Fluid sprinkling – spraying – and diffusing – With cleaning means – drip collecting – waste disposal or soil... – Nozzle cleaner – flusher or drainer
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-22
2001-05-22
Douglas, Lisa Ann (Department: 3752)
Fluid sprinkling, spraying, and diffusing
With cleaning means, drip collecting, waste disposal or soil...
Nozzle cleaner, flusher or drainer
C239S700000, C239S223000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06234405
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to a coating system which is particularly suitable for use, for example, in coating vehicle bodies or the like which require to change the paint color in the course of a coating operation.
DISCUSSION OF THE BACKGROUND
Generally, coating systems which are currently in use for coating vehicle bodies or the like, are largely constituted by a working mechanism which is provided with a swinging arm, a coating machine which is mounted on a fore end portion of the arm, and a paint hose which supplies paint to the coating machine. The upstream end of the paint hose is connected to a color changing valve assembly which is arranged to supply a selected paint color from paint sources of different colors.
In the case of coating systems of this sort, however, it becomes necessary to supply solvent and thereby washing away paint residues from the paint hose, and to discharge spent solvent from the machine each time when changing the paint color. Therefore, each color change not only entails wasteful consumption of paint and solvent but also takes an objectionably long period of time.
In this regard, attempts have been made to mount a color changing valve assembly on an arm of a working mechanism for the purpose of shortening the length of a paint hose between the color changing valve and a coating machine, as proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. S62-20853. A coating system of this sort, however, has an inherent problem that the performance quality of a working mechanism is deteriorated to a considerable degree due to an increased weight which is put on the arm of the working mechanism and a large number of hoses which are connected to a color changing valve assembly to impede operations of the arm.
As a second prior art coating system which is free from the problems just mentioned, there has been known a coating system (e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. S63-175662) employing a coating machine which is adapted to be mounted on a fore end portion of an arm and provided with a paint tank, the content of which is replaced each time when changing the paint color. Consequently, the second prior art coating system succeeded in abolishing the color changing valve assembly and in reducing the number of hoses.
Further, as a third prior art coating system, it has been known to provide a large number of paint cartridges which are filled with paint of different colors, which are adapted to be selectively and replaceably mounted on a housing of the coating system (e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H8-229446).
In the case of the above-mentioned second prior art coating system (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. S63-175662), a paint tank which is provided on a coating machine has to be washed on each color change and before filling a new color thereinto. Therefore, a problem with this coating system is that a color changing operation takes a great deal of time.
Besides, in the second prior art coating system, an air hose which supplies air to the coating machine for spraying paint is usually allowed to hang down from the arm of the working mechanism. This air hose could cause coating defects by contacting a coating surface of a work piece during a coating operation or could be damaged contact with other moving parts of the machine.
Further, in the case of the third prior art coating system (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H8-229446) employing paint cartridges for different paint colors, it becomes necessary to provide a paint charging device in the vicinity of the coating system for charging or filling paint into a dismantled cartridge each time when changing the paint color although such a paint charging operation is troublesome and takes time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above-mentioned problems with prior art coating systems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a coating system which is so arranged as to shorten the time which is required for a color change in the course of a coating operation and at the same time so arranged as to preclude coating defects as well as damages to a paint hose.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objective, according to the present invention, there is provided a coating system which comprises:
a working mechanism having a pivotally supported swing arm; a rotary atomizing head type coating machine mounted on a fore end portion of the arm of the working mechanism and having a rotary atomizing head adapted to be rotated by an air motor; a plural number of feeder units of different paint colors adapted to be replaceably mounted on the rotary atomizing head type coating machine and each equipped with a feed tube to supply paint thereto; paint hoses provided and connected separately to the respective feeder units to supply paint of different colors from respective paint sources; a hose support pipe fitted on each one of the paint hoses at a position anterior to a proximal end connected to the feeder unit; a hose gripper provided on the arm of the working mechanism and adapted to releasably grip and support one of the paint hoses by way of the hose support pipe; and a unit waiting device located in the vicinity of the working mechanism and adapted to hold the feeder units and paint hoses in respective waiting positions; the unit waiting devices being provided with a plural number of a feeder unit loaders adapted to load and unload one of the feeder units into and out of the rotary atomizing head type coating machine, and hose grippers each adapted to releasably grip the hose support pipe of the paint hose to be handed over to and from the hose gripper on the side of the arm.
With the arrangements just described, at the time of changing the paint color, a feeder unit of a previous color needs to be replaced by a unit of a new or next color. For this purpose, the working mechanism is operated to move the arm toward a unit waiting device to which the feeder unit of the previous color should be returned, and then located in a unit replacing position in front of the unit waiting device. In this state, a feeder unit hanger is actuated to extract the feeder unit out of the rotary atomizing type coating machine, while the hose support pipe which is supported by the hose grippers on the side of the arm is handed over to a hose gripper on the side of the waiting device.
Nextly, as soon as the feeder unit and paint hose are dismantled, the arm of the working mechanism is moved toward another unit replacing position of the unit waiting device, i.e., a unit replacing position confronting a feeder unit hanger which holds a feeder unit of a next color.
In this state, the feeder unit hanger is actuated to load the feeding unit of the next color into the rotary atomizing head type coating machine, and a hose support pipe which is supported on a hose gripper on the side of the unit waiting device is handed over to the hose gripper on the side of the arm. As a result, the paint hose of the feeder unit of the next color is now supported on the hose gripper on the side of the working mechanism, and a color changing operation is completed.
Nextly, in order to start a coating operation in the new color, a paint which is supplied through the paint hose is fed from the feeder unit to the rotary atomizing head of the coating machine, and the paint is atomized into fine particles and sprayed toward the work piece by the rotary atomizing head. During a coating operation, although the arm is swung to the shape of a coating surface on the work piece, the paint hose is supported by the hose gripper on the side of the arm through the hose support pipe, and therefore, the paint hose is prevented from hanging down from the arm in a loose state.
In a preferred form of the present invention, the unit waiting device are arranged radially at angular intervals around a pivoting point of the arm of the working mechanism.
Consequently, in this case, simply by swinging the arm of the working mechanism through a predetermined angle, the arm and the rotary atomizing head type coating machine on the arm can be located
Arichi Akihiko
Matsuda Hidetsugu
Yoshida Osamu
ABB K.K.
Douglas Lisa Ann
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
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