WO2009147073A1

WO2009147073A1 - Paint booth

Info

Publication number: WO2009147073A1
Application number: PCT/EP2009/056571
Authority: WO
Inventors: Philippe Dubourg
Original assignee: Abb France
Priority date: 2008-06-05
Filing date: 2009-05-28
Publication date: 2009-12-10
Also published as: FR2932103A1

Abstract

The invention concerns a booth (1) for painting motor vehicle bodywork body shells (12), the transverse dimension L of the booth (1) comprising at least some narrow zones at the location of support poles (2, 3, 4, 5) of portals (P1, P2) supporting painting robots (8, 9, 10, 11), and at least one robot (14, 15) for manipulating doors (13) which is mounted mobile on a longitudinal rail (16, 17) of the booth (1). The longitudinal rail (16, 17) is located substantially at the middle level of the door (13), between two support poles (2, 3, 4, 5) and has a transverse width (E) in the booth (1) which is less than the transverse width (C) of the poles (2, 3, 4, 5).

Description

PAINT BOOTH

The present invention concerns paint booths for motor vehicle body shells.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Many existing paint booths have a width no larger than five meters, inside which space it is necessary to house the supports for painting robots because the immediate environment of these booths does not make it possible to house the support frames outside these five meters. The most recent robots, with six axes and a large action radius, require support structures with substantial dimensions. In general, these robots are supported by box beams in the upper part of the booth, and it is not uncommon to have to use poles of some 400 mm thick in order to support them. This architecture results in a decreased width of the line along the conveyor of the body shells to be painted, which is reduced by a little over four meters. This dimension is, for some vehicles, too small to be able to allow the body to pass by them with the doors open in order to paint their inside surface. The problem to be resolved consists of finding the means to arrange a body shell, with the doors open, in order to allow the painting of its inside whereas there is a limit due to the insufficient width of the booth - at least in places - preventing a continuous state of open doors during the journey of the shell in the booth. The solution involves the use of robots ensuring the opening and closing of the doors upon passage by the poles. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of this invention is therefore a paint booth the transverse dimension of which comprises at least some narrow zones at the location of support poles of upper beams supporting painting robots, characterized in that it comprises at least one door manipulating robot mounted mobile on a longitudinal rail of the booth located substantially at the middle level of the door, between two support poles, said longitudinal rail having a transverse width in the booth which is less than the transverse width of the poles.

It is clear that in this way, the useful width of the booth between two poles remains greater than its width at the facing poles supporting the beams. One can, for example, manage to reduce the width of the guide rail of a door manipulator to half that of a pole, which can be sufficient to achieve complete opening of the doors in the booth. If the length between two poles is not sufficient to paint inside a door, each manipulator which accompanies the vehicle along its journey in the booth manipulates the door at the end of the travel of the vehicle in a booth in order to close it whereas another manipulator is provided, once the door has passed the pole because of which it was necessary to shut it against the shell to be painted, in order to open it again after passing the pole and to finish the interior painting operation.

The door manipulators are light robots, which makes it possible to support them using a weaker structure than required for large, stationary painting robots with a large motion space and which therefore have, regarding their supports, large overhangs which should be cased in massive, and therefore voluminous structures.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description provided below of one embodiment of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Reference will be made to the appended drawings, in which: - the sole figure l is a perspective view of a paint booth according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

By referring to this figure, it is visible the presence of two longitudinal portals Pi and P2, completely housed inside a paint booth 1 whereof the side walls rise in the immediate vicinity of the poles 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the portals. The two longitudinal beams of the portals, indicated by 6 and 7 in the figure, form the support for four stationary painting robots 8, 9, 10 and 11.

These robots, with six axes, have a substantial development and, due in particular to the large overhanging masses, demand a massive support of thick beams and poles, typically with a square section of 400 millimeters per side (dimension indicated by the reference c in the figure).

This dimension of the support on the width L of the booth puts a limit on the transverse bulk of the body shell 12 to be painted, which moves along one way or the other of the direction

D in the booth. In the specific example of this description, the width of the booth is reduced from equal to 5 meters to a useful value equal to 4.2 meters. This width does not make it possible to pass through certain body shells 12 with open doors 13.

The invention consists of implementing door manipulators 14 and 15 so as to be able to open and close the doors as they pass through narrow zones of the booth. These manipulators must accompany the doors with the vehicle body shell along a guide rail 16, 17, the characteristic of which is to have a thickness smaller than the dimension C of the sides of the section of the poles 2 to 5. This thickness E, for example equal to half the dimension C, therefore allows a useful remaining width of the booth which is increased in relation to the narrowed width between the poles, which is in many cases sufficient, of about 4.60 meters in the specific example of the description, so that the doors can be totally open and it is possible to paint their interior surface. This smaller width is possible because the door manipulators are small robots, much lighter than the painting robots and have a much less substantial overhang than the painting robots. The rails 16 and 17 in reality are part of lateral structures which participate in holding and bracing the portals Pi and P2 by stiffening the structure and making it possible to multiply the fitting points of these portals on the ground via struts, fixing brackets etc., distributed along these lateral structures.

The invention makes it possible to proceed with adaptations of existing booths, in which it is not possible to increase the width of the transverse dimension on the ground, so as to be able to process vehicle body shells whereof the maximum width is greater than that of the narrow zones of the booth. It constitutes a means for substantially reducing the amount of investments when it involves reconditioning a paint line.

Claims

1. A paint booth (1) for painting body shells (12) of motor vehicle bodywork, the transverse dimension L of said booth comprising at least some narrow zones at the location of support poles (2, 3, 4, 5) of portals (Pi, P2) supporting painting robots (8, 9, 10, 11), characterized in that it comprises at least one door manipulating robot (14, 15) mounted mobile on a longitudinal rail (16, 17) of the booth which is located substantially at the middle level of the door between two support poles (2, 3, 4, 5), the transverse width (E) of said longitudinal rail (16, 17) in the booth being smaller than that the transverse width (C) of the poles.

2. The paint booth according to claim 1 , characterized in that the transverse width (E) of the rails (16, 17) of which said door manipulator robots are mounted is about half the transverse width (C) of the poles.

3. The paint booth according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said rail (16, 17) is part of a bracing structure of each portal (Pi, P2).