Coating apparatus – Projection or spray type – Work-supported and guided carriage
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-21
2002-09-24
Crispino, Richard (Department: 1734)
Coating apparatus
Projection or spray type
Work-supported and guided carriage
C118S317000, C118SDIG001, C134S008000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06454857
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to an apparatus for the cleaning and/or coating of a mold surface of a mold, in particular of the mold surface of a vulcanization mold for the manufacture of tires, comprising a frame which can be placed onto the mold and in which a handling device is movable along a predetermined track in such a way that at least one cleaning or coating unit is provided on the handling unit of which the relative position is adjustable relative to the mold surface, is moved past the mold surface at a predetermined spacing for the cleaning or coating, and further comprising a drive means for the adjustment of the position of the cleaning or coating unit. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for the cleaning and/or coating of a mold surface of a mold.
The apparatus and method for the cleaning of the mold surface of a mold, in particular the mold surface of a vulcanization mold for the manufacture of tires, is known from DE 197 12 513 A1. In this apparatus a frame in which a five-axes robot is movable as a handling unit along a circular track is inserted between the part molds of the mold which can be moved apart. A nozzle for dry ice pellets is provided at the free end of the robot, and the relative position of the nozzle relative to the mold surface can be set with the aid of the robot. After the relative position has been set, the total robot, which is secured on a rotatable ring, is moved circularly, with the dry ice pellets which emerge from the nozzle cleaning the mold surface.
In this known apparatus the problem exists that as a result of the use of the robot, which takes up a lot of constructional volume as a consequence of its design, the frame must be of correspondingly large dimensions, so that the mold parts mold must be moved correspondingly far apart. Furthermore, the programming of the five-axis robot is very time and cost intensive as a result of the complex movements of the different axes, which must be coordinated with one another. A further problem in the known apparatus resides in the fact that it is exposed to high temperatures when used for the cleaning of vulcanization molds since the molds are cleaned during the running operation and consequently only cool down a little. This has the consequence that both the sensitive electronics, the drives and also the mechanical bearing points of the robot are exposed to correspondingly high operating temperatures through which their orderly operation can be disturbed. Finally, the drive with which the robot is moved in the frame must be laid out to be correspondingly powerful as a result of the masses which the robot and its drive components have, which have to be moved and braked. It is the object of the invention to so further develop the apparatus and method of the initially named kind that the handling apparatus can be programmed without great effort and an orderly operation of the handling device is possible even at high environmental temperatures.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is satisfied by an apparatus having the following features. An apparatus for the cleaning and/or coating of a mold surface of a mold, in particular of the mold surface of a vulcanization mold for the manufacture of tires. The apparatus has a frame which can be placed onto the mold and in which a handling device is movable along a predetermined track in such a way that at least one cleaning or coating unit is provided on the handling device, of which the relative position is adjustable relative to the mold surface. The at least one cleaning or coating units is moved past the mold surface at a predetermined spacing for the cleaning or coating.
The apparatus further has a drive means for the adjustment of the position of the cleaning or coating unit, wherein the drive means coupled to the handling device for the adjustment of the relative position of the cleaning or coating unit is decoupled from the handling device, at least during the movement of the handling device along the predetermined track, with the cleaning or coating unit retaining its relative position with respect to the mold surface previously set by the drive device. Furthermore, the object is satisfied by a method having the following features. A method for the coating or cleaning of the mold surface of a mold, in particular of the mold surface of a vulcanization mold for the production of tires, in which a frame is positioned onto the mold, in which the relative position of a cleaning and/or coating unit held on a handling device movable along a predetermined track in the frame is subsequently adjusted with the aid of a drive means and thereafter the handling device is moved along the predetermined track, with the cleaning or coating unit being moved in its adjusted position past the mold surface for the cleaning or coating respectively. The drive means is uncoupled from the handling device after the relative position of the cleaning or coating device has been adjusted. The handling device is then subsequently moved along the predetermined track and is coupled again to the drive means for renewed setting of the relative position of the cleaning or coating unit.
In the invention the drive means is decoupled from the handling device during the movement of the handling device, while it is connected to the handling device at least during the adjustment of the cleaning or coating unit. The drive means is consequently not co-moved during the movement of the handling device in the frame, so that the drive which moves the handling device can be made correspondingly small. Furthermore, the constructional space required in the frame for the handling device is smaller in the apparatus of the invention than in the known apparatus, since the drive device which can be decoupled from the handling device need not be directly arranged in the inner space surrounded by the frame. Since the cleaning or coating unit retains its relative position previously set by the drive device with respect to the mold surface, even when the drive means is decoupled, a follow-up regulation of the position of the cleaning or coating unit during the movement of the handling device is not required, so that, on the one hand, the control complexity is smaller and, on the other hand, sensitive control modules and sensors which could be impaired in their manner of operation through the high temperatures, in particular during the cleaning of vulcanization molds, do not have to be provided at the handling device.
Further advantageous developments of the invention can be seen from the subsequent description, the drawing and also the subordinate claims. Thus, it is proposed that the handling device should be provided with a braking unit which locks the cleaning or coating unit in its relative position after the adjustment. In this way a situation is achieved in which the relative position of the cleaning or coating unit is also not misadjusted with a jolt-like movement of the handling device.
Furthermore, it is proposed that a self-locking positioning unit which is coupled with the drive means for the adjustment should be provided at the handling device, in addition to, or as an alternative to, the locking of the relative position of the cleaning or coating unit. In this embodiment the self-locking of the positioning unit also achieves a situation in which the position of the cleaning or coating unit does not change during the movement of the handling device.
In a preferred embodiment of the apparatus the drive means for the adjustment of the cleaning or coating unit is held on a carriage which is movable between a rest position, in which the drive means is spaced from the handling device, and a coupling position, in which the drive means is coupled to the handling device. With the aid of the carriage a rapid coupling on and decoupling of the drive means to or from the handling device is made possible, with the drive means being spaced from the frame when the carriage is moved into its rest position so that it is protected from high temperatures.
The handling device preferably has an attachment uni
Glasner Peter
Hartmann Günther Willi
Crispino Richard
King David L.
Tadesse Yewebdar T
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
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