Distributed control system for powder coating system

A coating system for applying a coating medium to a workpiece comprising:

• at least one coating device for dispensing the coating medium;
• a local operating network bus;
• a central system control connected with said local operating network bus and having a memory storing a database of sets of parameters relating to an operation of said at least one coating device;
• a workpiece sensor in electrical communications with said central system control and providing input information to said central system control representing a physical characteristic of the workpiece;
• and
• at least one digital control forming a network node on said local operating network bus and receiving a set of parameters from said central system control for controlling the operation of said at least one coating device.

A coating system for applying a coating medium to a workpiece comprising:

• at least one coating device for dispensing the coating medium;
• a local operating network bus;
• a central system control in electrical communications with said local operating network bus and having a memory storing a database of sets of parameters relating to an operation of said at least one coating device;
• and
• at least one digital control forming a network node on said local operating network bus, said digital control node comprising a regulator for setting a flow of the coating medium dispensed by said coating device, and said digital control receiving a set of parameters from said central system control for controlling the operation of said at least one coating device.

A coating system for applying a coating medium to a workpiece comprising:

• at least one coating device for dispensing the coating medium;
• a local operating network bus;
• a central system control forming a node on said local operating network bus and having a memory storing a database of sets of parameters relating to an operation of said at least one coating device;
• and
• at least one coating device control forming a node on said local operating network bus and comprising
• a digital processor,
• a memory for receiving a set of parameters from said central system control for controlling the operation of said at least one coating device, and
• a regulator for setting a flow of the coating medium to be discharged by said coating device.

A method of coating articles being conveyed through a coating booth by spraying the articles with a coating medium from a plurality of spray guns comprising:

• detecting an article as it approaches to the coating booth;
• providing information identifying the location and the article to a bus;
• communicating the information across the bus to nodes connected to the bus in a network configuration, the nodes including a system control node and a plurality of spray gun nodes;
• and
• receiving the information from the bus with the spray gun nodes, each of the spray gun nodes utilizing the information to control one of a coating material flow and a charging voltage for a spray gun associated with a respective spray gun node.