The present invention relates to a mold including an internal refrigerant passage and a method of manufacturing the mold.
As a technique of molding a skeleton component of a vehicle, a hot stamping method is known as one of the hot press methods. This hot stamping method is a method of loading a metal plate member heated to a high temperature into a hot press molding apparatus and performing the press molding and hardening of this metal plate member. A conventional hot press molding apparatus which can be used to perform this kind of hot stamping method is described in, for example, patent literature 1.
The conventional hot press molding apparatus disclosed in patent literature 1 employs an arrangement of flowing a refrigerant in a refrigerant passage formed in a mold to maintain the temperature of the mold at a low temperature. The refrigerant passage is formed by using a hole formed in the mold by machining.
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2018-12113
The hole formed in the mold by machining is formed to linearly extend. For this reason, if the shape of a work has a height difference or a curved surface is included in a work to complicate a molding face, it is difficult to keep an interval between the refrigerant passage and the molding face constant. In this case, a portion with a relatively high temperature and a portion with a relatively low temperature are formed in the molding face. A molded product may not be rapidly cooled uniformly at the time of molding (the high-temperature portion is left in the molded product). One molding operation is performed until the temperature of the molded product reaches a predetermined low temperature. Accordingly, if the high-temperature portion is left in the molded product at the time of molding, the operation cannot be shifted to the next step until this high-temperature portion is cooled. For this reason, the production efficiency lowers. This problem occurs in all molds if such a mold has the refrigerant passage.
The present invention has an object to provide a mold that allows uniform cooling of a molded product and a method of manufacturing the mold.
In order to achieve the above object, a mold according to the present invention is a mold comprising a mold main body including a molding face, a support base including a mounting surface which contacts a back face of the mold main body, the back face located on an opposite side to the molding face, the support base being mounted with the mold main body, and a refrigerant passage through which a refrigerant for cooling the mold main body and the support base flows, wherein the refrigerant passage includes a groove open to at least one surface of the mounting surface of the support base and the back face of the mold main body and extending along the one surface.
A mold according to the present invention comprises a mold member, a molding face formed on a surface of the mold member, and a refrigerant passage formed inside the mold member such that the refrigerant passage extends along the molding face apart from the molding surface at a predetermined distance, wherein the mold member is formed such that a region including an entire range of the refrigerant passage from the molding face is made of a single material.
A method of manufacturing a mold according to the present invention comprises a mold main body forming step of forming a metal main body including a molding face, a support base forming step of forming a support base including a mounting surface which contacts a back face of the mold main body, the back face located on an opposite side to the molding face, a groove forming step of forming a groove open to at least one surface of the mounting surface of the support base and the back face of the mold main body and extending along the one surface, and a mounting step of mounting the mold main body on the support base such that the back face of the mold main body overlaps the mounting surface of the support base.
According to the present invention, there can be provided a mold that allows substantially uniform cooling of a molded product and a method of manufacturing the mold.
A mold and a method of manufacturing the same according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to
A hot press mold 1 shown in
The lower mold 3 and the upper mold 4 are respectively supported by mold holders 5 and 6 of a molding apparatus (not shown). The molding apparatus is arranged such that the upper mold 4 can be brought into contact with or separated from the lower mold 3. In the following description, the directions for describing the arrangement of the hot press mold 1 will be described such that for the descriptive convenience the front side of the drawing surface of
The lower mold 3 includes a support base 11 mounted on the mold holder 5 and a mold main body 12 mounted on the support base 11. The upper mold 4 includes a support base 13 mounted on the mold holder 6 and a mold main body 14 mounted on the support base 13. The lower mold 3 and the upper mold 4 have different directions in which they contact the metal plate member 2 and different shapes in which they contact the metal plate member 2, but they are formed to have the same structure. For this reason, in the following description, only the arrangement of the lower mold 3 will be described, and the description of the upper mold 4 will be appropriately omitted.
As shown in
A groove 16 is formed in the mounting surface 15. The groove 16 is open to the mounting surface 15 and extends in the right-and-left direction and the front-and-rear direction along the mounting surface 15 so that the sectional area of the groove 16 is constant, as shown in
One end of the groove 16 located on the front left side of the support base 11 is connected to a first passage hole 21 formed in the front end portion of the support base 11, as indicated by the long and two short dashed line in
The first passage hole 21 is open to one end 23 located on the front left side of the groove 16 and a right side surface 24 (see
Mounting seats 27 are formed on the two end portions in the right-and-left direction of the front end portion of the support base 11 and the two end portions in the right-and-left direction of the rear end portion of the support base 11, respectively. These mounting seats 27 are used to fix the mold main body 12 on the support base 11 and are formed at positions lower than the mounting surface 15. Through holes 29 for receiving fixing bolts 28 (see
As shown in
The back face 12b, which is the back face of the mold main body 12, except the columnar bodies 33 is formed to follow the molding face 12a, as shown in
A method of manufacturing the hot press mold 1 arranged as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in
The manufacture of the hot press mold 1 is performed by mold main body forming step S1, support base forming step S2, groove forming step S3, and mounting step S4, as shown in
The order of performing mold main body forming step S1 and support base forming step S2 can be arbitrarily changed to increase the manufacturing efficiency. That is, as shown in
In this embodiment, when performing second processing step S1B of mold main body forming step S1, second processing step S1B is performed after mounting step S4 (to be described later) in order to stabilize the support of the mold main body 12.
In first processing step S1A of mold main body forming step S1, first, as shown in
In support base forming step S2, first, as shown in
In groove forming step S3, the groove 16 is formed to be connected to the mounting surface 15.
The base member 41 of the mold main body 12 on which the back face 12b is formed and the support base 11 in which the mounting surface 15 and the groove 16 are formed are assembled in mounting step S4.
As shown in
By performing mounting step S4, the back face 12b of the mold main body 12 is brought into tight contact with the mounting surface 15 of the support base 11. For this reason, the opening portion of the groove 16 of the support base 11 is closed by the mold main body 12. As shown in
After mounting step S4, second processing step S1B is performed. In second processing step S1B, as shown in
In the hot press mold thus manufactured, the refrigerant is supplied to one passage hole of the first passage hole 21 and the second passage hole 22 and discharged from the other passage hole. The refrigerant flows through the refrigerant passage 43 to cool the support base 11 and the mold main body 12. In this embodiment, since the mold main body 12 serves as the lid of the refrigerant passage 43 made of the groove 16, efficient cooling can be performed. Since the thickness of the mold main body 12 is formed to be constant, an interval between the molding face 12a and the refrigerant passage 43 can be kept substantially constant. There can be provided a hot press mold and a method of manufacturing the same in which the molded product (not shown) molded by the molding face 12a can be cooled substantially uniformly.
The mold main body 12 according to this embodiment can be mounted on the support base 11 by the fixing bolts 28. As compared with a case in which fixing of the mold main body 12 to the support base 11 is performed by, for example, soldering, the work can be easily performed, thereby quickly manufacturing the lower mold 3 and the upper mold 4.
Mold main body forming step S1 in this embodiment is formed by first processing step S1A of forming the lower surface 41a of the base member 41 serving as the mold main body 12 into a predetermined shape and second processing step S1B of forming the molding face 12a on the base member 41 in a state in which the base member 41 of the mold main body 12 is supported on the support base 11 formed in support base forming step S2. For this reason, the molding face 12a can be formed in a state in which the mold main body 12 is firmly supported by the support base 11. In addition, since the molding face 12a can be formed in a state in which the mold main body 12 is positioned to the final position with respect to the support base 11, the molding face 12a can be formed with high precision.
In the hot press mold according to the above embodiment, a seal can be provided in a mating portion between a mounting surface 15 of a support base 11 and a back face 12b of a mold main body 12. This sealing can be performed using a liquid gasket, a brazing material, or an O-ring. If sealing is performed using the liquid gasket, the liquid gasket is applied to the surface except a groove 16 of the mounting surface 15 and mounting seats 27.
When sealing is performed using a brazing material, sealing is performed on the surface except the groove 16 of the mounting surface 15 and the mounting seats 27.
When sealing is performed using an O-ring, sealing can be performed as shown in
The sealing groove 51 is formed to surround the formation range of the refrigerant groove 16 (surround a refrigerant passage 43). The O-ring 52 is arranged to be slightly elastically deformed while the O-ring 52 is clamped by the sealing groove 51 and the back face 12b of the mold main body 12 in a state in which the mold main body 12 is fixed on the support base 11 by fixing bolts 28.
As described above, when sealing is performed between the mounting surface 15 of the support base 11 and the back face 12b of the mold main body 12, the refrigerant can be prevented from leakage outside the mold through the passage between the mounting surface 15 of the support base 11 and the back face 12b of the mold main body 12.
When fixing a mold main body 12 to a support base 11, a form not using fixing bolts 28 can be employed. In order to fix the mold main body 12 to the support base 11 without using the fixing bolts 28, fixing can be performed using adhesion as shown in
When fixing the mold main body 12 to the support base 11 by adhesion, an adhesive 53 is sandwiched between the support base 11 and the mold main body 12, as shown in
When fixing the mold main body 12 to the support base 11 by brazing, a brazing material 54 is sandwiched between the support base 11 and the mold main body 12, and the brazing material 54 is melted, as shown in
A soldering portion 55 shown in
By fixing the mold main body 12 to the support base 11 by the adhesive 53 or fixing the mold main body 12 to the support base 11 by brazing or soldering, as compared with the case in which fixing bolts 28 are used, the number of machining operations for the support base 11 and the mold main body 12 can be reduced, thereby facilitating the manufacture of the mold.
To form a groove in a support base, the support base can be formed by an integral molded product, as shown in
A support base 61 shown in
As described above, when the support base 61 is made of the integral molded product, the mounting surface 15 can be formed to tightly contact a back face 12b of the mold main body 12 with high precision. When the back face 12b of the mold main body 12 is formed to have a shape that follows a molding face 12a, the mounting surface 15 of the support base 61 can follow the molding face 12a. Accordingly, variations in interval between the molding face 12a of the mold main body 12 and a refrigerant passage 43 can be further reduced, and the molding face 12a can be cooled so that the temperature in the entire region of the molding face 12a is kept constant.
In addition, since the first passage hole 21 and the second passage hole 22 can be formed in the process of forming other portions of the support base 61, the number of machining operations can be further reduced, and the manufacture of the support base 61 can be further facilitated.
A mold according to the present invention can be formed, as shown in
A lower mold 3 shown in
As shown in this embodiment, when the lower mold 3 is entirely formed by an integral molded product, the number of machining operations can be further reduced, and the lower mold 3 can be formed more easily.
In the first to fourth embodiments, an example in which the groove 16 is formed in the support base 11 is shown. However, the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the groove 16 can be formed in the mold main body 12 or both the support base 11 and the mold main body 12. Even with this arrangement, the molded product can be cooled substantially uniformly.
In each embodiment described above, an example in which the present invention is applied to the hot press mold has been described. However, the present invention is also applicable to another type of mold such as an injection mold or a worm press mold.
1 . . . hot press mold, 2 . . . metal plate member, 11, 61 . . . support base, 12 . . . mold main body, 12a . . . molding face, 12b . . . back face, 15 . . . mounting surface, 16 . . . groove, 28 . . . fixing bolt (bolt), 42 . . . base member, 43 . . . refrigerant passage, 52 . . . O-ring (sealing material), 55 . . . soldering portion, 71 . . . mold member, 51 . . . mold main body forming step, S2 . . . support base forming step, S1A . . . first processing step, S1B . . . second processing step, S3 . . . groove forming step, S4 . . . mounting step
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2019-141974 | Aug 2019 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2020/029655 | 8/3/2020 | WO |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2021/020589 | 2/4/2021 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
20080079201 | Durney | Apr 2008 | A1 |
20080295563 | Terziakin | Dec 2008 | A1 |
20090293571 | Vehof et al. | Dec 2009 | A1 |
20130111965 | Lee | May 2013 | A1 |
20130305802 | Lee | Nov 2013 | A1 |
20160339546 | Sung et al. | Nov 2016 | A1 |
20170056951 | Harrison | Mar 2017 | A1 |
20180021833 | Suzuki et al. | Jan 2018 | A1 |
20180272406 | Saini | Sep 2018 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
103084474 | May 2013 | CN |
208527847 | Feb 2019 | CN |
102012211241 | May 2013 | DE |
57-086028 | May 1982 | JP |
06-007865 | Jan 1994 | JP |
2003-231915 | Aug 2003 | JP |
2010-502449 | Jan 2010 | JP |
2011-161449 | Aug 2011 | JP |
2012-196690 | Oct 2012 | JP |
2013-099774 | May 2013 | JP |
2018-012113 | Jan 2018 | JP |
2018-083223 | May 2018 | JP |
10-2013-0050025 | May 2013 | KR |
10-1365195 | Feb 2014 | KR |
10-2016-0074247 | Jun 2016 | KR |
2012160703 | Nov 2012 | WO |
Entry |
---|
International Preliminary Report on Patentability received for PCT Patent Application No. PCT/JP2020/029655, mailed on Feb. 10, 2022, 15 pages (8 pages of English Translation and 7 pages of Original Document). |
International Search Report and Written Opinion received for PCT Patent Application No. PCT/JP2020/029655, mailed on Oct. 6, 2020, 17 pages (8 pages of English Translation and 9 pages of Original Document). |
Office Action received for Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-141974, mailed on Apr. 27, 2021, 8 pages (5 pages of English Translation and 3 pages of Office Action). |
Office Action received for Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-141974, mailed on Aug. 11, 2020, 19 pages (11 pages of English Translation and 8 pages of Office Action). |
Office Action received for Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-141974, mailed on Dec. 8, 2020, 15 pages ( 9 pages of English Translation and 6 pages of Office Action). |
Notice of Reasons for Refusal received for Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-004134, mailed on Nov. 15, 2022, 10 pages (7 pages of English Translation and 3 pages of Office Action). |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20220250134 A1 | Aug 2022 | US |