Coating equipment

Details Coating equipment Coating equipment

1998-11-27

2001-04-17

Lamb, Brenda A. (Department: 1734)

Coating apparatus

With heat exchange, drying, or non-coating gas or vapor...

Plural treatments

C118S426000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06217652

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention concerns a coating facility adapted for applying pretreatment and coating to works such as car bodies while conveying them by an overhead conveyor, then transferring them to a floor conveyor, drying and then conveying them to a succeeding step after completion of the drying.
BACKGROUND ART
FIG.
5
and
FIG. 6
show a running state and a storage state of an existent coating facility for conducting electrodeposition coating which comprises, along an overhead conveyor
42
formed in a circulation track
41
, a loading device
43
for loading works W conveyed from the preceding step to hangers H each at a predetermined loading position P
1
, a pretreatment device
44
for applying pretreatment such as cleaning, degreasing and chemical formation to the surface of the works W loaded by the loading device
43
, an electrodeposition coating device
45
for forming an electrodeposition coating film on the surface of the works W completed with the pretreatment by the pretreatment device
44
, and a transfer device
48
for down loading the works W from the hangers H after completion of the electrodeposition coating in the electrodeposition coating device
45
and transferring them to carriers T, at a predetermined transferring position P
2
, to a floor conveyor
47
running in a drying furnace
46
in this order.
The floor conveyor
47
constitutes a circulation track
47
a
for conveying the carriers T to which the works W are transferred at a transferring position P
2
into the drying furnace
46
, conveying the works W after completion of drying to the succeeding step while loading them as they are on the carriers T and returning the carriers T emptied in the succeeding stage again to the transferring position P
2
.
Further, in the circulation track
47
a
of the floor conveyor
47
that returns from the succeeding step is branched to form a reserved carrier storage track
47
b
for storing the emptied carriers T by the number of the works W being conveyed by the overhead conveyor
42
but not yet conveyed to the drying furnace
46
, and the circulation track
47
a
from the exit of the drying furnace
46
to the succeeding step is branched to form a carrier storage track
47
c
for storing all the works W which are being conveyed by the overhead conveyor
42
and the floor conveyor
47
in a state loaded on the carriers T.
Then, the carrier storage track
47
c
is adapted such that, at the instance the conveyance of the works from the preceding step and the conveyance to the succeeding step are stopped, it completes drying for the works W conveying by the floor conveyor
47
and stores them while loading on the carriers T as they are, applies pretreatment and completes electrodeposition coating of the works W conveying by the overhead conveyor
42
, transfers them to the carriers T stored in the reserved carrier storage track
47
b,
conveys them successively to the drying furnace
46
, completes drying and then stores them while loading as they are on the carriers T.
The overhead conveyor
42
is branched to form a looped empty hanger storage track
41
a
from the circulation track
41
that returns from the transferring position P
2
to the loading position P
1
for storing hangers H which are emptied after transferring the works to the carriers T of the floor conveyor
47
, when the conveyance of the works W from the preceding step is stopped, so that the empty hangers H may be prevented from corrosion caused when left in the pretreatment device
44
or the electrodeposition coating device
45
, and so that the empty hangers H can be delivered immediately to the loading position P
1
as soon as the conveyance of the works W from the preceding step is started.
With such a constitution, during operation of the conveying lines between each of the steps, the hangers are circulately run by the overhead conveyor
42
, pretreatment is applied in the pretreatment device
44
while conveying the works W loaded by the loading device
43
, electrodeposition coating is conducted in the electrodeposition coating device
45
, the works W are re-transferred subsequently by the transfer device
48
to the carriers T of the floor conveyor
47
, and the emptied hangers H are returned again to the loading position P
1
to which succeeding works W are loaded and treated continuously.
Then, the floor conveyor
47
is adapted such that empty carriers T returning from the succeeding step along the circulation track
47
a
or the reserved carriers T stored in the reserved carrier storage track
47
b
are conveyed to the transferring position P
2
, the works W transferred by the transfer device
48
to the carriers T are conveyed into the drying furnace
46
and conveyed as they are to the succeeding step after the completion of the drying.
Then, when the operations for one day are completed, the conveying lines between each of the steps are stopped and conveyance from the preceding step and conveyance to the succeeding step of the works W are stopped, the works W in the drying furnace
46
are stored being loaded as they are on the carriers T in the carrier storage track
47
c,
while the works W in the pretreatment device
44
and the electrodeposition coating device
45
are completed with the pretreatment and the electrodeposition coating, transferred by the transfer device
48
to the reserved carriers T on the floor conveyor
47
, dried in the drying furnace
46
and then stored while being loaded as they are on the reserved carriers T in the carrier storage track
47
c,
while the hangers H emptied after transferring the works to the carriers T are stored in the empty hanger storage track
41
a.
Then, when the conveyance from the preceding step and conveyance to the succeeding step of the works W are started in the next morning, the empty hangers H stored in the empty hanger storage track
41
a
are delivered to the circulation track
41
of the overhead conveyor
42
and caused to stand-by at the loading position P
1
and the coating operation is started by successively loading the works W conveyed form the preceding step and at the same time, the works W stored in the carrier storage track
47
c
are successively conveyed together with the carriers T to the succeeding step, and the empty carriers T returned from the succeeding step are delivered to and stored in the reversed carrier storage track
47
b
successively till the leading work W conveyed by the overhead conveyor
42
reaches the transferring position P
2
.
In accordance with the coating facility described above, even when conveyance from the preceding step and the conveyance to the next step of the works W are stopped, since all the works W that are being conveyed in the overhead conveyor
42
and the floor conveyor
47
can be stored in a state completed with the coating and the drying for the coated film, there is no worry that the works are left during or at the completion of the pretreatment, during or at the completion of the electrodeposition coating and, further, left undried during the drying operation, so that the coating quality can be maintained constant.
However, there are problems in this case for the requirement of additionally providing, in a restricted site of a factory site, a space for storing empty carriers T not used during the running state of applying pretreatment, electrodeposition coating and drying to the works W while conveying them, a space for storing all the works W that are being conveyed by the overhead conveyor
42
and the floor conveyor
47
while loading them on the carriers T at the instance the conveyance from the preceding step and the conveyance to the succeeding step of the works W are stopped, and a space for storing empty hangers.
For instance, assuming that 49 sets of works W are conveyed into the pretreatment device
44
and the electrodeposition coating device
45
, while 24 sets of works W are conveyed in the drying furnace
46
, and that the storage pitch for the hangers H and the carriers T is about 7 m, the entire length of the e

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