Robotic UV Curing for Automotive Exterior Applications: A cost-effective and technically viable alternative for UV curing.

Abstract

As car makers continue to look at UV curable coatings as a future exterior paint finish there has been a significant effort to develop coatings that meet the cosmetic and performance requirements of the customer. At the same time, many car makers have lamented that not enough effort has been put forth to develop a cost-effective and technically viable means of curing parts as large and complex as a car body. This paper describes recent developments in using robotically actuated UV lamps to cure automotive exteriors. The technical and economic benefits of this approach are described and compared to the approach of using large fixed-lamp arrays.