The special-purpose drawbar trailers and semitrailers from Faymonville handle payloads of up to 2,000 tons - from excavators through to wind turbines. The manufacturer specializes in transport solutions that fall into the non-standard category, including special-purpose inloaders for glass and precast concrete elements. The intralogistics specialists from Vollert had therefore already encountered Faymonville's low-loaders on several previous occasions. "When developing concrete precast plants, we also plan inloader frames. And of course, our own systems technology tends to leave the plant on low-loaders. We were therefore delighted when they approached us at PaintExpo in April 2014," explains Vollert Senior Sales Manager Jochen Keinath. The company was planning a new painting line to coat trailer custom parts at the Faymonville main production site in Lentzweiler (Luxembourg). An above-floor solution would be used to blast, spray galvanize and coat these parts, which weigh up to 12 tons and measure up to 13 meters long. Vollert stood out with its extensive experience in coating large parts and can supply the requisite steelwork along with the entire materials handling and control technology. At the same time, the engineers from Weinsberg assume responsibility for the CE certification as project coordinators. Following receipt of the order in December 2014, commissioning was completed and production got underway in January 2016.
Double-Track Overhead Conveyor for Maximum Flexibility
At Faymonville, the solution entails a ceiling-mounted double-track overhead conveyor with wheel and disk drives. Stationary friction wheels placed at regular intervals provide the forward feed instead of individual electric drives on the transport units. The workpieces are suspended individually or in a group on crossbeams made from solid steel. Dividing the components up onto two tracks means that the workpieces measuring up to 3.2 m wide, 2.1 m high and 13 m long can be positioned flexibly and optimally for the automatic sand blasting.
Spray Galvanizing and Painting
At the start, a semi-portal loading and unloading manipulator picks up the trolleys together with the workpiece and conveys them to the blasting booth. The booth is fitted with a wheelblast machine made by Wheelabrator. Blasting and transportation through the booth is fully automatic. The trolley is the only piece of equipment inside the booth - the suspension track along with the wheel and disk technology are outside and, as such, protected against contamination from the blasting medium. The customizable speed ensures consistent results. After cleaning, the workpieces enter the spray-galvanizing and priming booths, before moving onto the painting and drying booths. A semi-automated distribution manipulator connects the workstations arranged in parallel and finally transports the workpiece to the 55-meter-long feedback conveyor for cooling.
The friction wheel concept coupled with distribution manipulators facilitates the space-saving plant layout. The entire area measures just 4,400 m2. The plant can also be extended easily later on if required. Additional space for two workstations, a dryer and a second feedback conveyor is already being planned at Faymonville.
