WAGNER Industrial Solutions presented a revolutionary powder coating system at the PaintExpo trade fair in April: the IPS coating centre is an integrated complete solution that achieves consistently high coating results over a much longer period of time than conventional powder centres on the market.
All process steps can be fully automated and centrally controlled, so that even less experienced operators can achieve perfect results. Powder preparation, feeding and dosing are accommodated in a closed system, which automatically carries out colour changes at the push of a button. The IPS coating centre thus opens up a new dimension of system availability, productivity and user-friendliness.
Globalization and digitalization are increasing the competitive pressure in the industry - also in the field of powder coating. Plant availability and productivity must therefore continue to increase. At the same time, end customers want more individual products, which leads to smaller batches and more frequent colour changes. In addition, there is the shortage of skilled workers, which is already having an impact on performance and quality in some countries. WAGNER Industrial Solutions will launch a revolutionary solution for these diverse challenges. The IPS coating centre is a fully automated system that enables decisive improvements in the powder coating process. "The abbreviation IPS stands for the basic concept of the new coating centre: Integrated powder system. Only through an integrated approach, it is possible to achieve increased productivity, consistently high quality and simple operation. The result is a world premiere that redefines powder coating and colour change processes," explains Michael Topp, Senior Product Manager at WAGNER. "In combination with a self-cleaning powder booth, a powder recovery system, guns and other components, the IPS is the first fully automated powder coating system to be configured.
Integration and automation for high system availability
Several factors ensure high system availability for the IPS: the IPS fresh powder system SMART BOXER can hold two powder boxes, which reduces the risk of system downtime due to powder shortage. Integrated sensors also allow automatic powder consumption recording for each coating batch. In the heart of the coating centre, the IPS MASTER, WAGNER has integrated powder preparation, feeding and dosing in a closed system, including an ultrasonic sieve as an important element for high coating quality. The system allows the entire unit to change colour from five minutes - depending on the colour tones. Where the operator has to manually clean conventional powder centres, is exposed to powder dust and the powder contaminates the environment, the IPS cleaning process is completely automatic. The cleaning intensity can be adjusted according to the colour change. The automated process offers companies clear advantages, as the trend towards individualization and smaller batch sizes is also having an impact on the painting
sector. Both trends result in more colour changes, which in turn reduces productivity. The IPS coating centre counteracts this by enabling high system availability with the fast, fully automated cleaning process.
Consistently high coating quality
The automated colour change and easy operation via a flexibly placeable touch screen also reduce the risk of operating errors, which can quickly lead to rejects and renewed cleaning. "We know that many powder coating companies are faced with the question of how they can achieve consistently high coating quality without experienced specialists. For us, the IPS coating centre is the answer because we have replaced manual activities with automated processes," explains Michael Topp. An example for this is the Smart Feeding Technology (SFT), which WAGNER has developed for the powder feeding system: the powder feeding with the aid of recovered fluid air and an electronically controlled metering valve with sensors creates an almost wear-free, high-performance system. This offers the advantage that the parameters no longer have to be readjusted manually - a task that repeatedly required the attention of experienced operating personnel. The powder output is permanently monitored by the sensors, which guarantees high process reliability - up to a powder hose length of 30 meters. With these and other technical innovations, the SFT powder feeding and dosing system ensures constant conditions over a very long period of time.
Innovative powder coating reduces production costs and shows optimization potential
High system availability, fewer manual activities, simple operation, reliable coating quality, reduced wear and energy consumption lead to lower overall production costs. In addition, companies that coat many workpieces every day are ideally positioned for production 4.0 with the IPS: The coating centre can be connected to WAGNER's Internet of Things solution, which, for example, provides graphically prepared live monitoring of key figures and an interface to the WAGNER service. "The level of integration and automation of the IPS is unique in the market. This was also confirmed to us by visitors at the PaintExpo. The enthusiasm was great," says Eric Gounon, President Sales EMEA at WAGNER. "The IPS is one of this year's highlights in the field of powder coating and the numerous pre-orders show that we have struck a nerve with companies in the powder coating business. With the IPS, we react to their requirements and thus we prove our PaintExpo motto – "Your efficiency, our innovations".
In the IPS coating centre, key functions are interlinked: the SMART BOXER for automatic, intelligent fresh powder supply directly from the box, the IPS MASTER for powder preparation, feeding and dosing, the IPS system control, the flexibly placeable touch screen operating unit and interfaces to higher-level controls such as MES and ERP.
In the IPS MASTER, powder preparation, feeding and dosing are combined in a closed system. Fully integrated ultrasonic screening and the Smart Feeding Technology enable consistently high coating results. The colour change is fully automatic at the touch of a button and achieves a very high cleaning efficiency with the new Airblade cleaning unit in combination with pulse cleaning. All in all, a colour change of the entire system can be carried out in five minutes, depending on the colour tones. The cleaning intensity can be adapted.
The SMART BOXER can optionally hold two powder boxes. The powder supply then switches automatically between the boxes. This reduces the risk of plant downtime due to a lack of powder. The integrated automatic powder consumption measurement supports cost calculation and allows extended quality monitoring.