Toronto, Ontario —Toyota Motor Corporation has developed a new type of paint atomizer that uses static electricity instead of air—the first of its kind in the world.
The new airless paint atomizer achieves more than 95 percent coating efficiency compared to conventional air paint atomizer where the efficiency of approx. 60 to 70 percent, according to Toyota’s press release.
The move towards an airless paint atomizer in Toyota Group’s painting process was to help reduce their CO2 emissions by about seven percent. As well, the collection device at the bottom of the paint booth, the area where paint gets sprayed, can now be made more compact, and as a result, Toyota can make painting production lines more compact for the future.
The new airless paint atomizer uses electricity to spray the paint and the statically charged particles coat in such a way that they gravitate towards the vehicle body (electrostatic painting). Electrostatic atomization and electrostatic painting technologies largely reduce the number of atomized particles that scatted, thereby achieving a higher coating efficiency.
The tip of the paint atomizer features a rotating cylindrical head that optimized the amount of paint sprayed. The tip of the paint sprayer is cylindrical and approx. 600 special grooves inserted into the tip, which is rotated to create a centrifugal force, inducing the paint to flow into the grooves and atomize through static electricity, according to Toyota.
Due to the unevenness of the vehicle body, it causes the distance between the cylindrical head and the vehicle body to fluctuate–making the electrical current unstable. Hence, electrostatic atomization and electrostatic painting under a fixed current are rendered possible, and as a result, it prevents the variation in size of the paint particles, producing a high-quality paint job.
