Ceramic tile back sizing device

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of architectural ceramics, in particular to a ceramic tile back sizing device. Comprising a conveying mechanism, a belt type protection mechanism, a slurry spraying mechanism and a slurry scraping mechanism. The belt type protection mechanism is located above the conveying mechanism and comprises a belt and a driving assembly for driving the belt to rotate, and the moving direction of a lower belt of the belt is the same as the conveying direction of the conveying mechanism; the lower belt surface of the belt is attached to the front surface of the ceramic tile; the guniting mechanism is located below the lower belt of the belt type protection mechanism; the slurry spraying mechanism sprays slurry from bottom to top, so that in the conveying process of the ceramic tiles with the upward front faces, the back faces of the ceramic tiles can be subjected to slurry coating, and the problem that in the prior art, the ceramic tiles need to be turned over in the slurry coating process is solved; in addition, the front face of the ceramic tile is attached to the lower belt face of the belt type protection mechanism, and therefore the situation that when the slurry spraying mechanism works, sprayed slurry falls back and falls to the front face of the ceramic tile, and the front face of the ceramic tile is polluted is effectively prevented.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of building ceramics technology, and in particular to a device for applying slurry to the back of ceramic bricks. Background Technology

[0002] To reduce production costs, in the production process of ceramic tiles, the surface layer of the ceramic tile blank, which bears the decorative effect, often uses ceramic powder made from better raw materials, while the bottom layer generally uses ceramic powder made from inexpensive raw materials. Ceramic tiles produced using inexpensive raw materials have lower whiteness, roughness, and lower strength on the back. For details on the reasons, please refer to the background art of the applicant's application filed on April 21, 2025, application number 2025104976393, entitled "Method for Strengthening, Toughening, and Whitening the Base of Ceramic Tiles and a Slurry Lamination System for the Bottom of the Tile," which discusses the causes in detail.

[0003] The darker and rougher back of ceramic tiles greatly affects the perceived quality of the product. Ordinary consumers may perceive tiles with a darker back as being of poor quality, thus impacting sales.

[0004] To address this issue, the applicant proposed in the aforementioned application to apply a ceramic tile whitening slurry to the bottom of the ceramic tile blank. On the one hand, this effectively improves the whiteness of the back of the ceramic tile, achieving the purpose of whitening and enhancing the product's aesthetics. On the other hand, after the ceramic tile whitening slurry is applied to the bottom, it can penetrate into the pores on the back of the ceramic tile blank, thus significantly improving the bottom roughness, enhancing the aesthetics of the back of the ceramic tile, and increasing the product's market appeal.

[0005] The ceramic tile blank bottom coating system of this application includes a first ceramic tile blank turning device, a coating device, and a second ceramic tile blank turning device connected sequentially by a conveyor line. The coating device sprays the aforementioned ceramic tile blank bottom whitening coating. Although this coating system can effectively spray the whitening coating coating onto the back of the ceramic tile blank in actual production, it also has the following problems:

[0006] 1. The cost of this slurry-spraying system is relatively high because it uses two turning devices (i.e., the first ceramic tile turning device and the second ceramic tile turning device) to turn and restore the ceramic tile.

[0007] 2. Two billet turning devices are used, which occupy a large area. In actual production, each billet turning device occupies about 15 square meters of space, so the cost of the production site is high.

[0008] 3. The process of turning over, applying slurry, and then turning over again to restore the original state results in a slower production speed.

[0009] Therefore, it is evident that the overall cost of using the method of flipping the ceramic tile over and then applying grout to the bottom surface is relatively high.

[0010] Existing technologies also employ other methods that do not require flipping the ceramic tile, such as the Chinese utility model patent with patent number 202123156801.1, entitled "Equipment for Applying Base Grout to Ceramic Tiles." This patent uses a first grouting roller or similar roller to apply grout directly without flipping the tile. However, it is primarily used for applying alumina grout, aiming to prevent the tile body from sticking to the rollers inside the tunnel kiln. This solution is not suitable for situations requiring uniform grout application to the back of the ceramic tile. This is because, to improve adhesion during installation, the back of ceramic tiles typically has textured surfaces, creating an uneven bottom. The grouting roller can only apply grout to the raised areas; the recessed areas cannot be grouted because the roller cannot reach them. However, since the recessed areas are not in contact with the rollers inside the tunnel kiln, this is not a problem. Therefore, existing technologies cannot solve the problem of completely applying grout to the back of ceramic tiles.

[0011] Therefore, there is a need to develop a new device to solve the problems of high cost, large footprint, slow production speed, or inability to fully coat the back of ceramic tiles with slurry in current slurry systems. Summary of the Invention

[0012] This invention provides a ceramic tile back slurry application device to address the problems of high cost, large footprint, slow production speed, or inability to completely apply slurry to the back of ceramic tiles in existing slurry application systems.

[0013] To achieve the above functions, the technical solution provided by this invention is as follows:

[0014] A ceramic tile backing slurry application device, comprising: A conveying mechanism, used to convey ceramic tiles, is provided in units of one or more. A belt-type protective mechanism is located above the conveying mechanism. The belt-type protective mechanism includes a belt and a drive assembly for driving the belt to rotate. The movement direction of the lower belt is the same as the conveying direction of the conveying mechanism. The lower surface of the belt is in contact with the front surface of the ceramic tile. A shotcrete mechanism is located below the lower belt of the belt-type protective mechanism; A scraping mechanism, located above the upper belt of the conveyor belt, is used to remove slurry from the upper surface of the upper belt.

[0015] Preferably, the shotcrete mechanism includes one or more rows of spray gun assemblies, and the spray gun assembly includes one or more nozzles.

[0016] Preferably, there are two conveying mechanisms, and the shotcrete mechanism is located between the two conveying mechanisms.

[0017] Preferably, the scraping mechanism includes one or more scraper blades, which are in contact with the upper surface of the upper belt.

[0018] Preferably, the conveying mechanism is a roller conveyor belt, and the spray gun assembly is located between two adjacent rollers.

[0019] Preferably, the scraper is mounted on a scraper seat, and the scraper seat is mounted on the belt-type protective mechanism via a guide post, and the scraper seat can move along the guide post.

[0020] Preferably, a plurality of O-rings are evenly fitted onto the roller.

[0021] Preferably, the drive assembly includes a drive roller and a redirecting roller, the belt is sleeved on the drive roller and the redirecting roller, and the belt protection mechanism further includes a flat support plate, the flat support plate is located between the upper belt and the lower belt, and the upper surface of the flat support plate is in contact with the lower surface of the upper belt.

[0022] Preferably, a first grout receiving groove is provided below the shotcrete mechanism.

[0023] Preferably, a second slurry receiving groove is provided at the slurry discharge position of the scraping mechanism, and the bottom of the second slurry receiving groove guides the slurry to the first slurry receiving groove through a connecting pipe.

[0024] The beneficial effects of this invention are as follows:

[0025] 1. By setting up a spraying mechanism, grout can be sprayed from bottom to top, so that the ceramic tile with the front facing up can be grouted on the back during the conveying process, which solves the problem in the existing technology that the tile needs to be turned over before grouting or that the recessed part on the back cannot be grouted.

[0026] 2. By setting up a belt-type protective mechanism, it is ensured that when the ceramic tile enters the slurry application area, the front of the ceramic tile is in contact with the lower surface of the belt-type protective mechanism. This effectively prevents the slurry sprayed by the spraying mechanism from falling onto the front of the ceramic tile, causing contamination and affecting the aesthetic appearance of the product.

[0027] 3. To improve the service life of the spray nozzle, the spray mechanism is always in operation after startup. Therefore, the slurry will be sprayed directly onto the lower surface of the belt-type protective mechanism at the interval between two adjacent ceramic tiles. By setting up a slurry scraping mechanism, the slurry on the belt can be scraped clean to prevent it from contaminating the front of the ceramic tiles. Attached Figure Description

[0028] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 2 for Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the decomposition process;

[0030] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the conveying mechanism;

[0031] Figure 4 This is an exploded view of the belt-type protective mechanism;

[0032] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the shotcrete mechanism;

[0033] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the scraping mechanism. Detailed Implementation

[0034] The following is in conjunction with the appendix Figure 1 To be continued Figure 6 The present invention will be further described as follows:

[0035] like Figure 1 and Figure 2 The ceramic tile back grouting device shown includes a conveying mechanism 1, a belt-type protective mechanism 2, a spraying mechanism 3, and a scraping mechanism 4. The belt-type protective mechanism 2 is located above the conveying mechanism 1, the spraying mechanism 3 is located below the belt-type protective mechanism 2, and the scraping mechanism 4 is located above the belt-type protective mechanism 2.

[0036] The conveying mechanism 1 is mainly used to convey ceramic bricks 100. There can be one or more of them. The ceramic bricks 100 referred to in this article are brick blanks that have been pressed but have not yet undergone sintering or other processes. Figure 2 As shown in the figure, the arrows indicate the conveying direction of the ceramic tile 100. In this embodiment, the conveying mechanism 1 uses a roller conveyor belt. Its structure is as follows: Figure 3 As shown, the system includes multiple rollers 11 arranged along the conveying direction. Both ends of the rollers 11 are rotatably mounted on the frame 12 via bearings. A pulley 111 is provided at one end of the roller 11, and the pulley 111 is connected by a synchronous belt 13, which is driven by a first motor 14, thereby causing the rollers 11 to rotate synchronously and driving the ceramic bricks 100 placed on the rollers 11 to move in one direction.

[0037] like Figure 2 As shown, the belt-type protective mechanism 2 includes a belt 21 and a drive assembly 22 for rotating the belt 21. Figure 4As shown, the drive assembly 22 includes a second motor 221, a drive roller 222, and a redirecting roller 223. The two ends of the drive roller 222 and the redirecting roller 223 are rotatably mounted on the mounting frame 23 via bearings. The drive roller 222 is connected to and driven by the second motor 221. The second motor 221 is fixedly mounted on the mounting frame 23. The belt 21 is fitted onto the drive roller 222 and the redirecting roller 223 and is driven to rotate by the drive roller 222. During operation, the lower belt 211 of the belt 21 moves synchronously with the movement of the ceramic brick 100 driven by the roller 11; that is, the direction of movement of the lower belt 211 is the same as the conveying direction of the conveying mechanism 1. Figure 1 The direction indicated by the middle arrow is the same, and the movement speed of the lower belt 211 is consistent with the movement speed of the ceramic tile. The width of the belt 21 of the belt-type protective mechanism 2 is greater than the width of the ceramic tile 100, thereby ensuring that the lower surface of the belt 21 can completely cover the front surface of the ceramic tile 100. In this embodiment, the first motor 14 and the second motor 221 are geared motors.

[0038] When the ceramic tile 100 is moved by the roller 11 to the area below the belt-type protective mechanism 2, the lower surface of the belt 21 (i.e., the lower surface of the lower belt 211) comes into contact with the front surface of the ceramic tile 100, effectively protecting the front surface of the ceramic tile 100 and preventing it from being splashed with slurry. It should be noted that although the slurry used on the back of the ceramic tile during spraying can whiten it, for cost reasons, the whiteness of the back surface is still lower than that of the front surface even after the slurry is applied. Therefore, if the front surface of the ceramic tile is not protected, the slurry splashed onto it during spraying will contaminate the front surface, thus affecting the quality of the front surface of the final fired product.

[0039] like Figure 5 As shown, the spraying mechanism 3 includes one or more rows of spray gun assemblies 31. Each spray gun assembly 31 includes a fixed rod 312 and one or more nozzles 311, with the nozzles 311 fixedly mounted on the fixed rod 312. In this embodiment, the spraying mechanism 3 includes four rows of spray gun assemblies 31, each including four or five nozzles 311. Each nozzle 311 is connected to a whitening slurry tank via a slurry supply pipe. The slurry supply pipe is equipped with a vacuum pump, and the vacuum pump's inlet is equipped with a throttle valve or a vacuum regulating valve. The suction force of the vacuum pump is adjusted by controlling the throttle valve or the vacuum regulating valve. Since the slurry supply pipe, slurry tank, and vacuum pump are common devices, they are not shown in the figure; and the connection method of the three is also a conventional technical means in the building ceramics industry, so it will not be described in detail here.

[0040] To improve the uniformity of spraying, when the spraying mechanism 3 includes multiple rows of spray gun assemblies 31, the nozzles 311 of two adjacent spray gun assemblies 31 are staggered to ensure that the nozzles 311 are evenly arranged.

[0041] In this embodiment, the conveying mechanism 1 is a roller conveyor belt, and there is only one of them. Therefore, to prevent the whitening slurry sprayed from the nozzle 311 from being blocked by the roller 11, each spray gun assembly 31 is placed in the gap between two adjacent rollers 11 during installation. When the conveying mechanism 1 uses multiple roller conveyor belts, the spray gun assembly 31 can be arranged in the manner described in this embodiment; of course, on the premise of ensuring that the conveying of the ceramic tile 100 is not affected, the spraying mechanism 3 can also be arranged between two adjacent conveying mechanisms 1.

[0042] To prevent some of the slurry sprayed by the spraying mechanism 3 from dripping into the workshop, causing slurry waste and pollution, in this embodiment, a first slurry receiving trough 5 is provided below the spraying mechanism 3, and the first slurry receiving trough 5 is installed on the frame 12. A slurry discharge port 51 is provided at the bottom of the first slurry receiving trough 5, and the slurry discharge port 51 returns the slurry to the slurry pool through a pipe (not shown in the figure).

[0043] like Figure 6 As shown, the scraping mechanism 4 includes one or more scraper blades 41. After installation, the scraper blades 41 contact the upper surface of the upper belt 212 of the belt-type protective mechanism 2. In this embodiment, the scraping mechanism 4 includes three scraper blades 41, which are arranged in parallel. The scraper blades 41 are obliquely arranged, that is, the angle θ between the axis of the scraper blade 41 and the direction of movement of the upper belt 212 is less than 90º. The scraper blades 41 are mounted on scraper blade seats 42. Guide holes are provided at both ends of the scraper blade seats 42. The scraper blade seats 42 are mounted on guide posts 43 through the guide holes and can move up and down along the guide posts 43. The guide posts 43 are fixedly connected to the mounting bracket 23 through the base 44.

[0044] To ensure the flatness of the upper surface of the belt-type protective mechanism 2, in this embodiment, the belt-type protective mechanism 2 further includes a flat support plate 24. The flat support plate 24 is located between the upper belt 212 and the lower belt 211, and the upper surface of the flat support plate 24 is parallel to the lower surface of the upper belt 212 with a very small gap, generally less than 3mm. Alternatively, the two surfaces can be attached together as described above.

[0045] In this embodiment, the scraper 41 is made of rubber and, under the weight of the scraper seat 42, adheres tightly to the upper belt surface of the belt-type protective mechanism 2. When the upper belt surface moves, the scraper 41 can scrape off the slurry splashed or sprayed onto the belt surface by the spraying mechanism 3, and finally collect it onto the belt at one end of the scraper 41 and discharge it. For ease of description, we refer to the location where the slurry is discharged from the belt 21 as the slurry discharge position. To facilitate slurry collection, in this embodiment, a second slurry receiving groove 6 is provided at the slurry discharge position, and the bottom of the second slurry receiving groove 6 guides the slurry to the first slurry receiving groove 5 through a connecting pipe. Figure 2 As shown, in this embodiment, the first slurry receiving tank 5 and the second slurry receiving tank 6 are made of stainless steel, with an open upper part and a narrow lower part, forming a bucket shape.

[0046] After the ceramic tile 100 is coated with slurry by the spraying mechanism 3, the slurry is easily carried away by the roller 31 during the conveying process. To solve this problem, in this embodiment, as follows... Figure 3 As shown, multiple O-rings 112 are evenly fitted onto the roller 11. By setting the O-rings 112, the back of the ceramic tile 100 only contacts the O-rings 112 during the conveying process, thereby greatly reducing the contact area of ​​the back of the ceramic tile 100 during the conveying process after slurry application, which is beneficial for protecting the slurry surface.

[0047] The working process of the ceramic tile back slurry application device of the present invention is as follows:

[0048] When in operation, the spraying mechanism 3 is turned on, and the whitening slurry is sprayed out from the nozzle 311. When the ceramic tile 100 with its face facing up is conveyed by the conveying mechanism 1 to the bottom of the belt protection mechanism 2, the lower belt surface of the belt protection mechanism 2 is attached to the front of the ceramic tile 100. When the ceramic tile 100 is conveyed to the nozzle 311 of the spraying mechanism 3, the back of the ceramic tile is sprayed with whitening slurry, while the front of the ceramic tile is protected by the lower belt and will not be dripped or sprayed with whitening slurry. When the lower belt 211, which was originally located at the bottom, rotates to the top and becomes the upper belt 212, the scraper 41 can scrape off the slurry adhering to the belt 21 when the upper belt 212 passes through the scraper mechanism 4, keeping the working surface of the belt 21 clean.

[0049] The embodiments described above are merely preferred examples of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Therefore, all equivalent changes or modifications made to the structure, features and principles described in the claims of the present invention should be included within the scope of the present invention patent application.

Claims

1. A device for applying slurry to the back of ceramic tiles, characterized in that: include: A conveying mechanism, used to convey ceramic tiles, is provided in units of one or more. A belt-type protective mechanism is located above the conveying mechanism. The belt-type protective mechanism includes a belt and a drive assembly for driving the belt to rotate. The movement direction of the lower belt is the same as the conveying direction of the conveying mechanism. The lower surface of the belt is in contact with the front surface of the ceramic tile. A shotcrete mechanism is located below the lower belt of the belt-type protective mechanism; A scraping mechanism, located above the upper belt of the conveyor belt, is used to remove slurry from the upper surface of the upper belt.

2. The ceramic tile back slurry application device as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The shotcrete mechanism includes one or more rows of spray gun assemblies, and each spray gun assembly includes one or more nozzles.

3. The ceramic tile back slurry application device as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The number of conveying mechanisms is two, and the shotcrete mechanism is located between the two conveying mechanisms.

4. The ceramic tile back slurry application device as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The scraping mechanism includes one or more scraper blades, which are in contact with the upper surface of the upper belt.

5. The ceramic tile back slurry application device as described in claim 2, characterized in that: The conveying mechanism is a roller conveyor belt, and the spray gun assembly is located between two adjacent rollers.

6. The ceramic tile back slurry application device as described in claim 4, characterized in that: The scraper is mounted on the scraper seat, and the scraper seat is mounted on the belt protection mechanism via a guide post. The scraper seat can move along the guide post.

7. The ceramic tile back slurry application device as described in claim 5, characterized in that: The roller is uniformly fitted with multiple O-rings.

8. The ceramic tile back slurry application device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The drive assembly includes a drive roller and a redirecting roller, the belt is sleeved on the drive roller and the redirecting roller, and the belt protection mechanism also includes a flat support plate, the flat support plate is located between the upper belt and the lower belt, and the upper surface of the flat support plate is in contact with the lower surface of the upper belt.

9. The ceramic tile back slurry application device as described in claim 8, characterized in that: A first grout receiving groove is provided below the shotcrete mechanism.

10. The ceramic tile back slurry application device as described in claim 8, characterized in that: A second slurry receiving groove is provided at the slurry discharge position of the scraping mechanism, and the bottom of the second slurry receiving groove guides the slurry to the first slurry receiving groove through a connecting pipe.

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