Patent Publication Number: US-2012040593-A1

Title: Coating and cylindrical grinding apparatus

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present disclosure relates to a coating and cylindrical grinding apparatus. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Round coated work-pieces, such as round coated glass pieces, are widely used in optical equipments. The round coated work-pieces are produced by cutting a substrate into many small rectangular pieces, then cylindrical grinding and coating the small rectangular pieces, thus to get the round coated work-pieces. The sequence of the cylindrical grinding process and the coating process can be exchanged. However, the cylindrical grinding process and the coating process are executed at different apparatuses, thus, when the foregoing process is finished, the work-pieces must be unloaded from an apparatus, transported to another apparatus, loaded on the another apparatus, then endure the next process. The unloading, transporting, and loading process prolong the whole time for producing the work-pieces. Furthermore, the work-pieces may be polluted in the unloading, transporting, and loading process and become useless. 
     Thus, what is needed is a coating and cylindrical grinding apparatus that can overcome the above-mentioned limitations. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Many aspects of the embodiments can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views. 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic, isometric view of a coating and cylindrical grinding apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic, cross-sectional view of the coating and cylindrical grinding apparatus of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  shows a work-piece being coated using the coating and cylindrical grinding apparatus of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  shows a work-piece being heated using the coating and cylindrical grinding apparatus of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 5  shows a work-piece being cylindrical grinded using the coating and cylindrical grinding apparatus of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 to 3 , a coating and cylindrical grinding apparatus  100 , according to an exemplary embodiment is shown. The coating and cylindrical grinding apparatus  100  includes a main body  10 , a roller device  20 , a liquid jetting device  30 , a heating device  40 , a cylindrical grinding device  50 , and a support device  60 . The roller device  20 , the liquid jetting device  30 , the heating device  40 , the cylindrical grinding device  50 , and the support device  60  are all received in the main body  10 . The support device  60  carries a work-piece  90  to process the work-piece  90  with the roller device  20  and the cylindrical grinding device  50 . 
     The main body  10  is a housing with a cuboid cavity  101  defined therein to receive the roller device  20 , the liquid jetting device  30 , the heating device  40 , the cylindrical grinding device  50 , and the support device  60 . The cavity  101  is substantially sealed to prevent the cut chips from sputtering out. The main body  10  defines an opening  102  communicating with the cavity  101  for ingress and egress of the work-piece  90 . The opening  102  is positioned at an end of the cavity  101  along a longitudinal direction thereof. A slide rail  103  is received in the cavity  101  and is positioned at the bottom of the cavity  101 . The slide rail  103  extends along the longitudinal direction of the cavity  101 . 
     The roller device  20  includes a number of rollers  201  arrayed along the longitudinal direction of the cavity  101 . The roller  201  is barrel-shaped. Each roller  201  is rotatably connected to the main body  10  by a first shaft  202 . The first shaft  202  is connected to a motor (not shown). The roller  201  is driven by the motor to rotate. In the present embodiment, the roller  201  is positioned above the middle portion of the cavity  101 . 
     The liquid jetting device  30  is mounted on the main body  10  and above the roller device  20 . The liquid jetting device  30  includes a liquid container  301  and a nozzle  302 . The liquid container  301  is positioned out of the cavity  101 . The nozzle  302  is positioned in the cavity  101 . The liquid container  301  communicates with the nozzle  302 . The liquid container  301  stores a coating liquid. The nozzle  302  ejects the coating liquid to the rollers  201 , so that the rollers  201  can coat the coating liquid on the work-piece  90 . 
     The heating device  40  heats the work-piece  90  to solidify the coating liquid to form a coating film. In this embodiment, the heating device  40  is mounted on the main body  10 , and positioned between the roller device  20  and the cylindrical grinding device  50 . 
     The cylindrical grinding device  50  is positioned at an end of the cavity  101  away from the opening  102  along a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the cavity  101 . The cylindrical grinding device  50  grinds the outer diameter of the work-piece  90 . The cylindrical grinding device  50  includes a grinding wheel  501 . The grinding wheel  501  is barrel-shaped. The grinding wheel  501  is rotatably connected to the main body  10  with a second shaft  502 . The second shaft  502  is connected to a motor (not shown). The grinding wheel  501  is driven by the motor to rotate for grinding the outer diameter of the work-piece  90 . The rotation direction of the grinding wheel  501  is perpendicular to the rotation direction of the roller  201  because the rolled surface of the work-piece  90  is perpendicular to the coated surface of the work-piece  90 . The grinding wheel  501  is an emery wheel. 
     The support device  60  includes a drive unit  602 , an elevation unit  603  fixed on the drive unit  602 , and a support plate  604  fixed on the elevation unit  603 . The drive unit  602  is slidably mounted on the slide rail  103 . The drive unit  602  includes a stepper motor (not shown). The elevation unit  603  is mounted on the stepper motor and driven by the stepper motor to move up and down relative to the roller  201 . In the present embodiment, the elevation unit  603  is a hollow threaded shaft. The support plate  604  is rotatably connected to an end of the elevation unit  603  away from the drive unit  602 . The support plate  604  defines a suction hole  605  communicating with a vacuum device (not shown) by the elevation unit  603 . The vacuum device is capable of providing different suction levels to hold the work-piece  90  on the support plate  604 . The support device  60  includes a motor (not shown) for driving the drive unit  602  to move along the slide rail  103 . 
     The coating and cylindrical grinding apparatus  100  further includes a cleaning device  70 . The cleaning device  70  is positioned adjacent to the cylindrical grinding device  50  for jetting cleaning fluid to the work-piece  90  during in the cylindrical grinding process. A collection and discharge device (not shown) is positioned at the bottom of the cavity  101  for collecting chips and discharging cleaning fluid. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3-5 , an operation process of the coating and cylindrical grinding apparatus  100  is shown. The support device  60  is moved to an end of the slide rail  103  near the opening  102 , and the support plate  604  moves down towards the bottom of the cavity  101 . The work-piece  90  is first put on the support plate  604  through the opening  102 . The support plate  604  engages the work-piece  90 . Then the support device  60  moves towards the opposite end of the slide rail  103 . The motor of the support device  60  drives the elevation unit  603  to rise until the surface of the work-piece  90  contacts with the rollers  201 . The nozzle  302  ejects the coating liquid. The rollers  201  turn to coat the coating liquid on the surface of the work-piece  90 . The support device  60  reciprocates along the slide rail  103  to coat the coating liquid on the surface of the work-piece  90  substantially and evenly. Then the support device  60  moves to the position beneath the heating device  40 . The heating device  40  heats the work-piece  90  to solidify the coating liquid, thus to form a coating film. 
     The support device  60  moves to the grinding wheel  501  when the coating process is completed. The work-piece  90  makes contact with the grinding wheel  501 . The grinding wheel  501  turns and rotates the work-piece  90  to grind the work-piece  90  into a circular shape. The cleaning device  70  jets cleaning fluid at the work-piece  90  when the work-piece  90  is rolled. 
     The support device  60  moves to the position beneath the heating device  40  again when the work-piece  90  is completely rolled. The heating device  40  dries the work-piece  90 . Finally, the work-piece  90  is taken out from the opening  102 . 
     The preceding sequence of the coating process and the cylindrical grinding process is not fixed. That is, a work-piece  90  can first be coated, then cylindrical ground, or first cylindrical ground, and then coated. 
     It will be understood that the above particular embodiments are shown and described by way of illustration only. The principles and the features of the present disclosure may be employed in various and numerous embodiments thereof without departing from the scope of the disclosure as claimed. The above-described embodiments illustrate the scope of the disclosure but do not restrict the scope of the disclosure.