Thermoplastic paint marking system and method
OwnerJeffrey Arnold Wilkens, Timothy John Marthe +2inventors
InventorsJeffrey Arnold Wilkens, Timothy John Marthe, Jonathan Robert Gonitzke, James Peter Spielman
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Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for use with a thermoplastic road marking system (e.g., paint truck). The systems and methods control an insertion or replenishment rate of unmelted thermoplastic paint feed stock into a thermoplastic melter based, at least in part, on the rate that thermoplastic melt is being applied to a marking surface. By substantially matching the replenishment rate into the thermoplastic melter with the application rate, thermal variance within the thermoplastic melter is reduced, which improves the consistency of marking lines applied to surfaces.
Claims10
A system for applying a pavement marking material to a road surface, comprising:
- a hopper having an interior configured to hold a supply of unmelted thermoplastic feedstocks;
- a dispenser configured to elevate a portion of the unmelted thermoplastic feedstock disposed within the interior of the hopper to an outlet connectable to a melter chute to controllably dispense the portion of the unmelted thermoplastic feedstock through the melter chute;
- at least one load cell disposed between the hopper and a support surface configured to generate a first output indicative of a weight of the supply of the unmelted thermoplastic feed stock in the hopper;
- a melter disposed adjacent to the hopper on the support surface and having:
- a kettle having a hollow interior with an upper inlet disposed above a bottom surface of the hopper for receiving the unmelted thermoplastic feedstock from the melter chute, and
- at least a first burner for applying thermal energy to a lower end of the kettle to melt the unmelted thermoplastic feedstock within the hollow interior of the kettle to produce thermoplastic melt;
- a paint applicator connected to an outlet in the lower end of the kettle, the paint applicator configured to apply the thermoplastic melt to a marking surface;
- at least one sensor configured to generate a second output indicative of an application rate of the thermoplastic melt to the marking surface;
- and
- a controller connected to the load cell and the sensor, wherein the controller is operative to:
- calculate a rate of weight change of the supply of the unmelted thermoplastic feed stock in the hopper, wherein the rate of weight change corresponds to a dispensing rate of the dispenser;
- and
- generate dispenser control signals for receipt by the dispenser to alter the dispensing rate of the dispenser to match the application rate of the thermoplastic melt to the marking surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.