EP2106298B1 - Cleaning device for cleaning spray guns - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning spray guns, particularly paint spray guns, having at least one cleaning nozzle connected to a transport device for cleaning fluid, and having a frictional cleaning device for manually cleaning the spray guns or parts thereof. Known cleaning devices of such a type can only insufficiently clean the paint spray channel. The object of providing a cleaning device by means of which parts of both the outer surface and the paint spray channel can be efficiently and environmentally soundly cleaned is achieved in that the cleaning nozzle is disposed near and above the frictional cleaning device, so that cleaning fluid can be sprayed through the cleaning nozzle into and/or on the spray gun, and the spray gun, and particularly the spray gun nozzle, can be simultaneously manually cleaned by friction using the frictional cleaning device.

Description

The invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning spray guns according to the preamble of claim 1.

The cleaning device according to the invention is used for manual quick cleaning of spray guns, in particular paint spray guns. When painting a color change is often required. So that no paint or paint residues of the previously used paint remain in the spray gun, a cleaning of the spray gun is required in a color change. In particular, this quick cleaning during color change can be carried out with the cleaning device according to the invention. After completion of the painting process, the spray gun is expediently subjected to intensive full cleaning, which is usually carried out in a cleaning machine. Such automatic cleaning machines for automated intensive cleaning of spray guns are known from the prior art, for example from the US 2002/0 170 978 , of the DE 201 14 257 U1 , of the WO 02/18061 A1 and the EP 1602412 A1 ,

From the DE 201 14 257 U1 is a cleaning device for paint spraying equipment, such. B. paint spray guns, which has a housing for receiving the paint spraying devices, wherein the housing has cleaning nozzles and the cleaning nozzles are connected by a hose with a pneumatically operating conveyor. The conveyor communicates with two containers for receiving clean and contaminated cleaning fluid. In the housing, a nozzle is provided on which a paint spray gun to be cleaned can be placed. To clean the paint spray gun, a cleaning liquid, which usually contains solvent, is injected through nozzles into the paint spraying channel of the paint spray gun in order to free the paint spraying channel from paint or paint residues. In addition to cleaning the paint spray channel, the spray gun is also cleaned from the outside, in which cleaning liquid is sprayed onto the spray gun via nozzles. At the time of the DE 201 14 257 U1 known cleaning device, a cleaning brush is further provided, which is connected by a hose to a pump. This brush is for manual cleaning of the spray gun, whereby the supply of cleaning liquid is stopped to the cleaning nozzles when cleaning liquid is conveyed to the cleaning brush. With this Cleaning device, the spray gun can thus be cleaned either automatically or manually with the cleaning brush. In the manual cleaning of the spray gun by means of the cleaning brush, however, only a cleaning of the outer surface of the spray gun. Cleaning the paint spray channel is not feasible.

From the EP 1602412 A1 a generic cleaning device for spray guns is also known, in which a cleaning brush attached to a hose is provided for manual cleaning of the spray gun. Also in this known device, only a manual cleaning of the outer surface of the spray gun is done. A simultaneous cleaning of the spray paint channel of the spray gun is not feasible.

The invention is therefore based on the object to provide a cleaning device for manual cleaning of spray guns, with both parts of the outer surface, in particular the air nozzle of the spray gun, as well as lying in the interior of the spray gun body spray can be cleaned as efficiently and environmentally friendly.

This object is achieved with a cleaning device having the features of claim 1. Preferred embodiments of this cleaning device can be found in the dependent claims.

• Figur 1 : Perspektivische Darstellung einer erfindungsgemäßen Reinigungsvorrichtung bei geschlossenem Gehäusedeckel;
• Figur 2 : Forderansicht der Reinigungsvorrichtung von Figur 1 bei geöffnetem Gehäusedeckel;
• Figur 3 : Detaildarstellung der Reinigungseinheit der Reinigungsvorrichtung von Figur 1 in einer Seitenansicht und mit einer zu reinigenden Spritzpistole;
• Figur 4 : Seitenansicht der Reinigungseinheit der Reinigungsvorrichtung von Figur 1;
• Figur 5 : Darstellung der Steuereinrichtung der Reinigungsvorrichtung von Figur 1 in einer Ansicht von oben bei geöffnetem Deckel des Steuereinrichtungsgehäuses.

The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to an embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings show:

• FIG. 1 : Perspective view of a cleaning device according to the invention with the housing cover closed;
• FIG. 2 : Front view of the cleaning device of FIG. 1 with the housing cover open;
• FIG. 3 : Detail of the cleaning unit of the cleaning device of FIG. 1 in a side view and with a spray gun to be cleaned;
• FIG. 4 : Side view of the cleaning unit of the cleaning device of FIG. 1 ;
• FIG. 5 : Illustration of the control device of the cleaning device of FIG. 1 in a top view with the lid of the controller housing open.

The in the Figures 1 and 2 shown cleaning device know a housing 6, which is suitably made of metal, in particular made of stainless steel sheet. At the top of the housing 6, a control device 10 is arranged, which in detail in FIG. 4 is shown and described in more detail below. The housing 6 inside three chambers on, namely a first upper chamber 7 and a second upper chamber 8, which are separated by an intermediate wall 21 from each other. Below the first chamber 7 and the second chamber 8, a third chamber 20 is arranged, wherein the two upper chambers 7, 8 are separated from the lower chamber 20 by a bottom 17 of the first chamber 7 and a bottom 19 of the second chamber 8. The first chamber 7 is used for manual cleaning of a spray gun with a cleaning liquid. In the second chamber 8, the cleaned spray gun can be dried. In the lower chamber 20, two containers 4, 5 are set, wherein the first container 4 serves to receive clean cleaning liquid. In the second container 5, the cleaning liquid used in the cleaning process is collected so that it can be recycled and, if necessary, a treatment can be supplied. In order to collect the cleaning liquid flowing down during the cleaning process and also the cleaning liquid dripping during the drying process, the bottoms 17, 19 of the two upper chambers 7, 8 are trough-shaped and a drain 18 is provided in the bottom 17, through which the drains in the trough-shaped bottoms 17 , 19 collected cleaning liquid can flow into the collecting container 5 arranged underneath. The lower chamber 20 can be closed by a housing cover 22, which is pivotably connected to the housing 6.

In the upper region of the first chamber 7, a cleaning nozzle 1 formed by a hose section of a plastic hose is arranged, which communicates with a conveying device 2. The conveying device 2 comprises a pump, in particular an injector pump acting as a water jet pump, which draws cleaning liquid from the reservoir 4 via a suction hose 16 and conveys it to the cleaning nozzle 1. Within the housing 6, a Reibreinigungsgerät 3 is fixedly disposed below the cleaning nozzle 1, which in the drawing shown here Embodiment is formed by a cylindrical cleaning brush. The friction cleaning device 3 may also be a cleaning brush or a cleaning sponge. The cleaning brush is arranged obliquely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the cleaning nozzle below the mouth of the cleaning nozzle 1. Preferably, the cleaning brush is arranged so that its longitudinal axis with the longitudinal axis of the cleaning nozzle 1 at an angle of 30 ° to 60 °, preferably 45 °, includes, as in FIG. 4 seen. Although the cleaning brush is fixedly installed in the housing 6, its position and position with respect to the mouth of the cleaning nozzle 1 is suitably adjustable, for which purpose either of the cleaning nozzle 1 forming hose section from the housing part to which the cleaning nozzle 1 is attached, pulled out or hineschiebbar is and / or what the cleaning brush is pivotally hinged to the housing part ( FIG. 4 ). Preferably, the cleaning brush is flexible or resilient. The cleaning brush may in particular be resiliently secured against a restoring force on the housing part. In front of the cleaning nozzle 1 and the cleaning brush 3, a splash guard 23 is arranged.

In the second chamber 8 is acted upon with drying air drying nozzle 9 is arranged, which is like the cleaning nozzle 1 formed by a hose portion of a plastic tube. Above the two chambers 7, 8, a control device 10 is provided, with which the functions of the cleaning device can be controlled. In the FIG. 5 in detail in a view from above (with the housing cover open) shown control device 10 know a cuboid housing 25, which by a in FIG. 5 not shown lid is closed. In the side parts of the housing connecting pieces for a compressed air inlet 11 and a compressed air outlet 12 are provided. The compressed air inlet 11 is connected to a compressor. Compressed air is supplied to the compressed air outlet 12 via a compressed air line, for which purpose one end of the compressed air line is connected to the compressed air outlet 12 and the other end to the compressed air inlet of the spray gun. In the interior of the housing 25 of the control device 10, a pressure reducer 13 is provided, with which the pending on the connected spray gun S air pressure is controlled. To control the pressure applied to the spray gun air pressure on the front of the housing 25, a selector switch 14 is provided. With this selector switch 14, the function between a cleaning function and a spraying function can be selected. In the spraying function, the full air pressure present at the compressed air inlet 11 is present at the compressed air outlet 12 and thus the attached spray gun available. In this functional position, the connected spray gun S for spraying liquid, in particular for painting in a conventional manner can be used. For manual quick cleaning of the spray gun, the function of the cleaning device is switched by means of the selector switch 14 in the cleaning function. In the cleaning function, the air pressure present at the compressed air outlet 12 is throttled by the pressure reducer 13 in relation to the air pressure at the compressed air inlet 11. At the same time 2 cleaning liquid is conveyed from the reservoir 4 into the spray nozzle 1 in the cleaning function by the conveyor. For manual cleaning of the spray gun, it is introduced into the first chamber 7 when the cleaning function is set on the cleaning device and arranged there such that the cleaning liquid flowing out of the cleaning nozzle 1 can flow into the spray channel, in particular into the paint inlet channel of the spray gun, as in FIG FIG. 3 shown. For this purpose, the spray gun S as in FIG. 3 arranged below the mouth of the cleaning nozzle 1 and the hose end of the cleaning nozzle 1 is inserted into the paint inlet channel of the spray gun S. In this position, the front touches the spray gun on which the removable air nozzle is arranged, the cleaning brush 3. To clean the front part of the spray gun S, ie in particular the air nozzle, the spray gun is manually moved back and forth and / or back and forth, so the surface in particular of the removable air nozzle rubs against the cleaning brush 3. As a result, paint residues are removed from the surface of the spray gun by friction. In this way, the spray gun S during the cleaning process both externally and in the interior, ie in the spray channel cleaned.

In order to enable the most efficient and cleaning agent-saving cleaning of the spray channel, it is expedient to release a detergent-air mixture from the cleaning nozzle 1 into the spray channel of the spray gun S. For this purpose, the conveyor 2 compressed air is supplied, which mixes them with the cleaning liquid from the reservoir 4. For this purpose, the conveying device 2 preferably has an injector pump embodied as a water jet pump, which is connected to the compressed air inlet 11 via a pressure reducer 15 arranged in the housing 25 of the control device. This operated by the compressed air from the compressed air inlet 11 water jet pump promotes cleaning liquid through the suction hose 16 from the reservoir 4 and mixes them simultaneously with the compressed air, whereby the detergent-air mixture is formed, with which the cleaning nozzle 1 is acted upon in the cleaning function of the device. After cleaning the spray gun it is removed from the first chamber 7 and guided into the second chamber 8. In the second chamber 8, the cleaned spray gun is dried by means of the Trockenblasdüse 9, for which purpose the spray gun S is held in the air flow of the Trockenblasdüse 9. For actuating the Trockenblasdüse 9, an operating knob 24 is provided, which can flow when actuated compressed air from the compressed air inlet 11 via a bypass channel 26 in the Trockenblasdüse 9. During dry blowing of the spray gun, liquid residues of the cleaning liquid are removed from the surface of the spray gun and also from the spray channel. The liquid droplets of the cleaning liquid dripping from the spray gun S are collected in the trough-shaped bottom 19 of the second chamber 8. The bottom 19 of the chamber 8 is inclined with respect to the bottom 17 of the opposite chamber 7, so that the liquid residues collecting in the bottom 19 can flow to the bottom 17 and through the drain 18 into the collecting container 5.

After completion of the cleaning and drying process, the spray gun S is removed again from the second chamber 8 and the cleaning device is changed over at the selector switch 14 in the spray function. In the spray function, the manually cleaned spray gun S can then be used again for spraying liquid, in particular for painting. When converting the cleaning device from the cleaning function in the spray function, the detergent supply is turned off in the cleaning nozzle 1 and at the same time the full air pressure available at the compressed air inlet 11 at the compressed air outlet 12 is applied.

To simplify cleaning, repair and maintenance of the cleaning device, the control device 10 from the housing 6 is removable. Thereby, the controller 10 for repair or maintenance of the housing 6, which is suitably attached to the wall, be removed. The housing 25 of the control device 10 is covered with a housing cover, wherein the housing cover preferably has edge-side upwardly projecting walls. The cover of the housing 25 can thereby be used as a storage surface for spray equipment accessories, such as paint cups. Another storage surface for sprayers or accessories is formed by the hinged on the housing 6 flap 22, on the in the open position ( FIG. 2 ) Such parts or the container 4, 5 can be turned off when changing containers.

In an exemplary embodiment, not shown here, it is provided that the collecting container 5 has a lid for closing the container, wherein the lid has a flange for connection to the drain 18. In this embodiment, it is ensured that the cleaning liquid which has collected in the trough-shaped bottom 17 and drains off through the drain 18 can flow directly into the collecting container 5. As an alternative to this embodiment, it can also be provided that a hose is flanged to the drain 18, which leads the draining cleaning liquid into a larger collecting tank, which can be arranged below the cleaning device or next to the cleaning device.

Claims (15)

1. Cleaning device for cleaning spray guns (S), in particular paint spray guns, with at least one cleaning nozzle (1) which communicates with a delivery device (2) for cleaning liquid, and with a rubbing cleaning device (3) for manual cleaning of the spray gun (S) or parts thereof, the cleaning nozzle (1) being arranged close to and above the rubbing cleaning device (3) so that cleaning liquid can be sprayed into and/or onto the spray gun (S) by the cleaning nozzle (1) and at the same time the spray gun (S) and in particular the spray gun nozzle can be cleaned manually by rubbing on the rubbing cleaning device (3), characterised in that the cleaning device comprises a control device (10) which exhibits a compressed air inlet (11) for connection to a compressed air source and a compressed air outlet (12) for connection of a spray gun and at least one pressure reducer (13) for regulating the air pressure at the spray gun.
2. Cleaning device according to claim 1, characterised in that it exhibits a first container (4) for receiving clean cleaning liquid and a second container (5) for receiving used cleaning liquid, the delivery device (2) extracting clean cleaning liquid from the first container (4) and feeding it to the cleaning nozzle (1).
3. Cleaning device according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that it exhibits a housing (6) which is open on one side and in which is provided a first chamber (7) for manual cleaning of the spray gun and a second chamber (8) for drying the cleaned spray gun.
4. Cleaning device according to claim 3, characterised in that at least one drying blowing nozzle (9) which can be supplied with compressed air is arranged in the second chamber (8).
5. Cleaning device according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the cleaning nozzle (1) is formed by the end piece of a plastic tube.
6. Cleaning device according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the control device (10) comprises a selector switch (14) with which the cleaning device can be switched between a cleaning function and a spraying function, wherein in the spraying function the full air pressure at the compressed air inlet (11) is delivered to the compressed air outlet (12) and in the cleaning function the air pressure at the compressed air outlet (12) is reduced by means of the pressure reducer (13).
7. Cleaning device according to claim 6, characterised in that when the selector switch (14) is switched from the spraying function to the cleaning function, the cleaning operation is started automatically in that the delivery device (2) delivers cleaning liquid through the cleaning nozzle (1).
8. Cleaning device according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the delivery device (2) comprises an injector pump which supplies the cleaning nozzle (1) with a cleaning liquid during the cleaning operation.
9. Cleaning device according to claim 8, characterised in that the injector pump is a water jet pump which is connected through a pressure reducer (15) to the compressed air inlet (11).
10. Cleaning device according to claim 8 or 9, characterised in that the delivery device (2) comprises an intake tube (16) through which the injector pump delivers clean cleaning liquid from the first container (4).
11. Cleaning device according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the rubbing cleaning device (3) is a cleaning brush or a cleaning paintbrush or a cleaning sponge.
12. Cleaning device according to claim 11, characterised in that the rubbing cleaning device (3) is a cylindrical or parallelepiped cleaning brush which is arranged underneath the mouth of the cleaning nozzle running at an oblique angle, in particular at an angle of 30° to 60°, in relation to the longitudinal axis of the cleaning nozzle.
13. Cleaning device according to claim 12, characterised in that the position, in particular the inclination of the cleaning brush in relation to the cleaning nozzle (1), is adjustable.
14. Cleaning device according to one of claims 3 to 13, characterised in that the bottom (17) of the first chamber (7) is embodied as a collecting tray and exhibits an outlet (18) through which cleaning liquid used in the cleaning operation dripping into the collecting tray can flow into the second container (5) arranged underneath.
15. Cleaning device according to claim 14, characterised in that the bottom (19) of the second chamber (8) is also embodied as a collecting tray which communicates with the bottom (17) of the first chamber (7) and runs at an inclined angle to the latter so that the cleaning liquid dripping on to the bottom (19) of the second chamber (8) can flow into the outlet (18).

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