Electrostatic atomizer efficiently paints Toyota’s vehicles
S. Himmelstein | March 13, 2020As part of its Plant Zero CO2 Emissions Challenge, Toyota has developed an airless atomizer so that vehicles 
Source: Toyotacan be painted with a 7% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Static electricity replaces air as the motive force in a tool which achieves a coating efficiency surpassing 95%, a marked improvement from the 60-70% efficiencies associated with conventional atomizers.
With the electrostatic atomization process, statically charged particles gravitate toward the vehicle body. The number of atomized particles that scatter is reduced, resulting in improved coating efficiency. The tool monitors variations in electrical current caused by changes in spatial distance associated with a vehicle’s topography, automatically controlling the voltage and maintaining a 10 cm distance between the cylindrical painter head and the vehicle body. Electrostatic painting under a fixed current prevents variation in the paint particle size and results in high-quality painting.
In addition, the footprint of painting production lines can shrink, as the collection device at the bottom of the paint booth can be smaller than those currently in use.
"Powder" painting has been around for years and hot rodders have used it for painting vehicle chassis for years.
In reply to #1
I believe this is a wet paint application.
From the source article, "Electrostatic atomization technology is used in beauty treatment devices and other instruments that spray fine amounts of liquid; here, we applied it to vehicle body painting."
The addition of current control and a spinning, grooved nozzle took some real ingenuity to conceptualize and perfect, and is an admirable move forward in production painting efficiency. I hope it propagates.