Abstract:
An apparatus and a process are disclosed for manufacturing glass sheets of a complex form for vehicles. The apparatus includes a roller heating oven, a supporting air bed in a shaping section, a shaping ring for conveying the sheet of glass in a vertical direction toward an upper shaping mold, and a ring for conveying the sheet of glass horizontally toward a tempering station. The air bed is formed with frustoconical nozzles of such a size as to enable the shaping ring to pass through them so as to be movable to a position beneath its floating position.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an apparatus and process for shaping and tempering sheets of glass having a complex shape, for use as windows in vehicles. 
     The shape of the bodywork of a motor vehicle is of great importance, not only from an aesthetic point of view, but also from an aerodynamic one. In this context, it is also necessary that there be no surface discontinuity which would worsen the vehicle&#39;s air penetration coefficient when in movement. 
     For this reason glasses for automobiles in particular have taken on complex forms which can only be manufactured in specially produced plants built for the purpose. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Industrial plants for shaping and tempering sheets of glass with complex forms for use in motor vehicles are known from the state of the art. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,715 describes a plant which heats the glass, conveyed on rollers, in a horizontal oven and, again on rollers, transports it to a shaping station. A lower, vertically mobile mold whose flat surface is grooved so as to pass through the rollers transporting the glass, lifts the glass from the rollers and carries it upwards, until the glass is close enough to be attracted to the upper mold by means of vacuum suction. When shaping has been completed the upper mold allows the glass to drop onto a ring-like member, called a shuttle, running horizontally, which transports the glass to the tempering and cooling station. 
     The disadvantage in this plant lies mainly in the fact that the glass, which is at a high temperature, suffers surface deformation due to the long period of contact first with the rollers in the shaping area, and then with the flat surface of the mold. The surface deformation causes notable optical faults which are unacceptable for glass to be used in motor vehicles. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,556 describes a method and an apparatus for shaping sheets of glass having complex shapes. The sheets of glass move along a gaseous hearth bed through a horizontal heating oven, drawn by transversal bars separated by a given space, and reach the shaping station. In this area, a hearth formed by a gaseous bed takes up the glass and bears it in its horizontal movement. Because the hearth has a suitable downward curve, it causes the glass to become curved due to gravity into a desired shape. A hollow shaping ring, of the configuration desired, surrounds the gaseous bed and is positioned below the bed. When the whole surface of the glass is resting on the gaseous bed, the ring lifts it vertically towards a mold, to which the glass is attracted by vacuum suction, and which successively deposits the glass on a second shuttle carriage ring which carries it to the tempering and cooling station. 
     In this plant there are several disadvantages: first of all it is necessary to change, for production of each shape, not only the lower ring and the upper mold, but also the gaseous hearth bed, which has a curvature similar to that of the finished article; the gaseous hearth bed must also be changed in relation to the surface dimensions of the article, as it must be housed within the hollow shaping ring; and the transfer from the oven to the shaping station takes place by means of intermediate rollers which, given the high temperature of the glass, can easily cause surface deformation and therefore optical defects. 
     The European patent application EP 415,826 describes a plant which attempts to overcome the disadvantages deriving from the presence of rollers in the curving station, substituting the rollers with a belt of suitable heat-resistant material which is placed between a lower shaping ring and an upper vacuum mold. 
     In this case also there are certain disadvantages, deriving mainly from the difficulties in controlling such a complex shaping system, and from the fact that prolonged standing of the glass, heated to softening temperature, on the support belt can easily cause unpleasant optical deformations. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The object of the present invention is that of providing an apparatus capable of overcoming the above mentioned disadvantages, and capable of manufacture at highly competitive production costs. 
     The objects of the present invention are obtained by means of an apparatus comprising: a horizontal heating furnace in which the glass is transported on rollers throughout its length; a shaping station, maintained at the same temperature as the furnace, provided with an air hearth bed to support the glass; a shaping ring which is vertically mobile and which lifts the glass from the air hearth bed towards the shaping mold; and a second hollow ring which lifts the glass from the shaping mold and conveys it horizontally towards the tempering nozzles where rapid cooling takes place. 
     Use of a roller conveyor in the furnace permits greater speed in heating the glass and lower plant costs, when compared with an air hearth bed used throughout the length of the furnace. In the latter case, the transversal bars drawing the glass along can cause imprints on the glass itself, thereby producing an increase in the number of rejects. 
     In the shaping station the rollers transporting and supporting the glass are substituted by an air bed. This bed is obtained by blowing hot air through a number of nozzles arranged in such a way as to permit uniform support of the sheet of glass and to allow the shaping ring to cross the floating level of the glass and position itself under the glass. 
     The term hot air is intended to mean both heated air and a mixture of air and burnt gasses, deriving for example from the combustion of methane. 
     The height of the nozzles is such as to allow the shaping ring, often having a large radius, to descend below the floating level. The form, number and arrangement of the nozzles is such as to allow uniform support of the glass, except in correspondence with the area which is not provided with nozzles, necessary to allow the shaping ring to be positioned. The area is easily obtained by removing the nozzles situated therein and closing the corresponding holes with suitable threaded plugs, the nozzles having threaded cylindrical stems so that they can be screwed into the holes in a plenum. 
     According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the internal geometry of the nozzle, capable of allowing the passage of air in such a way as to provide suitable support to the sheet of glass, is made up of a converging channel to decrease the pressure drop caused by the inlet; a cylindrical portion with calibrated cross-section so as to obtain a substantially constant flow rate for each nozzle; a long channel with a larger diameter that the preceding cylindrical portion and preferably diverging so as to slow down the fluid and a final part with a frusto-conical configuration to provide final slowing of the fluid and consequently to give a flat flow of pressure at the outlet section of the nozzle. 
     The cylindrical portion with calibrated cross-section preferably has a diameter from 2 to 8 mm. 
     The diameter of the outlet section of the nozzle is preferably between 40 to 100 mm. 
     The supply pressure of air to the nozzles is preferably 50 millibar to 1000 millibar, and the pressure can be adjusted during the working cycle to values between the upper and lower limits in order to vary the distance between the sheet of glass and the level of the nozzles and/or to optimize the consumption of hot air, which has a temperature preferably from 600° C. to 700° C. 
     The distance of the sheet of glass from the level of the nozzles is preferably 0.2 mm to 1 mm, and can vary during the working cycle, oscillating between the limit values according to the pressure of the air fed into the nozzles. 
     The nozzles are arranged on the plenum with their perpendicular axes at the vertexes of a triangular, or square, or rectangular mesh with a pitch such as to guarantee in any case adequate discharge space for the air between adjacent nozzles, to allow better support of the sheet of glass, especially in the case of nozzles with a large diameter outlet section. 
     In the vicinity of the areas where the shaping ring passes it may be advisable to use nozzles of smaller diameter, thus giving coexistence on the same plane of nozzles with different outlet section diameters, without producing any disturbance in the action of supporting the sheet of glass. 
     The lower shaping mold is formed by a hollow ring, which has no gaps in its profile, supported by metal ties which allow the ring to perform a vertical movement from the level below the air hearth bed up to the upper mold and, later, to return below the floating level of the glass until the cycle is repeated. 
     The transfer ring is integral with a mold-bearing structure capable of performing a reciprocating horizontal translation to pick up the shaped glass as it is released from the upper shaping mold and to transfer it to the tempering station. 
     An object of the invention is therefore to provide an apparatus for the shaping and tempering of sheets of glass having a complex shape, for use as glazing in motor vehicles, comprising a heating station formed by a horizontal furnace, a shaping station immediately following the heating furnace and provided with a lower shaping ring and with an upper shaping mold, positioned above and below with respect to the plane on which the sheets of glass move, a tempering station provided with tempering nozzles to effect the rapid cooling of the sheets of glass after shaping and with means for conveying and supporting the sheets of glass, characterized in that the means comprise, in sequence along the direction of movement of the sheets of glass: cylindrical rollers for conveying and supporting the sheets inside the heating furnace, an air hearth bed for supporting the sheets in the shaping station, and ring for transportation in the shaping station through a vertical movement towards an upper shaping mold, a hollow ring for transportation of the sheets through a reciprocating horizontal movement towards the tempering station and for support of the sheets during the tempering operation. 
     A further object of the invention is to provide a process for the shaping and tempering of sheets of glass having complex forms, for use as windscreens for motor vehicles, comprising a heating step to heat the sheet of glass, a shaping step and a tempering step, characterized in that the sheet of glass moves, during the heating step, along a cylindrical roller bed, and on an air hearth bed, immediately after leaving the furnace, then during the shaping stage on a shaping ring which conveys it vertically toward the upper shaping mold, and after shaping on a ring which conveys it horizontally to the tempering station and supports it during the tempering step. 
     The advantages gained by the present invention are the following: the glass can remain on a hot air bed for a fairly long time without suffering notable deformation, thereby limiting optical defects, because the air flow is formed so as not to transfer heat and so as not to produce localized deformations on the surface of the glass; the air bed is flat and can therefore be used irrespective of the form of the sheet of glass to be curved, thus reducing, with respect to the prior art, the costs involved in changing equipment; the same plane onto which the nozzles are screwed is used irrespective of the geometric form of the piece to be shaped and the shaping ring can cross the floating level of the sheet of glass and, for this reason, no gaps are required on the ring itself, as is necessary when rollers are present. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the following description, given merely as a non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 shows an overall view of the apparatus according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a shaping station; 
     FIG. 3 is a top view of a glass support plane and stops; 
     FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a device for producing an air bed; 
     FIG. 5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a shuttle device for conveying a shaped sheet of glass from the shaping station to the tempering station; 
     FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the shaping station according to an alternative embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The apparatus comprises a heating furnace 1, a shaping station 2, a tempering station 3 and a delivery station not shown in the drawings. 
     According to the present invention the heating furnace 1 brings the glass up to its softening temperature, conveying it along a horizontal path formed by a cylindrical roller bed 4, the movement of which is provided by means of an operating mechanism not shown in the figures. 
     The shaping station 2 is situated immediately after the horizontal furnace 1. The shaping station is contained within a hot chamber 12, the walls of which are built of refractory material and which is kept at a temperature of approximately 650° C. with the aid of electric heating elements not shown in the figures. 
     The control devices for the shaping operation are situated outside the chamber 12, whereas the equipment for performing the shaping is located inside the chamber. 
     Immediately following the outlet from the furnace 1, on an extension of the roller conveyor for the glass, a plenum 5 is arranged within the hot chamber 12, the plenum being fed by hot air through a tube 6 and supporting a plurality of nozzles 7 of suitable size and number. 
     The group of nozzles 7 generates a supporting air bed which forms an extension of the glass conveyor formed by rollers 4. The air bed also has a flat surface. 
     A bearing frame 8 supports the plenum 5 within the hot chamber 12. The frame 8 has two hinges 9 close to the outlet from the furnace 1 and, on the opposite side, two mechanical jacks 10, moved by means of motor 11, which can incline the surface of the feeder plenum by 1°-2° with respect to the horizontal. 
     When the sheet of glass V is on the air bed, the plenum 5 inclines downward, assisting the glass in sliding and giving perfect adhesion of the edge of the glass against the ceramic wheels 45 of reference stops 50 (see FIG. 3). 
     The plenum 5, preferably made of stainless steel, has on its upper plate 51 a plurality of threaded bores 52, arranged at a density so as not to compromise the resistance of the plate, but at the same time allowing optimum arrangement of the nozzles according to the geometrical form of the sheet of glass to be shaped. 
     Each of the nozzles 7 has a first threaded cylindrical portion 53 to allow it to be screwed into the plate 51 of the plenum 5, a second cylindrical portion 54 and a third portion 55 with a substantially frusto-conical shape. The nozzles 7 are preferably made of stainless steel, given that the temperature in the hot chamber of the shaping station is between 600° and 700° C. 
     According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the internal geometry of the nozzle, capable of allowing a suitable passage of air, is made up of a first converging channel 56, a successive cylindrical portion with a calibrated cross-section 57, a cylindrical channel 58 with a larger diameter than the preceding portion, a cylindrical channel 59 with a larger diameter than the preceding channel 58 and a final frusto-conical part 60 to provide final slowing of the fluid. 
     The cylindrical portion 57 has preferably has a diameter from 2 to 8 millimeters. 
     The diameter of the outlet section of the nozzle 7 is preferably 40 to 100 millimeters. 
     The nozzles 7 are arranged on the plenum 5 at the vertexes of a square mesh with a pitch such as to guarantee the desired air discharge space. 
     In the areas left without nozzles to allow passage of a shaping ring 24, the bores 52 are closed by means of threaded plugs 61. 
     On the side walls of the hot chamber, openings are formed which are necessary for maintenance and inspection purposes. Furthermore, an opening 13 allows the glass to enter the chamber and another opening 14 allows the glass to leave it. 
     To avoid heat losses, the opening 14 is provided with a drop gate 15 which opens in cycle to permit the entry and exit of a shuttle 16. 
     The upper shaping mold 17 is formed by a full mold 18, shaped and provided with a perforated plane, so as to produce a vacuum effect resulting in a suction of the glass V, the vacuum being produced using a Venturi system, not shown in the figure, which ejects air sucked up through a tube 25. 
     The mold 17 is anchored to two support rods 19 which extend out of the hot chamber 12 through passages 20 formed in the refractory material of the ceiling thereof, and which are connected to a mobile frame 21, which is moved vertically by an operating mechanism 23 and a digitally controlled motor 22. 
     The vertical movement of the upper mold provides the portions of the mold 17 so as to be registered in correspondence with the shaping ring 24. 
     An operating mechanism made up of chains 26 and a motor-winch 27 is operable to lift the mobile part of the mold, so as to facilitate its extraction when changing equipment. 
     The shaping ring 24 is supported by ties 33 so as to perform a vertical movement within the hot chamber 12 by means of an operating mechanism and a motor not shown in the figures. 
     The device (or shuttle) 16 which performs a reciprocating horizontal transfer of the sheet of glass to the tempering station from the shaping station, has at one of its extremities a ring 34 for housing the sheet of glass V and supporting it during the quenching phase. Preferably, unloading of the sheets of glass takes place in the same station, making use of a pressure differential between the upper and the lower blower to push the glass upward so that it leaves the ring 34, which is thus able to go back and load another sheet of glass. 
     A support structure 29 supports driving screws 30, to which longitudinal guides 28 with an upturned V cross-section are fixed. 
     Wheels 31 are engaged with the V-shaped guides and support the shuttle 16, which is made up of two independent side sections kept parallel by the engagement of the driving screws 30. 
     A rack guided system 35 with a parallel bar prevents oscillation during the horizontal movement. 
     The reciprocating horizontal movement of the mold-bearing shuttle 16 is generated by means of the driving screws 30 engaged with roller wheels 38 connected to the side sections of the shuttle itself and pressing elastically on the thread of the screws 30. The driving screws are two in number, one on each side of the machine, and they are counter-rotating and have right- and left-handed threads, respectively. 
     The screws 30 are supported at their ends by self-aligning roller bearings 32. 
     The screws 30 are activated by means of a toothed belt gear 39. 
     The group of stops 50 receives the glass V when it leaves the furnace, slowing the glass down progressively as it rests on the air bed formed by the nozzles 7. 
     Two support structures 41, one on each side of the machine, hinged at 42, support the carriages 43 which are moved by a digitally controlled motor not shown in the figures. 
     The stop rods 44 and 48 have, at the ends which contact the glass V, the wheels 45. The rods themselves are slightly flexible, so as to adapt to the position of the plane 5 which can be inclined by 1 or 2 degrees. 
     The sheet of glass V is heated to its softening point in the furnace 1 as it is carried by the roller bed 4. Subsequently, after leaving the roller bed, conveyed on an air hearth bed it is delivered to the first pair of rods 44 which, extending from the carriages 43, come into contact with the front edge of the sheet of glass V and slow it down running along guides 41 until the sheet of glass is stopped in a suitable position defined by the shaping ring positioned below the floating plane. The stop rods are guided by the support structures 41 situated outside and to the side of the hot chamber 12. 
     The second pair of rods 48, extending from the carriages 43, intervenes from the sides to center and position the sheet of glass with respect to the shaping ring 24, which is situated below the floating plane. 
     At the moment in which the sheet of glass has been finally centered, the ring 24 is raised to raise the sheet of glass V and convey it towards the shaping mold 18 until it is at a distance such as to allow the vacuum created by the mold by means of its perforated plane to attract the sheet of glass V, which thus continues to bend, taking on the desired shape. 
     In the meantime the hollow shaping ring 24 returns to below the floating plane of the sheet of glass ready to repeat the cycle. 
     When shaping has been completed, the mold 18 releases the sheet of glass onto the ring 34 of the shuttle 16, which has positioned itself in the meantime under the mold 18, and the shuttle moves rapidly toward the tempering station 3 which contains opposite upper nozzles 46 and lower nozzles 47 that perform quenching of the shaped glass V, and which preferably also performs unloading of the glass. 
     After this the shuttle 16 with the ring 34 return to the shaping station 2, positioning themselves once more under the mold 18 to collect another sheet of glass to be tempered. 
     According to an alternative embodiment of the apparatus according to the present invention, shown in FIG. 6, the air hearth bed is generated by nozzles 7 fed by two separate and adjacent plenums 62 and 63, preferably of the same size with respect to the axis of symmetry of the shaping station. 
     The plenums rest on hinges 65 placed close to the vertical walls of the hot chamber 12 and on a single strut 64, preferably situated at the vertical axis of symmetry of the shaping station. The hinges 65 belonging to the support frame 8 which is capable of inclining in the direction of movement of the sheet of glass. 
     Stops 66 run on guides 67 connected to the two plenums 62 and 63. 
     The strut 64 rests on a bar 68 capable of being lifted by mechanical jacks 69 moved by the motor 70, and it is suitably hinged to the bar 68. 
     The vertical lifting movement of the strut 64, shown in the figure in its resting position, is such as to allow the two plenums and therefore the air bed to incline by 1°-2°. 
     By this solution an air bed is obtained which is efficient both when producing large sheets of glass occupying a substantial part of the air bed itself, and also when producing smaller sheets of glass which are worked side-by-side in pairs. 
     In the latter case, in fact, the two sheets of glass are brought up against the head stops, not shown in the figure, by means of a downward inclination of the two plenums 62 and 63 in the direction of movement of the glass. The sheets of glass are then brought up to the side stops by lifting of the strut 64, which inclines the two plenums by 1°-2° in a transverse direction with respect to the direction of movement of the glass, so as to slide the sheets against the side stops and thus position them exactly with respect to the shaping rings 24. 
     The advantage of this embodiment consists mainly in the fact that the manufacturing apparatus becomes capable of producing sheets of glass of varying sizes without having to change the air bed plane, thus obtaining a notable reduction in costs.