EP3508276B1

EP3508276B1 - Spray nozzle for coating vehicle flange and method for coating vehicle with glue

Info

Publication number: EP3508276B1
Application number: EP19150197.2A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Xu Zhou
Original assignee: BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd
Current assignee: BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd
Priority date: 2018-01-03
Filing date: 2019-01-03
Publication date: 2020-10-28
Anticipated expiration: 2039-01-03
Also published as: EP3508276A1; CN109985770A; CN109985770B

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a spray nozzle for coating a vehicle flange and a method for coating a vehicle with glue.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the industry of vehicle manufacture, an important item in the vehicle coating process is "gluing". The gluing process usually comprises a seam sealing step and an underbody protecting step, so that especially the sealing and the anti-corrosion treatment for vehicles can be achieved, and thus for example the wax can be prevented from discharging from the welding seam in the later step of wax injection in hollow cavity.
In order to improve the airtightness, the sound insulation, the vibration resistance, the stone chip resistance and so on, the PVC coating material is widely used in the gluing process for vehicles. The PVC coating material usually means the polyvinyl chloride paint, whose main ingredient is polyvinyl chloride resin, and the pigments, plasticizers, packings and so on can be added into the polyvinyl chloride resin to mix together so as to form a high solid content paint with a solid content of more than 90%. The PVC coating material can be divided into two types, i.e. the seam sealing glue and the underbody paint. The seam sealing glue has good flexibility, extensibility, rigidity and Resistance to abrasion and thus can take the effects of good airtightness, sound insulation and leakproof. The underbody paint is mainly sprayed at the bottom of the vehicle body and the four wheel housings, has higher rigidity, hardness and high adhesive force, and can take the effects of vibration resistance, stone chip resistance and protection for vehicle body. The seam sealing glue is mainly coated at the seam of the vehicle body through the glue gun. The underbody paint can be uniformly sprayed at the bottom of the vehicle body and the wheel housings mainly in the manner of spray coating.
However, for the vehicle with a vehicle flange, when spray coating the underbody of the vehicle with the PVC coating material, due to the limitation of the machine and in order to prevent over-spray, it is impossible to completely coat the vehicle flange (especially the rocker panel under the vehicle door) with the glue, therefore the outside edge of the vehicle flange is not coated, that is, it has to keep a gap which is not coated. This gap is generally set in the range of 10mm to 15mm. However, if for example the accuracy of the machine is not sufficiently high and consequently the gap without being coated is too big, it will be necessary to separately and manually coat the outside edge of the vehicle flange. This would slow down the work cycle and would be quite uneconomical.
DE10 2011 108262 A1 relates to a device for coating the vehicle body, which includes a connecting region, multiple arms are protruding from the connecting region, each of the multiple arms at the free end has a handling device, and one of the handling devices can be configured as a lacquering device, i.e. a spray gun or a rotation atomizer. However, this document is directed to improve the connecting parts of the arms and does not mention much about the lacquering device.
A paint spray apparatus is known from US 3 219 276 A . This apparatus comprises a movable platform with a slide, the slide carries a pair of spray gun brackets to each of which a cylindrical spray gun housing is adjustably attached by coupling members, and each cylindrical housing carries a bracket having diverging arms on which spray nozzles are secured.
US 9 061 299 B1 discloses a spray paint can spraying accessory, which is able to direct paint inwardly around a focal point in order to paint a cylindrical or circular object, and which includes a nozzle housing that attaches atop of a spray paint can, and a can nozzle that attaches onto the outlet tube of the existing spray paint can. A spray gun hose connects with the can nozzle to direct paint to a spray gun having a plurality of paint nozzles positioned along an assembly, which direct paint inwardly around a focal point. The assembly and paint nozzles include an opening to enable ingress and egress of the object to be painted.
However, all of the above prior arts have nothing to do with the technical problem as mentioned above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of the present disclosure is to at least partly eliminate the above defects in the prior arts, in particular it can be not necessary any more to separately and manually coat the outside edge of the vehicle flange with glue when coating the underbody of the vehicle with glue.
In view of this, the present invention provides a spray nozzle for coating a vehicle flange with PVC coating according to claim 1, which comprises: two spray bodies, which are provided with a spray opening respectively; a connection bridge, which on both ends are each connected with a respective spray body; and a connection bar, which on one end is provided with a joint and on the other end is connected with the connection bridge, wherein, the two spray bodies, the connection bridge and the connection bar are connected with each other in the way of fluid-guiding, and wherein the connection bridge has an opening, which can receive the vehicle flange to be coated, and when the opening receives the vehicle flange to be coated, the spray openings of the two spray bodies can be oriented towards the vehicle flange from the two opposite sides of the vehicle flange to be coated, respectively.
Therefore, through the two spray bodies, the spray nozzle according to the present disclosure can make the coating material be coated on the vehicle flange simultaneously from two opposite sides of the vehicle flange to be coated (especially the top surface and bottom surface of the rocker panel). In this way, it is possible to simultaneously coat the two opposite sides of the vehicle flange to be coated in the seam sealing step, so that the bottom surface of the outside edge of the vehicle flange has been already coated in the seam sealing step. Therefore, it is not necessary any more to separately and manually coat the outside edge of the vehicle flange with glue in the underbody protecting step. Consequently, it is possible to avoid slowing down the work cycle and reducing the labor consumption.
The two spray bodies and the connection bridge are configured as cylindrical body, which can helpfully simplify the manufacture of the spray nozzle according to the present disclosure.
Preferably, the spray openings are configured as strip-shape openings, hence the PVC coating material can be uniformly coated onto the two sides of the rocker panel in the form of a flat stream, and thus the coat has a uniform thickness. The flat stream is easy to control, so as to be able to better cover the coating area. Through adjusting the spraying angle of the spray opening, it is possible to coat the edge of the rocker panel entirely with the PVC coating material without insufficient spray or excessive spray. In addition, also preferably, when the opening receives the vehicle flange to be coated, the spray openings are symmetrically arranged with each other with respect to the vehicle flange to be coated. In this way, the PVC coating material can be identically coated on the two sides of the rocker panel.
In this context, also preferably, when the opening receives the vehicle flange to be coated, the spraying direction of the spray opening is angled with respect to the vehicle flange to be coated in an angle which is not equal to 90 degree. This also facilitates the coating material to be better covered on the coating area.
The connection bridge has a U-shape, especially a C-shape, a horseshoe-shape, or a hairpin turn-shape, whose two legs are each connected to a respective spray body. This facilitates the operation of the spray nozzle according to the present disclosure. The longitudinal axis of the legs is angled with respective to the longitudinal axis of the respective spray body. This is also in favor of the operator to better operate the spray nozzle.
Preferably, the connection bar has a folded part or a bending part. By means of the folded part or the bending part, it can ergonomically facilitate the operator to operate the spray nozzle more comfortably.
Preferably, the connection bar is connected to the connection bridge in the middle of the connection bridge. Consequently, the operation of the spray nozzle by the operator can be better facilitated.
In the present document, the vehicle flange can be the sill of the vehicle or the rocker panel of the vehicle.
In addition, the present invention also provides a method 1 according to claim 9 for coating a vehicle with glue in the coating process, wherein the vehicle has a vehicle flange, especially the sill of the vehicle or the rocker panel of the vehicle, the method comprises the following steps: coating the vehicle body with the glue; coating the vehicle flange, especially the outside edge of the vehicle flange, by means of the above-described spray nozzle; and coating the underbody of the vehicle with the glue.
Therefore, it is possible to simultaneously coat two opposite sides of the vehicle flange to be coated in the seam sealing step, so that the bottom surface of the outside edge of the vehicle flange has been already coated in the seam sealing step. Therefore, it is not necessary any more to separately and manually coat the outside edge of the vehicle flange with the glue in the underbody protecting step. Consequently, it is possible to avoid slowing down the work cycle and reducing the labor consumption.
Preferably, the glue is coated on the vehicle body and/or the underbody of the vehicle by means of a robot, so as to achieve an automation process of the vehicle coating process to the great extent, so that it is possible to avoid slowing down the work cycle and reducing the labor consumption.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An embodiment of the present invention will be explained in detail below with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic front view of a vehicle with rocker panels in the vehicle coating process;
FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a spray nozzle according to the present disclosure;
FIG. 3 shows a side view of the spray nozzle;
FIG. 4 shows a section view of Fig. 3 in the plane of IV.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 shows a schematic front view of a vehicle with rocker panels in the vehicle coating process. The vehicle 1 at two sides has a rocker panel 2 respectively. The rocker panel 2 belongs to a vehicle flange. In the present document, the term "vehicle flange" means a flange that protrudes from the vehicle body outwardly on the circumference of the vehicle body.
In order to spraying coat the rocker panel 2, Figs. 2-4 show a preferable embodiment of a spray nozzle for a spray gun according to the present disclosure. Firstly, as can be seen from Fig. 2, the spray nozzle comprises: two spray bodies 100, a connection bridge 200 for connecting the two spray bodies, and a connection bar 300 for connecting the spray nozzle to the gun head (not shown) of the spray gun. For coating, the two spray bodies 100, the connection bridge 200 and the connection bar 300 are connected with each other in the way of fluid-guiding. For example, the two spray bodies 100, the connection bridge 200 and the connection bar 300 can be configured as hollow or include a passage for guiding fluid respectively.
As seen from Fig. 3, the spray body 100 is configured as cylindrical body. In this embodiment, the spray body 100 is configured as a circular cylinder, for example is made of a circular tube. The two spray bodies 100 are arranged parallelly with each other. Therefore, the two spray bodies 100 can be symmetrically arranged with each other with respect to the middle plane 101 between the two spray bodies 100, wherein the middle plane 101 indicates the normal plane of the planes in which the two spray bodies 100 are located and this normal plane passes through the center line of the two spray bodies 100. The rocker panel 2 to be coated can be positioned in the middle plane 101 between the two spray bodies 100.
The two spray bodies 100 are provided with a spray opening respectively. When the vehicle 1 is coated, the spray openings of the two spray bodies 100 can coat the rocker panel 2 simultaneously from the two opposite sides of the rocker panel 2 to be coated.
The spray opening can be configured as strip-shape opening, hence the coating material, especially the PVC coating material, can be sprayed out in the form of a flat stream, which thus facilitates to uniformly coat with the coating material. During the coating of the vehicle 1, the spray openings are preferably symmetrically arranged with each other with respect to the rocker panel 2 to be coated, hence the coating material can be identically coated onto two sides of the rocker panel. The spray opening can be configured as strip-shape opening extending along the axial direction of the respective cylindrical spray body 100. Furthermore, the spray openings can be symmetrically arranged with each other with respect to the middle plane 101 between the two cylindrical spray bodies 100. In this context, preferably, the strip-shape openings can be centeredly arranged on the respective cylindrical spray body 100.
As seen from Fig. 3, during the coating of the vehicle 1, the spraying direction of the spray opening is preferably angled with respect to the rocker panel to be coated in an angle which is not equal to 90 degree. In other words, when the vehicle 1 is coated, the spraying direction of the spray opening is not vertical to the middle plane 101 between the two cylindrical spray bodies 100.
In addition, as seen from Fig. 4, a cap 110 can be arranged at both ends of each cylindrical spray body 100 respectively, which facilitates to clean the cylindrical spray body 100.
The connection bridge 200 has an opening, which can receive the rocker panel to be coated, and when the opening receives the rocker panel 2 to be coated, the spray openings of the two spray bodies 100 can be oriented towards to the rocker panel 2 from the two opposite sides (i.e. the top surface and the bottom surface) of the rocker panel 2 to be coated, respectively. In this way, the rocker panel 2 can be simply positioned into the opening of the connection bridge 200, which facilitates the operator to better operate the spray nozzle according to the present disclosure.
The connection bridge 200 is also configured as cylindrical body. The connection bridge 200 has a U-shape, but preferable have a C-shape, a horseshoe-shape, or a hairpin turn-shape. The connection bridge 200 includes two legs 210, 220 and a connecting section for connecting the two legs.
A joint is provided in the middle of the connecting section of the connection bridge 200, so as to connect with the connection bar 300. For example, the connection bridge 200 can be screwed or welded with the connection bar 300.
The two legs 210, 220 of the connection bridge 200 are each connected, preferably welded to a respective spray body 100. In this embodiment, the two legs 210, 220 of the connection bridge 200 are each connected to a cylindrical spray body 100, in particular at the middle part of the respective cylindrical spray body 100, so that it is easy for the user to operate the spray nozzle. Preferably, as seen from Fig. 4, the longitudinal axis 202 of the two legs 210, 220 of the connection bridge 200 is inclined with respect to the longitudinal axis 102 of the two cylindrical spray bodies 100 in an angle a, so that when the cylindrical spray bodies 100 move along the rocker panel 2, the connection bridge 200 will not intervene with the rocker panel 2.
The connection bar 300 on one end is provided with a joint 310 and on the other end is connected with the connection bridge 200. The joint 310 can be connected with the gun head (e.g. its hose) of the spray gun. The joint 310 can be a thread joint or a clamping joint. The connection bar 300 can be functioned as an operating handle. The connection bar 300 also can comprise a first section connecting with the joint 310 and a second section connecting with the connection bridge 200. The first section and the second section can be angled with each other, preferably in an angle of about 120 degree, which can ergonomically facilitate the operator to operate the spray nozzle more comfortably.
According to the prior arts, in the underbody protecting step, due to the limitation of the machine and in order to prevent over-spray, it is impossible to completely coat the vehicle flange (especially the rocker panel under the vehicle door) with the glue, therefore the outside edge of the vehicle flange is not coated, and thus it has to keep a gap which is not coated. Therefore, it might be necessary to separately and manually coat the outside edge of the vehicle flange in the underbody protecting step.
Now, by means of the spray nozzle according to the present disclosure, since it includes two spray bodies and the spray openings of the spray bodies can coat the vehicle flange simultaneously from two sides of the vehicle flange, it is possible to coat two sides of the vehicle flange (i.e. the top and bottom surfaces of the rocker panel in this embodiment) with the PVC coating material. Therefore, the bottom surface of the vehicle flange can have been already coated with the PVC coating material at the meanwhile in the seam sealing step. Therefore, it is not necessary to coat the bottom surface of the vehicle flange during the coating of the underbody of the vehicle, and the phenomenon of insufficient spray or excessive spray would not appear. Therefore, it is possible to avoid slowing down the work cycle and reducing the labor consumption.
Thus, the present invention also provides a method for coating a vehicle with glue in the coating process, wherein the vehicle has a vehicle flange, especially the sill of the vehicle or the rocker panel of the vehicle, the method comprises the following steps: coating the vehicle body with the glue; coating the vehicle flange, especially the outside edge of the vehicle flange, by means of the above-described spray nozzle; and coating the underbody of the vehicle with the glue. Therefore, it is possible to simultaneously coat two opposite sides of the vehicle flange to be coated in the seam sealing step, so that the bottom surface of the outside edge of the vehicle flange has been already coated in the seam sealing step. Therefore, it is not necessary any more to separately and manually coat the outside edge of the vehicle flange with the glue in the underbody protecting step. Consequently, it is possible to avoid slowing down the work cycle and reducing the labor consumption.
According to the method of the present disclosure, the glue can be coated on the vehicle body and/or the underbody of the vehicle by means of a robot, so as to achieve an automation process of the vehicle coating process to the great extent, so that it is possible to avoid slowing down the work cycle and reducing the labor consumption.

Claims

A spray nozzle for coating a vehicle flange with PVC coating, wherein the spray nozzle comprises:
two spray bodies (100), which are provided with a spray opening respectively;

a connection bridge (200), which on both ends is connected with the espective spray body; and

a connection bar (300), which on one end is provided with a joint (310) and on the other end is connected with the connection bridge (200),

wherein, the two spray bodies (100), the connection bridge (200) and the connection bar (300) are connected with each other in the way of fluid-guiding, and

wherein the connection bridge (200) has an opening, which can receive the vehicle flange to be coated, and when the opening receives the vehicle flange to be coated, the spray openings of the two spray bodies (100) can be oriented towards the vehicle flange from two opposite sides of the vehicle flange to be coated, respectively,

wherein the two spray bodies (100) and the connection bridge (200) are configured as cylindrical body, wherein the connection bridge (200) has a U-shape, whose two legs (210, 220) are each connected to the respective spray body (100), and wherein a longitudinal axis (202) of the legs (210, 220) is angled with respective to a longitudinal axis of the respective spray body (100), and the two cylindrical spray bodies (100) are arranged parallelly with each other.
A spray nozzle according to claim 1, characterized in that, the spray openings are configured as strip-shape openings, and when the opening receives the vehicle flange to be coated, the spray openings are symmetrically arranged with each other with respect to the vehicle flange to be coated.
A spray nozzle according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, when the opening receives the vehicle flange to be coated, a spraying direction of the spray opening is angled with respect to the vehicle flange to be coated in an angle which is not equal to 90 degree.
A spray nozzle according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, the connection bridge (200) has a C-shape, a horseshoe-shape, or a hairpin turn-shape.
A spray nozzle according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, the connection bar (300) has a folded part or a bending part.
A spray nozzle according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, the connection bar (300) is connected to the connection bridge (200) in the middle of the connection bridge.
A spray nozzle according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, the vehicle flange is a sill of a vehicle or a rocker panel of the vehicle.
A spray nozzle according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that, the two spray bodies (100) and/or the connection bridge (200) and/or the connection bar (300) are configured as hollow or include a passage for guiding fluid.
A method for coating a vehicle with glue in a coating process, wherein the vehicle has a vehicle flange, especially a sill of the vehicle or a rocker panel of the vehicle, the method comprises the following steps:
coating a vehicle body with the glue;

coating the vehicle flange, especially an outside edge of the vehicle flange by means of a spray nozzle according to any one of claims 1-8; and coating an underbody of the vehicle with the glue.
A method according to claim 9, characterized in that is done coating the vehicle body and/or the underbody of the vehicle with the glue I by means of a robot.