JP4705877B2 - Top coating equipment and coating method using the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a top coating equipment and a coating method using the same.

  In recent years, from the viewpoint of environmental protection, regulations on discharged organic solvents and VOC regulations for paints have been increasing. In order to meet these regulations, water-based paints that do not use organic solvents have been developed, and the market scale is expanding.

  Specifically, undercoating, intermediate coating, and overcoating are performed on the automobile body, and water-based paint is used for the undercoating and intermediate coating among these coatings. In addition, it has been difficult to make the top coat water-based, and an organic solvent-based paint has been used. However, a water-based paint has also been developed for the top coat.

  FIG. 3 shows a conventional example of a top coating equipment 100 for an automobile body.

  The coating facility 100 includes two rows of top coating lines 11, a drying furnace 12, an inspection unit 13, and a return conveyor 14. The top coat line 11 is roughly divided into a base paint area 21, a preheat area 22, and a clear paint area 23. The coating line 11 is provided with a transport conveyor 29, and the transport conveyor 29 transports the areas 21 to 23 in the line forward direction with the automobile body 25 placed on the carriage 26.

  The base coating area 21 is an area where a base coat is applied to the body surface using a water-based metallic paint. In this base coating area 21, base correction for manually painting the inner plate side of the automobile body 25 and base coating for painting the outer plate side of the automobile body 25 with a painting machine are performed.

  The preheat area 22 is an area where the body surface is heated and dried in order to remove moisture contained in the coating film of the base coat, and a hot air zone 31 (HA zone) for blowing hot air of 80 ° C. to 90 ° C. to the automobile body 25; A cooling air zone 32 (CA zone) for blowing cool air of 20 ° C. to 25 ° C. onto the automobile body.

  The clear coating area 23 is an area for applying a clear coat to the automobile body 25 after base coating using a transparent paint. In the clear painting area 23, clear correction is performed in which an operator manually paints the inner plate side of the automobile body 25 and clear painting in which the outer plate side of the automobile body 25 is automatically painted by a painting machine.

  The automobile body 25 after clear coating is carried into the drying furnace 12, and the coating film (base coat and clear coat) on the surface thereof is baked and dried at a predetermined temperature. And the inspection part 13 checks the coating quality of the body surface. Here, the automobile body 25 having a defect, for example, as a coating film defect with the clear coat is placed on the return conveyor 14 after being repaired and returned to the painting line 11 and then again is repainted.

Incidentally, technologies related to the top coating of the automobile body 25 as described above are disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, for example.
JP 2001-239201 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-71361

  By the way, when recoating is performed as described above, it is not necessary to perform base coating. However, in the conventional top coating equipment, due to the equipment configuration, the automobile body 25 is carried in from the upstream side of the painting line 11 and passed through the base painting area 21 and the preheat area 22 to perform recoating. As described above, when clear coating is performed a plurality of times, there is a problem that the conveyance time is increased by the amount of passage of the base coating process which is not necessary, and the production efficiency is deteriorated.

  This invention is made | formed in view of said subject, The objective is to provide the top-coat coating equipment and coating method which can perform clear coating efficiently and can improve production efficiency.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 is to apply a base coating area for applying a base coating to an object to be coated after intermediate coating, and to apply a clear coating to the object to be coated after the base coating. A clear paint area, a dry area that is installed between the base paint area and the clear paint area, and in which the object to be painted after the base paint is dried in advance before clear paint, and each of the areas to be painted. The top coating line having a forward conveying means for conveying in the line forward direction while passing through the interior, and the object to be coated that has reached the end of the forward conveying means without passing through the respective areas are reversed. A reverse conveying means that conveys in a direction, and the object to be coated conveyed by the reverse conveying means at a position downstream of the base coating area and from the clear painting area. On the upstream side of the position, and a transfer means for creating change to the forward conveying means on the drying area has a connected configuration a cooling unit downstream of the heating and drying unit, said transfer means, said The gist of the overcoating equipment is characterized in that the object to be coated is transferred onto the forward conveying means at a connecting portion between the heating and drying unit and the cooling unit .
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the forward conveying unit includes a first conveying unit that conveys the article to be coated on the upstream side of the transfer unit, and the coating target on the downstream side of the transfer unit. The apparatus is divided into a second conveyance unit that conveys an object, and a conveyance speed of the second conveyance unit is set to be higher than a conveyance speed of the first conveyance unit. The gist of the top coat equipment described in 1.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a base coating area for applying a base coating to an object after intermediate coating, a clear coating area for applying a clear coating to the object after base coating, and the base coating A dry area that is installed between an area and the clear coating area, and in which the object to be painted after base coating is dried in advance before clear painting, and a line forward direction while passing the object to be painted through each area A top coating line having a forward conveying means for conveying the object and a reverse conveying means for conveying the object to be coated that has reached the end of the forward conveying means in the reverse direction of the line without passing through each area. And the object to be coated conveyed by the reverse conveying means at a position downstream of the base coating area and upstream of the clear coating area. A transfer means for transferring on the direction transfer means, wherein the forward transfer means is provided on the upstream side of the transfer means and on the downstream side of the transfer means. And the second transport unit that transports the object to be coated, and the transport speed of the second transport unit is set to be higher than the transport speed of the first transport unit. The gist of the top coating equipment is as follows.

Therefore, according to the first to third aspects of the present invention, since the transfer means is provided, the object to be coated is located in the forward direction at a position downstream of the base coating area and upstream of the clear coating area. It can be transferred onto the transport means. Therefore, for example, when performing the second and subsequent coatings, it is possible to carry out only the clear coating by bringing the object to be coated into the clear coating area without passing through the base coating area. In this case, since the conveyance path | route of a to-be-coated object can be shortened and by extension the conveyance time can also be shortened, production efficiency can be improved.

According to the invention described in claim 1, the transfer unit, the object to be coated is placed on the forward conveying means at a connection portion between the heating and drying unit and the cooling unit in the drying area. In this case, in the second and subsequent coatings, the object to be coated is not heated in the heating and drying unit, and the surface of the object to be coated can be maintained at an appropriate temperature for clear coating in the cooling unit. Then, by performing clear coating of the object to be coated in that state, it is possible to avoid rough skin and the like of the clear coat. Therefore, the problem that the coating quality varies depending on the outside air temperature can be avoided, and the coating quality can be maintained satisfactorily.

In the present invention, since the object to be coated is transferred onto the forward conveying means by the transfer means, the number of objects to be transferred on the downstream side of the transfer means is larger than that on the upstream side. For this reason, if the upstream side first transport unit and the downstream side second transport unit have the same transport speed, a state of waiting for processing occurs in the downstream clear coating. On the other hand, according to the second and third aspects of the present invention, the object to be coated is quickly conveyed by the second conveying unit, and clear coating can be performed quickly, thereby increasing the processing efficiency of the entire line. Can do.

  Invention of Claim 4 is the coating method using the top coat equipment of any one of Claim 1 thru | or 3, Comprising: The said to-be-coated object which passed through the 1st coating is said by the said transfer means. The gist of the coating method is that the base coating is omitted and only the clear coating is applied to the second and subsequent coatings by transferring onto the forward conveying means.

  According to invention of Claim 4, a base coating can be abbreviate | omitted in the coating after the 2nd time, and only a clear coating can be given. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the time for conveying the object to be coated, and to increase the production efficiency.

  As described above in detail, according to the inventions described in claims 1 to 4, clear coating can be efficiently performed, and the production efficiency of the top coating equipment can be improved.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the top coating equipment 10 of this embodiment includes two rows of top coating lines 11, a drying furnace 12, an inspection unit 13, a return conveyor 14 (reverse conveying means), and transfer. And a device 15 (transfer means). That is, the painting facility 10 of the present embodiment is different from the conventional painting facility 100 in that a transfer device 15 is added.

  More specifically, the top coat line 11 of this embodiment also has a base paint area 21, a preheat area 22 (dry area), and a clear paint area 23, as in the prior art. The base coating area 21 is an area for applying base coating to the automobile body 25 (object to be coated) after intermediate coating, and the clear coating area 23 is for applying clear coating to the automobile body 25 after base coating. It is an area. The preheat area 22 is an area that is installed between the base paint area 21 and the clear paint area 23 and heats and drys the automobile body 25 after the base paint before clear paint. The coating line 11 of the present embodiment has a length of about 100 m as a whole, and each area 21, 22, 23 has a length of about 1/3 of the whole line.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the preheat area 22 has a structure in which a cooling air zone (CA zone) 32 as a cooling unit is connected to a downstream side of a hot air zone (HA zone) 31 as a heating and drying unit. . In the present embodiment, the transfer device 15 is provided at the connection portion between the hot air zone 31 and the cooling air zone 32.

  Further, in the coating line 11, a first transport conveyor 27 (first transport unit) that transports the vehicle body 25 on the upstream side of the transfer device 15, and the vehicle body 25 is transported on the downstream side of the transfer device 15. A second conveyor 28 (second conveyor) is provided. The first transport conveyor 27 and the second transport conveyor 28 constitute forward transport means. Each of the conveyors 27 and 28 conveys the vehicle body 25 in the line forward direction (left direction in FIGS. 1 and 2) while passing through the areas 21 to 23 with the vehicle body 25 mounted on the carriage 26.

  In the present embodiment, the transport speed of the second transport conveyor 28 is set to be faster than the transport speed of the first transport conveyor 27. Specifically, the transport speed of the first transport conveyor 27 is 4 m / min, and the transport speed of the second transport conveyor 28 is 8 m / min. The transfer device 15 includes a pusher (not shown) that temporarily stores the automobile body 25 (cart 26) conveyed from the first conveyor 27 and then pushes it into the second conveyor 28 side. It functions as a relay device that delivers the automobile body 25 (cart 26) to and from the second conveyor 28.

  A plurality of spray nozzles 34 of the hot air heating device 33 are provided on the ceiling and side surfaces of the hot air zone 31. Each blowing nozzle 34 of the hot air heating device 33 blows hot air of 80 ° C. to 90 ° C. toward the automobile body 25 transported by the first transport conveyor 27. A plurality of spray nozzles 36 of the cold air cooling device 35 are provided on the ceiling and side surfaces of the cooling air zone 32. Each blowing nozzle 36 of the cold air cooling device 35 blows cold air of 20 ° C. to 25 ° C. toward the automobile body 25 conveyed by the second conveyor 28. In addition, on the floor surfaces of the hot air zone 31 and the cooling air zone 32, exhaust ports (not shown) for discharging hot air and cold air are formed.

  The end of the clear painting area 23 is connected to the drying furnace 12, and the automobile body 25 after clear painting is carried into the drying furnace 12. The drying furnace 12 is baked and dried by heating the coating film (base coat and clear coat) on the surface of the automobile body 25 to a predetermined temperature. The inspection unit 13 checks the coating quality on the surface of the automobile body 25 after baking and drying.

  The return conveyor 14 is provided outside the painting line 11 in parallel with the painting line 11, and conveys the vehicle body 25 in the reverse direction of the line without passing through the areas 21 to 23 from the terminal side of the painting line 11. To do. In addition, since the return conveyor 14 in this embodiment is installed on the same floor as the coating line 11, it is located beside the coating line 11.

  The transfer device 15 transfers the automobile body 25 on the return conveyor 14 onto the second transfer conveyor 28 at the connection portion between the hot air zone 31 and the cooling air zone 32. Note that the transfer device 15 of the present embodiment is provided with a turntable 17 that reverses the carriage 26 so as to coincide with the direction of the automobile body 25 that flows on the painting line 11. As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, the turntable 17 is provided at three places in the transfer device 15, but this may be provided at one place or two places.

  A method for painting the automobile body 25 in the top coat equipment 10 of the present embodiment will be described.

  First, the automobile body 25 for which the intermediate coating has been completed is carried into the coating line 11 by the first conveyor 27 in a state where it is placed on the carriage 26. Then, in the base painting area 21 of the painting line 11, after the base correction for manually painting the inner plate side of the automobile body 25 is performed, the base painting for painting the outer plate side of the automobile body 25 with a painting machine is performed. Is called. As a result, a base coat film is formed on the surface of the automobile body 25.

  Next, in the hot air zone 31, hot air of 80 ° C. to 90 ° C. is blown to the automobile body 25 from the blowing nozzle 34 of the hot air heating device 33. Thereby, the water | moisture content contained in the coating film of a basecoat is removed. The automobile body 25 transported to the end of the first transport conveyor 27 is transferred from the first transport conveyor 27 to the second transport conveyor 28 by the transfer device 15, and then cooled by the second transport conveyor 28. 32.

  In the cooling air zone 32, cold air of 20 ° C. to 25 ° C. is blown to the automobile body 25 from the blowing nozzle 36 of the cold air cooling device 35. As a result, the surface of the automobile body 25 is cooled to an optimum temperature for performing clear coating.

  Thereafter, in the clear painting area 23, after clear correction is performed by manually painting the inner plate side of the automobile body 25, clear painting is performed in which the outer plate side of the automobile body 25 is painted by a painting machine. As a result, a clear coat film is formed on the surface of the automobile body 25.

  Then, the automobile body 25 after clear coating is carried into the drying furnace 12. In the drying furnace 12, the coating film (base coat and clear coat) on the body surface is heated to a predetermined temperature to be baked and dried. Thereafter, the inspection unit 13 checks the coating quality of the body surface after baking and drying.

  When the inspection unit 13 determines that the coating quality of the automobile body 25 is good, the automobile body 25 is transported to an assembly process, which is a subsequent process, using a transport conveyor (not shown). Alternatively, it may be conveyed in the reverse direction of the line by the return conveyor 14 and may be conveyed to the assembly line through the transfer device 15. On the other hand, when it is determined that the painting quality of the automobile body 25 is not good, the automobile body 25 is conveyed in the reverse direction of the line by the return vehicle conveyor 14. Then, the transfer body 15 transfers the automobile body 25 on the return conveyor 14 onto the second transport conveyor 28 at the connection portion between the hot air zone 31 and the cooling air zone 32. The car body 25 is transported to the clear paint area 23 by the second transport conveyor 28, and the car body 25 is cleared again in the clear paint area 23, and a clear coat with a sufficient film thickness is formed on the body surface. The

  Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.

  (1) In the painting facility 10 of the present embodiment, when performing the second painting, the vehicle body 25 is carried into the clear painting area 23 without passing through the base painting area 21 and only the clear painting is performed. . In this case, since the conveyance path | route of the motor vehicle body 25 can be shortened and by extension the conveyance time can also be shortened, the coating efficiency of the motor vehicle body 25 can be improved.

  (2) In the painting facility 10 of the present embodiment, the transfer device 15 is provided at the connection portion between the hot air zone 31 and the cooling air zone 32, and the automobile body 25 is second transported from the return conveyor 14 at the connection portion. It is transferred onto the conveyor 28. In this way, when the second coating is performed, the automobile body 25 is not heated in the hot air zone 31, and the surface of the automobile body 25 can be maintained at an appropriate temperature for clear painting in the cooling air zone 32. it can. And the clear coating of the automobile body 25 in this state can avoid the rough skin of the clear coat. Therefore, the problem that the coating quality of the automobile body 25 varies depending on the outside air temperature can be avoided, and the coating quality can be maintained well.

  (3) In the painting facility 10 of the present embodiment, the transport speed of the second transport conveyor 28 is set to be faster than the transport speed of the first transport conveyor 27. If it does in this way, clear painting can be performed rapidly and the processing waiting state in clear painting is avoided, so that the processing efficiency of the entire line can be increased.

  (4) Since the coating equipment 10 of the present embodiment is provided with two rows of coating lines 11, the transport speed of the transport conveyor 27 is made slower than that of the intermediate coating line, and the tact time of the top coating is reduced. Can be lengthened. As a result, the coating quality of the top coat can be sufficiently improved.

  In addition, you may change embodiment of this invention as follows.

  In the above-described embodiment, the present invention is embodied in the painting equipment 10 that performs clear coating (recoating) again when the automobile body 25 has a coating film defect. It may be embodied in painting equipment that performs clear painting (double clear). In this painting facility, the vehicle body 25 that has undergone the first painting is transferred onto the second transfer conveyor 28 by the transfer device 15, so that the base painting is omitted for the second and subsequent paintings and only the clear painting is applied. Like that.

  -In the painting equipment 10 of the said embodiment, you may comprise so that the clear coating using a different coating material may be performed for every coating line 11 according to the coating color of base coating. In this case, the transfer device 15 may be configured to selectively transfer the coating line 11 in accordance with the base paint color. Specifically, for example, the first transfer conveyor 27 of the upper coating line 11 is transferred to the second transfer conveyor 28 of the lower coating line 11, or the first transfer conveyor 27 of the lower coating line 11 is changed. The second transfer conveyor 28 of the upper painting line 11 is changed over.

  In the painting facility 10 of the above-described embodiment, the two rows of coating lines 11 are provided, but the present invention is not limited to this, and one row or three or more rows of coating lines 11 may be provided.

  In the painting facility 10 of the above-described embodiment, the transfer device 15 is provided at the connection portion of the hot air zone 31 and the cooling air zone 32 in the painting line 11, and the automobile is transferred from the return conveyor 14 to the second transfer conveyor 28 at the connection portion. Although it was the structure which changes the body 25, it is not limited to this. For example, the vehicle body 25 is put on a connection portion between the base coating area 21 and the preheating area 22 (upstream side of the hot air zone 31) or a connection portion between the preheating area 22 and the clear coating area 23 (downstream side of the cooling air zone 32). It is good also as composition changed. In other words, the position at which the automobile body 25 is changed over may be a position downstream of the base coating area 21 and a position upstream of the clear coating area 23.

  -Although the drying area of the said embodiment was the preheating area 22 which heat-drys the body surface, it may be a dehumidification area which dehumidifies and drys the body surface. In such a case, the operation of blowing hot air to the automobile body 25 is not performed, so the cooling air zone 32 is not necessary.

  In the coating equipment 10 of the above embodiment, the water-based metallic coating is performed, but in addition to this, for example, a white solid coating may be performed. In this case, a conveyance conveyor that bypasses the base coating area 21 is separately provided, and after passing the base coating step, a white solid coating is performed in the clear coating step.

  In the painting facility 10 of the above embodiment, the automobile body 25 as an object to be painted is painted. However, other parts for automobile bodies such as bumpers and spoilers may be painted. Of course, the painting facility 10 may paint parts other than automobile parts.

  Next, in addition to the technical ideas described in the claims, the technical ideas grasped by the embodiments described above are listed below.

  (1) The top coating equipment according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the top coating line is installed in a plurality of rows.

  (2) In any one of claims 1 to 3, the top coat line is installed in a plurality of rows, and the transfer means is selectively applied to the forward conveying means respectively included in the plurality of top coat lines. Top coating equipment characterized by changing things.

  (3) In any one of claims 1 to 3, the forward conveying means, the reverse conveying means, and the transfer means convey the object to be coated on a carriage. Top coating equipment.

  (4) The top coating equipment according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the object to be coated is an automobile body or an automobile body part.

  (5) The top coat equipment according to claim 2, wherein the heating and drying unit sprays a heated gas onto the object to be coated, and the cooling unit sprays a gas at a temperature lower than the heated gas onto the object to be coated. .

The schematic block diagram which shows the top-coat coating equipment of one Embodiment. The schematic block diagram which shows the preheat area in a coating line. The schematic block diagram which shows the conventional top coat coating equipment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Top coating equipment 11 ... Painting line 14 ... Return conveyor as a reverse conveyance means 15 ... Transfer device as a transfer means 21 ... Base coating area 22 ... Preheating area as a dry area 23 ... Clear coating area 25 ... To-be-coated Automotive body 27 as a thing 27 ... 1st conveyance conveyor as a 1st conveyance part 28 ... 2nd conveyance conveyor as a 2nd conveyance part 31 ... Hot air zone as a heating-drying part 32 ... Cooling air zone as a cooling part

Claims (4)

A base paint area for applying a base paint to an object after intermediate coating, a clear paint area for applying a clear paint to the object after base coating, and between the base paint area and the clear paint area A drying area in which the object to be coated after base coating is dried in advance before clear coating, and a forward conveying means for conveying the object to be coated in the line forward direction while passing through each area. The top coat line,
A reverse conveying means for conveying the object to reach the end of the forward conveying means in a line reverse direction without passing through each area;
Transfer to transfer the object to be coated conveyed by the reverse conveying means onto the forward conveying means at a position downstream of the base coating area and upstream of the clear coating area. and means,
The drying area has a configuration in which a cooling unit is connected to the downstream side of the heating and drying unit, and the transfer means transports the object to be coated in the forward direction at a connection portion between the heating and drying unit and the cooling unit. Change on the means
Top coating equipment characterized by that . The forward conveying means includes a first conveying section that conveys the object to be coated on the upstream side of the transferring means, and a second conveying section that conveys the object to be painted on the downstream side of the changing means. The top coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second transport unit is set to have a transport speed that is faster than a transport speed of the first transport unit. A base paint area for applying a base paint to an object after intermediate coating, a clear paint area for applying a clear paint to the object after base coating, and between the base paint area and the clear paint area A drying area in which the object to be coated after base coating is dried in advance before clear coating, and a forward conveying means for conveying the object to be coated in the line forward direction while passing through each area. The top coat line,
A reverse conveying means for conveying the object to reach the end of the forward conveying means in a line reverse direction without passing through each area;
Transfer to transfer the object to be coated conveyed by the reverse conveying means onto the forward conveying means at a position downstream of the base coating area and upstream of the clear coating area. Means and
With
Before Symbol forward conveying means comprises a first conveyor for conveying the object to be coated also on the upstream side of the transfer unit, the second conveying unit that conveys the object to be coated also on the downstream side of the transfer means while being divided into bets, the conveying speed of the second conveying unit, the upper intermediate coating facilities characterized in that it is set to be faster than the conveying speed of the first conveyor.   4. A coating method using the top coating equipment according to claim 1, wherein the object to be coated that has undergone the first coating is transferred onto the forward conveying means by the transferring means. 5. Therefore, for the second and subsequent coatings, the base coating is omitted and only the clear coating is applied.

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