HU231435B1 - Painting robot apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Painting robot structure

The subject of the invention is an outdoor painting robot structure that can be mounted on a lifting basket and has a RRRRR (R: rotation) structure, which includes at least one external painting robot arm element holding a paint sprayer head and an internal painting robot arm element, the ends of the arm elements are suitable for spatial, 3D movement and positioning of the paint sprayer head in a workspace joints are formed, and the inner end of the inner painting robot arm element is connected through joints to a moving mechanism that moves the painting robot structure, and the paint spray head is connected to the outer end of the outer painting robot arm element through three degrees of freedom joints.

Today, painting robots are used in large numbers in industry and architecture. The geometric and kinematic implementation of these robots is diverse. What the solutions have in common is that none of them is optimized for the task of walking in outdoor conditions, on a track that snakes over the largest possible flat surface, without interruption, with the paint spray directed perpendicular to the plane.

In recent years, many different painting robots have been developed. Some of them are used in the automotive industry to paint car bodies or other parts. Examples of such robots are:

FanuC M and P series (https://www.robots.com/applications/painting-automation/brands/fanuc)

Motoman EPX and PX series (https://www.robots.com/applications/painting-automation/brands/motoman)

ABB IRB 4x and 5x series (https://www.robots.com/applications/painting-automation/brands/abb)

Certain members of the Kuka KR series (https://www.robots.com/applications/painting-automation/brands/kuka)

Another part of the painting robots is an indoor wall painting robot.

Indoor wall painting robot by B. Kahane and Y. Rosenfeld (B. Kahane and Y. Rosenfeld, Balancing Human-And-Robot Integration In Building Tasks, Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, Vol. 19, pp. 393-410, 2004.) two types of painting effectors can be mounted on the robot arm with four rotary joints. Both effectors include two additional rotary joints to move the spray heads. In one case, painting can be done with only one spray nozzle, while in the other case with three spray nozzles based on a pre-programmed path.

A painting robot made by I. Aris et al. , Vol. 42, No. A, pp. 27-48, 2005.) essentially a traditional

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-2 It imitates the structure of a scanner or 3D printer. Two moving axes are mounted flat on a table, which are moved by servomotors and controlled by a PLC. These two axes represent the X and Y directions of movement. The movement along the Z axis is carried out by an accordion lifter. Even with this solution, the painting takes place along a pre-programmed route. The working space of the robot is 0.84x0.72x1.22 m, which usually proves to be insufficient in practice.

Painting robot developed by B. Naticchia et al. (B. Naticchia, A. Giretti, and A. Carbonari, Set up of an automated multi-colour system for interior wall painting, International Journal of Advanced Robotic systems, Vol. 4, 2007, pp. 407-416.), the main goal was the implementation of painting in several colors. The two main parts of the paint sprayer head they make are the paint mixer and the nozzle. The spray head is moved by a commercially available four-degree-of-freedom robot arm. The robot's workspace was not presented in the literature related to the work, based on the scaled images, a workspace of one and a half by one and a half meters can be estimated.

M. Indoor painting robot by T. Sorour et al (Μ. T. Sorour, M. A. Abdellatif, A. A. Ramadan, and A. A. A. Abolsmail, Development of Roller-Based Interior Wall Painting Robot, World Academy of Science, International Journal of Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial, Mechatronic and Manufacturing Engineering, vol. 5, no. 11, pp. 1785-1792, 2011.) is a completely unique development. The three-degree-of-freedom robot paints with a spring-loaded paint roller, which can be seen in the figure below. The robot's workspace is 0.3x2.7 m.

Ehsan Asadi, Bingbing Li, l-Ming Chen, Pictobot: A Cooperative Painting Robot for Interior Finishing of Industrial Developments with High Walls, March 2018, IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine pp. 99., describes a collaborative robot that helps the work of the painting specialist, in which the surface to be painted must be pre-set and the lowest paintable height is 2.5 m, the highest is 10 m, and the width is 1 m.

The indoor painting and plastering robot called "Smart Autonomous Plastering Robot" developed by the OKIBO company is very similar to the equipment presented above. The effector is mounted on a basic robot with four degrees of freedom. The effector is moved with an additional rotary joint, which enables painting along the X axis, while by turning the fourth joint of the basic robot, painting along the Y axis can be realized, i.e. here, too, the paint gun is positioned with two rotary joints. The effector has a place for mapping the area to be painted.

In the case of the first and last two known solutions, the robot's effector has an RR structure, so the paint sprayer is moved in the X and Y directions by the two rotary joints, the kinematic model of the effector is outlined in Figure 2. In the case of the other described solutions, the effector head mounted on the robot is fixed, and the movement of the head is controlled by

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-3 is performed by the basic configuration of the robot, the orientation of the head cannot be changed, or it can only be solved by changing the internal joints to a large extent.

The disadvantage of the known devices mentioned here is that two successive rotation joints are used to change the orientation of the effector, in the case of which solution, in order to paint the entire flat surface, a large movement of all internal joints of the robot is required, since the spray head must be removed from the plane during the painting process.

Another shortcoming is that, as far as we know, an outdoor high-rise building painting robot is not known and is not commercially available.

Our goal with the invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned shortcomings of known indoor painting robot structures and to make them suitable for use as outdoor painting robot structures.

Our invention is based on the realization that the perceived shortcoming of known equipment and painting robot systems can be relatively easily eliminated by changing the kinematic system of the painting robot structure, indicated by the novel design of the last two joints, whereby the robot effector becomes capable of changing its orientation around a point, so that in the meantime, moving the joints in the basic configuration - these are the first three degrees of freedom - is not even necessary.

The set task was solved with a painting robot structure according to claim 1. Some advantageous embodiments of the painting robot structure according to the invention have been formulated in the subclaims.

The invention is further described in more detail with the help of a possible advantageous implementation, with reference to the attached drawing, in which it is

Figure 1 shows joints used in a painting robot structure, a in Figure 2 the kinematic model of the effector of a painting robot structure is shown, a 3A and 3B. figures they show the movements that can be realized by the painting robot structure, a Figure 4 shows the working space of the painting robot structure as an example, that is Figure 5 as an example! illustrates a novel joint design used in the structure of a painting robot, a Figure 6 exploded view of the motor drive used in the example painting robot structure, a Figure 7 shows an arrangement of a combined camera-paint spray head mounted on a support member, a

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Figure 8 is a schematic section of the gear drive shown in Figure 5, a

Figure 9 illustrates the range of motion that can be covered by the joints used in the example painting robot structure, and the

10A-10D. Figures show the range of motion according to Figure 9, represented geometrically.

An outdoor painting robot structure according to the invention, which can be mounted on a lifting basket, is only one possible and advantageous embodiment of the painting robot structure, which is presented schematically as shown in Figure 1, and has 1 base plate providing the possibility of fixing or strengthening. 2 actuation units are attached to the base plate 1, which includes the first 3 joints enabling rotation around a vertical axis. The first joint 3 is connected to the second joint 5 enabling rotation around a horizontal axis through connecting members 4, which is connected to the first 6 arm elements. A third joint 7 enabling rotation around a horizontal axis is connected to the other end of the arm element 6, to which a second arm element 8 is connected. According to the invention, a fourth joint 9 and a fifth joint 10 are connected to the other, outer end of the second arm element 8, to which a paint spray head 11 chosen in accordance with an actual painting task is connected.

The kinematic model of the effector outlined in Fig. 1 is shown in Fig. 2, where we used the reference symbol of the components already named in connection with Fig. 1. The area accessible by the effector is marked with a dotted line.

The painting robot structure shown as an example has a robot arm with five degrees of freedom, which structurally, due to its design and dimensions, can walk anywhere on a given surface. As an example! structure is designed to walk on a flat surface, and its novelty is the design of the fourth joint 9 and the fifth joint 10. The fourth joint 9 and the fifth joint 10 is a differential joint that simulates a ball joint with two degrees of freedom. The big advantage of this solution compared to similar known robots is that it can walk the entire designated wall surface even from a short distance from a wall.

The movements that can be realized by the presented painting robot structure are shown in Fig. 3A. and 3B. figures show. 3A. Fig. 3B shows the side view of the effector of the painting robot structure. can be seen in the top view in Fig. 3A. it can be observed in the figure that the arm element 6 can be turned at an angle of 45° downwards and up 90° relative to the theoretical horizontal longitudinal axis of the effector - mounted on a horizontal base, the arm element 8 can be turned both downwards and upward 120° relative to the theoretical horizontal longitudinal axis of the effector can be turned at an angle of 3B. it can be observed in Fig. 6 that arm elements 6 and 8 can be turned laterally both to the right and to the left at an angle of 90° with respect to the theoretical longitudinal axis of the effector, this can be seen in Fig. 9A. and 9B. in figures.

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-5 The disadvantage described in the introduction was eliminated according to the invention by transforming the design and connection of the last two joints 9, 10, which thus form a combined joint with a differential drive. With this solution, the effector of the painting robot structure is able to change its orientation in a larger workspace, so that in the meantime it is not necessary to move the internal joints 3, 5, 7.

As the established example! Figure 4 illustrates the entire workspace that can be traversed by the painting robot structure. In addition to arm elements 6, 8, 820/880 mm long, following a theoretical horizontal longitudinal axis extending 240 mm from a horizontal base surface, placing the 11 spray head 200 mm from the longitudinal axis, a relatively large active workspace of at least 1.5x1.5 m can be obtained.

The already mentioned essential element of the painting robot structure according to the invention is the design and application of the joints 9 and 10 that move the painting effector, which essentially results in a compact spherical joint that can map and paint a wall surface up to 15% closer.

The design of joints 9 and 10 is illustrated in the exploded view shown in Figure 5. Support element 12 is an element for fixing the paint sprayer head 11 and/or a camera, which is rotatably connected to gear 13. Gear unit 13 is rotatably connected to motor unit 14. Bevel gears are embedded in the 13 gears, which are the main elements of the uniquely designed 13 gears. The gearbox 14 has its own planetary gear motors 15 for moving the joints 9 and 10, which in this example transmit the drive using a known toothed belt-geared disk transmission. The motors 15 are arranged transversely in the gear unit 14 as can be seen in the exploded view of FIG. 6.

A camera 16 used for mapping can be placed on the support element 12 moved by the joints 9 and 10, as well as the paint spraying head 11, as can be seen in Figure 7. Before starting painting, the camera 16 can perform mapping, "it can travel over the surface to be painted, and then the obtained based on the results, the corresponding control electronics, which are not the subject of this application, can generate a movement path for the painting robot structure for painting. In both cases, the task of the joints 9 and 10 is to keep the camera 16 or the paint spray head 11 perpendicular to the surface to be painted during mapping. Once the mapping is completed, the camera 16 can be dismantled, or if it is left in place, it can be covered with, for example, a cap 17 moved by a servo motor before the start of painting.

In the present example, three identical larger and two smaller bevel gears 20, 21, 26 are installed in the gear housing 18 of the gear 13. In this figure, two bevel gear driven gears 20 rotating fixed on horizontal guide shafts 19, the third, bevel gear 21 rotating around the vertical axis in the figure, plays a supporting and guiding role, and supported by a deep groove ball bearing 22, it transmits the drive, not shown in the figure, the 11 spray head for 12 brackets. THE

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- Guide shafts 619 protrude from the gear housing 18, and their rotation is ensured by ball bearings 23 built into it, and bushings 24 with spacers and spacers. The driven bevel gears 20 are moved with the help of the toothed belts led out of the gear unit 14, covered by the extensions 14a of the gear housing 14, and the pulleys 25 mounted on the guide shafts 19. The guided rotation of the bevel gears 20 is to be ensured by the two supporting bevel gears 26, which are rotatably embedded on the supporting shafts 28 held in the supporting bearings 27 in the gear housing 18 through gap washers 29. The cover of the gearbox housing 18, not shown in the figure, is secured by 30 latches.

If one of the two driven 20 bevel gears is fixed and does not rotate, and only the other 20 bevel gears are driven, then we can move from one end point of the feasible workspace to the other in a transverse direction, so a diagonal movement takes place. If both bevel gears 20 are driven simultaneously, the paint spray head 11 or camera 16 is made to move vertically, and horizontal displacement is possible by moving the two bevel gears 20 in opposite directions.

During the design of the engines 13,14, we took into account that the goal is usually to traverse a flat surface. The area mapped by the moved spray head 11 is optimized for painting flat walls, this gives the range of movement enabled by the joints 9 and 10, characterized by the angular values of Fig. 9, which is shown in Figs. 10A-10D. we also represented it geometrically in the figures.

Such an implementation of effector orientation can be considered an unusually novel solution. By fitting the end device with a specially designed RR structure, we greatly increase the robot's ability to follow flat surfaces in the case of the RRR basic configuration robot with a spherical working area. The painting process can be made faster, more accurate and continuous. It should not be overlooked that the proposed solution requires a more complex control system compared to known solutions, because the kinematics of the robot in this case can be specified with other relationships. The developed RR structure end device greatly increases the flat surface tracking ability of the device, so the painting process can be made faster, more accurate and continuous.

List of reference marks:

base plate operating unit joint connecting member joint arm element joint

2309791 arm element joint joint spray paint head support element gear gear

14a extension motor cam cap gearbox housing guide shaft bevel gear bevel gear ball bearing ball bearing bushing pulley bevel gear bearing support shaft spacer washer latch

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Claims (5)

-8 Patent claims 1. Painting robot structure, which includes at least one external painting robot arm element (8) holding a paint sprayer head (11) and an internal painting robot arm element (6), at the ends of the arm elements (6, 8) the paint sprayer head (11) is placed in a spatial, 3D working space joints (3, 5, 7, 9, 10) are designed for its movement and positioning, the inner end of the arm element (6) of the inner painting robot is connected via joints (3, 5) to a moving mechanism (2) that moves the painting robot structure, the outer painting robot the outer end of the arm element (8) is connected to the paint sprayer head (11) through joints, characterized by the differential joints (9, 10) that connect the outer end of the outer end of the arm element (8) to the paint sprayer head (11), which together simulate two degrees of freedom ball joints (9, 10) contains, of which the joint (9) connected to the external painting robot arm element (8) is designed as a structural element enabling rotation around a horizontal axis, and the joint (10) connected to the paint sprayer head (11) is trained as a structural element enabling rotation around both a horizontal and a vertical axis , and where the joint (10) connected to the paint sprayer head (11) is connected to an internal bevel gear drive (13), and the joint (9) connected to the external painting robot arm element (8) is connected to the internal bevel gear drive (13) via a toothed belt transmission with its own planetary gears. consists of a motorized gear (14) including motors (15). 2. The painting robot structure according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that guide shafts (19) are embedded horizontally in the gear housing (18) of the internal bevel gear drive (13), at the ends of which pulleys (25) connected to the drive toothed belts of the motor gear (14) are fixed, inside the gear housing (18), one driven bevel gear (20) is fixed non-rotatingly on the guide shafts (19), with the driven bevel gears (20) an output bevel gear (21) rotatably embedded around a vertical axis is in drive connection, with which the support element (12) is non-rotating connected. 3. The painting robot structure according to claim 2, characterized in that bevel gears (26) supporting the driven bevel gears (20) are rotatably embedded in the gear housing (18) of the internal bevel gear drive (13). 2309791 4. The 1-3. A painting robot structure according to any one of the claims, characterized in that a support element (12) holding at least one of the paint spray head (11) and a camera (16) mounted between the joint (10) and the paint spray head (11) is inserted. 5. The painting robot structure according to claim 4, characterized in that a remote controllable protective cap (17) is associated with the camera (16) mounted on the support element (12). 2309791