To reduce the environmental impact of conventional depainting operations and to increase aircraft availability, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) issued a task order to Concurrent Technologies Corp. (CTC) of Johnstown, PA, to design, demonstrate, and validate a robotic laser coating removal system capable of removing coatings from U.S. Air Force aircraft. After successfully demonstrating the technology on a deactivated aircraft, the robotic system will be transitioned to Ogden Air Logistics Center for production usage. The robotics being used for this project are scalable for use on aircraft from fighter size to the larger cargo and tanker aircraft. The system will consist of a commercially available laser source, scanner, and particle capture system that will be mounted to and integrated with a mobile robotic base and surface monitoring sensors. Activities in progress include performance testing at CTC on the laser source and a design of an autonomous robot base by Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute National Robotics Engineering Center.
A U.S. Air Force C-5 Galaxy sits in a depaint hangar, where workers have masked the seams, composite areas, and antennas to spray on stripper to remove the paint from the aircraft. Concurrent Technologies is developing a robotic laser coating removal system capable of removing coatings from U.S. Air Force aircraft.