Patent ID: 7396414

Claim:
A coating apparatus for coating a part, said apparatus comprising: a part support; a laser generator; a laser receiver, said laser generator and said laser receiver configured to project a laser beam from the laser generator at a section of the part supported by the part support and to the laser receiver such that portions of the laser beam are blocked by the section of the part and portions of the laser beam are not blocked by the section of the part, said part support positioned between said laser generator and said laser receiver; at least one sprayer configured to apply an initial amount of atomized coating to the part and to apply a further amount of atomized coating to the section of the part; at least one processor; and at least one memory device storing a plurality of instructions, which are executable by the at least one processor, such that the at least one processor is programmed to determine said initial amount of atomized coating based on: (a) an initial measurement of a dimension of the section of the part taken before said initial amount of atomized coating has been applied to said part, and (b) a desired dimension of the section of the part, and to determine said further amount of atomized coating based on: (i) the desired dimension of the section of the part, and (ii) a further measurement of the dimension of the section of the part having the applied initial amount of atomized coating and determined by portions of the laser beam not blocked by the section of the part.