JP2011240317A - Coating method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a coating method for preventing the degradation of coating quality due to the vibration of traveling of a coating apparatus.SOLUTION: The coating method includes: a step of preparing the coating apparatus with a coating unit that can eject a coating material; a step of moving the coating apparatus to a coating start point of a first area and stopping the apparatus; a step of ejecting the coating material from the coating unit while the coating apparatus is stopped and coats the first area; a step of moving the coating apparatus, after coating the first area, to the coating start point of a second area adjacent to the first area and stopping the apparatus; and a step of ejecting the coating material from the coating unit, while the coating apparatus is stopped, to coat the second area.

Description

  The present invention relates to a coating method using a coating apparatus.

  Conventionally, in the painting of ordinary houses, buildings, fences, inner and outer wall surfaces of ships, etc., there are coating apparatuses as shown in Patent Documents 1 and 2 in order to avoid the danger of working at high places, shorten the time of wide area painting, and reduce costs. Various proposals have been made. The coating apparatus as described above is an apparatus that coats a surface to be painted while the coating apparatus travels.

JP 2004-108044 A JP-A-61-1111165

  However, in the coating apparatus as described above, since the coating apparatus performs the coating while traveling, there is a problem that the coating quality deteriorates due to the vibration generated by the traveling of the coating apparatus.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a coating method for preventing deterioration of coating quality due to running vibration of a coating apparatus.

  The coating method according to the present invention includes a step of preparing a coating apparatus including a coating unit capable of ejecting a paint, a step of moving the coating apparatus to a coating start point in a first region, and stopping the coating apparatus. In a stopped state, a step of spraying paint from the coating unit to paint the first area, and after painting the first area, the painting apparatus starts painting the second area adjacent to the first area. Moving to a point and stopping, and in a state where the coating apparatus is stopped, spraying paint from the coating unit to paint the second region.

  According to this configuration, the steps of the movement of the coating apparatus and the coating of the fixed area are separated, and the coating apparatus is stopped while the coating of the fixed area is performed. For this reason, vibrations caused by running of the coating apparatus are eliminated while painting in a certain region. Thereby, it can prevent that coating quality deteriorates by the driving | running | working vibration of a coating device.

  In the coating method, the coating unit includes a coating nozzle, and the coating nozzle is formed in an annular shape with a paint ejection pipe for ejecting paint, and is arranged concentrically on the outer periphery of the paint ejection pipe to discharge air. And an air flow rate control means for adjusting the flow rate of the air discharged from the air tube. With this configuration, since the annularly formed air pipe is disposed on the outer periphery of the paint ejection pipe, air is discharged annularly on the outer circumference of the sprayed paint. At this time, the air flow rate is adjusted by the air flow rate control means so that the air flow and the paint flow are separated. That is, the paint is separated from the air flow on the outer periphery, and the center of the annular air flow flows in a substantially vertical direction with respect to the surface to be coated and adheres to the surface to be coated. Thereby, scattering of a coating material can be prevented.

  Moreover, in the said coating method, the nozzle for coating can provide at least 1 corona discharge means which produces a corona discharge toward the coating material ejected from the coating material discharge pipe. With this configuration, electric charge is applied to the paint by corona discharge, and the paint is attracted to the surface to be coated by electrostatic force, so that it can be efficiently attached to the surface to be painted.

  Moreover, in the said coating method, the nozzle for coating can be equipped with the cover which has the interior space which covers the circumference | surroundings of the opening of a coating material discharge pipe and an air tube, and faces a to-be-coated surface. Furthermore, at least one suction port for sucking the residual paint in the internal space can be provided. With this configuration, since the cover physically blocks the internal space and the outside of the cover, the paint does not scatter outside the cover, and the scatter of the paint can be prevented more reliably. Furthermore, by providing the cover with a suction port, the paint remaining in the cover can be sucked from the suction port, and dirt in the cover can be removed.

  In the coating method, the coating apparatus further includes a moving body that moves on the surface to be coated, and the coating unit includes an arm that extends above the surface to be coated, and a coating nozzle that is attached to the tip of the arm; The coating nozzle may include an arm operating mechanism that operates the arm so as to move in a moving direction of the moving body and a direction perpendicular to the moving direction. According to this configuration, the coating nozzle is moved in the moving direction of the moving body and in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction by the arm operating mechanism. A certain area can be painted.

  Further, in the coating method, the arm operating mechanism extends in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the moving body, guides the arm, an arm holding member movable along the guide member, and the arm and arm holding The auxiliary arm disposed between the members and rotatably connected to the arm and the arm holding member, and a slider attached to the arm holding member and making a sliding pair with the arm. According to this configuration, the auxiliary arm that is rotatably connected to the arm holding member rotates about the connection point with the arm holding member, so that the arm that is rotatably connected to the auxiliary arm rotates. At this time, the arm rotates about the fixed point on the slider as an axis, and slides on the slider along the longitudinal direction of the arm. Thereby, the auxiliary arm rotates and moves, so that the tip of the arm can move linearly in the moving direction of the moving body. Compared to a device that provides a total of two axes, one axis in the moving direction of the moving body and one axis in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction, the moving body can be moved by simply providing a rotating mechanism on one axis in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction The movement direction of the body and the movement in the direction perpendicular to the movement direction are possible, and the device can be miniaturized.

  Furthermore, in the coating method, the coating apparatus can include a tilt adjusting mechanism that tilts the coating unit in the vertical direction. According to this configuration, even if the surface to be coated has a spherical or cylindrical shape with a small radius of curvature, the distance between the coating nozzle and the surface to be coated is substantially constant within the moving range of the coating nozzle by the tilt adjustment mechanism. It becomes possible to keep. Thereby, even if spray coating is performed with a constant spraying pressure, a uniform coating film can be formed, and a coating film with good finish can be obtained.

  According to the coating method of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the coating quality from deteriorating due to the running vibration of the coating apparatus.

It is a perspective view which shows one Embodiment of the coating device of this invention. It is a perspective view of the pressure feed tank provided in the coating apparatus of FIG. It is a perspective view of the nozzle for coating provided in the coating apparatus of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the cover of the nozzle for a coating provided in the coating apparatus of FIG. It is a front view which shows one Embodiment of the coating device of FIG. It is a schematic front view when the coating apparatus of FIG. 1 is used for a spherical surface to be coated with a small curvature radius. It is a top view which shows operation | movement of the coating apparatus of FIG. It is a top view which shows operation | movement of the coating apparatus of FIG. It is a top view which shows operation | movement of the coating apparatus of FIG. It is a top view which shows operation | movement of the coating apparatus of FIG. It is the top view which showed typically the concoidal approximate parallel motion mechanism of the arm of the coating device of FIG. It is a top view which shows operation | movement of the coating unit of FIG. It is a top view which shows operation | movement of the coating unit of FIG. It is a top view which shows operation | movement of the coating unit of FIG. It is a top view which shows operation | movement of the coating unit of FIG. It is a top view which shows operation | movement of the coating unit of FIG. It is a top view which shows operation | movement of the coating unit of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows other embodiment of the nozzle for coating of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows other embodiment of the cover of the nozzle for coating of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows other embodiment of the cover of the nozzle for coating of this invention.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a coating apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the coating apparatus. Here, as an example, a coating apparatus used for repainting the storage tank will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the coating apparatus 1 according to this embodiment includes a moving body 2 that travels on a surface to be coated, and an apparatus body 3 that is mounted on the moving body 2. And the apparatus main body 3 is provided with the pressure feeding tank 10 for pumping a coating material, and the coating unit 20 for performing spray coating. Further, the apparatus main body 3 is provided with an inclination adjusting mechanism 50 for lifting the coating unit 20 with respect to the moving body 2.

  As the moving body 2, a crawler type self-propelled robot as shown in FIG. 1 is used. This crawler type self-propelled robot is configured to be attracted to a surface to be painted by a permanent magnet, and can be attracted to the surface of a storage tank made of metal. Therefore, the mobile body 2 can self-run on the surface to be coated.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the pressure tank. As shown in the figure, the pressure feed tank 10 in the apparatus main body 3 is formed of a pressure vessel 11 and a tube 12 accommodated in the pressure vessel 11. The pressure vessel 11 is provided with a mouth portion 11 a for supplying air between the inner wall surface of the vessel 11 and the outer peripheral surface of the tube 12. Further, the tube 12 contains paint, and the opening of the tube 12 through which the paint is discharged protrudes from the pressure vessel 11 to the outside. And the opening of the tube 12 is connected with the nozzle 30 for coating mentioned later through the pipe member which abbreviate | omits illustration. As shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C, the pressure-feed tank 10 ejects the paint in the tube 12. That is, as shown in FIG. 2B, when air is supplied into the pressure vessel 11 from the mouth portion 11a, the tube 12 accommodated in the pressure vessel 11 is contracted by the pressure of the supplied air. As a result, the paint contained in the tube 12 is ejected and discharged from the coating nozzle 30. In this way, since the tube 12 is pressed by supplying air and the paint is ejected, if the supply amount of air supplied to the pressure vessel 11 is kept constant, a constant pressure can be applied to the tube 12 at a constant flow rate. Paint can be ejected. In this embodiment, in particular, since a spherical storage tank such as a spherical gas holder is used as a surface to be coated, the coating apparatus 1 is in a reverse posture in the lower part of the storage tank that is hemispherical. On the other hand, when the pressure-feed tank 10 is configured as described above, paint can be ejected even in a reverse gravity field. The spray amount and spray speed of the paint from the tube 12 are controlled by a control device (not shown).

  Next, the coating unit 20 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the coating unit 20 includes a guide member 21, an arm holding member 22, an arm 23, an auxiliary arm 24, a slider 25, and a coating nozzle 30 that are disposed on the moving body 2. The coating unit 20 is for moving a coating nozzle 30 attached to the tip of an arm 23, and has a structure for applying paint supplied from the pressure feeding tank 10 to a desired position. . Details will be described below. First, the guide member 21 is formed in a rod shape and extends in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the coating apparatus 1 (the left-right direction in FIG. 1). A rail 21a is formed on the guide member 21 along the longitudinal direction thereof, and the arm holding member 22 is movable along the rail 21a. That is, it moves in the horizontal direction with respect to the surface to be coated. The arm 23 and the auxiliary arm 24 are both formed in a rod shape, and one end of the auxiliary arm 24 (left side in FIG. 1) is rotatably connected to the arm holding member 22 and the other end of the auxiliary arm 24 (right side in FIG. 1). ) And one end of the arm 23 (on the right side in FIG. 1) are rotatably connected. In the initial state, the arm 23 is disposed so that a part of the arm 23 overlaps the auxiliary arm 24 from the connecting portion with the auxiliary arm 24, and the coating nozzle 30 is attached to the other end (left side in FIG. 1). Further, a slider 25 is attached to the arm holding member 22, and the slider 25 forms a sliding pair with the arm 23. The guide member 21, the arm holding member 22, the auxiliary arm 24, and the slider 25 correspond to the arm operation mechanism in the present invention.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the coating nozzle. As shown in the figure, the coating nozzle 30 includes a double pipe including a paint jet pipe 31 and an air pipe 32. More specifically, a paint jet pipe 31 for jetting paint is arranged at the center, and an annular air pipe 32 for discharging air is arranged on the outer periphery of the paint jet pipe 31 concentrically with this. The paint pushed out from the pressure feed tank 10 flows through the pipe member to the painting nozzle 30 and is ejected from the paint spray pipe 31 at the center. Further, the injection amount and the injection speed of air from the air pipe 32 can be controlled by the control device described above.

  At this time, there is a close relationship between the particle diameter of the paint and the flow velocity of the air, and it is necessary to make the spray angle of the paint close to the vertical direction. Specifically, the smaller the particle size and the slower the air flow rate, the easier the paint will fly on the air flow, and conversely, if the particle size is large and the air flow rate is fast, the paint will adhere to the surface to be coated. It becomes easy to adhere. However, when the particle size is increased, there is a problem that the smoothness of the coating film is impaired. Therefore, the particle diameter of the paint and the flow speed of the air are adjusted by a control device (air flow rate control means) so that the spray angle of the paint approaches the vertical direction and the smoothness of the coating film is not impaired. Thereby, scattering of a coating material can be prevented and a coating film with a good finish can be obtained.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the coating nozzle 30 is provided with four electrostatic application nozzles (corona discharge means) 33 on the outer periphery of the air tube 32. A needle electrode 34 extending in the paint discharge direction is provided at the tip of each electrostatic application nozzle 33, and an electric charge can be imparted to the paint by corona discharge. As a result, the paint is attracted to the surface to be painted by electrostatic force, so that the paint can be efficiently attached to the surface to be painted.

  FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a cover attached to the coating nozzle. As shown in the figure, the cover 40 has a hemispherical internal space, and a nozzle insertion port 41a into which the mouth of the coating nozzle 30 is fitted is formed at the top of the spherical surface. On the other hand, a paint spout 41b that opens toward the surface to be coated is formed in the lower part of the cover 40. By this cover 40, the exterior and internal space of the cover 40 can be physically blocked, and the paint can be reliably prevented from scattering. The cover 40 has a suction port 41c. For example, a suction duct 42 is provided in the suction port 41c, and the residual paint adhering to the inside of the cover 40 can be sucked, whereby the dirt in the cover 40 can be removed.

  Next, the tilt adjustment mechanism 50 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a front view of the coating apparatus. As described above, the inclination adjusting mechanism 50 is provided to lift the painting unit 20 with respect to the surface to be painted. FIG. 5A shows a state in which the painting unit 20 is held horizontally. 5 (b) shows a state where the coating unit 20 is lifted by the tilt adjustment mechanism 50. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 5, the tilt adjustment mechanism 50 moves up and down along the column 51 provided at one end in the width direction of the movable body 2 (left and right direction in FIG. 5), And a support base 52 that can be stopped at an arbitrary place. The coating unit 20 is disposed on the other end side (left side in FIG. 5) of the moving body 2 so as to be swingable in the vertical direction, and on one end side (right side in FIG. 5) of the moving body 2 52. Therefore, when the support base 52 rises along the column 51, the support base 52 lifts one end of the coating unit 20 and supports the coating unit 20 in an inclined state at an arbitrary place. Specifically, screws and actuators can be used for the columns 51 and the support base 52.

  By having the tilt adjusting mechanism 50 as described above, the distance between the coating nozzle 30 and the surface to be coated 60 can be kept substantially constant. For example, when painting on a spherical or cylindrical surface 60 having a small radius of curvature, as shown in FIG. 6A, if the arm 23 is extended horizontally without the inclination adjusting mechanism 50, The distance between the coating nozzle 30 and the surface to be coated 60 differs greatly between the near side and the side away from the painting unit 20. However, by having the tilt adjusting mechanism 50, as shown in FIG. 6B, when one end of the coating unit 20 is lifted, the distance between the coating nozzle 30 and the surface to be coated 60 can be extended. It becomes possible to keep almost constant. At this time, the lifting distance is calculated by calculating backward from the curvature of the surface to be coated 60 so that the distance between the coating nozzle 30 and the surface to be coated 60 becomes substantially constant even when the arm 23 is extended. Thereby, when the arm 23 is extended, it is possible to prevent the paint from being scattered because the distance between the coating nozzle 30 and the surface to be coated 60 is too large. Further, since the distance between the coating nozzle 30 and the surface to be coated 60 is substantially constant while a certain area is being painted, the pressure of the paint sprayed on the surface to be coated is almost constant even when spray coating is performed with a constant spraying pressure. A uniform and uniform coating can be formed.

  Next, the operation of the coating apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the operation of the coating apparatus in time series.

  First, as shown to Fig.7 (a), the coating apparatus 1 will move to the coating start point of the 1st area | region 61 which performs coating from now on, and stops. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 7B, in a state where the coating apparatus 1 is stopped, the coating unit 20 operates as shown by a broken line in FIG. Paint 61. After painting the first region 61, as shown in FIG. 7C, the coating apparatus 1 moves to the coating start point of the second region 62 that is adjacent to the first region 61 and performs the next coating, and stops. . And in the state which the coating apparatus 1 stopped, the coating unit 20 operate | moves as shown in FIG.7 (d), spraying a coating material, and coats the 2nd area | region 62. FIG. After painting the second region 62, the surface to be painted is moved to the third region adjacent to the second region, the fourth region adjacent to the third region, and the region adjacent to each other one after another, and the operation of painting that region is repeated. Paint the whole. By operating in this way, it is possible to prevent the coating quality from deteriorating due to vibration caused by the movement of the coating apparatus 1.

  Then, with reference to FIG.8 and FIG.9, operation | movement of the coating unit 20 is demonstrated. FIG. 8 is a plan view schematically showing the concoidal approximate parallel motion mechanism of the arms 23 and 24, and FIG. 9 shows the operation of the coating unit 20.

  A point A shown in FIG. 8 is a connection point between the auxiliary arm 24 and the arm holding member 22, a point B is a connection point between the auxiliary arm 24 and the arm 23, and a point C is an attachment point of the coating nozzle 30. As the auxiliary arm 24 rotates around the point A, the point B moves along the locus of the arrow E. Along with this, the arm 23 rotates about the point D as an axis. At the same time, the arm 23 slides on the slider 25 in the longitudinal direction of the arm 23. Thereby, the point C moves along the locus of the arrow F, and the rotational motion can be changed to the parallel motion.

  Specifically, when the concoidal approximate parallel motion mechanism is applied to the painting unit 20 of this embodiment, the painting unit 20 performs the operations shown in FIGS. 9A to 9C. This action paints the first row of the area to be painted. Thereafter, while repeating the operations from FIG. 9A to FIG. 9C, the arm holding member 22 moves along the rail 21 a in the direction away from the coating apparatus 1. As a result, the areas to be painted are painted one by one in order. The state where the coating nozzle 30 is farthest from the coating apparatus 1, that is, the state where the arms 23 and 24 are extended to the maximum is shown in FIGS. 9 (d) to 9 (f). As a result of this operation, the last row of the region to be painted is painted. By operating in this way, it is possible to paint a certain region with a mechanism that rotates the connection point A between the arm holding member 22 and the auxiliary arm 24 and a mechanism that linearly moves the connection point A in the uniaxial direction. As a result, it is only necessary to provide a mechanism for linearly moving in the uniaxial direction and a mechanism for rotationally moving in the vicinity of the connection point A. Compared to a mechanism for linearly moving in the biaxial direction for painting a fixed area that is normally used. Thus, the installation area of the apparatus can be reduced, and the apparatus can be reduced in size.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the step of moving the coating apparatus 1 to the coating start point in the first region 61 and stopping it, operating the coating unit 20 with the coating apparatus 1 stopped, A step of painting the first area 61; a step of stopping the painting apparatus 1 by moving it to the painting start point of the second area 62 after the painting of the first area 61; and a state where the painting apparatus 1 is stopped. The entire surface to be coated is painted by repeating the step of moving to the adjacent region one after another and the step of painting that region, such as the step of operating 20 and painting the second region 62. Thereby, the step of moving the coating apparatus 1 can be separated from the step of painting by the operation of the coating unit 20, and it is possible to prevent the coating quality from deteriorating due to vibration caused by the movement of the coating apparatus 1. it can.

  As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to this Embodiment, A various change is possible unless it deviates from the meaning. For example, in the above embodiment, the coating nozzle 30 provided with only one set of the paint ejection pipe 31 and the air pipe 32 is used. For example, four sets of the paint ejection pipe 31 as shown in FIG. And the parallel four nozzles 35 in which the air pipes 32 are arranged in a horizontal row. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 10B, it is also possible to form a plover 4 nozzle 36 in which four sets of paint ejection pipes 31 and air pipes 32 are arranged in a staggered manner. Further, the number of sets of the paint ejection pipe 31 and the air pipe 32 at this time is not limited to four.

  Further, for the cover 40, for example, in the case of the coating nozzles 35 and 36 as shown in FIG. 10, the rectangular parallelepiped cover 43 shown in FIG. 11 suitable for the shape of the coating nozzles 35 and 36 is used. Can do. Further, as the cover 40, not only the spot type covers 40 and 43 shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 11 but also a wide area cover 44 as shown in FIG. 12 can be used.

  In the above embodiment, only the coating unit 20 is lifted by the inclination adjusting mechanism 50, but the entire apparatus main body 3 including the pressure feeding tank 10 can be lifted from the moving body 2.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, repainting of a storage tank or the like has been described. However, the application of the coating apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to this, for example, a wall of a general house or a building, a fence, a ship or a vehicle body It can also be used for inner and outer wall surfaces. In addition, when painting a wall or the like that cannot be attracted by a permanent magnet, it is possible not to be self-propelled but to attach only the main body of the device to the tip of an aerial work vehicle or the like and apply it by man. Also in this case, by repeating the step of moving and stopping the apparatus main body 3 and the step of operating and applying the coating unit 20 to paint, the coating quality deteriorates due to vibration caused by the movement of the apparatus main body 3. Can be prevented.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Coating apparatus 2 Moving body 20 Coating unit 21 Guide member 22 Arm holding member 23 Arm 24 Auxiliary arm 25 Slider 30 Coating nozzle 31 Paint ejection pipe 32 Air pipe 33 Corona discharge means 40 Cover 41c Suction port 50 Inclination adjusting mechanism 60 Surface 61 first region 62 second region

Claims (9)

Preparing a painting device with a painting unit capable of jetting paint;
Moving the coating device to a coating start point in the first region and stopping;
Painting the first region by spraying paint from the painting unit in a state where the painting apparatus is stopped;
After coating the first region, moving the coating device to a coating start point of the second region adjacent to the first region, and stopping the coating device;
Painting the second region by spraying paint from the coating unit in a state where the coating apparatus is stopped;
It is equipped with a painting method. The painting unit includes a painting nozzle,
The coating nozzle is
A paint jet pipe for jetting paint;
An air pipe that is formed in an annular shape, is concentrically arranged on the outer periphery of the paint spray pipe, and discharges air;
An air flow rate control means for adjusting a flow rate of air discharged from the air pipe;
The coating method according to claim 1, comprising:   The coating method according to claim 2, wherein the coating nozzle further includes at least one corona discharge unit that generates a corona discharge toward the paint ejected from the paint discharge pipe.   The coating method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the coating nozzle further includes a cover that covers the periphery of the opening of the paint ejection pipe and the air pipe and has an internal space facing the surface to be coated.   The coating method according to claim 4, wherein the cover further includes at least one suction port that sucks residual paint in the internal space. The coating apparatus further includes a moving body that moves on the surface to be coated,
The coating unit is
An arm extending above the surface to be painted;
The coating nozzle attached to the tip of the arm;
An arm operating mechanism for operating the arm so that the coating nozzle moves in a moving direction of the moving body and a direction perpendicular to the moving direction;
A coating method according to any one of claims 2 to 5. The arm operating mechanism is
A guide member extending in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction and guiding the arm;
An arm holding member movable along the guide member;
An auxiliary arm that is disposed between the arm and the arm holding member and is rotatably connected to the arm and the arm holding member;
A slider attached to the arm holding member and making a sliding pair with the arm;
A coating method according to claim 6.   The said coating apparatus is a coating method of Claim 6 or 7 further equipped with the inclination adjustment mechanism which inclines the said coating unit to an up-down direction on the said mobile body. The coating apparatus includes a moving body that moves on a surface to be coated;
On the moving body, an inclination adjustment mechanism for inclining the coating unit in the vertical direction;
The painting unit further comprises
An arm extending above the surface to be painted;
The coating nozzle attached to the tip of the arm;
The coating method according to claim 2, comprising:

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