Spraying apparatus
First Claim
1. A spraying apparatus comprising:
- a carriage movable in a Y-axis direction;
a rising and lowering platform supported on said carriage for movement relative thereto in a Z-axis direction;
a manipulator which has a plurality of articulations and is supported on said platform;
a spraying nozzle member disposed on a terminal side articulation of said manipulator;
means for supplying material to be sprayed to said nozzle member, including a first piping member disposed in an interior of one of said articulations, and an external second piping member communicating with said first piping member;
a sensor for detecting a distance between said nozzle member and a body on which the material should be sprayed, said sensor being supported on one of said nozzle member and said manipulator; and
control means for controlling a position of said nozzle member in response to a detection signal from said sensor so that said manipulator is positioned in the Y-axis direction and said nozzle is moved in an X-axis direction to carry out spraying while maintaining the nozzle member at a substantially constant distance from a surface of said body.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A spraying apparatus is disclosed, in which a manipulator consisting of a plurality of articulations (linear movement articulations and rotational movement articulations) is mounted on a carriage and a spraying nozzle member is mounted on the last stage rotational movement articulation, which are so constructed that material to be sprayed is supplied to this spraying nozzle member through a hose, and a piping path is formed in the interior of at least rotational movement articulations, for which it is feared that the hose becomes tangled therewith or twisted. A sensor is mounted on either the nozzle or the manipulator to detect the distance between the nozzle and the surface being sprayed. A controller responds to the signals produced by the sensor to maintain the nozzle at a substantially constant distance from the surface during spraying.
69 Citations
6 Claims
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1. A spraying apparatus comprising:
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a carriage movable in a Y-axis direction; a rising and lowering platform supported on said carriage for movement relative thereto in a Z-axis direction; a manipulator which has a plurality of articulations and is supported on said platform; a spraying nozzle member disposed on a terminal side articulation of said manipulator; means for supplying material to be sprayed to said nozzle member, including a first piping member disposed in an interior of one of said articulations, and an external second piping member communicating with said first piping member; a sensor for detecting a distance between said nozzle member and a body on which the material should be sprayed, said sensor being supported on one of said nozzle member and said manipulator; and control means for controlling a position of said nozzle member in response to a detection signal from said sensor so that said manipulator is positioned in the Y-axis direction and said nozzle is moved in an X-axis direction to carry out spraying while maintaining the nozzle member at a substantially constant distance from a surface of said body. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A spraying apparatus, comprising:
- a carriage supported for movement in a first direction;
a platform supported on said carriage for movement relative thereto in a second direction approximately perpendicular to said first direction;
a spraying nozzle member;
manipulator means having a first end supported on said platform and having said nozzle member supported at a second end thereof;
said manipulator means including a plurality of manipulator elements and including a plurality of articulation joints which each movably couple a respective adjacent pair of said manipulator elements, one of said articulation joints including a first piping member and supporting one of said manipulation elements for pivotal movement about said first piping member relative to another thereof;
means for supplying a material to be sprayed to said nozzle member, including an opening through said first piping member and including a second piping member having therethrough an opening which is in communication with said opening through said first piping member;
sensor means supported on one of said nozzle member and said manipulator means for detecting a distance between said nozzle member and a surface to be sprayed; and
control means responsive to said sensor means during a spraying operation for controlling movement of said platform relative to said carriage and movement of said manipulator means so as to maintain said nozzle member at a substantially constant distance from the surface to be sprayed. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
- a carriage supported for movement in a first direction;
Specification