Paint spray control system

Claim 2

In a spray coating system of the type including a spray station having a spray gun assembly and conveyor means for transporting objects of diverse geometry past said spray station, control apparatus comprising: sensor means including a sensing device positioned a predetermined distance in advance of said spray station for developing signal information representative of the dimensions of an object moving on said conveyor means past said sensing device; control means, coupled to said sensor means for developing digitized signals from the signal information developed by said sensor means and for storing said digitized signals until said object is advanced by said conveyor means to a predetermined position adjacent said spray station and for thereafter presenting said digitized output signals to said actuating means in correspondence with the movement of said object by said spray station; actuating means responsive to said digitized signals from said control means for operating said spray gun assembly; and overspray control means for introducing respective preselected numbers of digitized signals into said control means consecutively preceding and succeeding the digitized signals developed for said object by said sensor means to establish respective predetermined numbers of dimensional units of leading and lagging edge overspray for said object.

Claim 3

The control apparatus of claim 1 in which said control means comprises a plurality of serially coupled shift register stages, each stage for storing a digitized signal and for advancing said digitized signal to the succeeding stage with each incremental unit of travel of said conveyor means.

Claim 4

The control apparatus of claim 2 in which said overspray control means includes a plurality of shift register stages serially coupled between said sensor means and said shift register stages of said control means and in which said overspray control means further includes leading edge overspray control apparatus responsive to the initial presence of said object at said sensor means for introducing a first preselected number of digitized signals into a corresponding number of said shift register stages of said overspray control means consecutively following the first of said shift register stages to establish a number of dimensional units of leading edge overspray corresponding tO said first preselected number.

Claim 5

The control apparatus of claim 3 in which said overspray control means further includes a lagging edge overspray control means responsive to the presence of the last of said consecutive sequence of said digitized signals at a predetermined shift register stage of said overspray control means for introducing a second preselected number of digitized signals into a corresponding number of said shift register stages of said overspray control means consecutively preceding said predetermined shift register stage to establish a number of dimensional units of lagging edge overspray corresponding to said second preselected number.

Claim 6

The control apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of said sensor means having their respective sensing devices spaced vertically relative to the direction of motion of said conveyor means to define a plurality of vertically spaced sensing zones; a plurality of said control means; each associated with a respective one of said sensor means; and zone spray control means, coupled to said actuating means, including a reciprocator carriage for continuously transporting said spray gun assembly between predetermined upper and lower vertical limits, and discriminator apparatus for selectively coupling each of said plurality of control means to said actuating means according to the zone in which said spray gun is located.

Claim 7

In a spray coating system of the type including a spray station having a spray gun assembly and conveyor means for transporting object of diverse geometry past said spray station, control apparatus comprising: sensor means including a plurality of individual sensing devices positioned a predetermined distance in advance of said spray station and spaced laterally relative to one another to define a plurality of laterally spaced sensing zones for developing signal information indicating the horizontal and vertical dimensions of an object within an associated one of said sensing zones, moving on said conveyor means past said sensing device; actuating means responsive to said signal information from said control means for operating said spray gun assembly for the duration of time that said signal information is provided; control means coupled to said plurality of sensing devices for storing said signal information developed for each sensing zone by said sensing devices of said sensor means until said object is advanced by said conveyor means to a predetermined position adjacent said spray station and for thereafter presenting said signal information to said actuating means in correspondence with the movement of said object by said spray station; and zone spray control means, coupled to said actuating means, including a reciprocator carriage for continuously transporting said spray gun assembly between predetermined upper and lower vertical limits, and further including discriminator apparatus for developing an output signal responsive to the position of said reciprocator carriage and for a selectively coupling each of said control means to said actuating means according to the zone location in which said spray gun assembly.

Claim 8

In a spray coating system of the type including a spray station having a spray gun assembly and conveyor means for transporting object of diverse geometry past said spray station, control apparatus comprising: sensor means including a plurality of individual sensing devices positioned a predetermined distance in advance of said spray station and spaced laterally relative to one another to define a plurality of laterally spaced sensing zones for developing signal information indicating the horizontal and vertical dimensions of an object within an associated one of said sensing zones, moving on said conveyor means past said sensing device; actuating means responsive to said signal information from said control means for operating said spray gun assembly for the duration of time that said signal information is provided; control means coupled to said plurality of sensing devices for storing said signal information developed for each sensing zone by said sensing devices of said sensor means until said object is advanced by said conveyor means to a predetermined position adjacent said spray station and for thereafter presenting said signal information to said actuating means in correspondence with the movement of said object by said spray station; and zone spray control means, coupled to said actuating means, including a reciprocator carriage for continuously transporting said spray gun assembly between predetermined upper and lower vertical limits, and further including discriminator apparatus for developing an output signal responsive to the position of said reciprocator carriage and for a selectively coupling each of said control means to said actuating means according to the zone location in which said spray gun assembly.

Claim 9

The control apparatus of claim 6 wherein said control means comprises a plurality of individual control units; and wherein said zone spray control means includes a signal generator for developing a signal for each incremental unit of travel of said reciprocator carriage, and a binary counter incremented by said signal generator; and wherein said discriminator apparatus of said spray control means comprises a programmable decoder, coupled to said binary counter, developing a plurality of distinct enabling output signals in response to a predetermined signal input combination from said binary counter for selectively and individually coupling said control units of said control means to said actuating means.