WO2011039779A2

WO2011039779A2 - A work zone specific enclosure

Info

Publication number: WO2011039779A2
Application number: PCT/IN2010/000636
Authority: WO
Inventors: Thomas Hughen Gerrard
Original assignee: Thomas Hughen Gerrard
Priority date: 2009-09-22
Filing date: 2010-09-21
Publication date: 2011-04-07
Also published as: WO2011039779A3

Abstract

A protective barrier enclosure against emissions from an apparatus defined by at least one working zone and a system components zone. The working zone includes at least one operating tool operating on at least one work piece and a work-piece and the system components zone includes system components. The emissions are emanating from the working zone and the system components zone is disposed outside said working zone. The protective barrier enclosure includes a hollow operative housing defined by walls. The walls of the housing encloses the working zone, wherein at least a portion of at least one of said walls is displaceable complementary to movement of an arm operating the operating tool on the work piece in the working zone.

Description

Λ WORK ZONE SPECIFIC ENCLOSURE

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of protective barriers against emissions from apparatuses. Particularly, the present invention relates to enclosures used in robotic applications.

Definitions):

Fumes: The term "fumes" has been used in the specification to generalize any harmful emissions, light and sound generated during a welding or cutting operation.

Working-zone: The term "fumes" has been used in the specification refers to an environment comprising at least one operating tool operating on at least one work piece and a work piece.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Plasma and lasers are used to perform cutting and welding operations on work pieces. While performing the cutting and welding operations using Plasmas and Lasers there are harmful emissions, for example during Plasma cutting and welding operations a variety of poisonous gases, metal dust, Ultraviolet (UV) radiations and noise are generated at the working zone. The poisonous gases, metal dust, Ultraviolet (UV) radiations and noise are harmful as they adversely affect health of the operators and may also damage system components such as actuators, Drivers, sensors, transducers, pneumatic assemblies, electronic and electrical circuits and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). In order to protect the operators of apparatuses performing the cutting and welding operations from any injuries and to prevent damage to environment or equipment outside, the working zone, work enclosures are used as protective barriers. The work enclosures are also used in establishing and maintaining a localized controlled atmosphere in the working zone, so as to provide conditions that are favorable for carrying out welding operations or cutting operations.

Referring to Figures 1-5 of the accompanying drawings illustrates different views of the conventional work enclosure 100. The conventional work enclosure 100 includes a housing defined by walls. The housing includes an operative front wall, an operative rear wall, a top wall and a pair of opposing side walls for connecting the operative front wall to the operating rear wall. The operative front wall of the housing includes a first opening to facilitate entry of a work-piece into said housing and the operative rear wall of the housing includes a second opening to facilitate exit of the work-piece from said housing. Further at least one of the walls of the housing is provided with an exit opening configured thereon to facilitate removal of fumes from the housing. The conventional work enclosure 100 of a plasma cutting robot is adapted to enclose the complete work envelope (moving zone) of the plasma cutting robot. More specifically, the conventional work enclosure 100 is adapted to enclose all the motion guide-ways 12, an arm 14, the sensitive electronic systems like booster box 16 and other critical control systems such as the actuators, Drivers, sensors, transducers, pneumatic assemblies, electronic and electrical circuits and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs).

As is clear from Figure 1, Figure 2 and Figure 3 the volume enclosed by the conventional work enclosure 100 is substantially greater than what is actually required to be enclosed (working zone 18) by the enclosure. In Figure 2, the grey area represents the excess volume enclosed by the conventional work enclosure 100 and is illustrated as transparent to assist in understanding of the concept matter. As the conventional work enclosure 100 is of a larger size, accordingly the conventional work enclosure 100 is required to be made as air tight as possible to facilitate evacuation of fumes there-from. Further, the conventional work enclosure 100 requires more powerful and sophisticated extraction equipments to extract fumes from the housing. Furthermore, because of the large size of the conventional work enclosure 100 requires more material for configuring the enclosure 100 and occupies more floor space.

Furthermore there is a danger of escape of the fumes from the openings provided on the walls of the housing. The openings provided on the walls of the housing are adapted to facilitate passage of communication cables and other electrical cables there through, wherein the communication cables and other electrical cables provide a communication channel between the sensitive robot controller and the system components of the robot. In order to avoid escape of the fumes from such opening sealing of such opening had been suggested, however sealing of such openings is a tedious task. Still further, as the metal dust travels through the openings provided for electrical cables, the metal dust may come in contact with the electrical cables and cause short circuiting thereof.

Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings illustrates the working zone 18 inside the conventional work enclosure 100. The conventional work enclosure 100 reduces the service life of the plasma cutting robotic system as the system components were exposed to plasma fumes and metal dust. The plasma fumes generated during plasma cutting operations cause damage to sensitive electronic circuits of robot controllers and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). Further, the metal dust generated during plasma cutting operations enters precision movement surfaces of parts like guide- ways, rack and pinions and cause long term damage to such parts. The conventional work enclosure 100 covers the complete work envelope (moving zone) of the plasma cutting robot, wherein the work envelope encloses the motion guide-ways 12, the arm 14, sensitive electronic systems like booster box 16 and other critical control systems and as such fails to protect these elements from the harmful effects of plasma fumes and metal dust generated during plasma cutting and. other welding operations. The conventional work enclosure 100 also includes an exhaust port 20 disposed on a wall defining the enclosure for facilitating exhaust of plasma fumes generated at the working zone 18. The exhaust port 20 is connected to an exhaust pipe 22 that is adapted to carry away the plasma fumes away from the said conventional work enclosure 100. Furthermore, the conventional work enclosure 100 constrains the robot and as such the robot is forced to work only one location and is restrained from doing operations at multiple locations. Accordingly a plurality of robots are required if multiple operations are required to be performed simultaneously. With increase in number of robots, the operation costs, the maintenance cost increases.

Therefore, there is felt a need for a work zone specific enclosure in robotic applications that overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art and can be effectively used in cutting or welding operations.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

An object of- the present invention is to reduce the ratio of working zone volume to entire system volume by bringing the housing wall as close as possible to the working zone.

Still another object of the present invention is to facilitate use of a single robot to perform operations at multiple locations, thereby reducing capital cost and maintenance cost.

An object of the present invention is to provide an enclosure which is working zone specific.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an enclosure such that predetermined plasma cutting robotic system components are outside the fume area. Still one more object of the present invention is to provide an enclosure having high fume extraction efficiency.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an enclosure which increases the service life of the plasma cutting robotic system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an enclosure that helps in producing plasma cutting robotic systems that are in-expensive.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an enclosure that helps in producing plasma cutting robotic systems that require low power consumption.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an enclosure that enhances the safety and convenience of the operators.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an enclosure that requires lesser floor space.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an enclosure that is reliable and adapted to reduce system costs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a protective barrier enclosure against emissions from an apparatus, wherein the apparatus is defined by at least one working zone and a system components zone. The working zone includes at least one operating tool operating on at least one work piece and a work-piece. The emissions are emanating from the working zone. The system components zone is disposed outside the working zone and includes system components. The protective barrier includes a hollow operative housing defined by walls. The housing is adapted to enclose the working zone, wherein at least a portion of at least one of the walls is displaceable complementary to movement of an arm operating the operating tool on the work piece in the working zone.

Typically, the displaceable portion of the wall is adapted to be flipped for facilitating movement of the arm.

Preferably, an operative wall of the housing is provided with facilitating means for facilitating entry and exit of the arm operating the operating tool on the work piece in the working zone.

Specifically, the facilitating means are a pair of bellows that are adapted to be flipped to permit entry and exit of the arm operating the operating tool on the work piece in the working zone.

Alternatively, the facilitating means are means for displacing the wall of the housing to permit entry and exit of the arm operating the operating tool on the work piece in the working zone.

Typically, the wall is adapted to be displaced to facilitate removal of the arm from the working zone. Particularly, at least one of the walls of the housing is provided with an exit opening configured thereon to facilitate removal of fumes from the housing.

Preferably, an operative front wall of the housing includes a first opening to facilitate entry of the work-piece into the housing and an operative rear wall of the housing includes a second opening to facilitate exit of the work-piece from the housing.

Typically, the operative front wall, the operative rear wall and a top wall of the housing are of an opaque material.

Generally, a pair of opposing side walls of the housing is of a see-through material to facilitate viewing and inspection of operations performed by the operating tool over the work-piece.

Preferably, the displaceable portion of the wall of the housing includes a pair of slidingly displaceable covers for resfraining egress of fumes from the housing.

Alternatively, displaceable portion of the wall of the housing includes a pair of moving curtains for restraining egress of fumes from the housing.

Typically, the housing is adapted to confine fumes generated in the working zone for preventing damage to the system components. Further, the housing is adapted to confine metal dust generated in the working zone for preventing damage to the system components.

Typically, the operating tool is a welding torch.

Alternatively, the operating tool is a cutting tool.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The invention will now be briefly described in relation to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a top view of a conventional work enclosure enclosing a complete work envelope (moving zone) of a robot performing an operation on a work-piece;

Figure 2 illustrates a side view of a conventional work enclosure of Figure 1;

Figure 3 illustrates another top view of the conventional work enclosure of

Figure 1;

Figure 4 illustrates an isometric view of a conventional work enclosure of Figure 1 with a sliding door of the enclosure in an open configuration;

Figure 5 illustrates another isometric view of the conventional work enclosure of Figure 1 with the sliding door of the enclosure in opened configuration; Figure 6 illustrates an isometric view of a work zone specific enclosure in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 7 illustrates another isometric view of the work zone specific enclosure of Figure 6;

Figure 8 illustrates another isometric view of the work zone specific enclosure of Figure 6;

Figure 9 illustrates a side view of the work zone specific enclosure of Figure

6;

Figure 10, illustrates a top view of the work zone specific enclosure of

Figure 6;

Figure 1 1 , illustrates another view of the work zone specific enclosure of

Figure 6;

Figure 12, illustrates still another view of the work zone specific enclosure of Figure 6;

Figure 13 illustrates a top view of a work zone specific enclosure in accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention;

14 illustrates a side view of a work zone specific enclosure of Figure Figure 15 illustrates a top view of a work zone specific enclosure of Figure

13;

Figure 16 illustrates an isometric view of a work zone specific enclosure of

Figure 13;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A preferred embodiment will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The preferred embodiment does not limit the scope and ambit of the invention. The description provided is purely by way of example and illustration.

The present invention envisages a work zone specific enclosure 200 and different versions of the work zone specific enclosure for use in robotic applications, said work zone specific enclosure 200 is adapted to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art and facilitate effective use of robots in cutting or welding operations. Although, the work zone specific enclosure 200 has been explained to enclose the working zone of the plasma cutting robot, however the present invention is not limited to work zone specific enclosures for enclosing working zone of the plasma cutting robot. The work zone specific enclosure 200 may also be used to enclose working zone of a grinding machine welding machine or any other apparatus that generates harmful emissions. The work zone specific enclosure 200 is adapted to enclose a substantially lesser volume when compared to volume enclosed by the conventional work enclosure 100. More specifically, referring to Figure 1 and 2, the conventional work enclosure 100 encloses an excess volume X*Y*Z.

Figure 6 to Figure 12 of the accompanying drawings illustrates different views of a work zone specific enclosure generally indicated by reference numeral 200. The work zone specific enclosure 200 is developed considering the aspects of safety and convenience of the operators. The key aspects like preventing damage to system components of the plasma cutting robot by the harmful working zone atmosphere and sophistication of technology are also considered in the development of the work zone specific enclosure 200. The work zone specific enclosure 200 is made in such a way that all motion guide ways 112, arm 114, and sensitive electronics like booster box 116 are outside the work zone specific enclosure 200. The work zone specific enclosure 200 is developed in such a way that the fumes produced in the working zone due to welding or cutting operations will not have any effect on predetermined robotic system components. The work zone specific enclosure 200 is a hollow operative housing defined by walls. More specifically, the work zone specific enclosure 200 is adapted to coyer only the working zone defined by an operating tool operating on a work- piece, wherein said operating tool is held at the distal end, of the arm 114 that is sliding along the motion guide ways 112. More specifically, the arm 114 is adapted to move along the X-X direction as illustrated in Figure 6 of the accompanying drawings. The arm- is connected to a pair of bellows 118 that are disposed at either side of the arm. The movement of the arm is controlled by a robot connected thereto. Further, the robot is disposed at a convenient location from the working zone.

The arm 114 working in conjunction with along with the pair of bellows 118 is adapted to restrain egress of the fumes generated in the working zone from the housing. The pair of bellows 118 is adapted to be flipped to permit entry and exit of the arm 114 that is operating the operating tool on the work piece in the working zone. The bellows are adapted to move along the arm 114 and get compressed and expand, as the arm 114 slides along the motion guide ways 112. More specifically, the pair of bellows 118 is adapted to slide along a pair of slides 124(a) and 124(b). The pair of bellows 118 is designed to facilitate vibration free high speed movement of the pair of bellows over the slides 124(a) and 124(b). Further, each of the pair of bellows 116 is adapted to move into a small housing adapted to accommodate the bellows and the housing gets flipped in order to provide passage for free movement of the arm. More specifically, as the pair of bellows 118 gets flipped, the arm 114 can be moved out of the work zone specific enclosure 200. The work zone specific enclosure 200 acts as a protective barrier enclosure against emissions emanating from the working zone 18.

As the arm can be moved out of the enclosure, the robot along with the arm 114 is free to move to either side of the system and accordingly a single robot may be used for performing operations at different locations. The housing of the work zone specific enclosure includes an operative front wall, an operative rear wall, a top wall, a bottom wall and a pair of opposing side walls. At least one of the walls defining the housing is adapted to be displaced to facilitate removal of the arm 114 from the working zone. The displaceable wall is adapted to facilitate entry of the operator inside the housing and also to facilitate removal of scrap generated during a machining process from the housing. Further at least one of the walls defining the housing is provided with an exit opening 120 configured thereon to facilitate removal of fumes from the housing. The exit opening 120 may be disposed any where on the housing depending on fume flow conditions, temperature and other conditions of the fumes.

Further, an operative front wall of the housing includes a first opening to facilitate entry of said work-piece into the housing and an operative rear wall of the housing includes a second opening to facilitate exit of the work-piece. Referring to Figure 7 of the accompanying drawing arrow marked as A represents the inflow of the work piece into the housing and the arrow marked as B represents the out-flow of the work piece from the housing. Preferably, the operative front wall, the operative rear wall and a top wall of said housing are of an opaque material. Further, a pair of opposing side walls of the housing for connecting the front wall to the rear wall of the housing is of a see-through material to facilitate viewing and inspection of operations performed by the operating tool over the work-piece. Further, the see through material used for configuring the pair of opposing side walls of the housing is provided with UV protection. Referring to Figure 11 and Figure 12 of the accompanying drawings there is still space between the working zone 18 and the walls of the housing. Accordingly, there is still a scope of reducing the overall volume occupied by the work zone specific enclosure 200.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention the walls of the housing of the work zone specific enclosure 200 are still brought closer to the working zone in order to reduce the volume enclosed by the work zone specific enclosure. More specifically, referring to Figure 12 of the accompanying drawings, the regions marked as XI, X2, X3 and X4 are the volumes that may be eliminated by moving walls of the housing inwards, towards the work zone specific enclosure. Figure 13 to Figure 16 of the accompanying drawings illustrates different views of a work zone specific enclosure generally indicated by reference numeral 300 in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. The working zone specific enclosure 300 is an improvement over the work zone specific enclosure 200, as the work zone specific enclosure 300 is enclosing, a volume that is 25 percent of the volume enclosed by the conventional work enclosure 100 whereas, the work zone specific enclosure 200 is enclosing a volume that is 45 percent of the volume enclosed by the conventional work enclosure 100.

Referring to Figure 13 and 14 of the accompanying drawings, the work zone specific enclosure 300 is made in such a way that all motion guide ways 212, arm 214, and sensitive electronics like booster box 216 are outside the work zone specific enclosure 300. The work zone specific enclosure 200 is a hollow operative housing defined by walls. More specifically, the work zone specific enclosure 300 is also adapted to cover only the working zone defined by an operating tool operating on a work-piece, wherein said operating tool is held at the distal end of the arm 214 that is sliding along the motion guide ways 212. The arm is connected to a pair of bellows 218 (not shown in Figure 13 and Figure 14 that are disposed at either side of the arm.

The arm 214, the motion guide ways 212, sensitive electronics like booster box 216, the pair of bellows 218 of the work zone specific enclosure 300 is structurally and functionally similar to arm 114, the motion guide ways 112, sensitive electronics like booster box 116, the pair of bellows 118 of the work zone specific enclosure 200.

Accordingly, for the sake of brevity of the present document, the arm, motion guide ways, the pair of bellows and the other elements of the work zone specific enclosure 300 are not described in details.

The housing also includes a pair of bellows disposed in-between at least a pair of opposing walls of the housing for displacing the pair of opposing walls and reducing, volume enclosed by the housing for facilitating evacuation of fumes from said work-zone. More specifically, the work zone specific enclosure 200 disclosed herein is adapted to achieve reduction in volume such that the work zone specific enclosure 200 is capable of achieving a volume that is about 25 percent of the volume of the conventional enclosure. However, different versions of the work zone specific enclosure 200 may be manufactured to cater different requirements. For example, work zone specific enclosure may be adapted to achieve a volume that is about 25 percent in volume when compared to the volume of conventional enclosure or the work zone specific enclosure may be adapted to achieve a volume that is about 55 percent in volume when compared to the volume of conventional enclosure. This reduction in volume enables the system to conform to strict pollution norms and still have the flexibility of removing the robot for other applications like plate cutting.

The operative front wall of the housing is adapted to facilitate entry of the operating tool inside the housing. The operative rear wall of the housing is adapted to facilitate entry of the work-piece inside the housing. The top wall and the bottom wall of the housing are adapted to inter-connect the operative front wall to the operative rear wall and the pair of opposing side walls of the housing is adapted to inter-connect the front wall to the rear wall and the top wall to the bottom wall. Further, the operative front wall, the operative rear wall and the top and bottom walls of the housing are made from an opaque material. Furthermore, the pair of opposing side walls is made from a see-through material in order to facilitate viewing and inspection of operations performed by the operating tool over said work-piece.

Referring to Figure 6 to Figure 9, the plasma fumes generated during the plasma cutting operation, that is carried inside the working zone are sent out of the enclosure 200 with the help of bellows 116 provided in the enclosure 200. The bellows 116 moves along with the cantilever arm 114 of the plasma cutting robot. The bellows 116 facilitates in reducing the size of the enclosure 200 and thereby making the enclosure 200 to cover only the working zone. More specifically, the bellows 116 are disposed in-between a† least a pair of opposing walls of said housing for displacing said pair of opposing walls and reducing volume enclosed by said housing for facilitating evacuation of fumes from said work-zone. Furthermore, the bellows may also function as a protective barrier that is adapted to completely cover the work-zone and restrain escape of fumes there from. According to an embodiment of the present invention sliding covers or moving curtains may be used instead of bellows 116 for completely covering the work-zone and restraining escape of fumes there from.

The enclosure 200 is adapted to confine fumes generated in the work-zone inside the housing for preventing damage to sensitive electronic circuits of robot controllers and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) that are placed outside the housing. Furthermore, the enclosure 200 is adapted to confine metal dust generated in work-zone inside the housing for preventing metal dust from entering precision movement surfaces like guide-ways, rack and pinions and causing long term damage to such elements placed outsidp the housing.

TECHNICAL ADVANTAGES AND ECONOMIC SIGND7ICANCE

A work zone specific enclosure as described in the present invention has several technical advantages including but not limited to the realization of:

• an enclosure specific to a working zone;

• an enclosure that reduces the ratio of working zone volume to entire system volume by bringing the housing wall as close as possible to the working zone.

• an enclosure with plasma cutting robotic system components outside the fume area;

• an enclosure with high fume extraction efficiency; • an enclosure which increases the service life of the plasma cutting robotic system^*

^'· an enclosure that helps in producing a plasma cutting robotic system at cheap cost;

• an enclosure that helps in producing a plasma cutting robotic system with low power consumption; and

• an enclosure that enhances the safety and convenience of the operator.

• an enclosure that is adapted facilitate moving in and moving out of a robot there from in order to promote use of a single robot to perform operations at multiple locations, thereby reducing capital cost and maintenance cost.

While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the components and component parts of the preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the invention. These and other changes in the preferred embodiment as well as other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein, whereby it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the invention and not as a limitation.

Claims

Claims:

1 . A protective barrier enclosure against emissions from an apparatus; said apparatus defined by

i at least one working zone comprising at least one operating tool operating on at least one work piece and a work-piece; said emissions emanating from said working zone; and

ii a system components zone outside said working zone comprising system components; said protective barrier comprising:

a hollow operative housing defined by walls; said housing enclosing said working zone, wherein at least a portion of at least one of said walls is displaceable complementary to movement of an arm operating said operating tool on said work piece in said working zone.

2. The protective barrier as claimed in claim 1, wherein said displaceable portion of said wall is adapted to be flipped to facilitate movement of said arm. ^' . ₍ ^~<

3. The protective barrier as claimed in claim 1, wherein an operative wall of said housing is provided with facilitating means for facilitating entry and exit of said arm operating said operating tool on said work piece in said working zone.

4. The protective barrier as claimed in claim 3, wherein said facilitating means are a pair of bellows that are adapted to be flipped to permit entry and exit of said arm operating said operating tool on said work piece in said working zone.

5; The protective barrier as claimed in claim 3, wherein said facilitating means are means for displacing said wall of said housing to permit entry and exit of said arm operating said operating tool on said work piece in said working zone.

6. The protective barrier as claimed in claim 5, wherein said wall is adapted to be displaced to facilitate removal of said arm from said working zone.

7. The protective barrier as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of said walls of said housing is provided with an exit opening configured thereon to facilitate removal of fumes from said housing.

8. The protective barrier as claimed in claim 1, wherein an operative front wall of said housing includes a first opening to facilitate entry of said work^piece into said housing and an operative rear wall of said housing includes a second opening to facilitate exit of said work-piece from said housing.

9. The protective barrier as claimed in claim 1, wherein said operative front wall, said operative rear wall and a top wall of said housing are of an opaque material.

10. The protective barrier as claimed in claim 1, wherein a pair of opposing side walls of said housing is of a see-through material to facilitate viewing and inspection of operations performed by said operating tool over said work-piece.

11. The protective barrier as claimed in claim 1, wherein said displaceable portion of said wall of said housing includes a pair of slidingly displaceable covers for restraining egress of fumes from said housing.

12. The protective barrier as claimed in claim 1, wherein said displaceable portion of said wall of said housing includes a pair of moving curtains for restraining egress of fumes from said housing.

13. The protective barrier as claimed in claim 1, wherein said housing is adapted to confine fumes generated in said working zone for preventing damage to said system components.

14. The protective barrier as claimed in claim 1, wherein said housing is adapted to confine metal dust generated in said working zone for preventing damage to said system components.

15. The protective barrier as claimed in claim 1, wherein said operating tool is a welding torch.

16. The protective barrier as claimed in claim 1, wherein said operating tool is a cutting tool.

17. An apparatus having at least one working zone and at least one protective barrier as claimed in claims 1 to 16 operating therewith.