Nordson Corporation

Gerald W Crum

Joseph G Schroeder

William Mark Rucki

Jeanne Marie Leidy

Eddie W Dixson, Jr

Charles L Gatian, Iii

Cynthia A Skelton-Becker

Alan J Knobbe

Curtis B Haller

Laurence B Saidman

Masafumi Matsunaga

Timothy E Wilson

Wataru Kakuta

Ronald E Niemiec

William L Palmer

Raymond J Merk

Thomas E Hollstein

John C Traylor

Alan B Reighard

Lawrence J Macartney

Eric T Nord

Simon Z Tamny

Jerome F Walker

Evans Kostas

Brian M Rooney

Jeffrey R Shutic

Jeffrey A Perkins

William R Rehman

Donald R Hastings

Jeffery Edward Dailidas

John Sharpless

Harry J Lader

Richard G Klein

Allen R Newman

Robert J Holland

James L Kennon

Richard D Burke

John A Hendricks

William S Miller

David L Moses

Richard C Morgan

Louis A Frey

John C Dunn

Kenneth A White

Sergey V Guskov

A powder coating control system comprising a plurality of gun controls associated with a like plurality of powder spray guns. Each of the gun controls stores a plurality of presets spray parameters. Each of the gun controls responds to part identification signals and part position signals to select in real time one of the stored presets of spray parameters and trigger its respective powder spray gun ON and OFF to apply a powder coating to the moving part in accordance with the selected set of spray parameters. The control system further permits a gun purge cycle to be programmed either before or after the powder coating process is executed. The control system automatically initializes and brings each of the gun controls to an operable state on-line with the system control.

Distributed control system for powder coating system

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for spraying powder into the interior of welded hollow can bodies from a spray gun mounted to the welding arm of a can forming machine. The spray gun can either apply a stripe of highly charged powder on the welded seam areas of hollow can bodies, or can simultaneously apply a coating of powder having a first thickness on the longitudinally welded seam areas and a second thickness less than the first thickness on the remainder of the interior surface. Air is vented off from the powder flow being transported through the welding arm so that the powder to air ratio is increased. Air is introduced at the downstream end of the welding arm to provide a suction force to help draw the powder flow through the welding arm and to increase the velocity of the powder flow for better tribo charging of the powder in the gun and to improve spray pattern stability. A flow of cleaning air through the powder spray gun prevents powder from collecting on the front surface of an offset nozzle secured to the spray gun. The gun assembly is affectively grounded to prevent arcing, and has an exterior shape which has been geometrically configured to improve powder coating of the can. A collector hood surrounds an input conveyor on which cans are transported while being spray coated and an output conveyor which removes the cans at a higher speed than at which they traveled on the input conveyor. The collector hood has two operating conditions for collecting oversprayed powder from between the cans during the spraying operation or directly from the gun when the cans are not being sent down the line.

Densifier for powder coating welded cans

Apparatus for powder coating welding cans

A mounting assembly for adjustably mounting a spray gun onto a mounting bar comprises a ball-and-socket joint attached at one end to the bar and attached at the other end to the gun, and an adjustment sleeve extending along the exterior of the bar. The sleeve is attached to the ball-and-socket joint and adapted to tighten the socket around the ball when the sleeve is turned to retain the gun securely in a desired position with respect to the bar. The mounting assembly allows for positioning the spray gun in an almost limitless range of possible orientations, and allows the securing mechanism to be easily tightened and loosened by the operator by turning the adjustment sleeve. An anti-back-ionization probe is attached to the gun and extends externally to the gun along the top or side of the gun. The probe comprising an elongated rod, which is easily removable and easily adjustable in length.

Mounting assembly for spray gun with anti-back-ionization probe

A powder spray coating system includes a spray gun for spraying powder in a spray pattern onto a part. The spray gun includes an electrode connected to a power supply, the electrode charging powder as the powder is dispensed from the gun toward the part. A first current sensor measures gun current from the power supply to the electrode. An ABI probe or ion collector is mounted with the gun for collecting free ions produced by the electrode. The collector has a forward portion positioned near the spray pattern and spaced from the electrode. A second current sensor measures return current from the ion collector. A regulating assembly regulates the return current from the ion collecting device. A controller is connected to the first and second current sensors and to the regulating assembly for operating the regulating assembly in accordance with a predetermined setting representing the difference between the gun current and the return current. The system automatically adjusts the position or effective position of the forward tip of the ABI probe relative to tip of the gun as parts of different shapes and geometry pass before the gun.

Spray gun having an anti-back-ionization probe with a control system

An apparatus and method for pumping a constant volume of powder to a powder spray gun includes a powder pump which meters the powder into a stream of air so that a constant volume of the air entrained powder is distributed to the spray gun. The invention also discloses a pressure equalizing system that prevents powder leakage across a powder metering system that meters powder from a reservoir into an outlet tube carrying the constant velocity stream of air. A control system is disclosed which adjusts the rate at which powder is metered into the outlet tube so that the mass flow of powder exiting the outlet tube remains constant.

System and method of pumping a constant volume of powder

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for spraying powder into the interior of welded hollow can bodies from a spray gun mounted to the welding arm of a can forming machine. The spray gun can either apply a stripe of highly charged powder on the welded seam areas of hollow can bodies, or can simultaneously apply a coating of powder having a first thickness on the longitudinally welded seam areas and a second thickness less than the first thickness on the remainder of the interior surface. Air is vented off from the powder flow being transported through the welding arm so that the powder to air ratio is increased. Air is introduced at the downstream end of the welding arm to provide a suction force to help draw the powder flow through the welding arm and to increase the velocity of the powder flow for better tribo charging of the powder in the gun and to improve spray pattern stability. A flow of cleaning air through the powder spray gun prevents powder from collecting on the front surface of an offset nozzle secured to the spray gun. The gun assembly is affectively grounded to prevent arcing, and has an exterior shape which has been geometrically configured to improve powder coating of the can.

Apparatus for powder coating welded cans

Apparatus and methods for pumping a uniform flow of air entrained powder at low flow settings to a diffuser of an electrostatic spray gun which disperses the powder and cools the spray gun. A single or double stage pump with a bleed port design draws powder into the pump from a powder container when compressed air directed into the pump is above a predetermined pressure. In another embodiment, a pump delivers a constant velocity of air entrained powder to the spray gun.

Powder coating gun mounted diffuser and air cooled heat sink in

An improved power supply for an electrostatic spray gun device having a voltage multiplier circuit adjusts to variations in the output load conditions of the multiplier circuit and dynamically modifies the operational loadline of the multiplier circuit in order to maintain optimal operating conditions for the spray gun device notwithstanding output load variations. The power supply utilizes a loadline manipulation circuit coupled to a feedback circuit that monitors the output load, and the manipulation circuit, in response to a feedback signal from the feedback circuit that is proportional to the output load, varies the input voltage level to the multiplier circuit to modify the loadline of the power supply in response to varying load conditions. The manipulator means of the power supply has memory means to store a variety of external commands which will control the manipulation means and a user interface to enter the external commands into the memory. The power supply also comprises a voltage limiting circuit coupled to the output of the multiplier circuit which regulates the output voltage level of the multiplier circuit so that when the output load current increases above a predetermined maximum level the output voltage is reduced to reduce the high voltage stress on the multiplier circuit and high voltage circuitry and reduce the amount of insulation that must surround the multiplier circuit and high voltage circuitry of the power supply in order to insulate it from ground potential.

Spray gun device with dynamic loadline manipulation power supply

Growing community of inventors

Elyria, OH, United States of America

Gerald W Crum