The two identical painting lines will house a total of around 170 sealing and painting robots plus application technology, which will seal and coat various Volkswagen models. This includes the EcoRS Clean F. It is predestined for lines in which many body variants with complex contours are painted. The order volume also includes the complete paint and PVC supply as well as software solutions with AI applications from the DXQ product family developed by Dürr.
CO2 emissions reduced significantly
Body drying is key to reducing CO2 emissions, as it consumes the most energy in the painting process. If the dryers are operated with renewable energy, the CO2 emissions of the entire system are reduced by around 40 percent compared to a natural gas-powered paint shop. "That was one of the reasons why Volkswagen opted for the electrically powered EcoInCure drying system," says Bruno Welsch, COO of the Automotive division at Dürr. "Added to this is its special air flow, which heats the car bodies from the inside out. This leads to a more even heating and cooling behavior and reaches solid body components more directly than conventional systems. This in turn reduces the heating times of the car bodies by around 30 percent."
Overall electrical concept for dryer and exhaust air purification
Another component for minimizing CO2 is the combination of the electric dryer with an electrically operated exhaust air purification system. Dürr is the only supplier on the market with such an overall concept. It combines EcoInCure with Oxi.X.RV, an electric exhaust air after-treatment system that uses the principle of regenerative thermal oxidation (RTO) to clean the polluted exhaust air - without an open flame. The system is very energy-efficient and achieves autothermal operation even with small quantities of solvent, i.e. it maintains its own operating temperature.
Only a small amount of fresh air required for paint separation
Dürr also installed a particularly energy-saving, environmentally friendly system for paint separation. EcoDryScrubber separates paint overspray using limestone powder as a natural binding agent. Highly efficient HEPA12 filters ensure particle-free process air. Dry separation enables a particularly low fresh air supply and a correspondingly high proportion of recirculated air. At the plant in Puebla, the proportion of fresh air is minimized to 5 percent. The energy savings compared to conventional wet separation are therefore well over 60 percent.