PurposeDescribes the application of standard industrial robots to the assembly and riveting of aerostructure sub‐assemblies.Design/methodology/approachDescribes the design and operation of special purpose end‐effectors for assembly and solid riveting and their integration in an aerostructure sub‐assembly fabrication cell. The robots are controlled by a novel control system which allows the cell to compensate for distortion and misalignment of the components.FindingsDemonstrates that with advanced control standard industrial robots can be used to assemble aerostructure sub‐assemblies.Originality/valueIntroduces techniques for compensating for the inherent distortion that occurs in airframe components during manufacture. This is an enabling technology that will significantly increase the number of possible applications for robots in the assembly of aerostructures.
The aircraft manufacturing industry is continually seeking new techniques for the automation of manufacturing and assembly tasks. The application of automation is limited by the size and compliance of the structures, the low manufacturing volumes and the inherent dimensional variability between assemblies. In addition, a further requirement is to reduce the reliance on complex fixturing systems through the adoption of techniques enabling a ‘jigless assembly’ philosophy. The University of Nottingham recently completed a study as part of the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)-funded Jigless Aerospace Manufacturing (JAM) Project into the use of the TI2 system to meet the objectives outlined above. The paper presents the practical work completed and the results obtained from the machining of a double curvature aircraft panel.
Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to describe a novel error-ranking methodology and two compensation strategies for hybrid parallel kinematic machines (HPKMs). Design/methodology/approach -The paper outlines an error analysis methodology developed for HPKMs and applies the technique to a typical industrial HPKM. Based on the results of this, two compensation strategies are developed and implemented, for both mass-induced and thermal errors. Findings -The paper demonstrates and quantifies the performance improvements possible with appropriate error compensation strategies. Originality/value -The paper introduces a novel and generic methodology for error source analysis and describes two fully implemented compensation strategies which result in a significantly improved level of system performance.
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