Virtual Coating Robot Programming for Thickness Uniformity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for programming application parameters and robot paths for painting motor vehicle body components are either experience-dependent and require multiple iteration steps with material consumption or rely on computationally intensive and unreliable physical modeling.
Innovation Solution
A hybrid method that determines the coating result virtually by combining real spray pattern data with an extrapolation model, allowing for automatic optimization of application parameters and robot paths with minimal material consumption, using a database to store and interpolate spray pattern data for different parameters and paths.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional teaching method with multiple iteration steps is used, then coating result quality can be improved, but material consumption increases and programming time extends
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by determining spray pattern data in advance through real measurements and storing it in a database. This pre-characterization of spray patterns allows the system to predict coating results without performing physical test coatings, thereby eliminating material consumption during the programming and optimization phase while still achieving high coating quality through virtual simulation and optimization loops.
2Manufacturing precision
If conventional teaching method with multiple iteration steps is used, then coating result quality can be improved, but programming time extends
Solution Approach 1:
The patent determines spray pattern data in advance through real measurements and stores it in a database for later reuse. This pre-characterization eliminates the need to perform time-consuming physical test coatings during each programming iteration, allowing rapid virtual optimization while maintaining high coating quality standards.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates virtual copies of the spray patterns through measured and stored spray pattern data. Instead of repeatedly performing physical test coatings, the system uses these digital copies to simulate and optimize coating results, dramatically reducing programming time while maintaining accuracy.
3Loss of time
If complete simulation of coating result in computer model is used, then programming time is reduced, but computing power requirement increases and model reliability is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the approach from complete physical modeling to using empirically measured spray pattern parameters. By storing real spray pattern data and using it for virtual determination of coating results, the system achieves fast computation with standard hardware while maintaining high reliability, avoiding the need for computationally intensive and complex physical models.
4Loss of time
If complete simulation of coating result in computer model is used, then programming time is reduced, but model reliability is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates accurate digital copies of real spray patterns through measurement and storage in a database. These empirical spray pattern copies provide reliable prediction data for virtual coating determination, achieving both fast programming and high model reliability without depending on complex physical models.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure relates to a method for programming a program-controlled coating robot for coating components. A robot path is preset and application parameters observed by the applicator are also preset based on real coating operation during movement along the robot path. There is a virtual determination of a coating result for the predetermined robot path and the predetermined application parameters. The disclosure provides steps for virtual determination of the coating result including generating real spray pattern data and/or reading out real spray pattern data from a database as a function of the predetermined robot path and/or the predetermined application parameters, the read-out real spray pattern data reproducing a spray pattern which the applicator generates during a real coating operation with the predetermined application parameters and/or on the predetermined robot path, and determining the coating result taking into account the real spray pattern data read out from the database or the generated spray pattern data.