PRECISION, ELECTROMECHANICAL COATING APPLICATOR FOR ROBOTS

A NEW HIGH RESOLUTION PAINT SPRAYING TECHNOLOGY SUITABLE FOR INDUSTRIAL, ROBOTIC APPLICATIONS IS BEING INVESTIGATED. THIS TECHNOLOGY WOULD FACILITATE THE AUTOMATED APPLICATION OF UNIFORM COATINGS FOR DECORATIVE AND FUNCTIONAL PAINTING AS WELL AS ELIMINATE TEDIOUS MANUAL MASK AND SPRAY TECHNIQUES CURRENTLY USED IN INDUSTRY. A PROTOTYPE COATING APPLICATOR WHICH USES ELECTROMECHANICAL FEED OF THE COATING TO AN ATOMIZATION CHAMBER HAS BEEN CONSTRUCTED. THE RESULTING COATING SPRAY IS GENERATED BY THE SPRAY NOZZLE, SHAPED BY SURROUNDING FAN JETS, AND DIRECTED BY STEERING AIR JETS. THESE INTEGRATED FAN AND STEERING JETS CAN SHAPE AND DIRECT THE SPRAY FAN WITHOUT REQUIRING COMPLEX MOVEMENTS OF THE APPLICATOR, E.G., THE ROBOT WRIST. THE PROGRAM INVESTIGATES THE USE OF THIS APPLICATOR AS A PRECISION PAINT SPRAYING OR COATING DEVICE FOR ROBOTIC APPLICATIONS AND HAS AS ITS OBJECTIVE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MODEL SUITABLE FOR COMPUTERIZED ROBOT PATH PLANNING. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES ARE THE CHARACTERIZATION OF THE APPLICATOR'S SPRAY PATTERN, VOLUMETRIC SPRAY CHARACTERISTICS, SPRAY VELOCITY, AND RESULTING COATING CHARACTERISTICS, I.E., THICKNESS AND UNIFORMITY, AS FUNCTIONS OF ATOMIZATION AND FLUID PRESSURE, THE NOZZLE, ELECTRONIC CONTROL OF THE COATING FEED, AND GEOMETRIC PARAMETERS SUCH AS APPLICATOR DISTANCE, ANGLE, AND VELOCITY.