Lifting equipment management system

Abstract

To provide a hanger management system capable of appropriately and efficiently performing removable work of a hanger while maintaining the quality of coated objects by managing a coating state of the hanger to be used for power coating with a simple configuration.SOLUTION: A hanger management system includes an identification tag 4 attached to a hanger 2 of power coating with a plurality of through-holes 5 corresponding to identification information of the hanger 2 arranged, a hanger information acquisition part 21 for acquiring the identification information of the hanger 2 on the basis of the arrangement of the through-holes 5 of the identification tag 4 in each execution of a powder coating step using the hanger 2, and detecting the sizes of the through-holes 5, and a determination part 22 for determining whether the sizes of the holes of the through-holes 5 are equal to or less than a prescribed value, and guiding the execution of coating removal work of the identification information from the hanger 2 in the case that the sizes of the holes are equal to or less than the prescribed value.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a hanger management system that can manage the coating film state of hangers used in powder coating with a simple configuration, maintain the quality of the object to be coated, and appropriately and efficiently perform the peeling operation of the hanger.

Background Art

[0002] In powder coating, a charged powder paint is sprayed toward the object to be coated using a spray gun, and the powder paint is adsorbed onto the object to be coated to form a coating film by being attracted by the static electricity between the powder paint and the electrically grounded object to be coated. Thereafter, the coating film to which the powder paint has adhered is cured by heating or the like (see Patent Document 1). In this powder coating, there are advantages such as few restrictions on the size and shape of the object to be coated, a wide film thickness range, and it is easy to obtain a uniform film thickness.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] By the way, in powder coating, the object to be coated is hung on a hanger for coating, but not only the object to be coated but also a coating film is formed on the hanger. Therefore, when this hanger is repeatedly used, the coating film on the hanger becomes thick. As a result, when the hanger is repeatedly used, the electrical conduction with the object to be coated deteriorates, and due to non-uniform charging, a non-uniform coating film is formed. For this reason, the operator visually checks the coating film state of the hanger and periodically performs a peeling operation to peel the coating film on the hanger.

[0005] However, visual inspection of the paint film can vary from person to person, leading to situations where stripping is performed on lifting fixtures that do not require it, or where fixtures that do require stripping are reused repeatedly. If the stripping of these fixtures is not performed properly, it results in wasted stripping time or a decrease in the quality of the painted object. Furthermore, the increase in wasted stripping work necessitates having spare fixtures prepared with ample margin.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above, and aims to provide a lifting device management system that can manage the state of the coating on lifting devices used in powder coating with a simple configuration, and that can perform the stripping work on the lifting devices appropriately and efficiently while maintaining the quality of the object to be coated. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] To solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the objective, the present invention is characterized by comprising: an identification tag attached to a powder coating lifting device and having a plurality of through holes arranged thereon corresponding to the identification information of the lifting device; a lifting device information acquisition unit that, each time a powder coating process using the lifting device is performed, acquires the identification information of the lifting device based on the arrangement of the through holes of the identification tag and detects the size of the through holes; and a determination unit that determines whether the size of the through holes is less than or equal to a predetermined value, and if the size of the holes is less than or equal to the predetermined value, guides the implementation of paint stripping work on the lifting device according to the identification information.

[0008] Furthermore, the present invention is characterized in that, in the above invention, the determination unit uses the identification information to accumulate the number of times the powder coating process of the lifting device has been performed, and if the accumulated number of times exceeds a predetermined number, it guides the user to perform a paint removal operation on the lifting device indicated by the identification information.

[0009] Furthermore, the present invention is characterized in that, in the above invention, a resistance value measuring unit is provided for measuring the resistance value of the suspension device, and the determination unit guides the implementation of paint removal work on the suspension device if the resistance value exceeds a predetermined resistance value.

[0010] Furthermore, the present invention is characterized in that, in the above invention, the present invention is equipped with a resistance value measuring unit for measuring the resistance value of the suspension device, the suspension device information acquisition unit acquires the resistance value of the suspension device after the paint removal work has been completed by the resistance value measuring unit, and the determination unit provides guidance permitting the reuse of the suspension device if the resistance value does not exceed a predetermined resistance value.

[0011] Furthermore, the present invention is characterized in that, in the above invention, the identification tag has a hole shape different from the hole shape of the through hole, a reference hole is provided that indicates a reference position for reading the identification information indicated by the plurality of through holes, and the lifting device information acquisition unit detects the reference hole and acquires the identification information.

[0012] Furthermore, the present invention is characterized in that, in the above invention, the suspension device information acquisition unit acquires an image of the through hole and acquires the identification information and the size of the through hole by image processing. [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] According to the present invention, the coating state of a lifting device used in powder coating can be controlled with a simple configuration, and the peeling operation of the lifting device can be performed appropriately and efficiently while maintaining the quality of the object to be coated. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0014] [Figure 1] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a lifting device management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] Figure 2 shows the detailed configuration of the identification tag attached to the suspension device. [Figure 3] Figure 3 shows the state in which the through-holes of the identification tag are sealed by powder coating. [Figure 4] Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating resistance measurement. [Figure 5] Figure 5 is a flowchart showing the peeling work management process procedure using the lifting equipment management system. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0015] Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out this invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings.

[0016] <Summary configuration> Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a lifting device management system 1, which is an embodiment of the present invention. The lifting device management system 1 is a system that manages the coating state of lifting devices 2 and 3 used to hang objects to be coated in the powder coating process and guides the execution of the coating removal work on the lifting devices 2 and 3.

[0017] As shown in Figure 1, in the powder coating process, multiple objects to be coated 100 move along the powder coating line while suspended from hangers 2 and 3. The objects to be coated 100 are stretched across two hangers 3, and hangers 3 are suspended from hanger 2. The objects to be coated 100, hangers 3, and hanger 2 are kept energized and grounded, becoming the positive electrode. Meanwhile, the spray gun 101 sprays charged powder paint. The charged powder paint becomes the negative electrode and is attracted to the objects to be coated 100 by electrostatic force, forming a uniform coating. At this time, a coating is also formed on the hangers 2 and 3 by the spraying of powder paint by the spray gun 101.

[0018] The lifting equipment management system 1 comprises identification tags 4 attached to each lifting equipment 2 and a lifting equipment management device 10. In this embodiment, identification tags corresponding to the identification tags 4 are attached to each of the two lifting equipment 3, but for the sake of explanation, it will be described as if the identification tags 4 are attached only to the lifting equipment 2.

[0019] As shown in FIG. 2, the identification tag 4 has a plurality of through holes 5 corresponding to identification information ID for individually managing each suspension tool 2. The through holes 5 function as bit holes. For example, in FIG. 2, bit information in two rows and eight columns is arranged. If the through holes 5 are set to "0", the identification information ID is 16 bits and provides an information amount of 2^16. The identification tag 4 has a hole shape different from the hole shape of the through holes 5, for example, a rectangular shape, and a reference hole 6 indicating the reading reference position of the identification information ID indicated by the plurality of through holes 5 is arranged. Although the through holes 5 are circular in shape and the reference hole 6 is rectangular in shape, it is only necessary that their shapes are different, and any hole shape may be used.

[0020] As shown in FIG. 3, the through holes 5 of the identification tag 4 are narrowed in diameter by a coating film on the through holes 5. For example, if the hole diameter in the state where the coating film is not applied (the state where the peeling operation is completed) is R0, the hole diameter in the state where the coating film is applied is R, which is smaller than R0. As will be described later, by managing this hole diameter, the coating film state of the suspension tool 2 will be managed. In powder coating, since a uniform coating film is adsorbed without being affected by the shape of the object to be coated, it can be said that the clogging of the holes of the through holes 5 is almost the same as the growth of the thickness of the coating film formed on the suspension tool 2.

[0021] Returning to FIG. 1, an imaging unit 30 such as a camera and a lighting unit 31 are connected to the suspension tool management device 10, and a resistance value measurement unit 40 is also connected. The imaging unit 30 images the identification tag 4. Here, the two lighting units 31 irradiate the identification tag 4 with light from different directions so that the through holes 5 and the reference hole 6 can be imaged with high accuracy. Note that three or more lighting units 31 may be provided. The resistance value measurement unit 40 measures the resistance value of the suspension tool 2 after the powder coating process is completed, as will be described later.

[0022] The suspension tool management device 10 includes a control unit 11, an input unit 12, a display unit 13, and a storage unit 14. The input unit 12 is an input interface such as a mouse or a keyboard. The display unit 13 is a display interface such as a liquid crystal display for displaying various information. The storage unit 14 is a storage device such as a hard disk device or a non-volatile memory.

[0023] The control unit 11 controls the entire lifting equipment management device 10 and includes a lifting equipment information acquisition unit 21 and a determination unit 22. The control unit 1 stores programs corresponding to these functional units in a storage device such as non-volatile memory or a magnetic disk device, loads these programs into memory, and executes them with the CPU to run the corresponding processes.

[0024] Each time a powder coating process using the lifting device 2 is performed, the lifting device information acquisition unit 21 acquires the identification information ID of the lifting device 2 from the arrangement of the through-holes 5 of the identification tag 4, based on the image of the identification tag 4 captured by the imaging unit 30, and also detects the diameter (size of the holes) of the through-holes 5 by image processing.

[0025] Furthermore, the suspension device information acquisition unit 21, if necessary, obtains the resistance value of the suspension device 2 by having the resistance value measurement unit 40 measure the resistance value of the suspension device 2. As shown in Figure 4, the resistance value of the suspension device 2 is measured by placing the suspension device 2 on the fixed base 50 for measuring the resistance value, and the resistance value measurement unit 40 measures the resistance values ​​of measurement points P1 to P3 relative to the reference point P0. Alternatively, the position of the recess in the suspension device 2 to which the suspension device 3 is suspended may be set as measurement point P10.

[0026] The determination unit 22 determines whether the size of the through-hole 5 is less than or equal to a predetermined value, and if the size of the hole is less than or equal to the predetermined value, it guides the user to perform paint removal work on the lifting device 2 with the identification information ID. The determination unit 22 considers the size of the through-hole 5 to be the degree of blockage of the through-hole 5, and corresponds to the thickness of the paint film. The determination unit 22 also uses the identification information ID to accumulate the number of times the lifting device 2 has undergone powder coating and manages it as lifting device management information D, and if the accumulated number of times exceeds a predetermined number, it guides the user to perform paint removal work on the lifting device 2 with the identification information ID. Furthermore, if the resistance value exceeds a predetermined resistance value, the determination unit 22 guides the user to perform paint removal work on the lifting device 2 with the identification information ID. This is because it is considered that if the resistance value exceeds a predetermined resistance value, the growth of the paint film will affect the electrical conductivity of the powder coating.

[0027] <Peeling work management process> Figure 5 is a flowchart showing the peeling work management process procedure by the lifting device management system 1. As shown in Figure 5, first, the control unit 11 determines whether the powder coating process for one lifting device 2 sent from the powder coating line has been completed (step S101). If the powder coating process has not been completed (step S101: No), this determination process is repeated. On the other hand, if the powder coating process has been completed (step S101: Yes), an image of the identification tag 4 of the lifting device 2 for which the powder coating process has been completed is acquired (step S102).

[0028] Then, based on this image, the identification information ID of the identification tag 4 is obtained, and the size of the through hole 5 is obtained (step S103). Furthermore, the number of processes for the lifting device 2 with this identification information ID is incremented, and the lifting device management information D, which holds the cumulative number of processes for each identification information ID, is updated (step S104).

[0029] Subsequently, the control unit 11 determines whether the number of process steps exceeds a predetermined number (step S105). If the number of process steps does not exceed the predetermined number (step S105: No), it further determines whether the size of the through hole 5 is less than or equal to a predetermined value (step S106). If the size of the through hole 5 is not less than or equal to the predetermined value (step S106: No), it causes the resistance value measuring unit 40 to measure the resistance value of the suspension device 2 (step S107), and determines whether the resistance value exceeds a predetermined resistance value (step S108). If the resistance value does not exceed a predetermined resistance value (step S108: No), this process is terminated.

[0030] On the other hand, if the number of process steps exceeds a predetermined number (Step S105: Yes), if the size of the through hole 5 is less than or equal to a predetermined value (Step S106: Yes), or if the resistance value exceeds a predetermined resistance value (Step S108: Yes), the display unit 13 or the like will be instructed to perform the paint removal work on the hanger 2 of the identification information ID (Step S109). After that, it is determined whether or not the paint removal work has been completed (Step S110). If the paint removal work has not been completed (Step S110: No), the process proceeds to Step S109 and the determination process in Step S110 is repeated. On the other hand, if the paint removal work has been completed (Step S110: Yes), the number of process steps for the identification information ID is reset (Step S111), and this process ends.

[0031] In this embodiment, individual management of the lifting devices 2 is performed using the identification information ID of the identification tag 4. Since this identification information ID is formed by the arrangement of the through holes 5, it is not illegible due to the coating, unlike printed serial numbers or barcode information. Moreover, the thickness of the coating can be determined for each lifting device 2 by the size of the holes in the through holes 5. Therefore, the coating condition of the lifting devices 2 used in powder coating can be managed individually with a simple configuration, and the stripping work of the lifting devices 2 can be appropriately guided. As a result, unnecessary stripping work of the lifting devices 2 can be reduced while maintaining the quality (uniform film thickness) of the object to be coated 100.

[0032] Furthermore, the above peeling work management process does not necessarily require guidance on paint peeling work based on resistance value determination in step S108. It also does not require guidance on paint peeling work based on the number of processes in step S105. However, resistance value measurement may be performed as confirmation of the paint peeling work. In this case, the above peeling work management process should guide the paint peeling work based on the number of processes and the size of the through-hole, and then, by adding the results of the resistance value measurement, determine whether the lifting device 2 can be reused.

[0033] Furthermore, if the resistance value does not exceed a predetermined resistance value in step S108 of the above peeling work management process (step S108: No), a guidance display may be provided indicating that the lifting device 2 being judged is reusable.

[0034] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the identification tag 4 was attached to the suspension device 2, but the identification tag 4 may also be integrally formed as part of the suspension device 2. The identification tag 4 may also be detachable from the suspension device 2. The through-hole 5 and reference hole 6 of the identification tag 4 are through-holes and should be installed so as not to interfere with the suspension device 2. Also, the identification tag 4 should be positioned so that there are no objects of the same color as the identification tag 4 on its back or elsewhere when imaging the identification tag 4.

[0035] Furthermore, while the above embodiment involved managing the guidance for paint stripping work on the lifting device 2, it is preferable to independently manage the guidance for paint stripping work on each of the two lifting devices 3 suspended from the lifting device 2, as described above.

[0036] In the above embodiment, guidance for paint stripping was provided at the end of each powder coating process, but this guidance can also be provided for the lifting device 2 that has left the powder coating line, and furthermore, it is possible to determine whether the lifting device 2 can be reused.

[0037] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the lifting device 2 used for paint stripping work may be automatically sorted from the lifting device 2 to be reused.

[0038] It should be noted that the configurations illustrated in the above-described embodiments are functional schematics and do not necessarily have to be physically represented as shown. In other words, the forms of distribution and integration of each device and component are not limited to those shown, and all or part of them can be functionally or physically distributed and integrated in any unit according to various usage situations. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0039] 1. Lifting Equipment Management System 2,3 Lifting equipment 4. Identification Tag 5 Through hole 6 Reference hole 10. Lifting equipment management device 11 Control Unit 12 Input section 13 Display section 14 Storage section 21. Lifting device information acquisition unit 22 Judgment section 30 Imaging Unit 31 Lighting Section 40 Resistance measurement section 50 Fixed base 100 Object to be painted 101 Spray gun D. Lifting Equipment Management Information ID identification information P0 reference point P1~P3,P10 measurement points

Claims

1. An identification tag attached to a powder-coated lifting device, having multiple through holes corresponding to the identification information of the lifting device, Each time a powder coating process is performed using the aforementioned lifting device, a lifting device information acquisition unit acquires identification information of the lifting device based on the arrangement of the through-holes in the identification tag, and also detects the size of the through-holes. A determination unit that determines whether the size of the through hole is less than or equal to a predetermined value, and if the size of the hole is less than or equal to the predetermined value, guides the execution of paint removal work on the lifting device of the identification information, A lifting equipment management system characterized by having the following features.

2. The lifting device management system according to claim 1, characterized in that the determination unit uses the identification information to accumulate the number of times the powder coating process is performed on the lifting device, and if the accumulated number of times exceeds a predetermined number, it guides the lifting device to perform a paint removal operation based on the identification information.

3. The suspension device is equipped with a resistance value measuring unit for measuring the resistance value of the suspension device, The lifting device management system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the determination unit guides the implementation of paint removal work on the lifting device of the identification information when the resistance value exceeds a predetermined resistance value.

4. The suspension device is equipped with a resistance value measuring unit for measuring the resistance value of the suspension device, The lifting device information acquisition unit acquires the resistance value of the lifting device after the paint removal work has been completed, using the resistance value measurement unit. The lifting device management system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the determination unit provides guidance allowing the reuse of the identification information for the lifting device if the resistance value does not exceed a predetermined resistance value.

5. The identification tag has a hole shape different from the hole shape of the through hole, and a reference hole is provided that indicates the reading reference position of the identification information indicated by the multiple through holes. The lifting device management system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the lifting device information acquisition unit detects the reference hole and acquires the identification information.

6. The lifting device management system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the lifting device information acquisition unit acquires an image of the through hole and acquires the identification information and the size of the through hole by image processing.

Images