Robotic Livery Printing With Motion Feedback for Swath Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Robotic printing systems for aircraft liveries face challenges in achieving high-quality printing due to inaccurate motion control and ink droplet placement, particularly on large and irregularly shaped surfaces, leading to issues with resolution, distortion, and swath alignment.
Innovation Solution
A robotic printing system that utilizes a motion platform with a local sensing suite and global motion tracking devices to accurately control the motion and timing of the printing module, ensuring precise ink droplet placement and seamless swath alignment through data fusion and real-time feedback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If pre-defined paths are used based on 3D models, then the printing system can operate efficiently, but motion accuracy deteriorates due to mismatches between models and real objects
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by using motion capture technology to track the real-time position and orientation of the printing device relative to the object surface. This actual motion data is fed back to the control system to correct deviations from the pre-defined path, ensuring both high printing efficiency and accurate droplet placement without requiring continuous manual intervention.
2Manufacturing precision
If high spatial density ink ejection is used to improve resolution, then printing quality improves, but motion accuracy requirements increase beyond current system capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The motion capture system provides real-time feedback on the actual position and orientation of the printing device, enabling the control system to compensate for motion deviations. This feedback mechanism allows the system to maintain accurate droplet placement even when operating at high spatial densities, effectively bridging the gap between printing resolution requirements and measurement capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces traditional mechanical measurement and control systems with optical motion capture technology. This substitution enables more accurate and reliable tracking of the printing device's motion, providing the precision needed to support high spatial density ink ejection without being constrained by mechanical system limitations.
3Area of stationary object
If the motion platform moves to multiple locations to cover large objects, then coverage area increases, but swath alignment accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The motion capture system continuously tracks the printing device's position across multiple locations, providing real-time feedback that enables the control system to maintain accurate swath alignment even when moving between different areas of large objects. This feedback ensures consistent registration of adjacent swaths throughout the entire coverage area.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses motion capture to create an accurate digital representation of the actual motion trajectory, which is then used to correct and refine the printing path. This copying approach allows the system to maintain precise swath alignment across large areas by referencing the captured motion data rather than relying solely on pre-defined paths.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides a robotic printing system for printing images on the surface of an object. One exemplary system includes a printing module carried by a motion platform to directly eject printing materials on a surface. One aspect of this disclosure provides methods for accurately controlling the motion of the motion platform, generating accurate triggering signals for printing heads, and properly aligning adjacent swaths of an image.