A new robot –the IRB550 manufactured by ABB –means the number of robots needed in the vehicle exterior paintshop on a manufacturer’s production line can be halved.
With the coverage and flexibility of the robot arm, each IRB5500 robot can typically paint over half of a car’s body each, from a fixed position.
With a huge working envelope , the new robot can paint complete surfaces eliminating the need for overlapping or patch painting and ensuring that the paint quality on the car’s body is more consistent.
In addition to the working envelope , two other features of the IRB5500 make the robot’s coverage and flexibility possible – the robot’s high acceleration rate , and the high flow of the atomiser or paint gun on the robot.
In order to achieve a high quality paint finish in existing processes and to maintain application consistency, each robot arm needs to move off the part, switch off the atomiser, slow down, change direction, accelerate, switch on the atomiser and then move back over the part to continue painting.
The IRB5500’s acceleration rate of 24m/s2, double what many robots currently reach,and painting speed of 1.5-2m/s, ensures that paint is applied consistently across a car’s body surface, allowing the robot to continue to paint the part whilst changing direction. This produces the highest quality finish while also minimising cycle time required to paint a car body.
The addition of a high-flow atomiser, with a flow rate of 1000cc/min, complements the acceleration and fast working speed of the robot. This flow rate is achieved through the bell atomiser having a rotational speed up to 70,000 rpm and a voltage of up to 90,000 volts. This attracts the paint to the car body through a process of electrostatic attraction creating a consistent film build.
With fewer robots required for painting, users’ initial outlay and consumable costs are reduced. The IRB5500 robot has been designed to work in a narrow booth, enabling major reductions in the air handling volume, reducing the capital investment and running costs of the booth.
The IRB5500 uses ABB’s Cartridge Bell System for applying paint. Each paint cartridge is filled to provide the required amount of paint for the car being painted, so that waste is kept low. The change-over process keeps disruption to minimum, with the robot taking only 10 seconds to change cartridges.
The IRB5500 is powered by ABB’s Integrated Process System(IPS). It is a closed loop process system that ensures that both the robot motion and paint process control are precisely coordinated to provide optimum quality.
参考译文：
一种新型机器人－由ABB公司制造的IRB5500型－的出现，意味着在汽车制造商的生产流水线上用于车辆外部喷漆工序的机器人数量可以减半。
由于配备了工作范围更大、更为灵活的机械臂，每一个IRB5500型机器人在单个固定的工位上，都能够完成单辆整车外部超过一半的喷漆任务。
由于新型机器人所能覆盖的工作范围足够地大，其能够一次性地完成汽车表面的喷漆工作，而不需要调整位置进行补充喷漆，从而能够更好地保证汽车表面喷漆质量的一致性。
除去工作范围之外，IRB5500型的另两个特点也帮助其实现了高覆盖性及大灵活性－机器人较大的运动加速度及高流量的喷嘴或者是喷枪。
为了在现有工艺中达到高质量的喷漆效果，同时保证工艺过程中的一致性，每一个机器臂都需要完成以下工序：远离零件，关闭喷嘴，减速，改变方向，加速，打开喷嘴，重新运动至零件表面并继续喷漆。
IRB5500的加速度可以达到24m/s2，这是目前大部公分机器人可以达到的加速度的两倍，同时其喷漆速度可以达到1.5－2m/s，机器臂在连续喷漆的同时可以改变运动方向，从而保证车辆外部喷漆质量的一致性。这使得在整车外部喷漆的过程中，既可以获得非常高的喷漆效果，同时还能减少单位工作循环的时间成本。
流速高达1000cc/min的高性能喷嘴，是喷漆机器人在快速喷漆动作之外的另一个重要补充。这一高流速的获得，是由于喷嘴内部的旋转速度可以达到7000rpm，而工作电压可以达到90000伏。通过静电产生的引力作用，喷嘴可以吸住涂料并将其喷涂在车体表面，并形成特性一致的喷涂面。
由于所需的喷漆机器人的减少，制造商的设备投资成本及使用成本都能有所减少。IRB5500的设计使其可以在更为紧凑的空间内完成工作，从而可以大大减少工作过程中的通风面积，减少生产车间的投资总额以及运营成本。
IRB5500型机器人使用了ABB公司的Cartridge Bell系统进行喷漆工作。在汽车的喷漆过程中，每一个喷筒内按其所需注入了特定数量的漆料，因而整个工作过程中漆料的浪费非常少。同时，工艺过程中的中断时间保持在最小范围内，机器人仅仅需要10秒钟来更换喷嘴。
IRB5500的动力系统是ABB公司的Integrated Process System(IPS).这是一套闭环控制系统，能够同时保证对机器人运动及喷漆过程的精确控制和统一协调，以保证最优的工作质量。
