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1. S rs U CU ESE i 30T a ie ES Fm a u Hn U S Patent Aug 29 1995 Sheet 2 of 5 54 V CE CA GE BE HE LLA Z 4 s ES N e i LA B Ll BBBRRBBRRRRARRRDRRIRRRRRRRRRR RRR lt N DE EET ee te se TLLLL i SS LLA is A L Ne ASY AAAMARRRANARARRPARR E E N E 16 a SS a i F Z d ANDY E ell Lli Z 2 Z asil ENS o 82 i a4 esta da MAA 34 3 RA DR 84 9484845464 H sari TE aS Ya p 55 KI KRA N Simcoe E aa Seno oo ooo oes Se ASE w w BREAD SS OR th 7 ZZzzzzzzzzz a aa ae ae Lf AlN tr PN Ns u SJ GHB Pass vk KIS i 37 Siy SSS de 64S SRI ELS ES RI 8365 gt x a A a CT 38 3 zo 9 IE BE RE aN He 9a A AE NLY III ELAR T Ti ia 5 445 195 102 o 4 39 136 HO 105 36 56 96 U S Patent Aug 29 1995 Sheet 3 of 5 5 445 195 HE a R Fig 3729 5 Ma mz 103 N La ei 33 l pie a SA Va NA ARRELS TEI TEETH 67 NN ERZI TL Ral K RS 53 3 we Wes lt S EN ak i Z 37 83 NE UA G gl j EZ 2S Z d Z LS AL dl dal a zz gt aver af LE P ami 27 AL 38 g g5 OX 0095 1 a Ls Sheet 4 of 5 5 445 195 Aug 29 1995 U S Patent 186 188 Fig 5 188a 224 U S Patent Aug2. 29 1995 Sheet 5 of 5 5 445 195 i 5 445 195 1 AUTOMATIC COMPUTER CONTROLLED LIQUID DISPENSER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention This invention relates to an automatic dispenser for a plurality of liquids More specifically the invention relates to an automatic computer controlled liquid col orant dispenser 2 Description of the Prior Art Since 1966 when the State of California passed Rule 66 which regulates solvent discharge into the air many Federal and State environmental laws including the recent Clean Air Act of 1990 have followed These laws are changing the way we make package distrib ute apply and dispose of architectural paints which are the most polluting consumer product after automo biles For instance one gallon of solvent oil based paint discharges more hydrocarbons into the air than a Cadillac discharges in nine months of driving There fore use of solvent based paint is already banned in many areas in this country Although the alternative water borne latex paints cause less air pollution they cause severe water pollution Disposal of left over paints empty cans and discarded applicators as well as waste water or solvents from cleaning manufacturing equipment in factories and tools at job sites add more air water and solid pollution In anticipation of ever tightening regulatory pressure on the paint industry we have been developing a virtu ally non polluting alternat
3. based color matching already involves the use of a computer allowing easy interfacing with an automatic tinter To fill these needs five U S and one foreign manu facturers have introduced automatic tinters during the last several years These units are generally designed for factory use They are large about the size of an office desk and costly over ten thousand dollars Two of these are merely motorized hand tinters These units dispensing one tint at a time and are very slow The most popular ACCUTINTER by Miller Manufacturing Company of Wheeling Ill has a set of metering gear pumps Abrasion by pigments tends to wear the gears and causes loss of metering precision This unit is very expensive costing over twenty thousand dollars and also is expensive to maintain because a skilled repairman must come to the store Also this unit has its own sepa rate central processing unit CPU memory keyboard and screen a complete but limited capability computer This is unnecessary duplication resulting in additional cost and service needs It is more practical and econom ical to shift all control functions except the minimal safety over rides to a more readily available general purpose PC This arrangement can simplify all interfac ing with other retail automation software which is writ ten for PCs The accuracy of presently available tinters is in the order of one sixty fourth of an ounce mainly because they are designed for tinti
4. longer than the height of the reservoir the lift of the stirrer is shortened by adding a distance between lower C clip and the upper removable pin on the rod To 20 25 30 35 45 50 55 65 6 improve the gross circulation of tint in this particular shape of the reservoir the holes for stirrer rods on the drive plate are slightly enlarged to enable a slanted stirrer paddle to move in out or side ways The out wardly slanted paddle is slightly smaller than the inside cross section of the reservoir To improve the flow near the valve a small cut out is made at the middle of the narrowest side Also a thin narrow wiper blade is at tached to the middle part of the outer edge of the pad die During the up stroke the resisting tint on the top side pushes the paddle inward and flows down out wardly but during the down stroke the trapped tint pushes the paddle outward and flows up inner side through the cutout The outward and downward mo tion of the paddle scrapes the outer wall for more uni form stirring and the wiper cleans the part of wall and shows the tint level through the translucent HDPE reservoir wall The limited travel and the slant of the paddle prevent air entrapment thus assuring uniform tint density which is very critical in volumetric tint metering It should be noted that the biggest reason for not using this reservoir shape by others was that the common rotating vertical paddle can not avoid creating
5. 188a respectively along side the shortest wall 51 and lifts the cage 183 by catching the stem 82 in the slot 187 closing the bottom of the reser voir completely A reservoir with locked valve can be easily removed from the CDM by loosening the set screw 14 sliding the holder 13 up and pulling out the drain tube 57 It can be transported and placed on a level flat area near an edge where the drain tube over hangs and is free from any damaging contact Referring to FIG 2 in particular a stirrer 7 has a 4 inch stainless steel rod 71 a injection molded HDPE paddle 72 on one end a C clip 78 in groove 178 and a removable wire pin 79 through the hole 179 at the other end As the stroke of the pump is considerably longer than the height of the reservoir the lift of the stirrer is shortened by adding a distance between C clip 78 and the upper removable pin 79 To improve the gross cir culation of tint in this particular shape of the reservoir 5 the holes 77 for stirrer rods 71 are slightly enlarged to enable the slanted stirrer paddle 72 to move in out or side ways The paddle 72 is an equilateral trapezoid and slightly smaller than the inside cross section of the res ervoir 5 To improve the flow near the valve a small cutout 74 is made at the middle of the narrowest side Also a thin narrow wiper blade 76 is attached to the middle part of the outer edge 75 of the paddle During the up stroke the resisting tint on the top side pushes th
6. Also for proper drainage the bottom is slightly higher near the outer wall The drain has an outer mounting tube which tightly mates with the drain hole on the base plate of the CDM and a 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 concentric inner drain tube which is also the upper valve seat for preventing flow to and from tbe reser voir The annular cavity between these two tubes houses a valve spring Each reservoir is supported by the base plate and held in position by the two adjacent reservoirs on either side the drain hole in the base plate on the bottom and the reservoir holder at the top of the shortest reservoir wall The reservoir can be easily removed from the base plate and CDM simply by loos ening a set screw sliding the holder which is mounted on the corresponding metering tube upward to free the top and pulling the drain tube out from the mating drain hole in the base plate To prevent leakage from the mating surfaces of the tubes or reservoir drain tubes and the base plate grooves with O ring seals or gaskets are used This arrangement allows the most compact flexi ble and accessible multi reservoir system This invention utilizes a double sided tappet flow diverting valve which is molded around the bent head of a common bicycle spoke and mounted through the inner drain tube Both face of the tappet the upper and the lower have the same conical face and the central disk has three identical straigh
7. claim 4 wherein said paddle has a cutout in the middle part of the shortest side to improve upward flow during decent of said paddle 6 The device of claim 5 wherein said rod passes through a stirrer hole on a drive plate and adjustable stops are secured on said rod on either side of said drive plate spaced from said stirrer hole 7 The device of claim 5 wherein said paddle has an extension partially along the outer edge for wiping the reservoir wall during downward motion 8 The device of claim 1 wherein said means for moving comprises a drive plate having a plurality of holes for receiving said pistons and said stirrers a motor for moving said drive plate means associating said pistons and said stirrers and said holes for receiving each of said stirrers having a diameter greater than the diameter of each of said stirrers received therein thereby permitting said stirrers to move laterally 9 The device of claim 8 wherein said motor is a reversible DC motor with Hall effect rpm counter 10 The device of claim 8 wherein said means asso ciating each of said pistons and each of said stirrers comprises a first stop and a second stop positioned on each of said stirrers on either side of said drive plate 10 15 20 25 30 35 45 50 55 60 65 14 such that said drive plate can only engage one of said stops at a time 11 The device of claim 10 wherein said stirrer passes through said receiving
8. drain to the top of the corresponding nozzles are made by drilling hori zontal tapered holes from the outer rim and plugging the entrances of the holes The groove on the top side of 5 10 25 35 45 50 55 65 8 the nozzle plate provides a passage for a bundle of elec tric conductors from the CDM Finally the accurately metered tints must be dis pensed into various commercially available containers which have different sizes heights and openings This invention can accept any size container up to a five gal lon pail using the standard stand For larger drums the stand must be modified A shelf with clearly marked concentric outlines for gallon and quart cans raises the can close to the nozzles Smaller cans can be placed accurately at the middle of the smaller circle The con trol box which is mounted on the backside of the stand prevents a can from being accidentally pushed off the back of the shelf The control box is explosion proof and houses standard purchased electronic components such as a power supply a DC motor control and relays for the solenoids The box also supplies power to the heater and provides connection to the interface board by a standard connector cable Additionally the stand has a switch for start and emergency stop The tubular structural member provides a cable passage and pro tects the switch and the connecting wires For accurate placement of various five gallon pails which have
9. drive module CDM and other internal moving parts For the illus tration only one among twelve identical sets is shown and numbered FIG 3 is a further enlarged view of the CDM of FIG 2 However this view is at a right angle to FIG 3 and each number represents the corresponding parts of the identical set at 90 degree apart FIG 4 is a sectional view of the valve compensator FIG 5 is a perspective view of the valve lock FIG 6 is a top view of the shelf FIG 7 is a perspective view of the hole guide FIG 8 is a sectional side view of the hole guide of FIG 7 taken along line 8 8 of FIG 7 5 445 195 9 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG 1 for over all arrangement and FIG 2 and FIG 3 for detail an automatic tinter of this invention is shown generally comprised of a cover 1 a stand 2 a central drive module 3 a control box 4 and twelve sets of substantially identical reservoirs 5 lids 6 stirrers 7 and valve assemblies 8 All components can be easily replaced with a simple set of four hand tools a half inch open end and two Allen wrenches and a flat head screw driver The molded plastic cover 1 sits on the top of practi cally all radial reservoir walls 55 and 55a and has a inch wide closed cell foam band 11 which is glued around the outer surface of its base The injection molded HDPE lid 6 has a handle 61 for easy removal for resupplying tints a raised arc shaped wall 62 which ce
10. nearly uniform diameter but widely vary ing sizes and location of tint hole this invention uses a two piece hole guide A three prong steel clamp holds the pail cover securely and a movable guide board is screwed to the two hooking prongs The board has a two inch hole two slots for the screws and guiding edges The relative positions of the edges and the hole match the outlines of the actual vertical objects which are mounted on or are part of the stand and the center of the nozzle circle respectively If the clamp is placed in line radially with the tint hole in a pail lid the board can be adjusted so it s guide hole is directly over the tint hole When the screws are tight simply pushing the pail until the guide edges contact the control box automati cally lines up the tint hole to the nozzles As the next pail is most likely from the same supplier no frequent adjustment is needed This type of hole guide can be used with any tinter In one embodiment this invention is incorporated into a self contained computer controlled automatic tinter which contains working components which are described hereto Further objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from a consideration of the drawings and ensuing description thereof BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is an overall pictorial front view of the present invention FIG 2 is an enlarged radial sectional view of FIG 1 with additional details of the central
11. on the inch angle iron 25 between the two back legs of the stand 2 and the front edge which is re enforced and protected by a U shaped stainless steel trim 225 rests on two supports 24 and 24a Finally referring to FIG 7 and FIG 8 a hole guide for five gallon pails consists of a steel clamp 121 a movable guide board 122 and two wide head screws 123 and 123a The clamp has a pair of hooking prongs 125 and 125a with tapped screw holes 126 shown only one and a locking prong 127 The board 122 has a 2 inch hole 128 a guiding edge 129 and a pair of slots 124 and 124a for the screws 123 and 123a respectively Detailed instructions for use of the hole guide as well as center lines for the hole are printed on the board To clamp one hooks the pail cover with the two hooking prongs 125 and 125a in the correct radial direction and pushes down the locking prong 127 To adjust the hole 128 radially so it lies directly over the tint hole of a pail lid one loosens the screws 123 and 1232 slides the board 122 matches the two holes and tightens the screws When the pail with a properly adjusted hole guide is pushed against the control box 4 and the guiding edge 129 mates the wall of the control box 4 the nozzles line up with the tint hole automatically To unclamp one simply lifts the locking prong 127 up It is understood that the preceding description is given merely by way of illustration and not in limitation of the invention and that vario
12. 6a The stand is tested for a five hundred pound load The control box 4 can be easily removed from the stand 2 for service simply by unplugging power line 45 the cable 44 to the computer the line 43 to the over ride switch 21 and the cable 42 to the CDM 3 and by removing the four mounting screws The injection molded HDPE tint reservoir 5 has an inner narrow wall 51 a slightly tapered outer wall 54 and two side walls 55 and 55A and a slanted bottom 53 for drainage The dimensions on the 1 5 gallon model were given previously The walls form a horizontal equilateral trapezoid The extension 56 of the walls below the bottom 53 supports the reservoir on a level surface A drain 52 has two concentric tubes The inner tube 57 provide the upper valve seat for the double faced tappet diversion valve 81 and the outer tube 58 mates tightly with the drain hole 83 which provide a valve cavity and a bottom valve seat at the reduced end A valve spring 84 is housed in the annular space be tween the two tubes A thin annular gasket 85 seals the drains between the base plate and the nozzle plate A reservoir holder 13 and a setscrew 12 secure the reser voir firmly in place 20 25 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 The valve assembly 8 consists of a double sided tap pet flow diverting valve 81 which is molded around the bent head of a common bicycle spoke 82 and mounted through the inner drain tube 57 The tappet 81 has the same conical fa
13. United States Patent no Kim lh h TTT US005445195A ij Patent Number 45 Date of Patent 5 445 195 Aug 29 1995 54 AUTOMATIC COMPUTER CONTROLLED LIQUID DISPENSER 76 Inventor Dae S Kim 49 Floral St Newton Mass 02161 21 Appl No 913 855 22 Filed Jul 15 1992 if PCL ES G01F 11 16 I DS CL ea dota 141 104 141 378 141 69 141 100 222 137 222 144 5 222 244 222 380 366 190 366 256 366 605 58 Field of Search 141 100 104 192 198 141 69 152 144 147 237 238 242 245 258 262 285 286 301 302 305 369 370 378 222 135 137 144 144 5 244 246 309 333 380 366 184 190 255 256 332 605 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 1 544 122 6 1925 Barclay 222 380 X 2 549 851 4 1951 Pope 3 029 847 4 1962 Baudhuin et al 141 104 3 066 830 12 1962 Heiss et al 3 097 672 7 1963 Minard 3 236 270 2 1966 Stutz seene 141 104 3 850 345 11 1974 Merritt ss 3 942 561 3 1976 Stoeffler 141 378 X 4 314 653 2 1982 Sindoni 366 605 X 4 911 212 3 1990 Burton 141 369 5 105 860 4 1992 Connor 141 369 X 5 222 534 6 1993 Wilkinson Jr 141 378 X OTHER PUBLICATIONS Decorating Retailer Jan 1992 pp 19 34 Auto Tint Advertisements Jul 1989 and Dec 1986 Accept User s Manual undated Accept A
14. ces on both sides and a central disk be tween them The disk has three identical straight pe ripheral cutouts 65 to reduce the viscous drag The remaining part centers and holds the valve spring 84 The valve cavity is connected to the bottom of the metering tube by the undercut passage 31 with minimal flow restriction Normally the spring 84 pushes the lower face of the valve 81 against the lower valve seat and tint flows between the pump 32 and the reservoir freely When the valve is pulled up all tint is diverted to the drain 83 Proper seating and alignment of valve is ensured by the concentric valve spring 84 and the long vertical valve stem 82 An O ring 66 in groove 67 seals the outer drain tube 58 Referring to FIG 4 for detail the upper threaded end 180 of the valve stem 82 is connected to an adjustable spoke nut 181 which is held by a pre compressed valve compensator spring 182 which in turn is held in a cage 183 The sheet metal cage 183 has a center hole 184 for the stem 82 and a pair of holes 185 on the ends which are connected to an armature 88 of the lifting solenoid 89 by a removable wire pin 87 The compensator 86 lets the solenoid armature bottom and the valve shut prop erly The valve 81 travels only one eighth of an inch for a fast diversion Referring to FIG 5 an injection molded plastic valve lock 186 spans across the both tops of both of the reser voir side walls 55 and 55a by locking them in the grooves 188 and
15. d by rotation of the motor The counts per distance or volume can be easily increased by using a smaller pitch lead screw or by increasing the number of magnetic poles on the magnet disk Regard less of each individual dispensing volume the drive plate travels to preset position or to a preset counts and then reverse the direction When the down stroke at tains a constant speed the preassigned solenoid s pulls up the valve s and diverts the tint flow s If the as signed counts are larger than a single stroke can pro vide the process repeats till the total preassigned counts are reached The diversion must occur during the con stant speed In the present design the inch tube with 10 inch stoke gives about two ounces of tint and about ten thousand counts Thus a count represents one five thousandth of ounce Before this device is put into service like any other precision instrument this must be calibrated for the 5 445 195 7 maximum attainable accuracy The calibration involves accurate determination of a pair of numbers count per volume and the additional counts needed to account for transient delay Since the first is related only to the mechanical characteristic of the tube rpm counter and lead screw and is independent to fluids the counts per volume is fixed for a given tube The most accurate method of determining this number for a give tube is by weighing water dispensed The second value depends on the transient b
16. dead caking zones near the outer corners This inven tion effectively solves this problem Regardless of a perfect mixing and stirring evapora tion changes overall tint strength The evaporative loss will become critical when present solvents hazardous glycols are banned by the Clean Air Act of 1990 and the only practical replacement water is used Water has much higher vapor pressure and dries faster This invention prevents the evaporation with a combination of outward partial lids which open easily for resupply ing tints a cover which encloses the CDM the stirrers and the open inner parts of the reservoirs for valves and stirrers movements and a small solvent cup with a tiny submerged electric resistance heater which is placed the inside the enclosure A controlled evaporation of solvent from the cup saturates inside of the enclosure and thus prevents evaporation of the solvent from the reservoir A trimming resistor the simplest adjustable power supply on the heater line optimizes the evapora tion from the cup The most accessible place for this cup is on top of the drive plate A soaked open cell foam in the cup can prevent spillage This invention achieves an extremely accurate simul taneous dispensing by timed diversion of tint flow dur ing the steady down stroke of the drive plate The travel of the drive plate is very accurately monitored by counting the electric impulses from the Hall effect sen sor which are triggere
17. dvertisement Mar 1 1992 Kimat Paint Advertisements undated Miller Accutinter Advertisements undated Aquatrend II Article undated Harbil Advertisement undated Primary Examiner J Casimer Jacyna Attorney Agent or Firm Wolf Greenfield amp Sacks 57 ABSTRACT An extremely compact and accurate device for simulta neously dispensing a plurality of liquids in individually pre set volumes having 1 substantially identical radi ally arranged sets having a positive displacement me tering piston pump a fluid reservoir which houses a tint a stirrer and a valve spring 2 an interconnecting passage connects the sets to respective dispensing noz zles 3 a drive plate which moves the pistons and the stirrers between two pre determined vertical positions for pumping and mixing the fluid 4 a value for con trollably diverting individual liquids independently in predetermined amounts from normally returning from the pumps to the reservoirs to move instead from the pump to small circularly arranged discharge nozzles 5 a mechanism for aligning paint containers for tint dis pensing and 6 a solvent saturation system for reducing evaporation of fluid 19 Claims 5 Drawing Sheets HUM H m ames BARARARARANNANRAARARR b NIE L an RA a Ass 2222 Lam KAR re 105 U S Patent Aug 29 1995 Sheet 1 of 5 5 445 195 Fig 7 Tm AS th
18. e paddle inward and flows down outwardly but dur ing the down stroke the trapped tint pushes the paddle outward and flows up the inner side through the cut out 74 The outward and downward motion of paddle scrapes the outer wall for more uniform stirring and the wiper cleans part of wall 54 and shows the tint level through the translucent reservoir wall 54 Although the computer keeps an accurate account of tint and warns of a low tint level this is always visible Every time the 5 445 195 11 drive plate 33 moves to the top and return to home position at the bottom all tints are pumped and stirred A periodic automatic mixing is easily programmed into the control software Referring to FIG 3 a central drive module CDM pumps mixes and dispenses tints by converting the instructions from the computer into corresponding mo tion Thus the CDM is comprised of both electro mag netic and mechanical components The electro magnec tic members include a reversible DC gear motor 46 an integral Hall effect rpm counter 47 twelve substantially identical D C solenoids 89 and a magnetic pick up for home position 102 The computer controlled relays in the control box 4 supply the power to the solenoids and the motor via cable 42 The AC power to the solenoids is rectified by six bridge rectifiers each in two rectifier boxes 101 and 101a The box 101 also contains a mag netic pick up 102 which senses the magnet 103 on the drive plate 33 and se
19. ehavior of solenoid pull inertia of armature valve springs and drag by tint flow This value is determined by plotting count x vs amount either by volume or by weight of tint dispensed y for various amounts and by determining the count shown by the intersection of the the best straight line passing through all points and the x axis This value is added to the volumetric count to compensate for delays in the diversion The deviation of individual points from the best straight line represents the accuracy of that dis penser for random errors The slope of the line repre sents the first value counts volume This method is based on the assumption that the cross sectional area of the tube and transient delay is constant irrespective of the duration of the diversion We have verified this assumption experimentally Since the effect of the vis cosity difference on the delays are negligible actual calibration is performed automatically by weighing dispensed water with an electronic digital balance A PC with custom software runs this calibration automati cally and the values of slope and intercept are routinely incorporated into each ACCEPT config dat file for that particular CDM The nozzle plate provides twelve shortest practical individual fluid passages between each corresponding base plate drain on the top side to circularly arranged corresponding nozzle around the center on the bottom side Since the tint holes of some base paint conta
20. for receiving said pistons are sub stantially aligned and a nozzle plate supporting said dispensing nozzles 19 The device of claim 18 wherein said means for controlling comprises said solenoids a valve assembly including a double faced tappet valve stem a valve compensator and a valve re turn spring upper and lower valve seats excess depth of drain for a valve cavity and undercut flow passages
21. hole at a non orthogonal angle to said driving plate 12 The device of claim 11 further including a stirrer paddle secured to said stirrer at a forward slant said paddle having a cut out for passage of fluid there through 13 The device of claim 10 wherein the position of said second stop on said stirrer may be adjusted 14 The device of claim 8 further including a homing magnetic pick up and associated magnet on said drive plate 15 The device of claim 1 further including means for preventing evaporation losses comprising a solvent cup a small variable heater and means for saturating the interior of said reservoir with vapor ized solvent to inhibit evaporation of the fluid 16 The device of claim 15 wherein a vapor passage is in fluid communication with said solvent cup and said reservoir interior 17 The device of claim 1 further including a means for aligning a can below said dispensing nozzles said means including a stand a shelf with concentric circles for receiving the can below a nozzle plate which includes said dispens ing nozzles and a hole guide for the can 18 The device of claim 1 further including a sole noid a drive plate having means for receiving said stirrers and said pistons a top plate having means for receiving said solenoids and said pistons a base plate having means for receiving said pistons said base plate also has drain holes and undercut pas sages each of said means
22. iners are only two inches in diameter dispensing into these holes without spillage requires that the nozzles be close together The shape and the size of the nozzles are critical to the accuracy of dispensing because the form ing or breaking off of a tint icicle is the largest source of random error The nozzle must be circular small in diameter short and have a sharp exit corner Closing the diverting valve quickly causes a surge in the tint flow creating a spitting which prevent icicles and accurately duplicate every discharge To protect the sharp corners and to make the vertical passage of nozzle short a 2 inch round recess is made in the center of nozzle plate A flexible magnetic cover seals this recess tight and prevents drying and caking of tints in the nozzles by sticking to a thin steel washer which is glued permanently around the recess For more positive pre vention a small center hole through the nozzle plate supplies the saturated vapor from the above enclosed space It is very important to seal this cavity when the unit is not dispensing To improve the visibility and handling of the magnetic nozzle cover a vertically hanging plastic tag is attached to one corner of the square cover This also prevents one from placing a container in the dispensing position without removing the cover Twelve soft gaskets prevent leakage of the passages at the interface of the two plates The twelve radial passages from the bottom of the
23. ive technology known as the EcoPainting System for the last two decades This system reduces the total pollutants to about one thou sandth of those caused by conventional ways of making packaging applying and disposing of architectural paints Many components of this system have been pa tented and are in the market This invention named ACCEPT Automatic Com puter Controlled EcoPaint Tinter is the latest compo nent of the EcoBatch paint making process which is designed to produce an exact amount of paint of any gloss or color from four pre dispersed ingredients in retail stores without creating any waste product The EcoBatch process consists of computer controlled base making tinting and color matching and EcoPackaging which is described in the U S Pat Nos 4 898 295 4 977 724 and 5 016 755 We have separated the tinting machine portion of the EcoBatch paint maker from other parts and modified it for conventional paint retail store use In paint retail four major new developments are helping the rapid growth of custom tinting and automa tion A decade ago standard packaged colors were the major portion of trade paint sales but presently they contribute to less than half Firstly the ever tightening governmental regulations are raising the cost of waste treatment This regulatory and economic pressure 5 10 20 30 35 40 45 50 55 forces the paint manufacturers to reduce the number of 60 produc
24. nds a homing signal to the com puter The magnetic pulse from the counter 47 about one thousand counts per inch of travel by the drive plate is sent to the computer A bundle of wires 105 including the AC lines to the rectifiers the homing signal lines and the solvent heater line passes through the conductor holes 108 and 108a on the top plate 39 and joins the lines from the motor and the counter These lines pass through the large center hole 107 of the base plate 37 and the passage between the bottom side of the base plate and a groove 106 on the top face of the nozzle plate 38 and connect to the control box 4 The mechanical parts include four anodized alumin ium plates a slide 41 and twelve substantially identical metering pumps The 12 inch square base plate 37 has four tapped 5 16 inch mounting holes 137 on each cor ner for mounting on a stand 2 by four mounting bolts 27 A 4 inch hole 107 in the middle of the plate provide easy access to the motor and a passage for the cable 42 On the lower side a round nozzle plate 38 is mounted by four tie bars 36 and nuts 136 On the top side twelve substantially identical precision electro polished stain less steel metering tubes 35 with a 4 inch cutout 70 for a fluid passage to the undercut 31 are planted into mat ing tube holes 170 The tube 35 is sealed around by an O ring 68 in the groove 69 The top ends of the tubes are securely held in parallel in a stepped hole 16 in the circular t
25. ng a large volume of paint such as five gallon pails This is totally unsuitable for most retail store operations where quart cans and light pastel colors are a significant portion of their tinting business In practice one can tint only a full gallon of pastel color paint since the tinters are not capable of dispensing a smaller amount of tint accurately The left over is wasted and becomes a pollutant For the EcoBatch process the tinter must be capable of dispens ing about one four hundredth of an ounce of tint accu rately to tint one pint of paint in very light pastel colors and at the same time be compact enough to fit into the counter top space which a hand tinter occupies now Being unable to find any commercially available tinter which can meet the above strict requirements the fol lowing invention had to be made SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention provides means of simultaneously dispensing plurality of liquids in individually pre set 5 445 195 3 amounts quickly reliably and accurately with minimal cost and space This invention relies on an external general purpose digital computer for all controls except the safety re lated override switch This invention does not have its own CPU or own memory and uses a commonly avail able interface card such as the PIO 12 by Keithley MetraByte Corporation or its equivalent to communi cate with the computer A computer with software which any computer programer can w
26. nters the cover 1 by sealing against the foam band 11 and thin skirt 63 which fits in and seals against the inside wall and the a narrow extension 64 of the lid 6 covers and seals the top of the reservoir wall Twelve lids 6 and the cover 1 enclose all moving parts for safety keep the solvent vapor in the enclosed space and keep dust out The CDM and twelve reservoirs directly and the stirrers 7 and the valve assemblies 8 indirectly are sup ported by a 12 inch square base plate 37 which is the only visible part of the CDM in FIG 1 A stand 2 is welded from eight pieces of one inch square steel tub ing a brace 25 a 16 inch long inch by inch by inch steel angle and two short pieces of the angle 24 and 24a The tow bottom tubes 22 and 22a are 18 inch long and 16 inch apart and make an 18 by 18 inch foot print The four legs 23 through 23c are about 16 inch high to clear a five gallon pail Four end caps 29 cover the tube ends The brace 25 has two tapped screw hole 28 and 28a for screws for mounting the control box 4 Two more screws are used on the back face of the tube 26a The front leg 23 has an over ride switch 21 The con necting wires 43 pass through the insides of tubes 23 22 and 23c and two holes on the top of tube 22 and one on the back of 23c for protection The brace 25 and the angle pieces 24 and 24a support a shelf which is shown in FIG 6 Four 5 16 inch bolts 27 hold the CDM on the top of the two upper tubes 26 and 2
27. op plate 39 This plate also supports the sole noids 89 the slide assembly 41 the motor 46 and the two rectifier boxes 101 and 1012 The top ends of the four tie bars 36 pull the top plate in place against the uniform support of the twelve tubes 35 A 3 inch thick round drive plate 33 is driven between two vertical preset positions on the slide by a lead screw 118 which is rotated by the motor A coupler 110 connects the lower end of the lead screw 118 to the motor shaft Two parallel ground steel shafts 119 and 119a keep the drive plate perpendicular This drive plate has a set of twelve inch holes 15 for piston rods 32 which are fixed tightly by two C clips 14 and 14a and another set of slightly larger holes 77 for sliding stirrer rods 71 Thus a single motor powers all mixing and pumping The lower threaded end 132 of the piston rod 32 holds the brass upper 18 and lower 19 pistons which hold two elastic cup seals 20 and 202 which can be easily re placed by removing the clip 14 pulling the piston out of the tube and unscrewing the lower piston 19 The pis ton almost bottoms to prevent air trapping The nozzle plate 38 provides twelve shortest practi cal individual fluid passages between each correspond 20 25 40 45 50 60 65 12 ing base plate drain 83 to a circularly arranged corre sponding nozzle 100 To dispense into the small tint holes of some paint container lids without spillage the nozzles are pu
28. rite provides computational capability and accurate and reliable se quential and repetitive control from the stored memory Presently this invention is used in combination with an IBM PC or any compatible MS DOS based computer and copyrighted software known as ACCEPT But the use of this invention is not limited to this particular combination This invention the device for actual dis pensing of the liquids can be used with any computer or operating system but one must have software for that particular combination This invention is a peripheral device like a printer in word processing This invention uses a radial symmetry of all mechani cal components for compactness uniformity flexibility and ease of servicing Although theoretically a mini mum of only four colors three primary colors and black is sufficient to produce every possible color the paint industry commonly uses a twelve colorant system Therefore twelve identical inter changeable five sided tint reservoirs surround a central drive module CDM which contains all moving parts and supports the reser voirs In this arrangement the reservoir can be easily enlarged by extending the outward dimensions without changing the inner narrow wall the critical mating part of the reservoir and CDM Also increased height of reservoir will not alter the design of CDM in the radial dimension This allows the use of many common parts among different models with widely varied size
29. s one on each corner for mounting on a stand On the lower side of the base plate a round nozzle plate is mounted by four tie bars On the top side twelve substantially identical precision electro polished stainless steel metering tubes each with a small cutout on the lower ends for tint flow are planted into mating tube holes and surround a single reversible D C gear motor which has an integral Hall effect rpm counter The top ends of the tubes are se curely held in parallel in stepped holes in a circular plate This top plate also supports twelve solenoids The top ends of four tie bars pull the top plate in place against the uniform support of twelve tubes Another plate is driven by a lead screw and the motor between two vertical preset positions on the slide which is mounted on the top of the top plate Twelve substan tially identical sets of stirrers and pistons are mounted on and driven by this drive plate Thus a single motor powers all mixing and pumping Above the top plate two boxes house six sets of recti fiers each for their corresponding solenoids One of them also contains a magnetic pick up which senses a magnet on the drive plate and sends homing signal to the computer The AC power lines to the rectifiers the homing signal lines and the solvent heater line pass through the conductor hole on the top plate and join the lines from the motor and the counter All these lines pass through a large center hole on the base pla
30. s of reservoirs At the present the larger model has 1 5 gallon reservoirs and the smaller model has 1 3 quart reservoirs This arrangement can be used for any other number of reservoirs with a similar compactness In this invention the fluid reservoirs are injection molded High Density Polyethylene HDPE with nearly equal height radial dimensions to maximize the volume for a given surface area For the ease of mold building both the inner and outer wall is straight rather than an arc Thus the horizontal cross section of the reservoir is an equilateral trapezoid For an easier re moval from the male mold the outer wall has a slight taper and is wider at the top Two matching side walls are separated by 30 degrees in the twelve reservoir system The 1 5 gallon reservoir has a height of 9 5 inch the radial depth distance between the inner and outer wall is 8 5 inch A 25 inch circle includes all twelve reservoirs and is the maximum radial dimension This is as large a reservoir capacity as any industrial tinting machine sufficiently accurate to tint a pint of pastel color for retail stores and yet compact enough to re place a counter top hand tinter The reservoirs regardless of size or model have an identical built in multi purpose drain on the bottom near the shortest inner wall This arrangement provides the closest practical distances from the drains to the center of the device while providing spaces for the corresponding pumps
31. t close together within a one inch circle The nozzles 100 have 0 10 inch diameter and 0 10 inch depth A 2 inch round recess 98 protects the nozzles 100 make them short shortens the length of nozzles and provides a space between the nozzles and the square flexible magnetic cover 95 A very thin steel washer 94 is glued around the recess 98 to provide an air tight magnetic seal on aluminium plate 38 For more positive prevention of caking in nozzles a small center hole 99 can pass the saturated vapor from the above enclosed space It is very important to seal this recess when the tinter is not in use To improve the visibility and removal of the cover 95 a string 96 with a plastic tag 97 is attached to one corner of the square cover The tag 97 interferes with the placement of container in the dispensing position when the cover 95 is not removed For positively preventing the evaporation of tint solvents a solvent cup 91 and a tiny submerged ceramic resistor 92 is used to heat the solvent and to saturate the enclosed space with the solvent vapor To control the tate of evaporation a variable resistor 93 is connected to the heater 92 by the line 90 Referring to FIG 6 a inch thick shelf 221 supports a paint can while tints are dispensed For accurate placement two concentric circles 222 and 223 indicate the outlines of a gallon and a quart can respectively The smaller circle helps to center even smaller cans The back edge 224 rests
32. t peripheral cutouts to reduce the viscous drag The remaining part centers and holds the valve spring When the reservoir is mounted the excess depth of the drain hole on the base plate becomes a valve cavity and the reduced hole becomes a lower draining valve seat This cavity is connected to the bottom of the metering tube by an undercut passage with minimal flow restriction Normally the spring keeps the lower face of the valve against the drain valve seat and tint flows between the pump and the reservoir freely When the valve is pulled up all tint is diverted to the drain Proper seating and alignment of valve is en sured by the concentric valve spring and the long verti cal valve stem The upper threaded end of the valve stem is connected to a adjustable spoke nut which is held by a valve compensator which in turn is con nected to an armature of lifting solenoid by a removable wire pin The compensator is a pre compressed spring holding the nut up against the cage The compensator lets the solenoid bottom and the valve shut properly regardless of the variation in the length of the valve due to the differences in thermal elongations of the connecting members of the valve assembly or minor difference in the adjustment of the nut A completely bottomed sole noid has the best service life strongest pull and least buzzing The compensator spring must be stronger than the valve spring but weaker than solenoid pull To im prove the ser
33. te and the passage between the bottom side of the base plate and a groove on the top face of the nozzle plate and connect to the control box Tints are viscous liquid dispersions of solid pigment particles in ethylene glycol with polymeric thickeners and other minor components and thus have very com plex non Newtonian rheological properties Some tints are visco elastic and thixotropic The best way of me tering these fluids is to use a simple piston type positive displacement pump For accurate measuring and re peatable dispensing elimination of air entrapped in the tint is extremely important A positively bottoming closely fitting brass piston with a pair of elastomeric cup seals removes all trapped air around the piston The screwed pair of seal holders and the large piston hole on the top plate let one replace the seals simply without taking apart other parts in CDM Plastic washers cover the top of the tubes around the piston rods to keep out dust This invention assures a uniformity of tint by mixing the tints with pumping and stirring actions and by posi tively preventing the evaporative loss of solvents Every time the drive plate moves to the top and returns to home position at the bottom all tints are pumped and stirred A periodic automatic mixing is easily pro grammed into the control software The normal path of returning the tint to the reservoir effectively mixes near the drain As the stroke of the pump is considerably
34. ts or smaller batches to reduce cleaning and the resulting hazardous wastes Secondly the sophisticated tastes of baby boomers demand more variation than the usual twenty or so standard colors can provide Thirdly recent advances in personal computers PC make PC based store automation affordable to even a mom and pop store Finally the new emergence of low cost spec trophotometers and the color matching software are 65 2 making custom tinting faster easier and more afford able In a conventional custom tinting a customer select a color from a sample color book or color chips which tint manufacturer supplies with their tints as a part of their color system such as the ColorTrend System by Nuodex Corporation Using the number from that color chip a clerk searches and copies the corresponding formula from a formula book which the paint manufac turer supply with tint bases He dispenses the proper amounts of each tint into a can of base paint by setting metering pumps one at a time After mixing the contents by shaking he visually checks the color then gives it to the customer This process is time consuming labor intensive and prone to human errors in each step An average tinting takes more than 15 minutes and about five percent of custom tinted paints are mis tinted and wasted Obviously these wastes can be reduced by replacing the human operator with an automatic tinter using electronically stored formula Spectrophotometer
35. us modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed I claim 1 An automatic computer controlled device for dis pensing a plurality of fluids in preset amounts compris ing a plurality of substantially identical sets each having a piston actuated pump a fluid reservoir a stirrer within said fluid reservoir and a flow diversion 5 445 195 13 valve for directing fluid from said reservoir to said pump each of said fluid reservoirs being open to each other through a space common to each of said fluid reser voirs to allow the passage of vapors between each of said fluid reservoirs and said common space each of said sets are in fluid communication with a respective dispensing nozzle means for holding said plurality of substantially iden tical sets means for moving said pistons of said pumps and said stirrers between two preset vertical positions in unison means for controlling said diversion valve for dis pensing and means for simultaneously dispensing fluid from any number of said substantially identical sets into a container 2 The device of claim 1 wherein said fluid reservoir has a substantially trapezoidal cross section and an integral drain tube 3 The device of claim 2 wherein said stirrer has a rod and a paddle said paddle is secured at an angle to said rod 4 The device of claim 3 wherein said paddle has a trapezoidal face 5 The device of
36. vice life of the solenoids the solenoid voltage is reduced during holding Although the valve travels only one eighth of an inch for a fast diversion a deep spring cavity for a long spring is preferred to minimize the solenoid pull required A valve lock which spans across and locks on the tops edges of the reservoir side walls along side the shortest wall lifts up the valve compensator and closes the bottom of the reservoir completely A slot in the middle of the lock holds the valve stem and prevents an accidental slip of the valve A reservoir with the valve locked can be easily removed from CDM transported and placed ona level flat area near an edge where the drain tube over hangs and is free from any damaging contact This invention has a central drive module CDM which translates all computer instructions into motion Its maximum horizontal dimension is 12 inch by 12 inch Square and is common to all models This dimension is 5 445 195 5 primarily dictated by the size of the metering tube which is about inch O D The height of CDM for the previously mentioned 1 5 gallon unit is only 27 inches This module weighs only about 50 pounds This affords us easy handling and shipping for overnight replace ment and servicing nationwide from a single central location by using UPS Overnight Service As all mov ing and likely wearing parts are consolidated in the CDM only this module needs service The base plate has four mounting hole
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