Davis added to the list of requirements for colorant suppliers. A four percent swing in color tint strength is no longer acceptable. In addition, light fastness, alkali resistance, viscosity and low VOC are essential requirements in the selection of a colorant system. The ability to produce color matches within a larger area of color space is important. James L. Valukas, president of Accurate Dispersions, a South Holland, IL-based division of Eastman Chemical Company, acknowledged manufacturing cost issues affecting paint companies operating in today's competitive marketplace.
This would include a reproducible product that meets the color requirements and physical properties for a specific application. The colorant must be a constant and not a variable in the final application," he said. Sometimes the most sophisticated technology cannot rival expertise and a keen color eye. New introductions from industry suppliers give further evidence of the importance of tinting and coloring.
Corob offers several dispensers to fit the needs of almost any size paint store. The Banco dispenser is the dispensing solution for small hardware stores, department stores, small home centers and small paint stores, according to the company. This highly compact dispenser is designed for tinting pints to gallons and the occasional five-gallon pail. The Tatocolor offers Corob's traditional accuracy, repeatability and speed in a small footprint automatic dispenser.
The Tatocolor is ideal for those locations tinting small to medium paint quantities, according to the company. Corob's MidiGiant is a high productivity mid-size automatic dispenser, with a roll conveyor and bung hole locator that allows for easy handling of five-gallon pails.
It is suited for large hardware stores, home centers and paint stores, according to the company. For demanding applications, Corob's Modula is a flexible and modular automatic dispenser. It holds up to 32 circuits with a maximum of 16 external circuits. It can hold up to 32 internal canisters of different sizes, according to the company. In addition, Modula has high flow pumps and explosion proof versions are available. Charisma colorants are available from Accurate Dispersions for use in architectural coatings.
These products are produced in a highly controlled manufacturing environment and yield consistent color and results, not only in the colorant but also in the coatings system, according to the company. Bayer has expanded its colorants portfolio with a number of products that satisfy the high requirements for modern coating systems. Fanchon Fast Yellow Y is a greenish-yellow pigment with high fastness properties and extremely high tinting strength for use in solid-color and special-effect coatings.
Combinations of this product with Bayer inorganic pigments from the Bayferrox and Lightfast families are substitutes for lead-based yellow pigments. HunterLab offers the ColorQuest XE spectrophotometer that provides high precision at an affordable price. And this is where implementing a tinting system and by extension tinting is particularly important.
Thanks to the use of a tinting system , both the distributor and the customer will have the possibility to access different colour charts with thousands of options available. In addition, tinting offers the possibility of obtaining almost any colour formula from a physical support, thanks to the use of a spectrophotometer. This way, the entire supply chain can benefit from the agility and efficiency provided by tinting machines.
The tinting system is a coating and paint preparation system composed of different components that interact with each other converters or binders, colour bases, dispensing machine, colour software, formulas, etc.
Each manufacturer, within its tinting system, will have different colour charts with thousands of options available to service different sectors such as: industry, automobile, industrial vehicles, decoration, wood lacquering, protective coatings, tool machine, nautical, etc.
It is an ideal way to offer the customer any colour shade, at the exact time and in the amount required.
In addition to the colour charts that are integrated in the system, this system gives the possibility to adapt any existing colour chart or reproduce any colour requirement personalised service by sending a colour sample on a physical support metal part, etc.
Tinting systems can be used in industrial facilities such as in warehouses and shops. It is an ideal way to offer the customer any colour shade, at the exact time and in the amount required, while ensuring a high matching level and reproducibility. In this case, the individual parameters are the individual colourants dispensed for each dispensed tinted coating composition, and the overall result is the difference between the actual and correct weight of the dispensed tinted coating composition.
Thus, by employing least squares regression analysis on the logged actual and correct weights for a number of dispensed coating compositions, the influence of each colourant dispenser system on the difference is calculated, and thus a colourant weight dispenser error value for each colourant dispensing system is determined. The colourant weight dispenser error value is a percentage deviation positive or negative from a correct value of colourant which should have been dispensed, this correct value being determined from an initial calibration curve generated manually by a maintenance engineer.
The intercept c allows for the fact that, in some cases, a certain number of motor steps are required before any colourant is dispensed. Thus, based on this relationship, the number of motor steps to dispense a required amount of colourant is known. This data is stored on the first personal computer. Before adjusting the calibration curve, the software installed in the second personal computer 26 compares the colourant weight dispenser error value for each colourant dispenser system to an acceptable range for that system.
For example, error values within ten percent may be considered acceptable, and therefore no adjustment will be made unless the error value is more than ten percent above or below the correct value based on the initial calibration. In the event that the error value is outside the acceptable range, the calibration between the number of motor steps and quantity of colourant is adjusted such that a given input to the stepper motor will dispense the correct amount of colourant.
Clearly, the acceptable range can be set accordingly. The software on the second personal computer 26 can be programmed such that the adjustments are made automatically, for example, if the colourant weight dispenser error value is outside the acceptable range the computer automatically sends a signal directly to the tinting machine to adjust the calibration curve. In the case where the second personal computer is remote from tinting machine it can be seen that this automatic adjustment process is also a remote process.
The software can also be programmed such that the adjustments are made when the tinting machine is not in operation, for example, outside store opening hours. Thus, whilst the automatic adjustments are automatic in the sense that no operator input is required, they are not instantaneously made when the error value is calculated.
Alternatively, instead of automatic adjustment, the software can be programmed to alert the user of the second personal computer 26 to the error value, enabling adjustments to be made when appropriate.
The adjustments can still be made remotely under the control of the operator of the second personal computer 26 , but, in this case, they are not made automatically.
It is also possible for the adjustments to be made locally at the tinting machine 22 , by editing the calibration curve, either by the machine operator or by a maintenance engineer. In addition to determining an error value for each colourant dispenser, the regression analysis also calculates a confidence level for each error value.
The error values calculated will have a higher confidence level as the number of dispensed coating compositions analysed increases. Theoretically, the number of tinted coating compositions dispensed needs to be in the order of twenty multiplied by the number of colourants sixteen in this example , giving three hundred and twenty.
However, it has been found that error values that equate to actual manually calibrated data have been generated with less than this theoretical number. For example, using sixteen colourants, three hundred dispensed coating compositions has proven to give comparable error values. In both automatic and non-automatic adjustment, the confidence level corresponding to each colourant dispenser system error value can be used to decide whether or not adjustments are required. In the case of automatic adjustment, a predetermined confidence level can be set, above which adjustments are automatically made, for example, more than ninety percent confidence might be considered sufficient to permit automatic adjustment.
In the case of non-automatic adjustment, the user can decide, possibly with additional information, if adjustment is required. For example, the user may suspect a particular colourant is at fault, and therefore the confidence level might not be so critical. It should be noted that for those colourant dispenser systems which are used frequently, the confidence level will be higher. This is important because it is these high use systems which are more likely to be wear, and therefore more likely to require adjustment.
Conversely, if a specific colourant has not been used frequently, then the error value calculated for that colourant dispenser system will have been obtained on a small sample of data, and will therefore have a low level of confidence as to whether the error value is correct. To address this potential low level of confidence it is possible to store data for all dispensed coating compositions containing this low use colourant in conjunction with colourants whose corresponding colourant dispenser system has not been adjusted.
The stored data can then be added to data generated for subsequently dispensed coating compositions to create a new combined data set. It may be that by adding the stored data to the subsequently generated data, the statistical analysis results in calculated error values for the low use colourants with sufficiently high confidence levels.
However, if the confidence level is still too low, it is possible to repeat this process of combining future data sets with subsets of previous data sets until a sufficient degree of confidence in the low use colourant error value is obtained.
In the case of a colour dispenser system which has not been used at all, no statistical analysis will be conducted, and therefore no error value will be generated. This is of even less concern since the lack of use will result in no wear to the colourant dispenser system. Thus it can be seen that the individual error value associated with each colourant dispenser system can be determined by analysing the logged weight data, and then appropriate action can be taken to adjust individual colourant dispensers, either automatically or manually, and either locally or remotely.
A particular benefit of the present invention is where adjustment of the colourant dispenser system is made automatically by a processor which is integrated within the tinting machine, with typically being the processor which runs the tinting machine.
In this case, no remote processing means is required, either to analyse data, or to activate adjustment. It would also be possible to verify the error value calculated by the regression analysis by running the machine in a verification mode, where colourant is sequentially dispensed and weighed before and after dispensing. This could be repeated for different colourants, and for a different number of times. This would generate an actual error value which could be compared to the statistically calculated value.
If the actual and calculated values are comparable, or within a specified range then the adjustment of the calibration curve can then be made. It will be appreciated that software controlling the tinting machine can be programmed to include running the machine in the verification mode, and then compare the actual results with those calculated using statistical analysis.
In another embodiment, the tinting machine can dispense colourant sequentially, as opposed to the substantially simultaneous dispensing of the embodiment of FIGS. In such an embodiment it will be appreciated that the regression statistical analysis described in the embodiment of FIGS. In this case the actual weights are compared to correct weights which correspond to the total weight of the tinted coating composition.
By virtue of the fact that the colourants are dispensed sequentially, it is also possible to programme the first personal computer such that the paint container is weighed before dispensing colourant, and after each individual colourant has been dispensed, and logging the actual weight of colourant dispensed for each colourant and for each composition. In this case, regression analysis is not essential because the sequential nature of the dispensing enables the difference between actual and correct weights to be measured directly for individual colourants.
The correct weights in this case are those stored for the individual colourants in the particular coating composition, and not the total weight of the coating composition. The statistical analysis in such a system would then involve, for example, an average of several readings for that particular colourant dispenser system.
It will be appreciated however that weighing the container after each colourant has been dispensed will slow down the operation of the machine. In this embodiment, it is possible to weigh the tinted coating composition both before and after all the colourants have been dispensed, and after each colourant has been dispensed. In this way it is possible to calculate two colourant dispenser system error values for each colourant dispenser system, and more importantly enable a comparison to be made between the error value calculated using regression analysis, and the error value determined from weighing individual colourants.
This will enable a check to be made on calculated error values, but clearly this is limited to running the machine in sequential dispensing mode. Thus, in the case of a tinting machine with sequentially dispensed colourant, the present invention provides a system that determines the error value for each colourant dispenser system using either regression analysis, without any reduction in the tinting process speed, or alternative statistical analysis on individually weighed colourant, but with a reduction in the speed of the tinting process.
Clearly, the choice of system will largely depend on the requirement for the tinting process to be carried out quickly. For example, in a store where the tinting machine is infrequently used, the reduction in speed of the process by weighing individual colourants may not be a concern, however, in a high use store, the use of regression analysis would seem more appropriate.
It will be appreciated that whilst the embodiments described above are in relation to adjusting the calibration curve for gear pumps, the invention is equally applicable to other colourant dispenser systems, for example, bellow machines or piston pumps, or any system which requires an actuator, for example a stepper motor, to dispense a given quantity of colourant.
A tinting machine system for tinting base paint supplied in a container which base paint is suitable for use in a tinted coating composition so as to produce a tinted coating composition, the tinting machine system comprising a tinting machine and processing means,. A tinting machine system according to claim 1 in which a defined relationship exists between the amount of colourant dispensed and a given actuator input, and the processing means is able to correct the defined relationship to compensate for the colourant weight dispenser error value for any colourant dispenser system causing concern.
A tinting machine system according to claim 1 in which the correct weight for the tinted coating composition is a total weight for that particular tinted coating composition, individual colourant weights for that particular tinted coating composition, or both. A tinting machine system according to claim 1 in which the tinted coating composition includes more than one colourant, selected from the group of a each colourant is dispensed substantially simultaneously, and the weighing means is able to weigh the container to determine the actual total dispensed weight; or b each colourant is dispensed sequentially, and the weighing means is able to weigh the container to determine the actual dispensed weight of: i each individual colourant, ii the actual total dispensed weight, or iii both.
A tinting machine according to claim 2 in which the tinted coating composition includes more than more than one colourant, selected from the group of a each colourant is dispensed substantially simultaneously, and the weighing means is able to weigh the container to determine the actual total dispensed weight; or b each colourant is dispensed sequentially, and the weighing means is able to weigh the container to determine the actual dispensed weight of each individual colourant, the actual total dispensed weight, or both.
Each of reservoirs 4 contains colorant fluid 5. Dispenser head 2 comprises manifold 6 with an internal chamber defined inside the manifold not visible in Figure 1, see Figures 3a-3d. In the embodiment of Figure 1, the colorant supply conduit that fluidly connects reservoir 4 to the internal chamber of dispenser head 2 is formed by tube 7, which is connected to manifold 6 by coupling 8.
Cleaning fluid supply conduit 9 is coupled via coupling 10 to manifold 6. Tinting machine 1 further comprises control unit 13 that is configured for controlling supply of colorants to dispenser head 2 during a colorant dispensing step, and for controlling supply of the cleaning fluid to dispenser head 2 during a subsequent cleaning step. Control unit 13 may be uploaded with instruction to execute single colorant doses, multiple colorant doses, various dose sizes, various flush cycles, etc.
Control unit 13 may be part of a user interface, or be in signal communication with such user interface. Dispenser head of the tinting machine embodiment: Figures 2, 3a-3d and 4. Figures 2 shows a perspective view of part of the tinting machine of Figure 1.
Figures 3a-3d show a longitudinal section of the dispenser head of Figure. Figure 4 presents a longitudinal section of the dispenser head of Figure 2 showing the constriction in the annular space in more detail. In Figure 2, it is shown dispenser head 2 with multiple colorant supply conduits 14, comprising manifold 6 formed by a solid body of a rigid material, for stainless steel.
Manifold 6 includes nozzle 15, which includes nozzle aperture 16 that forms the fluid outlet for dispensing colorant from dispenser head 2 into paint container 3 see Figure 1. Nozzle 15 with fluid outlet 16 may be adapted for releasably engaging with a valve 17 in lid 18 of paint container 3 see Figure 1 , so that colorants and cleaning fluid may be injected by dispenser head 2 directly into paint container 3 without removing lid 18 from paint container 3.
Figures 3a-3d show that dispenser head 2 has an internal chamber 19 for allowing colorant 5 to flow towards fluid outlet In this embodiment internal chamber 19 is formed by an elongated substantially vertical cylindrical bore through manifold 6. Colorant inlet conduits 14 open in internal chamber 19 at colorant inlets 20 only one colorant inlet shown in Figures 3a-3c.
Fluid supply regulators 21 e. Fluid supply regulator 21 may further be adapted for metering quantities of colorant 5 from colorant supply conduit 14 into internal chamber In the embodiment of Figures , metering of fluid supply from colorant inlet conduit 14 occurs at colorant inlet Hence, the dead volume for fluid metering from inlet conduit 14 is reduced. This reduces the amount of residual colorant that needs to be removed during a cleaning step. Each of colorant supply conduits 14 opens at a separate colorant inlet 20 in internal chamber Preferably, each inlet port shutter 22 and each fluid supply regulator 21 is individually controllable.
Cleaning fluid supply conduit 9 is adapted for supplying cleaning fluid 23 via cleaning fluid inlet 24 in internal chamber 19 during a cleaning step. Dispenser head 2 comprises piston 25 arranged inside internal chamber Piston 25 comprises a circumventional protrusion 26, which is, in this embodiment, positioned near piston head Protrusion 26 forms a local widening of piston 25 and creates a movable constriction 28 in annular space 29 see Figure 4.
During cleaning of dispenser head 2, downward movement of piston 32 and therewith of constriction 28 in annular space 29, will cause local acceleration of the flow of cleaning fluid, thus creating a so-called annular blade or knife of cleaning fluid that flows with a relatively high velocity in the downstream direction.
This annular blade of cleaning fluid is capable of rinsing residual colorant from the inner surface of internal chamber 19, at least at and directly below protrusion In this embodiment, piston head 27 with protrusion 26 remains downstream of cleaning fluid inlet port 24 during the cleaning step, so that cleaning fluid 23 can only flow through annular space 29, thus minimizing the quantity of cleaning fluid needed.
Dispenser head 2 comprises piston mount 30, which is attached to manifold 6. Piston mount 30 may comprise or be coupled to actuator 31 see Figures 1 and 2 for regulating the motion of piston 25 inside internal chamber 19 during a cleaning step. Control unit 13 of tinting machine 1 may be configured for controlling actuator 31 during a cleaning step.
Piston actuator 31 may be actuated by pneumatic or hydraulic systems, or other suitable actuation mechanisms. Piston 25 is movable along the internal chamber 19 between a first position e. Figures 3a-3c wherein protrusion 27 is located upstream of all colorant inlets 20, and a second position e. Figure 3d wherein protrusion 26 is positioned downstream of all colorant inlets During a cleaning operation Figure 3d , piston 25 is moved back and forth and cleaning fluid 23 is caused to flow through annular space 29 and is locally accelerated at constriction Thus, cleaning fluid 23 is swept along colorant inlets 20, removing residual colorant from inlets Preferably, inlets 20 are temporarily closed during a cleaning operation, so that residual colorants are more efficiently removed from the inlets 20 by passing cleaning fluid In the embodiments shown in Figures 2, 3a-3d and 4, piston 25 comprises a piston head 27 downstream of protrusion 26 which is converging in downstream direction.
The inner surface of internal chamber 19 is also converging in downstream direction near its downstream end, such that the converging outer surface of piston head 27 and the converging inner surface of internal chamber 19 are complementary shaped. If during or after a cleaning step, piston 25 approaches fluid outlet 16, any cleaning fluid 23 present in internal chamber 19 will be forced to radially converge and will be expelled through the fluid output The complementary shapes of piston head 27 and downstream part of internal chamber 19 assist in more completely expelling cleaning fluid 23 with residual colorant from dispenser head 2.
Method for using the tinting machine: Figures 3a-3d. Figures 1 and 3a-3d illustrate an operation of the tinting machine embodiment shown in figures A customer in a paint store may inform an operator of tinting machine 1 e. The operator may input the specifics of that color into tinting machine 1 via a user interface of control unit Control unit 13 is preferably configured to automatically select the correct base paint and the required amounts and types of colorant.
The operator may then position a base paint container 3 under fluid dispenser nozzle 15 of tinting machine 1, and activate a tinting process via the user interface. Usually, colored coating compositions require several colorants to be dispensed into the base paint.
On initiation of the colorant dispensing process, a pump draws colorant 5 from a particular reservoir 4 and supplies to via colorant supply conduit 14 to internal chamber 19 in dispenser head 2. Figure 3a shown an initial state of dispenser head 2 prior to supply of colorant to internal chamber Piston 25 is arranged inside internal chamber 19 in a first position wherein colorant inlets 20 are located downstream of protrusion Upon selection of a particular colorant, control unit 13 will cause fluid supply regulator 21 to open corresponding colorant inlet 20, to allow a flow of corresponding colorant 5 from reservoir 4 not shown via colorant supply conduit 14 into internal chamber 19 before being dispensed through fluid outlet 16 see Figure 3b into base paint container 3.
Figure 3 c illustrates that once the selected amounts of selected colorants 5 have been supplied to internal chamber 19, corresponding fluid supply regulator s 21 may be actuated to close corresponding colorant inlets 20, to prevent further flow of colorant 5 into internal chamber Figure 3d illustrates how a subsequent cleaning operation may be carried out. Piston 25 is then moved between its first and second position in Figure 3d, piston is shown in the second position so that constriction 28 in annular space 29 is moving along colorant inlets Figure 4 shows annular space 29 and local constriction 28 in more detail.
Annular space 29 and constriction 28 are formed so as to allow cleaning fluid 23 to pass the constriction towards fluid outlet Claims 1. A tinting machine 1 comprising a plurality of colorant reservoirs 4 containing colorant, one or more cleaning fluid supply conduits, one or more dispenser heads 2 for dispensing colorant into a paint container 3 , the one or more dispenser heads comprising:.
A tinting machine according to claim 1, wherein the one or more dispenser heads 2 is a single dispenser head and wherein each colorant reservoir is fluidly connected to the internal chamber of the single dispenser head via a separate colorant supply conduit opening in the internal chamber at a separate colorant inlet 20 , and wherein in the first position of the piston 25 , the protrusion is upstream of all colorant inlets, and wherein in the second position of the piston, the protrusion is downstream of all colorant inlets.
A tinting machine according to according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cleaning fluid inlet is located upstream of the colorant inlet. A tinting machine according to claim 3, wherein in the first position, the protrusion is downstream of the cleaning fluid inlet.
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