Shipbuilding / Marine Manufacturing

Special Requirements for Marine Coating

• Extreme corrosion resistance: Coatings must withstand saltwater immersion (3.5% NaCl solution), cyclic wet-dry conditions, and microbial corrosion (e.g., sulfate-reducing bacteria).
• Antifouling performance: Prevent marine organism adhesion (e.g., barnacles, algae) to reduce hull resistance, with antifouling 有效期需达 5-10 年.
• Fire safety standards: Interior coatings must comply with IMO SOLAS regulations, with flame retardancy (e.g., oxygen index >28%) and low smoke toxicity.
• High-thickness construction: Hull outer plates often require total coating thickness of 300-500μm (e.g., epoxy zinc-rich primers + intermediate coats + topcoats), with uniform film formation.

Core Application Scenarios of Intelligent Coating Systems

1. Hull Exterior Coating

• Automated spraying for large flat surfaces:
  • Six-axis spraying robots with telescopic arms (e.g., KUKA KR 1000) spray on container ship hulls (length >300m), achieving uniform thickness (deviation ≤10μm) and material utilization rate >85% (vs. 50% in manual spraying).
  • Curved surface adaptive coating: For bulbous bows, 3D laser scanning generates spraying trajectories, and robots adjust nozzle angles in real time to handle complex curvatures.
• Antifouling coating precision control:
  • Intelligent systems apply self-polishing antifouling coatings (e.g., silicone-based formulations) with controlled release rate of biocides (e.g., copper ions), monitored by electrochemical sensors to maintain antifouling efficacy.

2. Specialized Coating for Key Components

• Ballast water tank coating:
  • Automated sprayers apply glass flake-reinforced epoxy coatings (thickness 800-1000μm), with ultrasonic thickness gauges performing in-line detection to ensure no pinholes (defect rate <0.5%).
• Propeller and rudder coating:
  • High-velocity arc spraying systems deposit nickel-aluminum bronze coatings (hardness ≥400HV) on propellers, with robot-mounted cameras inspecting surface roughness (Ra <2.5μm) to reduce cavitation erosion.

3. Offshore Engineering Vessel Coating

• Deepwater pipeline anti-corrosion:
  • Subsea robotic arms spray 3-layer PE coatings (fusion-bonded epoxy + adhesive + PE) on pipelines, with ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) capturing thermal images to monitor curing temperature (180-220°C).
• Offshore platform structure coating:
  • Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) apply zinc-aluminum alloy thermal spray coatings (thickness 200-300μm) on jacket structures, integrated with IoT sensors for real-time humidity and temperature monitoring during spraying.

Typical Application Cases

1. COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry Intelligent Coating Line:
   • Applied to 20,000TEU container ships, the system uses 8 Fanuc M-2000iA robots for hull coating, shortening the coating cycle from 21 days to 7 days, with coating thickness consistency improved by 60%.
2. Maersk Offshore Vessel Antifouling Project:
   • AI algorithms optimized the spraying path for silicone antifouling coatings, reducing hull frictional resistance by 12% and fuel consumption by 8,000 tons/year for a 180,000DWT tanker.

Future Development Trends

• Digital twin-driven coating:
  • Simulate coating processes via virtual ship models (e.g., using Siemens Digital Twin), predicting film formation under different sea conditions to optimize coating formulations.
• Green coating technology integration:
  • Intelligent systems for waterborne epoxy coatings and sacrificial anode cathodic protection (SACP) integration, meeting IMO 2025 sulfur emission limits.
• Autonomous underwater coating robots:
  • Develop submersible robots for in-water hull coating maintenance (e.g., DNV-certified underwater spraying systems, operational at depths up to 30m without dry docking).