Single-Piston Pump Painting System Resolving Paint Waste
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Solution Overview
Problem
Painting systems face challenges in efficiently managing small quantities of paint, leading to waste and increased operational costs due to frequent color changes and limited temporal processability, especially in individualized and high-quality production scenarios.
Innovation Solution
A painting system designed with a single-piston pump as the conveying element, combined with pigging technology and sensor systems, allows for precise, needs-based delivery of small paint quantities, minimizing residual paint and operational complexity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional feed pump is used to supply paint to the main supply line, then the system can maintain continuous operation with sufficient paint flow, but residual paint quantities accumulate in the pump and lines, leading to waste during color changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the conventional feed pump from the system, replacing it with a single-piston pump that can be completely emptied. This removal of the problematic component allows the system to avoid residual paint accumulation while maintaining operational capability through direct connection to the paint container and main supply line.
Solution Approach 2:
The single-piston pump is designed to completely discard residual paint from its internal volume during each operation cycle. The pump's structure allows it to be fully emptied into the main supply line, and the system includes mechanisms to recover and utilize this paint, eliminating waste during color changes while maintaining continuous operation.
2Loss of substance
If the main supply line is designed as a ring line with paint returning to the storage tank, then paint can be reused and waste reduced, but the system becomes more complex and requires additional components
Solution Approach 1:
The single-piston pump serves multiple functions: it supplies paint to the main supply line, can be completely emptied to avoid residues, and integrates the paint return function to the storage tank. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components while maintaining paint reuse capability and reducing waste.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the feed pump function with the paint return function into a single integrated system. The single-piston pump is directly connected to both the paint container and the main supply line, combining the supply and return pathways into one unified structure, thereby reducing system complexity while enabling paint reuse.
3Loss of substance
If pigging technology is used to feed small quantities of paint, then residual paint can be minimized, but the system complexity increases due to additional components and control mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The single-piston pump is designed as a simple, easily replaceable conveying element that can be completely emptied of residual paint. Its straightforward structure compared to complex pigging systems allows it to achieve similar paint minimization goals with fewer components and simpler control mechanisms, reducing overall system complexity.
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 reduces paint waste and operational costs by ensuring precise, metered delivery of small paint amounts, maintaining low residual paint levels even with frequent color changes, and enabling efficient handling of small series production.
Implementation Method 1
the conveying element provided for feeding paint into the main supply line is designed as a single-piston pump
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4A~4B
AI summary
The paint-spray line (1) has a number of sprayers (6) which are provided to discharge paint onto an item to be coated. The sprayers are connected to a paint supply unit (12) through common supply line systems (8,10). A single-piston pump (20) is configured to feed the paint into the common supply line system. The single-piston pump is configured for specific conveying pressure. The single piston pump is provided with a distance sensor (40) for determining the piston position. A flow sensor is connected downstream of the single-piston pump on the conveying side.