Mechatronic design of a leather spray system

Leather skins require a variety of processing steps. Many leather products require coatings such as paints and lacquer to enhance appearance, protect the surface and mask minor visual defects. The coatings are often applied by spraying. For large production volumes, automated machinery is readily available. For small factories finishing leathers in Hong Kong, large production lines are too costly and bulky. Most small leather processors spray coatings manually, requiring skilled workers to produce high quality products. Such skilled workers are in short supply due to the potential health risks of the job. A system to automate the spraying of coatings on leathers has been designed and a prototype system implemented to assess the feasibility. A safe, compact machine, adaptable to the factory environment and space available giving good spraying quality, having low maintenance requirements, capable of manual control as well as automatic spraying was required. The following design features were achieved in the prototype system: selectable automatic and manual operation; remote control; explosion safe; paint conservation; adjustable spray nozzle height; fast spraying operation; high quality spraying; compact size; safety; low cost; reliability; and energy conservation. © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.