Kromavis Inaugurates Its Technical Center in Como

On 20 April, Kromavis inaugurated its Technical Center in Como (Italy), dedicated to demonstrating and testing its systems for the on-site production and immediate use of nitrogen as the carrier gas for coating applications.

The lab allows visitors to validate nitrogen-assisted application using their own paints and their own representative parts, enabling realistic simulations and immediate technical evaluation.

What the Laboratory Includes

The facility includes:

• a part preparation area

• an application booth with oven

• liquid spray guns (provided by an industrial partner)

• the full range of Kromavis Nitrowise (NW) nitrogen generation systems.

Why Nitrogen in Coating Applications

During the inauguration, Kromavis highlighted the use of nitrogen produced in situ, ionized, and kept at constant temperature, for both liquid and powder coating processes.

The article reports benefits commonly observed when nitrogen is used as the transport fluid in application circuits, including:

• 10–30% reduction in consumption

• reduced solvent emissions, enabled by hot application (nitrogen temperature adjustable up to 70°C)

• more uniform deposition, thanks to improved fan control and the ability to ionize the flow (±25 kV)

• improved film formation, as nitrogen exits the applied layer faster than air

• consistently anhydrous and clean flow enabled by membrane air/nitrogen separation.

Spotlight: NW150 Key Features (as shown in the lab)

The article includes performance data for NW150 connected to the coating booth:

• 6 bar: 5.3 m³/h nitrogen — 13.7 m³/h compressed air

• 7 bar: 6.4 m³/h nitrogen — 16 m³/h compressed air

• 8 bar: 7.5 m³/h nitrogen — 18.3 m³/h compressed air

Key features reported include:

• nitrogen heating up to 70°C

• ionizer up to 25 kV

• intuitive touch interface (Windows CE)

• ATEX configuration

• internet connection (Wi-Fi/LAN) for remote control and support.

Scalability, Mobility, and Industry 4.0

The article describes how larger Nitrowise systems can be connected to compact “satellites” to feed groups of spray guns across multiple booths, avoiding the need for one unit per booth and supporting mobile applications (e.g., elevated platforms, on-site anticorrosion cycles, maintenance repainting of aircraft or ships).

Except for the most basic NW Smart models, the range is presented as Industry 4.0 ready, capable of interconnecting with the user’s MES, sharing characteristic application data and enabling technical support connectivity.

Next Steps for the Lab

The next steps include to:

• install equipment for powder coating tests in the laboratory

• work with a leading anthropomorphic painting robot manufacturer to place a demonstrator in the application booth

• make the laboratory available for technical training activities with ANVER, Rivista del Colore, and local vocational schools.

Source

This post is based on the article “Inaugurazione del laboratorio applicativo Kromavis”, published in Verniciatura Industriale, Issue 672 (April 2024).

📄 The full article is available for download as a PDF.