Painting system conveyor technology for large agricultural machinery parts

New conveyor technology for a painting system for combined powder and wet paint coating at an agricultural machinery manufacturer: The new system can automatically transport large parts in the coating system.

The heavy-duty specialist Vollert from Weinsberg, Germany, is supporting the agricultural machinery manufacturer Jacto in Brazil with the construction of a new combined powder and wet paint coating system. Large parts up to 10 m long, 2.5 m high and weighing 4 tons are coated, including for large coffee and sugar cane harvesters as well as planting and fertilizing machines. To speed up the time-consuming dip coating process, product carriers can be combined for smaller workpieces and separated again for larger workpieces.

The Brazilian agricultural machinery manufacturer Jacto is one of the largest manufacturers of planting, fertilizing, spraying and harvesting machines in South America. Jacto is currently building a new 96 million square meter plant at its Pompéia site in the state of São Paolo and is investing in modern Industry 4.0 technologies. This includes an automated coating system for large parts with conveyor technology from Vollert: two lift stations, six manipulators with a span of 12 m and a discharge station ensure that the workpieces are distributed between the five process lines, which are around 100 m long. The intralogistics specialists combine different drives such as friction wheels and rack and pinion slides on the manipulators and ensure damage-free transportation to the work stations with their level 1 control system.

The transport, loading and unloading of the product carriers is automated throughout the coating system. At the beginning, two Vollert lift stations guide the product carriers with the workpieces into a 10 m high double-decker buffer store, where they are stored by two manipulators and fed on demand into the conveyor line to the washing booth and sandblasting. Three further manipulators, distributed on a track, then take over the loading and unloading of the product carriers to the pre-treatment and e-coating dip coating tanks and then transfer them to the parallel lines for drying, wet painting or powder coating.

At the end, a final manipulator takes the coated workpieces to the inspection stations and back to the two-storey parts buffer, from where they are transferred to further production via a discharge station. There are also several buffer stations at different points in the system to allow the workpieces to be ejected or pulled forward at any time. Protective devices safeguard the automatic areas of the manipulators as well as the manual work areas with personnel traffic. The feeding stations are protected by personnel light barriers, among other things.

In order to reduce throughput times in the dip tanks and drying booths, Vollert has for the first time combined several product carriers in the Jacto system. While all workpieces must be freely accessible hanging from a product carrier during blasting and painting, product carriers with smaller workpieces can be combined during the time-consuming dip coating and drying processes. Three guide rails were arranged in parallel on the manipulators for this purpose. The packs of one, two or three product carriers are formed in the dip coating station and separated again after drying when they are stored in the buffer store.

"The three-lane collection and separation of the goods carriers was interesting for us in terms of control technology, as was the associated data management of the workpieces. As a result, we achieve significantly faster throughput times," explains Jens Tangel, the responsible project manager for sales at Vollert. Correct control of the different drives on the manipulators is also important. Acceleration and travel speed must be optimally coordinated to prevent the workpieces from oscillating. Speeds of 1-8 m/min are realized on the process lines. The manipulators travel at 1.5 m/min over 85 m. "The success of the project and the smooth commissioning also depend on the interface coordination with all those involved on site," explains Wesley Gomes, Managing Director of Vollert do Brasil. On-site support and coordination was provided by Vollert's Brazilian subsidiary based in Belo Horizonte. The engineering and production were carried out by Vollert in Germany.

The project for Jacto is Vollert's largest surface technology order in Brazil to date. In 2018, Vollert already supplied the conveyor technology for a combined assembly, welding and painting line for Randon, the largest manufacturer of truck trailers and freight wagons in Latin America. (OM-2/24)