JP2012158477A - Bending method of glass plate and bending apparatus of glass plate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bending method of a glass plate and a bending apparatus of the glass plate capable of bending and forming the glass plate approximately in a truncated cone shape, while conveying the glass plate, without damaging a conveyance surface of the glass plate which is caused by slip.SOLUTION: A plurality of rollers 20-1 to 20-32 of a roller conveyor forming the conveyance surface of the glass plate 14 are tilted in the vertical direction by a tilting means corresponding to a conveyance position of the glass plate 14, and moved vertically by a vertically driving means. The tilting means and the vertically driving means are controlled by a motion controller so that a bent surface thereof runs like propagation of a wave from the upstream side of the roller conveyor toward the downstream side. Hereby, the glass plate 14 is bent and formed approximately in a truncated cone shape by a conical surface formed on a part of the bent surface at a prescribed curvature along the bent surface by the self weight, while being conveyed by the roller conveyor.

Description

  The present invention relates to a glass plate bending method and a glass plate bending apparatus, and in particular, a glass plate bending method and a glass plate bending method for bending a glass plate used for automobile windows into a substantially truncated cone shape. The present invention relates to a molding apparatus.

  As a technique for bending a window glass for automobiles, the applicant of the present invention has proposed, in Patent Document 1, a bending method for bending a glass plate heated to near the softening point in a heating furnace into a glass plate having a desired curvature. Yes. In this bending method, a glass plate heated in a heating furnace is transported along a transport surface formed by a plurality of rollers of a roller conveyor. And by moving a roller up and down according to the conveyance position of a glass plate, a part of conveyance surface is curved in a glass plate conveyance direction, and a glass plate is bent and formed into a desired curvature by its own weight. This bending method is an apparatus suitable for bending a single piece having a curvature only in the conveying direction of the glass plate.

  In addition, in the patent document 2, the present applicant has also proposed a bending method in which a plurality of rollers of a roller conveyor are curved rollers, and these rollers are moved up and down in accordance with the conveying position of the glass plate. This bending method is a method suitable for bending bending of a compound curve having a curvature in the conveyance direction of the glass plate and the direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction.

  The bending method disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 and 2 has been proposed as a bending method suitable for automobile side glass.

  By the way, in the bending molding of automotive rear glass whose surface shape is substantially frustoconical, an apparatus for press-molding a glass plate with a male mold having a substantially frustoconical press surface has been the mainstream. A method of bending into a truncated cone shape while carrying is also proposed.

FIG. 11 is a schematic plan view showing a roller configuration of the bending apparatus 150 disclosed in Patent Document 3. As shown in FIG. This bending method is a forming method in which a glass plate 152 heated to a bending forming temperature is bent and formed into a truncated cone shape by being conveyed along a longitudinal track having a rotating cone shape. That is, the bending apparatus 150 is disposed in the bending zone 154 of the glass plate 152, and a plurality of rollers 156, 156 ... is attached according to the longitudinal direction of the cylinder contour having a radius _{R 1.} In order to bend the glass plate 152 into a truncated cone shape, these rollers 156, 156... Are adjacently arranged in a non-parallel state in plan view. The glass plate 152 is bent and formed in a truncated cone shape by the action of its own weight and the like by being conveyed along the vertical cylindrical contour formed by these rollers 156, 156. .

  Further, the ends of the rollers 156, 156... Are rotatably attached to the curved metal outer arc and inner arc via bearings, and the outer arc has a larger radius of curvature than the inner arc. . Therefore, the glass plate 152 conveyed on these rollers 156, 156... Passes a longer distance per unit time at the edge facing the outer arc than at the edge facing the inner arc. Therefore, the glass plate 152 passes through the bending area with a speed difference between both edges. In order to absorb the speed difference, the rollers 156, 156... Have a truncated cone shape in which the diameter of the end of the outer arc is larger than the diameter of the end of the inner arc.

  In the present specification, “bend-formed in the conveyance direction (along)” means that the shape of the bend-formed glass plate is curved around an axis orthogonal to the conveyance direction. To do. In other words, the bent glass sheet has a curved cross section perpendicular to the axis orthogonal to the transport direction. Further, “bend-formed in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction” means that the shape of the bent glass plate is curved around the conveyance direction axis. In other words, the bent glass plate has a curved cross section perpendicular to the conveyance direction axis.

  Regarding the shape of the curved surface formed by a plurality of rollers shown below, explanations such as “curved in the transport direction (along)” and “curved in the transport direction” are “bending molding in (along) the transport direction”. The meaning is the same as “being done”. The description of the curved surface with respect to the direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction is also equivalent to the meaning of “bending in the direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction”. In addition, “... Orthogonal to the direction” in this specification means a direction on the horizontal plane and perpendicular to the direction. In the present specification, “upper” and “lower” mean “upper” and “lower” with respect to the horizontal plane, respectively.

WO99 / 65833 pamphlet JP 2004-99332 A JP-A-4-231332

  In the bending method of Patent Document 3, a glass plate 152 that has been conveyed linearly by rollers 160, 160... In a reheating zone 158 as shown in FIG. Is conveyed along a longitudinal trajectory. That is, the glass plate 152 is conveyed from the reheating area 158 to the bending area 154 with the conveyance direction changed. For this reason, the glass plate 152 passing through the boundary between the reheating zone 158 and the bending zone 154 receives the linear conveying force of the reheating zone 158 and the conveying force of the longitudinal trajectory of the bending zone 154. Slip occurs between the rollers 156 and 160 at the boundary portion. This slip has a problem that wrinkles are formed on the transport surface (back surface) of the glass plate 152.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and the glass plate is bent into a substantially frustoconical shape while the glass plate is being conveyed without attaching wrinkles due to slip on the conveyance surface of the glass plate. An object of the present invention is to provide a glass plate bending method and a glass plate bending apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention transports a heated glass plate by moving each transport roller up and down while transporting a heated glass plate by a roller conveyor composed of a plurality of transport rollers arranged in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction. A predetermined curved surface having a curvature in the transport direction is formed on the surface, the glass plate is positioned on the curved surface, and the transport rollers on the downstream side in the transport direction are sequentially moved up and down to move the glass plate. In the glass plate bending method including a vertical motion forming step of moving the curved surface in the transport direction in conjunction with the vertical motion forming step, simultaneously with the vertical motion forming step, the respective transport rollers are inclined with respect to a horizontal plane, By forming a conical surface that is a part of a substantially frustoconical shape on the surface and sequentially inclining each conveyance roller on the downstream side in the conveyance direction with respect to a horizontal plane, the circle is interlocked with the movement of the glass plate Provides a method for bending a glass sheet, characterized in that it comprises a tilting step of moving a surface to the conveying direction.

  That is, the present invention is an invention in which the glass plate is bent into a glass plate having a substantially frustoconical curved surface in a glass plate bending method in which the glass plate is bent in the conveying direction by its own weight. is there. The present invention is not limited to bend forming using only the weight of the glass plate, and may be formed by sandwiching the glass plate between the forming roller and the conveying roller arranged above the conveying roller. Instead of the forming roller, a press mold having a surface along the desired bending shape of the glass plate may be used.

  According to the present invention, since the conical surface is formed by sequentially inclining the conveying roller with respect to the horizontal plane, the conveying direction of the glass plate being formed even in bending forming while conveying the glass plate by the roller conveyor The glass plate can be bent into a substantially truncated cone shape without changing the above. Therefore, according to the present invention, the glass plate can be bent and formed into a substantially truncated cone shape while the glass plate is being conveyed without attaching wrinkles due to slip on the conveyance surface of the glass plate.

  A plurality of rollers of a roller conveyor that forms the conveying surface of the glass plate are moved up and down according to the conveying position of the glass plate and tilted with respect to the horizontal plane. Thereby, a curved surface which is a part of a substantially truncated cone shape inclined obliquely by the roller at the position where the glass plate is conveyed is formed. This curved surface travels like a wave propagation from the upstream side to the downstream side of the roller conveyor. Thereby, the glass plate is bent and formed into a substantially truncated cone shape by the substantially truncated cone shape surface formed on the curved surface by its own weight while being conveyed by the roller conveyor.

  Further, according to the present invention, in the tilting step, the shape of the glass plate in a plan view is a substantially trapezoidal shape, and the upper side and the bottom side thereof are conveyed along the conveying direction and are in contact with the vicinity of the upper side. It is preferable that each conveyance roller is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane so that the height of each conveyance roller of the roller conveyor is lower than the height of each conveyance roller in contact with the vicinity of the bottom.

  Front glass and rear glass for automobiles are commercialized by bending a substantially trapezoidal flat glass plate into a truncated cone shape. Moreover, the curvature radius of the upper side part of a glass plate is smaller than the curvature radius of a bottom part from the relationship of the vehicle body shape of a motor vehicle. Therefore, according to the present invention, the windshield and rear glass having such a shape can be bent.

  The setting of the height position of the roller is based on the premise that the initial position of each roller is a horizontal position. On the other hand, it is also conceivable to incline the initial position of the roller from the horizontal position in advance. For example, the roller with which the bottom side of the glass plate abuts is tilted so that it is lower than the roller with which the top side abuts, that is, the difference in height between the rollers when forming the curved surface is canceled in advance. Thus, the height of the rollers when actually forming the curved surface can be made equal.

  Further, according to the present invention, among the conveying rollers forming the conical surface, the conveying roller that is descending most is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane by half the cone angle of the cone including the conical surface. Is preferred.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, it is preferable that the curved surface is formed so that the cone angle of the conical surface increases toward the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the glass plate.

  By increasing the cone angle of the conical surface as it goes downstream in the transport direction in this way, the curved surface becomes deeper as the glass plate is transported downstream, so that it can be gradually bent. Distortion is unlikely to occur.

  Further, according to the present invention, the conveying roller forming the conical surface has an inclination angle of the conveying roller that increases toward the upstream side and the downstream side in the conveying direction centering on the most descending conveying roller. It is preferable.

  In the present invention, it is preferable that a curved roller curved in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction is used as the transport roller.

  When a straight bar-shaped roller is used, the glass plate can be bent into a simple substantially truncated cone shape. On the other hand, when a curved roller is used, the glass plate can be bent and formed into a barrel shape in which the central portion swells in a substantially truncated cone shape.

  As the configuration of the bending roller, a flexible shaft configured to be flexible, a plurality of ring rollers having the flexible shaft as a rotation axis, and a plurality of ring rollers by bending the flexible shaft to a desired curvature. It is preferable to have a conveyance surface curving means for curving the conveyance surface formed by the following.

  In the present invention, after the glass plate is bent into a substantially truncated cone shape, the glass plate is bent into a barrel shape using a curved roller curved in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction as the transport roller. It is preferable to include the process to do.

  The glass plate is bent and formed into a substantially truncated cone shape by vertically moving and tilting the conveying roller, and then the glass plate is bent and formed into a barrel shape by vertically moving and tilting the curved roller installed on the downstream side in the conveying direction. Can do. Thus, it becomes difficult to generate | occur | produce distortion in a glass plate by carrying out bending forming for every direction.

  The present invention also includes a heating means for heating the glass plate to a temperature at which bending can be performed, a roller conveyor composed of a plurality of conveyance rollers arranged in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction, and a vertical movement for moving each conveyance roller up and down. A predetermined curved surface having a curvature in the conveying direction is formed by moving the driving means and each conveying roller up and down, the glass plate is positioned on the curved surface, and the conveying rollers on the downstream side in the conveying direction are sequentially moved. And a control means for moving the curved surface in the transport direction in conjunction with the movement of the glass plate by moving up and down, and inclining each of the transport rollers with respect to a horizontal plane. And the control means moves the transport rollers up and down sequentially by the up-and-down movement drive means, and at the same time moves the transport rollers by the tilting means. In response to the movement of the glass plate, a conical surface that is a part of a substantially frustoconical shape is formed on the curved surface, and each transport roller on the downstream side in the transport direction is sequentially tilted with respect to a horizontal plane. The glass plate bending apparatus is characterized in that the conical surface is controlled to move in the transport direction.

  A bending apparatus for bending a glass plate into a substantially frustoconical shape includes a roller conveyor, vertical movement driving means, tilting means, and control means. The plurality of rollers of the roller conveyor forming the glass plate conveyance surface are moved up and down by the vertical movement driving means according to the conveyance position of the glass plate and tilted with respect to the horizontal plane by the tilting means. Thereby, a curved surface which is a part of a substantially truncated cone shape inclined obliquely by the roller at the position where the glass plate is conveyed is formed. The control means controls the vertical movement driving means and the tilting means so that the curved surface travels like wave propagation from the upstream side to the downstream side of the roller conveyor. Thereby, the glass plate is bent and formed into a substantially truncated cone shape by the substantially truncated cone shape surface formed on the curved surface by its own weight while being conveyed by the roller conveyor.

  The plurality of rollers of the roller conveyor are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the glass plate. That is, the plurality of rollers of the roller conveyor are arranged in parallel with the adjacent rollers. The roller tilts and moves up and down while maintaining parallel in plan view. Therefore, the glass plate that is being conveyed by the roller conveyor does not slip with the roller, and thus no wrinkles due to the slip occur on the conveying surface of the glass plate. Furthermore, it is preferable that the operation of tilting the roller and the operation of moving the roller up and down are combined by the same means.

  In the vertical movement of each roller of the roller conveyor of the present invention, the movement returning from the initial position in the vertical direction to the initial position after going up and down is defined as one cycle of movement. In this case, each roller (a: initial state) starts when the front side of the conveyance direction of one unit of glass plate is conveyed, and (b) while one unit of glass plate passes. The movement is one cycle of descending to ascending, and (c: final state) returns to the original position when the rear side in the conveyance direction of one unit of the glass plate has been conveyed. Thus, while a unit of glass plate passes over a roller, the roller moves up and down in one cycle from the initial state to the final state. When a plurality of glass plates are continuously bent and formed, one unit of glass plate is sequentially conveyed, so each roller is moved to (a), (b), (c ) Repeatedly move up and down in this order.

  When a convex curved surface is formed below by such vertical movement of each roller, one unit of glass plate is conveyed as follows. When the glass plate is positioned on a roller having a front side in the transport direction and a rear side in the transport direction, the roller is in an initial state (final state). For this reason, the vertical positions of the front side and the rear side of the glass plate in the transport direction are maintained at the initial positions of the rollers. The vertical height level of the virtual surface (in the horizontal state) formed by each roller in the initial state is referred to as the “conveyance level”. On the other hand, each roller in which the center part of the glass plate which is a part between the conveyance direction front side and conveyance direction rear side of a glass plate is located is in the intermediate state of the up-and-down movement of one cycle. Therefore, the central part of the glass plate is located below the transport level (the central part hangs down). Therefore, the glass plate of one unit is conveyed so that the central portion is positioned below the conveyance level while the front side in the conveyance direction and the rear side in the conveyance direction are maintained at the conveyance level.

  Note that “one unit glass plate” usually means one glass plate. When transported in a state where two or more glass plates are laminated as required, two or more glass plates can be bent at the same time. Thus, “one unit glass plate” includes a case where two or more glass plates are conveyed in a stacked state. The glass plate bending apparatus and method of the present invention can sequentially bend and form a single unit of glass plate and continuously bend and form a plurality of units of glass plate. Whether the glass plate of one unit is a single glass plate or a state in which a plurality of glass plates are laminated does not greatly affect the basic operation of the method and apparatus for bending a glass plate of the present invention. . Therefore, in this specification, the word “one unit” is omitted.

  By the way, when a roller moves up and down, the conveyance speed of the horizontal direction component of a glass plate will depend on the up-and-down position of a roller. In this case, if the angular velocities of the plurality of rollers are constant, the conveyance speed of the horizontal component is higher for the lower roller than for the upper roller. When such an unbalance phenomenon of speed occurs, slip may occur between the roller and the glass plate, and the glass plate may be wrinkled. Therefore, it is preferable that a rotation driving unit that independently rotates the plurality of rollers is provided, and the rotation driving unit is controlled by the control unit so that the conveyance speed of the horizontal component of the glass plate becomes equal. Thereby, since the said malfunction is eliminated, the glass plate without a wrinkle can be obtained.

  The desired curved surface formed by each roller is a curved surface required according to the position of the roller which is conveying the glass plate. Specifically, at the most downstream position in the zone where the glass sheet is bent, the curved surface formed by each roller at this position is the glass sheet to be finally obtained in the conveying direction of the glass sheet. It has a curved shape that approximately matches the bent shape.

  According to the present invention, the glass plate can be bent and formed into a substantially truncated cone shape without attaching wrinkles due to slip on the conveyance surface of the glass plate.

The perspective view which shows one Embodiment of the manufacturing apparatus of the curved glass plate to which the bending forming apparatus of the glass plate which concerns on this invention was applied. (A)-(D) is the perspective view which looked at the time series which looked at the state where a glass plate is curve-formed while being conveyed by a roller conveyor. (A)-(D) are side views corresponding to FIGS. 2 (A)-(D) (A) is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line 4A-4A in FIG. 3 (A), (B) is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line 4B-4B in FIG. 3 (B), and (C) is shown in FIG. 3 (C). 4D is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line 4C-4C, and FIG. 4D is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line 4D-4D in FIG. 3D. The perspective view which showed the detail of FIG.2 (D) Side view of FIG. Structural diagram showing the configuration of the roller tilting means and the vertical movement drive mechanism The figure which illustrated the form which forms a conical surface in a conveyance surface with a roller in three dimensions The figure which showed the inclination-angle of the seven rollers seen from the 11-11 line | wire of FIG. Structure diagram showing the configuration of the tilting means to which the bending roller is applied and the vertical movement drive mechanism The top view which showed the glass plate conveyance path of the bending molding apparatus of the conventional glass plate

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a glass sheet bending method and apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a curved glass sheet manufacturing apparatus 12 to which the glass sheet bending apparatus 10 of the embodiment is applied.

  The curved glass plate manufacturing apparatus 12 shown in the figure is a facility for manufacturing a glass plate 14 having a curved surface (conical surface) that is a part of a substantially truncated cone shape suitable for a rear glass of an automobile. The manufacturing apparatus 12 is not limited to the rear glass, and can be manufactured even with a side glass having a single curved surface. If a slow cooling device is installed instead of the air cooling strengthening device, it is possible to manufacture a windshield.

  The manufacturing apparatus 12 shown in FIG. 1 is configured by arranging a bending apparatus 10 and an air-cooling strengthening apparatus 16 from the upstream side in the flow direction of the glass plate 14 toward the downstream side. The bending apparatus 10 includes a heating furnace (heating means) 18 and a bending roller conveyor (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as a roller conveyor) 20 arranged from the upstream side toward the downstream side. . The drive control of each part of the manufacturing apparatus 12 is performed by a motion controller (control means) 22 configured by a computer or the like.

  First, the bending process of the glass plate 14 by the manufacturing apparatus 12 will be described.

  The flat glass plate 14 before bending is positioned at the entrance of the heating furnace 18 and then carried into the heating furnace 18 by the roller conveyor 24. The glass plate 14 of this aspect has a substantially trapezoidal shape in plan view corresponding to the shape of the rear glass, and its upper side portion 14A and bottom side portion 14B are along the conveying direction of the roller conveyor 24 indicated by arrow A. Be transported. The glass plate 14 is heated by the heater of the heating furnace 18 during conveyance in the heating furnace 18, and is heated to the bending temperature (about 600 to 700 ° C.) at the outlet of the heating furnace 18. The glass plate 14 is conveyed in the same direction as the conveying direction of the roller conveyor 24 by a bending roller conveyor 20 installed on the downstream side of the heating furnace 18.

  During conveyance by the roller conveyor 20, the glass plate 14 is bent into a truncated cone shape with a predetermined curvature by bending operations of the roller conveyor 20 in the vertical direction and the inclined direction, which will be described later. The bent glass plate 14 is conveyed from the outlet of the roller conveyor 20 toward the air-cooling strengthening device 16 in the same direction as that of the roller conveyor 20 by the roller conveyor 26 for the air-cooling strengthening device 16.

  The air-cooling strengthening device 16 includes an upper air outlet head 28 and a lower air outlet head 30 that are disposed above and below the roller conveyor 26. The glass plate 14 is air-cooled and strengthened by air blown out from the blow heads 28 and 30 toward the front surface and back surface (conveying surface) of the glass plate 14 during conveyance by the roller conveyor 26. At this time, the cooling capacity of the air-cooling strengthening device 16 is appropriately set according to the thickness of the glass plate 14. The glass plate 14 that has been air-cooled and tempered is conveyed from the outlet of the air-cooling and tempering device 16 by the roller conveyor 32 toward the inspection device (not shown) in the next process in the same direction as the conveying direction of the roller conveyor 26. As described above, the glass plate 14 is heated, molded, and air-cooled and strengthened in order while being conveyed in the same direction indicated by the arrow A by the roller conveyors 24, 20, 26, and 32 disposed from the upstream side to the downstream side. . The above is the flow of the manufacturing process of the glass plate 14 by the manufacturing apparatus 12. Further, by conveying the glass plate 14 in the same direction as described above, it is possible to prevent wrinkles due to slip on the conveyance surface of the glass plate 14.

  Next, the roller conveyor 20, the tilting means, and the vertical movement driving means will be described with reference to FIGS.

  2A to 2D are perspective views of the state in which the glass plate 14 is curved while being conveyed by the roller conveyor 20 in time series. 3 (A) to 3 (D) are side views corresponding to FIGS. 2 (A) to 2 (D). 4A is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line 4A-4A in FIG. 3A and is a view seen from the downstream side in the transport direction A. FIG. Similarly, FIG. 4B is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line 4B-4B in FIG. 3B, and is a view seen from the downstream side in the transport direction A, and FIG. 4C is FIG. 3C. FIG. 4D is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line 4C-4C of FIG. 4A, viewed from the downstream side in the conveying direction A, and FIG. 4D is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line 4D-4D of FIG. It is the figure seen from the downstream side. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing details of FIG. 2D, and FIG. 6 is a side view of FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the roller conveyor 20 is composed of a plurality of transport rollers (32 transport rollers in the embodiment: hereinafter referred to as “rollers”) 20-1, 20-2... 20-32. ing. These rollers 20-1, 20-2... 20-32 are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the glass plate 14 indicated by the arrow A, and are arranged in parallel to each other in plan view. These rollers 20-1, 20-2,..., 20-32 are straight rod-like rollers formed in a straight shape, and on the conveying surface formed by these rollers 20-1, 20-2,. Then, the glass plate 14 is conveyed at a predetermined speed in the direction of arrow A by the rotation of the rollers 20-1, 20-2.

  The rollers 20-1, 20-2,..., 20-32 are each independently driven to rotate by the rotation driving means, and each of the rollers 20-1, 20-2,. The The operations of the rotation driving means and the vertical driving means are controlled by the motion controller 22 shown in FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a structural diagram showing the rotation driving means and the vertical driving means of each of the rollers 20-1, 20-2... 20-32. Each of the rollers 20-1, 20-2... 20-32 has the same structure for the rotation driving means and the vertical driving means, and therefore only the structure of the roller 20-1 is described in FIG. The description of the structure on the other rollers 20-2 to 20-32 side is omitted. Moreover, FIG. 7 is the front view which looked at the roller 20-1 from the downstream of the glass plate conveyance direction.

  A pair of support columns 34 and 36 are erected below both ends of the roller 20-1. A guide rail 38 that constitutes a linear motion guide is provided in the vertical direction on the outer side surface of the column 34, and the guide blocks 42 and 42 of the elevating body 40 are engaged with the guide rail 38. Therefore, the elevating body 40 is provided so as to be movable up and down along the guide rail 38.

  A roller support 46 is provided on the upper and lower bodies 40 via a bearing 44. The rotation axis of the bearing 44 is parallel to the conveyance direction A of the glass plate 14. Therefore, the roller support portion 46 is rotatable in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction A. A left end portion of the roller 20-1 is rotatably supported by the bearing 48 on the roller support portion 46, and a spindle of a servo motor 50 is connected to the left end portion via gears 51 and 53.

  Similarly, a guide rail 52 that constitutes a linear motion guide is provided in the vertical direction on the outer side surface of the support column 36, and the guide blocks 56 and 56 of the elevating body 54 are engaged with the guide rail 52. Therefore, the elevating body 54 is provided so as to be movable up and down along the guide rail 52.

  A roller support 60 is provided on the upper and lower bodies 54 via a link 58. The link 58 is rotatably connected to the elevating body 54 via a pin 62 and is also rotatably connected to the roller support portion 60 via a pin 64. The pins 62 and 64 are provided in parallel with the conveyance direction A of the glass plate 14. Therefore, the roller support portion 60 is rotatable in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction A. In addition, the right end portion of the roller 20-1 is rotatably supported by the bearing 66 on the roller support portion 60.

  Therefore, by driving the servo motor 50 in the above configuration, the roller 20-1 is rotated at a predetermined angular velocity. The above is the structure of the rotation driving means.

  On the other hand, a rack 68 extends downward at the lower part of the lifting body 40, and a pinion 70 is engaged with the rack 68. The pinion 70 is connected to the spindle of a servo motor 72.

  Similarly, the elevating body 54 also has a rack 74 extending downward at a lower portion thereof, and a pinion 76 is engaged with the rack 74. The pinion 76 is connected to the spindle of a servo motor 78.

  By rotating the servo motors 72 and 78 in the same direction in synchronization with the motion controller 22 shown in FIG. 1, the roller 20-1 is moved up and down while maintaining the horizontal direction. Further, by controlling the rotation amounts of the servo motors 72 and 78 to different amounts by the motion controller 22, the roller 20-1 is tilted by the rotation operation of the bearing 44 and the link 58. For example, by setting the rotation amount of the servo motor 72 to be larger than the rotation amount of the servo motor 78, the roller 20-1 tilts downward in FIG. The above is the structure of the vertical drive means that also serves as the tilting means.

  The rotation driving means and the vertical driving means described above are provided in all of the other rollers 20-1, 20-2... 20-32, and the servo motors 50, 72, 78 of these means are shown in FIG. Are controlled by the motion controller 22. The rollers 20-1 to 20-32 are respectively controlled to move up and down and tilt by the motion controller 22, so that a part of the curved conveying surface formed by the rollers 20-1 to 20-32 has a substantially truncated cone shape. A conical surface is formed, and the glass plate 14 is bent and formed into a substantially truncated cone shape by its own weight along the substantially conical surface.

  FIG. 8 is a three-dimensional illustration of a form in which a conical surface is formed on the conveying surface of the glass plate 14 by the rollers 20-1 to 20-32. FIG. 9 is a view showing the inclination angles of the seven rollers as viewed from the line 11-11 in FIG. 8. Here, among the rollers 20-1 to 20-32, the seven rollers 20- 12-20-18 will be described as an example.

  In FIG. 8, a solid line A is a cone having a cone angle 2θ, and a solid line B indicates a conical surface formed in a part of the cone A. This conical surface B is formed by the seven rollers 20-12 to 20-18 shown in FIG. In other words, it is preferable that the seven rollers 20-12 to 20-18 have a roller inclination angle that increases toward the upstream side and the downstream side in the transport direction with the most lowered roller 20-15 as the center. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 9, among the rollers 20-12 to 20-18 forming the conical surface B, the most lowered roller 20-15 includes a truncated cone shape with respect to the horizontal plane. The cone A is preferably inclined at an angle θ that is half the cone angle 2θ. Thereby, the conical surface B shown in FIG. 8 can be formed.

  Further, the most lowered roller 20-15 is preferably along the intersection of the virtual dividing surface and the conical surface B when it is assumed that the conical surface B is divided in half. Even a roller can be arranged so as to coincide with the intersecting line, that is, completely coincide with the conical surface B. On the other hand, the front and rear rollers 20-12 to 14 and 20-16 to 18 adjacent to the most lowered roller 20-15 do not completely coincide with the conical surface B in the case of a straight bar-shaped roller. However, although depending on the required molding accuracy, the deviation is slight and can be ignored in many cases. In particular, by considering only the conical surface corresponding to the part where the glass plate and the roller are in contact, that is, by determining the inclination of the roller so that the maximum difference between the conical surface of the part and the roller is minimized. This deviation can be further reduced. Further, it is possible to completely match the conical surface B by using a curved roller described later.

  In a conventional bending method in which a straight bar-shaped roller is moved up and down in accordance with the conveying position of the glass plate to bend the glass plate by bending a part of the conveying surface in the glass plate conveying direction. Although the curved surface D which is a part of the cylinder C indicated by the two-dot chain line 8 can be formed, the conical surface B cannot be formed.

  Next, the motion controller 22 will be described.

  When the type of the glass plate 14 is input from the external input means, the motion controller 22 moves the angular velocity control data and the vertical movement of the rollers 20-1, 20-2... 20-32 corresponding to the curvature of the glass plate 14 of that type. Create control data (including tilt angle control data). The motion controller 22 controls the servo motor 50 based on the angular velocity control data, and controls the servo motors 72 and 78 based on the vertical movement control data. That is, the motion controller 22 has the rollers 20-1, 20-2,... 20- so that the glass plate 14 is bent into a substantially truncated cone shape while being conveyed by the rollers 20-1, 20-2,. 32 is multi-axis controlled.

  Next, the bending operation of the glass plate 14 by the multi-axis control of the rollers 20-1, 20-2... 20-32 will be described with reference to FIGS. Basic movements of the rollers 20-1, 20-2,..., 20-32 are inclined and descended in the order of the rollers 20-1 → 20-32 as the glass plate 14 is conveyed. In these drawings, the rollers 20-1, 20-2, and 20-32 maintain the horizontal state and do not move, but move according to the type of the glass plate 13.

  The rollers 20-1 to 20-32 have a horizontal position as an initial position. Further, when the rollers 20-3 to 20-31 are tilted, the rollers 20-13 and 20-16 that are in contact with the upper side portion 14A of the glass plate 14 as shown in FIGS. 4B, 4C, and 4D. , 20-18 is set by the vertical movement drive means so that the height of the right end of the rollers 20-13, 20-16, 20-18 is lower than the height of the left ends of the rollers 20-13, 20-16, 20-18. The As a result, the curvature radius of the upper side portion 14A is bent to be smaller than the curvature radius of the bottom side portion 14B.

  The reason why the curvature radii of the upper side portion 14A and the bottom side portion 14B are changed is as follows. That is, the rear glass for automobiles is commercialized by bending the substantially trapezoidal flat glass plate 14 into a substantially truncated cone shape, but the curvature radius of the upper side portion of the rear glass is from the relationship of the vehicle body shape of the automobile. This is because it is smaller than the curvature radius of the bottom portion. Therefore, as described above, by changing the curvature radii of the upper side portion 14A and the bottom side portion 14B, it is possible to manufacture a substantially truncated cone-shaped glass plate suitable for the rear glass.

  The setting of the height positions of the rollers 20-1 to 20-32 described above is based on the premise that the initial positions of the rollers 20-1 to 20-32 are horizontal positions. On the other hand, it is also conceivable to incline the initial positions of the rollers 20-1 to 20-32 from the horizontal position in advance. For example, by tilting the left end portion of the roller with which the bottom side portion 14B of the glass plate 14 abuts lower than the right end portion of the roller with which the upper side portion 14A abuts, that is, a roller for forming a curved surface By offsetting the difference in height in advance, the height of the rollers when actually forming the curved surface can be made equal. In order to stably convey the glass plate 14 along the conveyance surface, the latter initial setting is preferable. However, since the inclination angle of the roller for forming the rear glass into a substantially truncated cone shape is about 2 °, the former Even in the initial setting, there is no problem from the viewpoint of stable conveyance.

  Next, motion control (action) of the rollers 20-1 to 20-32 by the motion controller 22 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  2A, FIG. 3A, and FIG. 4A, when the heated glass plate 14 reaches the rollers 20-3 to 20-21, all the rollers 20-1 to 20- Reference numeral 32 denotes an uppermost position (initial position), and the conveyance surface formed by the rollers 20-1 to 20-32 is horizontal.

  When the glass plate 14 is conveyed from this position, the roller 20-3 tilts (tilts so that the height of the upper side portion 14A is lower than the bottom side portion 14B: the tilting direction is the same hereinafter), and thereafter The rollers 20-4 to 20-23 descend and tilt.

  2B, FIG. 3B, and FIG. 4B, the glass plate 14 is conveyed by two rollers from the states of FIG. 2A, FIG. 3A, and FIG. Shows the state. In this state, the conveyance surface formed by the rollers 20-5 to 20-23 is formed on a conveyance surface having a large curvature with the position of the rollers 20-13 and 20-14 as a peak in depth. In addition, the inclination angles of the rollers 20-5 to 20-23 are set to be smaller than a desired angle. When the glass plate 14 is transported along the transport surface, the glass plate 14 is deformed by its own weight into a shape along the transport surface, that is, a gently curved convex shape with a large curvature radius.

  When the glass plate 14 is further conveyed from this position, the tilt angles of the rollers 20-6 to 20-26 are gradually increased, and the downward movement amount is also gradually increased.

  2 (C), 3 (C), and 4 (C), the glass plate 14 is conveyed by three rollers from the states of FIGS. 2 (B), 3 (B), and 4 (B). Shows the state. In this state, the conveyance surface formed by the rollers 20-8 to 20-26 is formed on a conveyance surface having a small curvature with the positions of the rollers 20-16 and 20-17 as peaks in depth. Further, the inclination angles of the rollers 20-8 to 20-26 are also set to an angle approaching a desired angle. By conveying the glass plate 14 along this conveyance surface, the glass plate 14 is deformed by its own weight into a shape along the conveyance surface, that is, a convex curved shape with a small curvature radius. At this time, the rollers 20-3 to 20-5 return to the reference position, and the movement is stopped until the next glass plate 14 is conveyed.

  When the glass plate 14 is further conveyed from this position, the tilt angle of the rollers 20-7 to 20-27 is further increased, and the downward movement amount is further increased.

  2 (D), 3 (D), and 4 (D), the glass plate 14 is conveyed by two rollers from the state of FIGS. 2 (C), 3 (C), and 4 (C). This shows a state where the glass plate 14 is bent into the final product shape. In this state, the conveyance surface formed by the rollers 20-10 to 20-28 is formed on a conveyance surface having a smaller curvature with the depth of the position of the rollers 20-18 and 20-19. The inclination angle of the rollers 20-10 to 20-28 is also set to a desired angle.

  When the glass plate 14 is conveyed along the conveying surface as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the glass plate 14 is bent and formed into a shape along the conveying surface by its own weight. That is, it is formed into a substantially truncated cone shape along a curved surface that has a desired curvature and has a downward convex shape and a substantially truncated cone shape formed on a part of the conveying surface. The above is the bending operation of the glass plate 14 by the rollers 20-1 to 20-32 controlled by the motion controller 22.

  In this way, each roller of the roller conveyor 20 performs a one-cycle descending / raising motion as the glass plate 14 passes when the one glass plate 14 is conveyed. Thereby, a substantially frustoconical surface having a convex shape is formed downward by the group of rollers on which the glass plate 14 is positioned, and the substantially frustoconical surface is advanced along with the conveyance of the glass plate 14. The front side and the rear side in the conveyance direction of the glass plate 14 are kept at the conveyance level, and the central portion of the glass plate 14 hangs obliquely below the conveyance level according to the descending position and inclination angle of each roller. Thus, the glass plate 14 is bent into a substantially truncated cone shape while being conveyed by each roller.

  Therefore, according to the bending apparatus 10 of the embodiment, since the conveying direction of the heating furnace 18 and the roller conveyor 20 is the same, the glass plate 14 does not have a wrinkle due to slip on the conveying surface of the glass plate 14. The glass plate 14 can be bent into a substantially truncated cone shape while being conveyed by the roller conveyor 20.

  In addition, since the glass plate 14 is bent greatly as it goes downstream of the roller conveyor 20, the amplitude of the substantially truncated cone surface is larger toward the downstream side. That is, the amplitude due to the descending / raising motion of each roller is larger toward the downstream of the roller conveyor 20.

  That is, it is preferable to form the curved surface so that the cone angle θ of the conical surface B shown in FIG. 8 increases toward the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the glass plate 14.

  In this way, by increasing the cone angle θ of the conical surface B as it goes downstream in the conveying direction, the curved surface becomes deeper as the glass plate 14 is conveyed downstream, so that bending is gradually performed. And distortion hardly occurs.

  Further, the glass plate bending apparatus and the bending method according to the embodiment are used for bending a large amount of the glass plate 14. That is, a large number of glass plates 14 are bent and formed by successively conveying a plurality of glass plates 14 one by one. Therefore, each roller 20-1 to 20-32 of the roller conveyor 20 repeats tilting and vertical movement in order to bend and form the glass plate 14 that is sequentially conveyed. Therefore, in the bending apparatus 10, a plurality of substantially convex frustoconical waves proceed in sequence from the heating furnace 18 toward the air-cooling strengthening apparatus 16. And the amplitude of a wave increases as it goes to the air-cooling strengthening apparatus 16 from the heating furnace 18 side.

  Furthermore, in the embodiment, an air cooling strengthening device 16 is provided on the downstream side of the bending apparatus 10. By bending the glass plate 14 after bending with the air-cooling strengthening device 16, the bent glass plate 14 that has been tempered can be obtained.

  In addition, it is preferable to change the curvature of a conveyance surface based on the shape data of the glass plate 14 to obtain. In particular, since the shape of the glass plate for a vehicle window is prepared in advance as CAD data, the curvature can be easily changed by linking the CAD data to the motion controller 22.

  Further, the roller conveyor 26 on the side of the air-cooling strengthening device 16 is also provided with a rotation driving means and an up-down direction driving means serving also as a tilting means, similar to the roller conveyor 20 of the bending apparatus 10, and these means are different or the same. The motion controller 22 is preferably used for control. In this case, the upper and lower positions of the rollers of the roller conveyor 26 may be changed so that the shape of the conveying surface of the roller conveyor 26 is a substantially truncated cone shape that is the shape of the glass plate 14.

  Furthermore, it is preferable to divide the upper air outlet head 28 and the lower air outlet head 30 of the air-cooling strengthening device 16 in accordance with the number of rollers of the roller conveyor 26. In this case, the divided upper blower head 28 and lower blower head 30 may be moved up and down so that the distance from the glass plate 14 becomes constant in conjunction with the vertical movement of the corresponding roller. Thus, a glass plate 14 having a uniform strength on the entire surface can be obtained.

  By the way, in embodiment, although the straight rod-shaped roller 20-1-20-32 was illustrated as a roller of the roller conveyor 20, it is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, a curved surface curved in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction is formed on the glass plate 14 by using a roller conveyor having a curved roller 120 that is curved in a convex shape toward a vertically downward direction. Can do. Further, while the glass plate 14 is being conveyed by the curved roller, the curved surface curved in the conveying direction can be formed on the glass plate 14 by moving each curved roller of the roller conveyor up and down like wave propagation. As a result, a curved surface having a curvature in two directions is formed on the glass plate 14, and a glass plate 14 having a truncated cone shape and a barrel shape can be obtained. In FIG. 10, members that are the same as or similar to the structure shown in FIG. Therefore, the description thereof is omitted here. Further, since a mechanism for changing the curvature of the bending roller 120 is also known, its description is omitted here.

  In the embodiment, the glass plate 14 is first bent into a truncated cone shape by the straight rod-shaped rollers 20-1 to 20-32, and then in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the glass plate 14 on the downstream side. It is preferable to include a step of bending the glass plate 14 into a barrel shape using a curved roller.

  After the glass plate 14 is bent and formed into a substantially truncated cone shape by moving the rollers 20-1 to 20-32 up and down, the glass plate is moved up and down and tilted with the curved roller installed on the downstream side in the conveying direction. 14 can be bent into a barrel shape. Thus, there is an advantage that the glass plate 14 is less likely to be distorted by bending in one direction at a time.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Bending shaping | molding apparatus, 12 ... Manufacturing apparatus of a curved glass plate, 14 ... Glass plate, 16 ... Air-cooling strengthening apparatus, 18 ... Heating furnace, 20 ... Roller conveyor, 20-1-20-32 ... Roller, 22 ... Motion Controller, 24 ... Roller conveyor, 26 ... Roller conveyor, 28 ... Upper outlet head, 30 ... Lower outlet head, 34 ... Post, 36 ... Post, 38 ... Guide rail, 40 ... Elevator, 42 ... Guide block, 44 ... Bearing 46 ... Roller support, 48 ... Bearing, 49 ... Pin, 50 ... Servo motor, 52 ... Guide rail, 54 ... Lifting body, 56 ... Guide block, 58 ... Link, 60 ... Roller support, 62 ... Pin, 64 ... Pin, 66 ... Bearing, 68 ... Rack, 70 ... Pinion, 72 ... Servo motor, 74 ... Rack, 76 ... Pinion, 78 ... Servo motor, 120 ... Curved B La

Claims (10)

While the heated glass plate is transported by a roller conveyor composed of a plurality of transport rollers arranged in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction, each transport roller is moved up and down to a predetermined curvature having a curvature in the transport direction on the transport surface. A surface is formed, the glass plate is positioned on the curved surface, and the respective conveying rollers on the downstream side in the conveying direction are sequentially moved up and down to move the curved surface in the conveying direction in conjunction with the movement of the glass plate. In the bending method of the glass plate including the vertical motion forming step to move,
Simultaneously with the vertical motion forming step, each of the transport rollers is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane, a conical surface that is a part of a substantially truncated cone is formed on the curved surface, and each of the transport rollers on the downstream side in the transport direction is made horizontal. A method of bending a glass plate, comprising a step of inclining the conical surface in the transport direction in conjunction with the movement of the glass plate by sequentially inclining the glass plate. The tilting process includes:
The shape of the glass plate in a plan view is a substantially trapezoidal shape, and the upper and bottom sides of the glass plate are conveyed along the conveying direction, and the height of each conveying roller of the roller conveyor in contact with the vicinity of the upper side. The method for bending a glass sheet according to claim 1, wherein each conveying roller is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane so as to be lower than a height of each conveying roller in contact with the vicinity of the bottom side.   The conveyance roller which is the most descending among the conveyance rollers forming the conical surface is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane by half the cone angle of the cone including the conical surface. Bending method of glass plate.   The glass plate bending method according to claim 3, wherein the curved surface is formed such that a conical angle of the conical surface increases toward a downstream side of the conveying direction of the glass plate.   The conveying roller forming the conical surface has an inclination angle of the conveying roller that increases toward the upstream side and the downstream side in the conveying direction centering on the most descending conveying roller. A method for bending a glass sheet according to any one of the above.   The glass sheet bending method according to claim 1, wherein a curved roller that is curved in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction is used as the conveying roller.   The method includes a step of bending the glass plate into a barrel shape using a curved roller that is bent in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction as the transport roller after the glass plate is bent into a substantially truncated cone shape. The method for bending a glass plate according to any one of 1 to 5. A heating means for heating the glass plate to a temperature at which bending can be performed, a roller conveyor composed of a plurality of conveyance rollers arranged in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction, a vertical movement drive means for moving each conveyance roller up and down, and each conveyance A predetermined curved surface having a curvature in the conveying direction is formed by moving the roller up and down, the glass plate is positioned on the curved surface, and each conveying roller on the downstream side in the conveying direction is moved up and down sequentially. A glass plate bending apparatus including a control means for moving the curved surface in the transport direction in conjunction with the movement of the glass plate,
Inclining means for inclining each of the conveying rollers with respect to a horizontal plane, and the control means sequentially moves the conveying rollers up and down by the vertical movement driving means, and at the same time, causes each of the conveying rollers to be in the horizontal plane by the inclining means. The conical surface, which is a part of a substantially frustoconical shape, is formed on the curved surface, and the respective transport rollers on the downstream side in the transport direction are sequentially tilted with respect to the horizontal plane to interlock with the movement of the glass plate. And controlling the conical surface to move in the conveying direction.   The shape of the glass plate in a plan view is a substantially trapezoidal shape, and the upper side and the bottom side of the glass plate are conveyed along the conveying direction, and each of the conveying rollers of the roller conveyor in contact with the upper side is 9. The glass plate according to claim 8, wherein the height is set by the tilting unit that tilts each transport roller with respect to a horizontal plane so that the height is lower than the height of each transport roller in contact with the bottom portion. Bending device.   The glass sheet bending apparatus according to claim 8 or 9, wherein a curved roller curved in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction is used as the conveying roller.

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