Painting plant

Abstract

The present invention relates to painting plant, the individual apparatus of which, which are required for different process steps, are accommodated in individual detachable modules, thus considerably simplifying the installation of the painting plant as well as the maintenance and servicing thereof.

Claims

1. Coating facility comprising at least the following means: a) means for cleaning substrates to be coated; b) means for coating the substrate; and c) means for curing the coated substrates; wherein the coating facility is designed in a modular construction and a module is provided for each one of the means a) to c), respectively, wherein each module comprises its own transport device in such a manner that when the modules work together, a continuous inline transport through the modules in the direction of movement can be achieved, wherein each of the modules includes a housing having an entrance door and an exit door, wherein the individual modules are arranged in relation to one another in such a manner that the exit door of one module has in each case a connection with the entrance door of a subsequent module, wherein only the entrance door of a first module of the facility and the exit door of a last module of the facility are not connected to a door of another module, wherein the transport devices of the modules are arranged such that the substrates are transferred from the transport device of the one module onto the transport device of the subsequent module and wherein due to a driving mechanism of the transport devices each substrate slides out of the one module and is displaced on the transport device of the subsequent module, wherein an automatic device is provided for loading and unloading the coating facility, a first transport device is provided for conveying the substrates from the automatic device to the entrance door of the first module and a second transport device is provided for conveying the substrates from the exit door of the last module to the automatic device, and wherein the exit door of at least one module and the entrance door of a subsequent module form one unit with a common driving mechanism and wherein one of the modules is a module for physical vapor deposition coating.

2. Coating facility according to claim 1, characterized in that the entrance door and the exit door are provided for at least one of the modules to enable a tight seal of the module inner space against a surrounding environment.

3. Coating facility according to claim 1, characterized in that in the facility, it is provided for the curing of the coated substrates in at least two steps namely i) the removal of a solvent from the coating and ii) the curing of the coating, and in that the coating facility comprises for step i) a module with means for the execution thereof, and in that the coating facility comprises for step ii) a module with means for the execution thereof.

4. Coating facility according to claim 3, wherein the means for the execution for step i) comprises ventilation.

5. Coating facility according to claim 3, wherein the means for the execution for step i) comprises heating means.

6. Coating facility according to claim 5, wherein the heating means comprise one of a glow filament, a hot air and an infrared lamp.

7. Coating facility according to claim 3, wherein the means for the execution for step ii) comprises at least one irradiation source.

8. Coating facility according to claim 3, wherein the means for the execution for step ii) comprises a UV lamp.

9. Coating facility according to claim 1, characterized in that each module includes a control unit and associated electrics for controlling a venting installation, a processing means and the transport devices of the modules and a central controller is provided for coordinating the controls of each module.

10. Coating facility according to claim 1, characterized in that the transport devices are designed as conveyor belts and the transfer of the substrates is achieved by pushing the substrates out over the edge of one transport device to a subsequent transport device.

11. Coating facility according to claim 1, wherein the entrance door and the exit door comprise a shutter through which the substrates are transported in or out of the respective each module.

12. Coating facility according to claim 1, wherein each module is an essentially self-sufficient functional module whose interaction is controlled by a central control.

13. Coating facility according to claim 1, wherein the exit door of the one module is arranged in immediate vicinity of the entrance door of the subsequent module.

Description

(1) The invention will now be described in detail by way of example with the aid of the figures.

(2) FIG. 1 shows a coating facility with an in-line design according to the prior art;

(3) FIG. 2 shows an inventive coating facility in modular design;

(4) FIG. 3 shows a coating facility in modular design with discontinuous operation.

(5) The coating facility according to the prior art (FIGS. 1 and 2) has already been discussed above. FIG. 2 shows a coating facility 201 in a modular design according to the invention. It shows the modules of the entrance cleaning 203, inter alia by means of ionizing radiation 211, for the coating 205 by means of a spray nozzle on a robot arm 213, for the removal of the solvent (baking) 207 through heating by means of IR emitter 215 and for the curing of the coating material (hardening) 209 by UV light from a lamp 217. Each of these modules comprising its own control 221, 223, 225, 227, respectively, which are in turn controlled by a central controller 229. The module controls make it possible to control the transport devices 231, 233, 235 and 237 as well as the entrance doors 241, 243, 245, 247 and the exit doors 251, 253, 255, 257. In case the processing steps of two adjacent modules do not affect each other negatively, it is possible to omit the corresponding doors. In the case where a module follows the other module, it is also not absolutely necessary for both the exit doors of one module as well as the entrance doors of the other module to be implemented. In addition, the module controls also control the functional units such as spray nozzle and robotic arm 213, IR emitter 215, UV lamp 217 and venting installations 261, 263, 265 and 267 provided on each module. Therefore, each module is an essentially self-sufficient functional module whose interaction is controlled by the central control 229. The substrates to be coated are not reference in FIG. 1 with reference numbers but have been represented by surface crosshatching. On the substrate, which has been drawn between module 207 and module 209, it can be seen how the transport from one module to the other is achieved: thanks to the driving mechanism of the transport means 235, the substrate slides out of the module 207 and is displaced on the transport means 237 of the module 209. This naturally takes place with the doors 255 to 247 open.

(6) For the insertion into the first module, a transport device as shown can also be used. The same applies for the ejection out of the coating installation. Specifically, the whole system including insertion and ejection apparatus can be designed as a cycle process so that the fitting of the substrates to be coated and the removal of the coated substrates can take place in one location, possibly by means of a robot and/or automatic device. This pure transport section need not be implemented in a clean room environment.

(7) Due to the modular design of the coating facility, it is very simple to set it up and dismantle it. If a module of the coating system is defective, it can be easily replaced by another structurally equivalent one, without the whole coating installation having to be dismantled. Moreover, it is possible to complete the coating facility in an easy manner by adding further modules and thus further processing steps such as for example PVD coating. On the other hand, should the corresponding process step not be required by the customer, modules can be omitted. The manufacturer of the coating facility thus has the option of designing, on the basis of standardized modules, customized overall concepts for a coating facility.