JPH09262518A - Coating gun cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the scattering of cleaning fluid having cleaned the heat surface of a coating gun. SOLUTION: A cleaning chamber 11a is formed inside a cylindrical casing 11 of a coating gun cleaning device 10, and cleaning nozzles 12-14 and air nozzles 15-17 are provided alternately on the inner wall of the cleaning chamber 11a. An air jet pipe 19 as an air flow generating means is installed in the cleaning chamber 11a. An air jet hole for generating the air flow in the horizontal direction below an insertion opening 23 is formed on a horizontal section 19b extending in the horizontal direction of the air jet pipe 19. Cleaning fluid jetted out of cleaning nozzles 12-14 and air jetted out of air nozzles 15-17 are prevented from scattering from the insertion opening 23 to the outside by the air flow in the horizontal direction jetted out of the air jet pipe 19.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coating gun cleaning apparatus, and more particularly to a coating gun cleaning apparatus configured to clean paint adhered to the head surface at the tip of the coating gun.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a painting process for painting the surface of a work by a painting robot, when the work is conveyed by a conveyor, the painting robot performs a predetermined painting work according to a pre-registered painting program. That is, the painting robot automatically starts the painting work when the work arrives at the work area, and finishes the predetermined painting work before the work passes through the work area.

When the predetermined painting work is completed, the painting robot turns the arm to return it to the painting start position. As described above, in the operating painting robot, there is a case where so-called color change is performed to switch from the A-color paint to the B-color paint depending on the work. When this color change is performed, the paint of the previous color A is attached to the paint gun installed at the tip of the arm, and the paint tube connected to the paint gun has the color of the previous A.
Since the color paint remains, it is necessary to clean the previous paint that had adhered to the head surface at the tip of the coating gun after performing the purge work to discharge the previous paint.

Therefore, conventionally, a coating gun cleaning device is provided near the coating robot, the coating gun is inserted into the cleaning device to purge the previous coating material, and then the coating gun head is cleaned. In a conventional coating gun cleaning device, a plurality of cleaning nozzles and a plurality of air nozzles are alternately provided so as to surround the head of the coating gun in a cylindrical casing. Each nozzle is attached with a predetermined angle inclined so that the injection port is directed from the lower side of the casing to the upper center.

The cleaning nozzles and the air nozzles are alternately arranged at equal intervals, and after cleaning the head surface of the coating gun with a cleaning liquid (for example, thinner) sprayed from the cleaning nozzles, air is removed. Compressed air is sprayed from the nozzle onto the head surface of the coating gun to blow away the cleaning liquid.

When the above-mentioned cleaning work is completed, the coating robot pulls out the coating gun from the casing of the coating gun cleaning device and returns it to the coating start position.

[0007]

However, in the conventional coating gun cleaning device as described above, in order to effectively clean the paint adhering to the tip portion of the coating gun, the injection port of each nozzle is installed from below in the casing. Since it is directed to the center of the upper part, there is a problem that the cleaning liquid sprayed from the cleaning nozzle is sprayed to the outside from the gap between the outer periphery of the coating gun and the coating gun insertion port of the casing, and scattered around.

Further, after the head of the coating gun is cleaned, when the cleaning liquid on the surface of the head of the coating gun is blown off by the compressed air sprayed from the air nozzle, the atomized cleaning liquid causes the coating liquid on the outer periphery of the coating gun and the casing of the casing. There is also a problem that it will be scattered outside from the gap with the insertion port.

Therefore, in the conventional apparatus, it is necessary to weaken the air pressure supplied to the cleaning nozzle and the air nozzle, and in that case, the paint attached to the tip portion of the coating gun cannot be sufficiently cleaned. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a coating gun cleaning device that solves the above problems.

[0010]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following features. In the present invention, a cleaning chamber in which the head of the coating gun is inserted is formed on the upper part,
A casing having a liquid recovery part formed at the bottom of the cleaning chamber;
In a coating gun cleaning device having a cleaning nozzle that is provided inside the casing and sprays a cleaning liquid from below toward the head, a means for generating an air flow that blows the cleaning liquid sprayed from the cleaning nozzle laterally. Is provided inside the casing.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to generate an air flow for laterally blowing the cleaning liquid sprayed from the cleaning nozzle, so that when cleaning the coating gun with the cleaning liquid sprayed from the cleaning nozzle, It is possible to prevent the cleaning liquid from splashing to the outside from the insertion opening provided at the upper part.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a state in which an embodiment of a coating gun cleaning apparatus according to the present invention is mounted on a coating robot.

The painting robot 1 is installed in the painting area 2. The coating area 2 is provided with a conveyor 4 that conveys a work 3 as an object to be coated, and the work 3 is supplied by the conveyor 4 at a constant speed. Also,
A wall surface 5 is provided on the back surface of the painting area 2 to prevent the paint from splashing around.

The painting robot 1 is a playback type articulated robot, and a painting gun 7 is attached to the tip of an arm 6. In the painting robot 1, the work 3 is the conveyor 4
When it is transported to the coating area 2 by, the coating gun 7 is brought close to the work 3 as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG.

The base 8 of the painting robot 1 is provided with a bracket 9 extending in the horizontal direction. The bracket 9 supports a coating gun cleaning device 10. still,
In the present embodiment, the coating gun cleaning device 10 is attached to the side of the base 8, but the configuration is not limited to this, and the coating gun cleaning device 10 may be installed on the floor surface of the coating area 2. In that case, the coating gun cleaning device 10 must be installed at a position that does not interfere with the coating operation of the coating robot 1.

Since the coating gun cleaning device 10 is mounted on the bracket 9 of the base 8, the coating robot 1 simply rotates the arm 6 downwards so that the head 7a of the coating gun 7 can be rotated.
Can be inserted into the coating gun cleaning device 10 for cleaning. 2 is a side view of the coating gun cleaning device 10, and FIG. 3 is a plan view of the coating gun cleaning device 10.

The coating gun cleaning device 10 includes a casing 11
A cleaning chamber 11a for cleaning the head 7a of the coating gun 7 (indicated by the chain double-dashed line) is formed inside. Three cleaning nozzles 12 to 14 are provided on the inner wall of the cleaning chamber 11a.
And three air nozzles 15 to 17 are arranged alternately. Each cleaning nozzle 12-14 and each air nozzle 15-
17 are arranged at equal intervals at positions of 60 °.

The cleaning nozzles 12 to 14 and the air nozzles 15 to 17 are supported by a bracket 18 made of sheet metal fixed to the inner wall of the cleaning chamber 11a. Each of the cleaning nozzles 12 to 14 and the air nozzles 15 to 17 are attached so as to be inclined at a predetermined angle so that the injection direction thereof faces the center of the upper portion of the casing 11.

The cleaning nozzles 12 to 14 are the casing 11
Of the coating gun 7 inserted into the cleaning chamber 11a of FIG. 1 has spray ports 12a to 14a for spraying the cleaning liquid toward the head 7a. The air nozzles 15 to 17 are the cleaning nozzles 12 described above.
The injection port 1 for injecting air to the head 7a of the coating gun 7 inserted in the cleaning chamber 11a of the casing 11 as in
5a to 17a.

The washing nozzles 12 to 14 are mounted obliquely from the lower side toward the center so that the tip portion of the coating gun 7 to which the paint easily adheres can be washed when viewed in the lateral direction. Further, in the air nozzles 15 to 17, the injection ports 15a to 17a are squeezed into a flat shape in order to increase the flow velocity of the air, and the injection ports 15a to 17a are compressed air from diagonally below toward the head 7a of the coating gun 7. Is provided to inject.

Reference numeral 19 denotes an air injection pipe as an air flow generating means, which is attached inside the cleaning chamber 11a of the casing 11. FIG. 4 is a view showing the shape of the air injection pipe 19. The air injection pipe 19 is bent in an L shape, and has a vertical pipe 19a connected to a valve unit 20 provided at the bottom of the cleaning chamber 11a and a horizontal pipe bent horizontally from the upper end of the vertical portion 19a. 19b. The horizontal pipe 19b is supported at a height position facing the outer periphery of the head 7a at the tip of the coating gun 7 inserted into the cleaning chamber 11a of the casing 11.

Further, minute air injection holes 19c are formed at predetermined intervals on the outer circumference of the horizontal pipe 19b facing the coating gun 7 inserted into the cleaning chamber 11a. The tip of the horizontal tube 19b is closed and closed. Therefore, when compressed air is supplied from the valve unit 20 to the air injection pipe 19, the compressed air is supplied from the plurality of air injection holes 19c formed in the horizontal pipe 19b.
a It is injected toward the outer circumference. At that time, since a plurality of air injection holes 19c are formed in a row at a height position facing the outer periphery of the head 7a at the tip of the coating gun 7, a horizontal air flow is flat around the outer periphery of the head 7a. Will occur.

Moreover, the horizontal pipe 19 of the air injection pipe 19
b is attached so as to be located below an insertion guide 24, which will be described later, and above the cleaning nozzles 12 to 14 and the air nozzles 15 to 17. Therefore, the height position of the air injection hole 19c is a position facing the outer periphery of the head 7a that does not require cleaning. Therefore, although the air flow injected from the air injection hole 19c acts as a lateral air curtain below the insertion guide 24, it does not hinder the cleaning effect by the cleaning nozzles 12-14.

The air injection pipe 19 is formed by bending the metal pipe into an L shape as described above, and then the air injection hole 1 is formed.
Since it can be easily manufactured by forming 9c and drawing the tip of the horizontal tube 19b, the cost can be kept low. FIG. 5 shows the coating gun 7 in which the air jetted from the air jet hole 19c of the air jet pipe 19 is inserted into the cleaning chamber 11a.
It is a figure which shows a mode that it is injected toward the outer periphery of (shown with a dashed-dotted line).

When compressed air is supplied to the vertical portion 19a of the air injection pipe 19 from an air source (not shown), the compressed air is blown onto the outer periphery of the coating gun 7 from each air injection hole 19c. Therefore, the coating gun 7 inserted in the cleaning chamber 11a
On the outer periphery of the head 7a, the airflow injected from the air injection hole 19c flows in the lateral direction orthogonal to the insertion direction of the coating gun 7.

While the cleaning liquid sprayed from the cleaning nozzles 12 to 14 and the compressed air sprayed from the air nozzles 15 to 17 are sprayed toward the tip of the head 7a of the coating gun 7, the air spray pipe 19 is used. The airflow ejected from the air ejection hole 19c is ejected toward the outer periphery of the coating gun 7. Therefore, the cleaning liquid sprayed from the cleaning nozzles 12 to 14 and the compressed air sprayed from the air nozzles 15 to 17 collide with the airflow flowing in the lateral direction above the head 7a and are blown away in the lateral direction. It is changed to the side.

Now, the structure of the casing 11 will be described. The casing 11 has a cleaning liquid recovery unit 11b formed so as to cover the outer periphery of the cleaning chamber 11a. The lower part of the cleaning chamber 11a is connected to a cleaning liquid recovery unit 11b for recovering the cleaning liquid for cleaning the head 7a of the coating gun 7 and the cleaning liquid for purging the interior of the coating gun 7. Further, the upper portion of the cleaning chamber 11a is provided with a lid 2 in order to prevent the cleaning liquid sprayed from the cleaning nozzles 12 to 14 from being sprayed to the outside.
It is closed by 2. Incidentally, in FIG. 3, the lid 22 is shown in a removed state.

An annular rubber insertion guide member 2 is formed in a central hole of a lid 22 for closing the upper portion of the cleaning chamber 11a.
4 are fitted. The center of the insertion guide member 24 has an insertion opening 23 through which the head 7a of the coating gun 7 is inserted.
It has become. The insertion guide member 24 is made of an elastically deformable material and has a taper portion having a small diameter from the upper portion to the lower portion, so that the insertion operation of the coating gun 7 can be facilitated and the insertion guide member 24 and the outer periphery of the coating gun 7 can be easily connected. The gap is sealed to prevent the cleaning liquid sprayed inside the cleaning chamber 11a from scattering outside. In addition, the insertion guide member 24
Since it is made of rubber, it is easily elastically deformed even if the insertion position of the coating gun 7 is slightly displaced, so that the coating gun 7 is prevented from being damaged in the cleaning process.

The cleaning liquid recovery section 11b of the casing 11 is
A taper portion 25 is provided below the cleaning chamber 11a so that the cleaning liquid flowing out from the bottom portion of the cleaning chamber 11a can be collected, and a drain pipe line (not shown) is connected to the bottom opening of the taper portion 25 to collect the cleaning liquid. The cleaning liquid, the residual paint sprayed from the coating gun 7, and the purge thinner are waste liquid tanks (not shown).
Liquid.

On the inner wall of the lower portion of the washing chamber 11a of the casing 11, the washing nozzles 12 to 14 and the air nozzles 15 to 1 are provided.
A valve unit 26 for supplying a cleaning liquid and compressed air is attached to the valve 7. The valve unit 26 is provided with a plurality of solenoid valves (not shown) connected to the nozzles 12 to 17 via cleaning liquid tubes and air tubes. Each solenoid valve has a cleaning liquid supply source, in response to a command from a robot control panel or a coating process control device (both not shown).
The valve is opened when the cleaning liquid and compressed air supplied from a compressed air supply source (not shown) are supplied to each nozzle.

Next, the coating gun cleaning device 10 having the above structure
Will be described. The painting robot 1 is A
When a so-called color change is performed in which the color paint is switched to the color B paint, the previous color A paint remains in the paint tube connected to the paint gun 7, and A is left on the surface of the head 7a of the paint gun 7. Colored paint is attached.

Therefore, when the painting robot 1 finishes painting the color A, the arm 6 is rotated downward as shown in FIG. 1 so that the head 7a of the painting gun 7 attached to the tip of the arm 6 is painted. The cleaning device 10 is inserted into the insertion port 23.
That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the head 7a of the coating gun 7 is inserted into the insertion port 23 from the upper side in the vertical state, and the spray port 7b for spraying the paint is inserted in the center of the cleaning chamber 11a.

Then, the coating gun 7 sprays the previous paint remaining in the paint tube from the spray port 7b into the casing 11, and then sprays thinner from the spray port 7b to purge the paint remaining inside. . In this way, the injection port 7
The paint and thinner sprayed from b are collected by a cleaning liquid recovery section 11b provided below the cleaning chamber 11a of the casing 11.

Next, the solenoid valves of the cleaning valve unit 21 are sequentially opened. First, as shown in FIG. 6, the cleaning liquid (for example, thinner) is sprayed from the cleaning nozzles 12 to 14 around the ejection port 7b provided in the head 7a of the coating gun 7 (shown by the alternate long and short dash line). Since the spray nozzles 12a to 14a of the cleaning nozzles 12 to 14 are provided so as to be inclined toward the end of the head 7a of the coating gun 7, the paint adhered to the periphery of the spray nozzle 7b of the coating gun 7 can be removed. To be washed.

As described above, at the same time as the cleaning liquid is sprayed from the cleaning nozzles 12 to 14, air is sprayed from the air spray hole 19c of the air spray pipe 19 to the outer periphery of the head 7a of the coating gun 7. Therefore, the insertion port 2 of the coating gun cleaning device 10
Below 3 is an air injection hole 19c of the air injection pipe 19.
A jet of air 27 is generated. Therefore, the cleaning nozzles 12 to 14 are directed toward the end of the head 7a of the coating gun 7.
The cleaning liquid sprayed from is changed into a lateral flow by an air flow 27 in the lateral direction orthogonal to the insertion direction of the coating gun, which is sprayed from the air injection hole 19c below the insertion port 23, and is changed to a lateral flow. It is prevented from scattering to the outside through the gap between and.

Therefore, even if the injection pressure from the cleaning nozzles 12 to 14 is increased to enhance the cleaning effect, it is possible to prevent the cleaning liquid from splashing to the outside, and it is possible to sufficiently clean the paint adhering to the coating gun 7. . The cleaning nozzles 12 to 14
When the cleaning work of the head 7a of the coating gun 7 with the cleaning liquid sprayed from the spray gun is completed, as shown in FIG. 7, compressed air is supplied from the spray ports 15a to 17a of the air nozzles 15 to 17 to the coating gun 7 (shown by a chain line). Is sprayed around the injection port 7a. Then, the ejection ports 15a of the air nozzles 15 to 17
The cleaning liquid adhering to the periphery of the ejection port 7a of the coating gun 7 and the surface of the head 7a is blown off by the air ejected from the nozzles 17a to 17a, and the periphery of the ejection port 7a of the coating gun 7 and the head 7 are ejected.
a The surface is dried.

In this way, at the same time as the air is jetted from the air nozzles 15 to 17, the air is jetted from the air jet hole 19c of the air jet pipe 19 to the outer periphery of the head 7a of the coating gun 7. Therefore, the insertion port 2 of the coating gun cleaning device 10
An air flow 27 injected from the air injection hole 19c of the air injection pipe 19 in a lateral direction orthogonal to the coating gun insertion direction is generated below the air gun 3, and the air from the air nozzles 15 to 17 is the air flow 27. The flow is changed to the side by.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the cleaning liquid blown to the air jetted from the air nozzles 15 to 17 from being scattered by the air flow 27 jetted from the air jet hole 19c from the gap between the insertion port 23 and the coating gun 7. It Further, the outer periphery of the head 7a of the coating gun 7 is dried by the air flow 27 blown from the side.

When the area around the spray port 7a of the coating gun 7 and the surface of the head 7a are cleaned in this manner, the coating robot 1 rotates the arm 6 upward to pull out the coating gun 7 from the insertion port 23. . This completes the cleaning process of the coating gun 7. Then, the painting robot 1 moves to the next work 3
When arrives at the painting area 2, painting starts again.

In the above embodiment, the coating gun provided at the tip of the arm of the coating robot is described as being washed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the coating gun is a manual type or a coating gun mounted on a reciprocator. Of course, it can also be applied to wash the. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the configuration using the air injection pipe 19 as the air flow generating means has been described as an example, but not limited to this, for example, an air nozzle for injecting compressed air is provided above the cleaning chamber 11a, and The cleaning liquid may be prevented from splashing from the coating gun insertion opening due to the air flow ejected from the nozzle.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to generate an air flow for laterally blowing the cleaning liquid sprayed from the cleaning nozzle, so that the cleaning liquid sprayed from the cleaning nozzle cleans the coating gun. At this time, it is possible to prevent the cleaning liquid from splashing to the outside from the insertion port provided in the upper part of the casing. Therefore, even if the injection pressure from the cleaning nozzle is increased to enhance the cleaning effect, it is possible to prevent the cleaning liquid from splashing to the outside, and it is possible to sufficiently clean the paint attached to the coating gun.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view for explaining a coating area to which an embodiment of a coating gun cleaning device according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the coating gun cleaning device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a coating gun cleaning device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a shape of an air injection pipe.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing how the air jetted from the air jet pipe is jetted toward the outer periphery of the coating gun inserted into the cleaning chamber.

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing how the coating gun is cleaned by spraying a cleaning liquid.

FIG. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a state in which the coating gun is dried.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Painting Robot 2 Painting Area 3 Work 4 Conveyor 7 Painting Gun 7a Head 10 Painting Gun Cleaning Device 11 Casing 11a Cleaning Room 12-14 Cleaning Nozzle 15-17 Air Nozzle 19 Air Injection Pipe 19c Air Injection Holes 20, 26 Valve Unit 22 Lid 23 Insertion port 24 Insertion guide member

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A casing in which a head of a coating gun is inserted is formed in an upper part, and a casing in which a liquid recovery part is formed in a bottom part of the cleaning chamber; In a coating gun cleaning device having a cleaning nozzle for injecting a cleaning liquid toward the coating gun, means for generating an air flow for laterally blowing the cleaning liquid sprayed from the cleaning nozzle is provided inside the casing. Painting gun cleaning device.