Coating booth, in particular a powder coating booth with a cleaning device, and method for cleaning the same

• US 20020050245A1
• Filed: 10/30/2001
• Published: 05/02/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nordson Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nordson Corporation
• Inventors: Kramer, Matthias, Kramer, Erich
• Granted Patent: US 6,616,764 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 118/70
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 14/41 by cleaning the walls of the booth
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 14/48 specially adapted for particulate material
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 16/405 Partly or totally cylindrical walls; Round floors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 70/10 Greenhouse gas [GHG] capture, material saving, heat recovery or other energy efficient measures, e.g. motor control, characterised by manufacturing processes, e.g. for rolling metal or metal working

Abstract

A method for cleaning an interior of a coating booth is proposed in which blast air is used as at least one of the means for cleaning. For primary cleaning of the coating booth, blast air and corresponding suction operations are used, whereby blowing and suction can be carried out simultaneously, cyclically or sequentially. The invention also relates to a coating booth. The floor and/or the ceiling of the coating booth are formed by a separate floor part and/or a ceiling part which are movable relative to the peripheral wall. The floor part and/or the ceiling part include a cleaning device which can optionally be integrated with the respective floor part and/or ceiling part. The floor part and/or the ceiling part hence operate as a cleaning device for the coating booth. The cleaning device can be displaced in the interior space of the coating booth in a longitudinal direction.

Claims

1. A method for cleaning an interior space of a coating booth, in particular a powder coating booth, for a powder change of identical or similar color, comprising the steps of:

blasting air against an interior surface of the interior space of the booth to be cleaned to thereby detach adhering powder particles; and

subsequently conducting blast air and powder particles towards a recovery device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the conducting step includes suctioning off blast air with the powder particles.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein at least one of the blasting step and suctioning-off step is performed cyclically.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the blast air is introduced intermittently.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the blast air is introduced pulse-wise.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the blast air is introduced under a controllable high pressure.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the blasting step is discontinued during a coating operation while blast air is withdrawn from the interior space of the coating booth through at least one of a floor of the coating booth and a side outlet extending in a longitudinal direction of the coating booth.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the blasting step and the drawing step are carried out at different locations.

8. A method for cleaning an interior space of a coating booth, in particular a powder coating booth, for primary cleaning, comprising the steps of:

blasting air against an interior surface of the interior space of the booth to be cleaned to thereby detach adhering powder particles;

drawing blast air with powder particles out from the interior space; and

conducting the blast air and powder particles towards a device selected from the group consisting of recovery device, cyclone device, and secondary filter.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the drawing step follows the blasting step.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the blasting step follows the drawing step.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the blasting step and the drawing step are carried out simultaneously.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the blasting step and drawing step is performed cyclically.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the blast air is introduced intermittently.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the blast air is introduced pulse-wise.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein the blast air is introduced under a controllable high pressure.

17. The method of claim 8, wherein the blasting step is discontinued during a coating operation while blast air is withdrawn from the interior space of the coating booth through at least one of a floor of the coating booth and a side outlet extending in a longitudinal direction of the coating booth.

19. The coating booth of claim 18, wherein the cleaning device is integrated in the respective floor section or ceiling section.

20. The coating booth of claim 18, wherein the floor section or ceiling section are moveable in the longitudinal direction for cleaning the interior space of the booth.

21. The coating booth of claim 18, wherein the cleaning device includes a blowing device and a suction device.

22. The coating booth of claim 21, wherein the blowing device and the suction device are spaced apart in the longitudinal direction of the coating booth.

23. The coating booth of claim 21, wherein on the cleaning device, the blowing device is disposed forward and the suction device is disposed rearward when the cleaning device moves in a direction for cleaning the interior space of the coating booth.

24. The coating booth of claim 21, wherein the blowing device and the suction device are formed as a nozzle plate, with the nozzle plate of the suction device operating in a region of the peripheral wall proximate to a wall impact region of blast air emerging from the blowing device.

25. The coating booth of claim 21, wherein the blowing device includes a plurality of nozzles which are distributed along a periphery of the blowing device.

26. The coating booth of claim 21, wherein the suction device includes a plurality of suction openings which are distributed along a periphery of the suction device.

27. The coating booth of claim 18, wherein the floor section and/or ceiling section includes a sealing element.

28. The coating booth of claim 18, wherein at least one of the floor section and the ceiling section comprises at least two segments which are movable in the longitudinal direction and are moved towards one another in a transverse direction for cleaning the interior space of the coating booth.

29. The coating booth of claim 28, wherein the ceiling section includes a blowing device in the form of a blowing ring adapted to the cross-section of the coating booth, with the blowing ring facing the interior space when the segments of the ceiling section are moved towards one another for cleaning the interior space.

30. The coating booth of claim 29, further including an actuating device that moves the segments of the ceiling section towards one another for cleaning the interior space and is capable of lifting the segments from an upper edge of the peripheral wall.

31. The coating booth of claim 30, wherein the actuating device is implemented as an articulated lever mechanism.

32. The coating booth according to claim 18, wherein at least one of the floor section and the ceiling section comprises at least two segments which are moved apart from each other in a transverse direction during a coating operation so as to bound a pass-through slot.

33. The coating booth of claim 21, further comprising a secondary device connected to the suction device and selected from the group consisting of a cyclone device, a secondary filter device and a recovery device, wherein the connection between the suction device and the secondary device includes a controllable flap.

34. The coating booth of claim 18, wherein the ceiling section includes at least one ceiling cleaning device having nozzles for discharging compressed air to dislodge powder adhering to the peripheral wall, and at least one suction device disposed in the ceiling cleaning device for withdrawing the dislodged powder, wherein the at least one ceiling cleaning device is adapted to clean the space between the respective ceiling and floor sections.

35. The coating booth of claim 34, wherein the at least one ceiling cleaning device includes one or more suction hose connections for connecting the suction device.

36. The coating booth of claim 34, further including a powder recovery device with a secondary filter, wherein the suction device is connected to the secondary filter.

37. The coating booth of claim 36, wherein the connection between the suction device and the secondary filter includes a controllable flap.

38. The coating booth of claim 34, wherein the at least one ceiling cleaning device is disposed on a telescopic rail for movement between the respective ceiling and floor sections.

39. The coating booth according to claim 34, wherein the at least one ceiling cleaning device includes two cleaning units, with each of the cleaning units cleaning a half space extending in the longitudinal direction between the respective ceiling and floor sections.

40. The coating booth according to claim 39, wherein each of the cleaning units is disposed on an independent telescopic rail for movement between the respective ceiling and floor sections.

41. The coating booth of claim 21, wherein on the cleaning device, the blowing device is disposed rearward and the suction device is disposed forward when the cleaning device moves in a direction for cleaning the interior space of the coating booth.

18. A coating booth, in particular a powder coating booth, comprising:

a peripheral wall extending in a longitudinal direction;

a floor and a ceiling cooperating with the peripheral wall to bound an interior space of the coating booth;

a cleaning device movable in the longitudinal direction and adapted to clean the interior space of the coating booth;

wherein at least one of the floor and ceiling is formed as a floor section or ceiling section, respectively, separate from the peripheral wall and also includes the cleaning device.