Selective and overspray free painting technology

In the cooperative research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF Green Carbody Technologies - InnoCaT "Energy efficient painting" (duration March 2010 to December 2012) new methods for the painting process in the automotive industry has been investigated in close teamwork with automotive and machine building industry. The overall project aimed to reduce the energy demand in the carbody production in which 60 companies joined in 30 projects using 100 million euros innovations. Three of them concentrated on painting, namely "overspray free coating", "energy efficient dryers" and "modular product and facility concepts" to reduce the most demanding energy consumers in painting. The overspray free painting works with the well-defined generation of paint drops by a short opening of a micro dosing valve. The droplet generation is investigated by high speed cameras and laser Doppler anemometry. The film building process is simulated by numerical methods and demonstrated by painting patterns on a hood. The possible energy savings are calculated by regarding the primary energy consumption. An overview of applications in automotive painting and other industrial sectors will be shown and the limitations and challenges for further developments will be shown.