CA2917784A1 - Unmanned aerial vehicle painting system - Google Patents
Unmanned aerial vehicle painting system Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- CA2917784A1 CA2917784A1 CA2917784A CA2917784A CA2917784A1 CA 2917784 A1 CA2917784 A1 CA 2917784A1 CA 2917784 A CA2917784 A CA 2917784A CA 2917784 A CA2917784 A CA 2917784A CA 2917784 A1 CA2917784 A1 CA 2917784A1
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- paint
- uav
- unmanned aerial
- painting
- aerial vehicle
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
- B64C—AEROPLANES; HELICOPTERS
- B64C39/00—Aircraft not otherwise provided for
- B64C39/02—Aircraft not otherwise provided for characterised by special use
- B64C39/024—Aircraft not otherwise provided for characterised by special use of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B05—SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
- B05B—SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES
- B05B13/00—Machines or plants for applying liquids or other fluent materials to surfaces of objects or other work by spraying, not covered by groups B05B1/00 - B05B11/00
- B05B13/005—Machines or plants for applying liquids or other fluent materials to surfaces of objects or other work by spraying, not covered by groups B05B1/00 - B05B11/00 mounted on vehicles or designed to apply a liquid on a very large surface, e.g. on the road, on the surface of large containers
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
- B64D—EQUIPMENT FOR FITTING IN OR TO AIRCRAFT; FLIGHT SUITS; PARACHUTES; ARRANGEMENTS OR MOUNTING OF POWER PLANTS OR PROPULSION TRANSMISSIONS IN AIRCRAFT
- B64D1/00—Dropping, ejecting, releasing, or receiving articles, liquids, or the like, in flight
- B64D1/16—Dropping or releasing powdered, liquid, or gaseous matter, e.g. for fire-fighting
- B64D1/18—Dropping or releasing powdered, liquid, or gaseous matter, e.g. for fire-fighting by spraying, e.g. insecticides
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
- G05D—SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES
- G05D1/00—Control of position, course or altitude of land, water, air, or space vehicles, e.g. automatic pilot
- G05D1/0094—Control of position, course or altitude of land, water, air, or space vehicles, e.g. automatic pilot involving pointing a payload, e.g. camera, weapon, sensor, towards a fixed or moving target
Abstract
This disclosure describes a system for painting of interior and exterior surfaces of structures such as single family homes, apartment buildings, storage facilities, ships, bridges, using an unmanned aerial vehicle ("UAV").
Description
BACKGROUND
Applying paint to various structures such as buildings, ships, bridges is an expensive, labour intensive process. This disclosure describes a system for painting these structures.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a top-down view of of an unmanned aerial vehicle, according to an implementation.
FIG. 2 depicts a diagram illustrating unmanned aerial vehicles painting interior and exterior of a room in a house according to an implementation.
FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram of a motor and propellor configuration according to an implementation.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating components of an unmanned aerial vehicle control board according to an implementation.
While implementations are described herein by way of example, those skilled in the art will recognize that the implementations are not limited to the examples or drawings described. It should be understood that the drawings and description are not intended to limit implementations to the particular form disclosed but on the contrary the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to limit the scope of the description or claims. Throughout this application the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to) rather than the mandatory sense. The words "include", "including," and "includes" mean including but not limited to.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
This disclosures describes an unmanned aerial vehicle ("UAV") configured to autonomously apply paint to various structures. As discussed in more detail below, in some implementations the UAV may be used for painting interior surfaces such as walls of single family homes. In some implementations the UAV will paint exterior surfaces such as exterior walls of single family homes or structures such as road or railway bridges. In some implementations the UAV will receive a pre-calculated paint instructions ("paint plan"). In other applications the UAV will determine the painting surfaces using a variety of sensors.
Still in some other application a multitude of UAVs can be used to accelerate the painting process. When a multitude of UAVs are used they may communicate with each other to determine a safe flight path and divide the paint work. For example four UAVs may paint individual walls of a room or multiple UAVs can each paint a single room in a house.
In some implementations the UAV may carry paint in a reservoir that is part of the UAV. In other implementations the UAV may be attached to a hose through which the paint is pumped.
In applications where the UAV includes a paint reservoir, it may periodically refill the paint reservoir from a central station when it detects it is running low on paint.
The UAV may detect the location of the central station using video cameras or a beacon in some implementations.
In some implementations the central station may include a cleaning fluid for cleaning the UAV
paint system when it is finished painting. The cleaning liquid may be pumped through the same mechanism as the paint to clean the interior of the UAV. Some implementations may include a container where the UAV can spray excess paint or cleaning fluid as part of the cleaning process.
In some applications a central controller may communicate with the UAVs to determine the flight plan for optimal painting.
In still other implementations the UAV may sense obstacles such as furniture and navigate around them.
In some implementations the UAV will use sensors to determine the amount or uniformity of the applied paint and adjust its flight and paint delivery to ensure optimal use of paint and the best quality of painting.
In some applications the UAV may use video cameras for measuring various qualities associated with the paint. Whether the paint is dry or wet, the uniformity of application, the thickness of the paint layer, the quality of the unpainted surfaces may all be determined by the video images under different illumination conditions.
In some applications the UAV may use different propellor configurations to ensure flight stability and control. Stable flight is critical for accurate and consistent paint application and the painting UAV orientation and path needs to be controlled more accurately than typical UAV applications.
Higher control accuracy can be achieved in some applications by including additional motors and propellers for more degrees of freedom.
Yet in other applications the UAV may use video cameras to determine its location and orientation in space. Various interior features such as doors, corners, windows and edges or outdoor features such as beams, bolts and structures can be used as triangulation points for location detection. Random patterns on walls as observed by the camera may be used for keeping track of distance travelled along the wall in some applications.
In typical applications the UAV will apply uniform single colour layers of paint across an entire surface, but in other applications it may apply multiple colours or paint fine details or images on the surfaces. The UAV may paint murals in some applications. In some of those applications the UAV may have multiple paint nozzles for fine painting and/or a controllable nozzle to control the size of the paint spray and the resulting spot size on the surface.
Smaller spot sizes allow for painting of finer details.
In some applications small nozzles or a variable nozzle may be used to paint details such as around doorways and windows to avoid paint getting on surfaces that should not be painted.
In some applications the surfaces may need to be prepared manually before the UAV begins painting by sanding or masking of surfaces similar to the way surfaces are prepared for manual painting. While this increases the cost and labour required, there is still considerable savings value in having the UAV do the bulk of the painting.
In some applications the airflow around the propellers may be redirected to help control or avoid disrupting the flow of paint.
The UAV may compensate for the force applied by the paint stream by incorporating that thrust vector (the force applied onto the UAV during painting) into the flight control algorithm. For example, opposing propellers may accelerate while the paint is turned on to keep the UAV
stationary along the axis along the paint stream. This is a form of control-loop feed-forward which helps the UAV remain stable during painting.
FIG. 1 depicts a UAV for painting applications. A chassis 101 holds the various components.
Eight propellers are depicted and those can be made of various materials and sizes sufficient for lift and control of the UAV. Propeller 107 for example is mounted such that it provides thrust perpendicular to the chassis. This is typical of commercial UAVs (drones) for example the "Phantom 1" made by DJI. Propellor 106 however is mounted in a different configuration such that part of its thrust vector is going sideways. This allows for better control compared to commercial drones mentioned. Off-the-shelf commercial drones are unable to maintain their orientation as they fly at different speeds due to their design with limited degrees of freedom. In different implementations different numbers of propellers and different configurations may be used. 105 is an example of a brushless motor driving one of the propellers.
103-1 is a paint spraying mechanism similar to off-the-shelf portable painting systems such as the "ProShot II"
made by Graco. 103-2 is a paint spray nozzle. There exist a variety of off-the-shelf paint nozzles that can be used in this application. In some designs a custom paint nozzle can be used. The paint nozzle may be adjustable and be controlled by an actuator such as a stepper motor. The flow of paint through the nozzle may be controlled by a solenoid valve to allow turning the flow of paint on and off during flight. 102 is the control board which includes power management circuitry, a processor, memory and various circuitry to control, drive and read the various sensors, motors and actuators. Various off-the-shelf boards such as "OpenPilot", "PixHawk", and the "KK Multicopter" may be used in some implementations.
Single board computers such as "Beaglebone", "Beagleboard", "Raspberry Pi" may be used in other implementations. Yet in other implementations various off-the-shelf components can be combined for a custom controller optimized for this painting application. The board assembly may include the batteries providing operating power for the different components and motors in some implementations or in other implementations the battery pack may be separate. Various battery packs for UAVs are available off-the-shelf from companies such as "Tattu" using a variety of existing battery technologies. Some implementations may use custom battery assemblies optimized for painting flight requirements including weight, peak current, and capacity. 104 is a video camera. The camera may be used to monitor the painting process. By analyzing the image during flight, the UAV can determine the pattern and quality of the paint deposited on the surface. The camera may also be used for determining the location and orientation of the UAV during flight by calculating the position of various features in the image and using triangulation and other methods to get a positional fix. Some designs may have more than a single video camera each to enable, for example, using different lenses, pointing in different directions, having a different field of view. A telephoto lens, for example, may be used to measure very fine details about the painted surface. Different illumination including different wavelengths (red, blue, green, infra-red, for example) and different directions (dark field or bright field, for example) may be used for detecting different details.
FIG. 2 illustrates the UAV in operation in one possible environment while painting exterior and interior surfaces of a building. 204 is an interior wall of room 201 being painted by UAV 202-1.
The UAV may fly a scanning pattern from left to right, progressing up the wall from the floor, while spraying the wall with paint. The UAV may fly different patterns depending on the wall and video input of the surface. The UAV may fly around the door 206 and window 207 either based on a pre-programmed plan of the room or by detecting the door and window in the video image using cameras or a combination of both. In some applications the door and window may be masked and the UAV will simply paint all surfaces. 202-2 is another UAV
which is painting another wall while avoiding sofa 205. Multiple UAVs may operate at the same time and communicate with each other via radio. The UAV may fly around furniture that is sensed during flight or pre-programmed into the UAV ahead of time. The UAV may fuse multiple sensors including video, rangefinders (ultrasounds, laser and others), LIDAR to build a detailed layout of the room. Existing technology such as that used by Google Project "Tango", Google self driving cars and other can be used to provide data for the UAVs processor and to calculate the flight path for this application. In some applications a human operator can mark which areas the drone should paint on the image captured by the UAV before the UAV starts painting. 203 is an example charging and paint refill station. The UAV may periodically land on the station to recharge its batteries or refill its paint reservoir. The UAV may locate the station using its video cameras, for example, by looking for specific markers on the station, or by other means such as a beacon. The beacon may use flashing lights or radio signals that the UAV can detect and home to.
UAV 202-3 is depicted painting exterior wall 208 of the house while avoiding the window 207.
UAVs flying outdoors may have a different design from those operating inside to allow for different weather conditions and safety requirements. The propellers may need to have additional shielding to reduce risk of injury if the UAV flies away out of control. Special safety systems may shut down the UAV if it gets too far from its work environment unintentionally.
FIG. 3 illustrates a possible motor and propeller configuration. Motor 301 and propeller 303 are oriented to provide upwards thrust while motor 302 and propeller 304 provide thrust along a different vector. This allows the UAV to move sideways while maintaining the orientation required for pointing the paint stream to the right point and allows better maneuvering around corners and obstacles compared to traditional designs. Various other configurations may be used to allow the painting UAV to position itself accurately with the right orientation for the task it needs to perform.
FIG. 4 is a diagram of a possible implementation for a UAV control system. The Central Processing Unit 401 executes the programs that control and fly the UAV. Memory 404 can be accessed by the processor over the control bus 410. Program memory 408 stores programs in this example and data memory 409 stores data. Data stored may include the paint plan, video images, sensor data. Power system 402 regulates battery power for the different components.
The power system also controls battery charging in applications where the battery is charged while in the UAV, for example as it is resting on the charging station.
Various sensors 403 may be read by the processor including accelerometers, compass, GPS, paint flow sensors, video input, ultrasonic sensors, etc. Those are combined by the processor, for example, by using a Kalman filter, to determine the current state of the UAV and monitor the painting process. Radio 405 can be uses to communicate with a central controller or the operator's laptop, tablet, or phone. The radio can also be used for communication between multiple UAVs. The radio may be WiFi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Cellular, or some other standard communication. In some applications, for example requiring longer range outdoor operations, custom radio systems may be used. In other applications redundant multiple radio systems can be used to ensure continuous communications with the UAV. The radio may be used to provide the operator with an image of the surfaces and allow the operator to control the paint plan manually. The radio may also be used for the operator to monitor the progress of the painting.
Motor control 406 controls the current for each of the motors based on commands from the central processor and provides constant feedback about motor speed and position back to the central processors. In some applications this may be an off-the-shelf "ESC" (electronic speed controller). Other painting applications may require higher bandwidth control than is available from off-the-shelf ESCs and will be a custom controller. The control bandwidth is critical for tight control of the paint delivery to the surface. Paint controller 407 controls the paint system.
In this example the controller can drive a solenoid valve to turn paint flow on and off and can change the nozzle size/aperture for controlling the paint stream and paint spot by using a dedicated motor.
NOTES
This section includes some less structured notes and work in progress in order to capture the priority date for those but are partially described and will be worked into an amended submission later:
= Calibration. As the spraying pattern may vary between UAVs and systems there is a need for calibration. This can be done on the fly by monitoring the spray pattern or it could be done using a special calibration target and paint. For example a white calibration target could be sprayed with black paint to achieve a high contrast calibration image allowing accurate measurement of the spray pattern. If the nozzle can be cleaned or otherwise controlled those can be part of the process. For example the nozzle may be actuated to achieve the best pattern or the nozzle can be cleaned if the spraying pattern isn't uniform enough. The nozzle could also be replaceable if needed and the calibration process could determine whether the nozzle is too old or worn and requires replacement.
= Planning software. Software can be used to plan the painting in advance.
This can be done based on plans or on input from the UAV obtained during a survey flight.
For example the UAV may fly the entire interior of a house capturing images of the walls and locations of obstacles. Those images may be presented to the operator who can mark the areas to be painted, for example, by selecting the outline of the area with a mouse.
= Video image processing. The image can be processed to determine the spray pattern as the UAV is painting. The thickness of the applied paint could be estimated and fed back into parameters such as flight speed.
= Weight/paint time trade offs. A heavy UAV will run out of batteries quickly or may require large motors or may be less maneuverable. A light UAV will require frequent back and forth trips for paint refills. The optimal configuration is one that minimizes the overall paint time for a given job and depends on the distance from the filling station, the filling time, the battery charging time etc.
= Similar to this the number of UAVs and their size used for some specific paint mission can also be optimized to minimize the paint time and total system cost. Small UAVs are cheaper and more maneuverable (but could be more susceptible to wind so less suitable for outdoor applications). Also given the fixed payload (e.g. control board, camera) there's a limit on how small the UAVs can be made.
= Masking. If the spray pattern is small and accurate enough the UAV could paint fine features without requiring masking. The UAV could also have an integral mask for fine control of the resulting spot. For example a built in edge in front of the spray could result in a straight line on the spot. The excess paint on the edge could either be recaptured or cleaned later.
= Materials. The UAV will be made of materials that facilitate cleaning the paint off. Those may include aluminum, titanium, stainless steel or other special materials.
Parts of the UAV that are sensitive to paint cleaning liquids (e.g. water) will be sealed.
The cleaning requirements may limit the types of paints used in the UAV (e.g. water paints).
Design options:
= Hose attached.
= Refueling.
= Refuel station location.
= Cleaning.
= Camera for paint feedback. Control paint layer thickness and uniformity.
= Camera for location.
= Small and large nozzles for details (or variable sized nozzle).
= Additional propellers for more degrees of freedom and stability.
= Control for stability.
= Use of air flow around props.
= Fly around furniture.
= Cleaning cycle.
= Materials for paint and cleaning.
= Swarm.
= Size of paint reservoir.
= Battery powered spray painters.
= Designs, images multiple colours.
PRIOR ART
UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE DELIVERY SYSTEM (20150120094)
Applying paint to various structures such as buildings, ships, bridges is an expensive, labour intensive process. This disclosure describes a system for painting these structures.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a top-down view of of an unmanned aerial vehicle, according to an implementation.
FIG. 2 depicts a diagram illustrating unmanned aerial vehicles painting interior and exterior of a room in a house according to an implementation.
FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram of a motor and propellor configuration according to an implementation.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating components of an unmanned aerial vehicle control board according to an implementation.
While implementations are described herein by way of example, those skilled in the art will recognize that the implementations are not limited to the examples or drawings described. It should be understood that the drawings and description are not intended to limit implementations to the particular form disclosed but on the contrary the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to limit the scope of the description or claims. Throughout this application the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to) rather than the mandatory sense. The words "include", "including," and "includes" mean including but not limited to.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
This disclosures describes an unmanned aerial vehicle ("UAV") configured to autonomously apply paint to various structures. As discussed in more detail below, in some implementations the UAV may be used for painting interior surfaces such as walls of single family homes. In some implementations the UAV will paint exterior surfaces such as exterior walls of single family homes or structures such as road or railway bridges. In some implementations the UAV will receive a pre-calculated paint instructions ("paint plan"). In other applications the UAV will determine the painting surfaces using a variety of sensors.
Still in some other application a multitude of UAVs can be used to accelerate the painting process. When a multitude of UAVs are used they may communicate with each other to determine a safe flight path and divide the paint work. For example four UAVs may paint individual walls of a room or multiple UAVs can each paint a single room in a house.
In some implementations the UAV may carry paint in a reservoir that is part of the UAV. In other implementations the UAV may be attached to a hose through which the paint is pumped.
In applications where the UAV includes a paint reservoir, it may periodically refill the paint reservoir from a central station when it detects it is running low on paint.
The UAV may detect the location of the central station using video cameras or a beacon in some implementations.
In some implementations the central station may include a cleaning fluid for cleaning the UAV
paint system when it is finished painting. The cleaning liquid may be pumped through the same mechanism as the paint to clean the interior of the UAV. Some implementations may include a container where the UAV can spray excess paint or cleaning fluid as part of the cleaning process.
In some applications a central controller may communicate with the UAVs to determine the flight plan for optimal painting.
In still other implementations the UAV may sense obstacles such as furniture and navigate around them.
In some implementations the UAV will use sensors to determine the amount or uniformity of the applied paint and adjust its flight and paint delivery to ensure optimal use of paint and the best quality of painting.
In some applications the UAV may use video cameras for measuring various qualities associated with the paint. Whether the paint is dry or wet, the uniformity of application, the thickness of the paint layer, the quality of the unpainted surfaces may all be determined by the video images under different illumination conditions.
In some applications the UAV may use different propellor configurations to ensure flight stability and control. Stable flight is critical for accurate and consistent paint application and the painting UAV orientation and path needs to be controlled more accurately than typical UAV applications.
Higher control accuracy can be achieved in some applications by including additional motors and propellers for more degrees of freedom.
Yet in other applications the UAV may use video cameras to determine its location and orientation in space. Various interior features such as doors, corners, windows and edges or outdoor features such as beams, bolts and structures can be used as triangulation points for location detection. Random patterns on walls as observed by the camera may be used for keeping track of distance travelled along the wall in some applications.
In typical applications the UAV will apply uniform single colour layers of paint across an entire surface, but in other applications it may apply multiple colours or paint fine details or images on the surfaces. The UAV may paint murals in some applications. In some of those applications the UAV may have multiple paint nozzles for fine painting and/or a controllable nozzle to control the size of the paint spray and the resulting spot size on the surface.
Smaller spot sizes allow for painting of finer details.
In some applications small nozzles or a variable nozzle may be used to paint details such as around doorways and windows to avoid paint getting on surfaces that should not be painted.
In some applications the surfaces may need to be prepared manually before the UAV begins painting by sanding or masking of surfaces similar to the way surfaces are prepared for manual painting. While this increases the cost and labour required, there is still considerable savings value in having the UAV do the bulk of the painting.
In some applications the airflow around the propellers may be redirected to help control or avoid disrupting the flow of paint.
The UAV may compensate for the force applied by the paint stream by incorporating that thrust vector (the force applied onto the UAV during painting) into the flight control algorithm. For example, opposing propellers may accelerate while the paint is turned on to keep the UAV
stationary along the axis along the paint stream. This is a form of control-loop feed-forward which helps the UAV remain stable during painting.
FIG. 1 depicts a UAV for painting applications. A chassis 101 holds the various components.
Eight propellers are depicted and those can be made of various materials and sizes sufficient for lift and control of the UAV. Propeller 107 for example is mounted such that it provides thrust perpendicular to the chassis. This is typical of commercial UAVs (drones) for example the "Phantom 1" made by DJI. Propellor 106 however is mounted in a different configuration such that part of its thrust vector is going sideways. This allows for better control compared to commercial drones mentioned. Off-the-shelf commercial drones are unable to maintain their orientation as they fly at different speeds due to their design with limited degrees of freedom. In different implementations different numbers of propellers and different configurations may be used. 105 is an example of a brushless motor driving one of the propellers.
103-1 is a paint spraying mechanism similar to off-the-shelf portable painting systems such as the "ProShot II"
made by Graco. 103-2 is a paint spray nozzle. There exist a variety of off-the-shelf paint nozzles that can be used in this application. In some designs a custom paint nozzle can be used. The paint nozzle may be adjustable and be controlled by an actuator such as a stepper motor. The flow of paint through the nozzle may be controlled by a solenoid valve to allow turning the flow of paint on and off during flight. 102 is the control board which includes power management circuitry, a processor, memory and various circuitry to control, drive and read the various sensors, motors and actuators. Various off-the-shelf boards such as "OpenPilot", "PixHawk", and the "KK Multicopter" may be used in some implementations.
Single board computers such as "Beaglebone", "Beagleboard", "Raspberry Pi" may be used in other implementations. Yet in other implementations various off-the-shelf components can be combined for a custom controller optimized for this painting application. The board assembly may include the batteries providing operating power for the different components and motors in some implementations or in other implementations the battery pack may be separate. Various battery packs for UAVs are available off-the-shelf from companies such as "Tattu" using a variety of existing battery technologies. Some implementations may use custom battery assemblies optimized for painting flight requirements including weight, peak current, and capacity. 104 is a video camera. The camera may be used to monitor the painting process. By analyzing the image during flight, the UAV can determine the pattern and quality of the paint deposited on the surface. The camera may also be used for determining the location and orientation of the UAV during flight by calculating the position of various features in the image and using triangulation and other methods to get a positional fix. Some designs may have more than a single video camera each to enable, for example, using different lenses, pointing in different directions, having a different field of view. A telephoto lens, for example, may be used to measure very fine details about the painted surface. Different illumination including different wavelengths (red, blue, green, infra-red, for example) and different directions (dark field or bright field, for example) may be used for detecting different details.
FIG. 2 illustrates the UAV in operation in one possible environment while painting exterior and interior surfaces of a building. 204 is an interior wall of room 201 being painted by UAV 202-1.
The UAV may fly a scanning pattern from left to right, progressing up the wall from the floor, while spraying the wall with paint. The UAV may fly different patterns depending on the wall and video input of the surface. The UAV may fly around the door 206 and window 207 either based on a pre-programmed plan of the room or by detecting the door and window in the video image using cameras or a combination of both. In some applications the door and window may be masked and the UAV will simply paint all surfaces. 202-2 is another UAV
which is painting another wall while avoiding sofa 205. Multiple UAVs may operate at the same time and communicate with each other via radio. The UAV may fly around furniture that is sensed during flight or pre-programmed into the UAV ahead of time. The UAV may fuse multiple sensors including video, rangefinders (ultrasounds, laser and others), LIDAR to build a detailed layout of the room. Existing technology such as that used by Google Project "Tango", Google self driving cars and other can be used to provide data for the UAVs processor and to calculate the flight path for this application. In some applications a human operator can mark which areas the drone should paint on the image captured by the UAV before the UAV starts painting. 203 is an example charging and paint refill station. The UAV may periodically land on the station to recharge its batteries or refill its paint reservoir. The UAV may locate the station using its video cameras, for example, by looking for specific markers on the station, or by other means such as a beacon. The beacon may use flashing lights or radio signals that the UAV can detect and home to.
UAV 202-3 is depicted painting exterior wall 208 of the house while avoiding the window 207.
UAVs flying outdoors may have a different design from those operating inside to allow for different weather conditions and safety requirements. The propellers may need to have additional shielding to reduce risk of injury if the UAV flies away out of control. Special safety systems may shut down the UAV if it gets too far from its work environment unintentionally.
FIG. 3 illustrates a possible motor and propeller configuration. Motor 301 and propeller 303 are oriented to provide upwards thrust while motor 302 and propeller 304 provide thrust along a different vector. This allows the UAV to move sideways while maintaining the orientation required for pointing the paint stream to the right point and allows better maneuvering around corners and obstacles compared to traditional designs. Various other configurations may be used to allow the painting UAV to position itself accurately with the right orientation for the task it needs to perform.
FIG. 4 is a diagram of a possible implementation for a UAV control system. The Central Processing Unit 401 executes the programs that control and fly the UAV. Memory 404 can be accessed by the processor over the control bus 410. Program memory 408 stores programs in this example and data memory 409 stores data. Data stored may include the paint plan, video images, sensor data. Power system 402 regulates battery power for the different components.
The power system also controls battery charging in applications where the battery is charged while in the UAV, for example as it is resting on the charging station.
Various sensors 403 may be read by the processor including accelerometers, compass, GPS, paint flow sensors, video input, ultrasonic sensors, etc. Those are combined by the processor, for example, by using a Kalman filter, to determine the current state of the UAV and monitor the painting process. Radio 405 can be uses to communicate with a central controller or the operator's laptop, tablet, or phone. The radio can also be used for communication between multiple UAVs. The radio may be WiFi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Cellular, or some other standard communication. In some applications, for example requiring longer range outdoor operations, custom radio systems may be used. In other applications redundant multiple radio systems can be used to ensure continuous communications with the UAV. The radio may be used to provide the operator with an image of the surfaces and allow the operator to control the paint plan manually. The radio may also be used for the operator to monitor the progress of the painting.
Motor control 406 controls the current for each of the motors based on commands from the central processor and provides constant feedback about motor speed and position back to the central processors. In some applications this may be an off-the-shelf "ESC" (electronic speed controller). Other painting applications may require higher bandwidth control than is available from off-the-shelf ESCs and will be a custom controller. The control bandwidth is critical for tight control of the paint delivery to the surface. Paint controller 407 controls the paint system.
In this example the controller can drive a solenoid valve to turn paint flow on and off and can change the nozzle size/aperture for controlling the paint stream and paint spot by using a dedicated motor.
NOTES
This section includes some less structured notes and work in progress in order to capture the priority date for those but are partially described and will be worked into an amended submission later:
= Calibration. As the spraying pattern may vary between UAVs and systems there is a need for calibration. This can be done on the fly by monitoring the spray pattern or it could be done using a special calibration target and paint. For example a white calibration target could be sprayed with black paint to achieve a high contrast calibration image allowing accurate measurement of the spray pattern. If the nozzle can be cleaned or otherwise controlled those can be part of the process. For example the nozzle may be actuated to achieve the best pattern or the nozzle can be cleaned if the spraying pattern isn't uniform enough. The nozzle could also be replaceable if needed and the calibration process could determine whether the nozzle is too old or worn and requires replacement.
= Planning software. Software can be used to plan the painting in advance.
This can be done based on plans or on input from the UAV obtained during a survey flight.
For example the UAV may fly the entire interior of a house capturing images of the walls and locations of obstacles. Those images may be presented to the operator who can mark the areas to be painted, for example, by selecting the outline of the area with a mouse.
= Video image processing. The image can be processed to determine the spray pattern as the UAV is painting. The thickness of the applied paint could be estimated and fed back into parameters such as flight speed.
= Weight/paint time trade offs. A heavy UAV will run out of batteries quickly or may require large motors or may be less maneuverable. A light UAV will require frequent back and forth trips for paint refills. The optimal configuration is one that minimizes the overall paint time for a given job and depends on the distance from the filling station, the filling time, the battery charging time etc.
= Similar to this the number of UAVs and their size used for some specific paint mission can also be optimized to minimize the paint time and total system cost. Small UAVs are cheaper and more maneuverable (but could be more susceptible to wind so less suitable for outdoor applications). Also given the fixed payload (e.g. control board, camera) there's a limit on how small the UAVs can be made.
= Masking. If the spray pattern is small and accurate enough the UAV could paint fine features without requiring masking. The UAV could also have an integral mask for fine control of the resulting spot. For example a built in edge in front of the spray could result in a straight line on the spot. The excess paint on the edge could either be recaptured or cleaned later.
= Materials. The UAV will be made of materials that facilitate cleaning the paint off. Those may include aluminum, titanium, stainless steel or other special materials.
Parts of the UAV that are sensitive to paint cleaning liquids (e.g. water) will be sealed.
The cleaning requirements may limit the types of paints used in the UAV (e.g. water paints).
Design options:
= Hose attached.
= Refueling.
= Refuel station location.
= Cleaning.
= Camera for paint feedback. Control paint layer thickness and uniformity.
= Camera for location.
= Small and large nozzles for details (or variable sized nozzle).
= Additional propellers for more degrees of freedom and stability.
= Control for stability.
= Use of air flow around props.
= Fly around furniture.
= Cleaning cycle.
= Materials for paint and cleaning.
= Swarm.
= Size of paint reservoir.
= Battery powered spray painters.
= Designs, images multiple colours.
PRIOR ART
UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE DELIVERY SYSTEM (20150120094)
Claims (6)
1. A system for automatic painting of interior and/or exterior of structures, comprising of an unmanned aerial vehicles configured for paint application, wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle is further configured to navigate a path for applying the paint to the surfaces.
2. The system of claim 1 whereas the vehicle is further configured to determine the location of a battery charging station and to navigate to the charging station and land.
3. The system of claim 2 whereas the vehicle is further configured to refill its paint reservoir while landed at the charging station.
4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle calculates the flight path and controls the paint delivery based at least in part on one or more of the paint plan, video camera, accelerometers, distance sensors, its estimated weight and its flight model.
5. The computer implemented method of claim 2 wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle calculates the location of the charging station, navigates to it, lands and waits in place until the battery is fully recharged.
6. The computer implemented method of claim 3 wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle refills its paint reservoir and waits in place until the reservoir has been filled.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA2917784A CA2917784A1 (en) | 2016-01-18 | 2016-01-18 | Unmanned aerial vehicle painting system |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA2917784A CA2917784A1 (en) | 2016-01-18 | 2016-01-18 | Unmanned aerial vehicle painting system |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2917784A1 true CA2917784A1 (en) | 2017-07-18 |
Family
ID=59351203
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA2917784A Abandoned CA2917784A1 (en) | 2016-01-18 | 2016-01-18 | Unmanned aerial vehicle painting system |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2917784A1 (en) |
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO2020021305A1 (en) | 2018-07-24 | 2020-01-30 | Aerones, Sia | A spraying arrangement on the basis of an unmanned aerial vehicle |
-
2016
- 2016-01-18 CA CA2917784A patent/CA2917784A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO2020021305A1 (en) | 2018-07-24 | 2020-01-30 | Aerones, Sia | A spraying arrangement on the basis of an unmanned aerial vehicle |
Similar Documents
| Publication | Publication Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| US11208209B2 (en) | UAV, method and system for cleaning a wall body | |
| EP3737608B1 (en) | Aerial fluid spraying system | |
| CN110198888B (en) | Unmanned aerial vehicle for spraying structure | |
| US10124359B2 (en) | Autonomous painting systems and related methods | |
| US6419190B1 (en) | Airborne cleaning and painting robot | |
| JP5824054B2 (en) | Surface sputtering equipment | |
| US11891174B2 (en) | Repair of structures using unmanned aerial vehicles | |
| US10647424B2 (en) | Hybrid unmanned vehicles and related methods | |
| US11420744B2 (en) | Automated drone-based paint delivery system | |
| US20200222929A1 (en) | Smart spray painting nozzle and calibration method for use with mobile robots | |
| CA2953707A1 (en) | Obstacle avoidance system for stabilized aerial vehicle and method of controlling same | |
| CA3117496A1 (en) | Method and apparatus for automated de-icing of aircraft | |
| WO2018226533A1 (en) | Autonomous painting systems and related methods | |
| KR101829045B1 (en) | Apparatus for Spraying Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle | |
| CN110075462A (en) | Fire-fighting system | |
| CA2917784A1 (en) | Unmanned aerial vehicle painting system | |
| KR102075656B1 (en) | System and method for controling position of drone with respect to buildings and computer program for the same | |
| CN111989263A (en) | Method for cleaning vehicle sensors and unmanned aerial vehicle for such a method | |
| US11623764B2 (en) | Moveable mounting structure for UAV | |
| KR101854371B1 (en) | Unmanned aerial vehicle for painting and controlling method for the same | |
| US20220261006A1 (en) | Autonomous wood deck maintenance apparatus | |
| KR102572616B1 (en) | Painting apparatus and painting system comprising the same | |
| US11919019B2 (en) | Autonomous painting systems and related methods | |
| KR20220138922A (en) | Drone system for hull painting robot | |
| CA3224906A1 (en) | Method and system for dispensing fluid onto an airplane surface |
Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| FZDE | Discontinued |
Effective date: 20180118 |