Patent Application
20140203115
This disclosure relates to a nozzle head for emitting a flat spray jet of an application agent, e.g., an insulating agent for insulation of motor vehicle body components.
Such a nozzle head as presently known includes two identically constructed outer plates and a thin, smaller middle plate, which is inserted between both outer plates, wherein
For this known nozzle head, a jet width is distance-independently almost constant in a jet plane from a certain minimum distance before the nozzle head, in as far as volumetric flow is kept constant. For example, the jet width may only fluctuates in a range of ±2 mm. This distance-independent constant jet width is advantageous for treatment of workpieces with strongly curved component surfaces since it is not necessary to keep a constant distance between the nozzle head and the surface of the component while traveling over the surface of the component. One should, however, note here that the jet width fluctuates depending on the volumetric flow of the applied insulating agent.
Reference is also made to JP 2000 237 679 A, US 2003/0155451 A1, DE 10 2005 013 972 A1 and DE 10 2005 027 236 A1 concerning the general prior art.
One disadvantage of the known spray nozzle described above is, however, that the distance-independency of the jet width is only given within a relatively narrow limited volumetric flow operating range. Outside this volumetric flow operating range, the jet width fluctuates relatively strongly depending on a distance to the nozzle head. Therefore operation is only possible in practice within the relatively narrow volumetric flow operating range.
The presently-disclosed nozzle head is generally suitable for different volumetric flows of an insulating agent, wherein the jet width should be kept constant as independently as possible of the distance to the nozzle head.
The nozzle head may be expediently formed in such a way that the volumetric flow operating range, suitable for application, with the substantially distance-independent constant jet width of the spray jet, comprises a volumetric flow range of at least ±5 cm3/s, ±10 cm3/s, ±15 cm3/s, ±20 cm3/s, ±25 cm3/s, ±40 cm3/s, ±80 cm3/s or ±90 cm3/s. This means, for example, that the jet width of the spray jet is, from a certain minimum distance (for example, 20 mm, 30 mm, 40 mm, 50 mm, 60 mm, 70 mm, 80 mm, 90 mm or 100 mm), distance-independently substantially constant if the volumetric flow lies within the relatively wide volumetric flow operating range.
The jet width can also fluctuate for the nozzle head according depending on the volumetric flow of the applied application agent. Thus, the jet width from the minimum distance is only independent of the distance to the nozzle head, whereas the jet width can also fluctuate for the nozzle head according to the invention depending on the volumetric flow.
The jet width of the spray jet can also fluctuate for the nozzle head depending on the volumetric flow of the applied application agent. However, if the volumetric flow is kept substantially constant within the volumetric flow operating range then the jet width for the nozzle head is distance-independently substantially constant from the minimum distance.
The volumetric flow or the delivery rate can, for example, be 10 cm3/s, 20 cm3/s, 30 cm3/s, 40 cm3/s, 50 cm3/s, 60 cm3/s, 70 cm3/s, 80 cm3/s, 90 cm3/s or 100 cm3/s, respectively preferably ±5 cm3/s, ±10 cm3/s oder ±15 cm3/s.
The jet width is generally not exactly constant for the nozzle head. Instead, the jet width can also exhibit fluctuations for the nozzle head depending on the distance to the nozzle head of, e.g., ±1 mm, ±2 mm, ±4 mm, ±6 mm, ±8 mm, ±10 mm, ±12 mm, ±14 mm or even ±16 mm. This means, for example, that, within the context of the invention, the feature “distance-independently substantially constant” can expediently include deviations of up to ±16 mm.
The nozzle head according is therefore significantly well-suited for automated application using an application robot, wherein the nozzle head is led by the application robot over the surface of the component. When programming the application robot and when using a nozzle head, one can therefore operate, on the assumption that the spray jet has a substantially constant jet width, namely for various volumetric flows of the application agent, if the volumetric flow is kept constant during application.
In an exemplary embodiment, the jet width is, from a certain minimum distance to the nozzle head, distance-independently substantially constant, e.g., with a deviation of at most ±2 mm, ±4 mm, ±6 mm, ±8 mm, ±10 mm, ±12 mm, ±14 mm or even ±16 mm, wherein the jet width is, from a certain minimum distance, only then distance-independently substantially constant if the volumetric flow of the application agent lies within a certain volumetric flow operating range and is expediently kept constant.
It is possible that the nozzle head is formed in such a way that the volumetric flow operating range with the substantially distance-independently constant jet width comprises a volumetric flow range of at least ±5 cm3/s, ±10 cm3/s, ±15 cm3/s, ±20 cm3/s, ±25 cm3/s, ±40 cm3/s, ±80 cm3/s oder ±90 cm3/s.
In an exemplary embodiment, the nozzle head has a similar structure as the conventional nozzle head described above. The presently-disclosed nozzle head also may have may include two outer plates and a middle plate, which is arranged between both outer plates and has on the spraying side a front edge with a prescribed contour. Thus, both outer plates may delimit, with their spraying-side front edge, a slit-shaped nozzle opening, wherein there is expediently a nozzle chamber between the outer plates and the spraying-side front edge of the middle plate in which the application agent to be applied is introduced. Advantageously, the contour of the spraying-side front edge of the middle plate is formed in such a way that the volumetric flow operating range with the substantially distance-independently constant jet width is relatively large.
Further, the front edge of the middle plate for the presently-disclosed nozzle head is not formed simply V-shaped but, instead, has a complex contour.
Thus, the spraying-side front edge of the middle plate may have on both sides outer tips, which protrude out in the spraying direction, wherein the length of the tips is preferably at least 3 mm, 4 mm or even at least 5 mm.
The tips of the middle plate may have an outer flank, which is aligned substantially parallel to the jet direction or at a right angle to the base of the middle plate. The inner flank of the tips may, in contrast, be angled at acute angle to the jet direction. For example, the inner flanks of the tips can include, with the jet direction, an angle in the range of 15°-35° wherein an angle of 24.165° or 28.3° has proven itself to be particularly advantageous. It is also possible that the inner flanks of the tips are aligned parallel to the jet direction or at right angle to the base of the middle plate.
Furthermore, the middle plate may have a recess in a middle portion thereof, which does not however extend over the whole width of the middle plate, but only over a width of, for example, at least 15 mm, 17 mm or 20 mm.
In one variant of the middle plate, the recess arranged in the middle thereof is V-shaped.
However, another variant may be used, for which the recess in the middle plate comprises a central arch section with a first radius and two adjacent outer arch sections with a second radius, wherein the second radius of the outer arch sections is greater than the first radius of the central arch section. For example the first radius of the central arch section can lie in the range of 2 mm-10 mm, wherein a value of 5 mm is preferred. The second radius of the outer arch sections of the recess, in contrast, can lie in the range of 10 mm-30 mm, wherein a value of 20 mm is preferred.
Furthermore, the middle plate has, e.g., on both sides between the outer lying tips and the central recess, respectively a straight edge area which is substantially at right angle to the spraying direction, wherein the straight edge areas, e.g., have a width of at least 3 mm, 4 mm, 5 mm or 6 mm.
The straight edge areas of the middle plate are, e.g., arranged at a height above the base of the middle plate, which is in a certain ratio to the plate height of the middle plate. Thus, the ratio of the plate height of the middle plate to the height of the straight edge areas is, e.g., in the range of 1.4-1.6, wherein a value of 1.5 is preferred.
It was established in technical trials that such forming of the spraying-side front edge of the middle plate has a positive influence on the emitted spray jet so that the latter has a substantially distance-independent constant jet width within a relatively large volumetric flow operating range.
Further, the outer plates may have spraying-side front edges for the nozzle head, which are curved in a convex manner in the spraying direction. The above-mentioned tips of the middle plate may terminate with the ends of the curved front edge of the outer plate. This means that the tips of the middle plate do not project over the outer contour of the outer plates.
Furthermore, the nozzle head according to the invention may include a plate holder for holding the outer plates and the middle plate inserted between the outer plates, wherein the plate holder may have an adjustable accommodation width in order to be in a position to accommodate plates of different thicknesses. For the plate holder of the present disclosure, the accommodation width is adjustable so that plate packages of different thicknesses can be received. This offers the advantage that middle plates of different thicknesses can be used without the thickness of the outer plates having to be adapted accordingly.
The plate holder may include two clamping plates, which are connected to each other by means of a clamping screw-connection so that the outer plates with the middle plate can be clamped in between the clamping plates. The clamping screw-connection here allows different thicknesses of the firmly clamped plate package with the outer plates and the middle plate.
Furthermore the plate holder may have a bottom plate on which both clamping plates are placed. For example, one of the both clamping plates can be fastened immovably on the bottom plate while the other clamping plate is movable by means of the clamping screw-connection in order to be able to firmly clamp the plate package of the outer plates and the middle plate. Here, the bottom plate may have a material bore hole in the area between the two clamping plates in order to supply the application agent. The plate package with the outer plates and the middle plate thus lies, in this case, above the material bore in the bottom plate, and can therefore accommodate the supplied application agent through the material bore. The material bore may have a seal (for example an O-Ring) in this case to seal off the gap between the material bore and the plate package lying thereon. It should be mentioned here that the outer plates and/or the middle plate have a material guide, which starts from the material bore in the bottom plate and opens out into the nozzle chamber between both outer plates. This material guide can, for example, include of a groove which is arranged in both outer plates and starting from the lower front edge extends in the spraying direction and reaches up to the nozzle chamber which is delimited by both outer plates and the spraying-side front edge of the middle plate.
The above-mentioned bottom plate of the plate holder may be mounted on a mounting plate, wherein the mounting plate can be moved by an application robot, for which the mounting plate is mounted, for example, on a flange plate of a robot hand axis. The connection between the bottom plate and the mounting plate takes place here via a releasable mechanical connection such as, for example, by a screw-connection.
The bottom plate can be mounted in various angular positions relative to the mounting plate. For example, an additional pin connection can be provided between the bottom plate and the mounting plate so that the bottom plate can be mounted in two different angular positions between the bottom plate and the mounting plate.
For the presently-disclosed nozzle head, the oblong holes in the middle plate or in the outer plates are preferably replaced by bore holes, which are less prone to soiling.
Further, the outer contour of the plate holder may be selected in such a way that after emerging from a water bath during cleaning of the nozzle head the water can be blown off as quickly as possible and without any great effort. Therefore, the plate holder preferably terminates sidewards substantially flush with the middle plate and the outer plates in order to avoid an interfering contour, which is prone to soiling.
Regarding the dimensions of the nozzle head according to the invention, it should be mentioned that the middle plate may have a plate thickness in the range of 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm, wherein a range of 0.4 mm to 0.5 mm is preferred.
In one exemplary embodiment, the outer plates of the nozzle head have a width of 42 mm and a height in the spraying direction of 28.8 mm. In this exemplary embodiment, the middle plate may have a width of 42 mm and a height of 19.5 mm.
The middle plate and the outer plates can, however, be scaled arbitrarily in width and/or height in order, for example, to change the spray jet width accordingly.
For example, the height of the outer plates and also of the middle plate can be reduced by a factor of 1.2, for example, for a constant width so that the outer plates have a height of 24 mm while the middle plate has a height of 16.25 mm. In this way, the jet width can be reduced for the same material flow.
In another variant, in contrast, only the width of the outer plates and the middle plate are scaled downwards with a factor of 1.2, for example, while the height of the outer plates and the middle plate remains unchanged. For example, the outer plates can have a height of 28.8 mm while the middle plate has a height of 19.5 mm.
In another exemplary embodiment, in contrast, the basic contour remains the same as for the basic version described above. In this case just the outer tips, which lead the insulating agent to the nozzle gap, are displaced to the inside in a stepless manner from an outer dimension of 42 mm until the new outer dimension of at least 35 mm is reached. Furthermore, the outer plates are shortened on the sides and the outer radius of the outer plates are displaced downwards until the outer radius again encounters the tips of the middle plate. This modification causes the jet width to be reduced somewhat for a higher delivery rate.
In another variant, in contrast, only the outer plates are modified compared to the basic version described above, in that the convex curved spraying-side front edge of the outer plates is displaced downwards so that the height of the outer plates is reduced, for example, from 28.8 mm to 24 mm.
Finally, there is yet another modification conceivable compared to the above-described last variant, wherein the outer plates can be scaled downwards in width and height in the same ratio to the width of 35 mm. The middle plate is, in contrast, only scaled in the width to 35 mm, wherein the outer tips of the middle plate are adapted to the radius of the outer plates. This modification allows realization of a delivery rate of about 45 cm3/s for a jet width of about 60 mm.
In an exemplary embodiment, the middle plate has a plate height in the jet direction, which lies in the range of 15 mm-20 mm, wherein a value of 19.5 mm is preferred. The outer plates have, in contrast, a plate height in the jet direction, which lies in the range of 25 mm-34 mm, wherein a value of 29.24 mm is preferred.
It should also be mentioned that the plate height of the middle plate may be in a certain ratio to the plate width of the middle plate, wherein this ratio may lie in the range of 0.4-0.5, wherein a value of 0.464 is preferred.
For an embodiment, it is possible that, in a range between a minimum distance to the nozzle head of about 30 mm, 40 mm or 50 mm plus at least 10 mm, 20 mm, 30 mm, 40 mm, 50 mm, 60 mm or 70 mm, the jet width fluctuates around a maximum of ±4 mm, ±6 mm, ±8 mm, ±10 mm or ±12 mm.
The nozzle head may be described as an individual component, but further a complete application robot may be used with such a nozzle head.
Further, such a nozzle head may be used for application of an insulating agent onto a vehicle body component.
The figures show as follows:
The nozzle head 5 comprises two outer plates 6, 7, and a thin middle plate 8, which is inserted between both outer plates 6, 7, wherein the contour of the outer plates 6, 7 is shown in
Furthermore, the nozzle head 5 comprises a plate holder to mechanically hold the plate package including the outer plates 6, 7 and the middle plate 8. This plate holder comprises two clamping plates 9, 10, which are arranged on both sides of the plate package including the outer plates 6, 7 and the middle plate 8, and can be clamped together by means of a clamping screw-connection 11 to mechanically fix the plate package. Plate packages of different thickness can be inserted between both clamping plates 9, 10 so that the thickness of the middle plate 8 can be changed in a simple way, without any necessity for the thickness of the outer plates 6, 7 to be adapted accordingly.
Furthermore, the plate holder comprises a bottom plate 12, wherein both clamping plates 9, 10 are arranged on the upper side of the bottom plate 12.
Furthermore, the plate holder comprises a mounting plate 13, which is guided by an application robot, which is only represented here schematically.
Furthermore, the contour of the front edge 18 of the middle plate 8 can be seen in the detailed view in
Thus, the front edge 18 of the middle plate 8 has on both sides outside respectively a tip 19 and/or 20 protruding in the spraying direction.
Furthermore the front edge 18 of the middle plate 8 centrally has an substantially V-shaped recess 21, wherein the V-shaped recess 21 does not extend over the whole width b of the middle plate 8.
Finally, the outer contour of the front edge 18 of the middle plate 8 comprises on both sides of the V-shaped recess 21 respectively a straight edge area 22, 23, wherein the straight edge areas 22, 23 are aligned at right angle to the spraying direction.
The above-described contour of the front edge 18 of the middle plate 8 has the advantage that the nozzle head 5 has a spray jet 24 with a substantially constant jet width SB, as can be seen in particular in
The outer plates 6, 7 may have a height of ha=28.8 mm, while the middle plate 8 has a height of hm=19.5 mm.
The outer plates 6, 7, as well as the middle plate 8, have, however, a uniform width of b=42 mm.
The middle plate 8 terminates, together with the outer plates 7 in the plate holder, flush with the outer contour of the plate holder, whereby an interfering contour which is prone to soiling is avoided.
Furthermore, the outer plates 6, 7, and the middle plate 8, each have bores 25-28 instead of the oblong holes 3, 4 known from the prior art shown in
One particularity of this exemplary embodiment is that the bores 25, 26 in the outer plate 7 are formed as sidewards open oblong holes.
Further, the outer plate 7 may have a width b=42 mm and a height ha=29.24 mm.
A particularity of this modification is, in turn, that sidewards open oblong holes are provided instead of the bores 27, 28.
A further particularity of this exemplary embodiment is that the recess 21 in the middle plate 8 is not V-shaped but rather comprises a central arch section R1 and two adjacent outer arch sections R2, wherein the outer arch sections R2 have a radius of 20 mm while the central arch section R1 has a radius of 5 mm.
Further, the tips 19, 20 each have here outer flanks, which are aligned parallel to the jet direction.
The inner flanks of both tips 19, 20 are, in contrast, at an angle of 28.3° acute-angled to the jet direction.
The invention is limited only by the following claims, and is not limited to the previously described preferred exemplary embodiments. Instead, a plurality of variants and modifications is possible, which also make use of the concept of the invention and therefore fall within the scope of protection.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2011 011 850.0 | Feb 2011 | DE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2012/000756 | 2/21/2012 | WO | 00 | 3/3/2014 |
