Solutions or Products Featured in This Case Study

Left: BIMV Series Pneumatic Fine Fog Nozzle | Right: Spray header equipped with five BIMV nozzles

A demo of our pneumatic spray nozzles (also known as air-atomizing or twin-fluid nozzles) producing a fine mist proved the cooling effect.

Challenges Faced by the Customer

This case introduces a fog-based cooling system implemented at an aluminum wheel manufacturing plant.

At the plant, aluminum wheels leaving the curing oven (drying furnace) after bake coating were left to cool naturally as they moved along the conveyor.

Wheels exiting the curing oven on a conveyor for natural air cooling

Immediately after leaving the oven, the wheels were about 110°C. They needed to be cooled to 70°C so operators could handle them safely with gloves in the next process.
However, the heat released during natural cooling pushed the surrounding area to nearly 50°C, greatly increasing the risk of heat stress.
The plant installed multiple fans to shorten cooling time, but the effect was limited—and the fans took up valuable floor space, reducing workability.

The customer was looking for a compact system that could bring the wheels down to the target temperature faster.
Given this situation, they contacted IKEUCHI, which has extensive experience with mist-cooling solutions.

Left: Fog-based cooling for aluminum die-cast parts | Right: Gas turbine inlet air cooling

Solutions Proposed by IKEUCHI

IKEUCHI proposed a cooling system using BIMV Series pneumatic spray nozzles, which generate a fine mist by mixing water with high-velocity compressed air. The BIMV Series is ideal for cooling solid parts such as aluminum components.

Left: BIMV Series Pneumatic Fine Fog Nozzle | Right: Spray pattern of the BIM nozzle

We conducted a demonstration at the site. Spraying fine fog onto wheels exiting the oven for approximately one minute reduced the surface temperature from 110°C to 70°C. The test also confirmed that little to no water droplets or accumulation remained on the wheels.

After the demo confirmed the effectiveness of mist cooling, we designed 1.4 m spray headers, each equipped with five BIMV nozzles. Three headers were installed above each side of the conveyor, angled to spray diagonally downward onto the wheels on the line.

Left: BIMV Series Pneumatic Fine Fog Nozzle | Right: Spray header equipped with five BIMV nozzles

We also refined the control sequence. By introducing a short delay between shutting off the water and the air—and stopping the water first—we minimized dripping when the spray stops.
In addition, we intentionally left non-spray zones between headers and utilized the wheels’ surface re-warming (heat rebound) to achieve more uniform cooling overall.

Benefits Achieved

As requested, we created a space-saving yet highly efficient cooling zone. By shortening the cooling process cycle time, the line’s takt time (production pitch) improved dramatically, increasing throughput. By suppressing the rise in ambient temperature, the system also significantly reduced the risk of heat stress.
This innovative cooling solution adds new value to production operations by improving productivity and the work environment.

BIMV Series nozzle in operation