The present invention relates generally to cleaning devices and, more particularly, to wet abrasive blasting systems used for cleaning, preparing surfaces, removing coatings, and other abrasive blasting applications.
To remove corrosion or coatings from a substrate such as steel or concrete in order to restore, paint, or clean the substrate, cleaning systems are used. In certain applications, abrasive blasting systems should be able to clean or remove corrosion or coatings without damaging the underlying metal or other substrate. In other applications, a certain degree of surface roughness (called profile) may be desired to assure new paint or coating adhesion.
The use of dry, hard abrasives, such as those used in conventional sand blasting, may result in excessive surface roughness to the point of causing damage to the substrate. Typical blast materials are hard (6 to 9 on Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness) and abrasive in order to increase the efficiency of the blasting operation. Soft blast materials (generally less than 6 on the Mohs scale), such as agricultural products which can include crushed walnut shells, rice hulls, corn cob, and pistachio shells, plastic or glass particles are sometimes used to reduce substrate surface damage. (See also U.S. Pat. No. 6,609,955 (Farrow), regarding a method for removing surface coatings).
However, these manual procedures, if done incorrectly, can create inconsistent flow or air pressure in the mix and cause erratic behavior of the wet abrasive blasting system and an inefficient blasting process. Thus, there remains a need for a system and method for eliminating these manual procedures to provide a consistent and efficient wet abrasive blasting stream.
All references cited herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
An apparatus for delivering a blast stream for cleaning surfaces or removing coatings is disclosed. The apparatus comprises: a blast pot adapted for receiving a fluid (e.g., water, or air, etc.) or fluid/solid (e.g., a hard or soft abrasive material, etc.) mixture therein and having an output port for delivering the fluid or fluid/solid mixture into a delivery conduit that is adapted to be coupled to a hose/nozzle assembly for dispensing the blast stream; a first plurality of valves (e.g., pilot-controlled valves) that control pressure and fluid within the blast pot and the dispensing of the fluid or fluid/solid mixture through the hose/nozzle assembly; a control panel having a second plurality of valves (e.g., pneumatic selector valves) coupled to the first plurality of valves that permit an operator to control operation of the first plurality of valves without having to manually operate each one of the first plurality of valves; and a cart having a housing, wherein the housing comprises the blast port, the first plurality of valves and the control panel such that the apparatus is mobile.
A method for delivering a blast stream for cleaning surfaces or removing coatings is disclosed. The method comprises: providing a blast pot adapted for receiving a fluid (e.g., water, or air, etc.) or fluid/solid (e.g., a hard or soft abrasive material, etc.) mixture therein and having an output port for delivering the fluid or fluid/solid mixture into a delivery conduit that is adapted to be coupled to a hose/nozzle assembly for dispensing the blast stream; coupling a first plurality of valves (e.g., pilot-controlled valves) to ports on the blast pot and wherein the plurality of valves control pressure and fluid within the blast pot and the dispensing of the fluid or fluid/solid mixture through the hose/nozzle assembly; positioning the blast pot with the first plurality of valves within a housing on a cart for making the blast pot mobile; coupling a control panel to the housing, wherein the control panel comprises a second plurality of valves (e.g., pneumatic selector valves) that are connected to the first plurality of valves; and operating, by an operator, the second plurality of valves to control operation of the first plurality of valves without having to manually operate each one of the first plurality of valves in order to deliver the blast stream.
Many aspects of the present disclosure can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
Referring now to the figures, wherein like reference numerals represent like parts throughout the several views, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail. Throughout this description, various components may be identified having specific values, these values are provided as exemplary embodiments and should not be limiting of various concepts of the present invention as many comparable sizes and/or values may be implemented.
As will be discussed in detail later, the invention of the present application is directed toward wet abrasive blasting systems used for cleaning, preparing surfaces, removing coatings, and other abrasive blasting applications. Embodiments of the wet abrasive basting system comprise of a series of pilot controlled pneumatics automating the basic and advanced functions in setting up, operating, and shutting down the system. The floating bung and vent assembly allow for the air to escape the pot allowing for the pot to pressurize without additional steps or human interaction. Wet-abrasive blasting systems mix an abrasive media with water and convey mix to meet compressed air and direct through a blast hose and nozzle.
Several of the previously mentioned valves are pilot-controlled valves such as the depressurizing diaphragm valve 26 (e.g., a pilot-controlled pneumatic diaphragm valve 00142497 by Burkert Contromatic Corp.), the pressurized angle seat valve 24 (e.g., a pilot-controlled angle seat valve 2KS-3/8 valve by Sitzo Tech. Corp.), the washdown angle seat valve 46 (e.g., a pilot-controlled angle seat valve 2KS-3/8 valve by Sitzo Tech. Corp.) and the slurry diaphragm valve 40 (e.g., pilot-controlled pneumatic diaphragm valve 00142497 by Burkert Contromatic Corp.). These pilot-controlled valves (also referred to as “pilot-controlled pneumatics”) are controlled by the control panel 30 for automating the basic and advanced functions in setting up, operating and shutting down the system 20. As such, the system 20 uses no electronics and is driven simply by pneumatics.
The floating spherical bung 32 and vent assembly 28 as shown in
In particular, embodiments of the wet abrasive blasting system 20 may comprise a vertically mounted pilot controlled pneumatic diaphragm valve 26 mounted to an opening on the side of the blasting pot 22 as shown in
Embodiments of the wet abrasive blasting system 20 may comprise a vertically mounted pilot controlled angle seat valve or ball valve 24, as shown in
The blast pot 22 as shown in
The blast pot 22 may incorporate a “floating” bung assembly 32 allowing the pot 22 to fill and seal automatically by allowing the fluid, (e.g., water) and media 3 as shown in
The embodiment may include a pilot-controlled pneumatic ball or angle seat valve 46 mounted directly or remotely to the blasting pipe system 41 (comprising the piping 38 and diaphragm valve 40, and angle seat valve 46 and all of which are considered a “delivery conduit”) as shown in
Determining what operation and/or series of actions takes place when the blast trigger 56 (e.g., 10565 device by Clemco) as shown in
The functions and processes described in the embodiments above may be remotely consolidated into one control panel 30 as shown in
All of the components of the mobile wet abrasive blast system 20 are housed within an enclosure that is on wheels, thereby allowing the system 20 to be mobile. In particular,
The mobile wet abrasive blast system 20 is thus designed based upon ease of use and simplicity. Automating the basic functions enable more novice operators to use wet-abrasive technology on a broader scale with less troubleshooting and problems that arise from traditional methods of manually operating valves in order to pressurize, fill and depressurize the system 20. As a result, the only manual aspect of the system 20 is the directing the blasting stream which may comprise water and abrasive mix, or water only, or air only. By incorporating pilot-controlled pneumatics for the pressurizing, loading, depressurizing, and blasting functions, this eliminates operator error and/or missed steps that typically result in poor operation, inconsistent blasting, abrasive media loss, lack of production, down time and system failure. By automating these functions, the system 20 allows for a substantially quicker setup and operation by an operator at any skill level and/or knowledge or lack of knowledge of wet-abrasive blasting. Furthermore, by automating functions, the system 20 also eliminates the need to readjust blast settings, especially during the reloading process. Blast settings (e.g., abrasive dosing 64 and abrasive blast pressure 50, as shown in
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well as the singular forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present disclosure and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
In describing the invention 20, it will be understood that a number of components, parts, techniques and steps are disclosed. Each of these has individual benefit and each can also be used in conjunction with one or more, or in some cases, all of the other disclosed techniques. Accordingly, for the sake of clarity, this description will refrain from repeating every possible combination of the individual steps in an unnecessary fashion. Nevertheless, the specification and claims should be read with the understanding that such combinations are entirely within the scope of the invention and the claim.
While the invention has been described in detail and with reference to specific examples thereof, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.
This bypass continuation-in-part application takes the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 120 of PCT Application No. PCT/US2016/020569, filed on Mar. 3, 2016 which in turn claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of Application Ser. No. 62/129,206 filed on Mar. 6, 2015 all of which are entitled MOBILE WET ABRASIVE BLASTING SYSTEM UTILIZING AUTOMATED VALVES TO SIMPLIFY SETUP AND OPERATIONAL FUNCTIONS and all of whose entire disclosures are incorporated by reference herein.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20170348824 A1 | Dec 2017 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62129206 | Mar 2015 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/US2016/020569 | Mar 2016 | US |
Child | 15685347 | US |