ACI Systems prepare Jaguar body shells for
painting
Application: Drying
automotive bodies prior to painting
The introduction of a system which removes excess water from
car bodies has speeded up production in Jaguar's Castle Bromwich
paint-shop. In Jaguar's Castle Bromwich paint shop, the drying
system required some hand work on each body to ensure that
the different types of car were dry enough for the next painting
process.
Efficiency has increased, however, since the introduction
of a car body drying system which has removed the need for
final manual car drying of car bodies before further painting.
Designed and built by ACI, the system is part of a new paint
shop supplied by Durr, to whom ACI was a subcontractor.
Drying technologies:
After the car bodies have been wet sanded and rinsed, which
is part of the four-coat paint process, the excess water is
removed using blower and airknife technology. High velocity
filtered air is delivered through a series of nozzles and
airknives mounted on a profile-following system on a moving
gantry. No heat is used other than the small amount of natural
heat generated by the slight air compression caused by air
passing through the blower.
There are three high penetration air nozzles attached to the
profile-following gantry which dry the floor pan area of the
car through the windscreen aperture as the car moves slowly
through the system on a line. Two more fixed nozzles then
attack the floor pan area through the side window frames.
The profile follower in the system keeps the nozzles between
50 and 150mm from whichever car body is passing through, making
it possible for the system to be used for different types
of Jaguar body shell on the same line. This is a useful feature
as a mixture of XJ, XK and S-Type bodies pass through the
system.
