We use cookies, similar technologies and tracking services

This website uses cookies, similar technologies and tracking services (hereinafter referred to as “Cookies”). We need your consent for Cookies, which not only serve to technically display our website, but also to enable the best possible use of our website and to improve it based on your user behavior, or to present content and marketing aligned with your interests. For these purposes, we cooperate with third-party providers (e.g. Salesforce, LinkedIn, Google, Microsoft, Piwik PRO). Through these partners you can also receive advertisements on other websites.
If you consent, you also accept certain subsequent processing of your personal data (e.g. storage of your IP address in profiles) and that our partners may transfer your data to the United States and, if applicable, to further countries. Such transfer involves the risk that authorities may access the data and that your rights may not be enforceable. Please select which Cookies we may use under ”Settings”. More information, particularly about your rights, e.g. to withdraw consent, is available in our Privacy Policy .

Settings

Only technically necessary Cookies

Accept everything

Below, you can activate/deactivate the individual technologies that are used on this website.

Accept All

Essential

These Cookies make a website usable by providing basic functions such as page navigation, language settings, Cookie preferences and access to protected areas of the website. Cookies in this category additionally ensure that the website complies with the applicable legal requirements and security standards. Owing to the essential nature of these Cookies, you cannot prevent their use on our website. Details about these Cookies are available under 'More information'.

Functionality and personalization

These Cookies collect information about your habits when using our web pages and help us to enhance your user experience by tailoring the functions and attractiveness of our web pages based on your previous visits, location and browser settings. They also enable access to integrated third-party tools on our website (e.g., Microsoft Azure for single sign-on authentication). This can involve transferring your data to the United States (for information on the risks involved read Clause 1.5 of our Privacy Policy). If you refuse these Cookies, you might not be able to access the full functionality of the website. Details about the tools we use are available under 'More information'.

Analysis

These Cookies are used to compile basic usage and user statistics based on how our web pages are used (e.g. via Google Tag Manager, Piwik PRO). If you accept these Cookies, you simultaneously consent to your data being processed and transmitted to the United States by services such as Salesforce Pardot (for information on the risks involved read Clause 1.5 of our Privacy Policy). Details about the tools we use are available under 'More information'.

Marketing and social media

These Cookies help third-party sources collect information about how you share content from our website on social media or provide analytical data about your user behavior when you move between social media platforms or between our social media campaigns and our web pages (e.g., LinkedIn Insights). Marketing Cookies from third-party sources also help us measure the effectiveness of our advertising on other websites (e.g. Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising). We use these Cookies to optimize how we deliver our content to you. The third-party sources and social media platforms we use can transfer your data to the United States (for information on the risks involved read Clause 1.5 of our Privacy Policy). If you accept these Cookies, you simultaneously consent to your data being transferred and processed as described above. Details about the tools we use and our social media presence are available under 'More information'.

More information

Save Settings

  • Innovative car body curing from the inside with EcoInCure by Dürr

Dürr builds resource-efficient paint shop for ŠKODA

First application for innovative EcoInCure oven

Bietigheim-Bissingen, January 29th, 2018 – EcoInCure offers best possible top-coat quality and maximum process reliability by heating the bodies from the inside in combination with the innovative transverse mode of operation. ŠKODA will use the benefits of the new Dürr oven in the future in the Mladá Boleslav main plant in the Czech Republic. Dürr is supplying all the system and application technology, including the building, for the new paint shop. Production is set to start in June 2019.

But let’s stay with the oven for the moment: EcoInCure features nozzles with long throw distances that blow hot air into the inside of the body through the opening for the windshield. The flow velocity around the outer skin of the body during this process is minimal. This results in an undisrupted paint appearance with maximum quality. At the same time, optimum transfer of heat inside the body enables extremely homogeneous heating of both thin sheet and mass parts. The result is up to 30% shorter heating times with minimized thermal component stresses, which is especially important for drying electric vehicles and multi-substrate bodies. The heating concept of EcoInCure reduces the electrical energy requirement by 25% and regulates the drying temperature with previously impossible precision and speed. The exhaust air from the ovens is purified via the integrated Ecopure® TAR afterburning system with heat recovery and then used for the oven heating system.

The entire plant including data acquisition, data evaluation, and plant monitoring is controlled by the Dürr software solution iTAC.MES.Suite. The modular MES system provides detailed information on the production workflows and the consumption data at all times. For the first time, for example, Dürr is using the electronic quality card for the drying process, which makes it possible to track the drying quality of each body.

Before the bodies are given their top coat in the painting booth, they undergo pretreatment (PT) and electro coating (EC). The RoDip® E rotational dip process is used for cleaning and applying the corrosion protection. The rotation of the entire body optimizes the immersion, flooding, and draining process. This tried-and-tested technology from Dürr is already used to coat well over 10 million bodies worldwide each year.

The use of the RoDip® E version with electric drive in PT and EC means that there is a separate drive for the rotation in each trolley in addition to the conveying drive. The individually programmable trolleys enable optimized dip curves for the respective body, which results in better coating quality.

The latest Dürr robotic generation is used in all process steps involved in painting. From the primer to the base coat and the clear coat line, a total of 61 EcoRP third-generation painting robots ensure efficient paint application. The exterior painting is done by the EcoRP E043i, the first painting robot where the seventh axis is integrated into the robot’s kinematics. Two or four robots are installed in each of the exterior painting cells. The stop-and-go painting process means that they do not need a rail. This enables a much better view of the booth, and eliminating the positioning axis significantly reduces the maintenance effort in the robot cell.

The interior painting stations are equipped with the six-axis robots of the type EcoRP L133i, which are mounted on a rail. The identically constructed EcoRP L033i model without rail is used for opening the hoods. The robots are assisted by Scara door openers. The latest Dürr robot generation has a modular structure. The only difference between the six- and seven-axis models is the additional axis of rotation in the main arm. The otherwise identical components simplify spare parts management, save storage costs, and make maintenance easier.

The robots are equipped with the latest Dürr application technology. The EcoBell3 atomizer series together with the associated EcoBell Cleaner D2 and the EcoLCC2 color changer delivers low paint and solvent consumption as well as fast color changes within the cycle time.

The third generation of Dürr robots is controlled by the also newly developed EcoRCMP2 process and motion controller. The control platform combines a multitude of sensors and actuators in the painting robot and the higher-level maintenance or control systems. An integrated interface makes the robot “cloud ready” and provides all relevant data for current and future requirements in the Industry 4.0 landscape.

Even before the bodies get their layer of paint, the welding and gluing seams are sealed fully automatically. This ensures that no water can infiltrate into the vehicle interior later. Dürr is installing a total of 19 EcoRS sealing robots with the latest application technology at ŠKODA in Mladá Boleslav. These robots undertake the task of sealing the seams from below, inside the body as well as at the roof seams. Since the standardized EcoGun2 3D is suitable for all fields of application in seam sealing, only a few spare parts need to be kept in stock.

Gaps at doors, the hood, and the tailgate are sealed during this process. The fully automatic seam sealing also requires high precision, since the conveyor technology is subject to certain tolerances. Special nozzles are used for the   hemflange application on closed doors and hoods. The entire paint and high-viscosity material supply for the painting and sealing stations is also supplied by Dürr.

The EcoDryScrubber, a dry separation system with limestone powder as the binder, will take over the paint overspray separation in the spray booth. This system requires no manual handling as it is fully automated, robust, and easy to maintain, and requires no adaptation to different paint systems. This makes it ideal for high-volume plants such as at ŠKODA. An important point is the energy saving of up to 60% in the spray booth. By completely eliminating water and chemicals, up to 90% recirculated air can be used in production. This reduces the cost of conditioning fresh air and is the deciding factor in the outstanding energy efficiency of the spray booth.

The performance of the EcoDryScrubber is further improved through the use of the new V5.X system software. It enables the system to be self-regulating. As a direct result, optimum use is made of the limestone powder for binding the overspray, thereby reducing consumption.   

The use of the EcoDryScrubber has a special side effect in Mladá Boleslav: using the limestone powder in the paint shop is only its first use. The limestone powder saturated with paint can be used as a heating medium in the factory’s own generating station, which means that no waste is produced thanks to the dry separation system.

The dry separation system results in highly concentrated and especially efficiently filtered exhaust air. This enables a very compact air purification system, consisting of a highly efficient VOC adsorptive concentration system (Ecopure®KPR) with downstream thermal exhaust air purification system (Ecopure® TAR). The energy needed for the Ecopure®KPR system’s desorption air is recovered from the purified gas of the thermal exhaust air purification system. This reduces the investment costs for the exhaust air system by 60%. The energy requirement for exhaust air purification is reduced by 80% in this combination.  

The plant is designed for a throughput of 30 vehicles per hour, and will be painting ŠKODA’s mid-range models from June 2019.