DEVICE AND METHOD FOR POLISHING OR ABRADING PRODUCTS

Abstract

A device for polishing or abrading products (M), includes: a polishing element (1) provided with an operating surface (4) designed to perform a polishing or sanding movement, preferably a circular or orbital movement;

motor elements (13) operatively connected to the polishing element (1) for impressing on the operating surface (4) the polishing movement;

one or more air ducts (3) extending from an inlet opening (5), which communicates with a source (7) of a flow of treated air, for example dried air, gaseous nitrogen, or modified air rich in nitrogen, to one or more outlets (6) of the flow distributed in an area corresponding to the operating surface (4); and elements (8) for regulating the temperature of the flow of treated air at a value comprised between 5 C. and +20 C.

Claims

1. A device for polishing or abrading products (M), comprising: a polishing element (1) provided with an operating surface (4) designed to perform a polishing or sanding movement, preferably a circular or orbital movement; and motor means (13) operatively connected to said element (1) for impressing on the operating surface (4) said polishing movement, wherein the device further comprises: one or more air ducts (3) extending from an inlet opening (5), which communicates with a source (7) of a flow of treated air, for example dried air, gaseous nitrogen, or modified air rich in nitrogen, to one or more outlets (6) of said flow distributed in an area corresponding to said operating surface (4); and means (8) for regulating the temperature of said flow of treated air at a value comprised between 5 C. and +20 C.

2. The device according to claim 1, further comprising means for regulating the pressure of said flow of treated air at a value comprised between 1 bar and 5 bar.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein said polishing element (1) comprises a disk provided with a polishing pad (12) permeable to said flow of treated air that can be removably applied on said operating surface (4).

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein said means (13) provided for impressing on the operating surface of said disk a circular or orbital motion comprise an electric motor (13) housed within a casing (14) provided with a manual grip (16).

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein said means (13) provided for impressing on the operating surface of said disk a circular or orbital motion comprise a pneumatic motor (21) housed within a casing (14) provided with a manual grip (16), the movement of which is supplied by a pressurized airflow.

6. The device according to claim 5, wherein the movement of said pneumatic motor (21) is supplied by a part of said flow of treated air.

7. The device according to claim 6, wherein said air ducts (3) are provided within said casing (14).

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein said operating surface (4) is able to perform a circular motion, and said outlet (6) of the flow of treated air comprises holes or outlets arranged concentrically with respect to the axis of rotation.

9. A polishing apparatus comprising a device according to claim 1, and a unit (9) for supply of a flow of nitrogen-rich modified air produced by separation, preferably with hollow-fibre or molecular-sieve separation membranes, wherein said source (7) and said regulation means (8) are integrated in the unit (9).

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said unit (9) comprises a second outlet (17) for a flow of nitrogen-rich modified air, which communicates with an air painting device (10).

11. The apparatus according to claim 9, comprising an ionization unit (11) provided for charging said flow of treated air with a positive, negative, or neutral overall charge.

12. A method for polishing products by means of a device comprising: a disk (1) provided with an operating surface (4) designed to perform a polishing movement, for example a circular or orbital movement; and means (13) operatively connected to said disk for impressing on the operating surface (4) a polishing or sanding motion, for example a circular or orbital motion, wherein the method comprises the steps of: driving said operating surface (4) in rotation; sending on said operating surface (4) a flow of treated air, for example nitrogen or modified air rich in nitrogen at a regulated temperature; and setting at least one portion of said rotating operating surface (4) in contact with a painted surface (15) of a product (M).

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein said products (M) are painted products.

14. The apparatus according to claim 10, comprising an ionization unit (11) provided for charging said flow of treated air with a positive, negative, or neutral overall charge.

Description

LIST OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] The above and further advantages will be better understood by any person skilled in the branch from the ensuing description and from the annexed drawings, which are provided by way of non-limiting example and in which:

[0018] FIG. 1 shows a manual polishing device according to the invention;

[0019] FIG. 1a shows a front view of the disk of the device of FIG. 1;

[0020] FIG. 2 shows a polishing apparatus according to the invention; and

[0021] FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a device and an apparatus according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] With reference to the attached drawings, there now follows a description of a device for polishing and/or sanding products M, in particular but in a non-limiting way, painted products.

[0023] The device comprises a disk 1 provided with an operating surface 4, which, in use, assumes a circular or orbital movement obtained with appropriate means 13, for example an electric or pneumatic motor, capable of impressing the polishing motion on the operating surface 4.

[0024] Preferably, removably applied on the surface 4 of the disk is a polishing pad 12 permeable to a flow of gas.

[0025] According to the invention, the device comprises a source 7 of a flow of treated air, for example cooled dry air, or nitrogen, or nitrogen-rich modified air, and one or more air ducts 3 extending from an inlet opening 5, which communicates with the source 7 by means of ducts 22, to one or more outlets 6 for the flow of treated air, located on the operating polishing surface 4, for example in areas corresponding to holes and/or a gap created between the pad and a suction hood 20.

[0026] Advantageously, the invention envisages means 8 for regulating the temperature and/or pressure of said flow of treated air.

[0027] Preferably, the regulation means are provided for regulating the temperature at a value comprised between 5 C. and +20 C. and the pressure of the flow of treated air at a value comprised between 1 bar and 5 bar.

[0028] In the embodiment illustrated, the source 7 and the regulation means 8 are integrated in a unit 9 for delivering a flow of treated air, for example nitrogen-rich modified air produced by means of hollow-fibre separation membranes or by means of a system with PSA (Pressure-Swing Absorption) molecular sieves.

[0029] Advantageously, the unit 9 comprises a second outlet 17 for a flow of a pressurized carrier fluid suitable for painting, for example a flow of treated air as described above, which is in turn possibly regulated in pressure and/or temperature, said outlet communicating via ducts 23 with an air-painting device 10. With this solution, one and the same supply unit 9 can be used both for polishing and for painting the product M.

[0030] In order to improve the efficiency of the polishing and/or painting operation, there may moreover be provided an ionization unit 11 provided for charging said flow of treated air with an overall positive, negative, or neutral charge, which is for example integrated in the unit 9.

[0031] Preferably, the means 13 for impressing the motion on the disk 1 comprise an electric motor 13 housed within a casing 14 provided with manual grip 16, extending inside which are the air ducts 3 that communicate with the source of treated air.

[0032] In a different embodiment, the means 13 comprise a pneumatic motor 21, the movement of which is supplied by a pressurized airflow.

[0033] Advantageously, the pressurized flow that supplies the pneumatic motor 21 may be formed by a part of a flow of treated air used for the polishing operation.

[0034] In use, to carry out polishing of a painted product M, the operator simply has to start the motor drive of the polishing element 1, enable delivery of a flow of treated air to the outlet holes 7, and bring the operating surface 4 up to the product M possibly after application of a layer of abrasive cream or paste of the type commonly used for polishing.

[0035] Thanks to the invention, the flow of treated air that exits from the holes 6 carries out a continuous cleaning of the surface being polished with a gas free from humidity and impurities and at the time same improves the treatment of the paint and prevents the heat generated by contact between the operating surface 4 and the product M from inducing deformation.

[0036] The effect of compensation of the heat generated by the friction is further improved by the use of heat-conditioning of the flow of treated air, which may be regulated both on the basis of the type of polished material and on the basis of the ambient conditions.

[0037] The present invention has been described according to preferred embodiments, but equivalent variants may be conceived, without thereby departing from the sphere of protection of the invention.