Patent · US9821337B2 · B2 · US

Integrated fluidjet system for stripping, prepping and coating a part

(11) Publication number

US9821337B2

(21) Application number

15/297,265

(22) Filing date

2016-10-19

(30) Priority date

2013-11-08

(43) Publication date

2017-11-21

(45) Date of grant

2017-11-21

(51) IPC

B05B 1/08; B05B 12/08; B05B 13/04; B05B 15/12; B05B 17/06; B05B 5/00; B05B 5/03; B05B 5/035; B05B 5/053; B05B 5/08; B05B 5/10; B05B 5/16; B05C 15/00; B05C 19/00; B05D 1/12; B05D 3/12; B08B 3/02; B24C 3/12; B24C 5/00; B24C 7/00; B25J 11/00; B25J 21/00; C23C 18/18; C23C 24/04; C25D 15/00; C25D 21/12; C25D 5/00; C25D 5/08; C25D 5/34; C25D 5/50

(52) CPC

C25D Processes for the electrolytic or electrophoretic production of coatings; electroforming; apparatus therefor: 5/08, 13/02, 13/20, 13/22, 15/00, 21/12, 5/006, 5/007, 5/34, 5/50
B05B Spraying apparatus; atomising apparatus; nozzles: 1/08, 1/083, 12/08, 13/0431, 14/40, 15/12, 15/1207, 15/1214, 15/1225, 16/00, 16/20, 16/40, 17/06, 17/0607, 17/0653, 5/001, 5/006, 5/032, 5/035, 5/08, 5/082, 5/10, 5/16
B05C Apparatus for applying fluent materials to surfaces, in general: 15/00, 19/00
B05D Processes for applying fluent materials to surfaces, in general: 1/12, 3/12
B08B Cleaning in general; prevention of fouling in general: 2203/0288, 3/024
B24C Abrasive or related blasting with particulate material: 3/12, 5/005, 7/00
B25J Manipulators; chambers provided with manipulation devices: 11/0075, 21/00
C23C Coating metallic material; coating material with metallic material; surface treatment of metallic material by diffusion into the surface, by chemical conversion or substitution; coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering, by ion implantation or by chemical vapour deposition, in general: 18/1806, 24/04

(73) Assignee

VLN Advanced Technologies Inc

(72) Inventors

Mohan M. Vijay; Meisheng M. Xu; Emilio Panarella; Wenzhuo Yan; Andrew Hung Tieu; Bruce R. Daniels

(54) Title

Integrated fluidjet system for stripping, prepping and coating a part

(57) Abstract

An integrated liquidjet system capable of stripping, prepping and coating a part includes a cell defining an enclosure, a jig for holding the part inside the cell, an ultrasonic nozzle having an ultrasonic transducer for generating a pulsed liquidjet, a coating particle source for supplying coating particles to the nozzle, a pressurized liquid source for supplying the nozzle with a pressurized liquid to enable the nozzle to generate the pulsed liquidjet to sequentially strip, prep and coat the part, a high-voltage electrode and a ground electrode inside the nozzle for charging the coating particles, and a human-machine interface external to the cell for receiving user commands and for controlling the pulsed liquidjet exiting from the nozzle in response to the user commands.

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Claims (12)

An integrated liquidjet system capable of stripping, prepping and coating a part, the integrated liquidjet system comprising: a cell defining an enclosure; a jig for holding the part inside the cell wherein the cell includes a Faraday cage; an ultrasonic nozzle having an ultrasonic transducer for generating a pulsed liquidjet; a coating particle source for supplying coating particles to the ultrasonic nozzle; a pressurized liquid source for supplying the nozzle with a pressurized liquid to enable the ultrasonic nozzle to generate the pulsed liquidjet to sequentially strip, prep and coat the part; a high-voltage electrode and a ground electrode inside the nozzle for charging the coating particles; and a human-machine interface external to the cell for receiving user commands and for controlling the pulsed liquidjet exiting from the ultrasonic nozzle in response to the user commands.
The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the pulsed liquidj et is a forced pulsed waterjet.
The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the jig comprises a turntable for rotating the part at an angular velocity controlled by the human-machine interface.
The system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising an exhaust system for exhausting air from the cell.
The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the human-machine interface provides a first set of operating parameters for coating removal, a second set of operating parameters for surface prepping, and a third set of operating parameters for coating.
The system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a machine vision subsystem that performs optical inspection of the part to determine when stripping is complete and to automatically switch to prepping.
An integrated liquidjet system capable of prepping and coating a part, the integrated liquidjet system comprising: a cell defining an enclosure; a jig for holding the part inside the cell wherein the cell includes a Faraday cage; an ultrasonic nozzle having an ultrasonic transducer for generating a pulsed liquidjet; a coating particle source for supplying coating particles to the ultrasonic nozzle; a pressurized liquid source for supplying the ultrasonic nozzle with a pressurized liquid to enable the ultrasonic nozzle to generate the pulsed liquidjet to sequentially prep and coat the part; a high-voltage electrode and a ground electrode inside the ultrasonic nozzle for charging the coating particles; and a human-machine interface external to the cell for receiving user commands and for controlling the pulsed liquidjet exiting from the ultrasonic nozzle in response to the user commands.
The system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the pulsed liquidjet is a forced pulsed waterjet.
The system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the jig comprises a turntable for rotating the part at an angular velocity controlled by the human-machine interface.
The system as claimed in claim 7 further comprising an exhaust system for exhausting air from the cell.
The system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the human-machine interface provides a first set of operating parameters for coating removal, a second set of operating parameters for surface prepping, and a third set of operating parameters for coating.
The system as claimed in claim 7 further comprising a machine vision subsystem that performs optical inspection of the part to determine when stripping is complete and to automatically switch to prepping.

Description

The present invention relates generally to fluidjets and, in particular, to techniques for stripping, prepping and coating a part using a pulsed or continuous fluidjet.

Conventionally, coating a part is a two-stage or three-stage process, depending on whether the part to be coated is new or was already in service. If the part is new, in the first stage, the surface to be coated is prepped using grit blasting. In the second stage, following prepping, the coating is applied to the surface. If the part was already in service, then the three-stage process consists of stripping the existing coating, followed by prepping, then applying the new coating. Many different coating and plating technologies are known. What follows is an overview of some of the main technologies currently in use today.

Chrome Plating

Chrome plate has been the mainstay for applications with intense stress, such as the landing gear on aircraft. Other applications include extreme wear conditions, like the hydraulic shafts on heavy earth moving vehicles. It offers the following properties:

(i) Hardness: At 65 to 70-Rc (850-1000-Hv), hard chrome plate is harder than most industrial abrasives. Combined with inherent toughness, it can withstand high stress contact.

(ii) Substrate adhesion: With adhesion greater than 10-kpsi, hard chrome coatings can endure large stresses without detaching from the substrate.

(iii) Chrome can be applied on a wide variety of substrates.

(iv) Chrome responsive finish: responds well to grinding and polishing.

Citations (20)

GB1103190A
US3801869A
US4020393A
US4334780A
US5154347A
US5612096A
US5436645A
US5585921A
US20020098776A1
US6276617B1
US20020153117A1
US7594614B2
US7184138B1
US20070160769A1
US7594641B2
US8550873B2
US20110250361A1
US8389066B2
US8691014B2
US8297540B1

Record as JSON

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  "publication_number": "US9821337B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Integrated fluidjet system for stripping, prepping and coating a part",
  "abstract": "An integrated liquidjet system capable of stripping, prepping and coating a part includes a cell defining an enclosure, a jig for holding the part inside the cell, an ultrasonic nozzle having an ultrasonic transducer for generating a pulsed liquidjet, a coating particle source for supplying coating particles to the nozzle, a pressurized liquid source for supplying the nozzle with a pressurized liquid to enable the nozzle to generate the pulsed liquidjet to sequentially strip, prep and coat the part, a high-voltage electrode and a ground electrode inside the nozzle for charging the coating particles, and a human-machine interface external to the cell for receiving user commands and for controlling the pulsed liquidjet exiting from the nozzle in response to the user commands.",
  "claims": [
    "1. An integrated liquidjet system capable of stripping, prepping and coating a part, the integrated liquidjet system comprising: a cell defining an enclosure; a jig for holding the part inside the cell wherein the cell includes a Faraday cage; an ultrasonic nozzle having an ultrasonic transducer for generating a pulsed liquidjet; a coating particle source for supplying coating particles to the ultrasonic nozzle; a pressurized liquid source for supplying the nozzle with a pressurized liquid to enable the ultrasonic nozzle to generate the pulsed liquidjet to sequentially strip, prep and coat the part; a high-voltage electrode and a ground electrode inside the nozzle for charging the coating particles; and a human-machine interface external to the cell for receiving user commands and for controlling the pulsed liquidjet exiting from the ultrasonic nozzle in response to the user commands.",
    "2. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the pulsed liquidj et is a forced pulsed waterjet.",
    "3. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the jig comprises a turntable for rotating the part at an angular velocity controlled by the human-machine interface.",
    "4. The system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising an exhaust system for exhausting air from the cell.",
    "5. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the human-machine interface provides a first set of operating parameters for coating removal, a second set of operating parameters for surface prepping, and a third set of operating parameters for coating.",
    "6. The system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a machine vision subsystem that performs optical inspection of the part to determine when stripping is complete and to automatically switch to prepping.",
    "7. An integrated liquidjet system capable of prepping and coating a part, the integrated liquidjet system comprising: a cell defining an enclosure; a jig for holding the part inside the cell wherein the cell includes a Faraday cage; an ultrasonic nozzle having an ultrasonic transducer for generating a pulsed liquidjet; a coating particle source for supplying coating particles to the ultrasonic nozzle; a pressurized liquid source for supplying the ultrasonic nozzle with a pressurized liquid to enable the ultrasonic nozzle to generate the pulsed liquidjet to sequentially prep and coat the part; a high-voltage electrode and a ground electrode inside the ultrasonic nozzle for charging the coating particles; and a human-machine interface external to the cell for receiving user commands and for controlling the pulsed liquidjet exiting from the ultrasonic nozzle in response to the user commands.",
    "8. The system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the pulsed liquidjet is a forced pulsed waterjet.",
    "9. The system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the jig comprises a turntable for rotating the part at an angular velocity controlled by the human-machine interface.",
    "10. The system as claimed in claim 7 further comprising an exhaust system for exhausting air from the cell.",
    "11. The system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the human-machine interface provides a first set of operating parameters for coating removal, a second set of operating parameters for surface prepping, and a third set of operating parameters for coating.",
    "12. The system as claimed in claim 7 further comprising a machine vision subsystem that performs optical inspection of the part to determine when stripping is complete and to automatically switch to prepping."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The present invention relates generally to fluidjets and, in particular, to techniques for stripping, prepping and coating a part using a pulsed or continuous fluidjet.\n\nConventionally, coating a part is a two-stage or three-stage process, depending on whether the part to be coated is new or was already in service. If the part is new, in the first stage, the surface to be coated is prepped using grit blasting. In the second stage, following prepping, the coating is applied to the surface. If the part was already in service, then the three-stage process consists of stripping the existing coating, followed by prepping, then applying the new coating. Many different coating and plating technologies are known. What follows is an overview of some of the main technologies currently in use today.\n\nChrome Plating\n\nChrome plate has been the mainstay for applications with intense stress, such as the landing gear on aircraft. Other applications include extreme wear conditions, like the hydraulic shafts on heavy earth moving vehicles. It offers the following properties:\n\n(i) Hardness: At 65 to 70-Rc (850-1000-Hv), hard chrome plate is harder than most industrial abrasives. Combined with inherent toughness, it can withstand high stress contact.\n\n(ii) Substrate adhesion: With adhesion greater than 10-kpsi, hard chrome coatings can endure large stresses without detaching from the substrate.\n\n(iii) Chrome can be applied on a wide variety of substrates.\n\n(iv) Chrome responsive finish: responds well to grinding and polishing.",
  "cpc": [
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    "B05B 1/083",
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    "B05D 1/12",
    "B05D 3/12",
    "B08B 2203/0288",
    "B08B 3/024",
    "B24C 3/12",
    "B24C 5/005",
    "B24C 7/00",
    "B25J 11/0075",
    "B25J 21/00",
    "C23C 18/1806",
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    "C25D 15/00",
    "C25D 21/12",
    "C25D 5/006",
    "C25D 5/007",
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    "B05B 5/03",
    "B05B 5/035",
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    "C25D 5/00",
    "C25D 5/08",
    "C25D 5/34",
    "C25D 5/50"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "VLN Advanced Technologies Inc"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Mohan M. Vijay",
    "Meisheng M. Xu",
    "Emilio Panarella",
    "Wenzhuo Yan",
    "Andrew Hung Tieu",
    "Bruce R. Daniels"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2016-10-19",
  "publication_date": "2017-11-21",
  "grant_date": "2017-11-21",
  "priority_date": "2013-11-08",
  "application_number": "US-201615297265-A",
  "family_id": "51868881",
  "cited_by_count": 0,
  "citations": [
    "GB1103190A",
    "US3801869A",
    "US4020393A",
    "US4334780A",
    "US5154347A",
    "US5612096A",
    "US5436645A",
    "US5585921A",
    "US20020098776A1",
    "US6276617B1",
    "US20020153117A1",
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    "US7184138B1",
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}

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