Patent Grant
9505014
The present invention generally relates to an electrostatic coater, and more particularly, to a rotary atomizing head, which is to be attached to the electrostatic coater.
Electrostatic coaters have become used in various fields of industry, and those having a rotary atomizing head are widely used for coating vehicle bodies, for example. These electrostatic coaters are called rotary atomizing coaters. As disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 8, such a rotary atomizing head is an assembly of an atomizing head body and a structural component to be disposed in the central portion of the atomizing head body. Paint is supplied to the rotary atomizing head through a feed tube, and atomized by the rotary atomizing head that rotates at a high speed. For assuring the high speed, the rotary atomizing head is required to be highly precisely balanced in rotation.
For internal cleaning of the rotary atomizing head, there have been developed techniques for facilitating disassembly and reassembly of the rotary atomizing head. Patent Document 1 discloses a rotary atomizing head that permits the structural component to be accessed from the back thereof and attached to the atomizing head body. Patent Document 1 proposes to form paint discharge openings in the atomizing head body and attach a structural component to the atomizing head body from behind it to define a paint chamber between the structural component and the atomizing head body in the rotary atomizing head. The chamber is for receiving paint supplied from a feed tube.
Patent Documents 2 et seq. disclose rotary atomizing heads of a type in which a hub member, which is a structural component, is accessed from the front side of the atomizing head body and attached to the latter. Patent Document 2 proposes to fix the hub member in a central concavity of the atomizing head body via an elastic ring. More specifically, the rotary atomizing head disclosed in Patent Document 2 has a circumferential groove (first circumferential groove) formed in the circumferential wall of the central concavity of the atomizing head body and another circumferential groove (second circumferential groove) formed in the circumferential surface of the hub member. With the elastic ring being interposed between the first and second circumferential grooves, the hub member is detachably fixed to the atomizing head body.
In the rotary atomizing head of Patent Document 2, the hub member can be easily detached from the atomizing head body, and it can be attached again to the atomizing head body after cleaning.
The rotary atomizing head disclosed by Patent Document 3 is another prior-art example that can be disassembled and reassembled. The rotary atomizing head of Patent Document 3 has a shoulder formed at the front end of the circumferential wall of the central concavity in the atomizing head body. Patent Document 3 proposes to fit the hub member, which is disc-shaped, onto the shoulder. More particularly, the disc-shaped hub member has elasticity and flexibility given by its shape and material properties, and it is brought into fitting engagement with the shoulder of the atomizing head body under the elasticity and flexibility. Further, to prevent the hub member from slipping off forward of the atomizing head body, Patent Document 3 uses a retaining circumferential ridge formed on the circumferential surface of the shoulder of the atomizing head, or tapers the circumferential surface of the shoulder to be narrower forward. Patent document also discloses a rotary atomizing head of Patent Document 3 having a spoon-cut recess formed in the bottom of the central concavity of the atomizing head body. A wall surface continuous to the spoon-cut recess is shaped to make an inclined wall surface gradually widened forward. The above-mentioned disc-shaped hub member has a plurality of paint discharge openings formed concentrically in the outer circumferential surface thereof. The paint discharge openings extend tangentially to the inclined wall surface.
Patent Document 4 proposes using a permanent magnet attached to a disc-shaped hub member and another permanent magnet attached to an atomizing head body, which receives the disc-shaped hub member, to secure the disc-shaped hub member to the atomizing head body with an attraction force of the permanent magnets.
Patent Document 5 proposes to use a disc-shaped hub member having a number of legs. A free end of each leg is put in engagement with the circumferential recess in the central concavity of the atomizing head body to detachably hold the hub member in the atomizing head body. Further to this, Patent Document 5 proposes providing a clearance between the outer circumferential surface of the disc-shaped hub member and the atomizing head body to use it as a paint path.
In the rotary atomizing head of Patent Document 2, fixation of the hub member to the atomizing head body relies solely on a resistance force deriving from the elasticity of the O-ring. It is therefore necessary to pay attention to possible deterioration of the O-ring. In addition, since the fixation of the hub member depends upon the elasticity of the O-ring, it is difficult to confirm whether the hub member gets in a proper position when the hub member is attached to the atomizing head body. Furthermore, since the rotary atomizing head rotates at a high speed, the O-ring is deformed under a centrifugal force, and this cause the problem of degradation of its sealing performance.
Interposing the O-ring between the atomizing head body and hub member means that the atomizing head has a relatively large clearance between the atomizing head body and hub member. This technique is considered to use the O-ring while leaving intrusion of paint through the clearance. In the case that paint of a color must be changed to paint of another color, rotary atomizing heads, in general, should be cleaned inside without being disassembled. However, once the paint enters the clearance between the atomizing head body and hub member, it is difficult to remove it. For this and other reasons, the invention disclosed in Patent Document 2 has not yet been carried out.
Patent Document 3 proposes to snap-fit the disc-shaped hub member onto the shoulder of the atomizing head body and prevent it from dropping forward of the atomizing head body by forming a circumferential ridge on the circumferential surface of the shoulder or tapering the circumferential surface of the shoulder to decrease its diameter forward. However, this invention has not been carried out either.
Patent Document 4 proposes to secure the disc-shaped hub member and atomizing head body by using an attraction force of permanent magnets. This embodiment of Patent Document 4 has the disadvantage that the materials of the disc-shaped hub member and atomizing head body must be non-magnetic materials (aluminum).
In the rotary atomizing head of Patent Document 5, the disc-shaped hub member is fixed by engagement of its legs in the circumferential recess formed in the circumferential wall of the central concavity in the atomizing head body, and paint discharge openings are formed between the neighboring ones of the legs in the clearance between the outer circumferential surface of the disc-shaped hub member and circumferential wall of the central concavity. This rotary atomizing head has the problem that paint inevitably adheres to the circumferential recess and legs, and it remains unremoved even with an effort to wash it away by using a liquid supplied to those portions of the rotary atomizing head. Because of this difficulty, Patent Document 5 explains in detail about how to detach and disassemble the hub member from the atomizing head body for cleaning purposes.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a rotary atomizing head for an electrostatic coater, which is washable not only by disassembling but also by internal cleaning without disassembling to change the paint from one of a certain color to another of a different color.
A further object of the invention is to provide a rotary atomizing head for an electrostatic coater, which can be manufactured at a relatively low cost.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a rotary atomizing head for an electrostatic coater, which prevents generation of bubbles in paintworks on objects.
According to the present invention, there is provided a rotary atomizing head (100, 200, 300) for an electrostatic coater, including an assembly of an atomizing head body (2) and a structural component (4), in which the atomizing head body (2) has an inner circumferential surface (2b) on which paint flows under the centrifugal force, and the structural component (4) accessible from the front of the atomizing head body (2) to be removably fixed in a central concavity (6) formed in the central portion of the atomizing head body (2), said structural component (4) comprising:
a front wall (10) forming a disc-shaped hub contiguous to the inner circumferential surface (2b) of the atomizing head body (2);
a plurality of paint discharge openings (30) formed at circumferentially regular intervals in an outer circumferential surface of the front wall (10);
a plurality of cleaning openings (36) formed in the central portion of the front wall (10);
a side wall (12) extending rearward from the outer circumferential surface of the front wall (10) to be circumferentially continuous;
a plurality of legs (14) extending rearward from the outer circumferential surface of the rear end of the side wall (12);
a pawl (14a) protruding outwardly from the rear end of each leg (14) into a circumferential recess (16) formed in a circumferential wall (8) of the central concavity (6) for engagement on a side wall of the circumferential concavity (6);
a bottom wall (18) disposed radially inside the plurality of legs (14); and
a spoon-cut recess (34) formed in the bottom wall (18).
According to the above-mentioned embodiment, the structural component (4) can be detachably fixed to the atomizing head body (2) by the use of the pawls (14a) formed at the ends of the legs (14) of the structural component (4). Since the structural component (4) has the spoon-cut recess (34) formed in the bottom wall (18) thereof and the side wall (12) continuous from the spoon-cut recess (34) makes a circumferentially continuous plane, paint supplied to a paint space (20) in the structural component (4) can smoothly flow out into the circumferential recess (16) of the atomizing head body (2) through the paint discharge openings (30). Thus, it is prevented that the paint stagnates inside the structural component (4).
This effect of preventing stagnation of paint in the structural component 4 is also true in relation to cleaning of the rotary atomizing head (100). That is, when the structural component (4) is supplied inside with a cleaning liquid (typically a thinner), the paint space inside the structural component can be cleaned by the cleaning liquid such that no paint remains.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, when the structural component (4) is mounted in the atomizing head body (2), a shoulder (40) having a dam function is formed between the structural component (4) and atomizing head body (2). According to a variant of this embodiment, the shoulder (40) is formed on the structural component (4). The shoulder (40) functions to spread the paint thin and wide, and therefore can prevent undesirable intake of bubbles into a layer of the paint coated on an object.
The foregoing and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description of preferred embodiments that will follow.
The present invention will be described in detail below concerning some preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted however that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.
First Embodiment (
The rotary atomizing head according to the first embodiment labeled with 100 includes an atomizing head body 2 and a structural component 4. The structural component 4 is detachably mountable in the atomizing head body 2. As disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the rear end portion of the atomizing head body 2 has formed a threaded portion 2a for receiving a rotating shaft of an air motor (not shown) by screw engagement. The threaded portion 2a has a central axis, which is coaxial with the rotation axis of the rotary atomizing head 100. Like in conventional rotary atomizing heads, the rotary atomizing head 100 is rotated by an air motor.
As described in detail in Patent Document 1 and the like, the rotating shaft of the air motor is hollow, and a paint feed tube is inserted through the hollow inner space of the rotating shaft. That is, paint is supplied to the central portion of the rotary atomizing head 100 through the paint feed tube. A space between the outer circumferential surface of the paint feed tube and inner circumferential surface of the rotating shaft is used as a path for a cleaning liquid (typically a thinner). The rotary atomizing head 100 is washed with the cleaning liquid supplied through the cleaning liquid path. Aspects of supplying paint and cleaning liquid are explained in detail in Patent Document 3, and the present specification invokes the explanation of Patent Document 3 to avoid redundancy of explanation.
With reference to
In the central portion of the inner circumferential surface 2b of the atomizing head body 2, a central concavity 6 that is open forward (
The structural component 4 is a product prepared as a relatively hard member by molding a synthetic resin such as PEEK (polyether ether ketone) for example. The structural component 4 has a cylindrical shape complementary with the central concavity 6. That is, the structural component 4 has a front wall 10 that is disc-shaped in its front view. The front wall 10 is a portion having the function of a hub member in some conventional electrostatic atomizing heads.
The structural component 4 further has a side wall 12 extending rearward from the outer circumferential surface of the front wall 10. The side wall 12 makes a circumferentially continues plane. The side wall 12 includes an outer circumferential surface 12a and inner circumferential surface 12b. The outer circumferential surface 12a has a form complementary with the circumferential wall 8 of the central concavity 6 in the aforementioned atomizing head body 2, which is generally cylindrical and gradually widened in diameter forward.
The structural component 4 has a plurality of legs 14 extending rearward from the side wall 12 and aligned circumferentially at regular intervals. Each of the legs 14 has formed at the rear end or free end thereof a pawl 14a projecting radially outward. When the structural component 4 is introduced into the central concavity 6 of the atomizing head body 2 from its front end and mounted therein, the legs 14 resiliently deform to permit the insertion of the structural component 4 into the central concavity from the front end. Once the structural component 4 takes its proper position, the pawls 14a of the legs 14 enter the circumferential recess 16 (
The structural component 4 has a bottom wall 18 continuous to the rear end of the side wall 12. The structural component 4 has a paint space 20 defined by the bottom wall 18, front wall 10 opposite to the bottom wall 18, and side wall 12.
The bottom wall 18 of the structural component 4 has an outer circumferential surface 18a, which is cylindrical, and a rear end face 18b, which is flat. To fittingly receive the bottom wall 18, the atomizing head body 2 has a large-diameter cavity 22 having a diameter slightly larger than the threaded portion 2a and a shoulder 24 at the rear end of the large-diameter cavity 22, both located forward of the threaded portion 2a. When the structural component 4 is mounted in the atomizing head body 2, the structural component 4 is positionally fixed by engagement of the outer circumferential portion of the rear end surface of the bottom wall 18 with the shoulder 24.
The bottom wall 18 of the structural component 4 has formed in the central portion thereof a circumferential ridge 26 projecting frontward toward the paint space 20 and continuous circumferentially. The bottom wall 18 also has an axially extending central opening 28 surrounded by the circumferential ridge 26. The above-mentioned paint feed tube is inserted in this central opening 28.
In the outer circumferential portion of the front wall 10 forming a hub portion, the structural component 4 has a plurality of paint discharge openings 30 formed at regular intervals on a common circle. Further, the front wall 10 has formed in the central portion thereof a dividing peak 32 projecting rearward into the paint space 20 like in conventional atomizing heads. Four cleaning openings 36 are formed at regular intervals on a circle about the dividing peak 32.
Regarding the side wall 12 of the structural component 4, its inner circumferential surface 12b provides an inclined wall gradually expanded in diameter forward. The paint discharge openings 30 are positioned to be continuous to the front end of the inner circumferential surface 12b. The paint discharge openings 30 extend in the same direction as the direction of inclination of the inner circumferential surface 12b of the side wall 12.
In a forward facing surface of the bottom wall 18 of the atomizing head body 2, which is the surface opposed to the front wall 10 as a hub portion, a spoon-cut recess 34 is formed to extend continuously in the circumferential direction and coaxially with the central opening 28. The spoon-cut recess 34 has an outer circumferential surface 34a continuous to the rear end of the inner circumferential surface 12b of the side wall 12 and inclined by an approximately equal angle to the inclination angle of the inner circumferential surface 12b such that the outer circumferential surface 34a be flush with the inner circumferential surface 12b of the side wall 12.
As shown in
Under these physical features of the embodiment, paint having flown out of the paint discharge openings 30 is centrifugally spread to flow radially outward via the outer circumferential edge of the front wall 10 of the structural component 4, and subsequently flows radially outward, traveling on the inner circumferential surface 2b of the atomizing head body 2, which is contiguous to the front wall 10 of the structural component 4. Of course, the paint is eventually discharged from the outer circumferential edge 2c like in conventional rotary atomizing heads. In this process, since the structural component 4 is substantially in contact with the circumferential wall 8 of the central concavity 6 throughout the entire length of the structural component 4 from the front end to the rear end thereof, there is only a small possibility that paint enters into between the structural component 4 and central concavity 6. In other words, even if paint enters between the structural component 4 and central concavity 6, the circumferential wall of the central concavity 6, which inclines to increase its diameter forward, ejects it away under the centrifugal force. Therefore, it is prevented that paint enters into a clearance between the structural component 4 and the central concavity 6 of the atomizing head body 2 receiving the structural component 4 therein and dries there.
When the rotary atomizing head 1 is to be cleaned by cleaning before using paint in another color, a cleaning liquid (typically a thinner) is supplied to the rotary atomizing head 100 as done in some conventional rotary atomizing heads. The thinner cleans the inside of the structural component 4 while flowing in the paint space surrounded by the continuous side wall 12 of the structural component 4, and it is discharged externally through the cleaning openings 36 and paint discharge openings 30.
In the paint space 20 surrounded by the side wall of the structural component 4 (
After a long-term use, the rotary atomizing head may exhibit the phenomenon that paint enters and dries in a clearance, for example, between the structural component 4 and central concavity 6 of the atomizing head body 2. If this phenomenon occurs, the structural component 4 and the atomizing head body 2 may be cleaned individually after removing the former from the latter on a regular or irregular basis. Since the structural component 4 made of a plastic resin will be commercially available at a low cost, it may be replaced with a new one, if so desired, in that occasion.
As best shown in
Referring back to reference to
The shoulder 40 will be referred to as “dam” hereunder. Paint having flown out of the paint discharge openings 30 in the front wall 10 flows along the inner circumferential surface 2b of the atomizing head body 2 that extends radially outward. The paint is subsequently discharged from the outer circumferential edge of the atomizing head body 2 as already explained. However, the paint having flown out of the paint discharge openings 30 is blocked for a moment by the dam (shoulder 40) before moving further. Through Inventors' experiments, it has been proved that the shoulder 40 acts as a dam and that bubbles in the paint disappear as a result of the damming effect of the shoulder 40. In other words, the object coated by the rotary atomizing head 1 having the above-mentioned shoulder 40 had paintwork that was free from bubbles and outstandingly smooth.
The second and third embodiments of the present invention are next explained hereunder. In the next explanation of these embodiments, the same elements as those in the first embodiment are indicated with the same reference numerals as those used in the explanation of the first embodiment, and explanation of such same elements is omitted. Thus, the next explanation is directed to characterizing portions of these embodiments.
Second Embodiment (
The rotary atomizing head according to the second embodiment, designated by reference numeral 200, can be also regarded as a variant of the rotary atomizing head 100 having been explained above. As best understood by comparing
The rotary atomizing head 200 according to the second embodiment includes a structural component 204 having a bottom wall 218 thinner than the bottom wall 18 of the structural component 4 included in the rotary atomizing head 100 according to the first embodiment. When the structural component 204 included in the second embodiment is mounted in the atomizing head body 202, the bottom wall 218 of the structural component 204 is seated on the partition wall 210.
Third Embodiment (
The rotary atomizing head according to the third embodiment, indicated with a reference numeral 300, includes a structural component 304. This structural component is different from the structural component 204 of the second embodiment in that it has a shape resulting from cutting away a part of the bottom wall 218 of the structural component 204 of the second embodiment, which is inner than the spoon-cut recess 34. That is, the structural component 304 of the rotary atomizing head 300 according to the third component has a bottom wall 318 in which the spoon-cut recess 34 is formed and of which a portion inner than the spoon-cut recess 34 is cut away to define a circular opening. The inner-circumferential cut-away portion is illustrated by labeling reference numeral 320 (
The structural component 304 in the third embodiment does not have the circumferential ridge 26 and the central opening 28 that were included in the second embodiment as elements forming the radially inner structure of the spoon-cut recess 34. Instead, in the third embodiment, elements corresponding to the circumferential ridge 26 and central opening 28 are formed on a partition wall 310 of the atomizing head body 302. The element corresponding to the circumferential ridge 26 of the former embodiments is indicated with reference numeral 326 and the element corresponding to the central opening 28 of the former embodiments is indicated with reference numeral 328.
The partition wall 310 has formed therein a recess 322 to receive the bottom wall 318 including the spoon-cut recess 34. The bottom wall receiving recess 322 extends continuously in the circumferential direction. As best seen shown in
Fourth Embodiment (
This embodiment can also be regarded as a variant of the above-mentioned structural component 4. With reference to
Fifth Embodiment (
This embodiment can also be regarded as a variant of the above-explained fourth embodiment. As shown in
The present invention is suitably applicable for use with a rotary atomization type electrostatic coater.
100 Rotary atomizing head (first embodiment)
2 Atomizing head body
2
a Threaded portion
2
b Inner circumferential surface
2
c Outer circumferential edge
4 Structural component
6 Central concavity (atomizing head body)
8 Circumferential wall of central concavity
10 Front wall of structural component (hub)
12 Side wall of structural component
12
a Outer circumferential surface of side wall of structural component
12
b Inner circumferential surface of side wall of structural component
14 Legs
14
a Pawl of leg
16 Circumferential recess in atomizing head body
18 Bottom wall of structural component
18
a Outer circumferential surface of bottom wall
18
b Rear end face of bottom wall
20 Paint space
26 Circumferential ridge
28 Central opening
30 Paint discharge openings
34 Spoon-cut recess
40 Shoulder (dam)
200 Rotary atomizing head of second embodiment
300 Rotary atomizing head of third embodiment
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-188344 | Aug 2010 | JP | national |
The present application is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2011/068453, filed on Aug. 12, 2011, which, in turn, claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-188344, filed Aug. 25, 2010.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20130153681 A1 | Jun 2013 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/JP2011/068453 | Aug 2011 | US |
| Child | 13765929 | US |
