Paint robot

Painting robots are used by vehicle manufacturers to do detailing work on their cars in a consistent and systematic way. Some of these robots are designed with a robotic arm that moves vertically and horizontally, to apply paint on all parts of the car.[4] A patent granted in 1985 to the Mazda Motor Corporation also includes a door handler (a small mechanical hand) that can open and close doors on a vehicle and paint the interior.[4]

Companies like FANUC continue to mass-produce industrial painting robots that are then sold to manufacturers for use.[10] According to FANUC's website, these robots are useful in limiting safety hazard such as the toxicity of paint, reducing wasted materials through consistent application, and increasing productivity.[10]

Robots are used to paint all different sized automotive parts because they can help provide consistent finish from one part to another. They are used for large exterior parts like doors, hoods, wheels, or bumpers, and also used on small interior components like knobs, consoles and glove boxes.

Finish is also extremely important in the aerospace and defense industry. These parts require very precise specifications for safety and performance reasons. Coatings can provide erosion resistance, anti-static dissipation, and even radar evading stealth. For this reason, consistent finish on all parts is vital to ensure continuity throughout.

Aluminum extrusion can be found in building panels, metal door and window frames, and structural extrusions that are used in the commercial building industry for protecting buildings and increase aesthetic appeal. Many panel and extrusion manufacturers are faced with slim margins. With that, comes pressure to improve quality, continue to reduce costs, produce faster and provide more customization for their consumers. Because of this, many manufacturers in aluminum extrusions and panels are using paint robots and automatic applicators to apply coatings for protection and aesthetics.

Agricultural and construction equipment finish is important because these types of machines face heavy operation in abuse from harsh environments. Coatings help to protect the machines form rust and extend their life cycle. In this industry, product branding plays a big role for many companies trying to differentiate themselves, so high quality finish is a strong factor for many manufacturers.

In order to provide a durable paint coating with strong aesthetic appeal is not an easy task and can involve several layers of different component materials. In an agricultural or construction equipment manufacturer, there are usually multiple pump configurations feeding a plural component proportioning unit that mixes the multiple components of the paint. The proportioner feeds an automatic applicator hooked up to a robot. With several passes with different coatings, consistency is also very important because it minimizes rework and downtime if it is finished right the first time.

Cookware technology continues to evolve using different high performance coatings in order to meet the needs of chefs or people cooking at home. Different types of cookware have unique performance requirements. They need to be able to evenly conduct heat, resist abrasion and impact from repeated utensil use, provide non-stick coatings, provide maximum cleaning ability, and have strong aesthetic appeal. The same pan may need to be coated multiple times with different materials to meet all of its performance requirements.

Paint line robots are very useful paired with an automatic applicator in this environment because each part requires multiple passes with different coatings. The performance of the cookware in each of its specific requirements will hinge solely on the quality of finish of each material. Paint robots provide the same spray pattern and paint path on every pass, minimizing rework for badly finished parts.

Blueprints for vehicle body painting robot[11]

There are many different types of containers used in the cosmetic industry. Manufacturers in this industry are concerned with perfect packaging appearance, many using mirror finishes. Any surface imperfections will cause the piece to be rejected or scrapped. The problem is mirror finishes can actually amplify finish imperfections.

In order to reduce rework costs, the base coat needs to be applied to a very consistent and smooth manner with zero variation. This is accomplished by controlling flow rate from the proportioning unit, having fine atomization from the applicator and a very consistent spray pattern provided from a painting robot.