APPLICATOR AND METHOD FOR IN-MOLD COATING
An in-mold applicator and method for spraying a coating on difficult-to-reach surfaces of a mold is disclosed. The applicator includes a spray head and a base portion at an oblique angle to each other. The outer dimensions of the body portion and the spray head are sufficiently small so that taken in combination with the oblique angle, the applicator and method can enhance the spraying of the coating to difficult-to-reach surfaces within the mold.
Latest LEAR CORPORATION Patents:
This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/115,360, filed Apr. 3, 2002 and entitled “Applicator and Method for In-Mold Coating.”
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved nozzle for use with in-mold coating processes.
2. Background Art
In-mold coating processes are used in a number of applications to spray, or otherwise apply, coatings onto the working surfaces of molds used in molding operations. One common application of in-mold coating can be found in the processes used for manufacturing the soft interior paneling of automotive vehicles, like the soft interior paneling of an instrument panel dashboard 10, shown in cross-section in
Referring to
As it is difficult for collinear applicator 22 to reach the difficult-to-reach areas, additional measures are required to manufacture skin 14 with collinear applicator 22. For example, since collinear applicator 22 cannot squarely spray undercut portion 20 (in order to squarely spray a surface, the surface must be within a width of a fan spray pattern of the applicator), the methods which use collinear applicator 22 must either coat the uncoated areas in a secondary operation, which usually consists of a human operator using a spray gun, or coat around the uncoated areas with excessive amounts of coating material so that the material can run down the sides of mold 12 to the difficult-to-reach surfaces. It is expensive, however, to have operators coat the uncoated portions in a secondary operation, and it is similarly expensive to apply excess material to the mold. Moreover, the excess coating can cause additional problems in bi-color applications in which it is desirable to have one portion of the skin coated with a first color and another portion of the skin coated with a second different color, as the running of coating material from one color into the other color can discolor the appearance of the skin.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is an object of the present invention to provide an improved applicator and method for coating difficult-to-reach in-mold portions of a mold cavity in one coating operation and without requiring excessive amounts of coating.
In accordance with one aspect of this invention, an in-mold applicator for spraying a coating on difficult-to-reach surfaces of a mold is disclosed. The in-mold applicator includes a spray head and body portion at an oblique angle to each other. The body portion and spray head have outer dimensions that are sufficiently small in combination with the oblique angle to enhance the spraying of the coating onto the difficult-to-reach surfaces of the mold.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, an in-mold applicator is disclosed for spraying a coating on a first difficult-to-reach undercut surfaces of a mold. The in-mold applicator includes a body portion and a spray head extending at an oblique angle with respect to the body portion. The body portion and spray head have outer dimensions that are sufficiently small in combination with the oblique angle to enhance the spraying of the coating to the undercut surface. Furthermore, each of the spray head and the body portion have a central passageway for delivering a liquid medium and an outer passageway surrounding the central passageway for delivering a gaseous medium. The applicator still further includes a liquid medium head joining the central passageways in liquid medium flow relationship proximate the oblique angle. In addition, the applicator includes a closable and operable liquid medium valve within the liquid medium head for selectively controlling a sufficient flow of liquid medium through the liquid medium head for atomization with the delivered gaseous medium.
In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention, a method is disclosed for spraying a coating on a mold having a first difficult-to-reach undercut surface which is not directly visible from an external view of the mold. The method includes spraying a first atomized fluid onto the mold including the undercut surfaces from an applicator having a body portion and a spray head extending at an oblique angle with respect to the body portion. The body portion and the spray head having a configuration that is sufficiently small in combination with the oblique angle such that the spray head is positional within the mold in a head-on position sufficient to squarely spray the atomized fluid onto the mold and the first undercut surface.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In either the skin making process or the foam-in-the-mold process, the applicator 30 may deliver either waterborne or solvent-borne, one component or two component, coatings for providing “Class A” surface color matches. The coatings may be delivered, for example, at 300 cubic centimeters per minute with a variable fan width from 38 to 102 millimeters at a distance of 102 millimeters from the surface being coated. In addition, the applicator 30 may be capable of delivering 50 cubic centimeters per minute of mold release agents, either waterborne or solvent-borne, with the same fan width viscosities of 22 to 30 seconds using a number 3 Zahn cup.
In general, the molding processes broadly includes a first step of spraying a mold release onto a mold, a second step of applying a skin forming material to the mold, after the mold release has had time to evaporated, or flash, its volatile elements, and a third optional step of injecting a foam material into the mold, after the skin forming material has had time to evaporated, or flash. (Flash is a term of art which references the time required for the volatile elements used to liquify the skin forming material to evaporate, typically the volatile element is water but it could also be any other soluble additive.) The novel interaction of applicator 30 with these broad steps is described below in greater detail.
Common in-mold applications require skin 14 to have a curvilinear rim portion 18 extending along a portion of the outer periphery of skin 14 for gripping foam material 16. To form curvilinear rim portion 18, or other similar edges and flats which, for example, bend away from an outer surface of the skin 14 and extend inwardly, an undercut mold portion, like undercut portion 20 shown in
As shown in
Referring to
As shown in
Applicator 30 also includes an adaptor 36 to operatively interconnect body portion 34 to a robot 38. While adaptor 36 may have any suitable dimension or configuration, in one embodiment the dimensions for the breadth squared adaptor 36 are in the range of 0.500 inch to 3.00 inches in width. In the embodiment of
The angled spray head 32 allows applicator 30 to coat difficult-to-reach surfaces in molding applications without having to apply excess coating material, and/or without requiring a manual, secondary operation. Consequently, the applicator 30 minimizes the amount of coating material required. Furthermore, use of the applicator 30 allows designers and manufacturers to produce complex parts having numerous complex surfaces and features once thought to be too expensive to manufacture because of all the secondary operations required to coat corresponding undercut surfaces, or other difficult-to-reach surfaces, of a mold.
Referring to
The particular elements for achieving the foregoing results will now be described in greater detail. Referring to
Body portion 34 generally refers to a number of components, including outer tube 44, inner tube 46, liquid medium needle valve 48, and liquid medium head or tip 50. The configuration shown is one of the many arrangements which may be used in combination with the teachings of this invention, and is not in any way intended to limit the scope of this invention. As shown, outer tube 44 generally surrounds inner tube 46 and liquid medium tip 50. The liquid medium tip 50 and inner tube 46 connect with each other to surround liquid medium needle valve 48. This arrangement forms a passageway between outer tube 44 and inner tube 46, referred to as outer body passageway 47, and another passageway between inner tube 46 and liquid medium needle valve 48, referred to as central body passageway 49.
Spray head 32 generally refers to a number of components, including spray head angled body portion 54, spray cap 56, and spray cap lock 57. As shown in
When spray head 32 is secured to body portion 34, central body passageway 49 is joined with central spray head passageway 64, and outer body passageway 47 is joined with the plurality of outer spray head passageways 66. As described above, adaptor 36 includes three valves 39, 40, and 41. The valves 39, 40 and 41 deliver fluid from robot 38 to applicator 30. Referring to
Referring to
While embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. An in-mold applicator to spray a coating on a first difficult-to-reach undercut surface of a mold, the in-mold applicator comprising:
- a body portion and a spray head extending at an oblique angle with respect to the body portion, the body portion and spray head having outer dimensions that are sufficiently small in combination with the oblique angle to enhance the spraying of the coating to the first undercut surface;
- each of the spray head and the body portion having a central passageway for delivering a liquid medium and an outer passageway surrounding the central passageway for delivering a gaseous medium;
- a liquid medium head joining the central passageways in liquid medium flow relationship proximate the oblique angle; and
- a closable and operable liquid medium valve within the liquid medium head for selectively controlling a sufficient flow of liquid medium through the liquid medium head for atomization with the delivered gaseous medium.
2. The in-mold applicator of claim 1 wherein the liquid medium is a mold release agent and the gaseous medium is air.
3. The in-mold applicator of claim 1 further comprising an adaptor for operatively connecting the in-mold applicator to a robot used to operate the applicator, the adaptor having three valves operable to supply respectively the liquid and gaseous mediums necessary to apply the coating on the first undercut surface, the three valves including a first valve providing the gaseous medium to the outer passageway of the body portion, a second valve providing the liquid medium to the central passageway of the body portion, and a third valve for actuating the liquid medium valve.
4. The in-mold applicator of claim 3 wherein the liquid medium valve is a needle valve which controls the flow of liquid medium through the liquid medium head and the central passageway at the oblique angle.
5. The in-mold applicator of claim 1 further comprising an additional spray head that is threadably connectable with the body portion, wherein the spray head is threadably connected to the body portion such that the spray head is exchangeable with the additional spray head, the additional spray head being connectable with the body portion to establish a different oblique angle with the body portion.
6. The in-mold applicator of claim 1 further comprising an additional spray head that is threadably connectable with the body portion, wherein the spray head is threadably connected to the body portion such that the spray head is exchangeable with the additional spray head, and wherein the additional spray head is configured to coat a second difficult-to-reach undercut surface that is different from the first difficult-to-reach undercut surface.
7. An in-mold applicator for spraying a coating on difficult-to-reach surfaces of a mold, the in-mold applicator comprising:
- a spray head and body portion at an oblique angle to each other, the body portion and spray head having outer dimensions that are sufficiently small in combination with the oblique angle to enhance the spraying of the coating onto the difficult-to-reach surfaces of the mold.
8. An in-mold applicator to spray a coating on a first difficult-to-reach undercut surface of a mold which is not directly visible from an external view of the mold, the applicator comprising:
- a body section and a spray head, the spray head having an angled body portion and a non-angled portion such that the spray head defines a fixed oblique angle between the angled and non-angled portions, the spray head having threads on the non-angled portion for threadably securing to threads on the body section, the body section and spray head having outer dimensions sufficiently small in combination with the oblique angle to enhance spraying of the coating onto the difficult-to-reach surfaces of the mold, the body section and spray head each including a central passageway for delivering a liquid medium and an outer passageway surrounding the central passageway for delivering a gaseous medium, the spray head further including a spray cap secured to an outlet end of the spray head by a spray cap lock, the spray cap lock having threads for securing to threads on the spray head, the spray cap lock defining an outer boundary of the spray head.
9. The applicator of claim 8 wherein a fluid may be atomized by providing the gaseous medium to the outer passageway and the liquid medium to the central passageway of the body portion such that the liquid medium collides with the gaseous medium inside the outer boundary defined by the spray cap lock.
10. The applicator of claim 9 wherein the spray head may be positioned to spray the atomized fluid within the mold in a head-on position sufficient to squarely spray the atomized fluid onto the mold and the first undercut surface.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 24, 2005
Publication Date: Jun 16, 2005
Applicant: LEAR CORPORATION (Southfield, MI)
Inventors: Joseph Donatti (Howell, MI), Andrew Mellentine (Owosso, MI), Glenn Williams (Holly, MI)
Application Number: 10/906,560