JP3205975U - Coating device - Google Patents

Abstract

Even if a coating apparatus is provided with a transfer mechanism having no sealing property, a coating operation is performed without causing dripping. A tank 2 in which a coating liquid 8 is stored, a nozzle 3 for applying the coating liquid 8 stored in the tank 2 to an object (workpiece 11), and the tank 2 and the nozzle 3 are communicated with each other. A communication unit 4; a transfer mechanism unit 5 provided in the communication unit 4 and capable of transferring the coating liquid 8 in the tank 2 to the nozzle 3 by driving; a liquid surface of the coating liquid 8 in the tank 2; And a position adjusting unit 6 that adjusts the positional relationship. [Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a coating apparatus.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a coating apparatus, there is one in which a uniaxial eccentric screw pump including a rubber stator and a metal rotor is used as a transfer mechanism unit that transfers a coating liquid (see Patent Document 1).

  However, in the conventional coating apparatus, the rubber stator is worn by use and needs to be periodically replaced. Further, a high temperature coating solution is not suitable for use because the stator is thermally expanded and the rotor cannot be rotated. On the other hand, when the stator is made of resin or metal, such problems are alleviated, but no tightening margin is formed between the stator and the rotor, and there is no sealing performance. For this reason, liquid dripping from the tip of the nozzle occurs when the operation is stopped. In addition, even a gear-type or screw-type coating apparatus does not have a sealing property, and thus dripping occurs when the operation is stopped.

JP 2010-236424 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide a coating apparatus that can perform a coating operation without causing dripping even if the coating apparatus includes a transfer mechanism portion having no sealing property.

As a means for solving the above problems, the present invention provides:
A tank for storing the coating liquid;
A nozzle for applying a coating liquid contained in the tank to an object;
A communicating portion for communicating the tank and the nozzle;
A transfer mechanism which is provided in the communication part and can transfer the coating liquid in the tank to the nozzle by driving;
Positional relationship adjusting means for adjusting the positional relationship between the liquid level of the coating liquid in the tank and the nozzle;
An applicator is provided.

  With this configuration, even if the transfer mechanism portion has no sealing property, the transfer mechanism portion is adjusted by adjusting the positional relationship between the liquid level of the coating liquid in the tank and the nozzle by the positional relationship adjusting means. Even when the driving is stopped, the dripping of the coating liquid from the tip of the nozzle can be prevented. That is, by adjusting the positional relationship between the liquid level of the coating liquid in the tank and the nozzle, the liquid level position in the nozzle can be adjusted to an appropriate state.

  The transfer mechanism unit may be a uniaxial eccentric screw pump including a metal or resin stator and a metal rotor arranged without tightening in a center hole of the stator.

  With this configuration, that is, even if the uniaxial eccentric screw pump has a configuration in which there is no interference between the stator and the rotor, the liquid does not drip from the nozzle while the coating operation is stopped.

  It is preferable that at least a part of the communication portion is deformable.

  With this configuration, even if the tank side or the nozzle side is moved up and down, a part of the communication portion can be made to follow and be deformed, and the discharge of the coating liquid from the nozzle is not hindered.

  It is preferable that the flow path cross-sectional area of the communication portion be a constant value.

  With this configuration, it is possible to prevent liquid dripping from the nozzle and discharge the coating liquid in a stable state while eliminating the need for a valve in the middle of the flow path.

  The tank preferably includes a heater for heating the coating liquid to be stored.

  With this configuration, the coating liquid can be set to an appropriate temperature according to the difference in type.

  Preferably, the transfer mechanism unit includes a pump and a motor that drives the pump, and the motor is disposed above the liquid level of the coating liquid in the tank.

  This configuration eliminates the need for a shaft seal structure in the pump, which simplifies the configuration and can be manufactured at low cost.

  According to the present invention, since the positional relationship between the liquid level of the coating liquid in the tank and the nozzle is adjusted by the positional relationship adjusting means, the liquid level position in the nozzle can be adjusted to be in an appropriate state, Even if a transfer mechanism having no sealing property is used, no dripping occurs. Further, the discharge delay can be prevented by adjusting the liquid surface position in the nozzle.

It is the schematic of the coating device which concerns on this embodiment. It is a schematic sectional drawing of the uniaxial eccentric screw pump employable for the pump of FIG. It is the schematic which shows the position of the tank in preparation for application | coating by the coating device shown in FIG. It is the schematic which shows the position of the tank during application | coating by the coating device shown in FIG. It is the schematic which shows the position of the tank before the coating operation start by the coating device shown in FIG. It is the schematic of the coating device which concerns on other embodiment. It is the schematic of the coating device which concerns on other embodiment. It is the schematic of the transfer mechanism part which concerns on other embodiment. It is the schematic of the transfer mechanism part which concerns on other embodiment. It is the schematic of the transfer mechanism part which concerns on other embodiment. It is the schematic of the coating device which shows the other example of the position which provides a transfer mechanism part. It is the schematic of the coating device which made the direction of the front-end | tip opening of a nozzle the horizontal direction. It is the schematic of the coating device which made the direction of the front-end | tip opening of a nozzle vertically downward.

  Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, terms indicating specific directions and positions (for example, terms including “up”, “down”, “side”, “end”) are used as necessary. Is for facilitating understanding of the invention with reference to the drawings, and the technical scope of the invention is not limited by the meaning of these terms. Further, the following description is merely illustrative in nature and is not intended to limit the present invention, its application, or its use. Furthermore, the drawings are schematic, and the ratio of each dimension is different from the actual one.

  FIG. 1 shows a coating apparatus 1 according to this embodiment. The coating apparatus 1 includes a tank 2, a nozzle 3, a communication unit 4, a transfer mechanism unit 5, a position adjustment unit 6 as a positional relationship adjustment unit, and a control unit 7.

  The tank 2 has a bottomed cylindrical shape and contains a coating solution 8. The coating liquid contains general paints, adhesives, solders, and the like. The liquid level of the stored coating liquid 8 is detected by a liquid level sensor 9. A detection signal from the liquid level sensor 9 is input to the control unit 7 described later. The bottom surface of the tank 2 is formed in a conical shape whose inner diameter dimension gradually decreases as it goes downward. A transfer mechanism 5 described later is provided at the center of the bottom surface. Further, the tank itself can be moved up and down by a position adjusting unit 6 described later.

  The nozzle 3 is arranged such that its axis is along the vertical direction, and the tip opening is directed vertically upward. The nozzle 3 has a tip opening positioned by fixing an outer peripheral surface of a downstream pipe 16 to be described later by a support member 10. The support member 10 has a disc shape, and its peripheral edge is bent and formed into a dish shape. Even if the coating liquid 8 spills from the opening of the nozzle 3, it is collected and scattered around the support member 10. To prevent.

  Above the nozzle 3, a work 11 that is an object to which the coating liquid 8 is applied is disposed. Here, an example of a plate-like body is shown as the work 11. The workpiece 11 can move in the horizontal direction by using a drive mechanism 12 such as a robot. The movement of the workpiece 11 is controlled by a control unit 7 which will be described later, so that the coating liquid 8 discharged from the tip opening of the nozzle 3 can be applied in a desired pattern.

  The communication unit 4 is configured by a pipe 13 that communicates the transfer mechanism unit 5 provided on the bottom surface of the tank 2 with the nozzle 3. A flexible pipe 14 is provided in the middle of the pipe 13 so that the upstream pipe 15 on the tank side can be moved in the vertical direction with respect to the downstream pipe 16 on the nozzle side.

  The tank 2, the nozzle 3 and the communication part 4 are provided with a heater (not shown) so that the coating liquid 8 can be heated as needed or constantly.

  The transfer mechanism unit 5 is composed of a pump. As a pump to be used, the uniaxial eccentric screw pump shown in FIG. 2 can be used. The uniaxial eccentric screw pump includes a metal or resin stator 17 and a metal rotor 18 inserted through the center hole thereof. The center hole of the stator 17 has a single-stage or multi-stage female screw shape with an inner circumferential surface having n strips. The rotor 18 is a single-stage or multi-stage male screw-shaped shaft body with n-1 strips. Here, since the stator 17 is made of metal or resin, no interference is formed between the stator 17 and the rotor 18, and there is no sealing property. The rotor 18 is rotationally driven by a rotation motor 19 provided on the upper end side thereof. Here, since the rotation motor 19 is disposed above the liquid surface of the coating liquid 8, the shaft seal structure is unnecessary, and it is not necessary to consider the compatibility between the coating liquid 8 and the shaft seal structure. The pump can be made inexpensive with a simplified configuration.

  The position adjusting unit 6 is engaged with a lifting guide 20 fixed to the tank 2 by screwing a screw shaft 22 rotatably supported between the upper and lower plates of the support base 21, and rotating the screw shaft 22 with a lifting motor 23. The tank 2 can be moved up and down. The driving of the elevating motor 23 is controlled by a control signal from the control unit 7 described later.

  The control unit 7 drives and controls the rotation motor 19 to rotate the rotor 18 and discharge a predetermined amount of the coating liquid 8 from the nozzle 3 per unit time. Further, the control unit 7 reads the detection signal from the liquid level sensor 9 and controls the raising / lowering motor 23 to adjust the raising / lowering position of the tank 2. Further, the control unit 7 controls the drive mechanism 12 to move the workpiece 11 in the horizontal direction with respect to the position of the tip opening of the nozzle 3.

  Next, operation | movement of the coating device 1 which consists of the said structure is demonstrated.

  In the state before the start of the coating operation in which the coating liquid 8 is not discharged from the nozzle 3, as shown in FIG. 5, the tank 2 is lowered, and the liquid level position of the coating liquid 8 in the tank 2 is set higher than the position of the nozzle 3 at the front end opening. Located on the lower side. As a result, the liquid level in the nozzle 3 is positioned below the tip opening of the nozzle 3, and the uniaxial eccentric screw pump having no sealing property is used for the transfer mechanism unit 5. Thus, the occurrence of so-called dripping, that is, the coating liquid 8 spills out from the front end opening 3 can be prevented. Further, depending on various conditions such as the liquidity of the coating liquid 8, as shown in FIG. 3, the liquid surface position of the coating liquid 8 accommodated in the tank 2 is made to coincide with the tip opening position of the nozzle 3. In some cases, dripping does not occur. In this case, the liquid level position may coincide with the tip opening position of the nozzle 3 even in a state before the start of the coating operation.

  The work 11 is arranged opposite to the tip opening of the nozzle 3 and a coating pattern of the coating liquid 8 is input. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, at the application preparation stage before the application operation is started, the tank 2 is once raised, and the liquid surface position of the application liquid 8 stored in the tank 2 is changed to the tip of the nozzle 3. Match the opening position. In this case, since the upstream pipe 15 and the downstream pipe 16 constituting the communication part 4 are connected by the flexible pipe 14, the tank 2 can be moved smoothly.

  And the discharge of the coating liquid 8 from the front-end | tip opening of the nozzle 3 is started by driving the motor 19 for rotation, rotating the rotor 18, and driving the transfer mechanism part 5. FIG. As described above, before starting the driving of the transfer mechanism unit 5, the tank 2 is once raised, the coating liquid 8 is pushed up to the tip opening position of the nozzle 3, and the liquid surface position in the nozzle 3 is set to the tip opening of the nozzle 3. Since the position coincides with the position, the time required until the coating liquid 8 is actually applied to the workpiece 11 can be shortened (discharge delay can be prevented).

  As shown in FIG. 4, the tank 2 is further raised at the coating stage where the coating operation is started, so that the liquid level position of the coating liquid 8 stored in the tank 2 is higher than the position of the opening of the tip of the nozzle 3. Position. Thereby, the discharge state of the coating liquid 8 from the nozzle 3 can be made more stable.

  Further, the workpiece 11 is moved in the horizontal direction by controlling the drive mechanism 12 in accordance with the input application pattern. Thereby, the coating liquid 8 is applied to the lower surface of the workpiece 11 according to the coating pattern. In addition, since the discharge of the coating liquid 8 from the nozzle 3 is continued by the action of the transfer mechanism 5 when the coating operation is started, the movement of the tank 2 (FIGS. 3 to 4) is not necessarily required. . Further, the liquid level position in the tank 2 and the nozzle 3 maintain a substantially constant positional relationship by raising the tank 2 so that the liquid level position of the coating liquid 8 accommodated in the tank 2 is not lowered by the coating operation. You may make it do. For example, any positional relationship shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 may be maintained. However, as described above, once the coating operation is started, the discharge of the coating liquid 8 from the nozzle 3 is continued by the action of the transfer mechanism unit 5, so that the raising operation of the tank 2 is not necessarily required. Absent.

  When the coating operation is completed, the tank 2 is lowered to place the liquid surface position of the coating liquid 8 in the tank 2 below the position of the opening of the tip of the nozzle 3 as described above (see FIG. 5). 3 to prevent dripping from the opening of the tip.

Thus, according to the coating apparatus 1 according to the embodiment, the following effects can be expected.
When the coating operation is not performed, the tank 2 is lowered, and the liquid level position of the coating liquid 8 to be stored is positioned below the tip opening position of the nozzle 3. However, dripping from the nozzle 3 can be reliably prevented. Further, without providing a valve, it is possible to prevent liquid dripping while keeping the cross section of the communication portion 4 at a constant value. That is, it is not necessary to examine and prepare a valve suitable for the coating liquid 8, and the configuration of the coating apparatus 1 can be simplified and made inexpensive.
By using the transfer mechanism 5 having no sealing property, problems such as wear of parts and thermal expansion of parts due to high-temperature liquid can be reduced.
The tank 2 is raised before the start of the application work, and the liquid level position of the application liquid 8 in the tank 2 and the tip opening position of the nozzle 3 are matched, so that the application work can be started quickly.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the structure described in the said embodiment, A various change is possible.

  In the above embodiment, the tank 2 is moved up and down, but the nozzle 3 (and the work 11) may be moved up and down, or both the tank 2 and the nozzle 3 may be moved up and down. In any case, it is necessary to configure at least a part of the pipe 13 with the flexible pipe 14 as in the above embodiment.

Further, instead of moving the tank 2 up and down, the following positional relationship adjusting means can be used.
In FIG. 6, a liquid level adjusting body 24 is provided in the tank 2 as a positional relationship adjusting means so as to be movable up and down. As a result, the liquid level of the coating liquid 8 is raised and lowered (see, for example, JP 2010-269245 A). In this case, since the liquid level of the coating liquid 8 can be displaced up and down in the tank 2, the flexible pipe 14 is not required in the middle of the communication part 4.

  In FIG. 7, a cylindrical portion 25 whose upper surface is open is formed at the center portion in the tank 2. The cylindrical portion 25 divides the lower side of the tank 2 into an inner peripheral area 26 and an outer peripheral area 27. A communication pipe 28 communicating with the outer peripheral region 27 is connected to the lower surface of the tank 2, and the lower end thereof reaches a storage tank 29 disposed on the lower side. The lower surface of the storage tank 29 and the central portion of the upper surface of the tank 2 are connected by a pumping pipe 30. In the middle of the pumping pipe 30, a pumping pump 31 is provided so that the coating liquid 8 in the storage tank 29 can be returned to the inner peripheral region 26 defined by the cylindrical portion 25 in the tank 2. By driving the pump 31, the inner peripheral area 26 defined by the cylindrical portion 25 is always filled with the coating liquid 8. Similarly to the above, the tank 2 is moved up and down to adjust the vertical positional relationship between the upper end opening position of the cylindrical portion 25 and the tip opening position of the nozzle 3. Thereby, the dripping from the nozzle 3 when not performing the application | coating operation | work can be prevented. Further, since the liquid level position in the tank 2 is always constant, the positional relationship can be controlled more easily.

  In the above embodiment, the uniaxial eccentric screw pump is provided as the transfer mechanism 5 on the bottom surface of the tank 2 (connection portion with the upstream pipe 15), but other pumps may be provided instead. Usable pumps include, for example, a gear pump 32 shown in FIG. 8, a rotary pump 33 shown in FIG. 9, a transfer screw 34 shown in FIG. 10, a trochoid pump, and the like.

  The position where the transfer mechanism unit 5 is provided is not limited to the bottom surface of the tank 2, and can be provided at any position of the communication unit 4. In the example of FIG. 11, the transfer mechanism 5 is provided in the middle of the downstream pipe 16 that does not move up and down.

  In the said embodiment, although it comprised so that the front-end | tip opening of the nozzle 3 might face vertically upward, it can also be made into the horizontal direction shown in FIG. 12, and the downward direction shown in FIG. In these cases, the liquid in the nozzle 3 can be adjusted by adjusting the positional relationship between the liquid surface of the coating liquid 8 stored in the tank 2 and the nozzle 3 in the same manner as when the front end opening of the nozzle 3 is directed vertically upward. The position of the surface can be in an appropriate state. However, it is difficult to achieve both prevention of dripping and prevention of discharge delay as compared with the case where the tip opening of the nozzle 3 is directed vertically upward. Therefore, it is desirable to prevent liquid dripping and discharge delay also by adjusting the operation of the transfer mechanism unit 5. Specifically, before the start of application work (at the end of application), it is desirable to perform a suction operation by the transfer mechanism unit 5 to prevent dripping. Moreover, what is necessary is just to perform what is called a boost operation in the application | coating preparation stage, in order to prevent a discharge delay. Here, the boost operation means an operation for temporarily improving the discharge delay by rotating the rotation motor 19 at a value faster than the rotation speed normally required for obtaining a desired coating amount.

  In the above embodiment, the workpiece 11 is moved horizontally in the coating operation, but the nozzle 3 can be moved horizontally or both can be moved horizontally. However, when a heater is provided in the nozzle 3 in order to increase the temperature of the coating liquid 8, it is difficult to move the nozzle side, so it is preferable to move the workpiece side.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Coating apparatus 2 ... Tank 3 ... Nozzle 4 ... Communication part 5 ... Transfer mechanism part 6 ... Position adjustment part (Position relation adjustment means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 7 ... Control part 8 ... Coating liquid 9 ... Liquid level sensor 10 ... Supporting member 11 ... Workpiece (object)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 ... Drive mechanism 13 ... Piping 14 ... Flexible pipe 15 ... Upstream pipe 16 ... Downstream pipe 17 ... Stator 18 ... Rotor 19 ... Motor for rotation 20 ... Lifting guide 21 ... Support stand 22 ... Screw shaft 23 ... Lifting motor 24 ... Liquid Position adjustment body (Positional relationship adjustment means)
25 ... cylindrical portion 26 ... inner peripheral area 27 ... outer peripheral area 28 ... communication pipe 29 ... storage tank 30 ... pumping pipe 31 ... pumping pump 32 ... gear pump 33 ... rotary pump 34 ... transfer screw

Claims (1)

A tank for storing the coating liquid;
A nozzle for applying a coating liquid contained in the tank to an object;
A communicating portion for communicating the tank and the nozzle;
A transfer mechanism which is provided in the communication part and can transfer the coating liquid in the tank to the nozzle by driving;
Positional relationship adjusting means for adjusting the positional relationship between the liquid level of the coating liquid in the tank and the nozzle;
A coating apparatus comprising:

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