Cleaning Station for Rotary Atomizers Utilizing only Water and Air

Abstract

High-speed rotary atomizers attached to robot arms are used to apply the color coat in many of GM’s paint shops. These atomizers must be cleaned between the application of each different color. Currently plants that apply water based color coats use a purge solution composed of water and solvent to clean off the over spray from robotic equipment. Significant cost could be saved if a cleaning station was designed that does not use solvent to clean the surface of the paint applicators. Our goal is to design a cleaning station that will clean and dry the rotary atomizers using only water and air.