TW201731631A - Device and method for polishing or abrading products, and polishing apparatus comprising the device - Google Patents

Abstract

A device for polishing or abrading products, comprising: a polishing element provided with an operating surface designed to perform a polishing or sanding movement, preferably a circular or orbital movement; a motor means operatively connected to polishing element for impressing on operating surface said polishing movement; one or more air ducts extending from an inlet opening, which communicates with a source of a flow of treated air, for example dried air, gaseous nitrogen, or modified air rich in nitrogen, to one or more outlets of said flow distributed in an area corresponding to operating surface; and a regulation means for regulating the temperature of said flow of treated air at a value comprised between -5 DEG C and +20 DEG C.

Description

Device for polishing or abrading articles and method of use thereof

The invention relates to the field of polishing and/or sanding articles, and in particular polishing metal substrates or painted articles, for example made of steel or brass.

More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of polishing a painted substrate using, for example, a liner of the type used in vehicle body repair or generally in the motor vehicle industry or otherwise in the wood and plastics industry, regardless of such Whether the pad has a rotational motion or an orbital motion.

Polishing devices are known and commercially available for a period of time, such as rotary polishers and random track polishers actuated by electric motors or pneumatic turbines, which use a gasket and may be used in combination An abrasive polishing paste or cream is set to be rotated by a tool and passed over the article.

However, the known systems are unsatisfactory due to the operational friction between the selected polishing pad and the surface of the article to be polished, and the use of such systems causes a gradual increase in temperature and/or a sharp rise in temperature. The surface to be treated is dangerous.

Further, in the case of polishing a wooden surface, air is liable to adhere due to moisture present therein, but nitrogen is anhydrous and the surface is dried during polishing, thereby preventing the occurrence of such defects.

Another drawback is that in addition to the dust suspended in the polishing environment, it is also caused by the relative humidity present in the operating environment and significant disturbances such as during the summer or in the high temperatures of the environment in a given area.

In the case of painted objects, the temperature rise of materials (plastic materials, aluminum, iron-based materials, articles made of smooth painted wood, etc.) inevitably leads to the following serious problems: undercoating The loss of elasticity of the film, which in turn causes patterning, damage, and cracking, also occurs with halos and so-called holograms (i.e., marks left by the conventional random orbital polisher on the article being polished).

[Object of the Invention]

Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide a polishing apparatus and a polishing method which will have no of the above-mentioned drawbacks and which will improve the polishing quality while reducing the necessary power consumption and Processing time.

The above and other objects have been achieved by a device and method as described in one or more of the accompanying claims, the device and the method contemplate the use of treated air, preferably by drying, for example The machine utilizes a cooling cycle or cold dry air obtained by absorption (expressed as having a dew point between -20 ° C and +10 ° C), or even better as nitrogen or nitrogen-rich reforming Air, the treated air is thermally adjusted to exhibit a temperature between -5 °C and +20 °C.

The first advantage is manifested by the fact that the treated air is thermally adjusted to various temperatures that may be selected depending on the environment of use and/or the type of substrate to be polished, and is injected into wood fibers or other materials commonly used in polishing pads ( For example, between sponges). In this way, the facts Above, the contact surface between the liner and the article remains cold even at high speeds, and the risk of damage to the surface being polished, and especially to the paint film, is greatly reduced.

Another advantage is manifested by the fact that significant time savings are due to the polishing process being performed at a higher rate, and thus especially for long hours of work involving several hours of application and a lot of physical energy. Reduced.

A further advantage is manifested by the fact that nitrogen is an inert gas, no moisture and any type of impurities, which significantly reduces the risk of damage to the surface being polished, and in particular to the paint film.

Yet another advantage is the fact that the use of nitrogen can save energy compared to the use of conventional systems, with a maximum savings of up to 40%.

Another advantage is the fact that the safety value can be observed in terms of the temperature of the treated surface, since random orbital movement under cooling conditions obtained with treated air prevents this value from being exceeded and has no "burn" transparency and Harm the risk of brilliancy as specified in the paint quality specification.

Yet another advantage is the fact that the use of thermally conditioned air can fully utilize the contact surface of the liner, whereas in conventional systems, in view of the dangerous high temperatures for the surface being treated, the liner needs to be maintained relative to the work surface. Tilt, and the operator must use an average of only 40% of the potentially useful contact surfaces.

Yet another advantage is the fact that a painted surface without an hologram (i.e., without the mark left by the conventional random track polisher) is obtained. The use of thermally conditioned air in a random track polisher does not in fact produce a hologram, and guarantees a high quality of the finished surface, even in a single pass, it can completely remove scratches, halos, strips Traces, and oxidation.

1‧‧‧ polishing components/discs

3‧‧‧Air duct

4‧‧‧Operating surface

5‧‧‧ Entrance opening

6‧‧‧Export/hole

7‧‧‧Source/Exit Hole

8‧‧‧Component/regulatory components

9‧‧‧Unit/Supply Unit

10‧‧‧Air painting unit

11‧‧‧Ionization unit

12‧‧‧ polishing pad

13‧‧‧Motor components/components/appropriate components/electric motors

14‧‧‧Shell

15‧‧‧painted surface

16‧‧‧handle

17‧‧‧second exit

21‧‧‧Air motor

22‧‧‧ Pipes

23‧‧‧ Pipes

M‧‧‧ Items/painted items

The above and other advantages will be better understood by those skilled in the art from the following description and the accompanying drawings, which are provided by way of non-limiting example, in which: FIG. a manual polishing device; - Figure 1a shows a front view of the disk of the device shown in Figure 1; - Figure 2 shows a polishing device according to the invention; and - Figure 3 shows a device according to the invention and A schematic representation of a device.

Referring to the drawings, an apparatus for polishing and/or sanding an article M, particularly but not limited to one of the articles to be painted, will now be described.

The apparatus comprises a disc 1 provided with an operating surface 4 which, in use, exhibits a circular or orbital movement obtained by a suitable member 13, such as an electric or pneumatic motor, the appropriate member 13 A polishing motion can be transmitted on the operating surface 4.

Preferably, a polishing pad 12 permeable to a gas stream is removably applied to the surface 4 of the disk.

According to the invention, the apparatus comprises a source 7 of treated air streams and one or more air ducts 3, such as cooled dry air, or nitrogen, or nitrogen-enriched modified air, One or more air ducts 3 extend from an inlet opening 5 to one or more outlets 6 of the treated air stream, the inlet opening 5 being in communication with a source 7 via a conduit 22, the one or more outlets 6 being located on the operating polishing surface 4, for example, is located in a region corresponding to a plurality of holes and/or a gap formed between the pad and a suction hood 20.

Advantageously, the present invention contemplates one of the members 8 for adjusting the temperature and/or pressure of the treated air stream.

Preferably, the conditioning members are configured to adjust the temperature of the treated air stream to a value between -5 ° C and +20 ° C and to adjust the pressure of the treated air stream to between 1 bar One value with 5 bar.

In the illustrated embodiment, source 7 and conditioning member 8 are integrated into a unit 9 for delivery by a hollow-fiber separation membrane or by pressure swing absorption (Pressure-Swing) Absorption; PSA) One of the molecular sieve systems produces a treated air stream (eg, nitrogen-enriched modified air). Advantageously, unit 9 comprises a second outlet 17 for a pressurized carrier fluid stream suitable for painting, such as one of the treated air streams described above, which can then be subjected to pressure And/or temperature regulation, the outlet is in communication with an air painting device 10 via conduit 23. With this solution, the same supply unit 9 can be used to perform the polishing of the article M and the painting of the article M.

In order to increase the efficiency of the polishing and/or painting operation, an ionization unit 11 may be provided, the ionization unit 11 being arranged to charge the treated air stream with a generally positive, negative, or neutral charge. The ionization unit 11 is integrated, for example, in the unit 9.

Preferably, the member 13 for transmitting motion on the disc 1 includes an electric motor 13 housed in a housing 14 provided with a handle 16 for communicating with the source of the treated air The conduit 3 extends within the handle 16.

In a different embodiment, member 13 includes a pneumatic motor 21 that is provided by a flow of pressurized air.

Advantageously, the pressurized flow supplied to the air motor 21 can be used for one of the polishing operations Formed as part of the treated air stream.

In use, in order to polish a painted article M, the operator only has to activate the motor driver of the polishing element 1 to deliver a stream of treated air to the exit orifice 7 and possibly apply a layer of abrasive cream or polish The paste of the type commonly used at the time causes the operating surface 4 to be close to the article M.

Due to the present invention, the treated air stream discharged from the orifice 6 is continuously cleaned by one of the surfaces to be polished using a gas containing no moisture and impurities, and at the same time, the treatment of the paint is improved, and the operation surface 4 and the article M are prevented. The heat generated by the contact between them causes deformation.

Further utilizing the thermal adjustment of the treated air stream to improve the compensation effect on the heat generated by the friction, the processed air stream can be adjusted based on the type of material being polished and based on ambient conditions.

The invention has been described in terms of a preferred embodiment, but equivalent modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the invention.

1‧‧‧ polishing components/discs

3‧‧‧Air duct

4‧‧‧Operating surface/surface/operation polishing surface

5‧‧‧ Entrance opening

12‧‧‧ polishing pad

14‧‧‧Shell

16‧‧‧handle

Claims (13)

A device for polishing or abrading an article (M) comprising: a polishing element (1) provided with an operating surface (4) designed to perform a polishing or sanding movement, preferably a system Moving in a circular or orbital manner; and a motor member (13) operatively coupled to the element (1) for transmitting the polishing movement on the operating surface (4), the apparatus comprising: One or more air ducts (3) extending from an inlet opening (5) to one or more outlets (6) of a treated air stream, the inlet opening (5) being associated with one of the treated air streams ( 7) communicating, the treated air stream is, for example, dry air, gaseous nitrogen, or nitrogen-enriched modified air, and the one or more outlets (6) are distributed in a region corresponding to the operating surface (4) And a member (8) for adjusting the temperature of the treated air stream to a value between -5 ° C and + 20 ° C. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising means for adjusting the pressure of the treated air stream to a value between 1 bar and 5 bar. A device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the polishing element (1) comprises a disk, the disk being provided with a polishing pad (12) permeable to the operating surface (4) The treated air stream. A device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the member (13) provided for transmitting a circular or orbital motion on the operating surface of the disc comprises an electric motor (13), the electric motor (13) is housed in a casing (14), and the casing (14) is provided with a handle (16). A device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the member (13) provided for transmitting a circular or orbital motion on the operating surface of the disc comprises a pneumatic motor (21), the air motor (21) is housed in a casing (14), the casing (14) is provided with a handle (16), and the movement of the air motor (21) is provided by a flow of pressurized air. The device of claim 5, wherein the movement of the air motor (21) is provided by a portion of the processed air stream. The device of claim 6, wherein the air ducts (3) are disposed within the housing (14). A device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the operating surface (4) is capable of performing a circular motion, and the outlet (6) of the processed air stream comprises a plurality of concentrically arranged relative to the axis of rotation Hole or outlet. A polishing apparatus comprising the apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims and a unit (9) for supplying a rich one by separation by a hollow fiber or molecular sieve separation membrane, preferably A stream of modified air containing nitrogen, wherein the source (7) and the conditioning member (8) are integrated into the unit (9). The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the unit (9) comprises a second outlet (17) for a nitrogen-enriched modified air stream, the second outlet (17) and an air painting device ( 10) Connected. The apparatus of claim 9 or claim 10, comprising an ionization unit (11) configured to charge the processed air stream with a positive, negative, or medium Total sexual charge. A method of polishing an article by a device, the device comprising: a disk (1) provided with an operating surface (4), the operating surface (4) being designed to be implemented a polishing movement, such as a circular or track movement; and a member (13) operatively coupled to the disk for imparting a polishing or sanding motion on the operating surface (4), such as a circular or Orbital motion, the method comprising the steps of: driving the operating surface (4) to rotate; transmitting a stream of treated air on the operating surface (4), for example, at a regulated temperature of nitrogen or nitrogen-enriched And the at least one portion of the rotating operating surface (4) is set to contact a painted surface (15) of an article (M). The method of claim 12, wherein the items (M) are painted items.