JPH0422459A - Paint supply apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the color change time of paint by connecting an auxiliary washing material supply source to a changeover valve and washing the paint piping between a color change valve and the changeover valve with the washing material, supplied from a main washing material supply source, to discharge the washing material to a drain part. CONSTITUTION:A color change valve 4 is changed over to a paint supply source of a predetermined painting color and a changeover valve 6 is also changed over toward a painting gun 1, and a changeover valve 22 is changed over to an OFF-side to supply paint to the painting gun 1 from piping 3a through pipings 3b, 3c. Next, the color change valve 4 is changed over toward extrusion air 10 and the changeover valve 6 is changed over to a drain pit 17 to extrude the residual paint in the piping 3b to the drain pit 17. At the same time, the changeover valve 22 is opened and a washing material changeover valve 23 is changed over to the extrusion air to discharge the residual paint in the piping 3c from the painting gun 1. At this time, a washing thinner 9 is supplied to pipings 3b, 3d to wash the same. By this method, productivity is enhanced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a paint supply device for supplying paint to a paint gun, and in particular, to shorten the time required to change paint colors.

(Prior Art) In the top coating process of automobiles, it is necessary to apply multiple colors of paint with one paint gun, so a color changer is provided in the paint supply device.

As shown in Figure 3, the conventional paint supply device consists of a paint gun 1 attached to an automatic paint machine inside the paint booth and a paint supply source (paint tank and paint tank) installed outside the paint booth in the paint storage. pump, etc.) 2, and paint pipes 3a, 3b are provided between these paint guns 1 and paint supply source 2. The piping 3a, 3b includes a color change valve (CCV) 4, which is a component of the color change device.
A paint regulator 5 that is a discharge amount control device, a switching valve 6 that switches the paint path between the paint gun 1 side and the drain bit 17 side, and a flow meter 7 that measures the paint flow rate in the piping are attached.

Paints of different colors are connected to the color change valve 4, and cleaning thinner 9 and extrusion air 10 (these are (referred to as cleaning material) is connected. Then, the switching valve in the color change valve 4 is selected by an air signal sent from the control section of the color change device (not shown), and the desired paint,
Thinner or air is supplied to the painting gun l side.

As shown in FIG. 4, the conventional color change valve 4 has a flow passage body 1 in which valve bodies 11 are arranged facing each other.
2, and this flow path body 12 has a color change valve 4.
A flow path 13 is formed through which the selected paint or the like flows down. Further, the valve body 11 is provided with a needle valve 14 that is moved forward and backward by control air, and the tip of the needle valve 14 is spaced close to and spaced from a paint discharge port 15 facing the flow path 13. Open and close.

The paint is introduced from the paint port 16 of the valve body 11 and guided to the flow path 13 as the needle valve 14 is opened and closed.

Control air for controlling the paint regulator 5 is supplied to the paint regulator 5 attached to the piping 3b on the downstream side of the color change valve 4 via an electro-pneumatic converter (not shown). Each discharge amount of paint supplied to the coating gun 1 is determined by air.

On the other hand, the switching valve 6 controls the function of selecting the paint supplied from the paint regulator 5 to the painting gun 1 side to the painting gun 1 side and the drain bit 17 side in response to a control signal from an air source.

Color changing in the conventional paint supply device configured as described above is performed as follows. That is, when changing the color from color A to color B, first switch the color change valve 4 to select color A, switch the switching valve 6 to the paint gun 1 side, and set the predetermined discharge amount from the paint gun 1. Paint with A color.

When this A color painting is completed, next, the color change valve 4 is switched to the extrusion air 10, and the switching valve 6 is switched to the drain bit 17 side to supply air into the pipe 3b. Dispose of the remaining A color paint in the paint booth. Next, the color change valve 4 is switched to the cleaning thinner 9 side, and this cleaning thinner 9 is supplied into the pipe 3b in the same way as the extrusion air 10 to wash away the A color paint that has adhered to the inside of the pipe 3b, and then paint. Dispose of it inside the booth. Further, while this cycle of supplying the extrusion air 10 and the cleaning thinner 9 is repeated several times, the switching valve 6 is switched to the painting gun 1 side to clean the inside of the piping near the painting gun. After this cleaning cycle is completed, the B color paint to be applied next (hereinafter referred to as "next color") is supplied to the paint pipe 3b and waits for the arrival of the workpiece.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, conventional paint supply devices do not perform air extrusion, thinner cleaning, air extrusion, or
Since the color change process involved supplying the next color, the color change time was long (this was a major bottleneck in improving production capacity by shortening the line takt of the production line).

In particular, the longer the shield from the color change valve to the paint gun, the longer it takes to clean.

Further, since the color change valve has a large structure and is designed to be difficult to clean, there is a problem in that the previous color is not completely cleaned and adheres to the workpiece (so-called color splatter).

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a paint supply device that has a simple configuration and short color change time.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the paint supply device of the present invention provides a color change valve in the middle of a paint pipe connecting a paint supply source and a painting gun, and a main feature of the color change valve. By connecting a cleaning material supply source and providing a switching valve in the paint piping connecting the collar change valve and the paint gun, the paint piping after the switching valve is branched into the paint gun side and the drainage side, and the collar In a paint supply device configured to use a change valve to select a paint to be discharged from a paint gun and to clean the inside of the paint pipe with a cleaning material before supplying the next color, a subsystem that supplies a cleaning material to the switching valve. A cleaning supply source is connected, and the paint pipe between the color change valve and the switching valve is cleaned with the cleaning material supplied from the main cleaning material supply source and disposed of to the drainage side, and the paint piping between the color change valve and the switching valve is cleaned and disposed of to the drain side. The interior of the paint pipe between the paint pipes is cleaned with a cleaning material supplied from an auxiliary cleaning supply source and then discarded from the paint gun.

At this time, the color change valve is an assembly of a plurality of valve members in which a substantially disc-shaped valve body is radially partitioned, and a paint flow path is formed in the axial direction of the center of the valve body, A paint inlet and a paint discharge port are provided in each valve member, a paint flow path space is formed to communicate the paint inlet and the paint discharge port, and an on-off valve is provided to open and close the paint discharge port. It is preferable.

(Function) In the present invention configured as described above, when painting is completed, first, the switching valve is switched to the drain side, and the color change valve is switched to the main cleaning material supply source side, and the color change valve and the switching valve are switched. Clean the inside of the paint piping between the parts. At the same time, cleaning material is supplied from the sub-cleaning material supply source to the switching valve to clean the interior of the paint pipe between the switching valve and the coating gun. In this way, by simultaneously cleaning the paint piping between the color change valve and the painting gun using two cleaning systems, it is possible to shorten the time required for color change.

Further, here, the color change valve is an assembly of a plurality of valve members in which a substantially disk-shaped valve body is radially partitioned, and a paint flow path is formed in the axial direction of the center of the valve body, If each valve member is provided with a paint inlet and a paint discharge port, a paint flow path space is formed that communicates the paint inlet and the paint discharge port, and an on-off valve is provided to open and close the paint discharge port. In addition to improving the cleaning performance when changing colors, by arranging such color change valves in series in the axial direction, the capacity of the color change valves can be easily increased.

(Example) Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a piping system diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway front view showing a color change valve of the same embodiment.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, the paint supply device of this embodiment consists of a paint gun 1 fixed to an automatic paint machine inside a paint booth, and a paint supply source 2 installed outside the paint booth in a paint storage.
The paint gun 1 and the paint supply source 2 are connected by a paint pipe 3. This piping 3 includes a color change valve (CCV) 4 that is a color change device, a paint regulator 5 that is a discharge amount control device, and a switching valve 6 that switches the paint route between the paint gun 1 side and the drain pit 17 side. , and a flow meter 7 for measuring the paint flow rate in the piping and providing feedback control or the like.

The color change valve 4 and the paint supply source 2 are connected by a paint pipe 3a, and paints with different colors are connected to each switching valve of the color change valve 4 (one paint is shown in Fig. 1). (only shown). Further, the color change valve 4 is connected to a cleaning thinner 9 (piping 24) and an extrusion air 10 (piping 25) for cleaning the inside of the paint pipe 3b leading from the color change valve 4 to the switching valve 6, which will be described later. has been done. Then, the switching valve in the color change valve 4 is selected by an air signal sent from the control section of the color change device (not shown), and the desired paint, thinner, or air is supplied to the paint pipe 3.
It is supplied to the coating gun 1 side via b.

In the color change valve 4 according to this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
A flow path 30 is formed that leads to. One valve of the valve body 31 is formed with a paint flow path space 37 extending from a paint port 32 to a paint discharge port 36 . Further, an on-off valve 35 that closes this paint discharge port 36 is connected to the piston rod 3.
4, and this piston rod 3
4 is adapted to move forward and backward by control air supplied from an air supply 33.

In this case, the control air is supplied to the paint outlet 3.
6 opens, while the control air is shut off to open the paint outlet 3.
6 is preferably closed.

Six valves 31 are arranged on the circumference, but if it is desired to connect more paints, cleaning thinners, etc., a plurality of such disc-shaped valve bodies can be connected in the axial direction. Therefore, even when the number of paint colors increases, the capacity of the color change valve 4 can be easily increased.

As shown in FIG. 1, a paint regulator 5 installed downstream of the color change valve 4 is supplied with control air for controlling the paint regulator via an electro-pneumatic converter (not shown), etc. The discharge rate of each paint supplied to the painting gun 1 is determined by the air used.

On the other hand, the switching valve 6 is controlled by a control signal from an air source (not shown) to connect a paint pipe 3C that guides the paint supplied from the paint pipe 3b to the painting gun 1 side and a paint pipe 3d that leads the paint etc. to the drain pit 17 side. Switch to .

The switching valve 6 according to this embodiment includes another switching valve 22.
is attached and connected to a paint pipe 3C for guiding cleaning thinner or the like guided by the paint pipe 28 to the painting gun 1 side. That is, this switching valve 22
When the N10 F F operation is performed and the valve is opened, the cleaning thinner from the paint pipe 28 is supplied to the paint gun 1, and the inside of the paint pipe 3C connecting the switching valve 22 and the paint gun 1 can be cleaned. ing.

A cleaning thinner supply source 20 and an extrusion air supply source 21 are connected to the upstream side of the paint pipe 28 via a cleaning material switching valve 23.
are connected. And this cleaning material switching valve 2
3 selects cleaning thinner and extrusion air based on a control air signal and supplies them to the painting gun 1 side via a paint pipe 28.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

First, the color change valve 4 is switched to the paint supply source side for a predetermined paint color, the switching valve 6 is switched to the painting gun 1 side, and the switching valve 22 is switched to the OFF side, and the paint is applied from the pipe 3a to the pipes 3b and 3e. Supply to gun 1. This allows paint to be applied to the workpiece, but
This painting is finished, first of all, color change valve 4
is switched to the extrusion air 10 side, and the switching valve 6 is switched to the extrusion air 10 side.
is switched to the drain pit 17 side, and the previous color paint remaining in the pipe 3b is pushed out to the drain pit 17. At the same time,
The switching valve 22 is opened, the cleaning material switching valve 23 is switched to the extrusion air side, and the previous color paint remaining in the pipe 3c is discarded from the coating gun 1.

Next, by switching the color change valve 4, Imamaro supplies the cleaning thinner 9 to the pipes 3b and 3d to clean the insides of the pipes 3b and 3d. On the other hand, inside the pipe 3C,
By switching the cleaning material switching valve 23 to the cleaning thinner side, cleaning thinner is supplied to clean the inside of the pipe 3C. The supply of the extrusion air and the cleaning thinner is repeated alternately to clean the insides of the piping 3b and the piping 3c, respectively.

After repeating the specified cleaning cycle, switch the switch knob 2.
2 is closed, and the switching valve 6 is switched to the coating gun 1 side to supply the next color into the pipes 3b and 3c. It goes without saying that such a color change is not performed when the previous color and the next color are the same color.

As described above, according to the paint supply device of this embodiment, compared to the conventional color change method in which the next color paint is supplied after cleaning one pipe with cleaning thinner and extrusion air,
There are two cleaning systems for the piping after the color change valve, and they are cleaned at the same time, making it possible to dramatically shorten the time required to change colors, thereby increasing the productivity of multi-color painting. It becomes possible.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and can be modified in various ways.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the paint supply device of the present invention has a simpler configuration than the conventional paint supply device, and can shorten the color change time.

Therefore, it becomes possible to shorten the work pitch or increase the conveyance speed, thereby improving productivity.

Moreover, according to the color change valve according to the present invention, cleaning performance is improved and the capacity of the color change valve can be easily increased.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a piping system diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially cutaway front view showing a color change valve of the same embodiment, and Fig. 3 is a piping system diagram showing a conventional paint supply device. Fourth
The figure is a sectional view of a main part of a conventional color change valve. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Painting gun, 3...Paint piping, 6...Switching valve, 9...Cleaning thinner (main cleaning material supply source), 10...
Extrusion air (main cleaning material supply source) 20...Cleaning thinner (subcleaning material supply source) 21...Extrusion air (subcleaning material supply source) 2...Paint supply source, 4...Color change valve,

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A color change valve is provided in the middle of the paint pipe connecting the paint supply source and the paint gun, and a main cleaning material supply source is connected to the color change valve, and the color change valve and the paint gun are connected to each other. By providing a switching valve in the paint piping that connects the switching valve, the paint piping after the switching valve is branched into a painting gun side and a drainage side, and the color change valve selects the paint discharged from the painting gun and selects the next color. In the paint supply device configured to clean the inside of the paint pipe with a cleaning material before supplying the paint, a sub-cleaning supply source that supplies the cleaning material to the switching valve is connected, and the color change valve and the switching valve are connected to each other. The inside of the paint pipe between the switching valve and the painting gun is cleaned with the cleaning material supplied from the main cleaning material supply source and disposed of to the drainage side, and the inside of the paint piping between the switching valve and the painting gun is cleaned with the cleaning material supplied from the sub-cleaning supply source. A paint supply device characterized in that it is cleaned and disposed of from a paint gun. 2) The color change valve is an assembly of a plurality of valve members in which a substantially disk-shaped valve body is radially partitioned, and a paint flow path is formed in the axial direction of the center of the valve body, and each A paint inlet and a paint discharge port are provided in the valve member, a paint flow path space is formed to communicate the paint inlet and the paint discharge port, and an on-off valve is provided to open and close the paint discharge port. The paint supply device according to claim 1.