Mesh-based trajectories generation strategy and thermal distribution analysis in thermal spraying

The strategy of robot trajectory generation is still an experience issue in industry applications. This paper introduces a mesh-based method to generate different patterns of trajectory for thermal spraying applications. In this method, the appropriate mesh is generated on the coating surface of model in CATIA, the mesh information including the node index, position and orientation is then imported into an off-line programming software RobotStudioTM (Product of ABB Company, Swiss) by a secondary development user interface. In the environment of RobotStudioTM, robot targets are generated according to the mesh information and user-defined robot relative parameters. The different trajectory patterns formed by varied execution order of robot targets are simulated in RobotStudioTM. By analyzing the real time speed of Tool Center Point (TCP), the most appropriate trajectory can be determined. Finally, the recorded TCP speed is considered as the displacement of thermal source in ANSYS, the thermal distribution of the workpiece during the thermal spray process is analyzed accordingly in this article.