JP-2026075442-A - Method and apparatus for manufacturing glass plates

JP2026075442AJP 2026075442 AJP2026075442 AJP 2026075442AJP-2026075442-A

Abstract

[Problem] Even if a malfunction occurs in the product selection device, the problem is to prevent defective glass plates from being mistakenly sent to the next process and to suppress the deterioration of glass plate yield. [Solution] The variety selection process includes a first variety selection process S22 in which a first variety selection device 3 with relatively high processing capacity generates first variety information indicating varieties to be selected from the first variety group based on first defect information transmitted from the inspection device 2 in relatively large amounts, and a second variety selection process S23 in which a second variety selection device 4 with relatively low processing capacity generates second variety information indicating varieties to be selected from the second variety group based on second defect information transmitted from the inspection device 2 in relatively small amounts. In the transport process S24, the transport controller 6 controls the transport device 7 to transport the glass plate to a position corresponding to the first variety information if the first variety information can be obtained, and controls the transport device 7 to transport the glass plate to a position corresponding to the second variety information if the first variety information cannot be obtained. [Selection Diagram] Figure 3

Inventors

吉野敬一
井村修平

Assignees

日本電気硝子株式会社

Dates

Publication Date: 20260508
Application Date: 20241022

Claims (13)

A method for manufacturing a glass plate, comprising: an inspection step of inspecting defects in a glass plate using an inspection device and generating defect information; a variety selection step of selecting the variety of the glass plate from a predetermined variety group using a variety selection device; and a transport step of controlling a transport device for transporting the glass plate using a transport controller, The aforementioned group of varieties includes a first group of varieties and a second group of varieties that is different from the first group of varieties. The defect information includes first defect information and second defect information, which contains less information than the first defect information. The aforementioned variety selection device includes a first variety selection device and a second variety selection device having a lower processing capacity than the first variety selection device. The variety selection step includes a first variety selection step that generates first variety information indicating the variety of the glass plate to be selected from the first variety group based on the first defect information transmitted from the inspection device to the first variety selection device, and a second variety selection step that generates second variety information indicating the variety of the glass plate to be selected from the second variety group based on the second defect information transmitted from the inspection device to the second variety selection device, A method for manufacturing a glass plate, characterized in that, in the transport step, the transport controller controls the transport device to transport the glass plate to a position corresponding to the first type information if the first type information can be obtained, and controls the transport device to transport the glass plate to a position corresponding to the second type information if the first type information cannot be obtained.
The aforementioned first variety selection device is a personal computer, The method for manufacturing a glass plate according to claim 1, wherein the second variety selection device is a PLC.
The method for manufacturing a glass plate according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the transport controller determines that the acquisition of the first variety information cannot be completed even after a predetermined time has elapsed since the start of acquiring the first variety information.
The first defect information includes location information of the defect contained in the glass plate, The method for manufacturing a glass plate according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the second defect information does not include location information of the defect contained in the glass plate.
The aforementioned first defect information is the type, size, quantity, and location of the defects contained in the glass plate. The method for manufacturing a glass plate according to claim 4, wherein the second defect information is the type, size, and quantity of defects contained in the glass plate.
The method for manufacturing a glass plate according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the communication means between the inspection device and the first variety selection device is independent of the communication means between the inspection device and the second variety selection device.
The method for manufacturing a glass plate according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the communication means between the first variety selection device and the transport controller is independent of the communication means between the second variety selection device and the transport controller.
The method for manufacturing a glass plate according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the second variety selection device transmits the second variety information to the transport controller regardless of whether the transport controller has acquired the first variety information.
The system further includes a server that records the aforementioned first variety information. The method for manufacturing a glass plate according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the transport controller acquires the first variety information from the server.
The method for manufacturing glass plates according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the conveying device comprises a loading device for loading glass plates onto a plurality of pallets for loading the glass plates.
The first variety group includes variety A, which has the highest quality among the first variety group, and variety B, which has a different quality from variety A. The second variety group includes the α variety, which has the highest quality among the second variety group, and the β variety, which has a different quality from the α variety. The plurality of pallets include a first pallet and a second pallet that is different from the first pallet. The method for manufacturing a glass plate according to claim 10, wherein the loading device loads the glass plate whose first variety information indicates variety A and the glass plate whose second variety information indicates variety α onto the first pallet, and loads the glass plate whose first variety information indicates variety B and the glass plate whose second variety information indicates variety β onto the second pallet.
The method for manufacturing a glass plate according to claim 1 or 2, wherein if the transport controller cannot acquire the first product information and the second product information, the glass plate is deemed an uninspected product or a discarded product.
A glass plate manufacturing apparatus comprising: an inspection device that inspects glass plates for defects and generates defect information; a variety selection device that selects the variety of the glass plate from a predetermined variety group; a conveying device that conveys the glass plate; and a conveying controller that controls the conveying device, The aforementioned group of varieties includes a first group of varieties and a second group of varieties that is different from the first group of varieties. The defect information includes first defect information and second defect information, which contains less information than the first defect information. The aforementioned variety selection device includes a first variety selection device and a second variety selection device having a lower processing capacity than the first variety selection device. The first variety selection device generates first variety information indicating the variety of the glass plate to be selected from the first variety group, based on the first defect information transmitted from the inspection device to the first variety selection device. The second variety selection device generates second variety information indicating the variety of the glass plate to be selected from the second variety group, based on the second defect information transmitted from the inspection device to the second variety selection device. A glass plate manufacturing apparatus characterized in that, when the transport controller can acquire the first type information, the transport device controls the transport device to transport the glass plate to a position corresponding to the first type information, and when the first type information cannot be acquired, the transport device controls the transport device to transport the glass plate to a position corresponding to the second type information.

Description

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for manufacturing glass plates. The glass plate manufacturing process includes, for example, an inspection process, a product selection process, and a transport process (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 3). In the inspection process, an inspection device is used to inspect the glass plate for defects and generate defect information. In the variety selection process, a variety selection device selects the type of glass plate from a predetermined group based on defect information and generates variety information. The variety information includes both acceptable and unacceptable products. Furthermore, acceptable products may be classified into multiple varieties depending on the quality of the glass plate. In the conveying process, the conveying device transports the glass plates to positions corresponding to the product type information. International Publication No. 2020/090627Japanese Patent Publication No. 2014-44063Japanese Patent Publication No. 2018-112411 This is a flowchart showing a method for manufacturing a glass plate according to an embodiment of the present invention.This is a schematic diagram showing a grading device included in the glass plate manufacturing apparatus according to this embodiment.This flowchart shows the grading process included in the manufacturing method of glass plates according to this embodiment.This is a perspective view showing the area around the conveying device included in the glass plate manufacturing apparatus according to this embodiment. The embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. As shown in Figure 1, the glass plate manufacturing method according to this embodiment is broadly divided into two steps: step S1, which is performed in a molding plant, and step S2, which is performed in a processing plant. Process S1 performed in the molding plant includes a molding process S3, a slow cooling process S4, a first cutting process S5, a second cutting process S6, and a grading process S7. Process S1 performed in the molding plant may further include a cleaning process. The molding process S3 is a process of continuously molding a long glass ribbon from molten glass using the down-draw method. Examples of down-draw methods include the overflow down-draw method, the slot down-draw method, and the re-draw method. The molding method is not particularly limited, and methods such as the float method may also be used. The slow cooling process S4 is a process of slowly cooling the glass ribbon to a temperature below its strain point in order to reduce the distortion of the glass ribbon. The first cutting step S5 is a step in which the glass ribbon is cut along the width direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction to obtain a rectangular first glass plate. The second cutting step S6 is a step in which both ends of the first glass plate in the width direction (including the relatively thicker edges) are cut to obtain a rectangular second glass plate. As a cutting method in the first cutting step S5 and the second cutting step S6, for example, fracture due to bending stress can be used. For example, a method can be used in which a scribe line is formed on the glass surface with a cutter, and then bending stress is applied around the scribe line to fracture the glass plate along the scribe line. The cutting method is not particularly limited, and for example, fracture due to thermal stress using a laser may also be used. The grading process S7 includes the steps of selecting the type of second glass plate and sequentially stacking the second glass plates onto pallets according to their type. Details of the grading process S7 will be described later. As a result of the grading process S7, once a predetermined number of second-grade glass sheets are loaded onto a single pallet, the packaging of the second-grade glass sheets is completed (process S8). The packages of second-grade glass sheets are transported from the molding plant to the processing plant (packaging transport process S9). Note that the packages of second-grade glass sheets may be temporarily stored at the molding plant before being transported to the processing plant. Process S2, performed at the processing plant, includes the unpacking process S10, the third cutting process S11, the end face polishing process S12, the cleaning process S13, the final inspection process S14, the product packaging process S15, and the disposal process S16. The unpacking process S10 is the process of unpacking the packaging of the second glass plate and removing the second glass plate. The third cutting step S11 is a process in which the second glass plate is cut according to a cutting pattern corresponding to the product type to obtain a rectangular third glass plate of the product size. Cutting methods used in the third cutting step S11 include, for example, cleavage using bending stress or cleavage using