ROBOT COVER

Abstract

A robot cover made of a film of polyvinyl alcohol in which the film is dimensioned to fit around at least a portion of an industrial robot. A fastening mechanism, such as a snap, attaches the film around that portion of the robot. After use and when presumably covered with a layer of paint, the robot cover is placed in warm water which dissolves the polyvinyl alcohol and separates the paint for subsequent disposal.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

I. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to covers for industrial robots.

II. Description of Related Art

Many industries, such as the automotive industry, utilize industrial robots to paint the manufactured components, such as automotive vehicles. Such robots enable each automotive vehicle to be painted in a consistent fashion since the robot may be programmed to perform the same painting pattern for each vehicle.

In the automotive industry, automotive manufacturers demand that the paint job for the vehicle be defect free. Any defects in the paint job for the automotive vehicle often require that the vehicle be repainted, which is not only time consuming but also expensive to perform.

The previously known robots utilized by the automotive industry to paint automotive vehicles utilized paint spray guns to spray the paint onto the vehicle. As a practical matter, not all of the paint adheres to the vehicle but, instead, a portion of the paint bounces or blows back from the vehicle and toward the robot. Unless properly addressed, the paint accumulation on the robot might otherwise break free of the robot and cause a defect on the vehicle.

In order to minimize the possibility of paint overspray or bounce back onto the robot from forming a defect on the automotive vehicle, automotive robots used to spray paint automobiles typically are covered with one or more robot covers. These previously known robot covers are typically constructed from sheet material and are wrapped around the various different components of the robot. After prolonged use, these robot covers become laden with paint and, when that happens, the cover is removed and discarded.

Current robot cover fabrics utilize various synthetic nylon or polyester, nonwoven polyurethane, and other plastic materials that do not degrade in normal environmental conditions. Such fabrics may oftentimes be rewashed and reused, but ultimately will be discarded and would be disposed of as required by environmental laws.

More specifically, such robot covers are typically discarded into a landfill when they can no longer be cleaned and reused. The rates charged by landfills, however, have increased in recent years thus increasing the overall cost of disposal of the robot covers. Furthermore, the disposal of robot covers into landfills is environmentally unfriendly since unwanted chemicals may leach into the soil at the landfill site.

Alternatively, the robot covers may be washed and reused many times before they must ultimately be discarded. Washing the covers, however, is expensive in time, equipment, and labor costs.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The present invention provides a robot cover for art industrial robot which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the previously known robot covers.

In brief, the robot cover of the present invention is constructed from a polyvinyl alcohol film. The film is dimensioned to fit around at least a portion of the industrial robot. A number of different films, furthermore, may be utilized to cover the entire robot during the painting operation.

Any conventional means may be used to attach the film to the robot. For example, mechanical snaps, laces, ties, tape and/or the like may be used to temporarily secure the film around the robot during the paint spraying operations.

Over time, the film becomes covered with paint from blow back or bounce back during the paint spray operations. When this occurs, the cover is removed from the robot and replaced by a new cover also constructed of polyvinyl alcohol film. Such removal of the soiled cover and replacement with a new cover may be rapidly accomplished so that downtime for the robot from its paint spray operation is minimal.

The old, paint covered robot cover is then placed in a container having warm water or in which warm water is introduced. The polyvinyl alcohol film is water dissolvable in warm water temperatures so that the film will dissolve and separate from the paint.

Thereafter, the paint, as well as any fasteners that might be attached to the robot cover, may be simply strained from the resulting mixture and the dissolved polyvinyl alcohol and water mixture discarded in any conventional lawful fashion. Since polyvinyl alcohol is not a highly toxic substance, it may be relatively inexpensively disposed of.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

A better understanding of the present invention will be had upon reference to the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views, and in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view illustrating a preferred embodiment of the present invention attached to a robot; and

FIGS. 2 and 3 are fragmentary views illustrating a portion of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

With reference first to FIG. 1, an exemplary robot 10 is illustrated having a manipulator arm 12. A paint spray gun 14 is carried by the manipulator arm 12 which manipulates the paint spray gun to spray the desired amount of paint in the desired pattern on a component 16. The component 16, furthermore, may be any type of component, such as an automotive vehicle, a component for an automotive vehicle, or other types of products.

Still referring to FIG. 1, not all of the paint from the paint spray gun 16 adheres to the component 16 during the paint spray operation. Instead, a portion of the paint spray from the paint spray gun 16 during the paint spray operation bounces or blows back from the product during the paint spray operation back toward the robot itself. Likewise, in the event that there are multiple robots paint spraying the component at the same time, any overspray from one robot may be directed toward the other robot or robots.

In order to prevent the robot from being covered with excess paint after prolonged use, an exemplary robot cover 20 is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The robot cover 20 is dimensioned so that it encases at least a portion of the robot, such as the robot manipulator arm 12. Other robot covers may be similarly dimensioned to cover other portions of the robot so that, after one or more robot covers 20 are attached to the robot, virtually the entire robot is covered by the robot covers.

Any conventional means may be utilized to attach the robot cover or covers 20 to the robot 10. For example, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, mechanical snaps 22 attached to the cover 20 allow two spaced apart edges of the robot cover 20 to be snapped and secured together after the robot cover encapsulates at least a portion of the robot 10. Other fastener mechanisms, such as ties, straps, tape, zippers, etc., may alternatively be used to attach the cover 20 around its associated portion of the robot 10.

Since the robot is encapsulated with one or more robot covers 10, during the painting operation, blow back or bounce back from the spray gun, as well as overspray from other spray guns, cover the outside of the cover 20, rather than the robot 10. After a period of time, the cover 20 may be covered with an excess amount of paint and require replacement. When this happens, the old and paint laden cover 20 is removed from the robot and replaced by a new cover 20.

Unlike the previously known robot covers, the cover 20 of the present invention is formed from polyvinyl alcohol film Polyvinyl alcohol film is water soluble in warm water.

Consequently, once a cover 20 has become covered with excess paint and requires removal, the paint laden cover is placed in a container along with warm water. The warm water dissolves the polyvinyl alcohol and allows the paint to sink to the bottom of the container as well as any fasteners that may have been attached to the cover. The paint can then be filtered out from the mixture, together with any fasteners, and the remaining polyvinyl alcohol and water mixture safely disposed of. Likewise, the separated paint may be compactly collected and disposed of in any lawful fashion. Such collected paint, however, consumes much less volume than the previously known covers that were covered with paint and discarded.

From the foregoing, it can be seen that the present invention provides a simple, inexpensive and yet effective cover for an industrial robot which is environmentally friendly by consuming minimum volumes within landfills. Furthermore, by minimizing the volume of the discarded waste, the cost for discarding the removed paint is also minimized.

Having described my invention, however, many modifications thereto will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which it pertains without deviation from the spirit of the invention as defined by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A robot cover comprising:

a polyvinyl alcohol film dimensioned to fit around at least a portion of a robot, and

a fastening mechanism which attaches said film around said portion of the robot.

2. The cover as defined in claim 1 wherein said fastening mechanism comprises a fastener snap.