Apparatus and method for measuring paint usage in a painting system
OwnerRoger S. Canninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and method for measuring paint usage in a painting system of the type having a reservoir (12) connected to an atomizer (14) by a supply line (16) and return line (18). A feed flowmeter (24) is disposed in the atomizer feed line (16) and a return flowmeter (26) is disposed in the atomizer return line (18) for measuring the respective volumes of paint flow through the atomizer feed line (16) and return line (18). A processor (28) provides the difference between the volume of paint flow through the atomizer feed and return lines (16,18) as measured by the feed and return flowmeters (24,26), respectively, to determine the volume of paint discharged through the atomizer (14).
Claims13
An apparatus for measuring and controlling paint usage in a painting system (10), said apparatus comprising:
- a reservoir (12) for holding a supply of paint;
- an atomizer (14) for discharging paint toward an object to be painted;
- an atomizer feed line (16) extending between said reservoir (12) and said atomizer (14) for supplying paint from said reservoir (12) to said atomizer (14);
- an atomizer return line (18) extending between said atomizer (14) and said reservoir (12) for returning a portion of the paint supplied to said atomizer (14) back to said reservoir (12);
- a feed flowmeter (24) positioned in said atomizer feed line (16) for measuring the volume of paint flow through said atomizer feed line (16), a return flowmeter (26) positioned in said atomizer return line (18) for measuring the volume of paint flow through said atomizer return line (18), and a processor (28) for providing the difference between the volume of paint flow through said atomizer feed line (16) as determined by said feed flowmeter (24) and the volume of paint flow through said atomizer return line (18) as determined by said return flowmeter (26) to determine the volume of paint flow discharged through said atomizer (14);
- valve means (22) disposed in said atomizer (14) for terminating paint flow through said atomizer (14), said valve means (22) comprising a variable orifice (30) for varying the volume of paint flow through said atomizer (14);
- and
- characterized by a feedback loop (32) extending from said variable orifice (30) to said processor (28) for controlling said variable orifice (30) to maintain a predetermined volume of paint flow through said atomizer (14).
An apparatus for measuring and controlling paint usage in a painting system (10), said apparatus comprising:
- a reservoir (12) for holding a supply of paint;
- a plurality of atomizers (14) for discharging paint toward an object to be painted;
- a system supply line (34) extending from said reservoir (12) for supplying paint from said reservoir (12) to each of said atomizers (14);
- a system reservoir line (36) extending to said reservoir (12) for returning paint from said atomizers (14) back to said reservoir (12);
- one atomizer feed line (16) per each of said atomizers (14) extending from said system supply line (34) to each said atomizer (14) for supplying paint from said system supply line (34) to each atomizer (14);
- one atomizer return line (18) per each of said atomizers (14) extending from each said atomizer (14) to said system reservoir line (36) for returning paint from each atomizer (14) back to said system reservoir line (36);
- a feed flowmeter (24) positioned in each of said atomizer feed lines (16) for measuring the volume of paint flow through each of said atomizer feed lines (16), a return flowmeter (26) positioned in each of said atomizer return lines (18) for measuring the volume of paint flow through each of said atomizer return lines (18), and a processor (28) for providing the difference between the volume of paint flow through each of said atomizer feed lines (16) as determined by each of said feed flowmeters (24) and the volume of paint flow through each of said atomizer return lines (18) as determined by each of said return flowmeters (26) to determine the volume of paint flow discharged through each of said atomizers (14);
- valve means (22) disposed in each of said atomizers (14) for terminating paint flow through each of said atomizers (14) wherein each of said valve means (22) comprises a variable orifice (30) for varying the volume of paint flow through each of said atomizers (14);
- and
- characterized by one feedback loop (32) per each of said atomizers (14) extending from each of said variable orifices (30) to said processor (28) for controlling each of said variable orifices (30) to maintain a predetermined volume of paint flow through each of said atomizers (14).
A method for measuring and controlling paint usage in a painting system (10) of the type having a reservoir (12) for holding a supply of paint, an atomizer (14) for discharging paint toward an object to be painted, an atomizer feed line (16) extending between the reservoir (12) and the atomizer (14) for supplying paint from the reservoir (12) to the atomizer (14), and an atomizer return line (18) extending between the atomizer (14) and the reservoir (12) for returning a portion of the paint supplied to the atomizer (14) back to the reservoir (12);
- said method comprising the steps of:
- measuring the volume of paint flow through the atomizer feed line (16);
- measuring the volume of paint flow through the atomizer return line (18);
- determining the difference between these two measurements to determine the volume of paint flow discharged through the atomizer (14);
- comparing the volume of paint flow discharged from the atomizer (14) to a desired predetermined volume of paint flow;
- and
- controlling the volume of paint flow discharged from the atomizer (14) so that the volume of paint flow discharged from the atomizer (14) equals the desired predetermined volume of paint flow.
A method for measuring and controlling paint usage in a painting system (10) of the type having a reservoir (12) for holding a supply of paint, a plurality of atomizers (14) for discharging paint toward an object to be painted, a system supply line (34) extending from the reservoir (12) for supplying paint from the reservoir (12) to each atomizer (14), a system reservoir line (36) extending to the reservoir (12) for returning a portion of the paint supplied to each atomizer (14) back to the reservoir (12), one atomizer feed line (16) per each atomizer (14) for supplying paint from the system supply line (34) to each atomizer (14), one atomizer return line (18) per each atomizer (14) for returning a portion of the paint supplied to each atomizer (14) to the system reservoir line (36);
- said method comprising the steps of:
- measuring the volume of paint flow through each atomizer feed line (16);
- measuring the volume of paint flow through each atomizer return line (18);
- determining the difference between these two measurements to determine the volume of paint flow discharged through each atomizer (14);
- comparing the volume of paint flow discharged from each atomizer (14) to a desired predetermined volume of paint flow for each atomizer (14), and
- controlling the volume of paint flow discharged from each atomizer (14) so that the volume of paint flow discharged from each atomizer (14) equals the desired predetermined volume of paint flow for each atomizer (14).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.