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A simple process and apparatus have proven useful as a low cost substitute for the full spray booth environmental control normally required to apply water borne basecoats that meet customer's appearance and quality requirements. “RHAAP” uses “real time” compensatory water injection into the coating just prior to atomization to adjust for the natural swings in absolute (RH%/Temp) water content of the booth atmosphere. The process, ancillary equipment required, and examples of application lab data will be presented.

A new automated method of making non-contact real-time automotive coating thickness measurements using laser based ultrasound technology [1] is presented. The system is capable of making wet film measurements on any automotive paint material, predicting the resulting cured film build to a precision of ±1.5 μm. Importantly, the measurement does not require an elaborate calibration to determine the film build; the system should therefore be more reliable and simple to maintain. The system was designed with on-line automotive film thickness measurements as a goal and thus is expected to fit into the painting process with minimal difficulty. The future intent is to use this gage in a closed-loop feedback control system.