Painting device, painting arrangement, method for painting a curved surface of an object, and use of an inkjet device for painting an aircraft

Abstract

A painting device for painting a curved surface (102) of an object (101), with a paint material ejection device (103), with a guide device (104, 105) and with a control device. The paint material ejection device (103) is designed for ejecting paint material. By means of the guide device (104, 105) the paint material ejection device (103) can be mechanically guided along a curved surface of an object. By means of the control device the paint material ejection device (103) and the guide device (104, 105) can be controlled in such a way that by means of guiding the paint material ejection device (103) along a predefinable path and by means of predefinable ejection of paint from the paint material ejection device (103) along the predefinable path a curved surface (102) of an object (101) to be painted can be painted.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims the benefit of the filing, date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 609, 998 filed Sep. 15, 2004, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] According to the state of the art, aircraft are painted using a complex method. In this method the individual paint coats to be provided are applied in several working stages (up to eight stages and more). [0003] To apply logos, lettering and other visual effects it is in many cases necessary to spatially delimit those regions that need to be painted from those that do not need to be painted, and thus to stick a covering film on regions of an aircraft surface that do not need to be painted. This is necessary to obtain neat paint edges. However, this method is time-consuming and expensive. Furthermore, painting a finished aircraft, a process which frequently takes several days, is very cost-intensive because...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014] An fundamental idea of the invention may be seen in that a paint material ejection device may be guided along a guide device such that a curved surface of an object to be painted may be automatically painted by means of the paint material ejection device. The parameters, according to which the curved surface of the object is to be painted, may be entered into a control device so that said control device according to the predefined parameters may sequentially scan various surface regions of the curved surface of the object to be painted, and may cover the surface with paint material ejected from the paint material ejection device so that the curved surface of the object may be painted in a user-defined manner. This may make possible controlled painting of an object surface by means of a mechanically guided paint. material ejection device whose ejection characteristics may be controlled by the control device.

[0053] Such a protective layer may cover the actual paint on the surface of the object and may protect said surface against damage from exposure to the environment. Such exposure may for example relate to chemicals that are used at airports. Moreover, a conventional layer of paint may be damaged by the considerable air friction that may be experienced in particular during take-off and landing of the aircraft. If a protective layer is applied to this paint layer, such damage may be prevented.

Problems solved by technology

However, this method is time-consuming and expensive.

Furthermore, painting a finished aircraft, a process which frequently takes several days, is very cost-intensive because during this time the aircraft cannot yet commence operations.

Spraying the surface of an aircraft by means of spray guns requires a complex and expensive suction of solvents and aerosols.

This work is very labour-intensive, requires specially trained expert staff and has to be carried out in protective suits.

Furthermore, working in a painting hall for the manual painting of an aircraft can be hazardous to the personnel involved, because in particular musculoskeletal disorders can frequently result from working in such a painting hall.

However, on curved surfaces, which occur in many places in particular in an aircraft, the application of films is difficult.

Furthermore, films applied to the outer skin of aircraft are problematical during flight operations as far as electrostatic charging and electromechanical compatability (EMC) are concerned.

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