Abstract: A valve for use in conjunction with an application device having a valve housing and a valve spindle which bears a sealing element at a first free end outside the valve housing and, within the valve housing, is mounted displaceably between a closed position and a release position. The valve spindle includes at least one first piston element and at least one second piston element, wherein the first piston element is guided in a first piston space and the second piston element is guided in a second piston space, said piston spaces being bounded by the valve housing. A pressure fluid can be supplied in each case to the first piston space and to the second piston space in such a manner that a force acting in the same direction is exerted on the first piston element and on the second piston element.

Abstract: In a device for transferring vehicle wheels, an individual vehicle wheel can be gripped by a gripping module having at least one gripping unit which is supported by a frame structure and includes multiple pressing elements that can be pressed against one or more mating surfaces of an individual vehicle wheel. A first gripping module and a second gripping module are mounted on a common rigid support structure which can be rotated about a main axis of rotation by a rotating mechanism. Furthermore, the pressing elements move with a movement component running parallel to the main axis of rotation.

Abstract: A system for treating objects transported by at least one transport carriage and immersed into at least one treatment container, in which a treatment medium can be applied. The transport carriage comprises at least one swivel arm connected to the chassis in an articulated manner, on which swivel arm the object can be fastened. A hydraulically operating piston-cylinder unit having a first working chamber to drive the swivel arm and provide weight balancing. The first working chamber is made smaller during the downward motion of the swivel arm and is connected to a first pressure accumulator. The second working chamber of the piston-cylinder unit, made larger during the downward motion of the swivel arm, is connected to a source for pressurized hydraulic fluid and can be drained during the downward motion of the swivel arm. The pressure of the fluid in the accumulator swivels the swivel arm and object upward if the pressure in the second working chamber is sufficiently low.

Abstract: A treatment unit for the surface treatment of articles having at least one treatment chamber and a conveying system which conveys articles to be treated into the treatment chamber, along a conveying path through the treatment chamber and back out of the treatment chamber. Each article in each position on the conveying path prescribes a conveying direction tangential to the conveying path. An application system includes at least one multiaxis application robot, which takes along with it an application device and moves along a robot path of movement. The conveying system and the application system are set up such that the at least one application robot moves in relation to the conveying direction of an article optionally with a movement component parallel to the conveying direction of the article and/or a movement component perpendicular to the conveying direction of the article. Also, an installation and a method for the surface treatment of articles.

Abstract: The invention relates to a gate unit for gas-tight sealing of two adjacent high temperature zones within a high temperature oven, comprising a gate panel displaceable between an open position and a closed position within a guide structure. At least one sealing element is transported with the gate panel. Protecting means can be transported by the gate panel over at least one part of a transport path of the same, by which at least one segment of the sealing element can be protected over at least one part of the displacement path of the gate panel against influences harmful to the sealing element particularly against radiant heat. The invention further relates to a high temperature oven having an oven tunnel comprising a first high temperature zone and a second high temperature zone. The gate panel is disposed in a transition region between the first and the second high temperature zones.

Abstract: A surface treatment plant for vehicle bodies having a first treatment area which comprises a first conveyor system enabling a vehicle body to be conveyed through the first treatment area, and a second treatment area which includes a second conveyor system enabling the vehicle body to be conveyed through the second treatment area. A transfer device enables the vehicle body to be transferred from the first conveyor system to the second conveyor system. The transfer device includes supports which engage on regions of the vehicle body and at least one is arranged in particular on the highest point of the horizontal and the vehicle body is oriented roof upwards. Also a method for conveying vehicle bodies through a surface treatment plant.

Abstract: A method for separating arsenic and heavy metals in an acidic washing solution which contains both arsenic and heavy metal, more particularly in a washing solution which is formed in copper smelting and contains sulphuric acid, comprises a separation process section, in which arsenic and at least one primary heavy metal are separated from one another. The separation process section comprises a processing step, in which hydrogen peroxide H2O2 is added to the washing solution, and the separation process section comprises a precipitation stage, in which the washing solution is admixed with a sulphide precipitation reagent, causing the at least one primary heavy metal to precipitate in the form of a metal sulphide. The processing step in this system is carried out before the precipitation stage.

Abstract: A thermal afterburning system and a method for operating such a system are described, in which method or system a burner gas is fed in a conventional manner to a burner heating the combustion space of a combustion chamber, and exhaust air with a pollutant load is fed to the combustion space of the combustion chamber. The clean air produced inside the combustion space during the combustion processes is discharged. At the same time the carbon monoxide content of said air is measured. The supply of burner gas to the burner is regulated in such a manner that a predetermined target value for the carbon monoxide content is maintained. In this manner, the temperature in the combustion space is kept only sufficiently high as is required to achieve the desired purity of the clean gas given the respective pollutant load of the exhaust air.

Abstract: A method for checking an article with material-free regions, a three-dimensional test structure of the article is set up, this test structure comprising a negative formation of the material-free regions.

Abstract: A system for treating surfaces of objects, in particular for painting objects, in particular vehicle body parts, comprising a treatment booth, which defines a treatment space. The objects are conveyed into and back out of the treatment space by means of a conveying device. The conveying device comprises a conveying element, by means of which a first surface having a first retaining device for at least one object and at least one second surface having a second retaining device for at least one object are provided. The first and the second surface are arranged in such a way that the first or the second surface bounds the treatment space at least in some areas depending on the position of the conveying element.

Abstract: A spindle conveyor for conveying workpieces, in particular vehicle wheels, having a rail system that includes at least one support rail. Multiple conveyor carriages have a chassis that can be moved on the support rail in a conveying direction and a supporting device for workpieces which is entrained by the chassis. Each workpiece can be mounted on a workpiece spindle which is part of the supporting device which has a pair of workpiece spindles mounted so as to be rotatable as a unit relative to the chassis about a vertical axis of rotation and can be moved at least into a first rotational position and a second rotational position. Also a station for treating workpieces, in particular vehicle wheels, with such a spindle conveyor which allows the workpieces to be conveyed through the station.

Abstract: An oxidation furnace for the oxidative treatment of fibers, especially for producing carbon fibers, which comprises a process chamber arranged inside a housing, a blowing device for hot air, at least one suction device arranged in an end region of the process chamber, at least one ventilator that circulates the hot air through the blowing device, the process chamber and the suction device, and at least one heating device arranged in the flow path of the hot circulated air. The suction device is formed from a plurality of vertically interspaced suction boxes. Said boxes have at least one outlet for the hot air, and at least one inlet for hot air, communicating with the process chamber and arranged in the outward-facing side of the suction boxes, that is the side that is at a distance from the center of the process chamber.

Abstract: A rail system for an in-floor electric conveyer system having a main track with at least two fixed parallel rails, at least two secondary tracks which enclose an angle and each have fixed rails, and a switch arranged between the main track and the secondary tracks. Each rail of the main track is assigned a moveable rail section connected to the corresponding rail of the main track via a joint. Each joint has at least one end face of the rail of the main track embodied as part of a rotational face about the axis of a pivot pin, at least one end face, embodied in a complementary fashion thereto, of the assigned movable rail section and at least one transition body, which overlaps the fixed rail and the movable rail section and is connected in one end region to the fixed rail, and in the other end region to the movable rail section in an articulated fashion.

Abstract: A temperature-controlling tunnel is accommodated in a housing and defines at least one tunnel portion, which comprises at least one air outlet and at least one air inlet. The tunnel portion is paired with a heater assembly in which a hot primary gas can be generated by means of a burner unit. The hot primary gas can be conducted into a heat exchanger of the heater assembly, and tunnel air can be heated in the heat exchanger by means of the hot primary gas and fed back to the tunnel portion via the at least one air inlet in a circuit as a circulating air flow. A burner supply device is provided by means of which exhaust air from the tunnel portion can be fed to the burner unit of the heater assembly as a burner air flow in order to generate the primary gas.

Abstract: An apparatus for conveying articles, in which at least one endless drive train forms a load-bearing strand and a return strand and specifies a conveying direction. A guide device for the at least one endless drive train includes a first deflecting element and at least one second deflecting element, over which the at least one endless drive train circulates. The at least one endless drive train carries along a plurality of supporting members which are arranged and configured such that they interact with supporting structures to which at least one article can be fastened. Furthermore, the at least one endless drive train carries along a plurality of coupling members which are arranged and configured such that they interact with standardized holding components of vehicle bodies. Also, a surface treatment plant having such a conveying apparatus.

Abstract: A drier comprising a drier chamber inside a drier housing. An inner atmosphere of the drier chamber has an elevated temperature relative to the outer atmosphere. An inlet lock and an outlet lock reduce the inflow of the outer atmosphere into the drier chamber and the outflow of the inner atmosphere into the outer atmosphere. The inlet lock comprises a first air curtain, which extends over the inlet lock and which runs upward, and a second air curtain, which is behind the first air curtain in the direction of motion of the objects and which extends over the inlet lock and which runs downward. The outlet lock is designed substantially identically to the inlet lock, however the objects first pass through an air curtain directed downward and then pass through an air curtain directed upward. The conveyor system is designed that the objects are moved continuously and at a substantially constant height through the entire drier housing.

Abstract: A system for painting objects, in particular vehicle bodies or add-on parts, comprising a spray booth in which a paint can be applied to the objects. A fluid flow, which receives overspray and possibly solvent arising during the painting process, passes through the spray booth from the top down. A recovery system for recovering the overspray and possibly the solvent comprises at least one substantially vertical pipe, through which the fluid led out of the spray booth and laden with overspray and possibly solvent can flow and the surface of which is provided with elevations and/or recesses in such a way that eddies form in the fluid flowing through the pipe and the paint overspray is deposited onto the circumferential wall and flows downward out of the pipe.

Abstract: A process and a plant for obtaining highly pure methane from biogas where biogas coming from a fermenter is compressed and fed to at least one membrane unit having a selectively permeable membrane, which provides a product gas stream containing an elevated proportion of methane and a gas stream containing a reduced proportion of methane. A quality sensor may be arranged in the outlet line for the highly pure product gas. A vacuum pump, the capacity of which can be regulated, may be connected to the low-pressure side of one of the membrane units. It is controlled by a control unit which receives its input signal from the quality sensor in the outlet line, and if the proportion of methane measured by the quality sensor falls below a certain value, the capacity of the vacuum pump is regulated so that the pressure difference at the membrane increases.

Abstract: An oxidation furnace for the oxidative treatment of fibers having a processing chamber which can be found in the interior of a housing; at least one blowing device; at least one suction device; at least one ventilator that circulates the hot air through the blowing device, the processing chamber, and the suction device; and at least one heating device that lies in the flow path of the hot circulated air. Deviating rollers guide the fibers in a serpentine manner through the processing chamber such that the fibers lie next to one another as a carpet, the fiber carpet being stretched between each opposing deviating roller over one plane. The air in the processing chamber crosses the planes over which the fiber carpet is stretched at an angle that differs from 0° and 90° using special means.

Abstract: A system for treating objects having at least one dipping tank, the objects being introducible into and removable out of said dipping tank by a transport carriage which moves on two parallel rails in an operating position and has a shaft that extends from one rail to the other rail in a transverse manner with respect to the two rails in the operating position. At least one pivoting arm is connected to the shaft, said pivoting arm having a supporting frame for the object. The shaft is pivotally hinged to the body of the transport carriage in an end region that adjoins one of the two rails such that said shaft can rotate together with the pivoting arm and the supporting frame into a space-saving position, in which said shaft runs approximately parallel with respect to one of the two rails. In this manner, the transport carriage can be converted into a single-track vehicle when returning from the unloading position of the objects into the loading position.