JPH08103704A - Coating application device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To reduce the loss of coating when the coating color is to be changed (i.e., chromatic alteration) by constituting a structure which enables the coating application gun and a color change valve to be integrally attached to and detached from the coating robot and shortening a distance between the coating application gun and the color change valve. CONSTITUTION: The coating application device is equipped with coating application guns 5M, 5S which are detachable from the coating robot and color change valves 7M, 7S which are detachable from the coating robot 1 together with the coating application guns 5M, 5S to be connected to the coating application guns 5M, 5S through a coating hose.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coating apparatus for coating an automobile body or vehicle parts with a coating gun which is detachably attached to a coating robot.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a coating apparatus of the above-mentioned example, there is an apparatus described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-58147.
That is, a holder for selectively holding a plurality of spray guns is provided at the tip of the arm of the painting robot, while a frame for stocking a plurality of spray guns is provided within the radius of action of the painting robot to change the painting color. After the spray gun that was already gripped by the arm of the painting robot at the time of the command was once returned to the above-mentioned stand, the spray gun of the painting color corresponding to the painting color change command was gripped by the painting robot and the above painting was performed. It is a coating device configured to perform coating with a coating color according to a color change command.

However, this conventional apparatus has the following problems because a plurality of spray guns and color change valves (paint supply sources) are connected by long paint hoses. . In other words, when the paint color is changed (so-called color change), it is necessary to extrude the paint in the long paint hose to prevent its solidification, but the paint hose is long, so the amount of paint extruded is large. Therefore, there is a problem that paint loss increases and the amount of thinner used during paint cleaning also increases.

In addition, it is preferable to use a curing agent in order to cure the coating material early and improve the coating efficiency. However, if the curing agent is used in this conventional apparatus, the space between the spray gun and the color change valve will be reduced. Since it is long, there is a problem that the paint hardens due to a chemical reaction between the curing agent and the paint in the paint hose.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the coating gun and the color change valve are integrally attached to and detached from the coating robot.
An object of the present invention is to provide a coating device that can shorten the distance between the coating gun and the color change valve to reduce the paint loss when the coating color is changed (so-called color change).

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the object of the first aspect of the invention, the color change valve is provided with a main agent supply section and a curing agent supply section so that the curing agent is supplied. Provided is a coating device capable of preventing the coating material from being solidified by a chemical reaction of a curing agent between the coating gun and the color change valve, and preventing the coating material from clogging between the coating gun and the color change valve. With the goal.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the object of the first or second aspect of the invention, the coating gun and the color change valve on the gun rack side are configured to move to the coating robot side. An object of the present invention is to provide a coating apparatus capable of accurately mounting the above-mentioned coating gun and color change valve on the coating robot side by linear movement.

According to the invention described in claim 4 of the present invention, in addition to the object of the invention described in claim 3, a coating gun and a color change valve are used for solid paints (general paints) and metallic paints (general paints). Solid paint and metallic paint by classifying it into a paint that contains specially crushed metal such as aluminum, iron oxide, zinc, and titanium, or a paint that contains luster powder such as mica powder. It is an object of the present invention to provide a coating apparatus capable of replacing a coating gun and a color change valve in correspondence with these different types of curing agents, although the curing agents to be originally used are different from those of the system paints.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there are provided a plurality of coating guns detachably attached to a coating robot, and the coating guns connected to the coating guns via coating hoses. A coating device including a gun and a color change valve that is attached to and detached from the coating robot.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect of the invention, the color change valve is a coating apparatus including a main agent supplying section for a plurality of colors and a curing agent supplying section. It is characterized by being.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first or second aspect of the invention, a stock section stocking the coating gun and the color change valve is provided in the action area of the coating robot. It is characterized in that a gun rack is provided, and the moving means for moving the coating gun and the color change valve on the gun rack side to the coating robot side is a coating device provided on the stock section.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the structure of the third aspect of the invention, a plurality of stock portions for stocking the coating gun and the color change valve are provided, and one stock portion is provided. The coating device is characterized in that a coating gun for solid paint and a color change valve are arranged, and a coating gun for metallic paint and a color change valve are arranged in the other stock portion.

[0013]

According to the invention described in claim 1 of the present invention, the color change valve connected to the coating gun via the coating hose is attached to and detached from the coating robot together with the coating gun. That is, the painting gun and the color change valve are integrally attached to and detached from the painting robot.

Therefore, the distance between the coating gun and the color change valve can be shortened, and when the coating color is changed, it is sufficient to push out the paint from the color change valve to the tip of the coating gun. This has the effect of reducing paint loss during replacement, and also has the effect of reducing the amount of thinner used when cleaning with thinner.

According to the invention described in claim 2 of the present invention,
In addition to the effect of the invention as set forth in claim 1, the color change valve described above is provided with the main agent supply section and the curing agent supply section for a plurality of colors, so that the distance between the coating gun and the color change gun is shortened. When the curing agent is supplied from the curing agent supply section of the valve, the chemical reaction time of the curing agent between the color change valve and the coating gun is shortened, and the coating material is discharged from the coating gun in an unhardened state. Therefore, when the curing agent is supplied, the coating material is prevented from being solidified by the chemical reaction of the curing agent between the coating gun and the color change valve, and the above-mentioned coating material clogging between the coating gun and the color change valve is prevented. There is an effect that can be.

According to the invention of claim 3 of the present invention,
In addition to the effects of the invention described in claim 1 or 2, the stocking part of the gun rack provided in the action area of the coating robot is provided with the above-mentioned moving means, so that the gun rack side is moved by this moving means. The painting gun and color change valve can be linearly moved to the painting robot side and installed. Therefore, there is an effect that the above-described painting gun and color change valve can be properly attached to the painting robot side, and in addition, there is an effect that the configuration of the painting robot can be simplified. Incidentally, in the case where the above-mentioned coating robot takes the coating gun and the color change valve, the coating gun and the color change valve are mounted due to the arc motion of the coating robot, which causes mechanical trouble. In the present invention, such a problem can be solved.

According to the invention of claim 4 of the present invention,
In addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 3, one stock portion is provided with a coating gun and a color change valve for solid paint, and the other stock portion is provided with a paint gun and color for metallic paint. Since a change valve is installed and the stock positions of the coating gun and color change valve are divided into solid type and metallic type, the curing agent that should be used originally differs between solid type paint and metallic type paint. There is an effect that the coating gun and the color change valve can be favorably replaced according to different kinds of curing agents.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. The drawings show a coating apparatus, in which a coating robot 1 is arranged on a floor B in FIGS.
Is configured to reciprocate between the gun rack 3 side indicated by the solid line in FIG. 1 and the painting position on the plastic bumper transfer line L side indicated by the phantom line in FIG. Is configured to reciprocate between an upper stock portion S1 for metallic paint and a slant-like lower stock portion S2 for solid paint on the side of the gun rack 3 shown in FIG. .

The coating guns 5M and 5S are detachably attached to the tip portion 2a of the robot arm 2 of the above-mentioned painting robot 1 via a tool changer 4, and an air chuck 6 is attached to an intermediate portion 2b of the robot arm 2. The color change valves 7M and 7S are detachably attached.

Here, one of the coating guns 5M and 5S is a coating gun for metallic paint which is detachable from the upper stock portion S1, and the other coating gun 5M.
S is a coating gun for solid paint which is detached from the lower stock portion S2. Similarly, each color change valve 7
One of the M and 7S color change valves 7M is a color change valve for metallic paint that is detached from the upper stock portion S1, and the other color change valve 7S is a solid paint that is detached from the lower stock portion S2. It is a color change valve for.

That is, the coating gun 5 and the color change valve 7 of the same system are integrally attached to and detached from the tip portion 2a and the intermediate portion 2b of the robot arm 2 via the tool changer 4 and the air chuck 6, respectively. ing. 1 and 2 show a state in which the metallic coating gun 5M and the color change valve 7M are attached to the robot arm 2.

By the way, the above gun rack 3 is vertically fixed in the action area of the robot arm 2 of the coating robot 1, and a plurality of members 8.9.10.11.12 are combined to form a frame structure. The above-mentioned upper stock portion S1 is formed on the upper portion thereof, and the slant-like lower stock portion S2 is formed on the lower portion thereof. These upper and lower stock portions S1, S2 are respectively provided with a coating gun 5M on the gun rack 3 side,
5S and color change valves 7M, 7S are provided with moving devices 13, 13 as moving means for moving the coating robot 1 to the robot arm 2 side.

Moving position 1 on the side of the above-mentioned upper stock portion S1
3 and the moving device 13 on the lower stock portion S2 side are substantially the same in configuration, the specific configuration of the moving device 13 on the upper stock portion S1 side will be described in detail in the following description.

As shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, the moving device 13 includes a fluid cylinder 15 composed of an air cylinder or a hydraulic cylinder fixed to a rectangular frame-shaped base 14, and a piston rod 16 of the fluid cylinder 15 described above. A slider 17 attached to the tip and linearly reciprocating on the base 14.
The air chucks 18 and 19 are provided at both ends of the front surface of the slider 17, and the guide rod 20 and the guide cylinder 21 for ensuring the straightness of the slider 17 described above.

Here, the above-mentioned air chucks 18 and 19 and the air chuck 6 on the side of the robot arm 2 are respectively paired with gripping claws 18a and 18 which are expanded and contracted by air drive.
b, 19a, 19b, 6a, 6b. As shown in FIG. 3, when the coating gun 5M and the color change valve 7M are stocked on the moving device 13 side, a pair of gripping claws 18a and 18b of the air chuck 18 are provided.
While gripping the gun holder 22 with, the wall 25 between the openings 24, 24 in the valve holder 23 provided in the lower portion of the color change valve 7M is held by the pair of gripping claws 19a, 19b of the air chuck 19 as shown in FIG. Holds.

Painting gun 5M, color change valve 7M
When the robot arm 2 is attached to the robot arm 2, the piston rod 16 of the fluid cylinder 15 is advanced from the state shown in FIG. 3 to attach the coating gun 5M to the tip portion 2a of the robot arm 2 via the tool changer 4. At the same time, attach the color change valve 7M to the air chuck 6
It is attached to the intermediate portion 2b of the robot arm 2 via.

Next, the pair of gripping claws 18a, 18b, 19a, 19b on the side of the air chucks 18, 19 are opened to release the grip on the gun holder 22 and the valve holder 23 (see FIG. 7), and then the piston When the rod 16 retracts, it returns to the original position as shown in FIG. In this way, the coating gun 5M and the color change valve 7M on the moving device 13 side are simultaneously attached to the robot arm 2.

Conversely, when removing the coating gun 5M and the color change valve 7M mounted on the robot arm 2 side, the piston rod 16 of the fluid cylinder 15 moves forward from the state shown in FIG. 5, and as shown in FIG. The gun holder 22 is provided by the pair of gripping claws 18a, 18b, 19a, 19b of the air chucks 18, 19 at both ends of the front surface of the slider 17.
After gripping a predetermined part of the valve holder 23, the electromagnetic attraction force of the tool changer 4 on the robot arm 2 side is released, and the valve holder 2 is held by the pair of gripping claws 6a, 6b of the air check 6 on the robot arm 2 side.
3 after releasing the gripping force on the piston rod 16
As shown in FIG. 3, it is returned to the original position by retreating, and the removal is completed.

Here, the specific structure of the tool changer 4 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 8. The tool changer 4 is a mail member 4a which is always fixed and maintained at the tip 2a of the robot arm 2, and this mail. The mail member 4a is provided with a hemel member 4b that is brought into contact with and separated from the member 4a via a coupling surface 26, and a protrusion 27 is integrally formed at the center of the mail member 4a. The protrusion 27 is operated by air driving. While the pair of locking pins 28, 28 are provided so as to be capable of projecting and retracting, a recess 29 capable of accommodating the above-mentioned projecting portion 27 is formed in the center of the hemel member 4b. Further, magnets 30 and 31 are embedded on the side of the mail member 4a and the side of the hemel member 4b with the above-mentioned coupling surface 26 as a boundary.

When the coating gun 5M is attached to the robot arm 2, the hemel member 4b is joined to the mail member 2a via the connecting surface 26, and at this time, both magnets 3 are attached.
The weak currents that are applied by the adsorption of 1, 30 are detected, and the locking pins 28, 28 are projected by air drive as shown in FIG. 8 to clamp the hemel member 4b. On the contrary, when the coating gun 5M is removed from the robot arm 2, the locking pins 28, 28 are retracted by air drive to release the clamp, and the hemel member 4b can be separated.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 9, the paint gun 5M is supplied with paint atomizing air, spray pattern expanding / contracting air, and needle driving air from three air hoses 32, 33, and 34, respectively. At the same time, the paint of each coating color, the curing agent, and the thinner are supplied through the paint hose 35. The same applies to the coating gun 5S.

For this coating gun 5M, paint hose 35
The color change valve 7M, which is connected via, serves as a main agent supply unit for controlling the ON (supply) and OFF (stop) of the paint of each paint color (for example, paint colors of red, black, blue, yellow, green, etc.). Valves 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41,
A valve 42 arranged at the rearmost portion as a curing agent supply unit for controlling ON / OFF of the supply of the curing agent and a valve 43 disposed at the rearmost portion as a cleaning solvent supply unit for controlling ON / OFF of the supply of the thinner. When the valves 36 to 43, which are provided with, for example, a three-way solenoid valve, are turned on, the discharge port of the valve and the discharge line 44 of the color change valve 7M (actually, a narrow passage is formed in the pipe). The paint, the curing agent, and the thinner are appropriately supplied to the coating gun 5M through the above-described paint hose 35.

A paint supply system for one valve 40, which is one of the above-mentioned valves 36 to 43, serving as a main agent supply portion, will be described. A paint tank 45 (the paint tank 45 is shown as a symbol in FIG. 9). , Actually the top of the tank is covered with a lid with an air breather).
Is connected to the suction side, and the discharge side of the pump 46 is connected to the mainstream line 48 via the P port and the A port of the switching valve 47.
Connected to

The main opening / closing valve 4 is connected to the mainstream line 48 described above.
9, a pump 50 for controlling the discharge amount, a regulating valve 51,
An inverted T-shaped pump pulsation absorption pipe 52 is provided in this order, and the secondary side of the pump pulsation absorption pipe 52 is connected to the inlet port of the valve 40. On the other hand, the outlet port of the valve 40 is connected to the paint tank 45 via the return line 53, the B port and the T port of the switching valve 47.

The other valves 36, 37, 38,
39.41, 42, 43 also correspond to the paint color of the paint tank that stores the paint, the curing agent tank that contains the curing agent,
The same configuration as described above is provided between the thinner tank and the thinner tank. Further, although FIG. 9 shows only the path for metallic paint, the path for solid paint is similarly configured.

The illustrated embodiment is configured as described above, and the operation will be described below. When a plastic bumper (not shown) is transferred to the plastic bumper transfer line L shown in FIG. 1 and the paint system is metallic due to a signal on the line L side, the robot arm 2 of the paint robot 1 has its gun rack 3 The robot is swung to the upper stock portion S1 on the side, and the paint gun 5M for metallic coating and the color change valve 7M of the same system are simultaneously attached to the robot arm 2 by operating the moving device 13.

Next, the robot arm 2 turns from the solid line position in FIG. 1 to the imaginary line position in FIG. 1 to apply the metallic paint of the specified color to the plastic bumper. On the other hand, when the plastic bumper to be conveyed next has a solid paint command, the robot arm 2 of the paint robot 1 first turns to the upper stock portion S1 on the gun rack 3 side, and the robot arm 2 Then, the paint gun 5M for metallic paint and the color change valve 7M of the same system are simultaneously removed by operating the moving position 13.

Next, the robot arm 2 has a lower stock portion S.
The robot arm 2 is rotated so as to face the robot arm 2, and a paint gun 5S for solid paint and a color change valve 7S of the same system are simultaneously attached to the robot arm 2 by operating a moving device 13. Next, the robot arm 2 pivots from the attachment / detachment position (see the solid line in FIG. 1) to the coating position (see the phantom line in FIG. 1) to apply the solid paint of the specified color to the plastic pumper described above.

In this way, the color change valve 7 connected to the coating guns 5M and 5S via the paint hose 35.
M and 7S are coating robots 1 along with coating guns 5M and 5S.
It is attached to and detached from the robot arm 2. That is, the coating guns 5M and 5S and the color change valves 7M and 7S are integrally attached to and detached from the robot arm 2 of the coating robot 1.

Therefore, the distance between the coating guns 5M and 5S and the color change valves 7M and 7S can be shortened,
When the coating color is changed, the paint from the color change valves 7M, 7S to the tip of the coating guns 5M, 5S may be pushed out, so that there is an effect that it is possible to reduce the paint loss when the coating color is changed (so-called color change). .

The color change valve 7M,
7S is provided with a main color supply section (see each valve 36 to 41) of a plurality of colors and a curing agent supply section (see valve 42). Therefore, a color change valve with a short distance between the coating guns 5M and 5S is provided. When the curing agent is supplied from the above-mentioned curing agent supply section of 7M, 7S, the chemical reaction time of the curing agent between the color change valves 7M, 7S and the coating guns 5M, 5S is shortened, and the coating gun 5M does not cure. ，
It is discharged from 5S. For this reason, the coating guns 5M and 5S and the color change valves 7M and 7S are supplied when the curing agent is supplied.
There is an effect that it is possible to prevent the coating material from solidifying due to the chemical reaction of the curing agent between the coating material and the coating material, and to prevent the coating material from clogging between the coating guns 5M and 5S and the color change valves 7M and 7S.

Further, the gun rack 3 provided in the action area of the robot arm 2 in the above-described painting robot 1.
In the stock sections S1 and S2 in
3, the moving device 13 is used to apply the coating guns 5M and 5S and the color change valve 7 on the gun rack side.
The M and 7S can be linearly moved to the robot arm 2 side of the painting robot 1 and mounted. For this reason,
There is an effect that the above-mentioned painting guns 5M and 5S and the color change valves 7M and 7S can be properly attached to the robot arm 2 side of the painting robot 1. Incidentally, the robot arm 2 of the coating robot 1 described above is used to coat the coating guns 5M and 5M.
In the case of a configuration in which the S and the color change valves 7M and 7S are taken out, the coating guns 5M and 5S and the color change valves 7M and 7S are mounted by the arc motion of the robot arm 2 of the coating robot 1. However, the present invention can solve such a problem.

In addition, one stock section S2 is provided with a coating gun 5S for solid paint and a color change valve 7S, and the other stock section S1 is provided with a coating gun 5M for metal paint and color change. Valve 7
Since M is arranged and the stock positions of the coating guns 5M and 5S and the color change valves 7M and 7S are divided into a solid type and a metallic type, the curing agent that should be originally used in the solid type paint and the metallic type paint. However, there is an effect that the coating guns 5M and 5S and the color change valves 7M and 7S can be favorably replaced in correspondence with these different kinds of curing agents.

In the correspondence between the structure of the present invention and the above-described embodiment, the main agent supplying portion of the present invention is the valve 3 of the embodiment.
6 to 41, and so on, the hardener supply section corresponds to the valve 42, the moving means corresponds to the moving device 13, one stock section corresponds to the lower stock section S2, and the other stock section. The section corresponds to the upper stock section S1, but is not limited to the configuration of the above-described embodiment of the present invention. For example, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the plastic bumper of the automobile part is exemplified as the painted part, but it goes without saying that it can be applied to the painting of other various painted parts.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a coating apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a forward movement state of the moving device.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a retracted state of the moving device.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a gripped state by a pair of grip claws.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where a pair of grip claws releases a grip.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a tool changer.

FIG. 9 is a system diagram showing a paint supply system from a paint tank to a coating gun.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Painting robot 3 ... Gun rack 5M, 5S ... Painting gun 7M, 7S ... Color change valve 13 ... Moving device 35 ... Paint hose 36-41 ... Valve (primary agent already supplied part) 42 ... Valve (hardening agent supply part) S1, S2 ... Stock department

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of coating guns configured to be attachable to and detachable from a coating robot, and a color change valve that is connected to the coating gun via a coating hose and is attached to and detached from the coating robot together with the coating gun. Coating equipment equipped with. 2. The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color change valve includes a main agent supply section for a plurality of colors and a curing agent supply section. 3. A gun rack having a stock section for stocking the coating gun and color change valve is provided in the action area of the coating robot, and the coating gun and color change valve on the side of the gun rack are moved to the coating robot side. 3. The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the moving means is provided in the stock section. 4. A plurality of stock parts for stocking the coating gun and the color change valve are provided, one stock part is provided with a coating gun and a color change valve for solid paint, and the other stock part is provided. The coating apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a coating gun for metallic paint and a color change valve are provided.