Modern paint booths and technology

What paint booths can do today

The paint booth is the most important technical system in a body and paint store and an indispensable tool for the painter. SEHON – one of the leading booth manufacturers – shows what is important when it comes to system technology.

Although most paint spray booths from individual manufacturers may look very similar at first glance, the systems differ significantly from one another. A more or less attractive enclosure with supply and exhaust air does not make a modern, high-performance spray booth that meets modern quality requirements.

When it comes to paint booths, the combination of different properties and capabilities determines the economic and qualitative success of a paint store.

Individuality instead of standard

The most important success factor at SEHON is maximum customization of the paint booths to the individual requirements and needs of each customer. Following the example of the automotive industry, each customer can practically configure their own paint shop and decide whether a small car, a mid-range car or a high-end saloon should be the perfect solution for their business. Such a decision depends not only on the budget, but also on the size of the company, the planned throughput figures, quality criteria and, above all, cost-effectiveness.

Profitability calculation

Economic efficiency and return on investment are crucial for the investment in a new or refurbished painting system for the company itself, but also for the financing. This is why SEHON is the only manufacturer to offer its customers a very detailed and, above all, written life cycle cost calculation in accordance with DIN. In this LCC, every customer receives a calculation of the economic efficiency and return on investment for various equipment alternatives for the planned paint shop as a basis for decision-making.

The profitability calculations prepared by SEHON are so qualified and precise that they serve as a basis for financing, investment and subsidy applications to banks and government agencies. These LCCs are a written guarantee for SEHON customers that the paint booths they have purchased will deliver what SEHON has promised. According to SEHON, the promised target figures are not only met in practice, but positively exceeded for over 90% of customers.

Combination spray booths

Paint booths with integrated dryers are standard equipment at SEHON, as they can significantly increase drying capacity and thus throughput if required when traditionally equipped with a separate dryer.

Paint booth size

Most customers want paint booths that are larger than the standard dimensions of 7 x 4 x 3 m (L x W x H). In order to paint larger vehicles such as SUVs, vans or motorhomes in addition to the obligatory components, SEHON adapts the system dimensions to these requirements. This is why SEHON paint booths with larger dimensions, such as 8 x 4.5 x 3.6 m, are part of the customer-specific requirements.

Aggregate placement

An important question in any planning: where to put the traditionally large-volume units? In many companies, there is often hardly enough space to place the units directly next to the paint booth as standard. If required, SEHON can also place units behind or above the paint booth, even in separate rooms above the actual workshop.

Aggregate technology

SEHON recommends taking a very close look at the unit technology to avoid comparing apples with oranges. With many brands that offer very inexpensive spray booths, savings must logically be made somewhere. And this usually happens at the heart of every spray booth, namely the units.

But this is where economy, efficiency and quality are crucial. Automatic booth pressure control, automatic air management or efficient heat recovery are not a matter of course with standard systems. SEHON also offers a range of other features, some of which are patented, that make painting and drying even more economical and of higher quality.

One example is mode-dependent unit control, which ensures that only minimal energy is consumed during standby, painting and drying, while other systems are permanently operated at full load, consuming an unnecessarily large amount of resources.

Heat recovery

Almost all cabin manufacturers offer heat recovery. The challenge with this technology is maintaining the promised efficiency of heat recovery (HR). In practice, fouling of the plate heat exchangers quickly leads to a disproportionate reduction in energy savings. This means that the promised energy saving potentials can no longer be achieved after a short operating time of the systems and are therefore a waste of time. This is why most manufacturers usually only publish approximate values for heat recovery efficiency.

In addition to classic heat recovery, SEHON offers year-round heat recovery with SE-SUPRACLEAN. Firstly, this technology eliminates the need to swap summer and winter cassettes. As a result, this heat recovery system works all year round. Secondly, a perfect filter system ensures that the plate heat exchangers always remain clean, meaning that they no longer have to be laboriously cleaned.

However, the biggest advantage of this SEHON heat recovery system is that the efficiency of the heat recovery does not decrease during practical operation of the systems, but always remains constant within the promised value range.

Energy efficiency

For many years, SEHON spray booths have been among the energy-saving world champions in the industry. This is due to many small and large adjustments to the system technology, particularly in the unit technology, the filter systems and the intelligent control system. SEHON also provides concrete figures, data and facts for this in the aforementioned life cycle cost documentation.

A further indication of the energy efficiency of SEHON technology is the energy-efficient refurbishment of paint booths that SEHON carries out on a daily basis, particularly for third-party systems, where state subsidies can be utilized to the maximum in almost all refurbishment measures. Other suppliers are often only able to offer their customers small portions of the subsidies available.

The booth manufacturer from near Stuttgart sees itself as an absolute leader in the field of holistic energy planning and optimization. By integrating the entire paint store into a comprehensive energy management system with CHP and / or photovoltaics and solar thermal energy, most companies manage to ensure that only 10 % to 25 % of their total energy requirements have to be bought in. These are enormous savings that can pay off for customers in the millions in the long term.

Service and maintenance

In practice, paint booths have a service life of between 15 and 25 years. Therefore, when making a purchase decision, attention must be paid to service, maintenance, spare parts supply and future-proofing.

If the spray booth breaks down or the system delivers poor quality after just a few months of operation, any price advantage in the initial purchase of the booth can quickly turn into a boomerang if prompt and qualified service is not guaranteed.

SEHON’s online service enables permanent monitoring of the installed system technology. Possible malfunctions are localized and rectified at lightning speed. If a supply of spare parts is necessary, this is carried out overnight.

Regular maintenance by our own service and installation team, who are experts in their field, ensures a safe, continuous and trouble-free work process in the plants.

Last but not least, SEHON guarantees its customers absolute future security. In-house research and development ensure that SEHON systems purchased today can be updated to the latest technology even after many years.

Security

For responsible paint stores, safety and protection of the business, employees, nature and the environment are important decision-making criteria. It is therefore a matter of course for SEHON to comply with all standards, laws and guidelines and – if possible – even to exceed them. The company therefore recommends checking every offer for compliance with safety regulations and specifications and having these confirmed by the manufacturer. SEHON classifies anything else as an entrepreneurial game of vabanque.

Valuable plug-ins

In addition to the actual basic paint booth and dryer technology, SEHON offers a range of plug-ins that can ensure even greater quality and efficiency in painting operations.

These include central supply terminals, for example, which ensure greater order, safety and efficiency at preparation, bodywork and finishing workstations.

The new CAMELEON bodywork workstation enables the processing of aluminum, steel and carbon at a single multi-body workstation and meets all safety regulations for work on multi-mix bodies.

Everything from a single source

For many entrepreneurs and decision-makers in paint stores, it is extremely important to work with a single manufacturer who can supply not only the paint booth and dryer, but also all the necessary systems and workstations, such as preparation, masking and multi-workstations.

The planning of a modern paint store is hardly ever reduced to a paint booth and dryer. It is about the holistic, economical functioning of the entire operation. Only the perfect interaction of all departments, workstations and systems within the company guarantees the greatest possible economic success.

This interaction rarely exists if the required components come from many different suppliers. For the decision-maker, the entrepreneurial risk and the administrative and control effort increases with each additional supplier.

Due to the broad and individually adaptable product and service portfolio, SEHON is often used as an experienced general contractor for new construction, conversion and modernization of paint stores.

Customized solutions

Tiemo Sehon, CEO of SEHON Innovative Lackieranlagen: “Modern painting systems offer more than just air in, air out. The days when paint stores were satisfied with standard solutions are long gone. SEHON paint booths are high-tech systems, tailored to the individual needs of each company. We focus on quality, safety and service, no matter how small the system solution. As a matter of principle, we make no compromises in these areas. Despite these high requirements, a SEHON system is affordable for any size of business and definitely pays off. It’s worth talking to us.”