Dr. Nick Gans, Principal Research Scientist and Head of the Automation and Intelligent Systems Division was issued a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for printing on curved surfaces (Patent #11400317). “Line width control and trajectory planning for robot guided inkjet deposition” was in collaboration with Dr. Bashir Jafari of the University of Texas at Dallas.
Inkjet printing whereby liquids (e.g., ink) are deposited onto substrates (e.g., paper, human tissues, vehicle bodies) is a flexible technology that has been used for a variety of commercial applications including printing of antennas, transistors, displays, biomaterials, tissues, and carbon nanotubes. Robot-assisted inkjet printing is a developing technology that allows manufacturers to take advantage of cost efficiencies realized through use of automation in production line applications for printing on complex 3D surfaces. Use of robotic-assisted print technology is increasing in a variety of industries including airplane and vehicle surface painting/coating applications. One of the primary challenges that needs to be addressed for more efficient use of robotic-based inkjet print applications is the accurate mapping of print trajectories onto complex, curved surfaces, particularly when such trajectories are defined by specific points and/or geometric boundaries.
A dynamic line width model has been developed based on the duty cycle of the printer actuation (e.g., motor speed, valve opening/closing), nozzle velocity, ink contact angle, ink characteristics, and the nature of the surface being printed on. Based on this data, unknown or hard to measure print parameters are estimated by the model. During printing, the computer determines the actual/measured print line width, which is compared with the desired/specified line width required for the task. If the measured line width is not within specification of the desired line width, the printer duty cycle is adjusted based on the parameters estimated/determined by the model to more closely match the desired and measured line widths to realize more accurate and cost-effective inkjet print operations.
For licensing, please contact Arul Thirumaran, Licensing Associate, Innovation & Commercialization:
thirumaran@uta.edu
innovation@uta.edu
P: 817-272-6269