JPH0653239B2 - How to clean the painting gun - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a cleaning method for automatically cleaning a plurality of coating guns provided in an automatic coating apparatus, and more specifically,
For example, a cleaning tank having a plurality of cleaning nozzles is displaced from a predetermined retracted position to a cleaning operation position, and then the plurality of coating guns and the cleaning tank are relatively displaced relatively to clean the coating gun. By spraying a solvent such as thinner onto each of the coating guns after they have been exposed to the tank, it is possible to clean a large number of coating guns efficiently in a short time, and moreover The present invention relates to a method for cleaning a coating gun, which makes it possible to automatically perform a cleaning operation to easily automate the entire coating operation process.

Generally, in the automobile industry, a coating apparatus is used to coat an outer plate portion of an automobile body. In this case, the coating apparatus has come to be automated so as to correspond to the line production process, and in general, a plurality of coating guns are mounted and the car body to be coated and the coating apparatus are relatively opposed to each other. It is configured to spray a predetermined coating from the plurality of coating guns while automatically moving the coating to automatically coat the vehicle body.

By the way, when the coating work is continuously performed on the automobile body, the paint sprayed from each coating gun often adheres to the tip of the coating gun, that is, the nozzle portion. When paint adheres to the nozzle part, when different paints are sprayed from the same painting gun, the colors mix or cause a chemical change, and the paint solidifies and clogs the nozzle part. Therefore, there is a possibility that it becomes impossible to spray the paint when a new painting operation is performed.

Therefore, conventionally, an operator cleans each nozzle portion with a brush to which a solvent such as thinner is attached, and then attaches it to the nozzle portion with a cloth or the like before starting the painting work and after finishing the painting work. The coating gun is cleaned by wiping off the solvent.

However, as described above, since the cleaning work of the coating gun is performed manually by the operator, particularly in the case where a large number of coating guns are mounted as in the aforementioned automatic coating device,
It takes a considerable time to clean the coating gun,
This exposes the inconvenience of imposing a considerable burden on the operator.
Moreover, it is extremely difficult to achieve an automated coating line process because the worker himself / herself performs the cleaning work, and it is pointed out that it is impossible to efficiently perform the coating work on the automobile body.

The present invention has been made to overcome the above-mentioned inconveniences, and a plurality of nozzles for injecting a cleaning solvent to each coating gun provided in an upper coating mechanism for coating at least an upper portion of an object to be coated. Displace the cleaning tank in which the cleaning tank is arranged from the predetermined retracted position to the cleaning work position with respect to the coating line, and then relatively displace the cleaning tank and the coating gun relatively close to each other to enter the coating gun into the cleaning tank. By spraying the solvent from each nozzle and cleaning the coating gun, it is possible to efficiently and automatically clean a plurality of coating guns, and the coating work process is performed in a short time. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for cleaning a coating gun, which is capable of achieving the automation of the above-mentioned coating work process easily.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a coating gun which is reciprocally moved on an upper surface of an object to be coated which is sequentially transported along a transport line, along an arm extending in a direction substantially orthogonal to the transport line. A method for cleaning a coating gun for cleaning the coating gun, wherein a cleaning device retracted to the outside of the transfer line is provided on the transfer line corresponding to the coating gun. And a step of arranging between the objects to be coated, relatively displacing the arm and the cleaning device relatively,
Positioning the coating gun at a cleaning position of the cleaning device and performing cleaning.

Next, a method for cleaning a coating gun according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, with reference to preferred embodiments in relation to an apparatus for carrying out the method.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 indicates a painting line of an automobile, and the painting line 10 is divided into a first stage 10a, a second stage 10b, a third stage 10c and a fourth stage 10d according to a work process. Be divided. In this case, the cleaning device 1
2 is placed on the third stage 10c.

At the first stage 10a, the engine room and the trunk room of the vehicle body 14 are painted. That is, rail portions 16a and 16b are arranged on both sides of the first stage 10a, and coating robots 18a to 18d are movably arranged on these rail portions 16a and 16b. A bonnet opening / closing mechanism 20 and a trunk opening / closing mechanism 22 are arranged on the first stage 10a. A vehicle body transport mechanism 24 is provided at the center of the coating line 10 from the first stage 10a to the fourth stage 10d.

At the second stage 10b, the inner surface of the door of the vehicle body 14 is painted. In this case, rail portions 26a and 26b are arranged on both sides of the second stage 10b, and these rail portions 26a and 26b are provided.
Painting robots 28a and 28b are movably arranged in the. Further, rail portions 30a and 30b are further arranged between the vehicle body transport mechanism 24 and the rail portions 26a and 26b.
Door opening / closing mechanisms 32a and 32b are movably arranged on a and 30b.

Next, in the third stage 10c provided with the cleaning device 12, the outer plate portion including the bonnet, trunk cover, roof and door of the vehicle body 14 is coated through the coating device 34 disposed therein. Then, in the fourth stage 10d, the drying process of the vehicle body 14 that has been painted is performed. In the first stage 10a to the third stage 10c, static electricity is applied to the paint to electrostatically coat the vehicle body 14, which is the object to be coated.

Therefore, in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the coating device 34 includes a rail portion 35 which is arranged in parallel to both side portions of the vehicle body transport mechanism 24.
It is basically composed of a and 35b, an upper painting mechanism 36 and a left side painting mechanism 38 that run along the rail portion 35a, and a right side painting mechanism 40 that runs along the rail portion 35b.

The traveling means for traveling the upper coating mechanism 36, the left side coating mechanism 38, and the right side coating mechanism 40 along the rail portions 35a, 35b are basically the same. That is, in FIG. 2, the rail bracket 42 that constitutes each rail portion 35a, 35b.
Extends from one end to the other end of the rail portions 35a, 35b, and a rack member 44 is arranged on the vertical outer side of the rail bracket 42 so as to extend in the longitudinal direction of the rail bracket 42.

On the other hand, a plate body 48 is fixed to the lower end portions of the casings 46a to 46c that form the outer frame of the upper painting mechanism 36, the left side painting mechanism 38, and the right side painting mechanism 40. The traveling motor 52 is attached to the fixed side plate 50a. A pinion 54 is attached to the tip of a rotary shaft 52a of the traveling motor 52, and the pinion 54 meshes with the rack member 44 provided on the rail bracket 42. Further, the side plate 50b fixed to the other side of the lower surface of the plate body 48 and the side plate 50a are mounted with wheel portions 56a and 56b that engage with the rail bracket 42 and rotate.

Next, the configuration of the upper coating mechanism 36 will be described. In FIG. 2, a vertically extending ball screw 58 is rotatably supported in the casing 46a, and the upper end of the ball screw 58 is a drive shaft of a lifting motor 60 mounted on the upper surface of the casing 46a. Connected to. 4 around the ball screw 58
Book guide rods 62a and 62b are erected in parallel. Here, a support plate 64 is screwed onto the ball screw 58, and the support plate 64 is configured to move up and down by rotating the ball screw 58 under the driving action of the lifting motor 60. The guide rods 62a to 62d are inserted into the support plate 64.

On the upper surface of the support plate 64, a turning motor is provided via a holder 66.
68 is fixed, and the gear 7 is attached to the rotary shaft 68a of the turning motor 68.
0 is pivoted. The holding body 66 holds the bearing member 72, and the turning shaft 74 is rotatably supported by the bearing member 72.
A gear 76 meshing with the gear 70 is axially attached to one end of the. The other end side of the turning shaft 74 projects outside from the casing 46a,
One end of the revolving arm 78 is fixed to the end thereof.

On the other hand, on the other end side of the revolving arm 78, a shift cylinder 80 as shift means is arranged. The cylinder rod 82 of this shift cylinder 80 engages with the slide sleeve 84, and the horizontal gun arm 86 is attached to the slide sleeve 84.
Hang up. Gun support bars 88a to 88d are held on the horizontal gun arm 86 at predetermined intervals so as to be perpendicular to the horizontal gun arm 86. And the gun support bar 88
Painting gun 90a as a paint injection means at the lower end of a to 88d
90d are attached to each other at a predetermined distance.
The nozzles 91a to 9a are attached to the tip side of the coating guns 90a to 90d.
1d is provided.

The left side coating mechanism 38 and the right side coating mechanism 40 are for coating the left side portion and the right side portion of the vehicle body 14, and are basically configured in the same manner. Therefore, the left side coating mechanism 38 will be described in detail below, and the detailed description of the right side coating mechanism 40 will be omitted.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the support column 9 extending in the vertical direction is provided in the casing 46b forming the outer frame of the left side coating mechanism 38.
2a and 92b are provided. Two guide bars 94a, 94b extending in the horizontal direction orthogonal to the rail portions 35a, 35b are bridged between these columns 92a, 92b, and these guide bars 94a, 9b are provided.
A holding member 96 is slidably engaged with and held by 4b. Holding member
A horizontal movement cylinder 98 is fixed to 96, and a tip end portion of a cylinder rod (not shown) of the horizontal movement cylinder 98 is attached to a column 92b via a connecting member 100.

Further, the guide bar 104 is inserted through the holding member 96 via the slide metals 102a and 102b so as to be vertically slidable and rotatable. That is, the connecting member 106 is engaged with the lower end portion of the guide bar 104 projecting downward from the holding member 96, and the cylinder rod 1 projecting from the lower end portion of the shift cylinder 108 fixed to the outer side portion of the holding member 96.
10 connects to the connecting member 106. Meanwhile, the guide bar 104
The pinion 114 is attached to the upper side of the pinion 114.
The rack 118 extending from the cylinder 116 mounted on the holding member 96 meshes with the above.

Therefore, a holding member 120 is further connected to the upper and lower ends of the guide bar 104, and a supporting member 122a is attached to the holding member 120.
The gun arm 124 is attached via 122b. Gun arm 1
The coating guns 128a to 128d as the coating material injection means are attached to the unit 24 via the connecting members 126a to 126d in a state of being separated by a predetermined distance. In this case, the coating guns 128a, 128b and 128d are attached.
Are each swingable. That is, the gun arm 12
Cylinders 130a to 130c are attached to the cylinder 4,
One ends of the holding members 134a to 134c are engaged with the cylinder rods 132a to 132c extending from the a to 130c. The holding members 134a to 134c are rotatably supported with respect to the connecting members 126a, 126b and 126d, and the coating guns are provided at the other ends thereof.
Holds 128a, 128b and 128d. In addition, painting gun
128c is fixed with its tip oriented horizontally.

Next, the cleaning device 12 will be described in detail below.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the cleaning device 12 is
Basically, the upper coating gun cleaning mechanism 136 for cleaning the coating guns 90a to 90d, and the side coating for cleaning each of the coating guns 128a to 128d constituting the left side coating mechanism 38 and the right side coating mechanism 40 Includes gun cleaning mechanisms 138, 140.

Referring to FIG. 4, the upper coating gun cleaning mechanism 136 includes a base 142, and a main body 144 is mounted on the base 142 so as to be vertically movable and rotatable. One end of supporting rods 146a and 146b is attached to the upper portion of the main body 144, and
a and 146b are parallel and extend in the horizontal direction. And
Cleaning tanks 148a to 148d are supported by the rods 146a and 146b, and the cleaning tanks 148a to 148d have their respective separation intervals selected corresponding to the coating guns 90a to 90d of the upper coating mechanism 36.

In this case, the cleaning tanks 148a to 148d have the same configuration, and the cleaning tank 148a will be described in detail below, and the detailed description of the other cleaning tanks 148b to 148d will be omitted.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the base plate 150 constituting the cleaning tank 148a is engaged with the respective rods 146a and 146b, and the supporting member for suspending the cleaning tank 148a on these rods 146a and 146b. 152a to 152d are provided. A circular opening 154 having a relatively large diameter is formed in the center of the base plate 150.
And the flexible cover members 156a, 156b facing the opening 154 are fixed to the base plate 150. The cover members 156a and 156b are formed in the same shape, and the nozzle portions 91 of the coating guns 90a to 90d are provided in the respective central portions.
Holes 158a, 158b having a diameter smaller than the diameters of a to 91d are formed, and further, not-shown slits are formed at a predetermined distance from the center of each hole 158a, 158b in a radially outward direction. Then, the flexible cover members 156a and 156b are superposed and fixed to the base plate 150 so that the respective slits do not overlap.

On the other hand, on the surface of the base plate 150 opposite to the surface on which the supporting members 152a to 152d are provided, as shown in FIG. 6, the support bars 160a are spaced at equal intervals so as to surround the opening 154.
One end of the support bar 16 to 160d is fixed.
One end of the support bar 162 is fixed between 0c and 160d.
Holder members 164a to 164a are attached to the other ends of the support bars 160a to 160d.
164d is attached, and the cleaning guns 166a to 166d are attached to the holder members 164a to 164d. In this case, the cleaning gun
The nozzle tips 168a to 168d of the nozzles 166a to 166d are inclined toward the base plate 150 side, and are oriented toward the center line of the opening 154. A support bar 170 is attached to the other end of the support bar 162 in a direction orthogonal to the support bar 170, and a holder member 172 is attached to the support bar 170. Then, the cleaning gun 174 is attached to the holder member 172,
The nozzle tip 176 of 174 is oriented on the center line of the opening 154.

Therefore, the casing 178 is detachably attached to the base plate 150, for example, via a bolt or the like, and the cleaning work chamber 180 is defined in the casing 178. Chamber 180
Communicates with the waste liquid and mist outlet 182 having a small diameter at the end of the casing 178.

An outlet for the cleaning tanks 148a to 148d configured in this way
A pipe line 184 is integrally connected to 182, and the pipe line 184 is engaged with a main body part 144 so as to move up and down and rotate integrally with the main body part 144. Further, one end of the flexible conduit 186 is connected to the conduit 184, and the other end of the conduit 186 is connected to the separation tank 188. The separation tank 188 is provided with a mist pipe line 190 on the upper side thereof, and a waste liquid pipe line 192 is arranged on the lower side thereof to form the pipe line 192, for example, the pump 19.
3 to the waste liquid treatment unit (not shown).

On the other hand, the side coating gun cleaning mechanisms 138 and 140 have the same structure. The side coating gun cleaning mechanism 138 will be described in detail below, and the detailed description of the other cleaning mechanism 140 will be omitted.

That is, the cleaning mechanism 138 includes a base 194,
A support 196 is erected on 194. Each of the columns 196 has a holding member 198a to 198d extending horizontally at a predetermined height.
And a cleaning tank through the holding members 198a to 198d.
200a to 200d are the coating guns 12 forming the left side coating mechanism 38
It is installed corresponding to 8a to 128d. The cleaning tanks 200b and 20
0d is fixed to the holding members 198b and 198d, and the other cleaning tanks 200a and 200c are configured to be horizontally displaceable. That is, the cleaning tank shift cylinders 202a, 202b are horizontally attached to the support column 196 and are fixedly spaced apart from each other, and the cleaning tanks are attached to the cylinder rods 204a, 204b extending horizontally from the cylinders 202a, 202b. 200a and 200c are attached.

Therefore, the cleaning tanks 200a to 200d have substantially the same structure as the cleaning tank 148a described above.
Support members 207a to 207d are provided on the upper side of the casing 206 that constitutes 0a to 200d, and holding members 198a and 198d and cylinder rods 204a and 20 are provided via the support members 207a to 207d.
Suspended on 4b. The cleaning tanks 200a to 200d have the same internal configuration as that of the cleaning tank 148a described above, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Further, the casing 206 that constitutes the cleaning tanks 200a to 200d
At the lower part of the pipe, a waste liquid and mist recovery pipe line 208 is connected, and each pipe line 208 is connected to a separation tank 212 via a pipe line 210, and like the separation tank 188, the separation tank 212 is connected.
The mist conduit 214 and the waste liquid conduit 216 are connected to each other.

The cleaning device for carrying out the method for cleaning a coating gun according to the present invention is basically configured as described above,
Next, its operation and effect will be described.

First, the bonnet of the vehicle body 14 transported to the first stage 10a by the vehicle body transport mechanism 24 is opened by the bonnet opening / closing mechanism 20 and the trunk cover is opened by the trunk opening / closing mechanism 22. Then, the painting robots 18a to 18d running along the rail portions 16a and 16b perform painting of the engine room and the trunk room. Then, the vehicle body 14 whose bonnet and trunk cover are closed by the bonnet opening / closing mechanism 20 and the trunk opening / closing mechanism 22 is transported to the second stage 10b by the vehicle body transporting mechanism 24.

In the second stage 10b, the door of the vehicle body 14 is the door opening / closing mechanism 32a,
32b is opened, the inner surface of the door is a rail portion 26a,
It is painted by painting robots 28a, 28b that run along 26b. Next, the vehicle body 14 whose doors are closed by the door opening / closing mechanisms 32a and 32b is transferred to the third stage 10 by the vehicle body transport mechanism 24.
Transported to c.

Therefore, the painting gun 90 installed in the upper painting mechanism 36 in advance
The a to 90d are arranged so as to face the front panel of the vehicle body 14, and the coating guns 128a, 128b and 128d mounted on the both side coating mechanisms 38 and 40 are respectively attached to the cylinders 130a to 13a.
The vehicle body 14 is oscillated and displaced under the driving action of 0c to be positioned corresponding to the side shape of the vehicle body 14. Then, when the traveling motor 52 is driven, the pinion 54 pivotally attached to the rotating shaft 52a of the traveling motor 52 rotates, and the upper coating mechanism 36 causes the upper coating mechanism 36 to rotate.
The vehicle starts traveling in the direction of arrow C along the rail bracket 42 via 6b.

Then, when the distance between the front panel of the vehicle body 14 and the coating guns 90a to 90d of the upper coating mechanism 36 reaches a predetermined distance, the driving motor 52 is stopped or decelerated to a predetermined rotational speed. Furthermore, when the lifting motor 60 is driven,
The ball screw 58 connected to the lifting motor 60 rotates, and the revolving arm 78 starts rising in the direction of arrow D via the support plate 64 screwed to the ball screw 58. In this case, paint is sprayed from the coating guns 90a to 90d toward the front panel of the vehicle body 14 to coat the front panel.

The coating guns 90a to 90d are arranged at a predetermined distance so that the paints to be injected do not interfere with each other. Therefore, the paint is applied to the painted surface of the front panel in a stripe pattern.

Painting of the front panel is completed and painting guns 90a to 90d
When reaches the boundary between the front panel and the hood, the turning motor 68 is driven. Therefore, the turning motor
A swivel arm 78 rotates in the direction of arrow B about the swivel shaft 74 via a gear 76 meshing with a gear 70 pivotally supported by a rotary shaft 68a of 68. As a result, the coating guns 90a to 90d mounted on the turning arm 78 are oriented vertically to the hood of the vehicle body 14. Here, the upper coating mechanism 36 travels along the rail portion 35a under the driving action of the traveling motor 52 to coat the bonnet.

In this way, the lifting motor 60 is moved along the inclination of the vehicle body 14.
The support plate 64 is displaced in the vertical direction under the action of the above, and the swing arm 78 is rotated under the action of the drive of the swing motor 68, so that striped coating is performed over the entire upper surface of the vehicle body 14.

On the other hand, the side coating mechanisms 38, 40 are displaced along the rail portions 35a, 35b at a predetermined distance from the upper coating mechanism 36, and the gun arm 124 is moved in the arrow E or F direction under the driving action of the cylinder 98. While displacing each painting gun 12
Paint is sprayed from 8a to 128d to apply a striped coating on the side surface of the vehicle body 14.

Then, in the both side coating mechanism 38, 40, the cylinder 108
The guide bar 104 is displaced by a predetermined amount in the direction of arrow A or D under the driving action of. Further, after driving the cylinders 130a to 130c to set the angular positions of the coating guns 128a, 128b and 128d, the both side coating mechanisms 38, 40 are connected to the rail portions 35a, 35b.
Along the direction of displacement in the opposite direction. At this time, the paint sprayed from the coating guns 128a to 128d is sprayed on the portion to be painted on the side portion of the vehicle body 14, and the entire side portion of the vehicle body 14 is coated.

On the other hand, in the upper coating mechanism 36, the horizontal gun arm 86 is displaced by a predetermined amount in the arrow E or F direction under the driving action of the cylinder 80, and the upper coating mechanism 36 is displaced along the rail portion 35a in the opposite direction. On the other hand, the paint is sprayed onto the portion to be coated on the upper portion of the vehicle body 14 through the coating guns 90a to 90d, and the coating work on the entire outer surface portion of the vehicle body 14 is completed.

In this way, the vehicle body 14 after the painting work is transported by the vehicle body transport mechanism.
After being conveyed to the fourth stage 10d via 24, a drying process is performed.

Therefore, after finishing the painting work of the vehicle body 14 in the painting line 10 or before starting the painting work of the vehicle body 14, the washing work of the respective painting guns 90a to 90d and 128a to 128d via the washing device 12 is performed. I do.

That is, the upper coating gun cleaning mechanism 136 constituting the cleaning device 12 is arranged so as to be parallel to the rail portion 35b, as shown in FIG. During the 14 painting operations, the cleaning mechanism 136
Avoids interference. And the painting gun 90a
When performing the cleaning work of 90 to 90d, after the main body 144 is displaced vertically upward, the main body 144 is rotationally displaced in the arrow direction under the driving action of a rotary drive source (not shown) to rotate the rod 146.
The a and 146b are positioned parallel to the horizontal gun arm 86, thereby moving the respective cleaning tanks 148a to 148d to predetermined positions (see FIGS. 1 and 4).

Next, when the support plate 64 is displaced in the direction of arrow A via the ball screw 58 under the driving action of the lifting motor 60, the support plate 64 is moved.
Painting gun 90a via swivel arm 78 held on 64
Through 90d are similarly displaced in the direction of arrow A,
The cleaning tanks 148a to 148d are faced with 1a to 91d. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, the nozzle portion 91a of the coating gun 90a enters into the holes 158a and 158b of the flexible cover members 156a and 156b that are attached to the base plate 150 that constitutes the cleaning tank 148a. To do. At that time, the holes 158a and 158b are replaced by the nozzle 91a.
Is smaller than the diameter of the holes 158a, 15
Since the slits (not shown) communicating with 8b are arranged so as not to overlap each other, the upper side of the chamber 180 in the casing 178 can be completely closed via the nozzle portion 91a.

Further, the nozzle tips 168a to 168a of the respective nozzles 166a to 166d and 174 are connected via conduits (not shown) connected to them.
If a solvent such as thinner or a mixed fluid of the solvent and air is jetted from 8d and 176, the nozzle tip portion 168a
Through 168d and 176 are on the center line of the opening 154, that is,
Since it is directed to the nozzle portion 91a of the coating gun 90a, the solvent or mixed fluid is vigorously ejected to the nozzle portion 91a,
The cleaning action of the nozzle portion 91a is extremely effectively achieved.

In this case, the upper part of the chamber 180, that is, the nozzle portion 9
Since the end portion where 1a enters is blocked by the flexible cover members 156a and 156b, the solvent or the mixed fluid sprayed from the cleaning guns 166a to 166d and 174 does not flow out to the outside, and especially the thinner is used. It is possible to avoid the inconvenience that a large amount of contained mist penetrates into the workplace and adversely affects the health of the worker.

In this way, when the nozzle portion 91a of the coating gun 90a is washed, the paint impregnated with the fluid injected from the washing guns 166a to 166d and 174, that is, the waste liquid and the mist, is taken out at the bottom of the casing 178. Conduit through 182
It is led to the separation tank 188 from 184 and the pipe 186. In the separation tank 188, the mist is fed to an exhaust treatment unit (not shown) via a pipe 190, while the waste liquid is fed to a waste liquid treatment unit (not shown) under the action of a pump 193 via a pipe 192. Will be sent out. Therefore, there is an advantage that the waste liquid and the mist do not flow out into the work place, and the environment in the work place can be favorably secured.

Although the cleaning work process of the coating gun 90a has been described in detail above, it will be easily understood that the same applies to the other coating guns 90b to 90d. On the other hand, both sides coating mechanism
The coating work of the coating guns 128a to 128d constituting the 38 and 40 will be described in detail below.

That is, in the side coating gun cleaning mechanism 138, the cylinder rods 204a, 20b are driven by the cylinders 202a, 202b.
4b is oriented in the horizontal direction and displaced, and the cleaning tanks 200a and 200c held therein are positioned corresponding to the positions of the coating guns 128a and 128c. On the other hand, the coating guns 128a, 128b, and 128d are displaced through the holding members 134a to 134c that rotate under the driving action of the respective cylinders 130a to 130c, and the tips of the respective coating guns are horizontally oriented and positioned ( (See FIG. 3, two-dot chain line). Then, the rack 118 is displaced in a predetermined direction under the driving action of the cylinder 116, and the guide bar 104 is rotated by 90 ° via the pinion 114 meshing with the rack 118. Therefore, the gun arm 124 attached to the guide bar 104 is swingably displaced from the side portion of the vehicle body 14 to the side coating gun cleaning mechanism 138 side, and the coating guns 128a to 128d are respectively washed in the cleaning tanks 200a to 200a. Face to face 200d.

Therefore, when the left side coating mechanism 38 is displaced toward the cleaning mechanism 138 side along the rail portion 35a, each coating gun 128a is moved.
Nos. 128d allow their tips to enter the cleaning tanks 200a to 200d. Next, similar to the above-described cleaning tank 148a, the coating guns 128a to 128a which are respectively inserted in the respective cleaning tanks 200a to 200d.
The tip of 128d should be washed.

It should be noted that each coating gun 128a that constitutes the right side coating mechanism 40.
In the same manner, the cleaning work is automatically performed through the side coating gun cleaning mechanism 140 through 128d.

As described above, according to the present invention, the upper coating gun cleaning mechanism 136 for cleaning the coating guns 90a to 90d of the upper coating mechanism 36.
The coating guns 90a to 9a
When the vehicle body 14 is painted at 0d, it is prevented from interfering with the painting work by retracting it from the transportation path of the vehicle body 14,
During the cleaning operation, the respective cleaning tanks 148a to 148d are positioned at predetermined positions so as to clean the coating guns 90a to 90d. Therefore, the cleaning mechanism on the coating line 10
It is possible to make the space occupied by 136 as narrow as possible. Moreover, the plurality of coating guns 90a to 90d can be simultaneously and automatically cleaned, and the time required for cleaning the coating guns 90a to 90d can be shortened at once. In addition, since the cleaning work is automatically performed, the worker does not have to use a brush or the like to apply the coating gun 90
Compared with the case where the cleaning work of a to 90d is performed, there is an advantage that the burden on the worker is not imposed and the entire coating work process can be extremely automated.

Further, the mist and the waste liquid generated in the respective cleaning tanks 148a to 148d are led out to the separation tank 188 via the pipe 184, and separated into the mist and the waste liquid in the separation tank 188, and then respectively to predetermined processing units. I am sending it out. As described above, in particular, by effectively treating the mist containing a large amount of thinner, which tends to adversely affect the health of the worker, it is possible to ensure a good environment in the workplace.

It will be easily appreciated that the side coating gun cleaning mechanisms 138 and 140 can also simultaneously and efficiently clean the respective coating guns 128a to 128d.

As a result, in the case where a large number of coating guns 90a to 90d and 128a to 128d are provided like the coating device 34 in the present embodiment, the operator manually cleans them one by one as in the conventional case. The effect is that the cleaning work can be shortened considerably compared to that of the product, and the efficiency of the painting work process can be easily achieved.

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of cleaning nozzles are provided for a plurality of coating guns mounted on a coating device configured to automatically coat the upper and side portions of an object to be coated, and Cleaning is performed automatically via a displaceable cleaning tank. Therefore, the cleaning device can be provided in the vicinity of the transport mechanism of the article to be coated, and the coating line incorporating the cleaning device can be miniaturized as much as possible. Moreover, since multiple coating guns can be cleaned at the same time, the time required for the cleaning work can be shortened as compared to the conventional one in which the coating guns were manually cleaned by the operator. Therefore, it becomes possible to efficiently perform the entire coating work process. Further, by automatically performing the painting work and the painting gun cleaning work, there is an advantage that a highly automated painting work process can be easily achieved.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various improvements and design changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Of course.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a coating line system incorporating a cleaning device, FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional side view of the coating device cleaned by the cleaning device, and FIG. 3 is an example of a side coating mechanism constituting the coating device. 4 is a vertical sectional view of a cleaning tank constituting the cleaning device, and FIG. 6 is VI-VI of FIG. 5. It is a line sectional view. 10 …… Painting line, 12 …… Washing device 14 …… Body, 34 …… Painting device 36 …… Top coating mechanism, 38,40 …… Side coating mechanism 90a-90d, 128a-128d …… Painting gun 136, 138, 140 …… Cleaning mechanism 144 …… Main body, 148a to 148d …… Cleaning tank 150 …… Base plate, 166a to 166d …… Cleaning gun 168a to 168d …… Nozzle tip 174 …… Cleaning gun, 176 …… Nozzle Tip part 182 …… take-out port, 188 …… separation tank 200a-200d …… washing tank, 212 …… separation tank

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Eiji Kikuchi Eiji Kikuchi 1-10-1 Shin-Sayama, Sayama-shi, Saitama Honda Engineering Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-59-90661 (JP, A) JP-A-SHO 59-127671 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A coating apparatus for coating on the upper surface of an object to be coated sequentially transported along a transport line with a coating gun reciprocating along an arm extending in a direction substantially orthogonal to the transport line. A method for cleaning a coating gun for cleaning the coating gun, wherein a cleaning device retracted outside the transfer line is provided on the transfer line corresponding to the coating gun and between the objects to be coated. And a step of disposing the arm and the cleaning device relatively close to each other,
A method of cleaning a coating gun, comprising: positioning the coating gun at a cleaning position of the cleaning device to perform cleaning.