Coating system having a cooling device

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a paint system for coating components with a coating medium, in particular a painting system for painting motor vehicle bodywork components with a paint, comprising at least one pneumatic pump for circulating paint in the system. The pneumatic pump includes a feed air connection for feeding in a feed air stream for mechanically powering the pump and an exhaust air connection for conducting away a depressurised, cold exhaust air stream. The cold exhaust stream passing through a first heat exchanger where the heat exchanger cools a medium in a cooling circuit and the medium cools a heat-sensitive component. The heat sensitive component can be the paint circulation lines or a protective housing for the robot.

Claims

1. A paint system for painting components with a paint, comprising: a plurality of pneumatic pumps, the pneumatic pumps configured to supply a plurality of paints having different colours, the pneumatic pumps all having a feed air connection to provide a feed air stream for mechanically powering each pump, and each pump having an exhaust air connection for conducting away a depressurised, exhaust air; a first heat exchanger that receives the depressurized exhaust air; the heat exchanger cooling a medium in a cooling circuit; a heat-sensitive component that is cooled by the cooling circuit wherein the heat-sensitive component communicates with a paint robot for coating components with paint.

2. The paint system of claim 1, wherein the cooling circuit has a plurality of second heat exchangers to transfer heat from the heating-sensitive component to the medium.

3. The paint system of claim 2, wherein the exhaust air connection of the pump is connected by means of a cold air line to the first heat exchanger; the cold air line has a thermal insulation on the outside thereof, said thermal insulation extending over a majority of the length of the cold air line.

4. The paint system of claim 1, wherein the first heat exchanger is an air/air heat exchanger.

5. The paint system according to claim 1, wherein the first heat exchanger is an air/water heat exchanger.

6. The paint system of claim 1 wherein the cooling medium in the cooling circuit is air.

7. The paint system of claim 1, wherein the cooling medium in the cooling circuit is water.

8. The paint system of claim 1, wherein: the heating-sensitive component of the paint system is a plurality of paint circulation lines each paint circulation line having different colour of paint; the cooling circuit including a plurality of second heat exchangers with each of the second heat exchangers configured to remove heat from of the paint circulation lines.

9. The paint system of claim 1, wherein: the heating-sensitive component of the paint system is a protective housing; and the cooling circuit introduces cold air into the protective housing and conducts warm air out of the protective housing.

10. The paint system of claim 9, wherein the protective housing surrounds a travel axis of the robot.

Description

(1) Other advantageous developments of are disclosed in the subclaims or are described below in greater detail together with the description making reference to the drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of an exemplary painting system with numerous pneumatically powered pumps, the exhaust air of which is used for cooling paint circuit lines;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a modification of FIG. 1, wherein the cold exhaust air of the pumps is used for cooling a railhouse; and

(4) FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view through a cold air line with a surrounding thermal insulation.

(5) FIG. 1 shows a first exemplary embodiment of a painting system for painting motor vehicle bodywork components, wherein the painting system is largely conventionally designed, so that a detailed description of the design and the function of the painting system can be dispensed with and it is only the parts of the painting system that are essential to the disclosure that are described below.

(6) The painting system has a plurality of paint circuit lines 1-5 in which paints of different colours are conveyed in a circulating manner in order to prevent deposition of the paints in the circuit lines 1-5.

(7) The paint circuit lines 1-5 each extend through heat exchangers 6-10 which can be configured, for example, as pipe-in-pipe heat exchangers and have the purpose of cooling the paint in the individual paint circuit lines 1-5.

(8) The heat exchangers 6-10 are connected to a common cooling circuit 11 which contains water as the cooling medium, the cooling water being conveyed in the cooling circuit 11 by a pump 12 in circulating operation.

(9) The cooling circuit 11 extends through a further heat exchanger 13 which is an air/water heat exchanger.

(10) On the cold side of the heat exchanger 13, a cold air line 14 extends through the heat exchanger 13, wherein the cold air line 14 is supplied with cold air from exhaust air connections 15-21 from a plurality of pneumatically powered paint supply pumps 22-28.

(11) The powering of the paint supply pumps 22-28 is carried out by means of compressed air which is fed, in each case, by a feed air connection 29-35.

(12) The paint supply pumps 22-28 can be configured in conventional manner as a diaphragm pump or as a piston pump so that a detailed description of the paint supply pumps 22-28 can be dispensed with.

(13) However, it should be mentioned that the paint supply pumps 22-28 can be arranged in a paint mixing room of the painting system.

(14) During operation of the paint supply pumps 22-28, the compressed air fed in by means of the feed air connections 29-35 is depressurised and thereby cooled, so that cold air is delivered by means of the exhaust air connections 15-21 into the cold air line 14.

(15) In the heat exchanger 13, the cold air then absorbs heat from the cooling water in the cooling circuit 11, such that the temperature of the cooling water in the cooling circuit 11 is reduced.

(16) The heat exchangers 6-10 then transfer heat from the paint into the paint circuit lines 1-5 to the cooling water in the cooling circuit 11, by which the paint in the paint circuit lines 1-5 is cooled.

(17) FIG. 2 shows a modification of the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 1 described above, so that, for the avoidance of repetition, reference is made to the above description, wherein the same reference signs are used for corresponding details.

(18) A peculiarity of this exemplary embodiment lies therein that a railhouse 36, i.e. a protective housing which surrounds a travel axis of a robot (paint robot or handling robot) of the painting system, is cooled.

(19) A further peculiarity lies therein that the cooling medium in the cooling circuit 11 is air, so that the additional heat exchangers 6-10 can be dispensed with in the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 1.

(20) The cold air circulating in the cooling circuit 11 is thereby fed into the rail house 36 and heated. The heated air is then fed back again into the cooling circuit 11 and cooled again in the heat exchanger 13.

(21) Finally, FIG. 3 shows a simplified cross-sectional view through the cold air line 14 which is provided at the outside thereof with a thermal insulation 37. The thermal insulation 37 is intended to achieve that the outside temperature at the outer surface of the thermal insulation 37 is sufficiently great despite the low temperature of the cold air line 14 to prevent troublesome condensation water or ice formation on the outer surface of the thermal insulation 37.

(22) The invention is not restricted to the above-described preferred exemplary embodiments. Rather a plurality of variants and modifications is possible which also make use of the inventive concept and therefore fall within the scope of protection. Furthermore, the invention also claims protection for the subject matter and the features of the subclaims separately from the claims to which they refer. In particular, the invention also claims independent protection for the concept of a thermal insulation of the cold air line to prevent the troublesome formation of condensation water or ice.