Detection of production relevant deviations in paint sprays

Abstract Spray painting is still a poorly manageable process due to the complex interaction of physical, chemical and environmental influences like turbulent air flows, strong electrostatic fields, complex viscosity of paints and paint booth conditions. Consequently, many important properties of the painted film, like thickness, color, surface structure and the efficiency of the process are not controllable in an adequate manner, despite the enormous economic ramifications of poor quality control in high volume applications, such as in the automotive industry. This study shows how novel, online spray monitoring can instantaneously generate characterizing quantities from the spray to detect harmful deviations in the process. In this study, several minute changes have been experimentally imposed on a paint system, such as changed paint viscosity or pigmentation, deviations in air flow and paint flow rates, and defective or used and worn equipment parts. It will be shown that all these deviations lead to features which allow a clear distinction from the intact and reference cases. Additionally, it is shown that most of the deviations, if not detected, would have led to quality issues of the paint coating.