Thermal Treatment of Component

Abstract

Apparatus for the thermal treatment of a component, which can be arranged in a component plane (E) in the apparatus, which component plane is spanned by a first direction (x) and a second direction (y) perpendicular to the first direction, the apparatus comprising a heating portion having a heating means for heating a first region of the component, a cooling portion having a cooling means for cooling a second region of the component; wherein the cooling portion is downstream of the heating portion in the second direction (y); wherein the cooling means has a nozzle for discharging a cooling fluid onto the component; wherein the nozzle is oriented such that it drops in the second direction (y); and wherein the nozzle has a fluid channel having a nozzle opening. By means such apparatus, components can be thermally treated individually in different regions.

Claims

1. An apparatus for the thermal treatment of a component, which can be arranged in a component plane (E) in the apparatus, which component plane is spanned by a first direction (x) and a second direction (y) perpendicular to the first direction, the apparatus comprising a heating portion having a heating means for heating a first region of the component, a cooling portion having a cooling means for cooling a second region of the component, wherein the cooling portion is downstream of the heating portion in the second direction (y), wherein the cooling means has a nozzle for discharging a cooling fluid onto the component, wherein the nozzle is oriented such that it drops in the second direction (y); and wherein the nozzle has a fluid channel having a nozzle opening.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fluid channel has a straight portion upstream of the nozzle opening having a length (l.sub.g) of at least 5 mm.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an outer wall of the nozzle facing the heating portion drops at least partially in the second direction (y).

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a partition wall between the heating portion and the cooling portion, wherein an outer wall of the nozzle facing the heating portion is spaced apart from the partition wall in the second direction (y).

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a cover plate which is arranged in the cooling portion above the nozzle.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a guide plate which is arranged in the cooling portion on a side of the nozzle facing away from the heating portion and parallel to the component plane (E).

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein an edge of the guide plate facing the nozzle is rounded.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein at least one spacer pin is arranged on the guide plate in order to hold the component at a distance from the guide plate.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fluid channel has a uniform width (b.sub.g) in the range of 0.1 to 3 mm in a portion upstream of the nozzle opening perpendicular to the first direction (x).

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle is oriented at a first angle (a) in the range of 15 to 60° to the component plane (E), and/or wherein an outer wall of the nozzle facing the heating portion at least partially encloses a second angle (β) in the range of 15 to 60° with the component plane (E).

Description

[0047] The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings. The drawings show a particularly preferred embodiment, to which the invention is not limited, however. The drawings and the proportions shown therein are only schematic. In the drawings:

[0048] FIG. 1: shows a sectional view of an apparatus according to the invention for the thermal treatment of a component,

[0049] FIG. 2: shows an enlargement of the nozzle of the apparatus from FIG. 1, and

[0050] FIG. 3: shows a flow cross section of the nozzle of the apparatus from FIG. 1.

[0051] FIG. 1 shows an apparatus 1 for the thermal treatment of a component 2. The apparatus 1 is described using a coordinate system which has a first direction x, a second direction y and a third direction z, which are perpendicular to one another in pairs. The first direction x and the second direction y together define a plane which is referred to as the component plane E. The component 2 lies in the component plane E (wherein an extension of the component 2 in the third direction z is disregarded).

[0052] The apparatus 1 comprises a heating portion 3 with a heating means 5 for heating a first region 7 of the component 2 and a cooling portion 4 with a cooling means 6 for cooling a second region 8 of the component 2. The cooling portion 4 is downstream of the heating portion 3 in the second direction y, i.e., it is arranged to the right of the heating portion 3 in the illustration.

[0053] The cooling means 6 has a nozzle 9 for discharging a cooling fluid 10 onto the component 2. The cooling fluid 10 is indicated by arrows. The cooling fluid can be supplied to the nozzle 9 via a connection 18.

[0054] In the second direction y, the nozzle 9 is oriented such that it drops. This means that the nozzle 9 discharges the cooling fluid 10 to the bottom right in the illustration of FIG. 1. The nozzle 9 has a fluid channel 15 with a nozzle opening 16 and a straight portion 17 upstream of said nozzle opening. In addition, an outer wall 11 of the nozzle 9 facing the heating portion 3 also drops in the second direction y. In the embodiment shown, the outer wall 11 is formed parallel to the straight portion 17 of the fluid channel 15.

[0055] The apparatus 1 further comprises a nozzle box 22 with a partition wall 19 between the heating portion 3 and the cooling portion 4 and with a cover plate 20, which is arranged in the cooling portion 4 above the nozzle 9. The outer wall 11 of the nozzle 9 facing the heating portion 3 is spaced apart from the partition wall 19 in the second direction y. The partition wall 19 is oriented parallel to the outer wall 11.

[0056] The apparatus 1 also comprises a guide plate 12, which is arranged in the cooling portion 4 on a side of the nozzle 9 facing away from the heating portion 3 and parallel to the component plane E. An edge 13 of the guide plate 12 facing the nozzle 9 is rounded. This is the left edge of the guide plate 13 in the illustration of FIG. 1. This is bent downwards and thus rounded. A plurality of spacer pins 14 is arranged on the guide plate 12 in order to hold the component 2 at a distance from the guide plate 12.

[0057] The apparatus 1 further comprises insulation 21 below the heating portion 3 and above the nozzle box 22.

[0058] FIG. 2 shows an enlargement of the nozzle 9 from FIG. 1. The nozzle 9 is part of the cooling means 6. In particular, the straight portion 17 of the fluid channel 15 can be seen. In addition, the outer wall 11 facing the heating portion 3 (not shown here) can be seen. A length l.sub.g of the straight portion 17 of the fluid channel 15 is also indicated. This is at least 5 mm. In addition, a width b.sub.g of the fluid channel 15 perpendicular to the first direction x is indicated. This has a uniform value in the range of 0.1 to 3 mm. Furthermore, a first angle α is indicated at which the nozzle 9 is aligned with the component plane E. A second angle β is also indicated, which encloses the outer wall 11 of the nozzle 9 facing the heating portion 3 with the component plane E. In the embodiment shown, the first angle and the second angle are equal and are in the range of 15 to 60°.

[0059] FIG. 3 shows a flow cross section of the nozzle of the apparatus from FIG. 1. The nozzle opening 16 is indicated, the width b.sub.g of which corresponds to the width of the straight portion 17 of the fluid channel 15. In addition, an expansion a of the nozzle opening 16 in the first direction x is indicated.

[0060] By means of the described apparatus 1, components 2, more particularly steel components for motor vehicles, can be thermally treated individually in different regions, wherein a particularly defined delimitation between the regions 7, 8 is possible. For this purpose, the nozzle 9 is directed away from the heating portion 3 and has a fluid channel 15 having a nozzle opening 16.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0061] 1 Apparatus [0062] 2 Component [0063] 3 Heating portion [0064] 4 Cooling portion [0065] 5 Heating means [0066] 6 Cooling means [0067] 7 First region [0068] 8 Second region [0069] 9 Nozzle [0070] 10 Cooling fluid [0071] 11 Outer wall [0072] 12 Guide plate [0073] 13 Edge [0074] 14 Spacer pin [0075] 15 Fluid channel [0076] 16 Nozzle opening [0077] 17 Straight portion [0078] 18 Connection [0079] 19 Partition wall [0080] 20 Cover plate [0081] 21 Insulation [0082] 22 Nozzle box [0083] x First direction [0084] y Second direction [0085] z Third direction [0086] E Component plane [0087] l.sub.g Length of the straight portion [0088] b.sub.g Width of the straight portion [0089] a Expansion of the nozzle opening [0090] α First angle [0091] β Second angle