Effects of automotive paint spray technology on the paint transfer efficiency – a review

Abstract

Automotive spray painting is among the most sophisticated and controlled industrial painting operations currently performed. Nevertheless, improvements in it are still sought in efforts to minimize the costs, the energy use and the environmental impacts. One compelling aspect of improvement is the paint transfer efficiency, i.e. the amount of paint that remains on a vehicle relative to the amount supplied to the paint applicator during coating operations, because currently it has been estimated that the overall paint transfer efficiency in the automotive industry is between 50% and 60%. Hence, this review assesses current automotive spray coating technologies with respect to their transfer efficiencies and discusses the fundamental and operational parameters that influence it. A comprehensive characterization of paint spray applicators (air sprayers, high-volume low-pressure sprayers, airless sprayers, air-assisted airless sprayers, rotary bell atomizers, electrostatic sprayers, and effervescent atomizers) is included. Some problems associated with evaluating and improving their paint transfer efficiencies are discussed. Also, the potential of and the technology needs for developing these applicators are considered.

Engineering Catalyst Layers for Next‐Generation Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells: A Review of Design, Materials, and Methods

“…[ 480 ] Electrostatic spraying is another spray method for preparing CLs, [ 323,481 ] where a potential is applied between a spray head containing the ink and the substrate, such that the negative charge of the ink is attracted to the positive charge of the substrate. This principle is applied in a number of industries where good control of ink spraying is required, such as the spraying of car bodies in vehicle manufacture, [ 482 ] which highlights the suitability of the technique for industrial manufacture of CLs. The main advantage of electrostatic methods is that only areas that have an electric charge are sprayed, which improves ink utilization since less material is lost by overspray around the CL edges.…”

Sustainability in manufacturing processes: practices performed in metal forming, casting, heat treatment, welding and electrostatic painting

“…There are many possibilities for improvement this process in a sustainable point of view. Poozesh et al (2018) argues that there is a lot of waste in the process, since only 60% of the ink particles are attracted. According to Kellens et al (2015), there are also improvements opportunities related to energy efficiency, reuse of water from cooling process and in ergonomic issues.…”

Study of Near-Cup Droplet Breakup of an Automotive Electrostatic Rotary Bell (ESRB) Atomizer Using High-Speed Shadowgraph Imaging

“…Rotary bell atomizers have been the primary method of paint application for many manufacturers due to the increased paint transfer efficiency over the alternative of air spray guns, such as air blast sprayers. However, the devices leave room for improvement since over-coating is often necessary to ensure sufficient finish quality [5,6]. Since its inception into industry, rotating disk, and later rotary bell, applicators have been studied in an attempt to understand and improve the paint application process, but further improvements would continue to reduce costs and waste in industrial processes.…”

“…Since its inception into industry, rotating disk, and later rotary bell, applicators have been studied in an attempt to understand and improve the paint application process, but further improvements would continue to reduce costs and waste in industrial processes. Currently, automotive paint shops amount to 30%-50% of the total cost to manufacture automobiles and up to 70% of the total energy costs in an assembly plant [3,5]. Thus, even small improvements to any aspect of the process is important, since it can result in large cost savings and waste reduction.…”