Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Shinji Kazama

Atsushi Suzuki

Kazuya Sakamoto

Masayoshi Kai

Nobumasa Hamazoe

Akira Noda

Kenji Ohwada

Hiromitsu Suganuma

Tomonori Taoka

Koichi Kuroki

Hideaki Onda

Takashi Idegomori

Takeshi Masaki

Hiroshi Mizutani

Kenichi Katahira

Kazuaki Kobayashi

Takahiro Suenaga

Hiromichi Baba

Kenichi Yasuda

Tetsuya Muramatsu

Tetsuji Umemoto

Hideomi Ito

Made up of a step of preparing a map expressing a correlation between solid phase percentage and viscosity of a slurry-form semi-solid metal () for a given metal composition; a step of setting a target viscosity corresponding to a target solid phase percentage using this map; a viscosity measuring step of measuring the viscosity of a semi-solid metal in a vessel () while cooling it; and a step of carrying out cooling until this viscosity reaches the target viscosity, by these steps being carried out in from the preparation of the map expressing the correlation between solid phase percentage and viscosity of the semi-solid metal to the end of cooling of the semi-solid metal the solid phase percentage of the semi-solid metal is made to match the target solid phase percentage. Because the viscosity is detected, the affects of cooling rate changes and time can be eliminated, and it is possible to raise management accuracy of the solid phase percentage of the semi-solid metal much further than with related art management based on time.

Molding of slurry-form semi-solidified metal

An apparatus for producing a metal formed product comprises a molten metal-holding furnace; a semisolidified metal-producing mechanism; a cooling member-restoring mechanism arranged adjacent to the semisolidified metal-producing mechanism, for applying a restoring treatment so that chillers have a desired function; a forming machine for forming semisolidified metal to have a predetermined shape; and an articulated robot capable of transporting a crucible to the molten metal-holding furnace, the semisolidified metal-producing mechanism, and the forming machine. The semisolidified metal-producing mechanism includes first to third agitators. The cooling member-restoring mechanism includes first to third treating sections. These components are arranged in a direction of back and forth movement of the articulated robot. Accordingly, it is possible to efficiently obtain the metal formed product having a high quality.

Apparatus and method for producing metal formed product

A heating machine for heating an ingot of a metal such as a magnesium alloy. The heating machine has a heating chamber equipped with a RF induction coil capable of swinging about a horizontally axis. The coil is placed horizontally, and the metal ingot is fed into the coil from an introduction chamber by a pushrod. Stoppers prevent the ingot from falling from the RF induction coil when it is switched from its horizontal posture to its vertical posture. The coil is wound on a cylindrical member. A rotatable hollow shaft is firmly mounted to the holder in a perpendicular relation to a substantially axially central portion of the cylindrical member. A part of the coil is inserted in the hollow shaft via an insulating material. The rotatable hollow shaft is swung by a swinging mechanism. The induction heating coil is wound on a ceramic holder. A metal ingot is inserted in the holder with a given clearance. A plurality of pillars of L-shaped cross section are fitted over the holder to place it in position vertically and horizontally.

Swingable induction heating chamber for melting ingot for metal casting

A method for heating a metal ingot for a injection molding comprising steps of finding out a time in advance relating to the time required for heating up to a set temperature in a test by using a thermocouple and a timer in a test furnace, of heating the ingot to the set temperature by heating it for that period of time in an actual furnace and of measuring a temperature at that time by a radiation thermometer to reserve the temperature based on the measurement. Further, it comprises steps of detecting an oxygen concentration within an atmosphere of the heating chamber after evacuating the heating chamber of the metal ingot to fill with an inert gas and of controlling power fed to an induction heating coil to heat the metal ingot when the detected oxygen concentration within the atmosphere is below a predetermined value.

Method and system for heating ingot for metal injection molding

A receiving chamber receives a material heated in a heating chamber. An injecting shaft of an injecting machine slurries the material crushed by cutters downstream of the receiving chamber and feeds the slurried material to an injection port formed between the fore ends of the shaft and injecting chamber so that the slurried material is gradually accumulated in the port. The shaft is retracted by counteraction from the slurried material accumulated in the port, over a distance proportional to a current accumulated amount of the material in the port. The current accumulated amount of the material in the port can be detected from a current position of the shaft, and then it is determined whether the detected current accumulated amount has reached a predetermined amount. When the current accumulated amount has not reached the predetermined amount, the cutters and injecting shaft are further driven until the predetermined amount is reached. The receiving chamber has a pair of passage sections on its outer surface in opposed relation to each other, which function both as light beam passages for light emitting and receiving elements that are provided on the sections for detecting whether a heated material is in the receiving chamber, and as inert gas supply passages to direct inert gas into the receiving chamber.

Injection molding apparatus

Growing community of inventors

Sayama, Japan

Shinji Kazama