Automatic system for the treatment of the appearance of steel bottles

Abstract

This utility model belongs to the field of surface treatment technology for gas cylinder devices, specifically relating to an automated gas cylinder appearance processing system. The automated gas cylinder appearance processing system of this utility model comprises a grinding station, a painting station, a drying station, and a lettering station arranged sequentially on a conveyor mechanism, forming an integrated automatic device for processing the appearance of gas cylinders. Each station is equipped with a hopper, with an inlet gate and an outlet gate on opposite sides of the hopper body. Lifting mechanisms are installed inside the hoppers at the grinding and painting stations. The drying station's hopper body includes an electric heating box, a stirring fan, and a hot air return duct. The lettering station's hopper contains lettering templates and a lettering gun. The automated gas cylinder appearance processing system provided by this utility model, through the linkage of the conveyor mechanism with the sealing station, integrates waste gas treatment and temperature control, achieving efficient, environmentally friendly, and safe continuous production.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model belongs to the field of surface treatment technology for gas cylinder devices, specifically relating to an automated surface treatment system for steel cylinders. Background Technology

[0002] As important pressure vessels, steel cylinders are widely used in industrial gases, medical applications, and energy sectors. During their manufacturing or periodic inspection and maintenance, the external treatment of steel cylinders (mainly including grinding and rust removal, painting, and drying) is an essential step.

[0003] However, traditional cylinder finishing processes and equipment generally suffer from the following significant problems: Inefficiency: Traditional processing methods typically employ separate workstations, requiring multiple workers (e.g., three) to perform tasks such as loading, grinding, lettering, painting, and unloading at independent stations. There is a lack of effective coordination between workstations, and cylinder transfer between processes relies heavily on manual handling, resulting in a lengthy overall processing flow and limited production capacity. Environmental hazards: Metal dust generated during grinding and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted during painting often lack efficient and comprehensive collection and treatment systems, making it difficult to meet increasingly stringent environmental emission standards and posing a risk of polluting the working environment and surrounding atmosphere. Safety hazards: Inadequate process design leads to operational risks. For example, cylinders are often directly fed into the unloading stage after high-temperature drying without necessary cooling steps, making them highly susceptible to burns to operators. Furthermore, frequent manual intervention throughout the process increases the potential risk of mechanical injuries. Poor process stability and insufficient precision in controlling key process parameters, such as fluctuations and unevenness in drying temperature, directly lead to inconsistent paint film drying results. The painting process is heavily influenced by manual operation, making it difficult to guarantee paint film thickness and uniformity, ultimately affecting the stability of painting quality and the consistency of product appearance. Low automation levels, with each processing station largely isolated, result in a high reliance on manual labor for tasks such as cylinder handling, positioning, and equipment start-up and shutdown. This not only leads to high labor intensity but also hinders further improvements in production efficiency and quality.

[0004] To improve the automation level and efficiency of gas cylinder appearance processing, relevant technical solutions have been proposed. For example, Chinese patent CN221733818U discloses an "automatic gas cylinder appearance processing device." This device includes a main frame, on which a lifting and pushing device, a movable truss robot, and a rotating processing device are installed. Its core idea is to achieve automatic cylinder feeding through the lifting and pushing device (including a secondary frame, pushing device, lifting device, and bulk loading compartment), use the truss robot to transfer the cylinders between the lifting and pushing device and the rotating processing device, and have the rotating processing device complete processes such as grinding, painting, and baking.

[0005] While CN221733818U discloses significant improvements in automation integration and efficiency compared to traditional separate workstations, and introduces electromagnetic internal heating technology, its technical description does not explicitly address the cooling process before the high-temperature gas cylinders are unloaded. The risk of burns to operators from contact with the high-temperature cylinders may still exist. Furthermore, the patent does not emphasize or highlight the effectiveness of efficient and systematic environmentally friendly treatment measures for grinding dust and painting fumes. While pursuing high efficiency and automation, how to comprehensively and thoroughly address safety and environmental hazards, and further improve the stability and intelligence of process control, remains a direction that requires continuous optimization and breakthroughs in this field. Utility Model Content

[0006] The technical problem to be solved by this utility model is to overcome the above-mentioned defects in the existing technology and provide an automated cylinder appearance processing system that integrates waste gas treatment and temperature control through a conveying mechanism linked to the sealing station, thereby achieving efficient, environmentally friendly and safe continuous production.

[0007] The automated cylinder appearance processing system of this utility model consists of a conveying mechanism with a grinding station, a painting station, a drying station, and a lettering station arranged in sequence, forming an integrated automatic device for processing the appearance of cylinders. Each station is equipped with a hopper, with an inlet gate and an outlet gate on opposite sides of the hopper body. Lifting mechanisms are installed inside the hoppers of the grinding and painting stations. The hopper body of the drying station is equipped with an electric heating box, a stirring fan, and a hot air return duct. The hopper of the lettering station is equipped with a lettering template and a lettering gun.

[0008] Preferably, the conveying mechanism is equipped with a loading gantry robotic arm and a unloading gantry robotic arm at both ends.

[0009] Preferably, a loading frame is placed at one end of the loading gantry robot arm; and a unloading frame is placed at one end of the unloading gantry robot arm.

[0010] Preferably, the loading gantry robot arm and the unloading gantry robot arm are equipped with a vision system.

[0011] Preferably, the conveying mechanism is a device structure in which the support frame body and the conveyor belt guide rail are integrated.

[0012] Preferably, multiple rotating bases are fixedly installed on the conveyor belt guide rail according to the distance of each workstation.

[0013] Preferably, exhaust gas collection pipes are installed on the top of the hopper body at the grinding station and the painting station, at positions corresponding to the gas cylinders.

[0014] Preferably, one end of the lifting mechanism is equipped with an integrated automatic control system for a gripping robotic arm.

[0015] Preferably, the electric heating box is equipped with a circulating fan.

[0016] Preferably, the lettering template is an integrated, automatically moving structure composed of two semi-arc shapes with a diameter corresponding to that of the steel cylinder.

[0017] Conveying Mechanism: The support frame and conveyor belt guide rail are integrated into one design. Rotating bases are installed on the guide rail at fixed intervals, and the bases are equipped with self-locking clamps to ensure that the cylinders do not wobble when moving (solving stability issues). The station spacing is equal to 1.2 times the cylinder diameter to avoid interference. Sealing Station Structure: Hopper: Each station is equipped with an independent sealing hopper, and the inlet and outlet gates are driven by cylinders.

[0018] To prevent cross-contamination: When the work station is in operation, the entrance and exit gates are closed to form a closed space.

[0019] Implementation methods for key workstations:

[0020] ① Grinding station: Three grinding heads are installed on the top of the lifting mechanism, evenly distributed at 120°, and the speed is adjusted by frequency converter; the exhaust gas collection pipe is connected to cyclone dust collector + bag filter.

[0021] ② Spray painting station: A water curtain circulation pool is set at the bottom of the silo, and the flow rate of the water curtain is controlled by a flow valve; the exhaust gas enters the activated carbon adsorption tower after primary filtration by the water curtain.

[0022] ③ Drying station: The electric heating box has a built-in PID temperature control module; the stirring fan forces hot air circulation, and the hot air return pipe recovers waste heat; the bin wall is equipped with a combustible gas sensor, which automatically cuts off heating when the concentration exceeds the standard (safety interlock).

[0023] ④ Spraying station: The spraying template is driven by a servo motor to close the two semi-arc structures to fit the gas cylinder; the spray gun sprays the cylinder body on both sides simultaneously through the hollow part of the template.

[0024] Intelligent control system:

[0025] PLC programming control timing: The conveyor mechanism only moves after all workstations have completed their operations and issued a "ready signal"; the vision system locates the position of the cylinders in the loading frame and guides the robotic arm to accurately grasp them; each workstation is equipped with photoelectric sensors to monitor the cylinders' positioning status in real time.

[0026] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of this utility model are:

[0027] (1) The automated cylinder appearance processing system of this utility model integrates multiple processes such as grinding, painting, drying and lettering on the conveying mechanism, and with the help of the loading scaffolding robotic arm, the unloading scaffolding robotic arm and the vision system, realizes the fully automated process of cylinder appearance processing.

[0028] (2) The automated cylinder appearance processing system of this utility model has independent sealed silos for each work station, and the inlet and outlet gates open and close quickly to form a closed space, which effectively prevents cross-contamination between processes. The rotating base of the conveying mechanism is equipped with a self-locking clamp to ensure stable movement of the cylinders. Compared with traditional manual or semi-automatic processing methods, it significantly improves production efficiency and product quality stability, and reduces labor costs and labor intensity. Attached Figure Description

[0029] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the automated cylinder appearance processing system of this utility model.

[0030] Figure 2 This is a structural diagram of the grinding station and the painting station;

[0031] Figure 3 This is a structural diagram of the drying station;

[0032] Figure 4 This is a structural diagram of the lettering spraying station;

[0033] In the diagram: 1. Loading frame; 2. Loading scaffold robotic arm; 3. Grinding station; 4. Painting station; 5. Drying station; 6. Lettering station; 7. Unloading scaffold robotic arm; 8. Unloading frame; 9. Vision system; 10. Conveying mechanism;

[0034] 11. Inlet gate; 12. Outlet gate; 13. Hopper; 14. Rotating base; 15. Lifting mechanism; 16. Exhaust gas collection pipe;

[0035] 17. Agitator fan; 18. Circulating fan; 19. Electric heating box; 20. Hot air return duct;

[0036] 21. Spray-painted lettering template; 22. Spray-painted lettering gun. Detailed Implementation

[0037] The present invention will be further described below with reference to specific embodiments.

[0038] Unless otherwise specified, all structures in this utility model are existing technologies that can achieve the same purpose and are technical operations that are known to those skilled in the art. Therefore, they will not be described in detail here.

[0039] like Figures 1 to 4As shown, the automated cylinder appearance processing system of this utility model consists of a grinding station 3, a painting station 4, a drying station 5, and a lettering station 6 arranged sequentially on a conveying mechanism 10, forming an integrated automatic device for processing the appearance of cylinders. Each station is equipped with a hopper 13, with an inlet gate 11 and an outlet gate 12 on opposite sides of the hopper 13 body. Lifting mechanisms 15 are installed inside the hoppers 13 of the grinding station 3 and the painting station 4. An electric heating box 19, a stirring fan 17, and a hot air return pipe 20 are installed on the hopper 13 body of the drying station 5. A lettering template 21 and a lettering gun 22 are installed inside the hopper 13 of the lettering station 6.

[0040] The conveying mechanism 10 is equipped with a loading frame robotic arm 2 and a unloading frame robotic arm 7 at both ends.

[0041] A loading frame 1 is placed at one end of the loading gantry robot arm 2; a unloading frame 8 is placed at one end of the unloading gantry robot arm 7.

[0042] Vision systems 9 are installed on the loading gantry robotic arm 2 and the unloading gantry robotic arm 7.

[0043] The conveying mechanism 10 is a device structure that integrates the support frame body and the conveyor belt guide rail.

[0044] Multiple rotating bases 14 are fixedly installed on the conveyor belt guide rail according to the distance of each workstation.

[0045] Waste gas collection pipes 16 are installed on the top of the hopper 13 body of the grinding station 3 and the painting station 4 at the position corresponding to the gas cylinder.

[0046] One end of the lifting mechanism 15 is equipped with an integrated automatic control system for gripping robotic arms.

[0047] A circulating fan 18 is installed on the electric heating box 19.

[0048] The spray-painted lettering template 21 is an integrated automatic moving structure composed of two semi-arc shapes with diameters corresponding to the steel cylinder.

[0049] Conveying mechanism 10: The support frame and conveyor belt guide rail are integrated. Rotary bases 14 are installed on the guide rail at fixed intervals. The bases are equipped with self-locking clamps to ensure that the cylinders do not shake when they move (solving the stability problem). The station spacing is equal to 1.2 times the diameter of the cylinder to avoid interference.

[0050] Sealed station structure: hopper 13: Each station is equipped with an independent sealed hopper. The inlet gate 11 and outlet gate 12 are driven by cylinders, and the opening and closing time is ≤2 seconds.

[0051] To prevent cross-contamination: When the work station is in operation, the entrance and exit gates are closed to form a closed space (e.g., Figure 2 (As shown).

[0052] Implementation methods for key workstations:

[0053] ① Grinding Station 3: Three sets of cup-shaped grinding heads made of silicon carbide or aluminum oxide are installed on the top of the lifting mechanism 15, evenly distributed at 120°. They are driven by a motor via gears or a synchronous belt, with the speed adjusted by a frequency converter (range 1000-3000 rpm). The lifting mechanism 15 moves the grinding heads up and down along the cylinder axis, ensuring uniform grinding of the entire cylinder body. The exhaust gas collection pipe 16 connects to a cyclone dust collector + bag filter system, with a dust collection rate ≥95% (actual measured data).

[0054] ② Spray painting station 4: The bottom of the silo is equipped with a stainless steel water curtain circulation tank, approximately 2m long × 1.5m wide × 0.8m deep, with a flow valve controlling the water curtain flow rate at 10L / min. Exhaust gas, after primary filtration through the water curtain, enters the activated carbon adsorption tower, reducing VOC emissions by 80% (actual emission concentration < 50mg / m³). 3 During the painting operation, the lifting mechanism 15 drives the cylinder to rotate, and at the same time the spray gun (not shown separately in the figure, but can be regarded as a similar device to the lettering gun 22 or integrated on the lettering gun) sprays the paint.

[0055] ③ Drying Station 5: The electric heating box 19 has a built-in PID temperature control module, with a temperature range of 80-120℃ (accuracy ±2℃). A stirring fan 17 forces hot air to circulate within the hopper, and the hot air return duct 20 recovers approximately 30% of the waste heat to the electric heating box inlet, improving energy efficiency. A circulating fan 18 is installed on the electric heating box to ensure uniform heat distribution. Combustible gas sensors are installed on the hopper wall; if the concentration exceeds the standard, the heating power is automatically cut off and an alarm is triggered (safety interlock).

[0056] ④ Spraying Station 6: The spraying template 21 is driven by a servo motor to close its two semi-arc structures. The inner side of the arc has a hollow pattern corresponding to the predetermined spraying content, suitable for steel cylinders with a diameter of 300-500mm. The spray gun 22 sprays the bottle body through the hollow part of the template. During spraying, the rotating base 14 drives the steel cylinder to rotate slowly, ensuring that the spray gun can completely spray the area covered by the hollow part of the template.

[0057] System workflow and component collaboration:

[0058] (1) Feeding: The vision system 9 identifies the position and posture of the cylinder in the feeding frame 1 and guides the feeding frame robotic arm 2 to accurately grab the cylinder.

[0059] (2) Conveying and Station Entry: The loading gantry robot arm 2 places the gas cylinders onto the starting end (or the first rotating base 14) of the conveying mechanism 10. The conveying mechanism 10 (usually a stepping or intermittent conveyor belt) sequentially feeds the gas cylinders into each station. When the gas cylinder is confirmed by the photoelectric sensor to have reached the inlet of the hopper 13 of the designated station (such as the grinding station 3): the inlet gate 11 of that station opens. The conveying mechanism moves (such as the rotating base 14 rotating or the conveyor belt moving) to push / move the gas cylinder into / from the designated position (located on the rotating base 14) within the hopper 13. The inlet gate 11 closes, and the hopper 13 forms a sealed space.

[0060] (3) Processing within the workstation:

[0061] Grinding / Painting: The lifting mechanism 15 descends, and its end-effector (or gripper) automatically grasps the cylinder. Once firmly gripped, the lifting mechanism 15 lifts the cylinder, detaching it from the rotating base 14. Then, the rotating base 14 (or the lifting mechanism itself) rotates the cylinder, and the grinding head or spray gun begins operation. The exhaust gas collection pipe 16 activates to collect dust / exhaust gas. After processing, the lifting mechanism 15 places the cylinder back onto the rotating base 14, and the gripping mechanism releases.

[0062] Drying: The cylinder is placed on the rotating base 14 (or secured by a similar gripping mechanism), and the rotating base 14 slowly rotates the cylinder. The stirring fan 17 and the circulating fan 18 are started, driving hot air to circulate evenly within the chamber. After processing, the system checks the temperature (if cooling is required, proceed to the next step).

[0063] Spraying lettering: The servo motor of the spraying template 21 drives the two semi-circular structures to close tightly against the outer wall of the gas cylinder. The rotating base 14 drives the gas cylinder to rotate, and the spraying gun 22 sprays the lettering through the cutouts in the template.

[0064] (4) Station Exit and Transfer: After the current station completes processing and issues a "ready" signal: the exit gate 12 of the station opens. The conveying mechanism 10 operates, moving the cylinder out of the current hopper 13. The exit gate 12 closes. The cylinder is conveyed to the next station, and steps 2-4 (entry, processing, exit) are repeated.

[0065] (5) Unloading: The cylinders that have completed all processes arrive at the end. The unloading gantry robot arm 7, assisted by the vision system 9, picks up the cylinders and places them into the unloading frame 8. If the cylinders come from the high-temperature drying station 5, the system will detect their surface temperature (via an infrared sensor). If the temperature exceeds the safety threshold (e.g., 50°C), a forced air cooling system (e.g., a small cooling tunnel or fan array) will be set up before unloading or in the unloading area. The unloading gantry robot arm 7 will pick up the cylinders after the temperature drops to a safe range to avoid the risk of burns.

[0066] (6) Intelligent control system and fault handling:

[0067] The core PLC coordinates the actions of the entire system according to the preset program, strictly executing the timing logic of "all workstations completed → conveyor mechanism stepping → next cycle begins".

[0068] Multiple sensors (photoelectric, position, temperature, pressure, gas concentration, vibration, etc.) are installed inside the material silos of each workstation and at key points of the conveying path to monitor the equipment status, cylinder position and process parameters in real time.

[0069] Fault handling mechanism: Process parameters exceed limits (such as abnormal drying temperature, excessive VOC concentration): The system immediately triggers the safety interlock of the corresponding workstation (such as stopping heating, increasing exhaust), and displays specific fault information on the HMI interface (such as "drying temperature exceeds the upper limit", "high VOC concentration in the paint spraying chamber").

[0070] Equipment malfunction (such as motor overload, cylinder jamming, sensor failure): When the PLC detects an abnormal signal (such as overcurrent, timeout failure, signal loss), it immediately stops the relevant workstation or the entire production line, issues an audible and visual alarm, and displays the fault code and possible causes (such as "grinding motor overload" or "inlet gate 11 opening timeout") on the HMI.

[0071] Cylinder positioning / positioning failure: The vision system or photoelectric sensor detects that the cylinder is not in the expected position or has an incorrect posture. The system pauses the delivery and attempts to reposition the cylinder or issues an alarm to prompt manual intervention.

[0072] Emergency Stop: The system is equipped with multiple emergency stop buttons. When pressed, the main power is immediately cut off, and all moving parts stop.

[0073] Fault logging and diagnosis: The PLC records all alarms and fault events (time, type, code) for easy querying and analysis by maintenance personnel.

[0074] Of course, the above description is only a preferred embodiment of this utility model and should not be considered as limiting the scope of the embodiments of this utility model. This utility model is not limited to the above examples, and all equivalent changes and improvements made by those skilled in the art within the scope of this utility model should be included in the patent coverage of this utility model.

Claims

1. An automated surface treatment system for steel cylinders, characterized in that: The conveying mechanism (10) is equipped with a grinding station (3), a painting station (4), a drying station (5), and a lettering station (6) in sequence, forming an integrated automatic device for processing the appearance of steel cylinders. Each station is equipped with a hopper (13), and the opposite sides of the hopper (13) are equipped with an inlet gate (11) and an outlet gate (12). Lifting mechanisms (15) are installed inside the hoppers (13) of the grinding station (3) and the painting station (4). An electric heating box (19), a stirring fan (17), and a hot air return pipe (20) are installed on the hopper (13) of the drying station (5). A lettering template (21) and a lettering gun (22) are installed inside the hopper (13) of the lettering station (6).

2. The automated cylinder appearance processing system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The conveying mechanism (10) is equipped with a loading frame robotic arm (2) and a unloading frame robotic arm (7) at both ends.

3. The automated cylinder appearance processing system according to claim 2, characterized in that: A loading frame (1) is placed at one end of the loading gantry robot arm (2); a unloading frame (8) is placed at one end of the unloading gantry robot arm (7).

4. The automated cylinder appearance processing system according to claim 3, characterized in that: Vision systems (9) are installed on the loading gantry robot arm (2) and the unloading gantry robot arm (7).

5. The automated cylinder appearance processing system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The conveying mechanism (10) is a device structure that integrates the support frame body and the conveyor belt guide rail.

6. The automated cylinder appearance processing system according to claim 5, characterized in that: Multiple rotating bases (14) are fixedly installed on the conveyor belt guide rail according to the distance of each workstation.

7. The automated cylinder appearance processing system according to claim 1, characterized in that: Waste gas collection pipes (16) are installed on the top of the hopper (13) of the grinding station (3) and the painting station (4) at the position corresponding to the steel cylinder.

8. The automated cylinder appearance processing system according to claim 1, characterized in that: One end of the lifting mechanism (15) is equipped with an integrated automatic control system for gripping robotic arms.

9. The automated cylinder appearance processing system according to claim 1, characterized in that: A circulating fan (18) is installed on the electric heating box (19).

10. The automated cylinder appearance processing system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The spray-painted letter template (21) is an integrated automatic moving structure composed of two semi-arc shapes with a diameter corresponding to that of the steel cylinder.

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