FIELD OF THE INVENTION:

The invention relates to a method and system for applying decals on vehicle and vehicle accessories, particularly to motorcycle accessories, which generally have a complex shape and configuration.

BACKGROUND TO INVENTION:

Decals are graphics applied to vehicle and its accessories as a part of brand strategy and aesthetic appeal to customers. It is merely a decorative component and thereby needs to be highly appealing to the eye.

Conventionally decals are applied manually, and require a substantial amount of skill to paste the decal flawlessly. This application becomes even more skill intensive when decal areas are large and are required to cover uneven profiles. Skill of applicator lies in deciding and repeating the strokes for applications, usually with a squeeze, and to ensure adequate amount of stretch in the decals around contours. Unskilled applications as known in prior art leads to defects like wrinkles and bubbles, and at times may not be correctable, leading to wasting of the decal.

Another issue in manual application is that edge sealing of decals may not be repetitively reliable, and this can lead to peeling off of the decals in the field due to loss of adhesion, which occurs because of ingress of foreign material into the decals through the edges.

Furthermore, uniform pressure over the entire decals area cannot be ensured with manual application.

In terms of ergonomics, decal application imposes pressure on the wrist and palm, and in mass production it can lead to muscular-skeleton injuries, when the applicator is using the manual process over a large period of time.

Thus conventional process suffers as it requires skilled manpower, is time consuming, and has inherently lower productivity levels.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The first object of the present invention is to provide a system for applying decals on an article which has curved and/or irregular surfaces thereby possessing a difficult complex geometry.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for applying decal on an article which has curved and/or irregular surfaces thereby possessing a difficult complex geometry.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for applying decals to a surface of an article and its accessories with efficient adjustment in the work position of the decal application.

The another object of the present invention is to provide a method for applying decals to a surface of an article and its accessories, which exhibits very efficient adjustment in the work position and process and increases the productivity over conventional application.

The another object of the invention is to provide a system and a method which eliminates wrinkles during the process and reduces the occurences of bubbles by providing an efficient well adjusted intimate pressed contact thereby enabling the decal to adhere to the surface efficiently by providing good contact by streching the decal and the backing appropriately along the curved surfaces.

Further object of the invention is to provide a method which achieves applying decal on a surface of the article without any wrinkles and reduces the occurences of bubbles.

It is further object of the method of the invention to provide an opportunity to automate the process of decal application.

It is further object of the system of the invention to provide an opportunity to automate the process of decal application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The other objects, advantages and novelty features will be apparent from the detailed description taken in conjunction with the figures of the drawings, which illustrates one of the many embodiments possible of the invention.

Figure 1 illustrates the pressing means along with the sectional views AA

Figure 2 gives the list of main activity, steps of process with interim 'Remarks' for better understanding of the flow chart.

Figure 3A, 3B illustrates the robotic means and the associated pressing means.

Figure 4 illustrates the supporting means, Marker means, Pressing means & Robotic means.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a decal applying system for and a method of applying a decal to an article. The system applies the decal to any complex geometry of an article surface.

The basic principle of the invention is to provide sufficiently flexible mounting means to obtain a plurality of work position of the article on which the decal has to be pasted and to provide a very efficient robotic means for adjusting a plurality of work position of the pressing means which is the means which presses the decal onto the surface thereby pasting the decal onto the surface in a manner eliminating the formation of wrinkles and bubbles in the pasted decal. In particular the use of the robotic means permits determining and employing optimum position control of the pressing means, during the entire phase of pasting of decal onto the article. The technique adopted in this invention is very satisfactory for application of decal decoration even onto small curved surfaces and of course even to flat surface. This technique has effectively discovered an efficient large scale applications of decals to even curved small surfaces. The problem of accurately positioning the article and pressing means which was technically difficult in prior art has been simplified in the invention. The term 'decal' is nothing but decorative transfers carried on a backing and which must be held in contact with the article surface while on the backing, for the transfer to be completed which is very well achieved in the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION:

The invention relates to having a system for application of a decal on a curved surface of an article. The system essentially comprises of having a supporting means 1. The article on which the decal is to be pasted will be supported on this supporting means allowing the article to be adjustable movably on this supporting means, thereby achieving plurality of work positions.

Furthermore since the decal has to be pasted on a selected intended portion on the article. Marker means 2 may be used for marking this selected portion. Laser light points may be used to guide with this marking means, for ex. laser points as guide for start portion, the decal is pasted partly with partially peeled off backliner and the other portions of the decal still carried on its backlining.

The next component that is essential is a pressing means 3 which shall be used to press the decal onto the article surface efficiently. This pressing means is movably positioned near the first supporting means 1 on which the article will be mounted.

The system also comprises a robotic means 4 whose main purpose is to selectively move the pressing means into the close proximity of the article mounted on the supporting means and is accommodated to firmly press the partially pasted decal using a squeeze means 5 thereby avoiding the wrinkles and also bubbles formation.

With this the decal will adhere to the article surface along the shape of the surface and release the backlining.

After this step of pasting is completed the article is removed from the supporting means and the robotics returns the pressing means to its basic position. The supporting means is adapted to maintain same orientation for a particular object and the orientation is based on the object itself.

This process can be made continuous by mounting another article on the supporting means with another selected work position and using the robotics achieve another work position of the pressing means thereby making the system adaptable for pasting the decal on different articles with different shapes.

The system has the robotic means which essentially will have multiple axis motion and thereby achieving many directional movement of the pressing means and thereby offering plurality of work position of the pressing means which was unknown in the prior art. The particular embodiment depicted in figures has six arms with six axis motion. However the number of arms with corresponding axis can be beyond six as per the requirement and is not limited by this number.

The invention includes the method also as much as the system describes above. The article on which the decal has to be pasted is movably mounted on the supporting means and providing a plurality of work position by the supporting means and enabling selection of one of the offered work position of the article.

The marker means known in prior art may be used to ear mark the portion of the article onto which the decal is to be pasted. Once the marker means has marked or indicated the portion (for example with laser light), the next step is to paste a partial portion of the decal with partially peeled off backliner of the selected portion with the balance of the decal still carried on its backlining.

The process includes providing a pressing means positioned near the supporting means. The pressing means will achieve multiple work positions by selection.

The process includes managing the plurality of work position of the press means with robotic means wherein the press means is physically associated with the robotic means. The six axis robotic means provides the variable work positions that need to be achieved with press means and also move the press means towards the supporting means holding the article onto which the decal is partially pasted.

The process includes using a press squeeze on the press means which will paste the partially pasted decal onto the surface of the article slowly and continuously along the surface of the article and avoiding wrinkles and bubbles.

The difficulty in applying a decal on difficult curved surface has been overcome by this system and the method adopted in using this system.

The fuel tank 10 is mounted on the supporting means, which ensures adeqaute repeatability of fuel tank mounting. Initial positioning of the decal can then be manually done or through a suitable automation, wherein the back liner is partially peeled off and the decal on that end is pasted on the fuel tank 10.During manual pasting the operator can take guidance using marking means to know the exact postion of decal on the fuel tank, where initial portion of decal is to be pasted.The invention offers a method to apply decals using the Robotic means which carries a squeeze means mounted on a spring loaded holder 6 means. The squeeze slides along the axis of the spring loaded holder means with very low friction because of a set of bearing bushes (not illustrated in the drawing). The spring actuated motion of the squeeze means ensures that the squeeze means is always in contact with the surface of the object/article on which the decal is being applied. Further the adequate contact at all times is ensured by the appropriate programming of Robotic means, which depends on the profile of object and also the dimension of the squeeze. Further with this, there is almost complete elimination of air trap and thereby preventing bubbles. Further the number of strokes is more than once, to remove any entrapped air. Maintaining the operation temperature at 25°C also reduces the bubble formation. The number of strokes and the strokes is designed by the Robotic means. The robotic means then applies the remaining portion of the decal using the squeeze means of the the pressing means , which is attached with arm of the robotic means. As Squeeze means contacts the already pasted portion of the decal, a suitable pressure is applied which is achieved thruogh the pre compression of the spring 8 in the pressing means. Subsequently the fourth robotic means 4 manipulates the Squeeze in pre-rogrammed press over the decal surface, resulting in simultaneous pasting of the decal and removal of the back lining of the decal. The decal applying process are so programmed that all portions of decal are pressed to ensure adequate pasting so designed that they eliminate occurences of any wrinkles and reduce the occurences of bubbles. Since fuel tanks are mounted on suitably accurate fixtures, initial decal is pasted using accurate guidance and strokes of Robot are always repeatable and any minor variations in fuel tak profile are compensated by the spring preload, accuracy and repeatability of decal pasting process is ensured. The novelty in Robotic means lies in the programming. The selection is done for optimal speed of decal application, optimal angle at which the squeeze shall contact the decal which is based on the shape and curvature of the object. It also ensures sufficient spring pressure of the squeeze holder is maintained to allow the vertical motion of the squeeze along the Robotic axis and thereby ensuring continuous contact.

The invention in one aspect provides a system for application of a decal on an article surface which may be of any geometry. The system comprises of a first supporting means for movably supporting the article into plurality of work positions. It has a second marker means 2 is suitably adapted to mark a selected intended portion on the article wherein to paste partial portion of said decal with partially peeled off backliner on the intended decal containing area of the article with balance portion of the decal still carried on its backlining. There is a third pressing 3 means which is movably disposed adjacent the first supporting means. A fourth robotic means which is capable of selectively moving the third pressing means into close proximity to the article is mounted on the supporting means and adapted to firmly press the partially pasted decal by a squeeze means of the third pressing means onto the surface of the article, thereby causing the decal to adhere to the article surface and be released from the backlining and further adapted thereafter to move away the supporting means and the pressing means from each other and also from the article. The invention is characterized in the fourth robotic means which has multiple arms with multiple axis motion thereby achieving plurality of directional movement of the pressing means which third pressing means having a press squeeze means mounted at one end of spring loaded holder disposed within a spring housing 7 and the other end of the housing terminating with an adapter 9 adapted for placing the third pressing means on one of the plurality of arms of the fourth moving means.

The invention as described above shall have plurality of arms which enable plurality of motion in plurality directions. However the illustration is given with six arms utilizing atleast six axis motions for the purpose of understanding.

The invention as described above is preferred to the extent that the marker means is operable with laser light.

The invention further has the third pressing means mounted at one end of the spring loaded holder disposed within a spring housing and the other end of the housing terminating with an adapter adapted for placing the third pressing means on one of the plurality of arms of the fourth robotic means.

The second aspect of the invention is to produce a novel method for application of a decal an article surface which may be of any geometry. The novel method having many steps such as movably mounting the article on a first supporting means to provide a plurality of work position of the article. Then marking a selected intended portion on the article with a second marker means and pasting a partial portion of the said decal with partially peeled off backliner on the intended decal containing area of the article with balance portion of the decal still carried on its backlining. It also includes disposing a third pressing means adjacent the first supporting means. The method involves using a fourth robotic means to move the third pressing means into close proximity to the mounted article and firmly pressing the partially pasted decal by a squeeze means of the third pressing means onto the surface of the article, thereby causing the decal to adhere to the article surface and be released from the backling and thereafter moving away the supporting means and pressing means from each other and also from the article. The method as disclosed is characterized in providing six axis motion of the fourth robotic means and thereby achieving the plurality of directional movement of pressing means and also in mounting the press squeeze at one end of a spring loaded holder disposed within a housing of the third pressing means and providing an adapter at the other end of the housing adapted for placing the third pressing means on the fourth moving means.

The invention as described above shall have plurality of arms which enable plurality of motion in plurality directions. However the illustration is given with six arms utilizing atleast six axis motions for the purpose of understanding the method of operation of the invention.

The invention as described above is preferred to the extent that the marker means is operated with laser light though it is not restricted by this.

The invention further provides mounting the third pressing means at one end of the spring loaded holder disposed within a spring housing and the other end of the housing terminating with an adapter adapted for placing the third pressing means on one of the plurality of arms of the fourth robotic means.

Following table illustrates comparison data. The data shows improvement with respect manual operation in productivity and reduction in rejection achieved using the present invention.

Further, the consistency of output and finishing has been improved significantly.

Although certain embodiments and examples have been used to describe the present invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes to the embodiments and examples shown may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. While the foregoing description of the decal applying system and method is projected as most immediate beed for application of decals to complex curved surface of an article such as motorcycle, it is definitely applicable to non-curved surfaces and flat surfaces.

WE CLAIM:

1. The system for application of a decal on an article surface which may be of any geometry, the system comprising :-

a. a first supporting means for movably supporting the article into plurality of work positions,

b. a second marker means adapted to mark/highlight a selected intended portion on the article wherein to paste partial portion of said decal with partially peeled off backliner on the intended decal containing area of the article with balance portion of the decal still carried on its backlining,

c. a third pressing means movably disposed adjacent the first supporting means,

d. a fourth robotic means selectively moving the third pressing means into close proximity to the article mounted on the supporting means and adapted to firmly press the partially pasted decal by a squeeze means of the third pressing means onto the surface of the article, thereby causing the decal to adhere to the article surface and be released from the backlining and further adapted thereafter to move away the supporting means and the pressing means from each other and also from the article, and

e. characterized in the fourth robotic means having plurality of arms with plurality of axis motion thereby achieving plurality of directional movement of the pressing means which third pressing means having a press squeeze means.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said robotic means having plurality of arms may be six arms with atleast six axis motion.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the marker means is operable with laser light.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the third pressing means is mounted at one end of spring loaded holder disposed within a spring housing and the other end of the housing terminating with an adapter adapted for placing the third pressing means on one of the plurality of arms of the fourth robotic means.

5. A method for application of a decal an article surface which may of any geometry, the system comprising :-

a. movably mounting the article on a first supporting means to provide a plurality of work position of the article,

b. marking a selected intended portion on the article with a second marker means and pasting partial portion of the said decal with partially peeled off backliner on the intended decal containing area of the article with balance portion of the decal still carried on its backlining,

c. disposing a third pressing means adjacent the first supporting means,

d. using a fourth robotic means to move the third pressing means into close proximity to the mounted article and firmly pressing the partially pasted decal by a squeeze means of the third pressing means onto the surface of the article, thereby causing the decal to adhere to the article surface and be released from the backling and thereafter moving away the supporting means and pressing means from each other and also from the article,

e. characterized in providing a multi axis motion of the fourth robotic means and thereby achieving the plurality of directional movement of pressing means and also in mounting the press squeeze.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the step of providing multi-axis motion is providing six axis motions of the fourth robotic means.

7. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the marking step is done by second marker with laser light.

8. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein it further includes mounting the third pressing means at one end of a spring loaded holder disposed within a housing of the third pressing means and providing an adapter at the other end of the housing adapted for placing the third pressing means on the fourth moving means.