TEMPERATURE CONTROL STATION FOR PARTIALLY THERMALLY TREATING A METAL COMPONENT

Abstract

The invention relates to an apparatus and a tempering station for the partial heat treatment of a metal component, and the use of at least one tangential nozzle in a tempering station for the partial heat treatment of a metal component. The tempering station comprises a processing plane disposed in the tempering station, the component being able to be disposed in said plane, and at least one nozzle which points to the processing plane and is provided and adapted for discharging a fluid stream for cooling at least a first sub-area of the component, wherein the at least one nozzle is a tangential nozzle. The tempering station and the apparatus make it possible in particular to adjust, as reliably and/or precisely as possible, a transition region between the different heat-treated sub-areas of the component, in particular to keep said region as small as possible.

Claims

1. A tempering station for the partial heat treatment of a metal component, comprising a processing plane disposed in the tempering station and in which the component can be disposed, at least one nozzle which points at the processing plane and is provided and adapted for discharging a fluid stream for cooling at least a first sub-area of the component, wherein the at least one nozzle is a tangential nozzle.

2. The tempering station according to claim 1, wherein a nozzle geometry of the at least one nozzle is designed such that at least one element of the fluid stream flowing in the direction of a second sub-area of the component is deflected towards the first sub-area.

3. The tempering station according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle geometry of the at least one nozzle is designed in such a way that at least one element of the fluid stream flows through the nozzle initially in one direction towards a second sub-area of the component and then is deflected towards the first sub-area (6).

4. The tempering station according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle geometry of the at least one nozzle is designed such that the fluid stream first flows through the nozzle in one direction towards a second sub-area of the component and is then deflected towards the first sub-area.

5. The tempering station according to claim 1, wherein a nozzle outlet of the at least one nozzle is designed such that a flow pulse in the direction of a second sub-area of the component is prevented at the nozzle outlet (9).

6. The tempering station according to claim 1, wherein the at least one nozzle has a deflection region which extends towards and/or at least partially below a partition wall which separates the first sub-area from a second sub-area of the component.

7. The tempering station according to claim 1, wherein the at least one nozzle is designed such that the fluid stream generates a negative pressure area at a side pointing towards the processing plane and/or at a region of the nozzle pointing towards a second sub-area of the component.

8. The tempering station according to claim 1, wherein a distance between the processing plane and the at least one nozzle is adjustable such that the at least one nozzle does not contact the component.

9. An apparatus for the heat treatment of a metal component, comprising at least: a heatable first furnace, a tempering station downstream of the first furnace, the tempering station designed according to claim 1.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising at least: a heatable second furnace downstream of the tempering station, and/or a press-hardening tool downstream of the tempering station and/or the second furnace.

11. Use of at least one tangential nozzle in a tempering station for the partial heat treatment of a metallic component.

Description

[0045] The invention and the technical environment will be explained in more detail with reference to the figures. It should be noted that the invention should not be limited by the exemplary embodiments shown. In particular, unless explicitly stated otherwise, it is also possible to extract partial aspects from the facts explained in the figures and to combine them with other components and/or insights from other figures and/or from the present description. The figures show:

[0046] FIG. 1: a schematic representation of a tempering station according to the invention, and

[0047] FIG. 2: a schematic representation of an apparatus according to the invention.

[0048] FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a tempering station 1 for the partial heat treatment of a metal component 2. A processing plane 3 is disposed in the tempering station 1, in which the component 2 is located. In addition, a nozzle 4 is disposed in the tempering station 1, as an example here, which points toward the processing plane 3 and is provided for discharging a fluid stream 5 (shown in dashed lines in FIG. 1) for cooling a first sub-area 6 of the component 2.

[0049] In addition, FIG. 1 illustrates that the nozzle 4 is a tangential nozzle 13. This is characterized in that at a nozzle outlet 9 of the nozzle 4, the nozzle generates a fluid stream 5 which substantially points tangentially or parallel to a surface of the component 2, in this case to a surface of the first sub-area 6 of the component 2. This orientation is illustrated by the arrow at the end of the fluid stream 5 shown in dashed lines.

[0050] Furthermore, a nozzle geometry 8 (shown in section in FIG. 1) of the nozzle 4 is designed such that at least one element of the fluid stream 5 flowing in the direction of a second sub-area 7 of the component 2 is deflected towards the first sub-area 6. According to the illustration according to FIG. 1, the nozzle geometry is even designed such that the entire fluid stream 5 flowing through the nozzle 4 initially flows through the nozzle 4 in one direction towards a second sub-area 7 of the component 2 and then is deflected toward the first sub-area 6 of the component 2. For deflecting the fluid stream 5 toward the first sub-area 6, the nozzle 4 in FIG. 1 has a deflection region 10. A nozzle outlet 9 of the nozzle 4 follows along the deflection region 10 on the downstream side. The nozzle outlet 9 is configured, aligned and disposed relative to the deflection region 10 in such a way that at the nozzle outlet 9 any flow pulse in the direction of the second sub-area 7 of the component 2 is prevented.

[0051] In FIG. 1 it is also shown that the deflection region 10 of the nozzle 4 extends towards and at least partially below a partition wall 11, which delimits the first sub-area 6 of the component 2 from the second sub-area 7 of the component 2 (thermally). The partition wall 11 is formed here by way of example as part of a nozzle box 19 in which a heat source 20 is (thermally) kept separate or isolated from the nozzle 4. The partition wall 11 helps to (thermally) seal off the nozzle 4 and the first sub-area 6 of the component 2 from the heat source 20, and thus to (thermally) delimit the first sub-area 6 of the component 2, which is cooled by means of the nozzle 4, from the second sub-area 7 of the component 2, which is heated by means of the heat source 20, so that different component temperatures can be established in the sub-areas 6, 7, leading to different grain structure and/or strength properties in the sub-areas 6, 7 of the component.

[0052] In addition, it is shown in FIG. 1 that the nozzle 4 in FIG. 1 is designed such that the fluid stream 5 produces a negative pressure area 12 on a side of the nozzle 4 pointing towards the processing plane 3 and on an area of the nozzle 4 which points towards a second sub-area 7 of the component 2. In addition, it can be seen in FIG. 1 that a distance between the processing plane 3 and the nozzle 4 is established such that the nozzle 4 does not contact the component 2.

[0053] In addition to the nozzle 4, which is designed as tangential nozzle 13, the tempering station 1 here has a further nozzle 18. The further nozzle 18 is exemplified in the manner of a shower and held next to the tangential nozzle 13 in the tempering station 1.

[0054] FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of an inventive device 14 for heat treating a metal component 2. The apparatus 14 has a heatable first furnace 15, a tempering station 1 (directly) disposed downstream of the first furnace 15, a heatable second furnace 16 (directly) disposed downstream of the tempering station 1, and a press-hardening tool 17 (directly) disposed downstream of the second furnace 16. The apparatus 14 here represents a thermoforming line for (partial) press hardening. The press-hardening tool 17 is part of a press or is composed of a press.

[0055] A tempering station and a device for the heat treatment of a metal component are disclosed herein, which at least partially resolve problems identified by the prior art. In particular, the tempering station and the apparatus allow a transition region to be established as reliably and/or precisely as possible between the different heat-treated sub-areas of the component, in particular to be made as small as possible. In addition, the tempering station and the device in particular eliminate the need for the component to make contact with a partition wall provided for (thermal) delimitation of the differently tempered sub-areas of the component.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

[0056] 1 Tempering station [0057] 2 Component [0058] 3 Processing plane [0059] 4 Nozzle [0060] 5 Fluid stream [0061] 6 First sub-area [0062] 7 Second sub-area [0063] 8 Nozzle geometry [0064] 9 Nozzle exit [0065] 10 Deflection area [0066] 11 Partition wall [0067] 12 Negative pressure area [0068] 13 Tangential nozzle [0069] 14 Apparatus [0070] 15 First furnace [0071] 16 Second furnace [0072] 17 Press-hardening tool [0073] 18 Further nozzle [0074] 19 Nozzle box [0075] 20 Heat source