US 11,865,852 B2
Robotic livery printing system
Mingfeng Zhang, Scarborough (CA); Michel Bondy, Caledon (CA); Piotr Jasiobedzki, Mississauga (CA); Darrell Gaudette, Toronto (CA); Ho-Kong Ng, Thornhill (CA); and Timothy John Reedman, Glen Williams (CA)
Assigned to MACDONALD, DETTWILER AND ASSOCIATES INC., Brampton (CA)
Filed by MACDONALD, DETTWILER AND ASSOCIATES INC., Brampton (CA)
Filed on Dec. 14, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/550,296.
Application 17/550,296 is a division of application No. 16/643,289, granted, now 11,571,911, previously published as PCT/CA2018/051024, filed on Aug. 24, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/552,980, filed on Aug. 31, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2022/0097411 A1, Mar. 31, 2022
Int. Cl. B41J 3/407 (2006.01); B25J 13/08 (2006.01)
CPC B41J 3/4073 (2013.01) [B25J 13/086 (2013.01); B25J 13/088 (2013.01)] 33 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for applying a livery image to the surface of an object, comprising:
a printing module mounted on a motion platform and configured to apply a plurality of adjacent swaths of a print material to form an image on a surface, the printing module including one or more tanks for storing the print material and a plurality of printing heads for applying the print material;
a local sensing suite configured to acquire one or more images of the surface and to measure the motion of the printing module relative to the surface;
one or more global motion tracking devices configured for measuring the pose of the printing module, the motion platform, and the surface of the object;
a real-time processor being connected to the printing module, the motion platform, the local sensing suite, and the global motion tracking devices, said real-time processor is programmed with instructions for generating a plurality of triggering signals for controlling the timing of applying printing material from the printing module to form a plurality of swaths of a livery image by the steps of:
receiving one or more travel distance measurements from the one or more relative motion sensors in the local sensing suite;
fusing said travel distance measurements from the one or more relative motion sensors into a fused travel distance and fusing said fused travel distance with pose measurements of the printing module from one or more global motion tracking devices;
generating a triggering pulse when said fused travel distance is equal to or greater than a predetermined travel distance; and
sending the triggering pulse to the printing module wherein the triggering signals prompts the printing heads to apply a printing material; and
an executive computer interfaced with the real-time processor.