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Conventional processes, such as polishing, painting, and depainting or paint removal, require environmentally harmful chemicals, generate hazardous waste, and are ergonomically tedious. Engineers at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) developed custom automation processes answering the U.S. Government mandate to eliminate hazardous chemicals and wastes that are more efficient and controlled.

Polishing

Aircraft canopy transparencies become scratched and pitted in service, weakening the canopy and interfering with the pilot's vision. SwRI developed a system for the U.S. Air Force to automatically rework flawed canopies. This automated system, which has been in operation at Hill AFB since 1988, utilizes 3 commercial robots – 2 robots for polishing and 1 robot equipped with a machine vision system for inspecting the canopies.

Painting

Specialized automated painting processes that require precise control of thickness and feathering of coatings were also developed at SwRI. This technology is applied to special paint applications, such as RAM (radar-absorbing material) coatings. We have also integrated custom and commercial technology for precise mixing of multi-component paints. Sensors developed at SwRI have been used to monitor paint composition to ensure proper quality and performance.
 

Paint Removal

SwRI developed Robotic Paint Stripping Systems for the U.S. Air Force in the 1990s. Two systems were designed, built, and installed by SwRI – one at Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah, for stripping F-16 aircraft; the second for Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Georgia, for stripping F-15 aircraft. These two systems are in production use and are the only successful systems of their kind in the world.

The systems use a plastic media blast process, administered by two or three robots per workcell. These robots were custom-designed and built at SwRI. They each have a total of nine degrees of freedom, and stand about 22 feet tall. The robots are taught the geometry of the aircraft and perform the paint removal in a continuous process once the location of the plane in the workcell is identified. The robots use a custom-developed paint sensor to detect whether the paint has been stripped; thus controlling the traverse speed of the end-effector during blasting.

The Robotic Paint Stripping System has several key advantages over conventional stripping methods:

•  It is efficient, requiring only two to three system operators to strip a plane in approximately 12 hours. By comparison, manual blasting requires six to eight blasters over a 24-hour period.

• The system is more controlled than manual blasting, resulting in a much lower chance of damage to the thin, sensitive substrates.

• Operators are not exposed to the very uncomfortable and potentially dangerous environment experienced by manual blasters.

• The plastic media process generates much less hazardous waste than conventional chemical stripping processes.

Dry Media Blasting Research and Development

SwRI has established a strong expertise in the dry media blast (DMB) process. Our in-house, research-grade DMB facility is available for testing new blast equipment or media, the optimization of blast parameters, the effectiveness of blasting on a variety of component surfaces, and for mocking up automated blast systems.
 

Facility and Workcell Design

SwRI offers complete system integration services in the design and implementation of surface processing facilities and workcells, including:

•  Manual processes

• Semi-automated (man-in-the-loop) processes

• Fully automated, robotic processes

• System sizes ranging from small workcells for component processing to large building/hangar systems (e.g., for full aircraft)

• Multi-use facilities, such as systems for both paint removal and wash-down

For more information about automated surface processing systems capabilities at SwRI or how you can contract with SwRI, please contact Paul T. Evans at pevans@swri.org or (210) 522-2994.
 

| Manufacturing Systems Department | Automation and Data Systems Division | SwRI Home |

Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®), headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is a multidisciplinary, independent, nonprofit, applied engineering and physical sciences research and development organization with 11 technical divisions.

June 18, 2008