Boots – shoes – and leggings
Patent
1996-01-23
1997-11-18
Elmore, Reba I.
Boots, shoes, and leggings
36446902, 36446801, 36446823, 364130, G05B 1132
Patent
active
056894155
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of machine control and, more particularly to the control of paint spraying machines and the like.
For the purposes of illustration the following description has been given in terms of paint application in the automotive industry. It is to be understood that the invention is of wider applicability as described further below.
FIG. 1 gives an overview of a typical example of the paint application section ("booth") of a vehicle production plant, in diagrammatic form. The booth usually includes a number of "stations" each containing a set of machines. For example, station A shown in FIG. 1 contains eleven painting machines. Each station may be considered to be made up of a number of "zones". For example, in station A the pair of painting machines 101 and 201 which face one another across the conveyor may be treated as defining a zone, Z1. Similarly, the paint guns 301, 302 and 303, provided on a roof machine, may be treated as defining a zone, Z5. According to the present invention any combination of bells, stonechip, sill spray and manual hand colour stations can be used in each zone, it is freely configurable. A vehicle body 1 (here a car) to be painted is moved through the various zones and stations by a conveyor 3 (typically a pair of moving tracks in the floor).
Modern vehicle production plants cater for the manufacture of a number of different vehicle body styles painted in a range of colours. Successive vehicle bodies passing through a booth may be of different body styles and may require painting in different colours. In order that the relevant vehicle body style and colour can be determined it is usual for each body to have an ident code etched on it. As a vehicle body enters the booth its ident code is read by an optical system OP1. The ident code information is fed from the optical system OP1 to one or more programmable logic controllers (PLCs) controlling the paint application process in the booth. The PLC sets up the painting machines and ancillary equipment ready to begin painting the vehicle body when it enters the first station. Meanwhile the body is conveyed between a pair of substantially upright duster rollers DR1 for removing dust and particles from the surface of the body by physically brushing them away and applying a voltage. The duster DR1 may also serve to deionise the vehicle body, or a separate deioniser may be provided.
As is well known, such PLCs are "off the peg" devices generally designed to be able to control a wide range of machines (motors, valves, etc.) in response to given inputs and to be programmable in relatively simple ladder logic. A standard PLC requires programming so as to be able to control the particular installation in question.
Paint application machines and PLCs are made by a number of different manufacturers. An example of a PLC that is sometimes used in controlling paint application machines is the Simatic S5 model 101U from the Simatic S5 series manufactured by Siemens.
When used for controlling paint application machines in the automotive industry, the PLCs must be programmed with information on the number and types of paint guns and auxiliary devices which are to be controlled. The appropriate input/output blocks must be attached to the PLCs so that they will communicate with each peripheral device in the format appropriate to that device. The PLCs must also be programmed with control data so that each machine in the booth (paint gun, bell, duster, fan, etc.) will be appropriately controlled at all times when different models of car are being painted in different colours. Any given car model may be considered to consist of a number of vertical slices, with different characteristics being required of each paint gun when applying paint to each "slice" of the car ("profiling").
The behaviour of any machine in the booth can be described by specifying values for a set of parameters related to physical components of the machine. FIG. 2 helps to illustrate this concept.
In FIG. 2 an electrostat
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Calotychos Jean Andre
McBride John Mather
Miles Mark
Dean Robert J.
Ducost Engineering Ltd.
Elmore Reba I.
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