Working chamber system for the surface treatment of workpieces

Abstract

A working chamber system for the surface treatment of workpieces comprises at least one tightly closable work chamber (101), a frame-like workpiece holder (10, 20, 30) which is displaceable on a guide rail between a mounting position outside the work chamber (101) and a working position in the work chamber (101), and a manipulator which, as seen in plan view, is arranged next to a group of parallel guide rails within the work chamber (101). At least one of the workpiece holders (10, 20, 30) has an external frame (11, 21, 31), via which it is guided in the guide rails, and an internal frame (12, 22, 32) which is surrounded by the external frame (11, 21, 31) in a transporting position and which is displaceable into a position outside the main plane of the external frame (11, 21, 31) in the mounting position and/or the working position.

Claims

1. A work chamber system for surface treatment of workpieces, said system comprising in combination: a tightly closable work chamber; at least two frame-shaped workpiece holders; at least one guide rail associated with each of said at least two workpiece holders configured to guide movement of its respective workpiece holder between an assembly position outside the work chamber and a working position inside the work chamber; and at least one manipulator that, when viewed in plan view, is arranged next to a plurality of parallel guide rails inside said work chamber; wherein each of said at workpiece holders includes an outer frame, by which it is guided on its respective at least one guide rail, and an inner frame that is surrounded in a transport position by its outer frame and that is movable relative to its outer frame, in at least one of the assembly position and the working position, to a plane-parallel position outside of a base plane of its outer frame.

2. The work chamber system as in claim 1, wherein the at least two frame-shaped workpiece holders are vertically oriented, each configured to be moved along an associated said at least one guide rail between the assembly position outside of the work chamber and the working position inside the work chamber, and wherein the at least one guide rail of each of the at least two workpiece holders are arranged parallel to each other.

3. The work chamber system as in claim 1, wherein the inner frame is configured to be lowered outside the base plane of the outer frame relative to the outer frame.

4. The work chamber system as in claim 1, wherein the inner frame is connected pivotally to the outer frame via a parallelogram linkage.

5. The work chamber system as in claim 4, wherein ends of the parallelogram linkage are constructed as fork-shaped receptacles, and wherein pins are provided at vertical bars of the inner frame configured to be hung in the receptacles.

6. The work chamber system as in claim 1, wherein the inner frame is configured to be coupled with the outer frame via a detachable connection.

7. The work chamber system as in claim 1, wherein three workpiece holders are provided and arranged in parallel, wherein at least outer ones thereof are provided with inner frames that can be moved and parked toward an outside of the work chamber.

8. The work chamber system as in claim 1, wherein the inner frame of the workpiece holder is rotatably supported on its outer frame about at least one axis.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

(1) FIGS. 1 and 2 show a work chamber system in various positions of the workpiece holders, each in schematic top view.

(2) FIGS. 3 and 4 show a work chamber system in various positions of the workpiece holders, each in side view.

(3) FIG. 5 is a perspective and partially phantom view of the work chamber system shown in FIGS. 1-4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(4) The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1-4 of the drawings. Identical elements in the various figures are designated with the same reference numerals.

(5) FIG. 1 shows a top view of a work chamber system 100. Positioned inside a work chamber 101 are two manipulators 102, 103 located opposite each other. Arranged therebetween are three parallel guide rails 14, 24, 34 for the workpiece holders 10, 20, 30.

(6) In FIG. 1, two workpiece holders 10, 20 are located outside the work chamber 101. Located inside the work chamber 101 is the workpiece holder 30 having an outer frame 31 and inner frame 32. This workpiece holder is movable on the lower guide rail 34. In FIG. 1, the free parking locations of the workpiece holders 10, 20, 30 are designated with 10′, 20′, 30′.

(7) In FIG. 2, an inner frame 12 is located inside the outer frame 11 for the upper workpiece holder 10. For the middle workpiece holder 20 on the other hand, the inner frame 22 is shown pivoted out of the outer frame 21. It is then located in a parking location 30′ for the lower workpiece holder 30 in the region of the lower guide rail 34. An operator can thus reach the workpieces contained therein more easily.

(8) Inside the work chamber 101 and for the workpiece holder 30, the inner frame 22 is placed towards the center guide rail 24 such that it has the same distance to both manipulators 102 and 103. Through the open outer frame 31, the bottom manipulator 103 acts upon the workpieces in the inner frame 32.

(9) FIG. 3 shows the work chamber system 100 from the side, that is, from the front of the workpiece holders 10, 20, 30, so that the work chamber 101 is located in the background. All three workpiece holders 10, 20, 30 are moved out of the work chamber 101.

(10) Clearly visible are the parallelogram linkages 23, which are mounted on the outer frame 11 of the left workpiece holder 10. Drive shafts 18, 28 and 38 are connected to the carriages of the guide rails and allow the remotely operated, motor-driven adjustment of the inner frames 12, 22, and 32 relative to the respective outer frames 11, 21 and 31.

(11) In FIG. 3, the inner frame 12 of the left-hand workpiece holder 10 indicated by a solid line is not only moved horizontally from the starting position indicated by a dot-dash line relative to the outer frame, but is also lowered vertically relative to the starting position shown as a dot-dash line, so that it is more easily accessible for the operator.

(12) The particular advantages of the work chamber system according to the invention are apparent from FIG. 4, which again shows a side view. The work chamber 101 can be seen in the background. At the passages located there, the workpiece holders 10, 20, 30 have sealing plates 16, 26, 36, that rest against the passages from the inside and close them as soon as the workpiece holders have been pulled or moved outward.

(13) For the each of the workpiece holders 10 and 30 positioned at the outer guide rails, the inner frames 12 and 32 have been moved from their starting points, indicated by a dash-dot line, outward to the side and at the same time vertically downward using the parallelogram linkages 13 and 33. This allows the operators 106, 107 to place the inner frames 12, 32 on hand carts 104, 105 or the like and to entirely remove the workpiece holders 10, 30 by loosening the connection to the parallelogram linkages 13, 33.

(14) Recognizable in FIG. 4 are also vertical axes 15, 25, 35 of the workpiece holders 10, 20, 30, respectively, which allow for rotation of the inner frames 12, 22, 32.

(15) FIG. 5 is a perspective view, shown partially in phantom, showing the various elements of the work chamber system that are illustrated in top and side views, respectively, in FIGS. 1-4.

(16) There has thus been shown and described a novel working chamber system for the surface treatment of workpieces which fulfills all the objects and advantages sought therefor. Many changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications of the subject invention will, however, become apparent to those skilled in the art after considering this specification and the accompanying drawings which disclose the preferred embodiments thereof. All such changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention are deemed to be covered by the invention, which is to be limited only by the claims which follow.