Development of a Performance Evaluation Method for Paint Particle Dispersion Reduction Devices

Abstract

Airless spray painting is widely used to coat the exteriors of buildings. However, it often disperses a large quantity of paint particles in the air, causing environmental pollution. Although various paint particle dispersion reduction devices have been developed recently, a standardized method for quantitatively assessing their performance is still lacking. To address this, this study proposes a new evaluation method based on the mass of the dispersed particles to reliably and quantitatively assess the performance of such reduction devices. A dedicated experimental chamber was designed and fabricated to simulate a realistic paint-spraying environment, and a series of controlled painting experiments were performed using an airless spray system. Based on repeated trials, the proposed method demonstrates an average reduction efficiency of approximately 43.1% when the reduction device is applied. This study is pivotal because it enables direct mass-based quantification of particle reduction performance, thereby overcoming the limitations of conventional particle number concentration-based measurements using optical particle counters (OPCs). The proposed evaluation method offers a practical and scalable approach that can be extended to various industrial settings and airless spray conditions to assess paint particle dispersion reduction technologies.