Compact paint booth

• US 9,375,746 B2
• Filed: 06/04/2009
• Issued: 06/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Durr Systems GmbH
• Original Assignee: Durr Systems GmbH
• Inventors: Heldt, Robert, Grigoleit, Jan, Sougioltzis, Vassilios, Bucknell, Thomas A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kurple, Karl
• Application Number:
  US12/478,510
• Publication Number:
  US 20090304940A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,581 Days
• Field of Search: 118/314, 118/315, 118/629, 118/698, 427/421.1, 427/470, 427/471, 427/472.2, 55D/IG.46, 901/43, 239/695, 239/265.25, 198/341.08, 454/50
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 12/14 for supplying a selected one of a plurality of liquids or other fluent materials or several in selected proportions to a spray apparatus, e.g. to a single spray outlet
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 13/0431 with spray heads moved by robots or articulated arms, e.g. for applying liquid or other fluent material to 3D-surfaces B05B13/0436, B05B13/0442, B05B13/0447, B05B13/0463 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 13/0452 the conveyed articles being vehicle bodies
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 15/55 using cleaning fluids
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 16/20 Arrangements for spraying in combination with other operations, e.g. drying; Arrangements enabling a combination of spraying operations
• CPC Class Codes: B05C 11/1015 responsive to a conditions of ambient medium or target, e.g. humidity, temperature B05C11/1005 takes precedence; responsive to position or movement of the coating head relative to the target
• CPC Class Codes: B05C 13/02 for particular articles
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 5/02 travelling along a guideway
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/0084 comprising a plurality of manipulators
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/0093 co-operating with conveyor means

Abstract

Paint booths for applying paint to an object, as well as methods for degrading coating operations associated with a paint booth, are disclosed. Paint booth may generally include one or more robot rails positioned parallel to the path of the conveyor, and one or more robots positioned on at least one of the rails. Robots may be configured to simultaneously apply a first paint layer to the interior and exterior surfaces of the object. Paint booths may further include one or more additional robots positioned on at least one of the rails and configured to simultaneously apply a second paint layer to the interior and exterior surfaces of the object.

Claims

1. A paint booth for applying paint to a vehicle, the vehicle including interior and exterior surfaces, the vehicle moving through the paint booth along a conveyor, the conveyor defining a path, the paint booth comprising:

first and second robot rails positioned parallel to the path of the conveyor;

at least first and second robots positioned on at least one of the rails, the first robot positioned to apply paint to an interior surface of a portion of the vehicle, and the second robot positioned to apply paint to an exterior surface of the portion of the vehicle, the first and second robots configured to simultaneously apply respective first paint layers to the interior and exterior surfaces of the portion on a same side of the vehicle;

where said interior surface is on a side of the portion that directly overlaps the exterior surface and said portion is moveable between open and closed positions while remaining attached to the vehicle; and

at least third and fourth robots positioned on at least one of the rails, the third robot positioned to apply paint to the interior surface of the portion of the vehicle and the fourth robot positioned to apply point to the exterior surface of the portion of the vehicle, the third and fourth robots configured to simultaneously apply respective second paint layers to the interior and exterior surfaces of the portion on a same side of the vehicle where said interior surface is on a side of the portion that directly overlaps the exterior surface and said portion is moveable between open and closed positions while remaining attached to the vehicle.

2. The paint booth of claim 1, further comprising third and fourth rails, wherein the first through fourth rails are positioned in lower and upper positions on opposite sides of the conveyor.

3. The paint booth of claim 2, further comprising a fifth rail extending in said direction generally perpendicular to the conveyor and at least one robot positioned on the fifth rail.

4. The paint booth of claim 3, wherein the robot positioned on the fifth rail is configured to apply a third paint layer to the object.

5. The paint booth of claim 1, wherein said first and second robots are further configured to open and close a door on the object.

6. The paint booth of claim 1, wherein the first paint layer includes a first one of a primer coat, a base coat, and a clear coat, and the second paint layer includes a different one of the primer coat, the base coat, and the clear coat.

7. The paint booth of claim 6, further comprising a scrubber for disposing of paint application waste, the scrubber extending a predetermined length along the path defined by the conveyor, wherein the first, second, third, and fourth robots are positioned along the predetermined length.

8. The paint booth of claim 1, further comprising a controller configured to detect a malfunction in one of the robots, wherein the malfunction prevents the robot from performing an assignment associated with the one of the robots, the controller configured to identify the assignment of the one of the robots, the controller configured to select a remaining robot to perform the assignment previously assigned to the one of the robots detected to be malfunctioning based upon at least a relative priority of the assignments that the robots have.

9. A paint booth for applying paint to a vehicle, the vehicle including interior and exterior surfaces, the vehicle moving through the paint booth along a conveyor, the conveyor defining a path, the paint booth comprising:

first and second robot rails positioned parallel to the path of the conveyor;

at least first and second robots positioned on at least one of the rails, the first robot positioned to apply paint to an interior surface of the vehicle and the second robot configured to apply paint to an exterior surface of the vehicle, the first and second robots configured to simultaneously apply respective first paint layers to the interior and exterior surfaces on a same side of the vehicle;

wherein said exterior surface and interior surface are located on a portion of the vehicle, said interior surface is on a first side of the portion that directly overlaps a second side of the portion where the exterior surface is located and said portion is moveable to an open position while remaining attached to the vehicle; and

at least third and fourth robots positioned on at least one of the rails, the third robot positioned to apply paint to the interior surface of the vehicle and the fourth robot positioned to apply paint to the exterior surface of the vehicle, the third and fourth robots configured to simultaneously apply respective second paint layers to the interior and exterior surfaces on a same side of the vehicle;

wherein said interior and exterior surfaces of the vehicle directly oppose one another and face away in opposite directions from each other and so that the portion of the vehicle receives simultaneously on directly overlapping surfaces when the portion is the open position.

10. The paint booth of claim 9, further comprising third and fourth rails, wherein the first through fourth rails are positioned in lower and upper positions on opposite sides of the conveyor.

11. The paint booth of claim 9, wherein said first and second robots are further configured to open and close a door on the object.

12. The paint booth of claim 9, wherein the first paint layers include a first one of a primer coat, a base coat, and a clear coat, the second paint layers include a second one of the primer coat, the base coat, and the clear coat, and the third paint layer includes the remaining one of the primer coat, the base coat, and the clear coat.

13. The paint booth of claim 12, further comprising a scrubber for disposing of paint application waste, the scrubber extending a predetermined length along the path defined by the conveyor, wherein the first, second, third, and fourth robots are positioned along the predetermined length.

14. The paint booth of claim 9, further comprising a scrubber for disposing of paint application waste, the scrubber extending a predetermined length along the path defined by the conveyor, wherein the first, second, third, and fourth robots are positioned along the predetermined length.

15. The paint booth of claim 9, further comprising a controller configured to detect a malfunction in one of the robots, wherein the malfunction prevents the robot from performing an assignment associated with the one of the robots, the controller configured to identify the assignment of the one of the robots, the controller configured to select one of the remaining robots to perform the assignment previously assigned to the robot detected to be malfunctioning based upon at least a relative priority of the assignments that the robots have.

16. The paint booth of claim 9, further comprising a fifth robot configured to apply a third paint layer to the object.

17. The paint booth of claim 16, further comprising a fifth rail extending in said direction generally perpendicular to the conveyor, wherein the fifth robot is positioned on the fifth rail.

18. A paint booth for applying paint to a vehicle, the vehicle including interior and exterior surfaces, the vehicle moving through the paint booth along a conveyor, the conveyor defining a path, the paint booth comprising:

first and second robot rails positioned parallel to the path of the conveyor;

at least first and second robots positioned on at least one of the rails, the first robot positioned to apply paint to an interior surface of a portion of the vehicle and the second robot positioned to apply paint to an exterior surface of the vehicle that directly overlaps the interior surface of the portion of the object, the first and second robots configured to simultaneously apply respective first paint layers to the interior and exterior surfaces of the portion of the vehicle on a same side of the vehicle that directly overlap one another; and

, said interior surface is located on a first side of the portion that directly overlaps a second side of the portion where the exterior surface is located and said portion is moveable to an open position while remaining attached to the vehicle; and

at least third and fourth robots positioned on at least one of the rails, the third robot positioned to apply paint to the interior surface of the portion of the vehicle and the fourth robot positioned to apply paint to the exterior surface of the portion of the vehicle, the third and fourth robots configured to simultaneously apply respective second paint layers to the interior and exterior surfaces of the portion of the vehicle that directly overlap one another;

a controller configured to detect a malfunctioning robots, wherein a malfunction prevents the malfunctioning robot from performing an assignment associated with the one of the robots, the controller configured to identify the assignment of the robots, the controller configured to select a remaining robot to perform the assignment previously assigned to the malfunctioning robot based upon at least a relative priority of assignments that the robots have.

19. The paint booth of claim 18, wherein the relative priority is that exterior surfaces are preferred over interior surfaces.