Energy saving measures in an Automobile Industry; A case study.

Vinod Kumar Venkateshwaran*

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Heriot-Watt University,Malaysia
email: v.venkiteswaran@hw.ac.uk
Jeyanandan Kumar,
jeYaksha Total Solutions, India
e-mail: jeya@samyuj.com
Preethy Ayyappan,
Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment,
SEGi University, Malaysia
email: ayyappan@segi.edu.my

ABSTRACT

Reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions is an important issue to achieve

sustainable manufacturing. In automotive assembly plants, the largest amount of energy
consumption and atmospheric emissions is in paint shop. Painting, the being the most
energy-intensive process in automotive production, consumes in a year as much energy
as a city with 50,000 inhabitants and associated commercial zone [1]. Optimising the
energy usage to pursue maximum energy savings, and reducing carbon dioxide
equivalent emissions are of importance in automotive paint shops.

The automobile industry is experiencing many challenges that affect its sustained growth. The
increasing cost of energy used at production plants has been often identified as one of
them. Environmental regulations also pose a huge pressure on the industry. Large
amount of conditioned air, which leads to a high-energy demand, is one of the basic
demands in guaranteeing high quality product and a comfortable working environment.
A good design of air supply system in the paint shop is also crucial in energy
conservation.

In this work, the authors present a case study to highlight improvement opportunities in order
to reduce energy consumption and environmental impact of a plastic part paint shop.

KEYWORDS
Automotive assembly plant; paint spray booth; energy saving; relative humidity (RH);
Variable frequency drive; closed loop feedback control system; conditioned
environment.

INTRODUCTION
Vehicle production and assembly is a heavily energy consuming process. It is reported that 37
automobile assembly plants across the nation have spent about $700 million on energy every
year [2]. An automotive assembly plant consists of departments of stamping (in some plants),
body welding, painting, and final assembly, and is considered as a big energy consumer.
Especially painting is the largest energy consuming unit. More than 60% of the total energy is
*
Vinod Kumar Venkateshwaran

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consumed by paint shop, mostly in painting booths and ovens [3]. Thus, reducing energy
consumption in paint shops, the painting process in particular, has high significance.
Painting not only gives the vehicle an attractive appearance, but also prevents vehicle body
from oxidation and corrosion. A good quality vehicle painting is one of the foundations of
positive brand image and market share. How to reduce energy usage without interference in
manufacturing processes, or sacrifice in product quality is a big challenge. Painting spray
booths are separate long rooms isolated from the painting building to prevent particle matter
and gases like VOCs[4] (Volatile organic compounds) from paint to release into the working
environment. Meanwhile, the painting spay processes require controlled temperature and
humidity to provide a high quality finish; and need certain amount of air blow to collect the
spayed paint and prevent residuals from affecting the next vehicle in line.

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL PROFILE OF THE PAINTING SHOP

Traditional automobile painting consists of three layers: primer, base, and clear, for both metal
and plastic surfaces. The paint serves several purposes, on one side the paint makes the auto
appealing to customers and on the other side it provides weather protection, wear and scratch
resistance. The processes and raw materials needed to achieve these purposes are not free from
environmental impacts. The majority of Volatile Organic Chemical (VOC) emissions in an
automobile life cycle occurs during the manufacturing stage and the painting stage is responsible
for a major portion of these emissions [5].

According Papasavva et al. [6] the paint shop in an automobile plant carries the greatest
environmental load among all manufacturing stages. Weiss [7] indicates in his studies that up to
90% of emissions from automobile manufacturing have been associated with the painting stage.
Solvents used in paints/coats formulations are the main source of these emissions.

Spray booth system flow before improvement:

AIR HOUSE

HUMIDIFIER
SPRAY BOOTH
SYSTEM

EXHAUST SYSTEM

Figure 1. Spray booth system before improvement

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Relative Humidity, Paint Quality & Energy Consumption:

Paint booths in the automotive industry require conditioned air to achieve desired product
quality finish. The large amount of conditioned air required to operate a paint booth
results in high energy consumption [9]. A good design of HVAC system, which
consists of filtered, conditioned air, controlled relative humidity and working
temperature, in the paint shop is also crucial in energy conservation and efficient
operation. With the same energy demand, an efficient HVAC design will save large
amount of energy [8]. A case study of the temperature control window with the
original building set points studied by Feng and Mears [8] shows that even 1 degree of
relaxation in control window could result in large, long term energy conservation up to
11.6 GWh/year. Another case study by Sadeghipour [9] shows that a state with 21.1OC,
70% Relative humidity had a specific enthalpy of 66.85 kJ/kg and in another state
with 24OC, 75% Relative humidity had a specific enthalpy of 77.33 kJ/kg. Hence a
well-controlled HVAC system would maintain the required condition and avoid waste
of energy by over cooling or adding high humidity.
Conditioned air change is managed by the air house and exhaust system. The air house
supplies filtered fresh air to the spray booth, whereas the exhaust system extracts the air from
the spray booth along with excess paint sprayed over the metal/plastic components. A
positive air pressure is maintained inside the spray booth to facilitate smooth air change. A
humidifier system is part of the air house, where water is sprayed through nozzles. The
required Relative Humidity is maintained by controlling a butterfly valve manually. Once the
valve position is set, then it wont be changed until there is a complaint received from spray
booth users. The required RH is between 70-80 %, as specified by the paint manufacturer. The
energy consumption at this level is 9,900 kWh for 25 days with 18 production hours in a day.
The maximum demand achieved in a month is 21 kW. In this scenario, the humidifier water
flow is fixed irrespective of the outside temperature which causes a fluctuation in RH with
respect to the variation in atmospheric/ambient temperature and thus affects the output
quality.

METHODOLOGY
The spray booth lay out before the revamp was as shown in Fig. 1, consisting of humidifier, air
house, spray booth and exhaust system. The humidifier pump was driven by a 30 kW Induction
motor with auto transformer starter. The water flow was set as per the outside temperature but it
is almost fixed at a pressure of 1.3 kgf/sq.cm by closing the butterfly valves of suction and
discharge side by 50%.

Once the decision for energy saving was taken, the revamp was done and the layout was
modified to as shown in Fig.2. A variable frequency drive (VFD) is introduced to the humidifier
pump control system and a RH transducer was fixed in the middle of the spray booth. The RH
transducer transmits the RH level inside the spray booth, continuously to a programmable logical
controller (PLC), where the RH level is monitored continuously. The PLC gives proportional
signal to the VFD to increase or decrease the speed of the Humidifier pump. And thus the RH
level is maintained with in the required level. If the outside temperature drops to a low value, the
PLC will switch of the humidifier pump.

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 AIR HOUSE

HUMIDIFIER SYSTEM
SPRAY BOOTH

FEED BACK
CONTROL SYSTEM

EXHAUST SYSTEM

Figure 2. Spray booth system with alterations made for energy savings and quality improvement.

Figure 3. Instrument used for the measurements

ENERGY CONSUMPTION ANALYSIS:

An energy analysis was done before and after the revamp. Measurements where made using
energy meter, RH meter, pressure gauge etc. The conditions where maintained in both cases as

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per the manufacturing regulations. Table. 1 summarises the findings of energy measurements
before and after the revamp.

Table 1. Energy consumption analysis

Activity Value
Before:
Energy consumption for 25 days at 18 days hours a day 9,917 kWh (Actual measured data)
Maximum Demand (Actual measured data) 22.4 kW
Annual (9,917 kWh x 12 months) 119,004 kWh
Maximum Demand (22.4 kW x 12) 268.8 kW
After:
Energy consumption for 25 days at 18 days hours a day 5,940 kWh (Actual measured data)
Maximum Demand (Actual measured data) 13.7 kW
Annual (5,940 kWh x 12) 71,280 kWh
Maximum Demand (13.7 kW x 12) 164.4 kW
Savings per year:
Energy : (119,004 kWh 71,280 kWh) 47,724 kWh (40%)
Maximum Demand (268.8 kW 164.4 kW) 104.4 kW (39 %)

COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS:

A cost benefit analysis was also conducted simultaneously to justify the cost of investment
made during the revamp and the energy and cost savings after it. Table 2 summarises the cost
analysis and one can see that simple payback period (SPBP) is less than one year.

Table 2. Cost benefit analysis

Investment Savings per annum Simple payback (years)
RM.14,000.00 RM. 19,173.00 0.73

CONCLUSION
The work was completed and the objectives, viz., improving the quality of paint and energy
saving, were achieved. A small revamp in the paint shop worth RM 14,000.00 is completely
justifiable considering a total saving in energy accounting to 47,724 kWh worth RM 19,461
per annum with a simple payback period of less than one year. All this was achieved without
any stoppage in the normal operation of the plant. Further detailed investigations would
enable to predict much more opportunities for energy saving which are planned to be carried
out in future. The financial worth of value addition that occurred due to an improved paint
quality is not being analysed here, hence it would only add to the financial savings when
accurately measured. The savings in terms of water savings is also valuable, but not included
in here due to the lack of credible data.
In energy management and energy savings scenario, such simple measures can bring
improvements in exiting plants at the same time better planning can be done for new plants
based on such observations.

REFERENCES
1. Buzer, G., Saving energy and costs in automotive painting press release, 30 November
2016, available at http://www.durr-france.com [Accessed on 5th April 2017]

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2. Galitsky, C. and Worrell, E., \Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Oppor-
tunities for the Vehicle Assembly Industry," Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(LBNL-50939-Revision), 2008.
3. Kolta,T., Selecting Equipment to Control Air Pollution from Automotive Painting
Operations, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International Congress and
Exposition, 1992.
4. Kim, B. R., "VOC emissions from automotive painting and their control: A
review,"Environmental Engineering Research, Vol 16, No.1, pp. 1-9, 2011,
5. US Presidents Council on Sustainable Development. PCSD Auto Team Report.
Summary of demonstration projects, Overview of the ecoefficiency working teams.
1995.
6. Papasavva S, Kia S, Claya J, Gunther R. Characterization of automotive paints: an
environmental impact analysis, Prog Org Coatings, Vol 43, pp. 193206, 2001.
7. Weiss K.D., Paint and coatings: A mature industry in transition, Prog Polym Sci, Vol
22, pp. 203245, 1997.
8. Feng. L, Mears. L, Analysis of HVAC Energy in Automotive Paint Shop, ASME 2015
International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference, MSEC2015-9281.
9. Sadeghipour, E, Westerveelt, E.R, Bhattacharya, S., Painting Green: Design and
Analysis of an Environmentally and Energetically Conscious Paint Booth HVAC
Control System, American Control Conference, 2008.