Coating Machine Segmented Overlap Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
In vehicle coating processes, the overlap of coating regions during scanning leads to uneven coating film thickness, degrading the coating quality due to the shorter nozzle width and the need for repeated position adjustments.
Innovation Solution
A coater with a nozzle head unit and a robot arm system that controls the nozzle movement and paint spraying, dividing the coating surface into segmented regions with a normal coating area and an overlapping area, where the paint spray amount is reduced in the overlapping region to maintain consistent film thickness by mixing the overlapping regions from previous and next scans.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the nozzle head repeatedly scans the vehicle surface to cover the entire coating region, then the coating coverage is achieved, but the overlapping coating regions cause uneven film thickness and degrade coating quality
Solution Approach 1:
The coating surface is divided into multiple segmented coating surfaces corresponding to each scan position of the nozzle head. Each segmented surface is further divided into a normal coating region and an overlapping coating region, allowing differential spray amount control to achieve uniform film thickness across the entire vehicle surface
Solution Approach 2:
Different spray amounts are applied to different regions: the normal coating region uses a first spray amount to achieve target film thickness, while the overlapping coating region uses a second spray amount (less than the first) to prevent excessive accumulation and ensure uniformity across scan boundaries
2Manufacturing precision
If the nozzle width is made shorter to match the vehicle dimensions, then the coating precision is improved, but the number of scanning repetitions increases and coating efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The nozzle head unit is dynamically positioned by the robot arm to perform multiple scans at different positions. The coating control unit dynamically adjusts the spray amount based on whether the current scan position creates an overlapping region, enabling precise coating with repeated scanning while maintaining efficiency through automated positioning
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enhances coating quality by ensuring uniform film thickness across the vehicle surface, preventing bulges and improving smoothness by adjusting the paint spray amount and droplet size in overlapping areas.
Implementation Method 1
a nozzle head unit having a nozzle head formed with a plurality of nozzles at a nozzle spray surface and a nozzle driving mechanism causing the paint to be sprayed from the nozzles
Data Source
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AI summary
There are provided a coater and a coating method for enhancing the coating quality by improving smoothness of a mixed part where the coating position in the previous scan overlaps the coating position in the next scan. The coater (10) comprises a robot arm configured to move a nozzle head unit (50) by driving arms via an arm driving mechanism and a coating control unit configured to control driving of the nozzle driving mechanism and driving of the arm driving mechanism to execute coating on the coating object; wherein the coating control unit performs coating by forming, in segmented coating surfaces formed by each scanning of the nozzle head unit (50), a normal coating region coated with a target coating film thickness and an overlapping coating region coated with a spray amount of the paint less than the normal coating region; and wherein the coating control unit performs a overlapping coating control by mixing the overlapping coating region in the previous and next scans and taking the coating film thickness of the mixed overlapping coating region as the target coating film thickness to perform coating.