Patent Application
20240025104
The present invention relates to a method and a device for forming a layered workpiece.
Conventionally, a layered workpiece forming device that forms a layered workpiece, which includes a workpiece body and a sheet material layered on the workpiece body, by using a first mold that suctions and holds the workpiece body has been known (see, for example, JP 7-24909 A).
In JP H7-24909 A, a clearance recess portion formed in a central portion of the workpiece body is closed by a shutter in order to prevent a sheet material from being pulled into the clearance recess portion and tom.
The degree of freedom of the layout of the workpiece body is limited when the shutter covering the clearance recess portion is provided. In this regard, there is also known what is provided with a sucking device that is positioned at the clearance recess portion formed in the central portion of the workpiece body and sucks the sheet material in a direction away from the workpiece body (see, for example, JP 2000-218688 A).
Regarding a layered workpiece forming device of JP 7-24909 A, when using a second mold having, on an inner surface, a pattern that can be transferred to a surface of a sheet material, when the sheet material is suctioned by the second mold to transfer the pattern to the sheet material, and then a first mold that suctions the workpiece body is overlapped with the second mold to attach the sheet material to the workpiece body, a fluid such as air may be ejected from the second mold to make the sheet material readily detach from the second mold.
In this case, unlike JP 7-24909 A, a sucking device that is positioned at a clearance recess portion in a central portion of the workpiece body and sucks the sheet material in a direction away from the workpiece body cannot be provided. Thus, in order to improve the degree of freedom of the layout of the workpiece body, an insert may be disposed in the clearance recess portion.
Furthermore, at a periphery of the workpiece body that does not affect the degree of freedom of the layout of the workpiece body, a shutter device may be provided to prevent the sheet material from attaching to a place, on the periphery of the workpiece body, where the sheet material is not to be attached.
However, when the shutter device is provided at the periphery of the workpiece body, there is a problem that since the sheet material is gripped by a clamp disposed on the outer side of the shutter device, a sheet material having a large size considering the size of the shutter device needs to be prepared, and thus the manufacturing cost of the layered workpiece cannot be suppressed.
Furthermore, the shutter device has a complicated structure, the shutter device needs to be installed at a plurality of places, the manufacturing cost of the mold cannot be suppressed, the maintenance of the shutter device requires labor, and maintainability is low.
In view of the above issue, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for forming a layered workpiece and a layered workpiece forming device that can suppress the manufacturing costs of the layered workpiece and the mold and improve maintainability.
[1] To achieve the above object, a method for forming a layered workpiece of the present invention is a method for forming a layered workpiece using a layered workpiece forming device (for example, a layered workpiece forming device 1 of an embodiment. The same applies hereinafter) including
According to the present invention, which is not provided with a shutter device, a hole is created in the sheet of a base material portion to which the sheet should not be bonded so that the first mold side and the second mold side on different sides of the sheet of a product inner plate portion have the same degree of vacuum, and this prevents the first mold side vacuum from causing the sheet to make contact with the non-bonded region of the workpiece body.
[2] In the present invention, it is preferable to form a hole in the non-bonded region of the sheet material after heating the sheet material. According to the present invention, a hole can be easily created in the sheet material.
[3] A layered workpiece forming device of the present invention includes
According to the present invention, without adding a complicated and high cost mechanism such as a conventional shutter, a layered workpiece forming device capable of preventing a sheet material from sticking to a non-bonded region of a workpiece body by creating a hole by a hole creating unit in a portion of the sheet material that is not layered can be provided.
[4] In the present invention, it is preferable that the hole creating unit includes a through-hole provided in the inner surface of the second mold in the non-bonded region, and a sucking device for creating hole (for example, a first sucking device 51 of an embodiment. The same applies hereinafter) that sucks the sheet material through the through-hole to create a hole in the sheet material in the non-bonded region.
According to this configuration, for example, as compared with a case where a hole is formed in a sheet material by a protrusion or the like provided on the first mold or the second mold, a hole can be easily and reliably created in the sheet material to prevent the sheet material from sticking to the workpiece body in the non-bonded region.
[5] In the present invention, it is preferable that the sucking device for creating hole is the sucking device for suctioning, and a hole is created in the sheet material in the non-bonded region by sucking the sheet material via the through-hole using the sucking device for suctioning.
According to this configuration, there is no need to provide a sucking device dedicated to the hole creating unit, and a hole can be created in the sheet material simultaneously with the transfer step, for example, using an existing sucking device for pattern transfer. Therefore, the size and cost of the layered workpiece forming device can be reduced, and at the same time, forming a hole simultaneously with the transfer step can simplify the manufacturing process.
[6] In the present invention, it may be configured that the second mold includes a recess portion opened toward the first mold, and an opening of the recess portion is covered with a plate in which a plurality of suction holes for suctioning the sheet material is drilled. According to the present invention, a hole can be created relatively easily in the sheet material that is firmly suctioned to the plate.
[7] In the present invention, it is preferable to form a hole after heating the sheet material. According to this configuration, a hole can be easily created in the softened sheet material.
[8] In the present invention, a separation portion that supports the heated sheet material so as the sheet material to be separated from the workpiece body in the non-bonded region may be provided. According to this configuration, the separation portion can prevent the sheet material from contacting the workpiece body in the non-bonded region, thereby preventing, before a hole is created in the sheet material, the sheet material from contacting the workpiece body.
Embodiments of a layered workpiece forming device and a method for forming a layered workpiece of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Referring to
The layered workpiece forming device 1 includes a plurality of clamps 2 that grips the periphery of the sheet material 44. The clamp 2 is movably supported by a support device (not illustrated) standing upward from the periphery of the first mold 20.
As illustrated in
Taking advantage of the porous structure of the first mold 20, a plurality of continuous pores or open pores that already exist in the first mold 20 having a porous structure can be used as the sucking holes 22. On the inner surface of the second mold 30, a pattern such as embossing or satin to be transferred to the surface of the sheet material 44 is formed.
The second mold 30 is provided with a through-hole 32 penetrating the second mold 30 in such a manner as to be opened to a place on the periphery of the workpiece body 42 when the second mold 30 is overlapped with the first mold 20 with the workpiece body 42 and the sheet material 44 interposed between the second mold 30 and the first mold 20. A plate 71 is provided in such a manner as to cover an opening of a recess portion 36 formed in the inner surface of the second mold 30, and the through-hole 32 of the present embodiment is a hole drilled in the plate 71. As illustrated in
The second mold 30 is provided with an ejection hole 34 penetrating the second mold 30 in such a manner as to be opened to places in the central portion of the workpiece body 42, which central portion is a portion of the workpiece body 42 not including the periphery of the workpiece body 42. Although only one ejection hole 34 is illustrated in
The through-hole 32 drilled in the plate 71 is connected to a first sucking device 51 for sucking the sheet material 44 via a first connection pipe 51a. In the present embodiment, the through-hole 32 and the first sucking device 51 constitute a hole creating unit. A second sucking device 52 for sucking the workpiece body 42 is connected to the sucking holes 22 via a second connection pipe 52a. The ejection holes 34 in the second mold 30 are connected via a third connection pipe 53a to a gas supplying-and-sucking device 53 for supplying a gas such as air.
A bypass path 53b is connected to the first connection pipe 51a and the third connection pipe 53a. A check valve 53c that blocks the flow of gas from the third connection pipe 53a to the first connection pipe 51a is provided on the bypass path 53b. A flow path switching valve 54 is provided at a connection between the third connection pipe 53a and the bypass path 53b.
The flow path switching valve 54 is configured to be switchable between two states, that is, an “ejection-allowed state” and a “sucking-allowed state”. The “ejection-allowed state” is a state in which the gas supplying-and-sucking device 53 is connected to the ejection holes 34 via the third connection pipe 53a, and the connection between the ejection holes 34 and the first sucking device 51 via the bypass path 53b is cut. The “sucking-allowed state” is a state in which the first sucking device 51 is connected to the ejection holes 34 via the third connection pipe 53a, the bypass path 53b, and the first connection pipe 51a, and the connection between the ejection holes 34 and the gas supplying-and-sucking device 53 is cut.
Furthermore, referring to
The layered workpiece forming device 1 includes a control unit 61 that controls the first sucking device 51, the second sucking device 52, the gas supplying-and-sucking device 53, and the flow path switching valve 54. The control unit 61 is an electronic control unit including a CPU, a memory, and the like, and controls the first sucking device 51, the second sucking device 52, the gas supplying-and-sucking device 53, and the flow path switching valve 54 by executing by using the CPU a control program stored in a storage unit such as a memory and transmitting an instruction signal.
As illustrated in
Next, a method for forming a layered workpiece using the layered workpiece forming device 1 will be described.
First, the first mold 20 and the second mold 30 are set in a separated state, and the workpiece body 42 is placed on the first mold 20. Then, the sheet material 44 gripped by the clamps 2 is heated by a heating device (not illustrated) and is then disposed between the workpiece body 42 and the second mold 30. At this time, as illustrated in
Then, the control unit 61 switches the flow path switching valve 54 to the “ejection-allowed state” (the state in which the gas supplying-and-sucking device 53 is connected to the ejection holes 34 via the third connection pipe 53a so that the gas supplying-and-sucking device 53 can perform sucking via the ejection holes 34), and thereby the sheet material 44 is sucked by the gas supplying-and-sucking device 53 via the ejection holes 34 to be attached to the inner surface of the second mold 30. The pattern formed on the inner surface of the second mold 30 can thereby be transferred to a surface of the sheet material 44 (transfer step).
In this transfer step, the sheet material 44 is sucked by the first sucking device 51 via the through-hole 32, and the through-hole 32 tears the sheet material 44 in the non-bonded region X (see
Next, in a state where an adhesive is applied to the workpiece body 42 or the sheet material 44, the sheet material 44 is pressed against the workpiece body 42 and is bonded by the sucking force of the second sucking device 52 (bonding step).
Here, the sheet material 44 is not bonded to the entire surface of the workpiece body 42 but is bonded only to a portion to be exposed when an automobile or the like is assembled, and a portion such as the periphery to be hidden by other components during assembly is left unbonded to prevent assembly failure. The unbonded portion is cut away and discarded, leaving only the bonded portion.
Then, in the bonding step, the control unit 61 switches the flow path switching valve 54 to the “ejection-allowed state” (the state in which the gas supplying-and-sucking device 53 is connected to the ejection holes 34 via the third connection pipe 53a, and the connection of the ejection holes 34 to the first sucking device 51 via the bypass path 53b is cut), so that the gas supplying-and-sucking device 53 supplies a gas between the sheet material 44 and the second mold 30 via the ejection holes 34 to separate the sheet material 44 from the second mold 30.
Since the unbonded portion located at the periphery of the workpiece body 42 has been sucked by the first sucking device 51 via the through-hole 32 to form a hole, the sheet material 44 is not sucked toward the workpiece body 42 in the non-bonded region X. Therefore, as illustrated in
Note that, in the present embodiment described above, the bypass path 53b for bypassing the first connection pipe 51a and the third connection pipe 53a is provided, and the flow path switching valve 54 is provided at the connection between the third connection pipe 53a and the bypass path 53b. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration, and may be configured, for example, without the flow path switching valve 54.
In the present embodiment, the layered workpiece forming device 1 that creates a hole in the sheet material 44 by sucking by the sucking device as the hole creating unit has been described, but the hole creating unit of the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, the hole creating unit may be configured such that a protrusion that breaks through the sheet material is provided in the non-bonded region of the first mold or the second mold, and a hole is created in the sheet material by the protrusion.
In the present embodiment, the layered workpiece forming device 1 including the first sucking device 51 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, the first sucking device 51 may be omitted, and the gas supplying-and-sucking device 53 may perform sucking through the through-hole 32 to create a hole in the non-bonded region X, which can reduce the size and cost of the layered workpiece forming device.
Furthermore, in the described present embodiment, in the transfer step, when transferring the pattern on the inner surface of the second mold 30 to the sheet material 44, a hole is simultaneously created in the non-bonded region X of the sheet material 44 by sucking by the first sucking device 51 through the through-hole 32. However, the step of creating a hole of the present invention is not limited to such a step. For example, a hole may be created before the transfer step, or a hole may be created in the non-bonded region X before the sheet material 44 sticks to the workpiece body 42 in the bonding step after the transfer step.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-190090 | Oct 2019 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2020/027403 | 7/14/2020 | WO |
