Digital optimisation - the next level

Improve quality, reduce time: In Balgach, a new closed-loop control and the capabilities of current AI tools for parameter optimisation were demonstrated in practice.

Achieving a high quality result in powder coating can be a major challenge:The tighter the coating thickness tolerances and optical criteria are defined, the more complex the part geometries look, the more difficult it is to achieve a homogeneous coating over the entire part. Der den Pulververbrauch sollte außerdem möglichst gering gehalten werden und die die Regulierungsbehörden nehmen es zunehmend ernst mit der Reduzierung des CO2-Fußabdrucks von Industriebetrieben. Over- or under-coating can only be kept under control by regular coating thickness measurement. The tighter the coating thickness tolerances, the more frequently it must be checked.

At the Technology Day at MS Oberflächentechnik AG in Balgach, three companies demonstrated the technological options that are now available to minimise layer thickness fluctuations without creating additional work for the personnel. With the closed-loop control of a coating thickness gauge, coating thicknesses of up to 250 μm can be handled with high accuracy. With the handheld thermo-optical measuring system, a similarly good and fast characterisation of the coating thickness distribution on a component is possible as with a stationary system - but at a fraction of the cost. With a production-ready AI tool, the movement patterns of the powder guns as well as the feed rate can be optimised. In the future, AI tools in powder coating offer the potential to save an enormous amount of time and resources during the start-up of a process as well as to massively and consistently reduce rejects.