Paint sprayer distributed control and output volume monitoring architectures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11262772-B2
Application number	US-202117303659-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 3, 2021
Priority date	Feb 11, 2013
Publication date	Mar 1, 2022
Grant date	Mar 1, 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 spray system for spraying paint and remotely monitoring part wear, the spray system comprising:
a spray gun configured to spray paint as an atomized spray fan, the spray gun comprising a trigger that actuates the spray gun to spray the paint and a tip nozzle configured to atomize the paint;
a hose that connects to the spray gun;
a frame;
a pump supported by the frame, the pump having a reciprocating piston that outputs paint under pressure to the spray gun via the hose;
a motor supported by the frame, the motor configured to drive the pump;
a drive cycle indicator supported by the frame, the drive cycle indicator configured to identify one or both of partial or complete revolutions of the motor and output a plurality of cycle status indications of the pump based on the identified partial or complete revolutions of the motor;
a wireless module supported by the frame, the wireless module configured to wirelessly send and receive information;
a user interface that is remote from the frame; and
control circuitry configured to receive the plurality of cycle status indications of the pump, determine which of the plurality of cycle status indications of the pump are associated with wear of the tip nozzle due to pumping paint through the tip nozzle, calculate a spray volume log based on the plurality of cycle status indications of the pump that are determined to be associated with wear of the tip nozzle, cause the wireless module to wirelessly send information based on or indicative of one or both of the plurality of cycle status indications and the spray volume log, and cause the user interface to generate an output on the user interface based on the spray volume log, the output indicative of wear of the tip nozzle.

2. The spray system of claim 1 , wherein the spray volume log includes a spray volume maintenance log that represents volume of paint sprayed from the tip nozzle.

3. The spray system of claim 2 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to receive an input indicating a new tip nozzle and, based on the input, one of: reset the spray volume log or start a new spray volume log.

4. The spray system of claim 2 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to track a plurality of spray volume logs corresponding to different wear components of the spray system, the plurality of spray volume logs including the spray volume log for the tip nozzle.

5. The spray system of claim 2 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to:
compare a value of the spray volume log to a first threshold and cause a first notification to be generated on the user interface based on the first threshold being exceeded,
compare the spray volume log to a second threshold and cause a second notification to be generated on the user interface based on the second threshold being exceeded, the second threshold representing a greater volume of paint being sprayed through the tip nozzle than the first threshold.

6. The spray system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to cause the user interface to generate the output on the user interface based on the spray volume log exceeding a threshold, the threshold representing volume of paint sprayed from the tip nozzle.

7. The spray system of claim 6 , wherein the user interface is configured to receive a user input setting a maintenance reminder associated with the threshold and send the maintenance reminder to the control circuitry to cause the control circuitry to compare the spray volume log to the threshold.

8. The spray system of claim 1 , wherein the spray volume log is one of a running total of motor revolutions or a value of paint volume pumped.

9. The spray system of claim 1 , wherein the output on the user interface indicates a maintenance action to one or both of inspect the tip nozzle or replace the tip nozzle.

10. The spray system of claim 1 ,
wherein to determine which of the plurality of cycle status indications of the pump are associated with wear of the tip nozzle due to pumping paint through the tip nozzle, the control circuitry is configured to determine whether the spray system is operating in a fluid atomizing spray mode or a non-atomizing flushing mode, and
wherein to calculate the spray volume log, the control circuitry is configured to calculate the spray volume log based on the plurality of cycle status indications of the pump that are generated when the spray system is operating in the fluid atomizing spray mode while excluding one or more cycle indications of the plurality of cycle status indications of the pump from the calculation based on the one or more cycle indications being generated when the spray system is operating in the non-atomizing flushing mode.

11. The spray system of claim 10 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine whether the spray system is operating in the fluid atomizing spray mode or the non-atomizing flushing mode based on an output pressure setting.

12. The spray system of claim 10 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine whether the spray system is operating in the fluid atomizing spray mode or the non-atomizing flushing mode based on an output from a pressure sensor measuring output pressure of the pump.

13. The spray system of claim 10 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine whether the spray system is operating in the fluid atomizing spray mode or the non-atomizing flushing mode based on user selected operation modes that are respectively associated with the fluid atomizing spray mode and the non-atomizing flushing mode.

14. The spray system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a sprayer, the sprayer comprising the spray gun, the hose, the frame, the pump, the motor, the drive cycle indicator, and the wireless module, the sprayer further comprising sprayer control circuitry that forms part of the control circuitry; and
a computing device remote from the sprayer, the computing device comprising remote control circuitry that also forms part of the control circuitry.

15. The spray system of claim 14 , wherein:
the sprayer control circuitry is configured to receive the plurality of cycle status indications of the pump, determine which of the plurality of cycle status indications of the pump are associated with wear of the tip nozzle due to pumping paint through the tip nozzle, calculate the spray volume log based on the plurality of cycle status indications of the pump that are determined to be associated with wear of the tip nozzle, and cause the wireless module to wirelessly send the spray volume log, and
the remote control circuitry of the computing device is configured to receive the spray volume log and cause the user interface to generate the output based on the spray volume log.

16. The spray system of claim 14 , wherein:
the sprayer control circuitry is configured to receive the plurality of cycle status indications of the pump and cause the wireless module to wirelessly send the plurality of cycle status indications of the pump, and
the remote control circuitry of the computing device is configured to receive the plurality of cycle status indications of the pump, determine which of the plurality of cycle status indications of the pump are associated with wear of the tip nozzle due to pumping paint through the tip nozzle, calculate the spray volume log based on the plurality of cycle status indications of the pump that are determined to be associated with wear of the tip nozzle, and cause the user interface to generate the output based on the spray volume log.

17. A paint spray system for us

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

• B05B9/0413

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

• F04B15/02

  the fluids being viscous or non-homogeneous · CPC title

• B05B7/166

  the material to be sprayed being heated in a container (B05B7/208 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B05B7/0408

  with arrangements for mixing two or more liquids · CPC title

• B05B9/0861

  the motor being electric · CPC title