The Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD Auto Company Limited is building its first European passenger car plant. To equip it with painting technology, BYD selected Dürr. Over the coming months, the German mechanical and plant engineering company will send more than 120 robots to Hungary for various painting lines. These robots, fitted with EcoBell3 atomizers, deliver outstanding quality and support sustainable painting.
BYD Auto Company Limited, is one of China’s largest vehicle manufacturers, ranks among the market leaders in electric vehicle sales. Now, the company is building a European car factory in Szeged, Hungary, becoming one of the first Chinese car manufacturers to do so. For painting its “New Energy Vehicles” (NEV), BYD has partnered with Dürr. For this project, Dürr will supply and install more than 120 painting and handling robots. “As a world market leader in automotive painting, Dürr is the right partner to implement projects of this size successfully and on schedule. It was not just our outstanding technology that won over BYD, but also our experience in Hungary, where we have already completed a number of projects,” explains Dr. Lars Friedrich, Head of the Application Technology division at Dürr. This is the first order the company has received from the Chinese carmaker in the passenger car segment. Dürr Systems AG was successfully audited extensively by BYD before being considered as a supplier.
Latest robot generation for painting process
The painting lines will use Dürr’s latest EcoRP series painting robot, available in both six- and seven-axis variants for interior and exterior painting. The seven-axis robot offers high precision and flexibility for interior painting, reaching even the most difficult to access areas. Six-axis robots will handle exterior painting. The scope of supply also includes the corresponding door, lid, and flap openers as additional aids for the painting process.
Sustainable paint application
EcoBell3 high-speed rotary atomizers ensure flawless painting quality with uniform shade, flow, and layer thickness. When combined with the associated cleaning equipment and color change technology, the atomizer family minimizes paint and solvent consumption and enables fast color changes within the cycle time. In future, BYD will also be able to sustainably implement customers’ special color requests using Dürr’s standardized, modular EcoSupply P paint supply system with pigging technology. The ”pigs” – which are what the fitting bodies matched exactly to the internal diameter of the hoses are called – push paint to the color changer and return any leftover paint back into the paint container, leaving absolutely no trace of residue and eliminating the need for cleaning. This process reduces both paint and the rinsing agent consumption, benefiting both budget and the environment.
Automated body cleaning
The supply scope also includes cleaning robots that remove dust and dirt particles from the bodies before painting. Flexible-action feather rollers clean different body shapes efficiently and independently of each other in nearly any combination and order – ideal for BYD’s various NEV types.
SOURCE: Dürr
