Spray-painting system with automatic color calibration

Abstract

An automatic system for the spray painting of color images in which accurate color reproduction is achieved by a separate look-up table generated for each jet and stored in the computer memory. During the reproduction of an image, the computer uses the look-up tables to determine the pulse width of an air modulation stream to reproduce the precise color density called for by the input data. Because slight variations in the characteristics of two jets spraying the same color would produce objectionable lining in the image, a separate look-up table is provided for each jet. A color test image is generated for a selected jet by successively varying the width of the pulse modulation from the minimum to the maximum. For example, while the jet is making a single scan across the medium, the pulse width modulation of the air stream is varied in 256 separate steps to produce a test image that varies from the lightest to the darkest density of the particular color being sprayed. This pattern is scanned by a densitometer that delivers its output to the computer. The position of the densitometer along the color test image is correlated with the modulation pulse width that produced that particular color density and this information is stored in a look-up table for use during the generation of a reproduced image. A dark current is measured by the densitometer and subtracted from the calibration readings so that the calibration is independent of ambient illumination.