JPS60860A - Color changing device with robot for painting - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a painting robot, and more particularly to a device for changing the color or paint to be painted.

For example, it is well known that painting robots are being introduced to the top-coating lines for automobile bodies, and in recent years, there has also been a rise in the number of robots used to paint cars on the same line. As a result, painting robots 1- are required to have a color changing function to change the coating color depending on the object to be painted. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a conventional color change arrangement in a painting robot 1, in which a first arm 3 to which a spray gun 2 is attached has an on-off valve 4, a plurality of color change valves 5, and cleaning air. A valve 6 and a cleaning thinner valve 7 are provided, and the paint color is selected by discharging the paint into the paint source 8! Sending pilot air from the air source 11 to any one of the color change valves 5 connected to the color change valves 5 through the lI control valve 9 to open the color change valve 5. It is done by In this state, the control device 1 controls the on-off valve 4.
0, the paint of the color selected as described above is sprayed from the spray gun 2. Therefore, by operating the painting robot 1 as previously taught, the object to be painted 12 is sprayed.
can be painted in the desired color.

To change the color, first, with the color change valve 5 closed and the opening/closing valve 4 open, the cleaning air valve 6 is intermittently opened and closed by pilot air from the control device 10, thereby opening and closing the spray gun 2. By sending air [13] into the flow path leading to the spray gun 2 and intermittently opening and closing the cleaning thinner valve 7 using pilot air,
Send thinner from source 14. After cleaning and removing the paint remaining in the flow path such as the hose that communicates with the spray gun 2 in this way, the color change valve 5, which is different from the previous one, is
By opening with pilot air from 10,
Select the paint color.

However, the total number of colors to be painted in the conventional color changing device is limited by the number of color changing valves 5, so in order to increase the number of colors to be painted, it is necessary to increase the number of color changing valves 5. However, since the conventional color changing device has a configuration in which the various valves mentioned above are attached to the arm 3 of the painting robot 1,
Increasing the number of color change valves 5 not only increases the load on the arm 3, but also increases the amount of pilot air and... This increases the number of hoses connected to feed water. Therefore, the operating speed of arm 3 has to be slowed down, especially when the f71
There are space constraints such as painting the inside of a car body.1
In the 5th case, it becomes difficult to carry out teaching operations while avoiding interference between valves and hoses and the body, and as the number of hoses increases, the frequency of hose damage due to Ft% return operation becomes extremely high. There is. As described above, in conventional apparatuses, there are various problems when increasing the number of coating colors, and therefore, the number of coating colors that can be applied to one painting robot is limited to about 5 to 10 colors. On the other hand, the number of colors required to paint the interior and exterior of a typical body is around 20 colors, so in order to match the required number of colors, at least two painting robots must be prepared. However, problems such as rising equipment costs and troublesome maintenance management may occur.

This invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a color changing device for a painting robot that can increase the number of coating colors without impairing teaching operability or hose handling efficiency. That is. The feature of this invention is that the first color change valve is attached to the arm of a painting robot with a spray gun attached to the tip. Wash the inside of the flow path? A first cleaning air valve for sipping and a first cleaning thinner valve are attached to the arm, and a second color changing valve is attached to a fixed part such as the base of the painting robot. 2
When changing the color by switching the color change valve, the second
A second cleaning air valve and a second cleaning thinner valve that supply cleaning air and cleaning thinner into the flow path downstream of the color change valve in the paint flow direction are fixed as above. It is located at the point attached to the section.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example in which the present invention is applied to a painting robot 16 for painting an automobile body 15, and the painting robot 16 has a first arm 17,
A second plate is attached to the base 18 so as to be rotatable about a horizontal axis.
The spray gun 20 is rotatably attached to the upper end of an arm (vertical arm) 19, and a spray gun 20 is attached to the tip of the first arm 17. An opening/closing valve 21, a plurality of first color change valves 22, a first cleaning air valve 23, a first cleaning thinner pulp 24, and a switching valve 25 are attached to the first arm 17 to which the spray gun 20 is attached. Among these valves, the on-off valve 21 controls the injection of paint and its stop, and is connected to the spray gun 20 and each of the first color change valves 22 via a hose 27. The opening/closing valve 21 is configured to be opened/closed by pilot air sent from an air source 29 via a metering device 28. Each of the first color change valves 22 is individually connected to a paint source 32 via a discharge amount regulating valve 30 and a paint hose 31 attached thereto, and is also connected to a paint source 32 via an air source 29 via the control device 28. It opens and closes using pilot air. Furthermore, the first
The cleaning air valve 23 and the first cleaning thinner valve 24 supply air and thinner to discharge paint remaining between the first color change valve 22 and the spray gun 20 when changing colors. Similarly to the Ma opening/closing valve 21 and the first color change valve 22,
The opening and closing operation is performed by pilot air sent from an air source 29 via a control device 28. The first cleaning air valve 23 is connected to the air hose 3.
3 to an air source 29, and the first cleaning thinner valve 24 is connected to a thinner M 35 via a thinner hose 34. Further, the switching valve 25 is a so-called three-way valve, and is connected to the spray gun 20 and the drain tank 3.
6 and a second color change valve 37 are connected to each other, and this switching valve 25 is operated by pilot air sent from the control device @ 28 to change the flow path from the spray gun 20 side to the drain tank 36 side. and is configured to switch between the two or vice versa.

The second color changing valve 37 connected to the switching valve 25 changes depending on the number of colors to be painted. There are twelve or more second color change valves 37, each of which is installed on a fixed base 38 attached to the base 18 of the painting robot 16. Each of the second color change valves 37 has approximately the same structure as the first color change valve 22 described above.
The discharge 119 valve 39 and the paint hose 40 are operated by pilot air sent from the control device 28.
The paint source 32 is configured to send paint supplied from the paint source 32 to the switching valve 25 via the paint source 32 .

Further, an N2 cleaning air valve 41 and a second cleaning thinner valve 42 are attached to the fixed base 38, as in the first arm 17, and the N2 cleaning air valve 41 is connected to an air hose 43. The second cleaning thinner valve 41 is connected to the thinner source 35 via a thinner hose 44, and the air valve 41 and the thinner valve 4
2 communicates with the flow path from the second color change valve 37 to the switching valve 25 so as to supply air and thinner thereto. The second cleaning air valve 41 and the second cleaning thinner valve 42 are also configured to be activated by pilot air sent from the ili'J controller 28 in the same way as the other valves.

By the way, it is preferable that the number of first color change valves 22 attached to the first arm 17 be as small as possible so that the painting robot 16 can operate smoothly and at high speed.

In addition, since the paint remaining in the hose is washed and discarded every time the color is changed, in order to reduce the amount of waste as much as possible, the paint of the color that is frequently changed is removed from the first color change valve 2.
2 to the spray gun 20.

Finally, to explain the operation of the device configured as above,
When the automobile body 15 is transported to a predetermined position by the transport trolley 45, the painting robot 16 begins to operate based on an output signal from a detector (not shown). Prior to this, any one of the color change valves 22, 37, for example, the first color change valve 22, is in an open state by pilot air from the control device 28, that is, the paint is selected, and the paint is used for painting. After the robot 16 starts operating, the opening/closing valve 21 is opened by pilot air from the anti-crime charger M2B (at the same time, the painting robot 16 operates as taught, and the car body 15 is painted in a preselected color. Ru.

After the painting is completed as described above, the color is changed.

First, the painting robot 16 returns to its original position, and
When the spray gun 20 is set downward in a booth (not shown), for example, as shown in the time chart of FIG. It becomes connected.

In this state, the first cleaning air valve 23 and the first cleaning thinner valve 24 alternately open and close several times, and as a result, the remaining air remains in the flow path from the first color change valve 22 to the spray gun 20. The paint is drained away and cleaned. Further, the second cleaning air valve 41 and the second cleaning thinner pulp 42 alternately open and close several times in the same way as in the above case, and as a result, the flow from the second color change valve 37 to the switching valve 25 is Paint remaining inside the channel is drained and removed and cleaned. In that case, the cleaning waste liquid is sent to the waste liquid tank 36. Note that the number of repetitions of the above-mentioned spraying of the cleaning air and cleaning thinner and the respective durations may be determined based on the properties of the paint, the length of the hose, the cleaning performance of the color change valve, etc. - For example, In the case of cleaning the flow path from the first color change valve 22 to the spray gun 20, use 2 to 3 times of cleaning air and cleaning thinner.
It is sufficient to spray the cleaning air twice for a total time of about 10 seconds, and in the case of cleaning the flow path from the second color change valve 37 to the switching valve 25, the cleaning air is sprayed 3 to 5 times for a total of about 20 seconds for a total time of B1. You can also spray cleaning thinner. After cleaning as described above, the paint of the next color to be applied is sprayed. That is, in the case of paint that is applied via the first color change valve 22, the predetermined first color change spray gun 22 and opening/closing valve 21 are opened for a short time, and the paint is instantly removed from the spray gun 20. Inject. Further, in the case of paint to be applied via the second color change valve 37, the changeover valve 25 is set to the open state, that is, it is switched to the spray gun 20 side, and in that state, the second color change valve 37 and By opening the on-off valve 21 for a short period of time, paint is instantaneously sprayed from the spray gun 20.

The above-mentioned II@ jump of each valve is automatically performed by supplying pilot air to each valve from the control device 28. After the color change is completed as described above, when the next car body 15 is transported to a predetermined position, the painting robot 16 starts operating and paints it.

However, in the above color changing device, the total number of painted colors is arm 1.
Since there are no restrictions on the number of color change valves that can be installed on the robot, a single painting robot can handle an unprecedented number of colors.
Since the number of valves attached to the arm can be reduced, teaching operability is improved, and the number of hoses to be routed as the arm moves is reduced, making it easier to route the hoses and preventing damage to the hoses. The frequency can be reduced.

As is clear from the above description, according to the color changing device of the present invention, the first color changing valve is attached to the arm of the painting robot with a spray gun attached to the tip, and the first color changing valve A first cleaning air valve and a first cleaning thinner valve for cleaning the inside of the flow path from the color change valve to the spray gun are attached to the arm, and a base of the painting robot. At the same time, when changing the color by switching the second color change valve, the second color change valve is attached to the fixed part of Since the second cleaning air valve and the second cleaning thinner valve, which supply cleaning air and cleaning thinner respectively, are attached to the fixed part, the total number of color change valves, that is, the total number of paint colors, is The number of color change valves that can be installed on the arm of the painting robot is not limited, and the total number of paint colors can be set as required. In addition, even when increasing the number of paint colors, by increasing the number of color change valves attached to the fixed part, the number of valves attached to the bottom of the arm can be reduced, which simplifies the overall configuration of the arm and reduces the amount of N. Therefore, even when teaching is to be performed for painting an area with limited space, such as an inner panel of an automobile body, the operation becomes simple and the operation speed of the painting robot can be increased. With Zaraniko's invention, by reducing the number of valves attached to the arm, the number of hoses to be routed as the arm moves is reduced, making it easier to route the hoses and significantly reducing the frequency of hose damage. It can be lowered.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a conventional color changing device, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a time chart showing the operation timing of each valve. 16... Painting robot, 17... First arm,
18... Base, 20... Spray gun, 22...
・First color change valve, 23--First cleaning air valve, 24-First cleaning air valve, 3
2...Painting! source, 37...second color change valve,
38...Fixing stand, 41...Second cleaning air valve. 42...Second cleaning thinner valve. Applicant Toyota Motor Corporation Representative Patent Attorney Yutaka 1) Hisashi Take (and 1 other person)

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a painting robot that supplies paint to a spray gun attached to the tip of an arm via a color change valve, and also performs painting by moving the spray gun together with the arm, the arm is supplied with a predetermined paint source on one side. and a first color change valve that supplies each of cleaning air and cleaning thinner to a flow path from the first color change valve to the spray gun. A cleaning air valve and a first cleaning thinner valve are attached to a fixed part such as a base of the painting robot, and the painting robot is connected to a predetermined painting FI source on one side and to the spray gun on the other side. a second color change valve is attached, and a second cleaning air valve that supplies each of cleaning air and cleaning thinner from the second color change valve to the downstream flow path in the paint flow direction; A color changing device for a painting robot, characterized in that a second cleaning thinner valve is attached to the fixed part.