Robot Painting Head Reorientation for Bubble and Contaminant Purging
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing painting systems using robots struggle to effectively remove air bubbles and contaminants from the painting head unit, leading to defects in paint droplet ejection.
Innovation Solution
A painting system with a painting robot that includes a painting head unit, a robot arm, and a control unit to perform head movement control and attitude restoring control, utilizing the difference in specific gravity to move air bubbles and contaminants, followed by droplet ejection control to expel them from the nozzles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If air bubbles and contaminants are removed using external filtration and deaeration modules, then air bubbles and contaminants in the flow path can be removed, but air bubbles and contaminants that penetrate into the painting head unit cannot be removed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional approach by changing the orientation of the painting head unit from horizontal to vertical, causing air bubbles to rise and contaminants to settle under gravity. This inversion enables automatic removal of air bubbles and contaminants from the painting head unit without requiring complex external filtration systems, thereby improving paint ejection reliability while avoiding increased device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The painting head unit is designed to self-clean by utilizing the gravitational force generated through its vertical orientation. Air bubbles automatically rise and escape, while contaminants settle and are removed through the flow path, eliminating the need for external deaeration modules and filtration systems. This self-service mechanism improves reliability without adding device complexity.
2Device complexity
If air bubbles and contaminants remain inside the painting head unit, then the structure remains simple, but defects in ejecting paint droplets occur or ejection becomes impossible
Solution Approach 1:
By inverting the painting head unit to a vertical orientation, the patent enables air bubbles to rise and contaminants to settle under gravity, automatically clearing the flow path before paint ejection. This simple structural change ensures high manufacturing precision in paint droplet ejection without requiring complex additional components.
Solution Approach 2:
The vertical orientation is established before paint ejection begins, allowing air bubbles and contaminants to be removed in advance through gravitational separation. This preliminary action ensures that the flow path is clear before droplet ejection starts, guaranteeing high ejection quality without needing complex real-time cleaning mechanisms.
3Productivity
If the painting head unit is oriented horizontally for normal operation, then paint ejection is efficient, but air bubbles and contaminants cannot be effectively removed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent temporarily inverts the painting head unit from horizontal to vertical orientation to enable gravitational removal of air bubbles and contaminants. After cleaning, the unit returns to horizontal orientation for efficient paint ejection. This temporal inversion resolves the contradiction by ensuring reliability during the cleaning phase while maintaining productivity during the painting phase.
Solution Approach 2:
The painting head unit alternates between horizontal orientation for paint ejection and vertical orientation for air bubble and contaminant removal. This periodic action ensures that the system maintains both high productivity during painting operations and high reliability during cleaning operations, resolving the contradiction between these two requirements.
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
The system effectively expels air bubbles and contaminants from the painting head unit, improving paint droplet ejection performance and reducing defects.
Implementation Method 1
head movement control for moving an attitude of the painting head unit from an ejection position at which the droplets are ejected, so that air bubbles present inside the internal flow path are caused to move by a difference in specific gravity between the droplets and the air bubbles
Data Source
AI summary
The objective lies in providing a painting system which is capable of improving performance in terms of expelling air bubbles and contaminants inside a painting head unit.A painting robot 10 comprises: a painting head unit 50 provided with a painting head 53; a robot arm R1 which causes the painting head unit 50 to move to a desired position; and a control unit comprising a head control unit 90 for controlling operation of the painting head 53, and a robot arm control unit 70 for controlling operation of the robot arm R1, the robot arm control unit 70 performs the following control: head movement control for moving an attitude of the painting head unit 50 from an ejection position at which droplets are ejected, so that air bubbles B1 present inside the painting head 53 are caused to move; and attitude restoring control for restoring the attitude of the painting head unit 50 to the ejection position, and, during or immediately after the attitude restoring control, the head control unit 90 causes droplet ejection control to be implemented, in order to cause the droplets to be ejected from the nozzles 54.