SUCCESS STORIES
Electric Vehicles from Sokon Will Be Painted Using Highly Flexible Seven-Axis Robots
D
ürr acting as general contractor for
investment and maintenance costs in the
for the sealing stations. The seam sealing
the construction of complete paint
spray booth and also enables a better
and insulation materials will be applied to
shop in Chongqing (Fig. 1).
view of the booths.
the bodies by 20 robots from the EcoRSi
In total, 60 Ecopaint robots from the
series (Fig. 3).
Electric cars will be manufactured using
© Dürr
state-of-the-art technology in the Chongqing Sokon Industry Group,
Lower investment and maintenance costs
within the next weeks. It is the first
Dürr’s third generation of robots
time that the extremely mobile,
is modular in structure. This
seven-axis painting robot EcoRP
means that the EcoRP E/L033i
E043i from Dürr’s new generation of
and EcoRP E/L133i models
robots will be used in China (Fig. 2).
with their 6-axis kinematics
It can paint differently sized bodies
can be used both for painting
of the fully electric SUVs flexibly and
and for opening the hoods.
without the previously required
The modular concept has been
displacement rail. The complete
applied throughout the 6-axis
new electric vehicle plant of the
paint shop with Dürr as the general contractor also includes an Ecopure air purification system with heat recovery. The new plant will therefore also set standards when it
and 7-axis kinematics. The
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only difference between the
Figure 1: Dürr is constructing the entire paint shop for Sokon as general contractor.
comes to air pollution control.
variants is the additional axis of rotation in the main arm. The otherwise universally identical components simplify spare
latest generation are being used in the
parts management, save storage costs, and
development of electric mobility with its new
primer, top coat, and clear coat lines for
make maintenance work easier. The control
plant at the company’s site in Chongqing.
interior and exterior painting at Sokon.
technology of the robots for applying paint
The production technology itself is also
As well as the 36 EcoRP
pioneering. It will be the first time that a
E043i painting robots,
third-generation painting robot from Dürr will
16 SCARA door openers
be used in a Chinese car factory. The EcoRP
and the six-axis models
E043i has seven rotary axes, making it much
as a hood opener are
more mobile than previous painting robots
being sent to China.
with six axes. The additional joint extends
In addition, Dürr is
the robot’s working area. As a result, it
supplying the robots and
reaches even hard-to-access areas with ease
application technology
© Dürr
Sokon is dynamically promoting the
when painting the interiors of the bodies. Up to now, painting robots often moved on horizontal rails. The EcoRP E043i no longer needs these thanks to the high mobility of its 7-axis kinematics. This greatly reduces the
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Figure 2: Ready to go: Dürr’s latest robot generation will soon be painting electric SUVs in China.
N. 53 - SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 - international PAINT&COATING magazine
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