The German car brand BMW has developed a robotic painting process capable of producing custom body paints that usually require a lot of preparation.
You will also be interested
Robotics is widely present in industry automobile, in particular for painting bodywork. While robot painters are able to work faster than a human, they lack the ability to make custom paintings involving patterns and colors different. Corn BMW has just made a promising step forward with its new robot EcoPaintJet Pro which can paint entire car bodies with intricate multi-color designs.
Normally, a custom painting requires many steps with a lot of masking work in order to be able to juxtapose the colors. The EcoPaintJet Pro robot from BMW uses a process similar to that of an inkjet printer. With a classic robot painter, the paint is sprayed through a nozzle which rotates from 35 to 55,000 revolutions per minute. The paint adheres by way electrostatic. The EcoPaintJet Pro uses jets half a millimeter thick sprayed through an orifice plate. This system makes it possible to obtain painted edges with very high precision and to create complex designs with transitions between colors as sharp as if masking or stencil had been used.
Less wasted paint and energy
The robot was tested at the BMW factory in Dingolfing in Munich on nineteen BMW M4s with a two-tone finish with M4 marking on the bonnet and tailgate. Ultimately, BMW wants to expand the use of EcoPaintJet Pro in order to offer its customers more affordable customization options.
The German manufacturer also emphasizes the fact that the precision of its process avoids the excess paint that is usually seen in paint booths and which must be cleaned with chemicals. BMW ensures that the EcoPaintJet Pro will lower fuel consumptionenergy by reducing the amount ofair necessary for the ventilation cabins. This new robotic painting process will be introduced on BMW assembly lines from 2022.
Interested in what you just read?
.
