Coating apparatus – Control means responsive to a randomly occurring sensed... – Responsive to attribute – absence or presence of work
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-21
2001-10-30
Crispino, Richard (Department: 1734)
Coating apparatus
Control means responsive to a randomly occurring sensed...
Responsive to attribute, absence or presence of work
C118S708000, C118S323000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06309464
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART
The present invention relates to a plant for feeding paint to at least one apparatus having a nozzle and being adapted for automatic spray application of paint on objects, said plant having a unit providing paint arranged to be connected to the nozzle during the application for providing it with paint as well as an arrangement coordinated with said unit for enabling change of paint and/or filling of paint in the unit connected to the spray nozzle.
Such a plant may be arranged to provide different types of spray application apparatuses with paint within a number of different fields of use, but for illuminating, but not in any way restricting the invention, the use of such a plant for feeding paint to one or more spray application robots for painting objects, such as vehicle bodies, will hereinafter mainly be discussed, but the invention comprises also supply of paint to such apparatuses in the form of so called painting machines. “Paint” is here to be given a broad sense and comprises all types of paints and lacquer suited for spray application.
Plants of this type already known have a number of units providing paint in the form of paint sources located centrally at a distance from the spray robot, one for each paint type and colour, which are connected to the spray nozzle through a ring circuit each. Furthermore, a selection of paint is made locally on the apparatus in question, so that a great amount of valves, easy in the order of 60, have to be arranged on the spray robot. This means several considerable disadvantages, primarily when the amount of possible paint types and colours to be sprayed by the spray robot is increasing. At a greater such amount a great amount of hoses running to and from the spray robot are required, both generating high costs and restricting the ability to move of the spray robot. Moreover, it means that a great amount of hoses are to be kept clean and free from plugging. Furthermore, as already mentioned, a large number of valves and control members for controlling the latters is at the same time needed.
Another disadvantage arises when the paints are water born, which are more and more used, since these paints have a higher viscosity than paints on oil base, so that a higher pump pressure is required for pumping the paint in the spray robot and the risk for depositing and plugging of hoses is also increased. Furthermore, a considerable problem to obtain electrical insulation between the paint sources and the spray nozzle also arises in electrostatic painting while using water born paints and said ring conduits.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a plant of the type defined in the introduction, which to a large extent finds a remedy to the inconveniences mentioned above of already known such plants.
This object is obtained according to the invention by providing a plant, in which said unit providing paint is formed by a paint container adapted to be arranged on said apparatus close to the spray nozzle, the container is made loosenable and removable from the apparatus for exchange for another such container when there is a desire of more paint in the container and/or change of paint, and the arrangement comprises a station having containers filled with paint and being remotely located with respect to the apparatus, a transport device having means for transporting a container containing paint from said station to said apparatus when said desire arises and give it to the apparatus as well as means adapted to receive a container to be exchanged from the apparatus and transport it away for taking care thereof.
Thus, the invention is based on the idea of moving said unit providing paint all the way to the very spray application apparatus, so that the connection thereof to the spray nozzle during the application will be short, and to replace the units containing paint located at a large distance to the spray application apparatus and the ring conduits running therefrom to the spray application apparatus by a station with containers filled with paint and a transport device for transporting the containers to and away from the spray application apparatus Long ring conduits, which may be plugged and which require a comparatively high pump power, especially when pumping water born paints of a high viscosity, are hereby avoided. The spray application apparatus will neither be burdened by a great amount of hoses and valves, thanks to the centralized paint selection made possible here in said station and not at the spray application apparatus. There is neither any insulating problem when using water born paints in connection with electrostatic painting. Other advantages of a plant of this type are that it requires a smaller volume in the factory or the like in which it is arranged, and it increases the flexibility for rebuilding and modifications in the production. The loss of paint will also be smaller than in the plants already known.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the plant comprises a control device adapted to effect exchange of containers through control units included therein according to wishes expressed by information concerning point of time for container exchange and type and colour of paint to be brought in a container to said apparatus. It may be ensured through such a control device that the spray application apparatus all the time receives exactly the paint required thereby at every point of the time for painting a particular object in a predetermined way.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the control device comprises a first control unit for controlling the transport device, a second control unit for controlling paint handling members included in said station and a third control unit for controlling said at least one spray application apparatus, and the control device comprises a communication network interconnecting said control units and members for coordinating the controls through the different control units so as to obtain said exchange of containers desired. The spray application apparatus may be provided with exactly the paint it shall have in every given instant while avoiding all the disadvantages discussed above of the plants already known by arranging such control units and interconnecting them through a communication network.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention said station has a supply of paints of different types and/or colours, it has also paint handling members in the form of members for filling empty containers with paint, and the second control unit is arranged to control the filling members according to data introduced into the control device and relating to future container exchanges. Conduits required may be made considerably shorter thanks to the centralized colour selection obtained in this way, so that the pumps required are consuming considerably less power and a lower pressure fall is required, and it will also be easier to remove depositings in the conduits.
The conduits may here be made very short instead of the long ring conduits to the spray application apparatus in the plants already known.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the transport device comprises a transport track running in a loop from said station to the region of said apparatus and back to the station for transporting said containers, and said means for transporting containers to and away from the apparatus comprises carriages having members for receiving containers and members for driving these to move along the transport track. A change of paint type and/or colour or filling of paint in said apparatus may easily take place thanks to the arrangement of such carriages for container transport.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention each carriage has at least two said receiving members, a first one intended to be provided with a container during the movement of the carriage from the station to the apparatus and empty during the movement of the carriage from the ap
ABB Flexible Automation AS
Connolly Bove & Lodge & Hutz LLP
Crispino Richard
Tadesse Yewebdar T
LandOfFree
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