Robot cover

Abstract

A robot cover made of a film of polyvinyl alcohol in which the film is dimensioned to fit around at least a portion of an industrial robot. A fastening mechanism, such as a snap, attaches the film around that portion of the robot. After use and when presumably covered with a layer of paint, the robot cover is placed in warm water which dissolves the polyvinyl alcohol and separates the paint for subsequent disposal.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]I. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates to covers for industrial robots.[0003]II. Description of Related Art[0004]Many industries, such as the automotive industry, utilize industrial robots to paint the manufactured components, such as automotive vehicles. Such robots enable each automotive vehicle to be painted in a consistent fashion since the robot may be programmed to perform the same painting pattern for each vehicle.[0005]In the automotive industry, automotive manufacturers demand that the paint job for the vehicle be defect free. Any defects in the paint job for the automotive vehicle often require that the vehicle be repainted, which is not only time consuming but also expensive to perform.[0006]The previously known robots utilized by the automotive industry to paint automotive vehicles utilized paint spray guns to spray the paint onto the vehicle. As a practical matter, not all of the paint adheres to the vehicle but, in...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]Over time, the film becomes covered with paint from blow back or bounce back during the paint spray operations. When this occurs, the cover is removed from the robot and replaced by a new cover also constructed of polyvinyl alcohol film. Such removal of the soiled cover and replacement with a new cover may be rapidly accomplished so that downtime for the robot from its paint spray operation is minimal.

[0016]Thereafter, the paint, as well as any fasteners that might be attached to the robot cover, may be simply strained from the resulting mixture and the dissolved polyvinyl alcohol and water mixture discarded in any conventional lawful fashion. Since polyvinyl alcohol is not a highly toxic substance, it may be relatively inexpensively disposed of.

Problems solved by technology

Any defects in the paint job for the automotive vehicle often require that the vehicle be repainted, which is not only time consuming but also expensive to perform.

Unless properly addressed, the paint accumulation on the robot might otherwise break free of the robot and cause a defect on the vehicle.

After prolonged use, these robot covers become laden with paint and, when that happens, the cover is removed and discarded.

More specifically, such robot covers are typically discarded into a landfill when they can no longer be cleaned and reused.

The rates charged by landfills, however, have increased in recent years thus increasing the overall cost of disposal of the robot covers.

Furthermore, the disposal of robot covers into landfills is environmentally unfriendly since unwanted chemicals may leach into the soil at the landfill site.

Washing the covers, however, is expensive in time, equipment, and labor costs.

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