Painting robot is advanced choice for modern paint shop construction. However the setups vary a lot from different service provider. Not only about it’s arrangement over different components but also the choice of some crucial parts for actual paint application. A good and reliable configuration will support the operation at extremely high efficiency and reduce lots of maintenance problems.
In this artice we will list out all the required components for a painting robot configuration which is based the actual experience over multiple painting systems deployment. All components are world class production with seamless connection to each part.
Of course, the robot itself is most crucial part as everything else will be arranged by its technical specifications and the final performance all depends the robot construction. A good robot provides flexible and friendly motion control, the software can be easily programmed for further functionalities. Thus, we need to get a reliable robot arm in advance before configuring any other robotic job. For painting robot system, the components are generally devided into following categories: pneumatic, electric, liquid meter/gauge and PLC program. Plc with touch screen programming provides central control over all components.
Pneumatic components
These components are mainly referring to following parts:
- spray gun
- paint pump & mixer
These are basic parts for spray painting which is also widely available for traditional paintshop. But for robot painting, especially when there’s requirement of precise liquid rate control, only top class brands recommended. For spray gun we recommend IWATA WRA series or Devilbiss for cheap and reliable application. Timmer paint pump is highly recommended for extremely high performance. If we have multiple paint colors to automatic switch, multiple paint pumps will be required (for example 3 colors, we will need 4 pumps to work with, 3 for color paint, one for cleaning liquid).
Electric components
Electric is mainly about the various valves and PLC program. PLC is programmed to control these valves on or off to archive specific functions. For example the spray gun always provides separate control over paint atomizing and FAN size, these can be program into PLC directly and regulate it by specific value. We recommend SMC or Airtac valves to avoid maintenance issue. PLC we recommend Mitsubishi or Siemens, at least OMRON to get started.
Liquid meter
It’s needed when there’s need of fluid rate control, it’s a turtle like small component but very effective for fluid control.
As we see, the logic of configuration is very simple. The artwork is about the general arrangement of these components and smart control over PLC programming. That’s also where we call it professional comparing to something cheap offer. We can probably get a good robot easily from a reputable supplier such as YASKAWA or ABB etc, but the final integration and programming is the most crucial stage because the configuration vary a lot from different service providers. So when we look for such service, pay attention to it’s performance not just low cost.
