Thermal Spray Torch With Oscillation For Coating Precision
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional thermal spray technologies face challenges in maintaining consistent coating thickness and speed when coating large or irregular surfaces, leading to material waste and increased stress on robots due to high speeds required for direction changes.
Innovation Solution
A thermal spray deposition torch with a main body of elongated shape and a spray head featuring concurrent movements, including a linear advancement and transverse oscillation, allows for better control of coating thickness and pattern, reducing the need for high robot speeds and enabling continuous spraying on both inner and outer surfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the robot maintains high speed for coating large surfaces, then productivity is improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates due to difficulty in maintaining consistent coating thickness
Solution Approach 1:
The torch is equipped with an oscillation mechanism that dynamically adjusts the spray pattern width by oscillating the torch body or nozzle at controlled frequencies and amplitudes. This dynamic adjustment allows the system to maintain precise coating thickness control across varying speeds, resolving the contradiction between high productivity and manufacturing precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes operational parameters including oscillation frequency, oscillation amplitude, and torch travel speed to optimize coating deposition. By adjusting these parameters, the system can maintain consistent coating thickness even at higher robot speeds, thereby improving productivity without sacrificing precision.
2Temperature
If the robot moves at high speed to prevent overheating, then temperature control is improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates due to inability to follow complex profiles
Solution Approach 1:
The oscillation mechanism allows the torch to dynamically adapt to complex surface profiles by adjusting its oscillation pattern, enabling precise profile following at reduced speeds while maintaining temperature control through optimized deposition rates.
Solution Approach 2:
The periodic oscillation of the torch creates a fretted coating pattern that distributes heat more evenly across the surface, preventing localized overheating while allowing slower, more precise movement along complex profiles.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the robot reverses direction frequently for complex surfaces, then adaptability is improved, but loss of substance increases due to material waste during reversal
Solution Approach 1:
The oscillation mechanism enables the torch to dynamically adjust its spray pattern during direction changes, maintaining material deposition efficiency even during reversals and reducing material waste while preserving adaptability to complex surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The continuous oscillation during torch movement ensures that material deposition remains efficient and continuous, minimizing interruptions and waste during direction changes while maintaining the ability to cover complex surfaces.
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 precision, reduces material waste, and decreases localized temperature, allowing for continuous operation without interruptions, while also conserving consumable materials and minimizing robot wear.
Implementation Method 1
The plasma is continuously supported by the supply of new plasmagenic gas; once fully operating, the plasma takes the form of a cylindrical flame exiting from the nozzle. The temperature reached by the plasma is of the order of 9000÷20000 K.
Implementation Method 2
When the plasma reaches in the vicinity of the nozzle, the ions and the electrons tend to recombine, thus promoting a high level of enthalpy. The powder is radially introduced in this area, usually by a carrier gas; it melts due to the energy supplied by the recombination of positive ions and electrons
Implementation Method 3
The principle of thermal spray technologies consists in administering energy to the material to be deposited until it is brought to melting and then transport it toward the substrate to be coated
Data Source
AI summary
Methods of deposition of a coating on a surface of a workpiece, working with at least one deposition device, or torch, of thermal spray type, controlled by an associated motor. It is contemplated to perform the deposition step by configuring the torch so as to create two concurrent movements, of which a first movement along a linear path on the surface area to be coated; a second oscillation movement according to an axis of rotation coaxial with said advancement direction; this allows increasing the spray pattern of the thermal spray torch at each stroke resulting in a reduction of the relative movement speed of the torch itself. Also provided are a thermal spray deposition torches and apparatuses for depositing a coating on a surface of a workpiece.