Toyota develops efficient paint atomizer
The Toyota Motor Corporation has now developed a new paint sprayer: The so-called "Airless Paint Atomizer" uses static electricity instead of air and thus achieves a coating efficiency of over 95%.
As the first atomizer of its kind, the new development is an alternative to conventional air-operated atomizers in vehicle painting, with an efficiency of around 60 – 70%. These paint atomizers make use of the aerodynamic force, but when the paint is sprayed on, some paint particles bounce back from the vehicle body, which reduces the efficiency. The new airless model uses an electrostatic charge to atomize the paint, which causes the statically charged particles to pile up so that they move towards the vehicle body. Responsible for this are, among other things, a rotating cylindrical head that optimizes the amount of paint sprayed, and high-precision current control. It also enables painting at close range.
The increased efficiency also improves the environmental balance: with the new airless atomizer, the Toyota Group aims to reduce its CO2 emissions in the painting process by around seven percent. At the same time, the collecting device in the floor of the paint booths can be made more compact, which in turn will reduce the space requirements of entire classic painting lines in the future. The airless paint sprayer is already in use at the Toyota plants in Takaoka and Tsutsumi; other production facilities will follow successively.
Further Information: www.toyota.de