EP1018562A1 - Device and method for opening and closing automatically the cover of a quenching tank - Google Patents

Abstract

Thermal treatment chamber comprises furnace (2) having an opening and at least one quenching tank (10) with opening (11) connectable to a door (12). The openings are disposed such that by relative displacement of the furnace (2) and/or the quenching tank (10) the openings come face to face, thereby ensuring transfer of charge from the furnace towards the quenching tank or vice versa. The chamber includes locking and unlocking devices located partly on the furnace and partly on the door (12) and intended to provide on the one hand a locking position in which they cooperate to lock the furnace and the door and on the other hand a position in which the door and the furnace are locked together. Displacement of the door (12) from its opening position towards the closing position and or vice versa at the time of relative displacement of the furnace and the quenching tank (10). An Independent claim is given for a process of heat treatment of charge using the above installation.

Description

The invention relates to the general technical field of heat treatment of any charges, and in particular of charges formed of metal parts and intended to undergo a heat treatment in an oven, then to be treated, for example by cooling, in a quench tank containing a liquid bath.

The present invention relates to a thermal treatment installation a load to be treated comprising at least one oven having an opening, and at least one quenching tank also having an opening capable of being associated with a door, the oven and tray openings being arranged such that, by relative movement of the oven and / or the tray, their respective openings come substantially opposite one with respect to the other to transfer the load from the oven to the tank or Conversely.

The present invention also relates to a method of treatment thermal of a load using at least one treatment furnace having an opening, and at least one quench tank also having a opening capable of being associated with a door, said openings being arranged between them so that, by relative movement of the oven and / or the tray, their respective openings come substantially opposite one by to the other in order to transfer the load from the oven to the bac or vice versa.

Heat treatment plants of the kind mentioned above are already known, and for example from document EP-A-0 296 102.

Such installations include at least one oven having an opening directed downwards and at least one quenching tank having a directed opening upwards, so that the oven and the pan can be brought in position superimposed by relative movement of one relative to the other, so that the opening of the oven can come opposite the opening of the tank in view ensure the transfer of a load from the oven to the tank and / or vice versa.

It is also generally known to mount a door or a cover on the quenching tank in order to close the opening of the tank when the oven is not in line with the opening to protect the liquid contained in the bin of any external pollution. Conversely, the presence of a door also avoids any pollution of the external environment by the liquid Tray.

In the installations known to date, the doors of the quenching tanks are, conventionally, associated with a hydraulic control or pneumatic, including a cylinder and a control unit comprising a microprocessor for controlling opening or closing automatic said door. The control set is completed by a series of suitable sensors for supplying control signals displacement of the cylinder inducing the opening or closing of the door.

In known devices, the bin door moves in translation above the opening of the container, and parallel to the plane thereof, the door being associated with an O-ring seal intended to ensure complete sealing of the container vis-à-vis the outside in the closed position. A system of cams and of slides ensures end-of-travel compression of the O-ring seal to fully ensure its sealing function.

We also know heat treatment facilities comprising overhead doors also controlled by a series mechanical actuators, such as hydraulic cylinders or the like.

The devices known from the prior art, if they actually allow obtain some automation of the opening operation and closure of the quenching tank door, nevertheless suffer from certain disadvantages.

First, they turn out to be of relatively high manufacturing cost since they implement a relatively sophisticated technology, involving a large number of parts which, moreover, are of a relatively finished demanding. Second, the use of a series of actuators, of the jack type hydraulic, requires the presence of a control unit and various displacement management controls, which, in total, turns out form a relatively complex whole, source of breakdowns and notable malfunctions. The relative complexity of these orders also involve repair times and durations consequent, likely to block the entire processing chain thermal, which is obviously another drawback in terms of industrial. Finally, the devices known so far require machining a groove in the closing door to accommodate the O-ring seal designed to seal between the door and the quench tank. The operation machining obviously represents an additional cost for the heat treatment installation.

The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a remedy to all of the various drawbacks listed above and aims to propose a new installation and a new treatment process thermal design and particularly simple operation and proven.

Another object of the invention aims to propose a new installation and a new heat treatment process requiring only a contribution limited external energy source for its operation.

Another object of the invention aims to propose a new installation and a new heat treatment process using a system particularly simple and robust hooking / unhooking design.

Another object of the invention aims to propose a new installation and a new heat treatment process, the safety of functioning is strengthened.

• des moyens d'accrochage/décrochage disposés en partie sur le four et en partie sur la porte et destinés à occuper d'une part une position d'accrochage dans laquelle ils coopèrent pour accrocher ensemble le four et la porte, et d'autre part une position de décrochage dans laquelle le four et la porte sont décrochés l'une de l'autre, lesdits moyens étant prévus pour permettre, en position d'accrochage, le déplacement de la porte de sa position d'ouverture vers sa position de fermeture et/ou inversement lors du déplacement relatif du four et du bac de trempe.

The objects assigned to the invention are achieved using a heat treatment installation for a load to be treated comprising at least one oven having an opening, and at least one quenching tank also having an opening capable of being associated with a door, said openings being arranged so that, by relative movement of the furnace and / or the quenching tank, their respective openings come substantially and facing one another, in order to ensure the transfer of the charge from the oven to the quench tank or vice versa, characterized in that it comprises:

• hooking / unhooking means arranged partly on the oven and partly on the door and intended to occupy on the one hand a hooking position in which they cooperate to hang the oven and the door together, and on the other hand a stall position in which the oven and the door are detached from each other, said means being provided to allow, in the hanging position, the movement of the door from its open position to its closed position and / or vice versa during the relative movement of the oven and the quench tank.

• à assurer le déplacement relatif du four et du bac,
• et à utiliser l'énergie résultant de ce déplacement relatif pour assurer le déplacement de la porte.

The objects assigned to the invention are also achieved using a heat treatment process for a load using at least one treatment oven having a downward opening and at least one quenching tank having an opening upwardly capable of being associated with a door so that, by relative movement of the oven and / or the tray, their respective openings come substantially and facing one another, in order to ensure the transfer of the charge from the oven to the tank or vice versa, characterized in that it consists:

• to ensure the relative movement of the oven and the tank,
• and to use the energy resulting from this relative displacement to ensure the displacement of the door.

• la figure 1 montre, selon une vue partielle en coupe longitudinale transversale, une installation de traitement thermique conforme à l'invention dans laquelle la porte du bac est fermée et le four est situé hors du bac.
• la figure 2 montre, selon une vue en coupe partielle longitudinale, une installation de traitement thermique conforme à l'invention dans laquelle le four est au-dessus du bac dont la porte est ouverte.
• la figure 3 illustre, selon une vue de dessus, une installation de traitement thermique conforme à l'invention dont le bac et le four sont en position identique à celle montrée à la figure 1.
• la figure 4 montre, selon une vue de dessus, une installation de traitement thermique conforme à l'invention, et dont le bac et le four sont dans une position identique à celle illustrée à la figure 2.
• la figure 5 illustre, selon une vue en coupe transversale partielle, un détail de réalisation de la porte du bac.
• la figure 6 illustre, selon une vue en coupe partielle, un détail de réalisation des moyens d'accrochage/décrochage conforme à l'invention.

Other details and advantages of the invention will be described in detail in the light of the description and illustrative examples which follow below, given solely by way of nonlimiting examples in which:

• FIG. 1 shows, in a partial view in longitudinal transverse section, a thermal treatment installation according to the invention in which the door of the tank is closed and the oven is located outside the tank.
• Figure 2 shows, in a longitudinal partial sectional view, a thermal treatment installation according to the invention in which the oven is above the tray whose door is open.
• FIG. 3 illustrates, from a top view, a thermal treatment installation according to the invention, the tank and the oven are in the same position as that shown in FIG. 1.
• FIG. 4 shows, according to a top view, a thermal treatment installation according to the invention, and of which the tank and the oven are in a position identical to that illustrated in FIG. 2.
• Figure 5 illustrates, in a partial cross sectional view, a detail of the door of the tray.
• Figure 6 illustrates, in a partial sectional view, a detail of the attachment / detachment means according to the invention.

Figures 1 to 4 show a heat treatment installation 1 according to the invention. This installation comprises, in a conventional manner, at at least one oven 2, of the bell type, and having an opening 3 advantageously located at the bottom of the oven to allow the introduction, for example by vertical displacement, of a load 4, optionally supported by a support plate 5 and intended to undergo a heat treatment in the oven 2.

The load 4 can be formed by any set of parts, for example metal parts from a manufacturing process any industrialist to undergo a heat treatment, for example cleaning or whatever.

In a manner also known, the oven 2 is internally provided with a sealed enclosure 6 associated with heating means (not shown in figures), such as electrical resistance ramps, said oven being possibly closed by a closing piece (not shown in figures) during certain processing operations.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the lower part of the enclosure 6 may include a series of supports 8 intended to carry the plate 5, especially between the treatment operation (s), when the oven is open.

The heat treatment installation 1 also includes, conventionally, a set of means of loading and unloading (not shown in the figures) such as arms and / or robots manipulators, intended for gripping and then introducing or the extraction of the load 4 in or out of the oven 2.

In a manner also known, the heat treatment installation 1 according to the invention comprises a series of guide means and support, formed for example of rails or gantries, and whose function is to allow the support and the movement of the installation ovens.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4, the heat treatment installation 1 according to the invention also comprises a quenching tank 10 intended for contain a treatment liquid, such as water, salt, oil, or other, in which the load 4 is intended to be quenched. According to a preferred form of the invention, the quench tank 10 will contain a coolant in view of making a cooling tank.

As is particularly visible in Figures 1 and 2, the tank quench 10 is provided, at its upper part, with an opening 11 for ensure the introduction and extraction of the load 4 in and out of said tank quench 10.

The quench tank 10 can also be equipped with means for autonomous loading / unloading (not shown in the figures) allowing to introduce and extract the load 4. Alternatively, the quenching 10 can be loaded and unloaded from the means of loading / unloading the oven 2. In this case, these means are therefore common to quench tank 10 and oven 2.

In the following examples, the quench tank 10 and the oven 2 were shown, respectively with an opening 11 upwards, and a opening 3 downwards, so that, by relative movement of the oven 2 and / or the quench tank 10, the respective openings 3 and 11 come substantially facing each other (Figures 2 and 4) to ensure the transfer of the load 4 from the oven 2 to the quench tank 10 or vice versa. Nevertheless, it should be understood that for the purposes of the invention, such a provision openings 3 and 11 are only preferential, and that said openings 3, 11 can be arranged differently, respectively in the oven 2 and the quench tank 10, the main thing being that said openings 3, 11 can come opposite each other in order to ensure the transfer of the charge 4.

The quenching tank 10 also comprises, in association with opening 11, a door 12 movably mounted on the upper part of said tank quenching 10 so as to ensure the opening and closing of the opening 11.

According to the invention, the heat treatment installation 1 comprises hooking / unhooking means 15 (FIG. 6) partially arranged on the oven 2 and partly on door 12, said means being intended to occupy a share a hanging position in which they cooperate to hang together the oven 2 and the door 12 and on the other hand, a stall position in which the oven 2 and the door 12 are detached from each other, said means being provided to allow, in the hanging position, the movement of door 12 from its open position to its position closing and / or vice versa, during the relative movement of the oven 2 and the tank quench 10.

The presence of hooking / unhooking means 15 of this type therefore allows you to take advantage of the relative movement of the oven 2 relative to the quench tank 10 to ensure the movement of the door 12 and thus produce, in the direction of relative movement of the oven 2 and the tank quenching 10, the opening or closing of said door 12. Such provision therefore has the decisive advantage of not requiring no recourse to an external source of energy, nor to any device of specific order.

According to another important characteristic of the invention, the means hooking / unhooking 15 are self-triggering means to automatic locking and unlocking, therefore not requiring no external human or mechanical intervention, apart from simple relative movement of the oven 2 and the quench tank 10. Such an arrangement obviously gives complete independence to the system.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, and as this is shown for example in Figure 6, the attachment / detachment means 15 include a male member 16 and a female member 17 arranged respectively on the oven 2 and on the door 12. Obviously, as alternatively, the male member 16 can be arranged and secured to the door 12 and the female member 17 arranged and integral with the furnace 2, without however leaving the part of the invention.

Thus, according to a preferred version of the invention as illustrated in Figures 1 to 6, the male member 16 is formed by a hooking finger, preferably metallic, integral, for example by welding or bolting, of the outer and lower periphery of the oven 2. The female member 17 is, preferably, formed by a receiving well mounted on a handle 14 secured to the upper face of the door 12.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the hooking finger 16 is presented under the shape of a substantially square piece comprising at least one and preferably two reception seats 18 provided on one or the sides making recesses. The female member 17 forming the receiving well is formed by two bars 19 welded parallel and at a distance one to the other on the handle 14 so as to support respectively two pins locking 20 opposed to each other. Each locking pin 20 internally has a recess in which an element is disposed elastic 21 intended to elastically support a ball 22 intended to come engage the receiving seat 18 to lock the finger in position attachment 16 in the receiving well.

As shown in Figure 5, the door 12 is movably mounted at short distance above the upper surface 23 of the quench tank 10 incorporating the opening 11. Advantageously, the door 12 is mounted at sliding along a plane parallel to the plane of extension of the opening 11 and supported by pads 24, for example ball bearings, moving on slides 25 acting as a raceway.

As shown in Figure 5, the door 12 is intended to achieve the complete tightness of the quench tank 10 and for this purpose comprises a seal sealing 26 made of metallic material from a profiled sheet. The seal 26 is mounted integral with the peripheral part of the door 12, by any suitable means, for example by welding, screwing or other, and is mounted flush with the surface level upper 23 so as to be able to ensure the scraping of said surface during closing the door 12. To this end, the seal 26 can have a folded end edge 27. Such an arrangement allows, when the oven 2 leaves the quench tank 10, to avoid the appearance of flames likely to result from the combustion of quench liquid residue present on the upper surface 23. The safety aspect of the installation of heat treatment according to the invention is thus reinforced.

The quenching tank 10 also includes at least one stop piece 30 fixedly mounted on the upper surface 23 at a position appropriate so that an extreme edge 31 of the door 12 comes to bear against said abutment piece 30 in the fully closed position of the opening 11, which allows the unlocking / unhooking means 15 to be unlocked during relative displacement away from the oven 2 relative to the tank quenching 10. As shown in FIG. 3, the treatment installation 1 advantageously comprises two abutment pieces 30.

It is understood that the locking pins 20 are tared with so that the hooking finger 16 can engage in the receiving seat 17 during the relative movement of the oven and the quenching tank and is maintained in this engagement position to move the door 12 while authorizing the release of this finger 16 from the seat 17 when the oven moves away of the quenching tank and the door abuts against the stop pieces 30.

In the exemplary embodiments shown in Figures 1 to 6, the oven 2 is mobile, while the quench tank 10 is fixed. Obviously, this is not than a preferred embodiment, the heat treatment installation 1 according to the invention which may include a mobile quench tank 10 and a stationary oven 2, or a combination of a mobile oven 2 with a quench 10 also mobile.

The operation of a compliant heat treatment installation to the invention is as follows.

Advantageously, the oven 2 comprising the charge 4 to transfer to the quench tank 10 is mobile and is directed, from the position shown in Figures 1 and 3, by appropriate means of displacement (not shown in the figures) in direction F towards said tank quench 10. Obviously, beforehand, the oven 2 has been correctly aligned with the quench tank 10 so that, at the end of the displacement according to the arrow F, the openings 3 and 11 come opposite one another such that is shown in Figures 2 and 4.

During the movement of oven 2 in direction F, the finger attachment 16 gradually engages in the receiving seat 17 (Figure 6) until reaching the locking position allowing the attachment of the door 12 with the oven 2 by means latching / unhooking 15. From this latching position, the door 12 being initially closed, any subsequent movement of the furnace 2 according to direction F will cause the progressive opening of door 12 by sliding of the door 12 and displacement of the pads 24 in the slides 25 until the openings 3 and 11 are fully aligned. In this position final, door 12 is fully open as shown in Figures 2 and 4, the load 4 can then be transferred to the tank quench 10.

When the actual processing operation is completed, the charge 4 is extracted from the quench tank 10 and reintroduced into the oven 2. By thereafter, the oven 2 is moved in a direction opposite to the direction F, this which causes the closure of door 12, since the latter is always made integral with the movement of the furnace 2 by means hooking / unhooking 15 which are always locked. When the door 12 reaches the fully closed position shown in FIG. 5 in particular, the extreme edge 31 abuts against the abutment pieces 30, which causes the unlocking / unhooking means to be unlocked, finger 16 being extracted from the receiving well 17 by the subsequent movement of the furnace 2. During this movement towards the closed position of the door 12, the metal seal 26 scrapes the surface upper 23 of the quenching tank 10 in the vicinity of the opening 11, which prevents possible combustion of quenching liquid residues present on said upper surface 23.

The process for heat treatment of a charge in accordance with the invention uses at least one treatment oven having an opening and at least one quenching tank also having an opening capable of to be associated with a door, said openings being arranged relatively to each other so that by relative movement of the oven and / or the quenching, said openings respectively come opposite one by relation to the other with a view to ensuring the transport of the load of the oven to the quench tank or vice versa.

According to the invention, the method consists in ensuring the relative displacement of the oven and bin and to use the energy resulting from this relative displacement for move door 12.

As previously described, the treatment method according to the invention advantageously consists in ensuring the moving the oven towards or away from the quench tank 12 so that the door 12 is actuated or engaged by the oven 2, in this case by the hooking finger 16, then moved during the subsequent movement from the oven 2.

The process then consists in ensuring the opening or closing of the door 12 of oven 2, when moving oven 2, respectively direction, and away from the quench tank 10.

Advantageously, when the door 12 is closed, its displacement for scraping the upper surface 23 comprising the opening 11 by means of a metal seal 26 integral from said door 12.

The installation and the heat treatment process in accordance with the invention therefore has a design and an operation particularly simple, since it does not use any device particular training and control of the opening / closing of the door, only the amount of movement resulting from the relative movement of the oven 2 and quenching tank 10 being used to move the the door 12. Furthermore, the attachment / detachment means 15 put in are particularly robust and simple to make and assemble, and do not require the addition of no external energy source. Incidentally, the safety aspect of the installation is reinforced by reducing the possible risks of combustion resulting from projections of the quenching by cleaning and scraping the upper surface 23 of the quench 12.

Claims (10)

Installation for heat treatment of a load (4) to be treated comprising at least one oven (2) having an opening (3), and at least one quenching tank (10) also having an opening (11) capable of being associated to a door (12), said openings (3, 11) being arranged such that, by relative movement of the oven (2) and / or the quenching tank (10), their respective openings (3, 11) come substantially facing each other, in order to ensure the transfer of the load (4) from the oven (2) to the quench tank (10) or vice versa, characterized in that it comprises: hooking / unhooking means (15) arranged partly on the oven (2) and partly on the door (12) and intended to occupy on the one hand a hooking position in which they cooperate to hang the oven together (2) and the door (12), and on the other hand a stall position in which the oven (2) and the door (12) are detached from each other, said means being provided to allow, in hooking position, the movement of the door (12) from its open position to its closed position and / or vice versa during the relative movement of the oven (2) and the quenching tank (10). Heat treatment installation according to claim 1 characterized in that the hooking / unhooking means (15) are self-triggering means with automatic locking and unlocking. Heat treatment installation according to one of claims 1 or 2 characterized in that the hooking / unhooking means (15) comprise a male member (16) and a female member (17) arranged respectively on the oven (2) and on the door (12) or vice versa. Heat treatment installation according to claim 3 characterized in that the male member (16) is formed by a finger attachment to the oven (2) and the female member (17) by a well integral reception of the door (12). Heat treatment installation according to claim 4 characterized in that the catching finger (16) comprises at least one reception seat (18) formed at its periphery, and the reception well (17) comprises at least one locking lug (20) mounted elastically mobile and intended to come and engage the reception seat (18) to lock in position the hooking finger (16) in the receiving well (17). Heat treatment installation according to one of claims 1 to 5 characterized in that the door (12) has a seal metallic (26) mounted in flush position with the upper surface of the quenching tank (10) to ensure the scraping of said surface during the door closing (12). Method of heat treatment of a load using at least one treatment oven having an opening and at least one quenching tank having an opening capable of being associated with a door, said openings being arranged so that, by relative movement of the oven and / or the quench tank, their respective openings come substantially opposite one with respect to the other, in order to ensure the transfer of the load from the oven to the quench tank
or vice versa, characterized in that it consists: ensuring the relative movement of the oven and the quenching tank, and to use the energy resulting from this relative displacement to ensure the displacement of the door. Method according to claim 7, characterized in that it consists of move the oven towards or away from the quenching so that the door of the quenching tank is actuated by the oven then moved during the subsequent movement of the oven. Method according to claim 8 characterized in that it consists of ensure the opening or closing of the oven door when moving from the oven, respectively towards or away from the quench tank. Method according to one of Claims 7 to 9, characterized in that that it consists, when closing the door, in ensuring the scraping of the surface of the quenching tank including the opening by a metal seal secured to the door.

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