Paint sprayer distributed control and output volume monitoring architectures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11226643-B2
Application number	US-202117302300-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 29, 2021
Priority date	Feb 11, 2013
Publication date	Jan 18, 2022
Grant date	Jan 18, 2022

Abstract

A sprayer for spraying fluid includes a pump, a motor that drives the pump, a drive cycle indicator, a wireless module configured to send and receive information, and control circuitry. The drive cycle indicator outputs an indication of cycle status of the pump. The control circuitry is configured to receive the plurality of cycle status indications of the pump, determine a plurality of output values representing paint spray fluid output volume over a plurality of time windows based on the plurality of cycle status indications of the pump, store the plurality of output values in memory, and cause the wireless module to transmit one or more of the stored plurality of output values externally from the sprayer.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A hand portable sprayer for spraying paint under control from a cellular phone that is remote from the sprayer, the hand portable sprayer comprising:
a spray gun having a trigger, the spray gun configured to spray the paint upon actuation of the trigger;
a hose that supplies the paint to the spray gun;
a frame, the frame allowing the hand portable sprayer to be carried or otherwise moved by a person by hand for transport for use at various job sites;
a piston pump that outputs the paint to the hose, the piston pump supported by the frame the piston pump comprising a piston configured to pump the paint by reciprocation;
a motor that drives the piston pump, the motor supported by the frame;
a pressure sensor configured to measure pressure of the paint downstream of the piston pump and generate an output indicating at least one pressure measurement;
a control supported by the frame, the control including a pressure control input that is configured to receive a pump output pressure setting input by a user;
a wireless module supported by the frame and configured to wirelessly send information to the cellular phone including an indication of the at least one pressure measurement, and to receive information from the cellular phone including a threshold pressure that is input into the cellular phone; and
control circuitry supported by the frame, the control circuitry configured to receive the threshold pressure from the wireless module, the pump output pressure setting from the control, and the output indicating the at least one pressure measurement from the pressure sensor, and control operation of the hand portable sprayer based on the threshold pressure, the pump output pressure setting, and the output indicating the at least one pressure measurement by decreasing or stopping power delivery to the motor to slow or stop operation of the piston pump, and increasing or resuming power delivery to the motor to speed up or resume cycling of the piston pump, wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the motor to drive paint pressure output by the pump to the pump output pressure setting but, based on receiving the threshold pressure, control the motor to drive the paint pressure output by the pump to the threshold pressure instead of to the pump output pressure setting such that the threshold pressure that is input on the cellular telephone remote from the hand portable sprayer overrides the pump output pressure setting that is input on the pressure control input of the hand portable sprayer.

2. The hand portable sprayer of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the motor to drive paint pressure output of the pump to the threshold pressure instead of to the pump output pressure setting based on the control circuitry receiving the threshold pressure by:
controlling the motor to operate the piston pump to drive output of the piston pump to the pump output pressure setting based on the threshold pressure being greater than the pump output pressure setting; and
controlling the motor to drive paint pressure output of the piston pump to the threshold pressure, instead of to the pump output pressure setting, based on the threshold pressure being lower than the pump output pressure setting.

3. The hand portable sprayer of claim 1 , wherein the pressure control input is a dial.

4. The hand portable sprayer of claim 3 , wherein the dial is a potentiometer.

5. The hand portable sprayer of claim 1 , wherein the threshold pressure is less than a maximum output pressure achievable by the piston pump.

6. The hand portable sprayer of claim 1 , further comprising a drive cycle indicator configured to output a plurality of cycle status indications of the piston pump, wherein the control circuitry is configured to receive the plurality of cycle status indications of the piston pump, determine an output value representing paint spray output volume based on the plurality of cycle status indications of the piston pump, and cause the wireless module to wirelessly send the output value representing paint spray output volume to the cellular phone.

7. A system for spraying paint under control from a cellular phone, the system comprising:
a program stored in memory of the cellular phone; and
a hand portable sprayer comprising:
a spray gun having a trigger, the spray gun configured to spray the paint upon actuation of the trigger;
a hose that supplies the paint to the spray gun;
a frame, the frame allowing the hand portable sprayer to be carried or otherwise moved by a person by hand for transport for use at various job sites;
a piston pump that outputs the paint to the hose, the piston pump supported by the frame, the piston pump comprising a piston configured to pump the paint by reciprocation;
a motor that drives the piston pump, the motor supported by the frame;
a pressure sensor configured to measure pressure of the paint downstream of the piston pump and generate an output indicating a plurality of pressure measurements within a time window;
a wireless module supported by the frame and configured to wirelessly send information to the cellular phone, and to receive information from the cellular phone including a threshold pressure that is input into the cellular phone; and
control circuitry supported by the frame, the control circuitry configured to:
receive the output indicating the plurality of pressure measurements from the pressure sensor, and the threshold pressure from the wireless module,
control operation of the hand portable sprayer based on the threshold pressure and the output indicating the plurality of pressure measurements by decreasing or stopping power delivery to the motor to slow or stop operation of the piston pump if the output indicating the plurality of pressure measurements indicates that paint pressure exceeds the threshold pressure, and increasing or resuming power delivery to the motor to speed up or resume cycling of the piston pump if the output indicating the plurality of pressure measurements indicates that the paint pressure is below the threshold pressure, and
calculate an aggregate pressure metric for the time window based on the plurality of pressure measurements, delete from the control circuitry the plurality of pressure measurements after calculation of the aggregate pressure metric for the time window, and cause the wireless module to wirelessly transmit the aggregate pressure metric to the cellular phone for display of a pressure value on the cellular phone based on the aggregate pressure metric to remotely indicate pressure of the paint output to the spray gun by the piston pump.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to exclude one or more pressure measurements from the plurality of pressure measurements based on the one or more pressure measurements being made when the piston pump is not pumping.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein execution of the program causes the cellular phone to receive the aggregate pressure metric and display on the cellular phone a notification representing the pressure value.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein execution of the program causes the cellular phone to display on the cellular phone a notification indicating difference between the threshold pressure and the pressure value.

11. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a network server, wherein execution of the program causes the cellular phone to wirelessly send the aggregate pressure metric, and the network server is configured to receive the aggregate pressure metric sent by the cellular phone.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein execution of the program causes t

Assignees

• Graco Minnesota Inc

Inventors

• Lange Christopher M
• Pagano Nicholas A
• Godding Benjamin R
• Weinberger Mark T
• Mansheim Michael J
• Reath Nicholas H
• Kopel Andrew J
• Johnson Daniel R
• Robb Kevin C
• Gundersen Robert J

Classifications

• F04B15/02

  the fluids being viscous or non-homogeneous · CPC title

• B05B9/0413

  with reciprocating pumps, e.g. membrane pump, piston pump, bellow pump (B05B9/0409 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B05B9/0861

  the motor being electric · CPC title

• H04Q9/00 Primary

  Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom · CPC title

• G01K13/02

  for measuring temperature of moving fluids or granular materials capable of flow · CPC title