Modular powder coating booth

Abstract

A modular powder recovery apparatus includes a base unit, one or more cartridge filters, and a wrapper that at least partially encloses the cartridge filters. The wrapper is designed to allow additional wrappers to be vertically stacked thereon to increase the overall height of the wrapper, thus permitting additional filter capacity without changing the base unit. The base unit is modular in design so that the size of the apparatus may be increased with a minimum of cost and waste.

Having thus described the invention, it is claimed:  
     
         1 . A modular powder spray booth comprising one or more ceiling panels forming a booth ceiling, two or more wall panels forming two or more booth walls and separably connected to at least one ceiling panel, and one or more floor panels forming a booth floor and separably connected to at least one of the wall panels.  
     
     
         2 . The spray booth of  claim 1  further comprising two adjacent panels, wherein the two adjacent panels have flanges for facilitating separable connection of the two adjacent panels.  
     
     
         3 . The spray booth of  claim 2  wherein the flanges have one or more bolt holes.  
     
     
         4 . The spray booth of  claim 2  further comprising clips, wherein the clips separably connect the two adjacent panels by extending around and being secured to the flanges.  
     
     
         5 . The spray booth of  claim 1  further comprising two adjacent panels and a bracket, wherein the bracket is placed between the two adjacent panels for facilitating separable connection of the two adjacent panels.  
     
     
         6 . The spray booth of  claim 1  further comprising a wheel assembly associated with the booth floor.  
     
     
         7 . The spray booth of  claim 1  further comprising a powder supply canister, a powder recycling opening in the booth, and a powder recycling chute leading from the powder recycling opening to the powder supply canister.  
     
     
         8 . A method of expanding the size of a first spray booth in at least one dimension, to form a second spray booth sized larger than the first booth, the first spray booth having one or more ceiling panels and two or more wall panels, the method comprising: 
 adding one or more new ceiling panels to the first spray booth; and    adding one or more new wall panels to the first spray booth.    
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  further comprising adding one or more floor panels to the first spray booth.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the first spray booth has a wheel assembly, further comprising using the wheel assembly to move the booth away from an article conveyor line to perform at least one of the method steps.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the first spray booth has a wheel assembly including a first center tube, further comprising replacing the first center tube with a second center tube, the second center tube being longer than the first center tube.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the first spray booth has a bracket supporting a powder supply canister, further comprising not replacing the bracket or the powder supply canister when expanding the size of the first spray booth.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the first spray booth has a first bracket supporting a first powder supply canister, further comprising replacing the first powder supply canister with a second powder supply canister.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising replacing the first bracket with a second bracket.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 8  wherein one or more of the new wall panels has a powder application aperture.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the powder application aperture is a rectangular opening sized for manual powder application.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the powder application aperture is an elongated slot sized for automated powder application.  
     
     
         18 . A modular powder spray booth assembly comprising: 
 a booth made of one or more ceiling panels forming a booth ceiling and two or more wall panels forming two or more booth walls, the wall panels being separably connected to at least one ceiling panel; and    a filter assembly comprising a filter base disposed near the booth, at least one filter vertically stacked on top of the filter base, and a wrapper that partly surrounds the filter to form a filter bay, the wrapper having an upper structure that can have an additional wrapper vertically stacked thereon to increase filter capacity of the assembly.