Patent ID: 8641398

Claim:
A system for making painted vehicle body panel skins, the system comprising: an entrance station; a paint station within a dispensing area wherein paint is applied on mold surfaces of molds to form a layer of paint on each mold surface at the paint station; a spray station within the dispensing area and within a first chamber, the spray station including a program-controlled manipulator having a work envelope and an automatic sprayer supported on the manipulator for movement relative to at least two control axes for spraying curable polyurethane elastomer therefrom on the painted surfaces of the molds to form a layer of elastomer on each layer of paint; a plurality of accumulator stations adjacent to and separate from the spray station and within a second chamber spaced apart from the first chamber in a curing area to expose an entire surface of each layer of elastomer opposite the paint to ambient air and to allow the curable polyurethane elastomer to completely cure in the molds to form the skins in the accumulator stations wherein the plurality of accumulator stations are configured to increase throughput and to maximize utilization of the manipulator; an unload station wherein the skins are unloaded from the molds at the unload station and wherein each of the paint, spray, accumulator, and unload stations is located along a guide path; and a transport mechanism for transporting the molds, the mechanism conveying the molds along the guide path and stopping and maintaining each of the molds in a stationary predetermined position relative to the guide path during painting, spraying and unloading functions performed in the paint, spray, and unload stations, respectively; and a control system for causing the manipulator to move the sprayer through a predetermined spray path relative to the at least two control axes, for controlling the sprayer so that the flow of the polyurethane elastomer on each painted surface is controlled, for causing the transport mechanism to move an uncured mold from the spray station along the guide path and to the accumulator stations for curing after spraying in the spray station and after transporting of the molds from the spray station into the accumulator stations by the transport mechanism, and for causing the transport mechanism to move the molds between each of the paint, spray, accumulator, unload stations along the guide path, wherein, after each skin is unloaded from its corresponding mold in the unload station, the corresponding empty mold is maintained in a stationary predetermined position in the entrance station.