Method and system for dispensing fluid onto an airplane surface
AssigneeVestergaard Company A/S
InventorElo Svanebjerg
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for applying a fluid, such as deicing fluid, to a surface of an airplane. A vehicle loaded with a fluid has a nozzle for spraying said fluid onto said surface and at least one sensor and a processing unit is provided for determining a 3D representation of the surface onto which fluid is to be added. The 3D representation is used to determine boundary conditions for a path along which the nozzle is moved relative to the surface and the fluid is being dispensed onto the surface as said nozzle is being moved along the path.
Claims14
A method for de-icing a surface of an airplane, said method comprising:
- providing said airplane,
- providing a vehicle loaded with a fluid, said vehicle having a nozzle for spraying said fluid onto said surface,
- said vehicle comprising a first sensor for determining a position of said airplane,
- providing a second sensor and a processing unit for determining a 3D representation of said surface by means of said second sensor and said processing unit, said 3D representation comprising a point cloud,
- determining said 3D representation by means of said second sensor and said processing unit, and
- translating the datapoints of said point cloud to a common reference frame by means of said first sensor and said processing unit,
- determining a plurality of points off said surface such that each point having a distance to said 3D representation,
- said plurality of points determined such that an area of said surface being de-iced by sweeping said nozzle through a number of points of said plurality of points one sweep at a time, and said plurality of points determined such that the number of sweeps being minimized,
- moving said vehicle to a position for moving said nozzle through said plurality of points, and
- moving said nozzle through said plurality of points and applying said fluid to said surface as said nozzle being moved through said plurality of points.
A method for de-icing a surface of an airplane, said method comprising:
- providing said airplane,
- providing a vehicle loaded with said fluid, said vehicle having a nozzle for spraying said fluid onto said surface,
- said vehicle comprising a first sensor for determining a position of said airplane,
- providing a database including a set of 3D representations of surfaces of airplane models,
- each 3D representation associated with an aircraft registration number,
- determining the aircraft registration number of said airplane,
- determining the 3D representation of said airplane by looking said aircraft registration number up in said database, said 3D representation comprising a point cloud,
- providing a processing unit and translating the datapoints of said point cloud to a common reference frame by means of said first sensor and said processing unit,
- determining a plurality of points off said surface such that each point having a distance to said 3D representation,
- said plurality of points determined such that an area of said surface being de-iced by sweeping said nozzle through a number of points of said plurality of points one sweep at a time, and said plurality of points determined such that the number of sweeps being minimized,
- moving said vehicle to a position for moving said nozzle through said plurality of points, and
- moving said nozzle through said plurality of points and applying said fluid to said surface as said nozzle being moved through said plurality of points.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.