Durr UK Limited

Citation

(1999), "Durr UK Limited", Pigment & Resin Technology, Vol. 28 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/prt.1999.12928aad.001

Durr UK Limited

Durr UK Limited

First contract for Durr's automation and conveyor techniques division

Keywords Automation, Automotive, Durr, Paints

The newly formed Automation & Conveyor Techniques Division of Durr UK Limited has secured its first major contract to supply the conveyor installations for the new pretreatment and electro-coat facilities at the Jaguar Cars Body plant in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham. Durr has already installed new primer and colour paint systems and final finishing processes at the plant under the first phase of a £multi-million contract to replace the paintshop facilities. Work on the second phase, to install the pre-treatment and electro-coat facilities is now under way for completion in June 1999.

The conveyor systems will be manufactured in France by Durr's subsidiary Sietam AutoMotion. The efficiency of bodywork pre-treatment operations is crucial to the car manufacturer's quality and the confidence needed to back up extended warranties.

Designed specifically for pre-treatment and electro-coat paint dipping operations, AirBiDip^® introduces a number of innovative concepts to reduce space and improve reliability and product quality. The system incorporates an automatic method for attaching the earthing links and will operate at throughput rates in excess of 100 bodies an hour. Space is saved by using a shorter tank and dipping at a steeper angle than conventional systems. The conveyor configuration does not intrude over the tank and the design also features an air-shrouded chain to prevent any risk of contamination to either the car body or the tank contents.

In operation car bodies are mounted onto skids which are suspended from a twin overhead conveyor to carry the car bodies through the pre-treatment, cleaning, phosphate and electro-coat dipping operations. The skids return to roller beds to move the car body through the curing ovens, seam sealing and under-body treatment lines and transfer to the final paint finishing operations.

Greener undercoat for Rolls-Royce cars

Durr has also completed a project to modify the electro-coat process at the Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motor cars factory in Crewe, Cheshire. The project is part of a ongoing investment programme to update plant facilities and introduce more environmentally friendly manufacturing processes.

The work, which involved the conversion of the electro-coat dip tank for a new standard lead-free water-based paint, was completed during a two-week scheduled maintenance period coinciding with the annual summer shut-down. Whilst the introduction of less toxic paint materials is good news for the environment, water-based paints are more corrosive, which means that all the pipework, pumps and other process fittings in contact with the paint must be changed to stainless steel.

Other improvements carried out by Durr included the installation of new filtration units featuring a quick release mechanism to improve access for cleaning and servicing. Durr has also extended the length of the tank to provide additional room for the treatment of large limousine bodies. The electro-coat process provides the first undercoat of paint. As well as protecting the car body from corrosion throughout its life this coat also ensures good adhesion of the subsequent primer coats. Each vehicle body is electrically charged and fully immersed into the paint to ensure that every cavity and panel is evenly coated.

The dip tank contains approximately 84,000 litres of paint solution which is carefully monitored and recirculated continuously through a series of filters to keep it in pristine condition.

Durr paint application machines

A new colour paint spraying machine zone, supplied by Durr UK of Warwick has been commissioned within Rover Group's No 2 Paintshop at Longbridge. The contract, worth over £800k, is part of the Rover Group's on-going plant modernisation programme.

The new equipment is expected to pay back Rover's investment within 12 months by achieving greater efficiency in the use of energy and paint materials. This latest installation follows the installation of Durr/Behr machines during the major refit of the No. 3 Paintshop three years ago. As a result all of the mainstream paint application machines in both the Rover Longbridge facilities are based entirely on equipment supported by Durr UK.

The new machine uses electrostatic (Esta) application technology with Durr's market leading "EcoBell" high speed rotary atomisers, as opposed to the previous air-assisted gun process.

This efficient process minimises waste overspray and reduces operating costs as paint is used more economically. Being a cleaner process it gives a knock-on benefit of lower emissions and reduced costs of waste treatment.

It has been installed within the main basecoat colour booth and will provisionally operate between two existing reciprocator machines for a set hand-over period before the first machine is removed leaving an industry standard Esta/Reciprocator process.

The Esta tracking roof machine uses a robot controller for true path control, the zone comprises nine application EcoBells, three each side and three covering the roof area. Current production includes the Rover 400 series models and the Estate variant.

Meanwhile, the Esta machine is being used for high quality metallic, mica and solid colour finishes, operating in a conventional tandem arrangement with one of the reciprocating machines applying the second coat. Commissioning of the new machine was undertaken with minimal disruption to production of the quality of the finished product by working at weekends and between shifts.

Contract to supply facilities for painting car facia panels

The company also reports that it has won a major contract from Visteon, an enterprise of Ford Motor Company, to install facilities for painting the facia panels for Ford's new "Puma" sports coupé.

The facilities are being installed within a new building at Visteon's plastics moulding and instrumentation plant in Enfield, Middlesex. Work on site was scheduled to commence during the autumn for production start-up in February 1999.

The initial requirement is for a complete process covering paint mix and distribution, spray booth enclosure, flash-off zone and curing oven, plus all the supporting air handling, ventilation and waste treatment services. Scalability is an important feature with provision for throughput capacity to be expanded at a future date from manual spraying up to fully automated high volume production using robots.

The spray booth incorporates Durr's self-cleaning Envirojet 3 air exhaust scrubber system. Designed for maximum efficiency in air flow and energy, Envirojet 3 complies with Visteon's stringent BACS 2 standard for low noise level within the booth and the control of emissions.

In operation, the booth floor is flooded with recirculating water. The scrubbing process takes place as the booth airflow mixes with the water on the outlet side of the extractor venturi. This transfers all the paint overspray from the air into the water which drains away to the co-agulation process, leaving clean air which is exhausted from the process.