EP2248596B1 - Arrangement for coating workpieces - Google Patents

Abstract

The arrangement (40) has a painting cabin (42) comprising openings (44, 46) that lie opposite to each other along a virtual axis (60). A painting robot (48) is arranged in the painting cabin, where the painting cabin is movable along the axis parallel to a work surface (64) by a drive. The painting robot is movable perpendicular to the work surface relative to the painting cabin by a movement device (52). The painting cabin is supported on carriages that are arranged parallel to each other, where the movement device is arranged at a side wall of the painting cabin.

Description

The invention relates to an arrangement for coating workpieces with a paint booth movable on rails along a travel axis, with two opposing portal-like openings and spray coating devices arranged on both sides of the travel axis, as well as reservoirs for coating material.

A painting robot leads a paint atomizer during the coating process according to the program along a predetermined path of movement at a predetermined speed around the workpiece to be coated, wherein the paint atomizer are usually given respective Zerstäuberparameter for the different sections of the trajectory.

Typically, a paint robot has six degrees of freedom of movement and is limited in its work area to a range of 2m to 3m around its base. With such a robot, for example, smaller workpieces such as bumpers of automobile bodies without a relative movement of robot base to workpiece paintable. But it is also quite Lackierroboter with a lower number of degrees of freedom - for example, three - conceivable.

For painting larger workpieces, such as automobile bodies, it is common to have such a robot with a seventh degree of freedom of movement to be provided by this is attached to a travel rail associated with it, wherein in most cases all seven degrees of freedom of movement are fully taken into account in the control of the robot. Such a robot is now along its travel rail, which typically has a length of 4m to 10m in the automotive field, along the object to be painted movable.

Especially with elongated workpieces results in a corresponding length of a travel rail of a robot.

When coating elongated workpieces, such as rotor blades of wind turbines, a movement of the very long workpiece during the coating process should be avoided if possible to avoid otherwise occurring paint defects safely. Namely, in the manufacturing process, the rotor blade is mostly fixed in a horizontal position on one side of the rotor flange, so that any movement of the rotor blade this vibrate, for example, with an amplitude of more than +/- 250mm at its free non-tensioned end, which makes a coating process almost impossible.

A disadvantage of a large length of a travel rail of a painting device, for example, 40m are both the high technical complexity for the establishment of a correspondingly long paint booth with Verfahrschiene and the resulting from the length of the cabin effort for their ventilation. For example, with a generally common air sink rate of 0.3 m / s and a spray booth floor plan of 50 mx 6 m, there is a requirement of approx. 320000 m ^{3 of} air per hour, which also has to be filtered and conditioned.

Another difficulty in the coating of rotor blades is that they have a width of 4-5m and more in their flange. A painting of a preferably horizontally positioned rotor blade is ideally transverse to its longitudinal direction - that is perpendicular - in parallel Lackierbahnen.

Inhomogeneities of the layer thickness distribution are undesirable for rotor blades of wind turbines for aerodynamic reasons. In addition, they lead to an increased material consumption, because despite any inhomogeneities in the layer thickness for protection purposes of the rotor blade always a minimum layer thickness must be ensured, so an increased average layer thickness is necessary.

With a working radius of a painting robot of 2.5 - 3m around its base with a suitable positioning of the painting robot relative to the rotor blade, a painting, which covers the width of 4-5m, in principle applicable, but only with a settling process. In such a settling process, a painting web is divided into two parts and the atomizer is switched off after painting the first painting web half at an interruption point. When the atomizer is switched off, the painting robot moves to a different position from which the second part of the painting line can be reached, with the atomizer again starting at the point of interruption after this so-called reorientation process. There, the atomizer is switched on again and the painting of the second half of the coating is done.

From the US 5,656,085 a paint spraying device has become known, which is provided for coating a vehicle in a paint spray booth with a Farbsprüharm, a pump and a motor and gear for operating the pump, in particular, the drive of a spatially arranged colorant pump is in the foreground.

The paint spraying device has a Farbsprüharm vertically movably arranged Farbsprüharm which is attached to a scaffolding located outside the paint spray booth. He has at its free end a spray nozzle. The pump is located on the horizontally or vertically movable arm near a spray nozzle. The drive motor for the pump is located outside the paint spray booth and drives the pump by means of a multi-part drivetrain.

From the GB 706 600 A is known a movable spray booth, which is designed specifically for the spray coating of railway cars. In this case, the spray booth can be moved on both sides of the rails for the wagons arranged rails. In contrast to previous spray booths for such rail vehicles with lengths of about 20 m to about 50 m, the spray booth disclosed therein with a length of about 2 to 4 m is designed significantly shorter. It is designed as a bridge portal, which follows the usual outer contour of wagons at a small distance, and provided with vertically liftable platforms for the coating personnel, that is, the coating of the wagons is done exclusively manually by means of compressed air by spray gun, which are the coating material located on the platform Removing paint tanks.

Disadvantages are in particular a deterioration of the quality of painting at the point of interruption in relation to a continuous web without interruption and the increased material consumption.

Based on this prior art, it is an object of the invention to provide an arrangement of the type mentioned, which allows the coating of elongate workpieces with high layer thickness homogeneity in the simplest possible way.

This object is achieved by an arrangement of the aforementioned type. This is characterized in that the paint booth is provided with at least one spray coating device disposed therein which is designed as a painting robot, that they along with the at least one painting robot parallel to a working surface along the imaginary Axis is movable, wherein the at least one painting robot is movable by means of at least one first moving device relative to the painting booth perpendicular to the work surface.

In the arrangement according to the invention, the at least one painting robot is additionally movable transversely to the imaginary axis by means of at least one second movement device relative to the painting booth. This has the particular advantage that a separate painting robot is not to be provided for each side of the rotor blade, but results on the other side in a very long painting time, for example 60-80 minutes, wherein the same rotor blade with two opposite painting robots in about half the time paint is. Therefore, this embodiment is particularly suitable for manufacturing companies with low production throughput.

In addition, the at least one painting robot is additionally movable along the imaginary axis by means of at least one third movement device relative to the painting booth. Due to this additional degree of freedom of movement of the painting robot more complex movements are possible by which the number of Absetzvorgängen is further reduced. In addition, the design of the exercise program is simplified.

The workpiece or rotor blade to be painted is stored horizontally. During painting, the movable spray booth, which is shorter than the rotor blade, moved along the extension of the rotor blade, wherein the rotor blade - depending on the current positioning of the spray booth - protrudes on one side of the spray booth through a portal-like opening and from the opposite portal-like opening protrudes again. The imaginary axis correlates substantially with the longitudinal extent of the rotor blade to be painted.

The arrangement of the painting or the robot on a respective movement device, which can move the complete painting on and allows, conveniently pulling a paint over the entire rotor blade width without settling or reduces at least the number of settling required. For example, with a stroke of a first motion device of, for example, 2.5m and a working range of the paint robot of +/- 2.5m about its robot base, there will be a height of the resulting work area of 7.5m along the axis of rotation of the robot base and a height of the work area of FIG , 5m in a radius of 2.5m around the axis of rotation of the robot base.

Thus, the paint booth surrounds the rotor blade to be painted only in sections along its extension, which on the one hand in an advantageous manner shorter and thus simplified. On the other hand, a lifting device for a painting robot allows effective enlargement of its working area, whereby interruption points in the parallel coating paths are predominantly avoidable and the quality of the coating is increased.

In a variant of the arrangement, the sum of the degrees of freedom of movement of the at least one painting robot and the movement devices, by means of which the painting robot is movable relative to the painting booth, is at least six. This allows the sprayer mounted on the sprayer to move within the work area in any orientation.

In a preferred arrangement, the at least one painting robot in turn has at least six degrees of freedom of movement. The freedom of movement of the painting robot moving atomizer is thereby increased in an advantageous manner.

In a further arrangement, at least two painting robots can be moved by means of a common movement device relative to the painting cabin. This is the case, for example, in the case of a common first movement device or lifting device for two painting robots arranged on the same side of the cabin. The design complexity of the arrangement is thereby reduced, which on the other hand leads to a restriction in the freedom of movement of the painting robot. Depending on the application, this restriction is irrelevant.

In a preferred embodiment of the arrangement, at least one painting robot is disposed within the painting booth on either side of the imaginary axis. Thus, each page can be assigned by a rotor blade to be painted depending on a robot. The structure of the arrangement and its programming is simplified.

In a preferred variant of the arrangement, the painting booth is supported on at least two chassis arranged parallel to one another and can be moved together with them. This can be realized, for example, with metal wheels guided on rails. Moving the paint booth is thereby particularly simplified.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the paint booth is provided with a device for the supply and / or discharge and / or cleaning of air. The achievable paint quality is thereby increased and reduces the risk of contamination within the spray booth.

In a preferred arrangement variant, the at least one portal-like opening can be changed by aperture elements in their opening cross-section. Ideally, the interior of the paint booth is closed to the outside to prevent soiling and also to ensure the highest possible painting quality.

A rotor blade tapers in its cross section from its flange to the tip, so that the opening cross sections of the portal-like openings of the paint booth must correspond at least to the maximum cross section of the rotor blade to be painted. Thus, in particular when painting the tip of a rotor blade areas in which the interior of the spray booth is not closed to the outside. By using such aperture elements, the size of such areas is reduced as needed.

A similar sealing effect can be achieved according to the invention in that an airflow curtain can be generated along the opening cross-section of at least one portal-like opening.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the arrangement, the movement sequences of the at least one painting robot and at least one movement device can be predetermined by a common robot control. A robot controller is a computing device which controls the robot's desired program of movement in drive signals of the drives of the respective moving members of the robot - e.g. Rotary movement of the robot base or a wrist - implements.

The at least one first movement device according to the invention, which moves the painting robot itself, is at least partially also included in the movement sequence of the painting robot according to this embodiment. This allows, for example, a coordinated and continuous movement of the moving device, which, together with the movement of the painting robot itself, leads to the desired and appropriate movement of the atomizer attached to the robot. The movement is to make more fluid in this way, resulting in both time savings and improved paint quality.

In a preferred variant of the arrangement, the paint booth by means of a drive - for example, an electric motor - movable. According to a further variant of the arrangement according to the invention, the cabin movement and the movements of the at least one painting robot can be predetermined by a common robot control, which likewise allows a more fluid movement.

Further advantageous embodiment possibilities can be found in the further dependent claims.

Reference to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings, the invention, further embodiments and other advantages will be described in detail.

Fig. 1

eine erste exemplarische Anordnung zum Beschichten von Werkstücken,

Fig. 2

eine zweite exemplarische Anordnung zum Beschichten von Werkstücken,

Fig. 3

eine dritte exemplarische Anordnung zum Beschichten von Werkstücken und

Fig. 4

eine vierte und fünfte Anordnung zum Beschichten von Werkstücken

Show it:

Fig. 1

a first exemplary arrangement for coating workpieces,

Fig. 2

a second exemplary arrangement for coating workpieces,

Fig. 3

a third exemplary arrangement for coating workpieces and

Fig. 4

a fourth and fifth arrangement for coating workpieces

Fig. 1 shows a first exemplary arrangement for coating workpieces in a sectional view. A first workpiece 34, a rotor blade of a wind turbine, protrudes through a first portal-like opening 14 into a first painting booth 12. This is guided over a plurality of chassis or wheels 38 on parallel rails 39, which are located on a work surface 20. A first painting robot 16, a schematically illustrated 6-axis robot, is vertically movable via a first movement device 22 mounted on a side wall of the painting booth, as indicated by the arrow 26. The movement of the first movement device 22 and the first painting robot are coordinated by a common, not shown, robot control. At the end of the robot arm, a first atomizer 30 is mounted, which lacquered the rotor blade.

The atomizer 30 is coated according to the program in parallel meandering vertically along the surface of the rotor blade extending paint paths. In this case, the first movement device performs periodic up and down movements, which, together with the movements of the first painting robot 16, leads to the program-oriented guidance of the atomizer 30 along the painting path.

The painting robot 16 is according to the program for the coating in the Fig. 1 left side of the rotor blade 34, while the mirror image on the other side provided second painting robot 18, which is movable up and down by another first moving device 24 in the direction of arrow 28, provided for the coating of the right side of the rotor blade 34 shown in the image is. In order to reduce the contamination of the respective robots 16, 18 or the associated atomizers 30, 32, an opposite movement of the robots is advantageous, ie if the first atomizer 30 is located just at the upper edge of the rotor blade 34, then the second atomizer 32 is straight on the lower edge of the opposite side of the rotor blade 34th

In the upper part of the paint booth 12 devices for supplying air are provided in the paint booth, which is preferably cleaned or filtered to ensure a high paint quality. Due to the resulting slight overpressure in the painting booth 12, an inflow of non-purified air into the gap between the rotor blade and the portal-like opening 14 is predominantly reduced.

Fig. 2 shows a second exemplary arrangement for coating workpieces in a side view. A second workpiece 62 to be coated, likewise a rotor blade for a wind power plant, projects through a second portal-like opening 44 of a second painting booth 42 into it and out again through the third portal-like opening 46 at the opposite end. The rotor blade 62 has its flange in the figure on the left side and is there with a holding device 70th attached. The rotor blade 62, which tapers to the right, is thus kept horizontally suspended along its entire extent along the imaginary axis 60.

The second paint booth 42 is mounted on chassis or wheels 68 and movable parallel to the second work surface 64 along the imaginary axis 60, as indicated by the arrow 66. Preferably, this movement takes place via an electric drive. The movement of the paint booth 42 is both continuously conceivable and at intervals. In this last example, the movement of the paint booth 42 takes place in interval steps which correspond approximately to the active length of a third movement device 56.

By means of the third movement device 56, it is possible to move a first movement device 52 and a third robot 48 mounted thereon, resulting in a total of eight degrees of freedom of motion for the third atomizer 50 in the case of a 6-axis third painting robot 48. Thus, it is possible to position the atomizer in various deflection modes of the moving devices 52, 56 and the robot in any orientation to any desired point of the working area relative to the painting booth 42, theoretically requiring at least 6 degrees of freedom of movement. This over-redundancy in freedom of movement allows greater freedom in the design of the exercise program and ultimately allows avoidance of break points.

The direction of movement of the first movement device 52 takes place - comparable to Fig. 1 in the vertical direction 54, whereby the working area of the mounted thereon third robot 48 with third atomizer 50 is increased. This has the consequence in particular that interruption points of vertically extending painting paths can be avoided or else that higher workpieces 62 can be painted.

In particular, the third movement device 56 makes it possible to dispense with a continuous advance of the second painting booth 42, which in this example would be interpreted as a ninth degree of freedom in the movement. This facilitates the control of the drive of the paint booth 12, which due to their Weight and size, for example, a length of 9m, a width of 6m and a height of 5.5m, means a lot of effort. The painting of the partially illustrated rotor blade 62 is analogous to the description of Fig. 1 in meandering, paint paths along the surface of the rotor blade 62 and transversely to the first imaginary axis 60th

Fig. 3 shows a third exemplary arrangement for coating workpieces in a plan view. A third paint booth 82 is guided on rails 104, not shown on chassis or wheels. A third workpiece 102, also a rotor blade of a wind turbine, protrudes along a second imaginary axis 100 through a fourth portal-like opening 110 into the third painting booth 82 and on the opposite side through the fifth portal-like opening 112. A second movement device 96 extends in the upper area of the third paint booth bridge-like between the two parallel to the imaginary axis side walls of the third painting booth 82. With the second moving device along a pivot axis 92, a method of a pivoting movement device 88 is enabled, which carries a fourth painting robot 84 ,

By means of a pivoting movement 94, a circular segment-like movement of the fourth painting robot 84 is thus made possible about the pivot axis 92. This includes both a vertical and a horizontal component. The second movement device 96 is in turn movable by means of a movement device, not shown, in the direction of the arrow 98 along the imaginary second axis 100. The fourth painting robot can be moved along the line 108 transversely to the imaginary axis to the other side of the third painting booth, so that in this example a complete rotor blade can be painted on both sides by one and the same painting robot 88. The position of the fourth painting robot on the other side of the cabin or the position of the robot supporting the pivoting device is indicated by dashed lines with the reference numerals 86 and 90. The painting robot has also been moved by means of the pivoting device 88 to the other side of the pivot axis, so that adjust mirror image conditions between painting robot 88 and rotor blade 102 on both sides of the rotor blade. This is advantageous for the programming of the painting robot.

Fig. 4 shows a fourth and a fifth exemplary arrangement for coating workpieces in a sectional view. A fourth workpiece 126 or a rotor blade projects through a sixth portal-like opening 124 into a fourth painting booth 122. The cabin is - not visible from the figure - in the middle of the elongated extent of the rotor blade so that there is a smaller rotor blade cross-section than the rotor flange. In order to reduce the gap between the rotor blade and the cross section of the sixth portal-like opening 124, two first movable diaphragm elements 128 are provided.

In the picture to the right thereof, a corresponding fifth painting booth 132 is shown, into which a flange-side piece of a fifth workpiece 136 or of a rotor blade projects through a seventh opening 134. Due to the larger cross-section of the rotor blade 136 at this point, the two second movable diaphragm elements have moved less far into the portal-like opening 134.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

10

first exemplary arrangement for coating workpieces

12

first paint booth

14

first portal-like opening

16

first painting robot

18

second painting robot

20

working surface

22

first movement device

24

second first movement device

26

Movement direction of the first movement device

28

Movement direction of the second first movement device

30

first atomizer

32

second atomizer

34

first workpiece

36

Device for supplying air

38

Chassis with wheel

39

rail

40

second exemplary arrangement for coating workpieces

42

second paint booth

44

second portal-like opening

46

third portal-like opening

48

third painting robot

50

third atomizer

52

third first movement device

54

Movement direction of the third first movement device

56

third movement device

58

Movement direction of the third movement device

60

first imaginary axis

62

second workpiece

64

working surface

66

Direction of movement of the paint booth

68

Chassis with wheel

70

Holding device for second workpiece

80

third exemplary arrangement for coating workpieces

82

third paint booth

84

fourth painting robot in first position

86

fourth painting robot in second position

88

pivoting movement device in the first position

90

Swiveling movement device in the second position

92

swivel axis

94

pan direction

96

second movement device

98

Movement direction of the second movement device

100

second imaginary axis

102

third workpiece

104

rail

106

Direction of movement of the third paint booth

108

Movement direction of the second movement device

110

fourth portal-like opening

112

fifth portal-like opening

120

fourth and fifth arrangement for coating workpieces

122

fourth paint booth

124

sixth portal-like opening

126

fifth workpiece

128

first aperture elements

132

fifth spray booth

134

seventh portal-like opening

136

sixth workpiece

138

second aperture elements

Claims (11)

1. Arrangement for coating workpieces (34, 62, 102, 126, 136), comprising a lacquering cabin (12, 42, 82, 122, 132) which has two porchway-like openings (14, 44, 46, 110, 112, 124, 134) that lie opposite one another along an imaginary axis (60, 100), comprising at least one lacquering robot (16, 18, 48, 84, 86) arranged therein, wherein a drive can be used to move (66, 108) the lacquering cabin (12, 42, 82, 122, 132) together with the at least one lacquering robot (16, 18, 48, 84, 86) parallel to a work surface (20, 64) along the imaginary axis (60, 100), and the at least one lacquering robot (16, 18, 48, 84, 86) can be moved by means of at least a first movement apparatus (22, 24, 52, 88, 90) in relation to the lacquering cabin (12, 42, 82, 122, 132) perpendicular to the work surface (20, 64),
   characterized in that
   the at least one lacquering robot (16, 18, 48, 84, 86) can additionally be moved by means of at least a second movement apparatus (96) in relation to the lacquering cabin (12, 42, 82, 122, 132) transversely (108) to the imaginary axis (60, 100), and can additionally be moved by means of at least a third movement apparatus (56, 88, 90) in relation to the lacquering cabin (12, 42, 82, 122, 132) along (58) the imaginary axis (60, 100).
2. Arrangement according to Claim 1, characterized in that the sum total of the degrees of freedom of movement of the at least one lacquering robot (16, 18, 48, 84, 86) and of the movement apparatuses (22, 24, 52, 56, 88, 90) by which the lacquering robot (16, 18, 48, 84, 86) can be moved in relation to the lacquering cabin (12, 42, 82, 122, 132) is at least six.
3. Arrangement according to either of Claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the at least one lacquering robot (16, 18, 48, 84, 86) has at least six degrees of freedom of movement.
4. Arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least two lacquering robots (16, 18, 48, 84, 86) can be moved by means of a common movement apparatus in relation to the lacquering cabin (12, 42, 82, 122, 132).
5. Arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one lacquering robot (16, 18, 48, 84, 86) is arranged within the lacquering cabin (12, 42, 82, 122, 132) on each side of the imaginary axis (60, 100).
6. Arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the lacquering cabin (12, 42, 82, 122, 132) is supported on at least two carriages (38, 68), which are arranged parallel to one another, and can be moved together therewith.
7. Arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the lacquering cabin (12, 42, 82, 122, 132) is provided with an apparatus for supplying and/or carrying away and/or cleaning air (36).
8. Arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that an air-flow curtain can be generated along the opening cross section of at least one porchway-like opening (14, 44, 46, 110, 112, 124, 134).
9. Arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sequences of movement of the at least one lacquering robot (16, 18, 48, 84, 86) and of at least one movement apparatus (22, 24, 52, 56, 88, 90) can be predefined by a common robot control system.
10. Arrangement according to Claim 1, characterized in that the sequences of movement of the at least one lacquering robot (16, 18, 48, 84, 86) and the movement of the lacquering cabin (12, 42, 82, 122, 132) can be predefined by a common robot control system.
11. Arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the opening cross section of at least one of the porchway-like openings (14, 44, 46, 110, 112, 124, 134) can be altered by shield elements (128, 138).

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