Sponge blasting apparatus and sponge blasting method
View Patent ↗The present invention provides a sponge blasting apparatus comprising: a recovering unit which sucks and recovers a blasting medium jetted out of a nozzle; a sorting unit which sorts the blasting medium sucked and recovered by the recovering unit into a reusable blasting medium and an unreusable blasting medium; a blower which gives a sucking force to the recovering unit via the sorting unit; a dust collector which removes dust from an exhaust air discharged from the sorting unit with a sucking force of the blower; a picking-apart unit which picks apart the reusable blasting medium sorted by the sorting unit; a continuous feeder which, having at least two reservoir tanks into which the reusable blasting medium picked apart by the picking-apart unit is inputted, changes over the two tanks between each other to continuously feed the nozzle with the blasting medium deposited in the tanks; and a carrier which carries to the continuous feeder the reusable blasting medium sorted by the sorting unit.
1. A sponge blasting apparatus which jets against a work a blasting medium of a sponge fragment formed of abrasives stuck within a porous elastic body out of a nozzle and grinds the work, comprising:
a recovering unit which sucks and recovers the blasting medium jetted out of the nozzle;
a sorting unit which sorts the blasting medium sucked and recovered by the recovering unit into a reusable blasting medium and an unreusable blasting medium;
a blower which gives a sucking force to the recovering unit via the sorting unit;
a dust collector which removes dust from an exhaust air discharged from the sorting unit with a sucking force of the blower;
a picking-apart unit which picks apart the reusable blasting medium sorted by the sorting unit;
a continuous feeder which, having at least two reservoir tanks into which the reusable blasting medium picked apart by the picking-apart unit is inputted, changes over the two tanks between each other to continuously feed the nozzle with the blasting medium deposited in the tanks; and
a carrier which carries to the continuous feeder the reusable blasting medium sorted by the sorting unit;
wherein the picking-apart unit includes:
a rotary vane which picks apart by being rotated the reusable blasting medium having solidified into a lump state;
a heater which heats the reusable blasting medium having solidified into a lump state in a hopper-shaped reservoir disposed upstream from the rotary vane; and
a controller which drives the heater when the rotary torque of the rotary vane reaches or surpasses a certain level.
2. A sponge blasting apparatus which jets against a work a blasting medium of a sponge fragment formed of abrasives stuck within a porous elastic body out of a nozzle and grinds the work, comprising:
a recovering unit which sucks and recovers the blasting medium jetted out of the nozzle;
a sorting unit which sorts the blasting medium sucked and recovered by the recovering unit into a reusable blasting medium and an unreusable blasting medium;
a blower which gives a sucking force to the recovering unit via the sorting unit;
a dust collector which removes dust from an exhaust air discharged from the sorting unit with a sucking force of the blower;
a picking-apart unit which picks apart the reusable blasting medium sorted by the sorting unit;
a continuous feeder which, having at least two reservoir tanks into which the reusable blasting medium picked apart by the picking-apart unit is inputted, changes over the two tanks between each other to continuously feed the nozzle with the blasting medium deposited in the tanks; and
a carrier which carries to the continuous feeder the reusable blasting medium sorted by the sorting unit;
a particle size measuring unit which measures a particle size of the blasting medium picked apart by the picking-apart unit; and
a controller which prepares a particle size distribution on the basis of particle sizes measured by the particle size measuring unit, wherein
the controller compares a threshold for judging whether a blasting medium is reusable or reusable with a peak level of the particle size distribution prepared and, when the peak level surpasses the threshold, causes a display unit to display the usable limit of the medium.
3. The sponge blasting apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a particle size measuring unit which measures a particle size of the blasting medium picked apart by the picking-apart unit; and
a controller which prepares a particle size distribution on the basis of particle sizes measured by the particle size measuring unit, wherein
the controller compares a threshold for judging whether a blasting medium is reusable or reusable with a peak level of the particle size distribution prepared and, when the peak level surpasses the threshold, causes a display unit to display the usable limit of the medium.
4. A sponge blasting method which uses the sponge blasting apparatus according to claim 1 , to jet against a work a blasting medium of a sponge fragment formed of abrasives stuck within a porous elastic body out of a nozzle and to grind the work.
5. A sponge blasting method which uses the sponge blasting apparatus according to claim 2 to jet against a work a blasting medium of a sponge fragment formed of abrasives stuck within a porous elastic body out of a nozzle and to grind the work.
6. A sponge blasting method which uses the sponge blasting apparatus according to claim 3 to jet against a work a blasting medium of a sponge fragment formed of abrasives stuck within a porous elastic body out of a nozzle and to grind the work.