Cleaning device and associated operating method

Abstract

A cleaning device for cleaning an atomizer, in particular a rotary atomizer, is provided. The cleaning device includes a wet cleaning station having at least one cleaning nozzle for the wet cleaning of the atomizer with a cleaning fluid. The atomizer is introduced into the wet cleaning station in an introduction direction. The cleaning nozzle has a rotatable cleaning trunk for dispensing the cleaning fluid. The cleaning device, in some embodiments, also includes a dry cleaning station. A corresponding operating method is also provided.

Claims

1. A cleaning device for an atomizer, comprising: a wet cleaning station with a housing and at least one cleaning nozzle, the at least one cleaning nozzle having a cleaning trunk rotatable relative to the housing and a nozzle aperture within the housing, the at least one cleaning nozzle being configured to dispense a cleaning fluid from the cleaning trunk at the nozzle aperture, wherein the housing is configured with an introduction aperture and to receive the atomizer therewithin through the introduction aperture and along an introduction axis, the at least one cleaning nozzle being configured to dispense the cleaning fluid on the atomizer disposed within the housing, and wherein the cleaning trunk includes at least one counterweight, the at least one counterweight configured to balance the cleaning trunk about a rotational axis of the cleaning trunk.

2. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning trunk has a mass distribution and an external contour that is substantially rotationally symmetrical to a rotational axis of the cleaning trunk.

3. The cleaning device according to claim 1, further comprising a speed controller coupled to the cleaning trunk, the speed controller being a centrifugal governor configured to dissipate a part of driving air intended for driving a turbine wheel for the cleaning trunk as a function of the rotational speed of the cleaning trunk.

4. The cleaning device according to claim 3, wherein the centrifugal governor has a collar, which, on an outside surface thereof, abuts a driveshaft through which the driving air passes and, with increasing of the rotational speed, uncovers radial holes in a wall of the driveshaft, the radial holes configured to dissipate part of the driving air.

5. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein an outer hose and an inner hose run coaxially within a longitudinal bore of the cleaning trunk, the inner hose being configured to fluidly couple a cleaning agent feed line to the nozzle aperture, an annular gap between the outer hose and the inner hose is configured to fluidly couple an air supply line and the nozzle aperture downstream at the free end of the cleaning trunk, the inner hose being rotatably fixed relative to the outer hose.

6. The cleaning device according to claim 5, wherein the nozzle aperture is inclined at an angle to the rotational axis of the cleaning trunk.

7. The cleaning device according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of cleaning nozzles, the cleaning nozzles being equally radially distributed about the introduction axis.

8. The cleaning device according to claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of cleaning nozzles is radially offset relative to the cleaning nozzles in adjacent planes of the plurality of planes.

9. The cleaning device according to claim 1, further comprising an inner tube disposed in the housing and oriented coaxially to the introduction axis, the inner tube configured to receive a bell cup of the atomizer.

10. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one cleaning nozzle is oriented to dispense cleaning fluid along a direction with an inclination with respect to the introduction axis between 20 and 85.

11. The cleaning device according to claim 1, further comprising a nozzle mount coupled to the wet cleaning station, the nozzle mount configured to receive the at least one cleaning nozzle, the nozzle mount including vibration-damping material.

12. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning trunk has a circumferentially oriented outlet aperture configured to provide a rotation driving force from a thrust of dispensing cleaning fluid, the cleaning trunk including at least one vane positioned to resist a flow of the dispensing cleaning fluid.

13. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one cleaning nozzle has at least one rotatable turbine wheel configured to pneumatically drive the cleaning trunk.

14. The cleaning device according to claim 13, wherein a driving air flows outwardly onto the turbine wheel, the turbine wheel has a plurality of inner apertures on the inside to receive the driving air into the turbine wheel, the apertures in the turbine wheel each open into a turbine chamber, the turbine chambers each have a circumferentially oriented outlet aperture, and, after flowing through the turbine wheel, the driving air is dispersed through sealing air nozzles outside of the cleaning trunk.

15. The cleaning device according to claim 1, further comprising a dry cleaning station outside of the housing of the wet cleaning station, the dry cleaning station including a cleaning brush, the cleaning brush being annular and configured to encircle the atomizer during cleaning.

16. The cleaning device according to claim 15, wherein the wet cleaning station is arranged along the introduction direction downstream of the dry cleaning station, the wet cleaning station being configured to clean a front section of the atomizer while the dry cleaning station cleans a rear section of the atomizer.

17. A cleaning device for an atomizer, comprising: a wet cleaning station with a housing and at least one cleaning nozzle, the at least one cleaning nozzle having a cleaning trunk rotatable relative to the housing and a nozzle aperture within the housing, the at least one cleaning nozzle being configured to dispense a cleaning fluid from the cleaning trunk at the nozzle aperture, a speed controller coupled to the cleaning trunk, the speed controller being a centrifugal governor configured to dissipate a part of driving air intended for driving a turbine wheel for the cleaning trunk as a function of the rotational speed of the cleaning trunk, wherein the housing is configured with an introduction aperture and to receive the atomizer therewithin through the introduction aperture and along an introduction axis, the at least one cleaning nozzle being configured to dispense the cleaning fluid on the atomizer disposed within the housing.

18. The cleaning device according to claim 17, wherein the centrifugal governor has a collar, which, on an outside surface thereof, abuts a driveshaft through.

19. The cleaning device according to claim 18, wherein the at least one cleaning nozzle has at least one rotatable turbine wheel configured to pneumatically drive the cleaning trunk.

20. The cleaning device according to claim 19, wherein a driving air flows outwardly onto the turbine wheel, the turbine wheel has a plurality of inner apertures on the inside to receive the driving air into the turbine wheel, the apertures in the turbine wheel each open into a turbine chamber, the turbine chambers each have a circumferentially oriented outlet aperture, and, after flowing through the turbine wheel, the driving air is dispersed through sealing air nozzles outside of the cleaning trunk.

Description

DRAWINGS

(1) The figures show:

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a cleaning device according to the disclosure with a wet cleaning station and a dry cleaning station,

(3) FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the wet cleaning station from FIG. 1,

(4) FIG. 3 is a plan view of the wet cleaning station from FIG. 2,

(5) FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view through the wet cleaning station shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 along section line A-A in FIG. 3,

(6) FIG. 5 is a perspective view of one of the cleaning nozzles of the wet cleaning station from FIGS. 2 to 4,

(7) FIG. 6 is view of a longitudinal section of the cleaning nozzle shown in FIG. 6,

(8) FIG. 7 is an enlarged detailed view of FIG. 6,

(9) FIG. 8 is a front view of the cleaning nozzle shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, and

(10) FIG. 9 is the cleaning nozzle shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 with funnel removed.

DESCRIPTION

(11) The drawings show an exemplary embodiment of a cleaning device according to the present disclosure. With particular reference to FIG. 1, a cleaning device for cleaning a rotary atomizer 1 with a bell cup 2 according to the present disclosure is illustrated, wherein the cleaning device comprises a dry cleaning station 3 and a wet cleaning station 4.

(12) With additional reference to FIG. 2, for cleaning, the rotary atomizer 1 is introduced along an introduction axis 5 through an introduction aperture 6 into a housing 7 of the wet cleaning station 4.

(13) The dry cleaning station 3 is located outside the housing 7 of the wet cleaning station 4, i.e. above the wet cleaning station 4. The dry cleaning station 3 therefore cleans a rear section of the rotary atomizer 1, while the wet cleaning station 4 cleans a front section of the rotary atomizer 1 with the bell cup 2.

(14) For cleaning of the rotary atomizer 1, the dry cleaning station 3 has an annular cleaning brush 8, which can be moved by a brush drive 9, which is shown schematically. The brush drive 9 can either rotate the annular cleaning brush 8 around the introduction axis 5, so that the cleaning brush 8 cleans the outside of the rotary atomizer 1, or the brush drive 9 can also move the cleaning brush 8 along the introduction direction 5 so that the cleaning brush 8 may virtually brush over the entire outer surface of the rotary atomizer 1.

(15) At the end of a cleaning process, the rotary atomizer carried by a multi-axial painting robot can be extracted from the housing 7 of the wet cleaning station 4 and can then perform a tumbling motion to blow down the annular cleaning brush 8 with its shaping air, thereby cleaning it.

(16) With additional reference to FIGS. 3-4, on the upper side of the pot-shaped housing 7, the wet cleaning station 4 has a two-part lid with a lower lid section 10 and an upper lid section 11, the two lid sections 10, 11 being fastened to each other, for example with a screw connection. The lower lid section 10 is connected to the housing 7 by three clamp fasteners 12. The clamp fasteners 12 facilitate rapid opening of the wet cleaning station 4, e.g. for maintenance purposes.

(17) In the upper lid section 11 of the wet cleaning station 4 there is a nozzle ring 13 of blow air nozzles, which dispense blow air radially inwards so that they are able to blow the atomizer dry.

(18) The wet cleaning station 4 has three cleaning nozzles 14, distributed at equal distances around the circumference. Each of the individual cleaning nozzles 14 dispenses a mixture of compressed air and cleaning agent along an emission direction 15 onto the outside of the rotary atomizer 1, the emission direction 15 being inclined at an angle 60 to the introduction direction 5.

(19) Here the individual cleaning nozzles 14 are mounted in the wall of the housing 7 of the wet cleaning station 4 in a vibration-damped manner. The individual cleaning nozzles 14 project through a hole in the wall of the housing 7 and are fixed by an angle bracket 16. One arm of the angle bracket 16 inserts into a groove 17 of the cleaning nozzle 14, thereby fixing it in a form-fitting manner. The other arm of the angle bracket 16 rests on an elastic damping element 18 (grommet) and is fixed with two captive screws 19. The damping element 18 between the angle bracket 16 and the housing 7 of the wet cleaning station 4 thus provides vibration decoupling, so that the vibrations emanating from the cleaning nozzles 14 are only transferred to the housing 7 of the wet cleaning station 4 to a limited extent. This form of attachment of the individual cleaning nozzles 14 also allows the cleaning nozzles to be changed quickly and easily.

(20) The structure and functional principles of the individual cleaning nozzles 14 can be seen in particular from FIGS. 4 to 9 and are further described below.

(21) First, the individual cleaning nozzles 14 each have an external, fixed funnel 20, which widens out in a funnel shape towards its free end.

(22) In the funnel 20 is arranged a cleaning trunk 21 that rotates in operation, said cleaning trunk 21 dispensing a mixture of compressed air and cleaning agent (e.g. solvent) in operation in order to clean the outside of the rotary atomizer 1.

(23) A longitudinal bore runs along the inside of the cleaning trunk 21, an inner hose 22 and an outer hose 23 running inside said longitudinal bore. The inner hose 22 serves to supply a cleaning agent (e.g. solvent) that is fed in through a cleaning agent connection 24. The annular gap between the inner hose 22 and the outer hose 23 transports the cleaning air that is provided via a supply air connection 25.

(24) The rotatable cleaning trunk 21 is screwed to a driveshaft 26, which is hollow and accommodates the inner hose 22 and the outer hose 23.

(25) A slide bearing 27 is arranged at the upstream end in the driveshaft 26, wherein the cleaning air flows axially through the slide bearing 27 and can flow through radial holes 28 in the wall of the driveshaft out into a turbine wheel 29. The supply air fed in via the supply air connection 25 is therefore divided into cleaning air and driving air. The cleaning air flows forwards through the annular gap between the inner hose 22 and the outer hose 23 and is dispensed at the free end of the cleaning trunk 21. On the other hand, the driving air flows out through the radial holes 28 into the turbine wheel 29, thereby driving said turbine wheel. The driveshaft 26 is rotatably borne by two roller bearings 30, 31 in a housing section 32.

(26) The driving air emerging at the turbine wheel 29 then flows forwards past the outside of the roller bearings 30, 31 through holes in hollow grub screws 33 with holes and ultimately exits forwards through sealing air nozzles 34 (cf. FIG. 7). The sealing air nozzles 34 therefore deliver a curtain of sealing air into the annular gap between the static funnel 20 and the rotating cleaning trunk 21. This minimizes contamination of the roller bearings 30, 31.

(27) The housing section 32 is inserted into the proximal end of the funnel 20 and sealed off from the funnel 20 by a sealing ring 35. The sealing ring 35 also prevents the funnel 20 from loosening due to vibration.

(28) At its proximal end, the housing section 32 is inserted into a further housing section 36, the housing section 32 being sealed off from the housing section 36 by an additional sealing ring 37.

(29) Finally, the cleaning nozzle 14 also has a connecting piece 38, that can be clamped in the housing section 36 by a clamping screw 39, the connecting piece 38 comprising the cleaning agent connection 24 and the supply air connection 25.

(30) With particular reference to FIG. 6, the inner hose 22 and the outer hose 23 open into a nozzle aperture at the free end of the cleaning trunk 21, said nozzle aperture dispensing the mixture of cleaning agent and compressed air in a particular emission direction 40. Here the cleaning trunk 21 rotates around a rotational axis 41, the emission direction 40 being inclined at an angle 10 to the rotational axis 41. As a result of the inclination , the emission direction 40 constantly changes due to rotation of the cleaning trunk 21 in operation and hence covers a greater area.

(31) With continued reference to FIG. 6, the cleaning trunk 21 widens out towards its free end with a conical angle 20. Thereby, the mass distribution of the cleaning trunk 21 may be as rotationally symmetrical as possible, so that the minimum amount of vibration occurs, despite rotation of the cleaning trunk 21. The additional mass in the cleaning trunk 21, on the side opposite the outlet aperture of the inner hose 22 and of the outer hose 23, therefore serves to prevent any imbalance of the cleaning trunk 21.

(32) The disclosure is not limited to the exemplary embodiments described herein. Rather, there are a large number of possible variants and modifications that similarly make use of the principles of the disclosure.