sheet glass bending and forming apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view of the same forming apparatus.
The molding device 1 includes an upper mold 3, a lower mold 4, and a ring mold 5 surrounding the lower mold 4 in a frame 2. The upper mold 3 is attached to a support 6, and the support 6 is It is moved up and down by a cylinder unit 7 fixed to the frame 2.

Further, a base 8 is fixed to the bottom of the molding device 1, and an elevating plate 10 is connected via a link 9 of this base 8, and this elevating plate 10 is connected to the cylinder unit 1.
1, the lower mold 4 can be raised and lowered by a cylinder unit 12 provided on the lifting plate 10, and a support is provided upward from around the lift plate 10, and the upper end of this support 13 is raised and lowered. ring mold 5
is installed. The ring mold 5 is connected to an orecision device 14 via the support 13.

On the other hand, a heating furnace 15 is disposed on the side of the forming apparatus 1, and a conveying roller 16 for sheet glass G is provided inside the heating furnace 15. 2 is provided with a pair of support bars 17 spaced apart from each other in the front and rear directions (in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper in FIG. 1), and between these support bars 17 is a transport roller 18 that horizontally transports the plate glass G taken out from the heating furnace 15 to the forming position. ...is established.

By the way, among the conveyance rollers 18..., the lower die 4
The transport rollers 18a located above are the support bars 1
It is not supported by cylinder unit 7 but is supported by cylinder unit 19 . That is, as shown in the plan view of FIG. 3, the lower mold 4 has a continuous flat upper surface at its peripheral edge, and a recess 20 that opens upward in the center thereof, and the cylinder unit is inserted into this recess 20. 19
is provided, and when the cylinder unit 19 is operated to cause the rod of the cylinder unit 19 to protrude, the conveyance roller 18a is located above the lower mold 4,
When the rod is retracted, the conveying roller 18a is accommodated in the recess 20. In other words, the dimensions of the conveyance roller 18a are set smaller than the dimensions of the recess 20.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the upper surface of the lower mold 4, that is, the molding surface, is a curved plane except for the opening of the recess 20, and a nozzle for rapidly cooling and strengthening the sheet glass after molding is installed on this upper surface. 21... are provided. It is preferable that the tip of this nozzle 21 is located inward from the molding surface so as not to hit the plate glass during molding. Although not shown, the lower surface (molding surface) of the upper mold 3 is also provided with a large number of nozzles that blow cooling air similarly to the lower mold 4.

Furthermore, the ring mold 5 disposed around the lower mold 4 forms a slight gap with the outer periphery of the lower mold 4, and its upper surface forms a continuous annular surface.

A method of bending and forming using the forming apparatus having the above configuration will be explained with reference to FIG. 4 as well.

First, by transporting the glass plate G over the conveying rollers 16, the glass plate G is heated by the heating furnace 15 to near its softening point. Then, the glass plate G discharged from the heating furnace 15 is conveyed to a forming position between the upper mold 3 and the lower mold 4 in a water-tight state via the conveying rollers 18 and 18a. This state is shown in FIG. 4A.

Immediately, the cylinder unit 19 (see FIG. 1) is operated as shown in FIG.
Pull it within 0. Then, as the transport roller 18a descends, the glass plate G also descends, and the peripheral edge of the glass plate G is supported by the upper surface of the ring mold 5, so that the glass plate G stops descending. In addition, the conveyance roller 18a
Simultaneously with the lowering of the upper mold 3, the cylinder unit 7 is operated to lower the upper mold 3.

When the upper die 3 further descends, the plate glass G is formed between the lower surface of the upper die 3 and the upper surface of the lower die 4 as shown in FIG. 4C. In this case, the peripheral portion of the plate glass G is formed simultaneously between the lower surface of the upper mold 3 and the upper surface of the ring mold 5.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 4D, the cylinder unit 12 is operated to lower the lower die 4 by a predetermined amount, and the cylinder unit 7 is operated to lower the upper die 3 to the lower die 4.
Raise the ring mold 5 by the same amount as the lowering amount.
The plate glass G supported by the upper die 3 and the lower die 4 is positioned between the upper die 3 and the lower die 4, and in this state, cooling air is jetted toward the plate glass G from the nozzles 21 provided on the upper die 3 and the lower die 4, and an oscillation device 12 is activated to reciprocate the glass plate G in a horizontal plane so as to draw a circular or elliptical locus, etc., so that the cooling air hits the surface of the glass plate evenly.

After the forming and rapid cooling strengthening of the glass plate is completed as described above, the conveyance roller 18 transports the glass plate to the next process.

In addition, in the embodiment, the molding equipment includes an upper mold,
Although an apparatus including both a lower mold and a ring mold is shown, a molding apparatus using only a lower mold or only an upper mold and a ring mold may be used. When a ring mold is used, the conveyance roller 18a is arranged to fit in a space surrounded by the ring mold.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, a space or a recess is formed in the center of the lower mold or ring mold, and the conveying roller is accommodated in this space or recess when it descends. Therefore, first, by lowering the conveying roller, the contact pressure between the conveying roller and the plate glass can be reduced, and the contact time can also be shortened, so that the area in contact with the conveying roller is cooled compared to the surrounding area, and optical distortion does not occur. do not have.

Furthermore, since no grooves are formed in the lower mold and the ring mold to prevent interference when the conveyance roller descends, optical distortion due to reflected light does not occur at the peripheral edge of the glass plate.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a front view of a plate glass bending and forming apparatus according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side view of the same forming apparatus, Fig. 3 is a plan view of a lower die and a ring mold, and Figs. 4 A to D are in accordance with the present invention. It is a figure explaining a method in order of steps. In the drawing, 1 is a molding device, 3 is an upper mold, 4 is a lower mold, 5 is a ring mold, 14 is an oscillation device, 16, 18, 18a are conveying rollers, 20 is a recess, 21 is a nozzle, and G is a plate glass. be.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of conveyance rollers that horizontally convey plate glass heated to near its softening point to a forming position;
In a molding apparatus comprising a mold disposed below a molding position, the upper surface of the peripheral edge of the mold is continuous over the entire circumference, and the center part is a recess or a space, and the mold is A sheet glass bending and forming apparatus, characterized in that the roller disposed above the mold is movable up and down, and has a size that fits within a recess or space of the mold when lowered. 2. The sheet glass bending apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the forming mold comprises at least one of a lower mold and a ring mold. 3. The sheet glass heated to near its softening point is transported horizontally to the molding position by transport rollers, then the transport roller placed at the molding position is lowered at a speed close to the acceleration of gravity, and the lowered transport roller is moved to the molding mold. It is placed in a space or recess formed in the center,
A method for bending and forming a plate glass, characterized in that the plate glass supported on a conveying roller is placed on the upper surface of the peripheral edge of a mold, and is shaped to follow the shape of the mold.