Dürr builds most modern paint shop on the Indian market

Published by hans_merscher on

  • 32 EcoRP L033 paint robots apply primer as well as base and clear coat in directly successive steps
  • From pretreatment and cathodic electrocoating to fully automatic paint application
  • Ford Motor Company factory in Sanand
  • Tailored to the customer

Fewer pollutants, lower cost per unit, higher paint finish quality: In the new Ford Motor Company factory at the Sanand location, India’s most modern painting line has begun operation. The Dürr system sets new standards for the Indian market in terms of paint finish quality as well as eco-efficiency.

From pretreatment and cathodic electrocoating to fully automatic paint application

The new Ford Motor Company paint shop in India, established by Dürr at the Sanand location can be regarded as the current benchmark on the Indian market in terms of energy consumption, paint finish quality and cost per unit. The core components in the new paint shop are, along with pretreatment, cathodic electrocoating and fully automatic paint application, a pollution control system for reducing VOC emissions, a heat recovery system for oven heating and highly efficient electrical pumps for paint circulation.

Paint shop of Durr

32 EcoRP L033 paint robots apply with directly consecutive steps the primer as well as the base and the clear coat (source: Dürr)

Tailored to the customer

Dürr process and application equipment was combined with the car maker’s specific standards during planning. For example, the paint line in Sanand was conceptualized by Ford, according to the so-called 3-wet-paint technology. Three paint layers (primer, base coat and clear coat) are applied one after the other in this paint process, then dried together in a subsequent step. This not only saves space because complete drying can be forgone after the primer painting, but is also highly energy efficient.

Pretreatment: efficiency and quality through rotation

In pretreatment the white body is initially cleaned, phosphated and provided with a first even coating during the subsequent cathodic electrocoating (EC). Dürr applies its Ecopaint RoDip M process here. In this process, the car body is dipped into the dip tank and conveyed through the tank, rotating on its transverse axis. The car body is initially cleaned evenly by this rotation. Subsequently, a corrosion protection treatment is performed in the EC process, in which primer paint is applied. In the RoDip dip tank, immersion and removal sections standing at steep angles shorten the dip tank by several meters, thus conserving space and resources.

Fully automated sealing plant

After the EC, the individual spot-welded seams of the primed car body are sealed in a sealing plant. An underbody sealant that protects the vehicle from stone-chipping and corrosion is applied here simultaneously. This process is fully automated with eight EcoRS Dürr standard robots and can be reprogrammed flexibly for other car body types, if necessary.

Following this, the cleaning system Ecopaint Clean removes loose dirt particles from the car bodies. Rotating feathers swipe over the car body’s outer skin, gathering and removing the dust lying on it.

The specific 3-wet-paint process of Ford

For the 3-wet-paint process specific to Ford, the car bodies branch into two lines. A total of 32 paint robots of the type EcoRP L033 apply the primer paint, as well as the base coat and clear coat, in three directly consecutive steps. All robots are equipped for this task with the high speed rotating atomizer EcoBell2. The air conditioning EcoSmart AC ensures optimum air management and thus contributes additionally to the paint finish quality. Even with the climatic challenges typical for India, such as high temperatures and humidity, the air conditioning performs precisely and is stable long-term. This reduces energy consumption significantly by up to 30% and simultaneously lowers the production costs. The investment in EcoSmart AC pays off within a year, according to the company.

“By means of this efficient process, we have succeeded in lowering the consumption of materials and energy significantly, which further cascades to a lower Carbon footprint as compared to conventional painting processes,” summarizes Mr Girish Kumar, Paint Area Manager of Ford Sanand.

Robots can work in degrade mode

Should a robot fail, the required cycle time can be still adhered to via the so-called degrade mode. In this case, the other machines take over the painting scopes of the failed robot and thus continue operating at the same cycle speed. This not only prevents downtime, but reduces the cost per unit.

The final drying booth and the oven after the EC are also equipped with the air purification plant Ecopure TAR, which dedusts the process exhaust air by combustion. By means of downstream heat recovery systems, residual heat is returned from the cleaned exhaust air to the manufacturing process.

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