Dürr paint shop for Chery Mobile in China

The car manufacturer Chery Automobile Co. Ltd. is investing in a new turnkey paint shop for the flexible production of various models and drive forms. The focus is on intelligent networking and traceability of all process sequences. Commissioning of the plant in Wuhu, Chery's headquarters, is planned for 2023.

Flexibility, scalability, software expertise, high quality and fast installation - these are the challenges for the construction of the new plant in Wuhu, about 300 kilometers west of Shanghai. Chery Automobile sums up its requirement for the new plant with the claim "highly intelligent paint store". From standard car bodies to SUVs, numerous different vehicle categories are to be painted here. To this end, the paint shop has been designed in such a way that it can be expanded in the future and also used for two-tone painting. The new facility should be ready for operation within eight months. Up to 60 car bodies per hour will then leave the paint shop.

Extensive robot ensemble

Dürr is equipping the vehicle manufacturer's new paint shop with an extensive robot ensemble. Among the 92 painting robots are 16 EcoRP E043i and four EcoRPL043i. These robots, which are highly maneuverable thanks to their seventh axis, reach even hard-to-reach areas inside the body with ease. EcoBellCleaner D2 clean the high-speed rotary atomizers from the outside within the cycle time. In parallel, the necessary color changes and cleaning of the paint channels take place inside the atomizer, so that the system is ready for the next paint job after just 15 seconds. In addition, there are 38 EcoR30L 16i and EcoRS 16i sealing robots, which handle all bonding and sealing processes, and four corresponding cleaning robots. The "highly intelligent painting system" requested by Chery is created in interaction with the DXQ software products.

Interaction of software modules

Dürr uses DXQcontrol for the higher-level control of the plant. This software allows the life cycle of each car body to be tracked seamlessly. The man-machine interface DXQequipment.operation enables visualization and monitoring of the individual processes from any device. DXQquality.management links process monitoring with vehicle information, allowing the creation of a seamless data set on each vehicle. And DXQequipment.maintenance logs when individual components such as pumps, valves or filters need to be serviced. In addition to these software modules, numerous other modules from the DXQ portfolio are used to ensure data-based and fully automated operation of the paint shop.

In addition to the flexibility of the system and the networking of all components, Chery attaches great importance to the topic of energy efficiency. EcoSmart VEC regulates the fresh and exhaust air control of the dryers, which, along with the paint booths, are the largest energy consumers in the coating process. This intelligent air management system adjusts the energy supply to actual demand and reduces it in part-load operation. This not only saves energy, but also reduces the CO2 footprint.

Dürr Systems AG www.durr.com