Adhesive dispensing system and method using smart melt heater control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10150137-B2
Application number	US-201615332972-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 24, 2016
Priority date	Oct 25, 2012
Publication date	Dec 11, 2018
Grant date	Dec 11, 2018

Abstract

An adhesive dispensing system is disclosed. The system includes a heater unit configured to heat an adhesive to an application temperature, a fill system configured to supply the adhesive to said heater unit, and a controller. The controller is configured to actuate the fill system to supply the adhesive to the heater unit, operate the heater unit to maintain a unit set point temperature sufficient to heat the adhesive to the application temperature, and operate the heater unit to reduce its temperature from the unit set point temperature following a first set threshold time from actuation of the fill system to supply the adhesive to the heater unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An adhesive dispensing system, comprising:
a heater unit configured to heat an adhesive to an application temperature;
a fill system configured to supply the adhesive to said heater unit; and
a controller configured to:
actuate said fill system to supply the adhesive to said heater unit,
operate said heater unit to maintain a unit set point temperature sufficient to heat the adhesive to the application temperature, and
operate said heater unit to reduce its temperature from the unit set point temperature following a first set threshold time from actuation of said fill system to supply the adhesive to said heater unit.

2. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 1 , wherein said controller is further configured to:
actuate said fill system to resupply the adhesive to said heater unit, and
operate said heater unit to increase the temperature of said heater unit back to the unit set point temperature sufficient to heat the adhesive to the application temperature.

3. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 2 , wherein said controller is further configured to operate said heater unit to reduce its temperature from the unit set point temperature following the first set threshold time from actuation of said fill system to resupply the adhesive to said heater unit.

4. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 1 , wherein said controller is further configured to operate said heater unit to reduce its temperature again following another first set threshold time following the first set threshold time from actuation of said fill system to supply the adhesive to said heater unit.

5. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a reservoir positioned to receive melted adhesive; and
a heater configured to apply heat to the reservoir to a reservoir set point temperature that maintains the adhesive at the application temperature within said reservoir.

6. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 5 , wherein said controller is further configured to operate said heater to maintain the reservoir set point temperature after operating said heater unit to reduce its temperature.

7. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 6 , wherein said controller is further configured to operate said heater to reduce the reservoir set point temperature following a second set threshold time from actuation of said fill system to supply the adhesive to said heater unit, the second set threshold time being greater than the first set threshold time.

8. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 1 , further comprising a timer in electrical communication with the controller, the timer being configured to track an elapsed time from actuation of said fill system to supply the adhesive to said heater unit.

9. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 1 , further comprising a level sensor configured to detect a level of adhesive remaining within said heater unit.

10. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 9 , wherein said controller is further configured to actuate said fill system to supply the adhesive to said heater unit in response to said level sensor detecting that the level of adhesive within said heater unit is below a threshold.

11. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 9 , wherein said level sensor is further configured to:
provide a first indication to said controller when the level of adhesive within said heater unit is below a first level indicating a supply of adhesive will be needed at a future time from said fill system, and
provide a second indication to said controller when the level of adhesive within said heater unit is below a second level requiring immediate supply from said fill system.

12. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 11 , wherein said controller is further configured to operate said heater unit to increase its temperature back to the unit set point temperature when the first indication is received from said level sensor.

13. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 1 , wherein said controller is further configured to turn said heater unit off following a standby threshold time from actuation of said fill system to supply the adhesive to said heater unit, the standby threshold time being greater than the first set threshold time.

14. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 1 , wherein said controller is further configured to operate said heater unit to increase its temperature back to the unit set point temperature after reducing the temperature of the heater unit to below the unit set point temperature.

15. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 14 , wherein said controller is further configured to operate said heater unit to increase its temperature back to the unit set point temperature following a set reheating threshold time after reducing the temperature of the heater unit to below the unit set point temperature.

16. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 15 , wherein said controller is further configured to:
determine an average cycle time between refill actuations of the fill system, and
adjust the first set threshold time and the set reheating threshold time based on the average cycle time.

17. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 16 , wherein said controller is further configured to adjust the first set threshold time and the set reheating threshold time based on the average cycle time by:
estimating, based on the average cycle time, a predicted time for when the fill system will be actuated to supply adhesive; and
setting the set reheating threshold time to be lower than the predicted time.

18. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a pump configured to deliver the heated adhesive from the heater unit to a dispensing module; and
the dispensing module to apply the heated adhesive to a substrate.

19. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 1 , further comprising a hopper configured to receive solid adhesive from the fill system and to provide the solid adhesive to the heater unit.

20. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 19 , further comprising a level sensor within the hopper for detecting a level of solid adhesive.

21. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 1 , wherein the heater unit comprises a grid to heat the adhesive to the application temperature.

22. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 1 , further comprising a temperature sensor positioned to sense the temperature of the heater unit, the temperature sensor being in electrical communication with the controller.

23. The adhesive dispensing system of claim 1 , wherein the first set threshold time is received from a user of the adhesive dispensing system.

Assignees

• Nordson Corp

Inventors

• Bondeson Benjamin J
• Estelle Peter W
• Hand Kent

Classifications

• Y10T137/6416

  With heating or cooling of the system · CPC title

• Y10T137/0391

  Affecting flow by the addition of material or energy · CPC title

• B05C11/1042 Primary

  provided with means for heating or cooling the liquid or other fluent material in the supplying means upstream of the applying apparatus · CPC title

• B05C11/1002

  Means for controlling supply, i.e. flow or pressure, of liquid or other fluent material to the applying apparatus, e.g. valves · CPC title

• B05C11/1007

  responsive to condition of liquid or other fluent material (B05C11/1005 takes precedence) · CPC title