JPH056735A - Glass tube heating/conveying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To convey horizontally a straight shape glass tube having air exhaust pipes in its normal posture without damaging the air exhaust pipes while heating it efficiently in a heating furnace. CONSTITUTION:A straight shape glass tube having air exhaust pipes held horizontally in a heating furnace 4 is placed on a perpendicularly crossing rail 5, and is conveyed horizontally while rolling by means of a conveying/driving mechanism 10, and is heated by means of a radiant burner 6 arranged above of it. As for the conveying/ driving mechanism 10, a pair of the same structure are arranged in both edge parts of a glass conveying passage on the rail 5 so as to be movable in the direction capable of approaching to/separating from each other, and they are provided with a pair of parallel endless inside/outside chain conveyors 9a and 9b, and plural number of pin shape push-pressing members 7 and regulating plates 8 are arranged respectively/ protrusively at a regular interval in one united body. The push-pressing members 7 move the glass tube 1 horizontally while rolling it on the rail 5 by push-pressing both edge parts of the glass tube 1 in the rail direction. The regulating plates 8 are situated in the tip vicinities of the air exhaust pipes 2 on both edges of the glass tube 1 on the rail 5 so as to be opposed to each other, and move in the same direction at the same speed as the glass tube 1, so that positional dislocation of the glass tube 1 can be prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heating and conveying device for a glass tube with an exhaust tube such as a fluorescent lamp, and more specifically, a furnace for a straight tube type glass tube in which an exhaust tube is coaxially projected at a sealing end. The present invention relates to a glass tube heating and conveying device for horizontally feeding the glass tube to heat it to a desired temperature.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A glass tube preheating step provided between a sealing step and an exhausting step of manufacturing a fluorescent lamp requires a glass tube sent from the sealing step in a heating furnace and is required in a subsequent exhausting step 800. Heat to near ℃. As a manufacturing method for performing each of these steps with high quality and high productivity, there is a manufacturing method in which a straight glass tube is horizontally held and conveyed. As a heating and conveying device in the glass tube preheating step of this manufacturing method, the glass tube is horizontally fed into the heating furnace by a chain conveyor that circulates inside and outside the heating furnace, and is arranged below the glass tube conveyance path in the heating furnace. A device for heating a glass tube with an open flame of a pipe burner is known.

[0003]

However, in the above heating and conveying apparatus, the efficiency of heating the glass tube by the direct burner of the pipe burner is poor, and the wasteful amount of heat released to the outside of the heating furnace is large. There is a problem that it is difficult to efficiently heat the tube to a predetermined temperature, and the manufacturing cost increases due to increased fuel consumption. Further, when the type of glass tube is changed to a type having a different total length, it is necessary to re-install the chain conveyor so as to fit the total length of the new type of glass tube, but this work is laborious and troublesome. There is also a problem that it takes time to change the glass tube type once.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a straight glass tube with an exhaust pipe is always conveyed horizontally in a good condition in a heating furnace to efficiently heat the glass tube in the heating furnace. In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide a heating / conveying device that can change the type of glass tube in a short time.

[0005]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an apparatus for horizontally feeding a straight glass tube having an exhaust pipe projecting coaxially from a sealing end into a heating furnace and heating the glass tube in the heating furnace. A glass tube is placed orthogonally on a horizontally arranged fixed rail, and this glass tube is rolled and moved in the rail direction by the next transport drive mechanism, while heating with a radiant burner placed above it. , To achieve the above purpose. The transport drive mechanism is a pressing member that pushes the glass tube on the rail in the rail direction to roll on the rail, and an axial direction of the glass tube facing the vicinity of the exhaust pipe tip of the glass tube moving on the rail. Having a regulating plate that regulates positional displacement integrally,
A chain conveyor that moves the regulation plate in the same direction at the same speed as the glass tube is provided, and the transport drive mechanism is housed and arranged in the heating furnace.

[0006] A pair of such transport driving mechanisms are arranged at both ends of the glass tube transport path on the rail so as to be movable toward and away from each other, and the distance between the pair is adjusted according to the entire length of the glass tube on the rail. It is desirable to make it easy to switch the glass tube type.

[0007]

[Function] When a transport driving mechanism for directly transporting the glass tube is housed in the heating furnace and the glass tube horizontally fed in the heating furnace is heated from above by a radiant burner, the inside of the heating furnace is exposed to the outside. The amount of wasted heat is reduced, it becomes easier to keep the temperature inside the heating furnace at a high temperature, and the heating efficiency of the glass tube is further improved. Further, the type switching of the glass tube is executed in a short time by lateral movement of the entire transport drive mechanism in the heating chamber. Furthermore, when the transport drive mechanism is placed in the heating furnace, the transport drive mechanism is heated to a high temperature, which causes a partial dimensional deviation in the chain conveyor, and the horizontal feeding of the glass tube on the rail is accurate. However, the restriction plate of the transport drive mechanism moves together with the glass tube to prevent displacement of the glass tube during transportation via the exhaust tube of the glass tube, ensuring accurate horizontal alignment of the glass tube. Allows feeding. In this case, the tip of the exhaust tube of the glass tube,
There is no need to worry that the exhaust pipe will be damaged because it will only lightly hit the regulation plate that is moving in unison with the glass pipe.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The glass tube heating and conveying device shown in the drawing is used in the glass tube preheating step between the sealing step and the exhausting step of the fluorescent lamp manufacturing, and is a straight tube held horizontally in the heating furnace (preheating furnace) (4). The shaped glass tube (1) is horizontally conveyed in an orthogonal direction, and heated by a radiant burner (6) to near 800 ° C.
The glass pipe (1) has the exhaust pipes (2) ... projecting coaxially from both sealed ends, and two lead wires (3) are led out from both ends along the exhaust pipes (2). There is. The lead wires () ... At both ends of the glass tube (1) are laterally bent from the end of the glass tube (1) in preparation for electrode energization (disassembly) in a later evacuation process. In the heating furnace (4), a horizontal rail (5), a transport drive mechanism (10) including a chain conveyor (9) for moving the glass tube (1) on the rail (5) in the rail direction, The radiant burner (6) arranged in parallel above the rail (5) is accommodated.

The rail (5) is composed of a pair arranged in parallel, and a plurality of glass tubes (1) are placed on each of them at equal intervals so as to be orthogonal to each other, and are conveyed while rolling in the rail direction. The pair of rails (5) ... Are arranged so as to be able to approach and separate from each other, for example, one is a reference rail supported by the fixed block (11) and the other is movable so as to be able to approach and separate in the direction of the fixed block (11). It is a moving rail supported by a block (12).

The transport drive mechanism (10) is, for example, a pair of identical structures supported by fixed blocks (11) and movable blocks (12) at both ends of the glass tube transport path on the rails (5) ... It is arranged so that it can move in the approaching and separating directions. The first transport drive mechanism (10 supported by the fixed block (11)
a) comprises a pair of parallel endless inner chain conveyors (9a) and outer chain conveyors (9b). A plurality of pin-shaped pressing members (7) are integrally projected on the inner chain conveyor (9a) at equal intervals, and a plurality of regulating plates (8) are integrally formed on the outer chain conveyor (9b) at equal intervals. It is projected. Similarly, the second transport drive mechanism (10b) supported by the movable block (12) is an inner chain conveyor (9c).
And an outer chain conveyor (9d), the inner chain conveyor (9c) is provided with pressing members (7), and the outer chain conveyor (9d) is provided with restriction plates (8).

A pair of rails (5) ... Supports the glass tube (1) carried into the heating furnace (4) at two positions at a predetermined distance from both ends. The chain conveyors (9a) to (9d) of the pair of transport drive mechanisms (10a) and (10b) simultaneously drive in the same direction at the same speed. A pair of inner chain conveyors (9a) (9c)
Of the glass tube (1) and the rails (5) and (5) are pressed in the rail direction by the pressing members (7) of the glass tube (1). To move in parallel. The regulation plates (8) of the pair of outer chain conveyors (9b) (9d) are glass tubes (1) on the rail (5).
At the positions facing the vicinity of the tips of the exhaust pipes (2) ... The distance between the pair of control plates (8) (8) facing each other in the vicinity of the tip of the exhaust pipe (2) of one glass pipe (1) is constant, and the glass is provided on the rail (5) for the reason described below. When the pipe (1) is about to be displaced, the tip of the exhaust pipe (2) in the displacement direction hits the corresponding regulation plate (8) to minimize the axial displacement and inclination of the glass pipe (1). To be prevented.

When the glass tube (1) is horizontally fed into the heating furnace (4) as described above and heated by the radiant burner (6) from above, the transfer drive mechanism (10) is housed in the heating furnace (4). Therefore, the wasteful amount of heat released from the heating furnace (4) to the outside is small, the internal temperature of the heating furnace (4) can be kept high, and the glass tube (1) can be heated with high efficiency. it can. Further, when the type of glass tube (1) carried into the heating furnace (4) is changed to one having a different total length, as shown by an arrow in FIG. 1, a movable block (corresponding to a new type of glass tube) is provided. 12) is moved toward or away from the fixed block (11) to move the pair of rails (5)
The interval between (5) and the transport drive mechanism (10a) (10b) is adjusted. Such an interval adjustment can be performed easily and in a short time by operating a handle (not shown) or the like without performing a troublesome operation such as changing the chain conveyor.

When the glass tube is heated, the inside of the heating furnace (4) is 800
When the temperature rises to around ℃ and the transport drive mechanism (10) is also heated to a high temperature, the chain conveyor (9) may abnormally expand and malfunction due to dimensional deviation as shown in FIG. . FIG. 4 shows a state in which when the inner chain conveyor (9a) on the fixed block (11) side is heated to a high temperature, it expands and partly rises, and the pressing member (7) above it tilts forward. . In this way, some pressing members (7)
When is tilted forward, the glass tube (1) pressed by the pressing member (7) moves the rail (5) as shown by the chain line in FIG.
The sheet will be conveyed while being skewed due to the positional deviation above. If the glass tube (1) is continuously conveyed in such a bad posture, the inclination of the glass tube (1) may increase and the glass tube (1) may drop from the rail (5). Therefore, the exhaust pipe (2) of the glass pipe (1) ... A pair of regulating plates (8) near the tip.
.. is arranged, the tip of the exhaust pipe (2) is restricted by the regulating plate (8) when the glass pipe (1) is slightly displaced.
The glass tube (1) is horizontally fed in a normal posture substantially orthogonal to the rail (5) by preventing the positional displacement from occurring to the minimum.

The inventor of the present invention replaces the movable regulating plate (8) for preventing the displacement of the glass tube (1) with a long strip plate at the position where the regulating plate (8) passes. -Shaped guide plate (not shown) is fixed, and when the glass tube (1) is displaced on the rail (5), the tip of the exhaust pipe (2) contacts the guide plate so that the glass tube ( A prototype for preventing the positional displacement of 1) was manufactured. However, although the transport drive mechanism is simplified in this way, the tip of the exhaust pipe (2) of the glass pipe (1) that is transported with a positional shift moves by rubbing the guide plate, so during this movement. There was a case where stress was applied to the root portion of the exhaust pipe (2) and the exhaust pipe (2) was broken from the root portion. Therefore, in order to prevent the displacement of the glass tube with the exhaust pipe (1), the restriction plates (8) ... Which move integrally with the glass tube (1) are practically effective.

The present inventor has also tried to apply a position deviation preventing plate to both end faces of the glass tube (1). However, this attempt is difficult to carry out because the lead wires (3) ... Which extend laterally from both ends of the glass tube (1) and rotate together with the glass tube (1) are an obstacle, and the glass tube (1 When a regulation plate is inserted between both ends of the glass tube (3) and the lead wires (3), the regulation plate interferes with normal horizontal transportation of the glass tube (1).

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be applied to, for example, a heating and conveying apparatus for a straight tube type glass tube having an exhaust tube only at one end. In this case, by transporting the glass tube on the rail so that the end on the exhaust pipe side is offset to the side where the restriction plate is present, the tip of the exhaust pipe will always contact the corresponding restriction plate in a normal state. Glass tube transfer can be performed.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, a transport drive mechanism for directly transporting a glass tube is housed in a heating furnace, and a glass tube which is horizontally fed by rolling on a rail in the heating furnace is installed above the glass tube. Since it is heated by a radiant burner from above, it is easy to keep the temperature inside the heating furnace at a high temperature, the heating efficiency of the glass tube can be further improved, fuel consumption is reduced, glass tube manufacturing cost is low. Can be realized. Further, the switching of the product types having different overall lengths of glass tubes can be easily performed in a short time by the lateral movement of the entire transport drive mechanism in the heating chamber, and the workability of the glass tube product type switching is significantly improved. Further, since the regulation plate of the transport drive mechanism moves integrally with the glass tube, the displacement of the glass tube on the rail during transportation is reliably prevented by the regulation plate, and the exhaust pipe is prevented from being damaged. Therefore, the glass tube can be always conveyed in a normal posture, and a highly reliable glass tube heating and conveying device can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing an outline of a heating and conveying device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a partial plan view of the device of FIG.

3 is a partial front view of the device of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a portion of the chain conveyor when the apparatus of FIG. 2 malfunctions.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 glass tube 2 exhaust pipe 4 heating furnace 5 rails 6 Radiant burner 7 Pressing member 8 regulation plate 9 Chain conveyor 10 Transport drive mechanism

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A straight glass tube having an exhaust pipe projecting coaxially from a sealing end is placed orthogonally on a horizontal rail fixedly arranged in a heating furnace, and the glass tube is rolled in the rail direction. A device for heating with a radiant burner arranged above it while moving it dynamically, and a pressing member that pushes the glass tube on the rail in the rail direction and rolls it on the rail, and an exhaust pipe for the glass tube on the rail. A transport drive mechanism including a chain conveyor that integrally faces the vicinity of the tip and regulates the positional displacement of the glass tube in the axial direction, and moves the regulation plate in the same direction at the same speed as the glass tube. The glass tube heating / conveying apparatus is characterized in that the glass tube is housed and arranged in the heating furnace. 2. The glass tube heating / conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a pair of the conveying driving mechanisms are arranged at both ends of the glass tube conveying path on the rail so as to be movable toward and away from each other.