Path planning algorithm for laser removal of paint from aircraft skin

Laser paint removal technology has recently been used in aircraft maintenance because this technology is highly efficient, contact free and environment-friendly. This work proposes a tool path planning algorithm based on maximum defocus length, the distance between laser focus and the skin surface, that decreases the path points and the path length. Fewer interpolation points can generate smoother trajectory acceleration curves, reducing robot vibration and mechanical wear and improving robot response speed and accuracy to the planned path. Firstly, the STL (standard tessellation language) surface model of the aircraft metal skin is sliced using the section plane group to obtain the initial laser paint removal path. Secondly, the maximum defocus length is obtained by laser paint removal experiments on the skin. Thirdly, the initial path is optimized based on the path optimization algorithm of the maximum defocus length. Finally, a robotic paint removal verification experiment using the optimized path is conducted on a 0.0336 square meter section of a DR-5 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), composed of 2024-T6 aluminum. The results show that the application of this algorithm can remove the paint layer from the aircraft skin and decrease the path interpolation points by 96.2%.