JPH02184534A - Ejection of formed lens - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily release a molded article from a mold without deteriorating the shape and surface properties by pressing an optical material, moving an upper mold and a lower mold relative to a drum to expose the side outer circumference of the formed lens and releasing the lens from the mold. CONSTITUTION:A side circumference of a formed lens 5 exposed from a drum 4 is clamped with a clamping member 28 before or simultaneous to the opening of the mold. Since the clamping member 28 does not move in vertical direction, the upper mold 2 is detached from the formed lens 5 by lifting the upper mold 2 and the formed lens 5 is released from the upper mold 2. Thereafter, the lower mold 3 is lowered while keeping the formed lens 5 in a state clamped with the clamping member 28 to detach the formed lens 5 from the lower mold 3. The formed lens is released from the lower mold by this action and is held with the clamping member 28 in the space between the upper and the lower molds. The clamping member is horizontally transferred to complete the removal of the formed lens from the mold.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a method for taking out a molded lens in which a press-molded lens is separated from a mold and then taken out from the mold.

(Prior art) In recent years, a method has been developed to form a high-precision optical material that eliminates the need for post-processing such as grinding and polishing by housing a glass material in a mold with a predetermined surface precision and press-molding it. is being developed.

This type of molding method will be explained using FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a state in which a softened glass material is accommodated in a conventionally used mold and press-molded.

The mold shown in the figure includes an upper mold 66, a lower mold 67, and a mold 6.
8, each molding surface 66a of the upper mold 66 and lower mold 67
, 67a are each mirror-finished with high precision. A softened glass material 64 is supplied onto the lower mold 67 of this mold,
Next, the upper mold 66 is pressed by a pressing device (not shown). and,
This suppressed state is maintained for a sufficient time to transfer the surface shapes of the molding surfaces 66a and 67a onto the glass material 64, and then the entire mold is cooled as it is.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, in the above-described press molding, the molded lenses in the mold are in close contact with the respective molding surfaces 66a and 67a of the upper and lower molds, and when the molds are opened, If the molded lens remains attached to either the upper mold 66 or the lower mold 67, and if it is attached to the mold, it may break if it falls away from the mold while it is on the upper mold. Sometimes I end up doing it.

In order to solve this problem, a projecting bottle is provided on both molds, and the molded lens adhered to the molding surface of the mold is pressed and released by the projecting bottle. However, with this method, minute cracks may occur in and around the suppressed portion by the protruding bottle.

Further, as a mold release method devised to solve such problems, there is a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 156022/1983.

In this mold release method, in order to solve the problems caused by the protruding bottle as in mold 2, a duct is provided which is opened in a region other than the molding surface that forms the optically functional surface, and a high pressure gas is injected into this lumen. The molded lens adhered to the mold is released from the mold by supplying the molded lens.

However, according to this method, there is a risk that the softened glass material housed in the mold may enter the mold 2 pipe line due to the press pressure during press molding, causing clogging. Moreover, even if this clogging could be removed by blowing out high-pressure gas, the glass material extruded into the pipe would remain attached to the outer periphery of the molded lens and harden by cooling, which would affect the surface quality of the molded lens. There is a risk of worsening the condition.

The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and
To provide a method for taking out a molded lens by which the molded lens can be easily separated from the mold and taken out without deteriorating the shape and surface properties of the molded lens when the molded lens is taken out from the mold after press molding.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the method for taking out a molded lens of the present invention includes an upper mold, a use mold, and a lower mold movably fitted in the body mold. After press-molding the softened molding material in a mold, the mold is moved between the upper mold and the lower mold by moving the mold and the lower mold relative to the mold. The outer circumferential side surface of the molded lens is exposed from the mold, and then an appropriate mold release means is applied near the outer circumferential side surface of the molded lens between the upper and lower molds, and the molded lens is released by upperlying the upper mold. The method is characterized in that the molded lens is molded, and then the molded lens is taken out from the mold.

(Function) In the method of the present invention described above, the mold used for press molding has an upper mold, a lower mold, and a working mold, and the lower mold is configured to be fitted so as to be movable in the vertical direction within the body mold. ing. When a softened molding material is press-molded using such a molding die, the molding material is transferred by the "--" shaped molding surface. ”−
The molding material is accommodated in the mold, for example, by flowing molten glass into the lower mold, or by placing a glass material with a shape similar to the final molded lens on the lower mold and heating it together with the mold to soften it. You may also do so.

To take out the molded lens from the mold after press molding, for example, push up the lower mold in two directions and lift the molded lens together with the upper mold, or fix the lower mold and move the mold downward. The outer circumferential side surface of the molded lens is exposed from the mold by movement or the like. After that, when the upper mold is placed, the molded lens is either attached to the upper mold and placed together with the upper mold, or placed on the lower mold, or attached to this one mold. present.

In the present invention, as the mold release means for releasing the molded lens attached to either the upper mold or the lower mold as described above, any divine means can be used. For example, if you use a structure in which a wedge member is inserted into the attachment part of the second mold and the molded lens to release the mold, first raise the lower mold as described above and expose the outer circumferential side of the molded lens from the mold. After taking it out, stop the movement of this lower mold hL, then raise the upper mold by a small distance,
- Insert the wedge member from the side into the gap between the lower molds to release the molded lens attached to the upper mold, and then - move the upper mold further upwards to separate the molded lens and the L shape. After widening the gap between the parts and holding the molded lens with a suction hand, etc. on the lower mold, the lower mold is lowered while maintaining this holding state, and the suction hand is moved laterally to take out the molded lens. Do this.

In addition, when using a structure that releases the mold by holding the outer peripheral side of the molded lens, after the outer peripheral side of the molded lens is exposed from the mold by lifting the lower mold as described above, this outer peripheral side is The part is held between the holding members.

Since the molded lens is held by this clamping member, when the mold is raised and the lower mold is lowered, the molded lens is released from the upper and lower molds. Then, while holding the molded lens with the holding member, the molded lens is moved in the lateral direction to take out the molded lens. Furthermore, gas is injected onto the outer circumferential side of the molded lens between the upper and lower molds, and the injection pressure causes the mold to be released, or the molded lens is deformed by temperature-controlled gas jetting to cause al'lJ, and the clamping member Alternatively, the molded lens can also be taken out using a suction hand or the like.

In any case, the present invention exposes the outer circumferential side surface of the molded lens between the upper and lower molds from the working mold, applies appropriate mold release means as described above near the outer circumferential side surface of the molded lens, and raises the L-shape. The molded lens is then released from the mold, and then the molded lens is taken out from the mold.

By exposing the molded lens between the upper and upper molds from the mold in this way, the operation when taking out the molded lens is performed on the outer peripheral side of the molded lens, which is the part outside the optically functional surface.
Therefore, unlike the conventional method, releasing the molded lens from the mold does not deteriorate the surface quality or shape of the molded lens.

As described in 1., the method of the present invention involves releasing the molded lens,
Since the opening operation of the mold and the releasing operation is applied to the outer peripheral side surface of the molded lens during this opening operation,
It can be easily applied to continuous press molding in which a molding material is heated, the heated material is pressed, and then it is cooled and hardened to take out the optical element from the mold.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1(a) to 1(d) are diagrams showing the operation of taking out a molded lens using a molded lens press molding apparatus embodying the method of the present invention.

The molding die in the press molding apparatus shown in FIG. It is composed of a mold 4.

], an upper mold flange 2b is provided on the outer periphery of the -L end of the mold 2, and as shown in FIG.
By hooking the chuck 6, the mold 2 can be moved in the direction. The upper mold 3 is fitted into a mold 4 and can slide vertically within the mold 4. A mold flange 4a is provided on the lower outer periphery of the mold 4.
a is fitted into a claw portion 7a of a base 7 fixed to a base 9.

A cylinder 10 is provided on the side of the lower mold 3, and the lower mold 3 can be slid in the vertical direction within the mold 4 by pushing or pulling the cylinder rod IOa.

In order to mold a glass lens using this press molding apparatus n, the lower mold 2 is opened to open the mold, and a softened glass material is placed in the lower mold 31. Next, the upper mold 2 is placed on the glass material, and the mold is pressed thereon by the push rod 8, so that the molding surfaces of the second mold 2 and the lower mold 3 are transferred to the glass material between the lower molds -E. After this transfer has been sufficiently performed, the entire mold is cooled to form the molded lens 5.

Next, the operation of taking out the lens 5 molded by the press molding equipment fff as described above will be explained in FIGS.
This will be explained with reference to d).

Here, the operation of taking out the molded lens is carried out after the molded lens between the molds has been cooled to a viscosity greater than 1013 to +014.5 poise so as not to affect the shape or surface properties of the molded lens. Let's do it.

As shown in FIG. 1(b), after removing the push rod 8 for press molding, the cylinder 10 is driven to push up the outer peripheral side of the molded lens 5 of the lower mold 3A until it is exposed from the mold 4. . Next, the pushing and lifting operation of the lower mold 3 is stopped [E], and as shown in FIG. , the mold is opened by raising said lifting means. Note that the lifting chuck 6 is a lifting hand 20 shown in FIG. 4(a).
The opening/closing mechanism is used to open and close the opening/closing mechanism, and the collar 7 of the upper mold 2 is hooked onto the opening/closing mechanism.

When the mold is opened as described above, the molding surfaces 2 of the upper mold 2 and lower mold 3
Depending on the shape or surface properties of a and 3a, the molded lens 5 in the mold
remains attached to one of the molding surfaces.

Therefore, when the mold is opened 11j as described above, or at the same time, the outer peripheral side surface of the molded lens 5 exposed from the mold 4 is clamped by the clamping members 28. This clamping member 28 is connected to the lifting hand 2 as shown in FIG. 4(a).
It is equipped with an opening/closing mechanism similar to 0, and it approaches the gap between the upper and lower molds in an open state from the lateral direction, and when it reaches the outer periphery of the molded lens 5, the holding member 28 is closed and the outer periphery side of the molded lens 5 is closed. to hold. Since this holding member 28 does not move in the -F downward direction, when the upper mold 2 is lifted, the upper mold 2 is released from the molded lens 5, and thus the molded lens 5 is released from the upper mold 2. .

Next, as shown in FIG. 1(d), when the lower mold 3 is lowered while leaving the molded lens 5 held by the clamping members 28 as it is, the molded lens 5 is released from its attachment to the mold 3. The mold is released from the lower mold, and the holding member 2
8, the state is maintained. Therefore, by moving this holding member in the lateral direction, the molded lens 5
Complete the extraction.

In addition, to take out the molded lens 5, after the molded lens 5 is separated from the lx mold 2 as described below, the clamping state of the clamping member 28 is released and the molded lens 5 is dropped onto the lower mold 3. It may be taken out by suction means (not shown). In the case of such a taking-out method, if the lower mold 3 is lowered by a small distance, there is no risk of damage to the molded lens 5 even if it is dropped onto the lower mold 3.

The method for taking out the molded lens in this example is as follows: First, the outer circumferential side of the lens molded between the two molds is exposed from the mold, and then an appropriate lens release means is applied to the exposed outer circumferential side of the lens. Since the molding surfaces 2a and 3a of the upper mold 2 and the lower mold 3 are not subjected to any special processing, the molded lens can be taken out while maintaining the surface quality of the molding surfaces with high precision. can be done.

Hereinafter, an embodiment will be described in which the method of the present invention is applied to a press molding apparatus that continuously performs a heating process, a pressurizing process, and a cooling process of a molding material in one molding chamber.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the entire device of this embodiment, and FIG.
Figures (a) to (f) are step-by-step sectional views of each part of the device shown in Figure 2, and Figure 4 (a) is a side view of a lifting hand that lifts the mold upward in the ejection process. Fourth
Figure (b) is a downward view of the holding means for holding and taking out the molded lens in the taking out process.

The overall configuration of the press molding apparatus shown in FIG. 2 includes a material intake chamber 41, a heating section 42, a material transfer section 43, a press section 45, a slow cooling section 46, and a molded lens removal chamber 47. Material intake room 41. The heating section 42, the material transfer section 43, and the press section 45 are arranged in the same line, and a slow cooling section 46 is arranged in parallel thereto.

A first transfer chamber 21 is configured near the heating section 42, and the material intake chamber 41 is provided in the first transfer chamber 21. Further, a second transfer chamber 22 is configured near the outlet of the press section 45, and a third transfer chamber 23 is configured in the vicinity of the annealing section 46, and these second and third transfer chambers are connected to the transfer path. 2
They are connected by 5. Furthermore, a fourth transfer chamber 24 is configured near the exit of the annealing section 6, and a molded lens removal chamber 47 that has been moved is provided in this fourth transfer chamber 24, and the fourth transfer chamber 24 and the above-mentioned It is connected to the first transfer chamber 21 through a feeding path 26 . With this configuration, the present molding apparatus constitutes a continuous molding chamber 59. +1 is this molding chamber 5
9, and on the pallet II, a material mounting table 12 and molding molds consisting of an upper mold 2 and a lower mold 3 similar to those shown in FIG. 1 are arranged at a constant interval. has been done. The lower part of the mold 3 is hollow with respect to the pallet 11, and the cylinder 1 is provided at the position shown in FIG. 3(e).
The lower mold 3 can be moved up and down by raising and lowering the rod loa. The press molding surfaces of the upper mold 2 and the lower mold 3 are mirror-finished 2a and 3a for molding optical element functional surfaces, respectively.

As a means for transferring the pallet +1 into the molding chamber, an extrusion cylinder 51 is provided in the first transfer chamber 2I, and the extrusion cylinder 51 pushes out the pallet +1.
1 is moved to the press section 45. Second transfer chamber 2
2 is provided with a drawer cylinder 52 and an extrusion cylinder 53, and the press part 4 is
The pallet 11 moved to the second transfer chamber 5 is pulled out to the second transfer chamber 22, and the pallet 11 moved to the second transfer chamber is pushed out to the third transfer chamber 23 by the extrusion cylinder 53. The third transfer chamber 23 is provided with an extrusion cylinder 54, by which the pallet 11 moved to the transfer chamber 23 of the node 3 is extruded to just before the fourth transfer chamber 24. The fourth transfer chamber 24 is provided with a drawer cylinder 56 and a push-out cylinder 55, and the pallet 11 that has been moved to just before the fourth transfer chamber 24 is pulled out to the fourth transfer chamber 24 by the drawer cylinder 56. The fourth transfer chamber 24 is
The pallet 11 that has been moved is pushed out again to the first transfer chamber 21. Thus, the pallet 11 is transferred to each process by the extrusion or withdrawal operation of these cylinders and moves within the molding chamber 59 of one apparatus.

The pallet II is placed on a rail (not shown) provided in the molding chamber 59, and can be moved along the rail by hitting or hooking the tip of each cylinder against the side of the pallet 11 in the direction of travel. Can be moved.

Next, each part of the molding chamber 59 will be explained, and the operation of this apparatus will be explained using FIGS. 3(a) to 3(d).

A heater 57 is provided at a portion of the molding chamber 59 corresponding to the heating section 42, material transfer section 43, and press section 45, and a heater 58 is provided at a section corresponding to the slow cooling section 46. Each of these heaters is used for heating the material 15 and slowly cooling the molded lens 5 after pressing.

When operating this device, in order to prevent the mold materials of the upper and lower molds 2.3 from oxidizing, the inside of the molding chamber 59 is evacuated to I The heaters 57 and 58 are then energized to raise the temperature inside the furnace to a predetermined value.After the temperature rise is completed, the material intake chamber 41 is heated with a finger (not shown) as shown in FIG. Material 15 as shown in (b)
is placed on the platform 2 of the pallet II in the material intake chamber 41.

Next, the extrusion cylinders 51, 53, 54, 55 and the drawer cylinders 52, 56 are operated to sequentially remove the pallet 11.
Each time the material 15 is sent from the mold lens take-out chamber 7 to the material intake chamber mold, the material 15 is placed on each mounting table 12 in the above-described manner (FIG. 3(b)). By repeating this operation, the material 1 supplied to the first pallet 11
5, the upper die 2, and the lower die 3 are heated near the material transfer section 43 to a temperature required for press molding. 5 At this time, it is desirable that the material 15 and the upper mold 2 and lower mold 3 be heated to approximately the same degree of lag. By doing so, the temperature of the material +5 after transfer does not change depending on the temperature of the upper die 2 or the lower die 3, and press forming can be performed under the optimum press temperature condition.

Next, in the material transfer section 43, after the upper mold 2 is lifted by the lifting hand 6, the material 15 is sucked by the suction fingers 14 and transferred onto the lower mold 3 (FIG. 3(C)).
. After this, the holding hand 6 is released, and the mold 2 is moved to the lower R where the material 15 is stored. 4 and push out the extrusion cylinder 51 to move the pallet 11 to the position of the press section 5. Thereafter, the press rod 8 is operated to press the upper mold 2 with a predetermined press pressure, thereby performing press molding on the material 15 (FIG. 3(d)).

Next, the pressing of the press rod 8 is released, and the pallet 11 is moved while the upper die 2 maintains its state at the time of pressing.
is moved from the press section 5 to the second transfer chamber 22. Furthermore, this pallet 11 is transferred to the third transfer chamber 2 via the transfer path 25.
Transfer to 3. Next, the pallet 11 is moved in the direction of the slow cooling section, but there are other pallets in front of this moving direction!
Since the pallets 11 are arranged in an array, the molded lenses held in the quadruple mold 2 and the do mold 3 near the exit of the annealing section 46 as the pallet 11 is sewn and squeezed by the above-mentioned operation. 5 passes through an annealing section 46, where it is gradually cooled.

The pallet 11 thus moved to the leading position of the slow cooling section 46 is moved to the molded lens removal chamber 7 (FIG. 3(e)).

Here, the molded lens extraction means in the molded lens extraction chamber 47 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b).

FIG. 4 is a side view of the lifting hands 20 for the upper mold 2 provided at positions l- and h of the molded lens removal chamber 47. As shown in the figure, this lifting hand 20 is equipped with a chuck 6 that clamps the upper die 2, and is provided with a connecting pin 37 for opening and closing the chuck. are connected via. A fixed bottle 36 is provided at one end of the chuck 34 as a support shaft, and the fixed bottle and the cylinder 32 are connected via a shaft 35.

With this configuration, when the cylinder 33 moves 11 degrees, the chuck 6 opens and closes around the fixed bin 36 to clamp the upper mold 2, and when the cylinder 32 moves up, the entire lifting hand 20 moves up and down. F' held by chuck 6,
'You can carry +2 F.

In addition, the upper wall surface of the molded lens removal chamber 7:
If the shield 31 is installed between the shaft 35 and the rod 38, the airtightness within the molding chamber 59 can be maintained.

FIG. 4(b) is a downward view of the lens holding means provided on the wall side 30' of the molded lens taking-out chamber 47 in which the lifting hand 20 is provided. This lens holding means 39 is
It has the same configuration as the lifting hand 20 except that the lifting hand 20 moves from the top of the molded lens extraction chamber 47, but is provided to move laterally from the side thereof. 33 opens and closes the chuck 28 (which is used as a clamping member in the above example) to clamp the molded lens 5 from the sides. (FIG. 3(f)) The entire clamping means 39 is laterally drawn in by the operation of the cylinder 32. .

Using the holding hand 20 and the lens holding means 39 described above, the molded lens 5 is removed from the molded lens removal chamber 47 in the same manner as shown in FIG.

According to the embodiment device as explained above, the material! 5 is placed on the material mounting table 12k until the press molding step 1ii1 and is separated from the upper mold 2 and lower mold 3, so that reaction between the material 15 and the mold 2.3 is prevented and the durability of the mold material is improved. improves.

Furthermore, since the apparatus of this embodiment is configured to transfer materials using the same pallet, there is no relative change in the position i7/ between the material placement table 12 and the mold, and the suction fingers 14
It is easy to achieve positioning accuracy in handling. Furthermore, since the suction fingers 14 are heated simultaneously with the pallet 11 inside the molding chamber 59, errors in handling positioning accuracy due to thermal expansion are less likely to occur.

Furthermore, according to the present embodiment device n, the durability of the mold is guaranteed as described above, the erosion of the molding surface is prevented, and the specularity of the molding surface is maintained for a relatively long period of time. , suitable for continuous production of high-precision optical elements.

Furthermore, in the apparatus of this embodiment, the extrusion cylinder 51 and the extrusion cylinder 53 are operated simultaneously to quickly transfer the molded lens 5 that has been press-molded to the annealing section 46, thereby reducing the entire manufacturing time. Can be shortened. Moreover, the extrusion cylinder 54 and the extrusion cylinder 5
6 at the same time to push out the pallet 11, which has already been moved to the fourth transfer chamber 24, to the first transfer chamber 21, the fourth transfer chamber becomes empty, and the process is quickly completed. The drawer cylinder 55 is operated to shorten the residence time of the molded lens in the annealing section 46, thereby shortening the entire manufacturing waiting time.

Even in a press molding machine that continuously performs the heating process, pressurizing process, and cooling process of the molding material in one molding chamber as described above, there is a process in which the mold is opened and the molded lens is subsequently taken out. Therefore, the molded lens attached to the mold can be easily and reliably released from the mold.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, the present invention allows the molded lens between the upper and lower molds to be exposed from the mold when taking out the molded lens, so that the movement when taking out the molded lens is performed on the outer peripheral side of the molded lens. The molding is performed on the portion outside the optically functional surface, and therefore, the surface quality or shape of the molded lens will not be deteriorated by releasing the molded lens as in the conventional method.

Further, in the present invention, due to the configuration of the take-out method, it can be easily applied to continuous press molding in which a molded material is heated, the heated material is pressed, and then it is cooled and hardened to take out the optical element from the mold. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1(a) to (d) are diagrams (not showing the taking-out operation of a molded lens embodying the method of the present invention), and FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the entire continuous press molding apparatus to which the present invention is applied. 3(a) to 3(f) are sectional views of each part of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 in the order of steps. FIG. 4(a) is a side view of a lifting hand lifting the mold 1 during the unloading process in the apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a downward view of a lens holding means for taking out a lens, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a state in which a softened glass material is accommodated in a conventional mold and press-molded. 2...Upper mold 3...Lower mold 4...Mold 5...Molding lens 6...Lifting chuck 7...Brim portion 10...Cylinder 15...Glass material 20... - Holding hand 28... holding member 39 - beak - lens holding means

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) After press-molding a softened molding material in a molding mold having an upper mold, a body mold, and a lower mold movably fitted in the body mold, the upper mold and the lower mold are The outer peripheral side of the molded lens molded between the upper mold and the lower mold by moving relative to the body mold is exposed from the body mold, and then the outer peripheral side of the molded lens between the upper and lower molds is exposed near the outer peripheral side of the molded lens between the upper mold and the lower mold. A method for taking out a molded lens, comprising applying a suitable mold release means and lifting the upper mold to release the molded lens, and then taking out the molded lens from the mold.