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With the rise of robotics and artificial intelligence, the trend of industrial automation is becoming increasingly pronounced, and the future development prospects are becoming clearer. Cranes are closely related to national infrastructure such as bridges, buildings, and the military industry. To prevent corrosion and extend the service life of cranes, the spraying process has become a crucial step.Due to the relatively low level of industrial automation in our country, most crane spraying is done manually. Prolonged exposure to paint can harm human health. Therefore, developing a comprehensive parameterized automatic programming system for the coating line can increase company efficiency, reduce costs, and address the health risks associated with paint exposure.The parameterized automatic programming system for the coating line is an application software developed for the spraying of crane main beams. Its main function is to use a graphical interface written in QT to read various parameters of the main beams from configuration files. Based on these parameters and the C++ program written, it generates control command files for ABB robots, achieving automated spraying.Overview of the Spraying Principle of the Coating System:1.1 System StructureIn the coating workshop, there are three ABB robots on each side, spraying the left and right sides of the main beam. The system can spray one layer of primer and two layers of topcoat. The system can generate six MOD files for coating control commands recognizable by the robots. The user interface is divided into five tables: general parameters for both sides, conventional parameters for the left robot, posture parameters for the left robot, conventional parameters for the right robot, and posture parameters for the right robot. Based on the data in these parameters, the position and posture of the ABB robot at each point during the spraying process can be calculated. The generated control commands are written into the corresponding MOD files, which are then imported into the robots. The ABB robots will execute the corresponding trajectory operations according to the command lines in the files. The system program interface is shown in Figure 1-1.
Figure 1-1 Program Main Interface1.2 Program Logic PrincipleTable 1-1 Functionality Introduction Table
Table 1-1 is the function table of the coating system program, with the following logic:(1) Initialize the main window, using the Qsettings class to read the key value of “name” from the sprayline.ini file. In the readWorkParams function, find the corresponding configuration file in the data folder based on the defined array values and the prefix name in the configuration file to initialize the robot parameters.(2) Define four buttons in the interface. When the corresponding button is clicked, the click signal connects to execute the corresponding slot function, performing read and write operations on the configuration file and changing the displayed parameters in the interface. The genCode function executes the writing of the robot spraying trajectory.(3) The spraying sequence of the robot is as follows: bottom -> side -> top -> walkway -> walkway -> top -> side -> bottom. As shown in the code below, the corresponding statements are executed based on the value of status in the switch statement. During the spraying of the intermediate section, the program bypasses the supporting structure of the main beam. Therefore, the program divides the main beam into five segments, determines the direction of the robot’s coordinate system in the XYZ axes, calculates the starting and ending positions of the robot in each direction, and allows the spray gun to operate at predetermined trajectory intervals. The position of the main beam’s support points is calculated, and an IF condition checks whether a segment of the spraying process passes through the support point, implementing obstacle avoidance. After completing a segment of spraying, the status is assigned to statusFinish, and the program exits the switch and while loop to proceed to the next segment of spraying until the entire main beam is sprayed automatically. Automated spraying is shown in Figure 1-2.
Figure 1-2 ABB Robot Automated SprayingAtomization Spraying Problem Description:Due to the connection between the walkway and the web of the crane main beam, and the angle steel welded on the back of the walkway for reinforcement, the structure of the main beam and the limited reach of the ABB robot’s arm necessitate atomization spraying at the junction of the walkway and the web. Atomization spraying refers to the paint sprayed by the robot’s spray gun being atomized in the air, allowing the atomized paint to adhere to the crane main beam, indirectly coating areas that the spray gun cannot reach. Experiments have shown that atomization spraying does not meet production requirements, as the adhesion of the paint is insufficient. The experimental results are shown in Figure 2-1.
Figure 2-1 Atomization Spraying ProblemIn the figure, a boundary of paint can be seen, with the left side showing the results of normal spraying, while the right side near the junction of the walkway and the web shows the effect of atomization spraying, which has insufficient adhesion and fails to meet production requirements.Solution Measures:To address the issue of non-compliant spraying, an initial measure was to have manual touch-up spraying. As shown in Figure 3-1, a high-pressure air gun is first used to remove the surface layer of paint from the non-compliant area, followed by manual repainting. However, if the touch-up personnel cannot promptly remove the paint surface, the moisture in the paint will evaporate and adhere to the main beam’s surface. The high-pressure air gun will be unable to remove the non-compliant paint, necessitating the use of a grinding wheel, which wastes time and labor.
Figure 3-1 High-Pressure Air Gun Paint RemovalTo address the time and labor cost waste caused by manual paint removal and subsequent touch-up spraying, the coating system was optimized. When the robot moves to the web surface of the main beam, it is instructed to spray at a 60-degree angle to the web surface, while simultaneously increasing the pressure of the spray gun, allowing the left and right robots to directly coat the non-compliant areas without the need for manual touch-up spraying.Source:Li Jingyu, Shao Wangsheng, You Huayun (Henan Weihua Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd.)
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