PAINT CARTRIDGE FOR ELECTROSTATIC COATING MACHINE AND ELECTROSTATIC COATING MACHINE INCLUDING THE SAME

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the quantity of paint to be disposed when the inside of a paint cartridge is cleaned for changing color, and to simplify control of the supply/discharge of an operating liquid to/from the paint cartridge during cleaning. SOLUTION: When the paint cartridge 10 is cleaned, air and a cleaning liquid are supplied through an upper end opening 12 of a paint bag 12 in a squashed state and thereby the paint bag 12 is expanded. Accompanying the expansion of the paint bag 12, the operating liquid in a tightly closed space 14 (operating liquid chamber) of the paint cartridge 10 is recovered through an operating liquid discharge path 26 in the cartridge. In the next step, the paint bag 12 is squashed by supplying the controlled quantity of the operating liquid to the operating liquid chamber (the tightly closed space 14) of the paint cartridge 10 through an operating liquid supply path 22 under pressure to discharge the cleaning liquid from the lower end opening 12c of the paint bag 12. COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT