Heating – Processes of heating or heater operation – Including preparing or arranging work for heating
Patent
1993-01-26
1994-09-27
Yuen, Henry C.
Heating
Processes of heating or heater operation
Including preparing or arranging work for heating
432121, 432126, 432153, F27D 500
Patent
active
053502957
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a method for effectively and simultaneously producing different kinds of products to be heat-treated such as sintered parts.
BACKGROUND ART
In producing different kinds of sintered products simultaneously, one way to improve the productivity is to connect a compacting step to be carried out before heating, with a heating (sintering) step. Specific ways to make such a connection include 1) coupling one compacting machine with one sintering furnace via a chute, 2) loading parts (hereinafter referred to as works) on a work carrier means (such as a mesh belt) in a continuous heating device such as a mesh belt type furnace, keeping sufficient spaces between different types of works, or 3) putting different kinds of works together on a single tray, supplying the tray into a sintering furnace, and sorting them manually after heat-treatment.
The method 1) requires the same number of sintering furnaces as tile number of types of works to be heat-treated and thus is costly. Also, since the works have to be fed directly into the sintering furnaces one by one, it is difficult to automate the mechanism for taking the works out of the furnaces and thus to feed the works efficiently to the subsequent steps.
In the method 2), works are fed, keeping the spaces for sorting between different types. This will lower the energy efficiency of the heating device. Also, lightweight or unstable works may move on the carrier means and mix into a group of works of a different kind.
The method 3), in which different kinds of works are placed in a single tray and processed in a batch, includes the manual sorting step, Thus, sorting errors are unavoidable and the working efficiency is no good.
A chief object of this invention is to solve these problems.
In an arrangement where a single heating device is used for producing different kinds of works, there may arise an imbalance between the throughput capacity of the heating device and that of the front and/or rear step. Heretofore, it was necessary to stop the front and/or rear step until such an imbalance disappears. This lowers the working efficiency of the apparatus. Another problem of conventional apparatuses is that the conveyors and chutes connecting the adjacent steps tend to interfere with the work operation and thus lower the working efficiency.
A second object of this invention is to solve these problems.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In order to attain the above-mentioned chief object, method of producing different kinds of heated products according to the present invention is carried out, using a facility comprising a heating device for heat treating works while feeding them from its entrance to outlet, a plurality of pre-treatment and post-treatment devices provided, respectively, upstream and downstream of the heating device, a case carrier device having a main carrier line extending along the devices, a first transfer device provided between the carrier device and the entrance of the heating device, and a second transfer device provided between the carrier device and the outlet of the heating device.
This method comprises the steps of putting a plurality of kinds of works fed from the pre-treatment device in a plurality of heat-resistant trays with each tray carrying the same kind of works, setting the heat-resistant trays in carrier cases each having a marking for showing the kind of works carried by the respective tray, moving each carrier case by the carrier device to a point near the heating device, separating each heat-resistant tray from the respective carrier case by means of the first transfer device, feeding each tray into the heating device while moving the tray-free carrier cases toward the second transfer device by the carrier device, putting each heat-resistant tray coming out of the heating device back into the carrier case by the second transfer device, moving the carrier cases now carrying the trays further ahead by the carrier device, sorting the cases according to the markings on the cases, and feeding
REFERENCES:
patent: 4033715 (1977-07-01), Beck
patent: 4421481 (1983-12-01), Holz et al.
patent: 4820150 (1989-04-01), Ushijima
patent: 4834649 (1989-05-01), Levit et al.
Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd.
Yuen Henry C.
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