Abstract
A system for applying a tile adhesive, including: an adhesive supplying device for supplying the tile adhesive on a surface of a tile, including a nozzle for emerging the tile adhesive and a pump unit for pumping the tile adhesive in the direction of the nozzle; and an automated supporting and moving device, in particular robot, for supporting and positioning the tile with respect to the nozzle so that the tile adhesive is distributable onto the surface of the tile when emerging from the nozzle.
Claims
1. A system for applying a tile adhesive and tiling a surface, the system comprising: an adhesive supplying device for supplying the tile adhesive on a surface of a tile, the adhesive supplying device comprising: a nozzle having a longitudinal slit or several apertures and configured to direct the tile adhesive to emerge from the longitudinal slit or the several apertures, the nozzle including an active or passive mixing device that mixes an accelerator with the tile adhesive at the nozzle; and a pump configured to pump the tile adhesive in a direction of the nozzle; and a robot arm configured to (i) support and position the tile with respect to the nozzle so that the tile adhesive is distributable onto the surface of the tile when emerging from the nozzle and (ii) position the tile onto the surface to be tiled.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the pump comprises an electric or hydraulic pump.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the pump includes at least one refillable reservoir.
4. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one funnel for receiving the tile adhesive.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the adhesive supplying device or a second adhesive supplying device is configured for supplying the tile adhesive on the surface to be tiled.
6. A method of applying the tile adhesive, with the system of claim 1, comprising: causing the tile adhesive to emerge from the nozzle, wherein the tile is supported and moved with respect to the nozzle by the robot arm so that the tile adhesive is distributed onto the surface of the tile.
7. The method of claim 6, further comprising using two components of a two-component adhesive or adding a setting component to the tile adhesive, or filling the tile adhesive into a funnel.
8. The method of claim 6, further comprising supplying the tile adhesive on the surface to be tiled.
9. The method of claim 6, wherein the tile is moved when the tile adhesive emerges from the nozzle.
10. The method of claim 6, wherein the tile is not moved with respect to the nozzle when the tile adhesive emerges from the nozzle.
11. A method of tiling a surface, comprising the method of claim 6, and further comprising positioning a plurality of tiles on the surface to be tiled.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein the robot arm comprises a sensor configured to determine a position of the tile with respect to the nozzle.
13. The system of claim 1, wherein the nozzle includes a heating device for heating the tile adhesive.
14. A system for applying a tile adhesive and tiling a surface, the system comprising: an adhesive supplying device for supplying the tile adhesive on a surface of a tile, the adhesive supplying device comprising: a nozzle having a longitudinal slit or several apertures and configured to direct the tile adhesive to emerge from the longitudinal slit or the several apertures, the nozzle including an active or passive mixing device that mixes an accelerator with the tile adhesive at the nozzle; and a pump configured to pump the tile adhesive in a direction of the nozzle; and a movable cart configured to (i) support and position the tile with respect to the nozzle so that the tile adhesive is distributable onto the surface of the tile when emerging from the nozzle and (ii) position the tile onto the surface to be tiled.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) In the following, preferred embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the drawings. These show:
(2) FIG. 1 A schematic illustration of a system according to the invention;
(3) FIG. 2 A schematic illustration of a second embodiment of the invention;
(4) FIG. 3 A schematic illustration of a third embodiment of the invention;
(5) FIG. 4 A schematic illustration of a fourth embodiment of the invention;
(6) FIG. 5 A cross-section of a nozzle according to an embodiment of the invention;
(7) FIG. 6 A schematic front view of a further embodiment of the nozzle;
(8) FIG. 7 A schematic front view of a further embodiment of the nozzle;
(9) FIG. 8 A schematic front view of a further embodiment of the nozzle;
(10) FIG. 9 A schematic front view of a further embodiment of the nozzle;
(11) FIG. 10 A schematic front view of a further embodiment of the nozzle;
(12) FIG. 11 A schematic front view of a further embodiment of the nozzle;
(13) FIG. 12 A schematic front view of a further embodiment of the nozzle;
(14) FIG. 13 A schematic front view of a further embodiment of the nozzle;
(15) FIG. 14 A schematic front view of a further embodiment of the nozzle;
(16) FIG. 15 A schematic front view of a further embodiment of the nozzle; and
(17) FIG. 16 A schematic front view of a further embodiment of the nozzle.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT
(18) FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a system for applying a tile adhesive for tiling a surface. A tile adhesive 10 is pumped by a piston 11 in a cylinder 12 of a pumping unit 30 of an adhesive supplying device 27. The cylinder 12 may be refilled by a funnel 13. A robot arm 14 of an automated supporting and moving device (robot) 28 supports and moves a tile 15. The tile adhesive 10 is supplied via a nozzle 16 onto the tile. When the tile adhesive emerges from the nozzle 16, the robot arm 14 of the robot moves the tile 15 so that the tile adhesive is distributed on the tile 15 (in this case, the nozzle 16 may not move). After appliance of the tile adhesive 10, the robot arm 14 (or another robot arm, optionally of another robot) may position the tile 15 on the surface (ground and/or wall and/or panel) to be tiled.
(19) FIG. 2 shows a schematic illustration of a second embodiment of the invention. Only the differences to the embodiment of FIG. 1 are described. In contrast to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the tile adhesive 10 is (directly) pumped from a barrel 17. The pumped tile adhesive 10 may be supplied via a supply line 18 to the nozzle 16. The solution of FIG. 2 reduces the cleaning effort and speeds up the process.
(20) In FIGS. 1 and 2, the tile 15 is held by a robot arm. Instead of the robot arm, according to FIGS. 3 and 4, a linear moving device 19 can be provided (apart therefrom, the embodiment of FIG. 3 may be identical to the embodiment of FIG. 1 and the embodiment of FIG. 4 may be identical to the embodiment of FIG. 2). The linear moving device 19 may be configured to move the tile 15 in at least three (up to six) different axes. The linear moving device 19 can be configured to move the tiles 15 to the surface to be tiled (e.g. ground and/or wall and/or panel) which is indicated in FIG. 3 by tiles 15a, 15b, 15c and 15d. In this case, tiles 15a to 15d may be part of a tiling of the ground. Further tiles (not shown in FIG. 3) may be arranged along a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing (e.g. in a square or hexahedral pattern.
(21) FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the nozzle 16. The nozzle 16 comprises a plurality of apertures 20. The apertures 20 of FIG. 5 are arranged in (one) row (in a one-dimensional arrangement). Via a fastening structure 21 (thread), the nozzle 16 can be fastened to a supply means (not shown in FIG. 5). The apertures 20 may be formed by an end piece 22 which can be connected to a main body 23 of the nozzle 16. This means, main body 23 and end piece 22 may form two different pieces (which are connectable with each other).
(22) FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the nozzle 16 in a front view. The embodiment of FIG. 6 is similar to the embodiment of FIG. 5 and comprises several (e.g. ten) apertures 20. As can be seen in FIG. 7, showing another embodiment of the nozzle 16, the dimension of the apertures 20 can be different (in this case, in comparison with FIG. 6, smaller).
(23) FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of the nozzle 16 with (only) one aperture 20 formed by a slit. FIG. 9, shows another embodiment of the nozzle 16 comprising again a plurality of apertures with a different shape (in comparison with FIGS. 6 and 7).
(24) FIG. 10 shows an embodiment of the nozzle 16, where the apertures 20 are interconnected by connection apertures 24 (which are smaller or thinner, respectively, or narrower, with respect to the apertures 20). FIG. 11 shows that the apertures 20 can be of a different number (in this case seven apertures). Apart therefrom, the geometry of the apertures 20 is similar to FIG. 10 (at least approximately semi-circles) and connection apertures 24 are provided. FIGS. 12 and 13, again show an embodiment of the nozzle with different (reduced) number of apertures 20 (in the case of FIG. 12, four; in the case of FIG. 13, three).
(25) FIG. 14 shows an embodiment similar to FIGS. 6 and 7. However, in contrast to FIGS. 6 and 7, the number of apertures 20 is different and connection apertures 24 are provided connecting the apertures 20.
(26) The structure with apertures 20 and connection apertures 24 (as for example shown in FIGS. 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14) may also be described as comprising a slit portion 25 (see for example, FIG. 13) with recesses 26 (forming the apertures 20).
(27) In general, the length of the row of apertures 20 and/or the length of the (only) aperture 20 provided may be twice, preferably three times, further preferably five times, even further preferably eight times as large as the width of the aperture 20 or one of the apertures 20 (in FIG. 6 the width is indicated by arrow 27). Alternatively to the solutions according to FIGS. 6 to 14 (showing one row of apertures) the nozzle 16 may comprise several rows of apertures 20 (for example, at least a second or at least a third row which may be arranged in the width direction according to arrow 27 of FIG. 6, e.g. in a square pattern or hexahedral pattern).
(28) According to the embodiments, the tile adhesive is pumped, extruded through the nozzle 16 and (directly) applied on a surface of a tile 15. The robot (comprising a robot arm 14 according to FIG. 1 or the moving device 19 of FIG. 2 or 4) preferably moves the tile 15 in two dimensions to allow an even application of the adhesive on the (full) surface of the tile. The nozzle 16 may be 3D printed to allow a complex shape. According to FIGS. 1 and 4, a (linear moving) piston is combined with a one-dimensional-configured nozzle for the application of the adhesive on the tile 15. A double application, on the surface to be tiled (e.g. floor and/or wall and/or panel) and on the tile may be performed. In this case, either one or two (different) pumps may be used to optimise the application time and the set-up.
(29) A two-dimensional-configured nozzle permits optionally a faster application of the adhesive on the tiles. Examples for two-dimensional-configured nozzles are shown in FIGS. 15 and 16. FIG. 15 shows a square lattice (in four rows and fours columns) of cylindrical apertures 20. FIG. 15 shows a square lattice (in four rows and fours columns) of elliptical apertures 20. The main axis of the elliptical structures are preferably inclined with respect to a direction defined by each respective row and/or inclined with respect to a direction defined by each respective column. Such inclined angle may be between 20 and 70. The elliptical structures may be oriented in different (in particular mirroring) directions. The two-dimensional-configured design of the nozzle may accelerate the application as the adhesive could be directly applied on the tile with less (or even no, in particular if the nozzle is, at least approximately, of the size of the tile) displacement of a robot.
REFERENCE SIGNS
(30) 10 Tile adhesive 11 Piston 12 Cylinder 13 Funnel 14 Robot arm 15 Tile 16 Nozzle 17 Barrel 18 Supply line 19 Linear moving device 20 Aperture 21 Thread 22 End piece 23 Main body 24 Connection aperture 25 Slit portion 26 Recess 27 an adhesive supplying device 28 automated supporting and moving device (robot) 30 Pump (unit)
