Insert image here

New approach for exterior car body painting

Udo Grohmann12. October, 2006

Content of the presentation

Introduction and historic developments

Customer requirements

ABB`s approach to the problem

Paint process understanding

Various developments

The result

Summary and conclusions

The vision of the new painting technology

The inventors of the process are too busy with government work to plan on future applications now, but it is likely that entirely automatic painting machines will be designed to take automobile bodies, washing machines and almost any other irregular metal product, coat them electrostatically at high speed, dry them with infrared lamps and then roll them out ready for assembly in a fraction of the time now required to do the same job by hand.

Colliers Magazine, USA2.July 1945

Ever since 1941, Harold Ransburg’s revolutionary idea of electrostatic painting has been taken on and developed further. Step by step more fantastic ideas, concepts and solutions came up.

After their ”birth” in 1967 painting robots made a slowly but steady penetration in the automotive industry and the combination with Harold Ransburg’s idea nowadays is the industrial standard.

Revolution - Evolution

Where are we going to take it ?

Considering customer values and demands

It was all aboutQuality EnvironmentFlexibilityProductivityInvestment

Todays concern is COSTin capital investmentin utilities and materialsin maintenancein personnel

”Total cost of ownership”

Co2 Emission of a Paint Plant

Oven

Others

Primer Booth

Top Coat Booth

Investment of a Paint Plant

Booth

Paint Supply

Robot &Applicator

Spray booth, robots and application equipment have a significant impact on a paint shop investment

The top coat and primer booth consume more then 50% of the paint shop energy requirement

Identifying major cost drivers in every paint shop...

...results in clear customer expectationsReduction of spray booth footprint

Tight installation of robotsLess robots to be used

High performance robotIncreased atomizer performance

Apply metallics in one layer

Reduction of investment for robots & applicatorsExplore cost saving potentialsExplore new concepts

Reduction of operating costIncrease first-run rateReduce paint- & solvent lossesReduce or eliminate non-value adding operations ( cleaning, programming..)

Increase MTBFReduce MTTR

All gets down to three key issues...

Car body Paint Line capacityTechnicalProductionRequirements

Mar

ket R

equi

rem

ents

Quality Environmental Regulations

Investment + operationCosts

No of robotsatomizer

Dimensionof booth

Paint and solventconsumption

Availibiltymaintenance

First runrate

Programming

Tech

nolo

gyPo

tent

ial Atomizer

flow ratetransfer efficiencyPattern shape and width….

RobotTCP Speedaccelerationworking envelope….

RoofPaint Concepts – Hood

...and how do we intend to paint a car body ?

Stroke over complete hood

In conveyor direction

Rectangular to conveyor direction

Patchwork painting

Stroke over complete roofPaint Concepts - Side

Horizontal S

troke

Vertical Stroke

Best thickness uniformity

Large Booth

Acceleration critical

Medium Booth

Small robot working envelope

Short booth

Very sensitive to acceleration

Small robot working envelope

Very sensitive to acceleration

Acc

eler

atio

n cr

itica

l

The effect of acceleration on film thickness…

Applying the advantage of high acceleration is called..

StayOn™... is a robot programming method that keeps the atomizer “ON” all the time for an area to be painted, thus reducing overspray and cycle time.

Benefits achieved applying “StayOn”

Customer Benefit :Cycle time - 20%Paint usage - 12%Trigger-on time +10%

Common painting methodWith trigger On - Off

”StayOn” method

Roof panel with 3.2 m2

Painted with 50% overlapAll atomizer parameters identical

Which program to use ??

The effect of robot reach on film thickness…

The comparison speaks for itself

Horizontal and vertical reach capability are crucial

NoPatch™... is a robot performance and programming method that eliminates “patchwork” layers required when panels are painted with multiple robots and limited reach.

Our approach for exterior car body painting Paint Concepts – Hood Roof

Stroke over complete hood

In conveyor direction

Stroke over complete roofPaint Concepts - Side

Horizontal S

trokeRectangular to conveyor direction

Acceleration is critical to get uniform thickness distribution“StayOn™” for cycle time reduction“NoPatch™” for film thickness uniformity

We knew how to process the carWe managed the key process parametersWe knew that ”elevated” robots perform better then floor-mounted version in terms of contaminationWe knew that our CBS system meets the Zero-CC loss requirementWe knew that our enhanced floor mount robot could deal with the paint process acceleration requirements

ButThe spray booth size, both length and width, is still too bigWe have been away from our 100% TE objective

Therefore it became obvious what we needed to develop :A new generation atomizer along withA new generation robot kinematics

Conclusions directing our development forces

Co - development approach

Finishing qualityFlow rate

The ultimate balancing act...

The new generation atomizerThe new generation atomizer.....AND

A rotary atomizer for high flow rates up to 1000 cc/min,

Designed for robotic application

With variable spray pattern control function

Applicable for solvent- and water borne paint

Designed to run one shift without cleaning

Modular design reduces MTTR

Tailor made for car body exterior painting

High acceleration and painting speed

Wall mounted No Rail

Paint a complete car with two robots only

Designed for high flow atomizer

Large working envelope

High acceleration and painting speed

Wall mounted No Rail

Designed for high flow atomizer

Paint a complete car with two robots only

FlexPainter IRB 5500 – The manipulator

Design :No counter balancing or bevel gears

Open gear for axis 3 – internal hose routing

Same hollow wrist as IRB 5400

”HV – HP” motors

Purge unit combined with the process cabinet

Simplified internal cabling

Key achievements:Internal hose routing

40 % reduction of weight

50 % reduction in number of parts

FlexPainter IRB 5500 – Process cabinet

Separate process cabinetReduced equipment loadReduced costSimplified maintenanceInnovations in process equipment without change of manipulator

Prepare and be in action after 48 hours

Have we met the customer expectation ?

Reduction of spray booth footprintTight installation of robotsLess robots to be used

High performance robot

Increased atomizer performanceApply metallics in one layer

Reduction of investment for robots & applicatorsExplore cost saving potentialsExplore new concepts

Reduction of operating costIncrease first-run rateReduce paint- & solvent lossesReduce or eliminate non-value adding operations ( cleaning, programming..)

Increase MTBFReduce MTTR

9 - 4 - 2 Technology that enables...

2 robot high-performance paint cellIncreased acceleration 200%

Increased work envelope 180%

StayOn™ reduce path length 15%

NoPatch™ reduce cycle time 4%

Existing 4 robots cellPaint flow rate 325 ml/min

External charge atomizer

Painting speed 500 mm/sec

2 robot high-performance paint cellPaint flow rate >500 ml/min

Internal charge atomizer

Painting speed >900 mm/sec

”Less is more”

The result for an increase of your competitiveness

Faster return on investment

Improved reliability of a complete automation systemIncreased flexibility for new processes and new vehicle models

Reduced size and environmental impact of robotic paint boothsReduced required booth length and width for a robotic paint systemReduced air handling volumes for ventilationReduced emissions from booth exhausts

Reduced machine programming efforts, in time and personnel requirements

”Less is more”