JP2007090221A - Spray nozzle and spray system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a spray nozzle and a spray system capable of stabilizing process and product quality as well as preventing control delay and liquid dripping. <P>SOLUTION: The spray nozzle is equipped with a piston 17 that closes a liquid feed path 27 and a gas feed path 29 both at its advanced position and opens both feed paths at its retracted position and a pressurizing means 30 that drives the piston 17 to the advanced position each disposed in a body 2. The gas feed path 29 is configured so that the piston 17 is forced to retract by feeding a gas, and thereby both feed paths are simultaneously opened by feeding a gas into the gas feed path 29 to allow a liquid and a gas to be separately fed into the spray nozzle. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a spray nozzle for mixing and spraying a fluid and a gas, and a spray system using the spray nozzle. For example, it is used for spraying a release agent, cooling water or the like at the time of die casting.

For example, in a die-cast molding process, a spray system for spraying a release agent or cooling water is used to release a product from a mold or cool the mold. For example, in the spray system 40 shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of spray nozzles 43, 43... Are arranged side by side on a spray unit 42 provided at the tip of a robot arm 41 serving as a movement control means, while the spray unit 42 is well known. A control panel 44 having well-known fluid and gas supply means such as a tank, a pump, a compressor, an electromagnetic switching valve and the like is connected to an interface panel 45 for overall control of the robot arm 41 and the control panel 44. .
On the other hand, as a spray nozzle, for example, as shown in Patent Document 1, a piston that is biased to a valve closing position of a fluid supply path to the nozzle by a coil spring in a body in which a nozzle from which fluid is ejected is fixed to the tip. A structure is known in which a valve is provided and the piston valve is moved backward by air supplied to the main body to open the fluid supply path to eject the fluid from the nozzle and to spray by spraying air from the gap between the nozzle and the main body. ing.

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 50-103213

In the spray system, since the distance (pipe) between the electromagnetic switching valve that controls the supply of air and the nozzle ejection position becomes long, a spray control delay occurs and a time loss occurs in the entire manufacturing cycle. There is also a possibility that dripping from the tip after spraying may cause unnecessary liquid to adhere to a mold or the like, resulting in deterioration of quality.
In addition, since the fluid and air supply paths to the main body are connected in a direction orthogonal to the main body, the individual spray nozzles are increased in size, which in turn increases the size and complexity of the spray unit.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a spray nozzle and a spray system capable of achieving stabilization of the process and product quality without causing a control delay or dripping.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a piston that closes both the fluid supply path and the gas supply path in the forward position and opens both supply paths in the retracted position. And a pressing means for moving the piston to the forward position, while the gas supply path is formed so as to be urged in the direction in which the piston is retracted by supplying gas, and the gas supply path supplies the gas. By retreating the piston, both supply paths are opened at the same time so that fluid and gas can be supplied.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the object of the first aspect, in order to form the fluid supply path with a suitable configuration without pressure loss, the fluid supply path is provided in the axial center of the body, and the piston is provided in the body. A flow path that is disposed on the shaft center and that constitutes a part of the fluid supply path is formed in the axial direction inside the piston.
In order to achieve the compactness of the spray nozzle in addition to the object of the first or second aspect, the invention described in claim 3 includes a gas pressure chamber formed at the rear of the piston, It is formed from a second gas supply path capable of supplying gas to the gas pressure chamber.

In order to achieve the above object, a fourth aspect of the present invention provides a spray unit including at least one spray nozzle according to any one of the first to third aspects, and movement control of the spray unit in an arbitrary posture. And a fluid supply means for arbitrarily supplying fluid to each fluid supply path of the spray nozzle via the spray unit, and a gas supply means for arbitrarily supplying gas to each gas supply path of the spray nozzle. A spray system including a control panel.
In addition to the object of the fourth aspect, the invention according to the fifth aspect is one in which the spray nozzle has the second gas supply path in order to effectively achieve simplification, compactness and cost reduction of the entire system. In this case, the second gas supply path is connected to the gas supply means, and the ON / OFF of the spray can be switched by the switching operation by the electromagnetic switching valve provided in the flow path to the second gas supply path side. is there.

According to the first and fourth aspects of the present invention, since the fluid supply path and the gas supply path are simultaneously opened and closed within the body, a control delay occurs even when the piping from the fluid or gas supply section is long. And no dripping from the nozzles when the spray is off. Therefore, it is possible to achieve stabilization of product quality and improvement of the working environment in the cleaning process and the like.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect, since the fluid supply path is a straight line, the resistance of the fluid supply path is reduced and the pressure loss is suppressed.
According to the third aspect of the invention, in addition to the effect of the first or second aspect, the stroke of the piston can be made smaller than when an elastic body such as a coil spring is used, and the spray nozzle can be made compact. It is done.
According to the fifth aspect of the invention, in addition to the effect of the fourth aspect, since the ON / OFF of the spray can be switched only by the switching operation of one electromagnetic switching valve, the electromagnetic switching valve corresponding to the spray nozzle One is enough and the control panel can be downsized. Also, the number of pipes from the spray unit to the control panel can be reduced. Therefore, the configuration of the entire system can be simplified and made compact, and manufacturing and construction costs can be reduced.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a spray nozzle 1 used in place of the spray nozzle 43 in the spray system 40 shown in FIG. 3. Here, the robot arm 41 and the spray unit 42 are omitted, and the spray nozzle 1 is shown. Only the control panel 44 and the fluid and gas flow paths connecting them are shown. A body 2 of the spray nozzle 1 includes a two-stage diameter main body 3 in which a piston chamber 4 having a circular cross section is formed at the rear (right side in FIG. 1) axis, and a small-diameter cylindrical portion 5 is protruded forward, and the main body. And a cap ring 6 that is coaxially connected to the three cylindrical portions 5 and has a tapered ejection hole 7 at the tip. The rear of the piston chamber 4 is closed by a piston cap 8 having a through hole 9 in the axial center and having an O-ring 10 sheathed.
An inner nozzle 12 is accommodated in a space 11 formed by the cylindrical portion 5 and the cap ring 6 of the main body 3. The inner nozzle 12 is held in a non-contact and coaxial manner in the space 11 except for the flange portion 13 sandwiched and fixed between the front end of the cylindrical portion 5 and the rear end of the cap ring 6. A nozzle hole 14 having a large diameter at the rear and a small diameter at the front is formed through. An O-ring 15 is accommodated at the front end of the nozzle hole 14 on the large diameter side, and an O-ring 16 is held on the rear inner periphery of the large diameter side.

A piston 17 is provided so as to be movable back and forth to the axis of the body 2, and penetrates through a first piston portion 18 accommodated in the piston chamber 4 and a communication hole 19 that connects the piston chamber 4 and the space 11. The second piston portion 20 is inserted into the nozzle hole 14 of the inner nozzle 12, and the rear end is loosely inserted into the through hole 9 of the piston cap 8 and sealed with an O-ring 21.
The first piston portion 18 has an O-ring 22 on the outer periphery and forms a gas pressure chamber 23 between the piston cap 8 and the front surface of the first piston portion 18 can be brought into contact with the front surface of the piston chamber 4 at the forward position of the piston 17. A special O-ring 24 is attached. On the other hand, the second piston portion 20 is sealed by the O-ring 16 of the nozzle hole 14 to form a fluid pressure chamber 25 in the nozzle hole 14, and the front is slightly smaller than the diameter of the nozzle hole 14, and the front surface is an axis. It is formed in the small diameter part 26 which becomes a flat surface orthogonal to the center.
A flow path 27 that communicates with the through hole 9 of the piston cap 8 is formed at the axial center of the piston 17, and communicates with an orthogonal path 28 that is formed in the small diameter portion 26 in the diametrical direction and opens on the side surface. Yes. The through hole 9, the flow path 27, the orthogonal path 28, the fluid pressure chamber 25, and the nozzle hole 14 serve as a fluid supply path of the present invention.

  The main body 3 of the body 2 is provided with a mixed air passage 29 and a control air passage 30. The mixed air flow path 29 has an inlet on the rear surface of the main body 3, advances straight forward, bends at a right angle in front of the piston chamber 4, and communicates with the front end of the piston chamber 4. Therefore, by supplying the compressed air here, the piston 17 can be urged in the backward direction via the first piston portion 18. On the other hand, the control air flow path 30 also has an inlet on the rear surface of the body and goes straight forward, bends at a right angle in front of the piston cap 8 and communicates with the gas pressure chamber 23. Therefore, by supplying the compressed air here, the piston 17 can be biased forward via the first piston portion 18. The mixed air flow path 29, the communication hole 19, and the space 11 serve as a gas supply path, and the control air flow path 30 serves as a second gas supply path. The flange 13 of the inner nozzle 12 is formed with through holes 31, 31... That allow the space 11 to communicate with the front and rear at the outer periphery of the inner nozzle 12.

  A plurality of spray nozzles 1 configured as described above are arranged side by side in the spray unit 42 in the spray system 40, and the through holes 9 of the piston caps 8 of the spray nozzles 1 are connected to the release agent supply section 46 in the control panel 44. The mixed air flow path 29 and the control air flow path 30 are connected to a compressed air supply unit 47 in the control panel 44, respectively. The flow path of the compressed air is branched from the supply unit 47 and connected to the mixed air flow path 29 and the control air flow path 30, respectively. An electromagnetic switching valve 48 is provided, and the supply of compressed air to the control air flow path 30 can be switched by the switching operation of the electromagnetic switching valve 48.

  First, in the spray OFF state, the electromagnetic switching valve 48 is switched to the left position in FIG. 1 to supply the compressed air from the supply unit 47 to the mixed air passage 29 and the control air passage 30, respectively. Further, the release agent supplied from the supply unit 46 is supplied from the through hole 9 of the piston cap 8 through the flow path 27 of the piston 17 into the fluid pressure chamber 25 from the orthogonal path 28. In this state, the compressed air from the control air flow path 30 is supplied to the gas pressure chamber 23 rather than the force that urges the piston 17 rearward by the compressed air from the mixed air flow path 29 to push the piston 17 forward. Since the energizing force exceeds, the piston 17 is pressed to the forward position, the O-ring 24 of the first piston portion 18 abuts against the front surface of the piston chamber 4 to close the gas supply path, and the small-diameter portion 26 is the O-ring 15. The fluid supply path is closed. Therefore, the compressed air stays at the front end of the mixed air flow path 29 to be sealed and the release agent stays in the fluid pressure chamber 25 to be sealed, and the release agent and air are not sprayed from the ejection holes 7.

  On the other hand, in the spray ON state, the electromagnetic switching valve 48 is switched to the right position in FIG. 2 to stop the supply of compressed air to the control air flow path 30. Then, since all the compressed air from the supply part 47 is supplied to the front side of the 1st piston part 18 from the mixed air flow path 29, as shown in the same figure, piston 17 reverse | retreats and O-ring 24 is made into piston chamber 4 inside. While separating from the inner surface, the small diameter portion 26 is separated from the O-ring 15. Accordingly, since the fluid pressure chamber 25 is opened in the fluid supply path, the release agent passes through the orthogonal path 28 from the flow path 27 and is ejected forward from the nozzle hole 14 of the inner nozzle 12 as indicated by a solid arrow. The At the same time, in the gas supply path, as indicated by the dotted arrow, the compressed air enters the front of the piston chamber 4 from the mixed air flow path 29, reaches the space 11 through the communication hole 19, and passes outside the inner nozzle 12. It reaches the ejection hole 7 of the cap ring 6. Therefore, the release agent and air are mixed and sprayed from the ejection hole 7.

  When the spray is turned off again from this sprayed state, as described above, when the electromagnetic switching valve 48 is switched to the left position in FIG. 1 and the piston 17 is advanced, the fluid supply path and the gas supply path are simultaneously closed and separated. Supply of the mold and compressed air is stopped simultaneously. Therefore, the release agent does not accumulate in the ejection hole 7 of the cap ring 6.

As described above, according to the spray nozzle 1 and the spray system 40 of the above embodiment, since the fluid supply path and the gas supply path are simultaneously opened and closed in the body 2, control is performed even when the piping from the supply units 46 and 47 is long. There is no delay, and dripping from the ejection hole 7 is eliminated when the spray is OFF. Therefore, it is possible to achieve stabilization of product quality and improvement of the working environment in the cleaning process and the like.
Further, the fluid supply path is provided in the axial center of the body 2, the piston 17 is disposed in the axial center of the body 2, and the flow path 27 constituting a part of the fluid supply path is formed in the piston 17 in the axial direction. Thus, the fluid supply path is a straight line, the resistance of the fluid supply path is reduced, and the pressure loss is suppressed.
Furthermore, by forming the pressing means from the gas pressure chamber 23 formed behind the piston 17 and the control air flow path 30 capable of supplying compressed air to the gas pressure chamber 23, an elastic body such as a coil spring is formed. The stroke of the piston 17 can be made smaller than that used, and the spray nozzle 1 can be made compact.

  And according to the spray system 40 of the said form, the control air flow path 30 is connected to the supply part 47 of the control panel 44, and the switching operation | movement by the electromagnetic switching valve 48 provided in the flow path to the control air flow path 30 side is carried out. Since the spray ON / OFF can be switched with one, only one electromagnetic switching valve 48 corresponding to the spray nozzle 1 is required, and the control panel 44 can be downsized. Further, the number of pipes from the spray unit 42 to the control panel 44 can be reduced. Therefore, the configuration of the entire system can be simplified and made compact, and manufacturing and construction costs can be reduced.

In the above embodiment, the pressing means is formed by the gas pressure chamber 23 and the control air flow path 30, but is not limited to this, and the piston is attached to the forward movement position using an elastic body such as a coil spring. It is also possible to adopt a structure in which the piston is retracted against the bias by supplying the compressed air. In this case, the compactness is inferior to the previous form by adopting the elastic body, but the effect of stabilizing the quality of the product can be similarly maintained without causing a control delay or dripping.
Moreover, the open / close structure of each flow path by the piston is not limited to the above form. For example, in the above embodiment, an O-ring is attached to the first piston part to provide a seal by contact with the piston chamber, and an O-ring is provided in the nozzle hole to obtain a seal by contact with the second piston part. However, the mounting side of the O-ring can be reversed. Furthermore, the piston is not limited to the one in which the fluid supply path is provided in the axial center of the piston. For example, a piston in which the fluid supply path and the gas supply path are provided side by side and the first piston part and the second piston part are similarly formed side by side. A structure that can be opened and closed is also conceivable.

And in the said form, although demonstrated by the example applied to the spray nozzle which mixes and releases a mold release agent and air, fluid and gas are not limited to this, such as a spray nozzle for coating, etc. The present invention can also be applied to other technical fields.

It is explanatory drawing of a spray nozzle (spray OFF state). It is explanatory drawing of a spray nozzle (spray ON state). It is explanatory drawing of a spray system.

Explanation of symbols

1 .... Spray nozzle, 2 .... Body, 3 .... Main body, 4 .... Piston chamber, 7 .... Pump hole, 8 .... Piston cap, 9 .... Through hole, 11 .... Space, 12 .... Inner nozzle , 14 .. Nozzle hole, 15, 24... O-ring, 17 .. Piston, 18 .. First piston part, 19 .. Communication hole, 20 .. Second piston part, 23. .. Fluid pressure chamber, 27 .. Flow path, 29 .. Mixed air flow path, 30 .. Control air flow path, 40 .. Spray system, 41 .. Robot arm, 42 .. Spray unit, 44. Panel, 45 ... Interface board, 46, 47 ... Supply section, 48 ... Electromagnetic switching valve.

Claims (5)

A spray nozzle that allows a fluid supply path and a gas supply path provided in the body to merge and mixes and sprays fluid and gas from an ejection hole provided in the front end of the body,
In the body, a piston that closes both the fluid supply path and the gas supply path at the forward position and opens both of the supply paths at the retracted position, and a pressing unit that moves the piston to the forward position. While providing
The gas supply path is formed so as to be urged in a direction in which the piston is retracted by supplying gas,
A spray nozzle, wherein the piston is retracted by supplying gas to the gas supply path, whereby both the supply paths are simultaneously opened to supply fluid and gas, respectively.   The fluid supply path is provided at the axial center of the body, the piston is disposed at the axial center of the body, and a flow path constituting a part of the fluid supply path is formed in the piston in the axial direction. The spray nozzle described.   The spray nozzle according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the pressing means is formed of a gas pressure chamber formed behind the piston and a second gas supply path capable of supplying gas to the gas pressure chamber. A spray unit comprising at least one spray nozzle according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Movement control means for moving and controlling the spray unit in an arbitrary posture;
A spray including fluid supply means for supplying fluid to each fluid supply path of the spray nozzle through the spray unit, and a control panel provided with gas supply means for supplying gas to each gas supply path of the spray nozzle. system. When the spray nozzle has the second gas supply path, the switching operation by the electromagnetic switching valve provided in the flow path to the second gas supply path side by connecting the second gas supply path to the gas supply means The spray system according to claim 4, wherein the spray can be switched on and off.

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