JPH0565226B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a paint gun that is disposed opposite to the side of a conveyor and that is reciprocated within an area substantially perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the conveyor. The present invention relates to a coating device that sprays paint onto objects to be coated that are conveyed by the conveyor.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, this type of coating apparatus is known, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 44545/1983.

In the coating apparatus disclosed in the above-mentioned publication, the coating gun is moved back and forth in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of conveyance of the object to be coated while spraying paint onto the object to be coated, which is being conveyed in one direction. It is configured so that it can be stopped for an arbitrary period of time at the turning point of the moving process. Then, when the relative movement locus of the painting gun with respect to the object to be coated changes due to a change in the transport speed of the object to be coated or the reciprocating speed of the coating gun, the coating gun is automatically or manually turned back. By stopping at a point for an arbitrary period of time, the moving pitch of the locus of the coating gun relative to the object to be coated can be kept substantially constant, and uniform coating can be performed with the same spray width.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the conventional coating apparatus with the above configuration does not have a function of specifying parts of the object to be coated that are not to be painted. Paint was also sprayed onto parts that did not require painting, such as the punched parts of the machine, resulting in the problem of wasted paint.

Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to spray paint only to the parts of the object to be painted that require painting, and stop spraying paint to parts that do not require painting, thereby reducing paint waste. It is an object of the present invention to provide a coating device having a function that enables efficient, ie, economical coating work without any hassle.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the main means adopted by the present invention is that the main means is arranged opposite to the side of the conveyor and moves back and forth within an area approximately perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the conveyor. a first input means for teaching and inputting information about a movement trajectory of the coating gun when the coating gun is moved back and forth in the longitudinal direction of the coating apparatus body; a second input means for teaching and inputting information on a relative movement locus of the conveyor with respect to the painting gun, and painting an object to be painted conveyed by the conveyor by spraying paint from the painting gun. In the apparatus, a third input means for teaching and inputting information on an on/off position of the painting gun on a movement trajectory and capable of inputting information separately from the first input means; and the conveyor for the painting gun. teaching and inputting information on the on/off position relative to the movement locus, and
a fourth input means capable of inputting separately from the input means; and a fourth input means for moving the painting gun on a trajectory taught and input by the first input means, and for moving the conveyor for conveying the object to be painted on the trajectory inputted by the first input means. control means for controlling the painting gun on and off based on the positional information taught and inputted by the third and fourth input means when moving on the trajectory taught and inputted by the second inputting means; This is a coating device according to the following points.

[Effect]

In the coating apparatus according to the present invention, information on the movement locus of the coating gun when the coating gun is reciprocated in the longitudinal direction of the coating apparatus main body is taught and inputted by the first input means, and information on the movement trajectory of the coating gun is inputted by the first input means. on/off
Information on the off position is inputted by the third input means. Further, information on a relative movement locus of the conveyor with respect to the coating gun when the conveyor conveying the object to be coated is moved in the conveyance direction is taught and inputted by the second input means, and the movement of the conveyor of the coating gun is inputted by the second input means. Information on on/off positions relative to the locus is inputted by the fourth input means.

Then, the coating gun is moved on a trajectory taught by the first input means, and the conveyor for conveying the object to be coated is moved on a trajectory taught and inputted by the second input means. At this time, the painting gun is turned on and off based on the positional information input by the third and fourth input means.
Controlled off.

That is, the paint is sprayed only to the parts of the object to be painted that need to be painted.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Examples embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings to provide an understanding of the present invention.
It should be noted that the following examples are examples embodying the present invention, and are not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows the main parts of a coating line for coating objects to be coated using a coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which figure a is a perspective view and figure b is a perspective view. A front view of the section viewed from arrow A in Figure c is the same as Figure a.
Fig. 2 shows the external appearance of the coating apparatus, in which Fig. 3 a is a front view, Fig. 3 b is a side view, Fig. 3 c is a plan view, and Fig. 3 a , b are explanatory diagrams showing teaching modes in the above coating device, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the procedure for painting with the above coating device, and FIGS. 5 a and b are other embodiments of the present invention, respectively. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for teaching the relative movement locus of the coating gun with respect to the painting surface of the object to be coated when painting with the coating apparatus according to the invention.

In the coating device 7 according to this embodiment, FIG.
As shown in b and c, for example, in the vertical direction (longitudinal direction and Z direction in the figure) of the coating device main body 8
A support body 9 is movably arranged. Furthermore, an arm 11 equipped with, for example, four painting guns 10 is disposed on the support body 9 so as to be movable in the direction of arrow Y.

The coating device 7 is connected to the conveyor 4 (the first
(see figure a) is placed opposite the side of the CPU,
It is controlled by a control device (not shown) consisting of memory and various interfaces.

That is, the coating gun 10
The objects 12 and 14 to be coated are coated by moving the paint gun 10 in the Y and/or Z direction and at the same time spouting paint from the paint gun 10.
In this case, as will be described later, the coating device 7 according to the present embodiment sprays the paint only on the parts of the object to be painted that need painting, and stops spraying the paint on the parts that do not need painting. controlled to do so.

In addition, FIGS. 3a and 3b respectively show the above-mentioned coating device 7.
It shows a teaching mode that can be implemented by
Figure a shows so-called robot teaching in which all movements are taught, such as in a multi-axis robot, and figure b shows so-called reciprocating teaching in which the vertical movement can be repeatedly reproduced by teaching only one vertical pass. This shows that. In this case, in the same figure, the points indicated by circles indicate actual teaching points, and the points indicated by circles indicate automatically created points.

Therefore, the teaching work can be carried out by using reciprocating teaching for objects to be painted with a simple shape, and robot teaching for objects having a complicated shape.

In addition, in the coating apparatus 7 according to the present embodiment, the robot can be taught as described above by changing the relative position of the conveyor 4 with respect to the coating gun 10 when the conveyor 4 is moved in the conveying direction, as will be described later. The information on the moving trajectory is taught and input into the coating device 7, and the moving mechanism of the conveyor 4 is controlled by the coating gun 1.
This is because it is configured so that it can be controlled as a moving means in the X-axis direction of 0 (see FIG. 3a).

Furthermore, in the coating device 7 according to this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
Shape detection means 15 is provided to automatically detect the shapes of the objects 14, 12, . . . to be coated that are continuously conveyed by the conveyor 4.

The shape detection means 15 is mounted on a gate-shaped frame 16 installed so as to straddle the conveyor 4.
Photoelectric units 17 and 18 each having a plurality of parallel light-emitting elements and light-receiving elements arranged facing each other are installed in a perpendicular state. The photoelectric unit 17 detects the shape of the object to be painted in the Y direction, and the photoelectric unit 18 detects the shape of the object to be painted in the Z direction.

Next, an example of means for painting using the coating device 7 configured as described above will be described in detail based on FIGS. 1a, b, and c and FIG. 4.

In FIG. 4, S ₁ , S ₂ , . . . indicate each operation step.

First, in _S1 , for example, the object 1 to be coated is located at the midpoint of the forward movement distance (or return movement distance) of the coating gun 10 in the longitudinal direction of the coating apparatus main body 8.
Pitches P ₁ (corresponding to the position of point 1b on the movement trajectory a with respect to the object 12 to be painted) and P ₃ are specified in the conveyor conveyance direction (direction of arrow 5) with respect to the painting surfaces Nos. 2 and 14.

The values of the moving pitches P ₁ and P ₃ above are the values of the painting gun 10
It is given as the relative movement amount of the conveyor 4 in the direction of arrow 5 (X direction) with respect to
It is detected by pulse information from a conveyor pulse unit (encoder, not shown) provided on the conveyor 4. The values of the movement pitches P ₁ and P ₃ are entered using keys from, for example, a teaching box (not shown). At the same time, the teaching box displays the upper and lower limit points of the moving trajectory of the painting gun 10, the moving speed of the painting gun 10, the distance of the painting gun 10 to the object to be painted, and furthermore, the teaching box.
Setting work such as fine adjustment of the on/off timing of 0 is also performed.

Subsequently, in _S2 , the coating gun 1 of the conveyor 4 is moved when the conveyor 4 is moved in the conveying direction.
Information on a movement trajectory relative to 0 is inputted as a teaching input (second input means). That is, positional information of the coating gun 10 with respect to the conveyor 4 is inputted.
As a result, the moving mechanism for the conveyor 4 can be controlled as a means for moving the coating gun 10 in the X-axis direction (arrow 5 direction).

Then, in _S3 , the conveyor 4 of the painting gun 10 continues until the shape detecting means 15 detects passage of the downstream end of the object in the conveying direction.
In this case, the shape detection means 15 determines the passing state of the space between the objects to be painted (fourth input means). Since this is detected, an off signal for the coating gun 10 is input to the coating device 7 as a teaching signal. On the other hand, the shape detection means 1
When the passing state of the object to be coated is detected by 5, an ON signal of the coating gun 10 is input to the coating device 7.

When the passage of the downstream end of the object to be coated in the transport direction relative to the shape detection means 15 is detected as described above, the shape of the object to be coated is automatically detected by the shape detection means 15 (S ₄ ).

In this case, if it is determined in _S5 that the shape of the object to be painted is not irregular, that is, for example, in the case of the object to be painted 12 (see Figure 1c), in _S6 , the object to be painted 12 is The first pass of the coating gun 10 taught by the input signal from the shape detecting means 15 based on the shape (in this embodiment, it has a rectangular appearance and has a similarly rectangular punched part 12a approximately in the center). The teaching points 1a and 1c corresponding to the unit movement trajectory a are input.

Then, in _S7 , information on the on/off position of the painting gun 10 on the movement trajectory set based on the movement trajectory a, which will be described later, such as on b and c, is inputted. That is, with respect to the moving direction of the painting gun 10, the positions at which the painting gun 10 is controlled to be turned on and off at the upper and lower ends of the object 12 to be painted are
Y ₁ and Y ₄ are input, and then the above punching part 1
2a, positions Y ₂ and Y ₃ for controlling the on/off of the painting gun 10 are input as teachings.

In this case, since the storage area for storing the teaching points of the on/off positions of the painting gun 10 is provided separately from the storage area for storing the movement locus of the painting gun 10, the painting gun 10
The on/off position of the coating device 7 can be easily corrected or changed without any danger even during the regeneration operation of the coating device 7.

On the other hand, if it is determined in _S5 that the shape of the object to be painted is irregular, that is, for example, in the case of the object to be painted 14 (see FIG. 1b), in _S8 , the object to be painted 14 is Teaching points 1 _b , 2 _b , 3 _b and 10 _b , 11 b , 12 _{b ,} 13 b on each first pass unit movement locus i, l, m of the painting gun 10 taught according to the changing _part of , 14 _b , 15 _b are input.

The other movement trajectories i and k are automatically taught as a repetition of the movement path i, and the movement path n is automatically taught as a repetition of the movement path m.

Subsequently, in _S9 , the set position of the moving pitch _P3 is corrected with respect to the moving direction of the painting gun 10 in accordance with the moving distance of the painting gun 10 on the unit movement trajectories l and n.

That is, regarding the movement trajectory 1, the position is corrected so that the movement pitch P ₃ can be set at an intermediate position between the teaching points 10 _b and 12 _b , and regarding the movement trajectory n, the automatic teaching points 16 _b and 1 are corrected.
The position is corrected so that the movement pitch _P3 can be set at an intermediate position between 8b and _8b .

Continuing, in S ₁₀ , as in S ₇ above,
The on/off positions of the painting gun 10 on the movement locus j, k, l, m, n are inputted as teachings. That is, teaching points at positions corresponding to the upper and lower ends of the object to be coated 14 on each of the movement trajectories are inputted as teaching points.

In this case, the first input means for teaching and inputting information on the movement trajectory of the painting gun 10 when reciprocating the painting gun 10 in the longitudinal direction of the painting apparatus main body 8 is constituted by S ₆ and S ₈ . has been done. Furthermore, the above S ₇ and S ₁₀ constitute a third input means for teaching and inputting information on the on/off position of the painting 10 on the moving trajectory.

When the control information for the coating gun 10 for the object to be coated is automatically set based on the information from the shape detection means 15 as described above, subsequently,
In _S11 , the moving speed of the painting gun 10 and the painting gun 1 are adjusted according to the moving speed of the conveyor 4 so that the moving pitch of the painting gun 10 is a constant value.
The waiting time at the reciprocating end of 0 is calculated and the reproduction is controlled. At this time, when the coating gun 10 passes through a position opposite to a portion of the object to be coated that does not require coating, no coating is sprayed from the coating gun 10.

That is, for the object 12 to be coated, the moving speed of the coating gun 10 and the coating gun ₁₀ are adjusted according to the moving speed of the conveyor 4 so that the moving pitch P1 of the coating gun 10 is always a constant value. The waiting time at the end of the reciprocating movement is calculated and the playback is controlled. In this case, the object 12 to be painted by the painting gun 10
The locus of movement with respect to the painted surface is represented by a, b, c, and d, as described above. Further, the movement trajectory of the painting gun 10 with respect to the object 12 to be painted during the waiting time at the reciprocating end is e, f, g,
It is expressed as h.

When the painting gun 10 is controlled to move on each of the movement trajectories a, b, c, and d, when passing through positions corresponding to teaching points Y ₁ , Y ₂ , Y _{3 , and Y 4 , the corresponding teaching points Y 1 , Y 2 , Y 3} , and Y ₄ are The coating gun 10 is controlled on and off, and the spraying operation of paint onto the punched portion 12a that does not require painting is stopped.

On the other hand, for the object to be coated 14, the moving speed of the coating gun 10 and the reciprocating movement end are adjusted according to the moving speed of the conveyor 4 so that the moving pitch _P3 of the coating gun 10 is a constant value. The waiting period is calculated and playback is controlled. At this time, the locus of movement of the painting gun 10 relative to the painting surface of the object to be painted 14 is i, j,
Represented by k, l, m, n, o. Further, the movement locus of the painting gun 10 relative to the object to be painted 14 during the waiting time at the end of the reciprocating movement is as follows:
It is represented by p, q, r, s, and t.

At this time, similarly to the case for the object to be painted 12, the painting gun 10 sprays paint only when passing a position opposite to the part of the object to be painted 14 that is opposite to the part to be painted, and sprays paint to the part that does not require painting. The paint is controlled so as not to be sprayed when passing a position opposite to the paint.

Furthermore, when passing through the space between the objects to be painted 12 and 14, the spraying of paint from the painting gun 10 is stopped, and the painting gun 10 is in a standby state at the upper or lower limit position on the movement trajectory.

In this case, according to _S11 above, the painting gun 10
When the conveyor 4 for conveying the object to be coated is moved on the trajectory taught by the first input means, and the conveyor 4 for conveying the object to be coated is moved on the trajectory taught by the second input means, the painting gun 10
A control means is configured to control on/off of the position information inputted by the third and fourth input means.

Therefore, in the coating apparatus controlled as described above, even if the conveyor speed or the shape of the part of the object to be coated changes, the operator does not have to judge the shape of the object each time. Depending on the shape of the object to be painted and the part thereof to be painted, when the painting gun 10 passes a position facing the part to be painted of the object to be painted, the paint is ejected;
When passing a position opposite to a part that does not require painting, the paint is controlled so as not to be sprayed.

At the same time, the movement pitch of the coating gun 10 is also controlled to always be a constant value.

As a result, it is possible to perform painting work efficiently without wasting paint, and the painted surface of the object to be painted has areas that are coated once, areas that need multiple coats, and even areas that are not sprayed with paint. Therefore, a uniform coating film can always be formed without causing uneven coating.

Furthermore, in the coating apparatus according to the present embodiment, as described above, the conveyor 4 can be controlled on the main body side of the coating apparatus based on the information of the movement trajectory of the conveyor 4 in the X-axis direction. can be handled as if it were a three-axis robot.

As a result, an inexpensive coating device with a two-axis configuration can be provided as a high-quality coating robot with a three-axis configuration within a small installation space.

In this embodiment, the shape of the object to be painted is automatically detected by the shape detection means 15, and information regarding the movement trajectory and on/off position of the painting gun 10 is taught,
Although an example has been described in which the configuration is such that the information can be input, the shape detection means 15 may be omitted and the operator may directly teach each of the above information.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 5a, the distance X 1 from the start signal position 19 to the upstream end of the object to be coated ₁₃ in the conveyor transport direction and the distance X ₂ to the downstream end of the conveyor transport direction are respectively Taught for each control program. The coating gun 10 is turned on only when the object 13 to be coated is located in front of the coating gun 10, and when the shaded area in FIG. Paint gun 10 is controlled off.

Note that the start signal position 19 is located at the coating device 7.
This corresponds to the installation position of a limit switch or a phototube that detects whether or not an object to be coated has passed on the conveyor 4, which is upstream in the direction of conveyance of the object to be coated.
That is, it is a control reference position provided on the conveyor 4.

Furthermore, an ultrasonic reflective sensor, for example, is installed in parallel with the coating gun 10, and the coating gun 10 is continuously moved up and down to detect the distance to the object to be coated conveyed by the conveyor 4 at appropriate intervals. However, the moving trajectory of the painting gun 10 may be automatically taught, and the on/off position of the painting gun 10 may also be taught automatically at the same time.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention provides a coating gun that is disposed opposite to the side of a conveyor and that is reciprocated within an area substantially perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor;
a first input means for teaching and inputting information about a movement trajectory of the coating gun when the coating gun is reciprocated in the longitudinal direction of the coating apparatus body; and a first input means for teaching and inputting information on the movement trajectory of the coating gun when the coating gun is reciprocated in the longitudinal direction of the coating apparatus body; a second input means for teaching and inputting information on a movement trajectory relative to the gun, and the painting apparatus sprays paint from the painting gun to paint an object to be painted that is conveyed by the conveyor, wherein the painting gun a third input means for teaching and inputting information on on/off positions on the movement locus of the paint gun and capable of inputting the information separately from the first input means; a fourth input means for teaching and inputting on/off position information, which can be input separately from the second input means; and when moving the conveyor that conveys the object to be coated on a trajectory taught by the second input means, the painting gun is moved by the teaching input by the third and fourth input means. This coating device is characterized by being equipped with a control means that performs on/off control based on location information, so it sprays paint only on the parts of the object that need to be painted. It is possible to stop spraying paint on areas that do not require it.
As a result, the painting work can be carried out efficiently, that is, economically, without wasting paint.
In addition, only the on/off position data of the paint gun can be easily corrected and changed independently.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows the main parts of a coating line for coating objects to be coated using a coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which figure a is a perspective view and figure b is an arrow A in figure a. Figure c is a front view of the section viewed from arrow B in figure a, and Figure 2 shows the external shape of the coating device, figure a is a front view and figure b is
is a side view, FIG. Figure 5 a, b
These are explanatory diagrams for teaching the relative movement locus of the coating gun with respect to the coating surface of the object to be coated when coating with a coating apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols], 4...conveyor, 7...painting device, 10...painting gun, 12, 13, 14...
Object to be painted.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A coating gun that is disposed opposite to the side of the conveyor and is reciprocated within an area substantially perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor, and the coating gun is moved in the longitudinal direction of the coating apparatus body. a first input means for instructing and inputting information on a movement trajectory of the coating gun when moving the coating gun back and forth; and information on a movement trajectory of the conveyor relative to the coating gun when moving the conveyor in the conveying direction. a second input means for inputting teaching;
In a coating device that sprays paint from the coating gun to coat an object to be coated that is conveyed by the conveyor, information on on/off positions of the coating gun on the movement trajectory is taught and input, and the first a third input means capable of inputting separately from the input means; and inputting information on the on/off position of the painting gun relative to the movement locus of the conveyor;
and a fourth input means capable of inputting information separately from the second input means, for moving the painting gun on a trajectory taught and input by the first input means, and transporting the object to be painted. When the conveyor is moved on a trajectory taught by the second input means, the painting gun is turned on/off based on the positional information taught by the third and fourth input means. A coating device characterized by comprising means.