Automated Path and Trajectory Planning for Automated Repair of Damaged Components by Cold Spray

Cold spray has become a useful technology for the repair of metallic components. To control the material deposition, handling of the cold spray gun is required. The robot-guided cold spray process provides flexible control and automation of the repair process. In order to enable precise material deposition at specified repair locations, this work proposes a method for automated planning of cold spray paths and the conversion into a cold spray trajectory by linking to a suitable velocity distribution. The extraction of the volume to be filled is determined by comparing the nominal and actual component. To produce the extracted volume, it is divided into suitable layers and converted into point clouds for path planning. The generated velocity distribution considers the required layer thickness. To check the suitability of the path and trajectory, a simulation of the material deposition is performed to validate the applied coating. The implementation of the entire method is demonstrated by an exemplary case. The results of the method demonstrated successful automated path and trajectory planning as well as subsequent validation of the simulated material deposition, contributing to the overall goal of automated repair of damaged components by cold spray.