Methods and systems for inkjet painting of surfaces, especially exterior aircraft surfaces

An automated system for painting an exterior surface of a vehicle which comprises:

• a robotic coating assembly for applying a base coat to the exterior surface of the vehicle;
• a color-printing robotic assembly having an end effector sequentially including a plasma applicator, one or more inkjet printheads and an ultraviolet (UV) light system which are linearly aligned with one another along a pixelation axis;
• and
• a controller operably connected to the robotic coating assembly and the color-printing robotic assembly to cause:
• (i) the robotic coating assembly to apply a basecoat layer onto the exterior surface of the vehicle;
• (ii) the plasma applicator operably associated with the end effector of the color-printing robotic assembly to treat the basecoat layer with a plasma generated by the plasma applicator and form a plasma treated basecoat layer along the pixelation axis;
• (iii) at least one color layer to be applied onto the plasma treated basecoat layer by inkjet printing of an ultraviolet (UV) light curable inkjet printable paint along the pixelation axis through operation of the one or more inkjet printheads operably associated with the end effector of the color-printing robotic assembly;
• and
• (iv) the at least one color layer along the pixelation axis to be exposed to UV light by operating the UV light system operably associated with the end effector of the color-printing robotic assembly to at least partially cure the inkjet printable paint forming the at least one color layer.

A system for applying at least one color layer onto a basecoat layer on an exterior surface of a vehicle, the system comprising a color-printing robotic assembly which comprises an end effector, wherein the end effector includes:

• (i) a plasma applicator to generate a plasma and treat and the basecoat layer along a pixelation axis;
• (ii) one or more inkjet printheads for application of the at least one color layer onto the plasma treated basecoat layer along the pixelation axis, wherein the at least one color layer is formed of an ultraviolet (UV) curable inkjet printable paint;
• and
• (iii) a UV light system operable so as to provide UV light and at least partially cure the UV curable inkjet printable paint applied by the one or more inkjet printheads onto the plasma treated basecoat layer along the pixelation axis, wherein
• the plasma applicator, the one or more inkjet printheads and the UV light system are sequentially aligned with one another along the pixelation axis.