Schlieren visualization of shaping air during operation of an electrostatic rotary bell sprayer: Impact of shaping air on droplet atomization and transport

Electrostatic rotary bell sprayers (ERBSs) are widely used in the automotive industry. In ERBS, atomization is facilitated using centrifugal forces which disintegrate the paint film inside the cup into droplets at the cup edge. The droplets are then transported by the flow of a shaping air (SA) and electrostatic forces to a target surface; the characteristics of these droplets dramatically influence the quality of a painted surface and the painting transfer efficiency. In the current paper, a novel Schlieren-based visualization of the shaping air in the absence of paint droplets was performed during a qualitative investigation to delineate shaping air flow behavior and its interaction with droplets and droplet transport. An infrared thermographic flow visualization (IRFV) method and droplet size measurement were used to complement the Schlieren data for providing insight into shaping air-droplet interactions. The results demonstrated the impact of different operating conditions on the SA flow pattern, and the influence SA has on the secondary atomization and transport of droplets. Hence, these experimental methods combine with a useful tool for optimizing SA configurations that improve spray quality, droplet transport, and the efficiency of ERBS operations.