FORM 2
THE PATENT ACT 1970
&
The Patents Rules, 2003
PROVISIONAL / COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (See section 10 and rule 13)
1. TITLE OF THE INVENTION:
"Audio synchronized performance control system"

2. APPLICANT
(a) NAME:
(b) NATIONALITY:
(c) ADDRESS:

MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA LTD.
An Indian Company registered under the provisions of
The Companies Act, 1956
R &D Center, Automotive Sector, 89, MIDC, Satpur, Nashik-422 007, Maharashtra state, India

3. PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION

PROVISIONAL
The following specification describes the invention.

COMPLETE
The following specificatioi particularly describe themvention and the manner in which it is to be
perfoi

Technical Field of Present Invention:
The present invention relates to manual paint application system on an automotive vehicle body. More particularly, the present invention relates to audio synchronized manual paint application system effectively on a vehicle body in a predetermined time.
Background and Prior Art:
Painting of a vehicle body is done either by manually using the spray guns or by automatic robots. Use of robots is a costly affair and also the robotic arm does not go to the inner side of a vehicle body. As a result even though using robots for painting, the inner parts of the vehicle body needs to be painted manually.
Manual painting process of vehicle body is a time consuming affair and monotonous in nature. Also it may lead to uneven coverage of paint, run down, shade variation, scratch, overspray, etc. Therefore, there is a need to have synchronized manual paint application process to the vehicle body in which even application of paint is done on the stroke of audio signal in the predetermined time.
There are variety of performance control systems available in prior art with varying degree of success.
US patent No. 5585584 discloses automatic performance control apparatus which control a tempo of automatic performance in accordance with an action of a human operator such as conductor. In this concept gyro sensors are used to detect the hand swing motion of a human operator.
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US patent No. 5513991 describes a method of simulating personal individual art instruction. The method utilizes a CD playable on a CD player hooked up to a television. The actual instructor does the voice over, giving instructions at each step. Next, a substantially perfectly lit image appears which is a view of the object of study. Then, a completed painting of the said object appears, having been executed by the instructor. The screen contains step by step images of different stages of completion. At each screen, the instructor talks about what he or she is doing and why. The method allows the student to create a painting while assessing a simulated art lessons.
This concept talks about the visual aid of instructions to perform the human activity. Also the system requires a display screen.
US patent No. 6281422 educates about a music performance assisting system. The system analyses a set of music data codes representative of a series of notes and rests forming a tune, and selectively assigns the notes to the five fingers of each hand of a player, wherein a music performance assisting system temporarily assigns notes of each of plural note groups to the fingers in accordance with rules of a fingering for obtaining candidates of a finger pattern, and, thereafter, evaluates the candidates on the basis of rules of a desirable fingering so as to determine the optimum use of fingers so as to decrease the data base and speed up the data processing.
Drawbacks of Prior Art:
• The prior art human performance control processes do not talk about audio synchronization for a predetermined period to perform the manual painting actions effectively.
• Most of the prior art processes are time consuming affair and monotonous in nature.
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• Lead to uneven coverage of paint and thereby shade variation in the overall look.
• Lead to run down and hence wastage of colour.
• The prior art concepts are complex in nature and require additional components such as gyro sensors, display screens/ etc. which lead to the cost of the system.
Objects of the present Invention:
The main object of the present invention is to provide improved audio synchronized system for uniform application of paint on vehicle body in a predetermined time.
Another object of the present is to provide a novel performance assistance system of paint application on the vehicle body in a sequential action / movement of spray gun.
Further object of the present invention is to provide novel and effective method of paint application on a vehicle body at a low cost.
Still another object of the present invention is overcome the drawbacks of the prior art audio assisted instructing / guiding systems.
Description of the Figures:
Figure 1 shows the schematic representation of the system in accordance with the present invention.
Figure 2 shows the schematic representation revealing the working mechanism of the system in accordance with the present invention.
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Detailed Description of the Present Invention:
Referring to Fig. 1, the audio synchronized performance control system (1) comprises of a vehicle body conveyer (3), controller unit (4) and audio means (5). The body conveyer (3) is powered by a prime mover (2) which may be an electric motor or DC generator or battery and like. The body conveyer (3) moves the vehicle body forward at a desired forward speed with the help of suitable gear ratio.
The controller unit (4) comprises of three sub-units namely analyzer (6), a means to play audio message (7) and memory unit (8) to store the audio messages. The controller unit (4) connected to the body conveyer (3) with suitable communication module such as electric cords or wireless means. The controller unit (4) is configured to interrogate with body conveyer (3) and based on its response generates the audio signal as that of selected audio message from the memory unit which are then amplified by an audio means (5). The controller unit is powered by external AD / DC power source (10). Memory unit (8) has the selection switch (9) to select the desired audio message depending upon the type of vehicle body.
Audio means (5) comprises of speakers and/or headphones and like means or combination of thereof placed at different / desired locations and adapted to receive the audio message generated by the controller unit (4); amplify it so as to be audible and understandable by the human operator. There may be any number of speakers/headphones as a audio means as shown Ai, A2/ A3 and the like in Fig.l. The audio means (5) is connected to the controller unit (4) through suitable wireless communication module.
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The processor unit (6) of a controller (4) is embedded with a specific logic and adapted to interrogate with the body conveyer (3). If the body conveyer (3) is in moving / running condition, it actuates the audio message playing means (7) to play the desired audio message selected from the memory unit (8). The selection of audio message to be played is done manually using a selection switch (9) depending on the type of vehicle body to be painted such as cab or cargo or both. For each type of vehicle body there is a specific audio message with melodious music and a set of instructions stored in the memory unit configured on the basis of length of stroke and timing. The playing of audio message is synchronized with the forward speed of the body conveyer.
For example, if a vehicle cab with cargo is to be painted, a specific audio message meant for cab with cargo need to be selected manually in the memory unit (8). When cab with cargo put on a body conveyer (3) comes in a particular zone, the processor unit (6) gets sensitized and actuates the audio message playing means (7) to play the said audio message already set in the memory unit (8) for cab with cargo. The audio message generated by message playing means is amplified by audio means (5) which is in the form of headphones with the human operators who are working with spray gun on either side of the body conveyer (3). Based on the instructions and audio tunes received through audio means (5), human operator operates the spray gun in a rhythmic manner to apply paint on a vehicle body. The rhythm of the audio tune is again a function of length of stroke i.e. the body surface area to be covered in that stroke. The length of audio message is synchronized with the forward speed of the body conveyer.
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When the conveyer (3) reaches zero forward speed, the processor (6) deactivates the audio message playing means (7) and as a result no audio message / instruction for the human operator is generated through audio means (5). Observer observing the sequential actions of human operator from outside the vehicle paint booth can also control the painting process by switching off the body conveyer (3) and asking the operator to rectify his actions. In this way, a system is made full proof and controls the performance of human operator and thereby the paint application method as well. The controller unit (4) is configured to programme different melody tunes for different vehicle body.
It should be understood that the present invention is not to be limited by the exact details of the illustrated embodiment. However, it is to be taken as the preferred example of the invention and that various changes may be resorted to by a person skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of below mentioned claims. Also, the terminologies used herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
Advantages of the present invention:
- Uniform application of paint over the body surface is achieved.
- Run down and hence wastage of the paint is avoided.
- Shade variation in the colour is elirninated. Overspray is almost eliminated / minimized.
- Mistakes in manual paint application are almost eliminated / minimized.
- Improves the performance of human operator Synchronized movements of left side and right side operators.
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- Mental drudgery and fatigue involved in the operation is reduced / eliminated because of melody of the audio.