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US 5,769,954 AGranted
Process and device for treating the surface of large objects
AssigneePutzmeister Aktiengesellschaft
InventorsMartin Wanner, Thomas Fred Herkommer
Life of this patent
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AssigneePutzmeister Aktiengesellschaft
InventorsMartin Wanner, Thomas Fred Herkommer
Estimating the term…
A process and device are disclosed for cleaning the surface of airplanes (44). A large manipulator arranged on a truck (10) is moved towards the airplane (44) up to a predetermined position within its range of action and is parked in that position. A rotary brush bearing head (18) is moved over the surface of the object by means of an articulated mast (13) arranged on the truck (10) and constituted of several extension arms (12, 12', 12", 12'", 14) that may swivel or move with respect to each other at turning knuckles and/or prismatic joints and of a multiple joint (16) arranged at the last extension arm (14). In order to carry out a washing process in a reliable manner, without risk of collisions even when the large manipulator is not accurately positioned in front of the airplane (44), the large manipulator is parked within a limited two-dimensional parking field (46) spaced apart from the airplane (44), while the joints (20 to 26) of the articulated mast (13) and/or the multiple joint (16) are controlled during the surface treatment according to a series of predetermined sets of joint coordinates associated to the actual position of the large manipulator within the parking field (46), and the brush bearing head (18) is moved along a predetermined path of operation over the surface of the object.
A process for treating a surface of large objects, comprising the steps of moving a large manipulator arranged on an undercarriage into a parking position within reach to the large object, while in the parking position positioning the undercarriage spaced from the object in a two-dimensional parking field having a specified boundary to define an actual parking position, determining the position and orientation of the large object with respect to the actual parking position of the large manipulator, moving a treatment tool over the surface of the large object along a specified working path associated with the actual parking position of the large manipulator by means of an articulated mast which is arranged on the undercarriage and consists of several arms, pivoting the arms with respect to one another on pivot joints, treating the surface of the object with the treatment tool, and controlling the joints of the articulated mast during the surface treatment in accordance with a series of specified joint-coordinate sets, which series is associated with the actual parking position of the large manipulator within the parking field.
An arrangement for treating a surface of large objects positioned adjacent a parking field, comprising a large manipulator having an articulated mast, an undercarriage and a pivot-bearing block positioned on the undercarriage, the articulated mast consists of several arms pivotally connected to one another at pivot joints by means of hydraulic or motorized driving systems and is rotatably supported by a base arm of the several arms about a vertical axis on the pivot-bearing block, a drive means for pivoting respective ones of the arms about the pivot joints, a treatment tool arranged on a last arm of the articulated mast for treating the surface of the large object, an opto-electronic distance camera arranged on the large manipulator and alignable with the large object to be treated producing distance image signals measured to the large object, and an electronic means receiving the distance-image signals of the distance camera for aiding in one of positioning the undercarriage and locating the large manipulator relative to the large object to be treated, the electronic means having a storage arrangement for storing reference-image data of the large object viewed from the parking field with a specified boundary arranged spaced from the large object, and a software means for comparing distance-image data from the distance image signals taken by the distance camera when the large manipulator is positioned so that the articulated mast reaches the large object with the reference-image data to determine a coordinate positioning of the large-manipulatorwithin the parking field.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.