JPH03254860A - Method and device for cleaning coating equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit an automatic and complete removal of the coating material adhering to a coating equipment by a method wherein the coating equipment is sprayed with a solvent and allowed to stand for a predetermined time, the jet of a gas in mixture with the solvent is then applied to the coating equipment for cleaning thereof and the jet of the gas is thereafter applied thereto for drying thereof. CONSTITUTION:When a coating equipment 3 (e.g. robot arm) to which the coating material has adhered in the coating operation is cleaned in a washing device 1, the coating equipment 3 is sprayed with a solvent from nozzles 13 an allowed to stand for a predetermined time. The jet of a gas in mixture with the solvent is then applied to the coating equipment by a gun 14 to wash off the coating material therefrom. The jet of the gas is thereafter applied to the coating equipment by the gun 14 to dry the same. As a result, even the coating material sticking fast to the surface of the coating equipment such as robot arm can be removed therefrom automatically and completely.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for cleaning painting equipment to which paint has adhered during painting operations, and in particular to a painting operation robot used in an automobile body painting line. This type of cleaning method and cleaning device is useful for automatically cleaning paint-adhered parts of robots used for auxiliary tasks such as opening/closing doors, opening/closing trunks/hoods, etc. [Prior art] This type of cleaning method and cleaning device is, for example, The one disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 63-123458 is known.

In the technique disclosed in the above-mentioned publication, first, a mixed fluid of a solvent such as thinner and compressed air is injected from a nozzle to clean the coating gun. After that, compressed air is injected from another nozzle to dry the coating gun.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, as described above, in the conventional cleaning technique that is performed by drying the paint gun immediately after cleaning the paint gun, the paint is laminated so as to stick to the surface of the paint gun. It is not possible to completely remove the adhering paint and clean it thoroughly, and when painting again, the remaining paint adhering to the painting gun falls onto the surface of the object to be painted, resulting in poor painting. There was a problem.

Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to improve cleaning efficiency by automatically and completely removing paint even if it is stuck to the surface of painting equipment such as a robot arm. It is an object of the present invention to provide an excellent cleaning method and apparatus.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for cleaning painting equipment to which paint has adhered due to painting work. This is a method for cleaning painting equipment, the gist of which is to spray gas to clean the painting equipment, and further to dry the painting equipment by spraying gas onto the painting equipment.

Further, in an apparatus for cleaning coating equipment to which paint has adhered during painting operations, a first spraying member for applying a solvent to the painting equipment, and a first spraying member for spraying a gas mixed with a solvent to the painting equipment to clean the painting equipment. a third spraying member that sprays gas onto the coating equipment to dry the coating equipment; a moving mechanism for moving the second and third spraying members in accordance with the paint adhesion area of the coating equipment; The second and third spraying members are moved, and after a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the first spraying member sprays the solvent onto the coating equipment, the second spraying member sprays the gas mixed with the solvent into the coating equipment. A control means for spraying gas to clean the painting equipment and further spraying gas onto the painting equipment using the third spraying member to dry the painting equipment. It is a cleaning device.

Furthermore, an apparatus for cleaning coating equipment to which paint has adhered due to painting operations includes a first spraying member that applies a solvent to the painting equipment, and a first spraying member that sprays a solvent onto the painting equipment, and a cleaning device that sprays a gas mixed with fusing to the painting equipment to clean the painting equipment. a second spraying member for drying the coating equipment, and a third spraying member for drying the coating equipment by spraying gas onto the coating equipment.
One or more spraying members are provided corresponding to the paint adhesion area of the coating equipment, and after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the solvent is applied to the coating equipment by the first spraying member, the second spraying member is applied to the coating equipment. A control means is provided for spraying gas mixed with a solvent onto the painting equipment using a member to clean the painting equipment, and further spraying gas onto the painting equipment using the third spraying member to dry the painting equipment. This is a cleaning device for painting equipment that has the following points.

[Examples] Examples embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings to provide an understanding of the present invention. It should be noted that the following examples are examples embodying the present invention, and are not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention.

Here, FIG. 1 shows the structure of a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1(a) is a front view and FIG.
) is a plan view, (c) is a right side view, and (dl is a left side view), and FIG. (a) is a front view) is a plan view, (c) is a right side view, (d) is a left side view, and (e) is A-A' in (a). 9 which is an end view in the direction of arrows. In the cleaning device 1 according to this embodiment, FIGS.
As shown in d), an opening 4 is formed in the upper longitudinal direction of the housing 2 for inserting, for example, a robot arm 3 for opening and closing the trunk. 6 is installed. An open lower part for inserting the robot 7) arm 3 is also formed on the side of the housing 2, and a plurality of air nozzles for forming an air curtain are provided inside the housing 2 of the open lower part. 8 are deployed.

A guide rail 9 is attached to the side of the housing 2 in the longitudinal direction, and a bracket 10 is attached to the guide rail 9.
is in place. That is, the bracket 10 is supported slidably in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail 9 by a plurality of cam followers 11, and the bracket 10 is
It is slidably driven by a so-called rodless type cylinder 12.

On one side of the bracket 10, a plurality of nozzles 13 (
A first spray member) is provided. The nozzle 13 is for applying a solvent such as thinner to the robot arm 3, and the thinner is sprayed from the nozzle 13 by the hydraulic pressure of the thinner.

Similar to the nozzle 13, a plurality of guns 14 are attached to the other side of the bracket 10 so as to surround the robot arm 3.

The gun 14 includes a second spraying member that sprays compressed air mixed with thinner onto the robot arm 3 according to the atomizing principle to clean the robot arm 3, and a state in which the supply of the thinner to the robot arm 3 is cut off. It also serves as a third spraying member that dries the robot arm 3 by spraying only compressed air.

In this case, the discharge ports of the nozzle 13 and the gun 14 are elliptical in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the bracket 10 so as to spray thinner etc. so as to wrap around the robot arm 3. It is configured to form a spray pattern that has a shape.

Note that a spray member having the functions of the nozzle 13, the gun 14, etc., may be attached to the bracket 10.

In this case, the guide rail 9. The nozzle 1 is connected by the bracket 10, cam follower 11, cylinder 12, etc.
A moving mechanism 15 is configured to move the robot arm 3 and the gun 14 so as to correspond to the coating area of the robot arm 3.

Thinner, compressed air, and the like are supplied to the nozzle 13 and gun 14 through piping arranged within the cable carrier 16.

A thinner tank 17 for thinner recovery and an overflow tank 18 are provided at the bottom of the housing 2.

The thinner tank 17 is connected to a suction port of a pump (not shown), and is configured so that the thinner in the thinner tank 17 can be supplied to the nozzle 13 and gun 14.

The overflow tank 18 is, for example, the gun 14
Out of the cleaning thinner sprayed from the thinner tank 17, the thinner overflowing from the overflow tank 18 is discharged outside the machine.
automatically discharged through. Then, as the thinner overflows as described above, the sludge thinner remaining in the thinner tank 17 is cleaned. By collecting the thinner used for cleaning and reusing it as described above, it is possible to reduce the total amount of thinner used and reduce operating costs.

The cleaning apparatus 1 configured as described above is operationally controlled by a control device (not shown) in accordance with a procedure described later.

That is, while the nozzle 13 and gun 14 are moved by the moving mechanism 15 to correspond to the coating area of the robot arm 3, thinner is applied to the robot arm 3 using the nozzle 13, and after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, The gun 14 blows compressed air mixed with thinner onto the robot arm 3 to clean the robot arm 3, and the gun 14 blows compressed air onto the robot arm 3 to dry the robot arm 3. controlled by.

The above-mentioned control device is provided separately from the control device for the painting work robots and the auxiliary work robots for opening and closing doors, which are installed in the painting line. Automatically performs cleaning work.

As described above, the cleaning device l according to this embodiment has a gun 1.
Prior to the cleaning operation in step 4, thinner is applied to the robot arm 3 from the nozzle 13 in advance, and then a predetermined period of time (
The amount of time it takes for the paint that has stuck to the surface of the robot arm 3 to peel off from the surface of the robot arm 3 is left undisturbed. Even if the paint sticks to the surface, it can be automatically and almost completely removed.

Continuing on, based on FIGS. 2(a) to (e), cleaning bags according to other embodiments of the present invention! 20 will be explained.

Further, the same reference numerals are used for elements common to those of the cleaning apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1, and detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

The cleaning device 20 according to this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
The basic structure is substantially the same as that of the cleaning device 1 described above.

That is, the cleaning device 20 has a nozzle 13 that sprays a solvent such as thinner onto the robot arm 3 on the image side of the casing 21, and a nozzle 13 that sprays compressed air mixed with thinner onto the robot arm 3 using the atomizing principle. A gun 14 that cleans the robot arm 3 and dries the robot arm 3 by spraying only compressed air with the supply of thinner cut off to the robot arm 3 corresponds to the paint adhering area of the robot arm 3. There are multiple locations.

Then, it is controlled by a control device (not shown) in substantially the same procedure as in the case of the cleaning device 1.

That is, after applying thinner to the robot arm 3 with the nozzle 13 and after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, the robot arm 3 is cleaned by spraying gas mixed with thinner with the gun 14, and then the gun 1 is sprayed with thinner.
4, the robot arm 3 is controlled to be blown with compressed air to dry the robot arm 3.

In the cleaning device 20 according to this embodiment, the nozzle 13 and the gun 14 are fixed, and the spray pattern is configured to have an elliptical shape in the axial direction of the robot arm 3. During cleaning work, it is necessary to rotate the robot arm 3 by at least 90 degrees or more about its axis.

In this case, the nozzle 13 and the gun 14 may be provided with a swinging mechanism so that the cleaning work can be performed while the robot arm 3 is stopped without rotating. The robot arm 3 may be configured to move around the robot arm 3.

Therefore, in the cleaning device 20 according to the present embodiment, as in the case of the cleaning device 1, even if the paint is stuck to the surface of the robot arm 3, it is automatically removed. It can be removed almost completely and efficiently.

Furthermore, as described above, the cleaning bag W20 according to the present embodiment is configured by providing a plurality of nozzles 13 and guns 14 each corresponding to the paint adhesion area of the robot arm 3. If the target painting equipment is relatively small, the nozzle 13 and gun 14 as described above may be used.
The configuration may be such that only one each is provided.

(Effects of the Invention) Since the method and device for cleaning painting equipment according to the present invention are configured as described above, even if the paint is stuck to the surface of the painting equipment, it can automatically clean the paint. And it can be completely removed.

As a result, it is possible to avoid the problem of the prior art in which paint remaining on the paint gun, for example, falls onto the surface of the object to be painted during re-painting, resulting in poor painting.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 shows the structure of a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1(a) is a front view, Fig. 1(b) is a plan view, and Fig. 1(c) is a right side view. , the same figure ((1) is a left side view,
Fig. 2 shows the structure of a cleaning device according to another embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 2(a) is a front view, Fig. 2(b) is a plan view, and Fig. 2(c) is a right side view. The figure (d) is a left side view, and the figure (fe) is an end view taken along line A-A' in figure (a). [Explanation of symbols] 1.20...Cleaning device 3...Robot arm 9...Guide rail 10...Bracket 11
...Cam follower 12...Cylinder 13...
- Nozzle (first spray member) 14... gun (second spray member, third spray member) 1
5...Movement mechanism

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method for cleaning painting equipment to which paint has adhered during painting work, in which the painting equipment is sprayed with a solvent and left to stand for a predetermined period of time, and then a gas mixed with the solvent is sprayed onto the painting equipment to remove the paint. A method for cleaning painting equipment, which comprises cleaning the painting equipment and further drying the painting equipment by spraying gas onto the painting equipment. 2. A device for cleaning coating equipment to which paint has adhered during painting operations, including a first spraying member that sprays a solvent onto the painting equipment, and a first spraying member that sprays a gas mixed with a solvent onto the painting equipment to clean the painting equipment. a third spraying member that sprays gas onto the coating equipment to dry the coating equipment; and a third spraying member that sprays the first, second, and third spraying members onto the paint adhering area of the coating equipment. a moving mechanism that moves the first, second, and third spraying members in a corresponding manner; and after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the first, second, and third spraying members are moved by the first spraying member and the solvent is applied to the coating equipment by the first spraying member; The second spraying member sprays a gas mixed with a solvent onto the painting equipment to clean the painting equipment, and the third spraying member sprays gas onto the painting equipment to dry the painting equipment. 1. A cleaning device for painting equipment, characterized in that it is equipped with a control means for controlling. 3. In an apparatus for cleaning painting equipment to which paint has adhered during painting work, one or more first, second, and third spraying members to be described later are provided corresponding to the paint adhesion area of the painting equipment, and After a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the first spraying member applied the solvent to the painting equipment, the second spraying member sprayed a gas mixed with the solvent onto the painting equipment to clean the painting equipment, and then 3. A cleaning device for a painting equipment, comprising a control means for drying the painting equipment by spraying gas onto the painting equipment by means of the spraying member according to item 3. (a) A first spraying member that sprays a solvent onto the painting equipment; (b) A second spraying member that sprays a gas mixed with a solvent onto the painting equipment to clean the painting equipment; (c) A second spraying member that sprays the painting equipment with a gas. a third spraying member that sprays to dry the coating equipment;