Aircraft Wing Build Philosophy Change through System Pre-Equipping of Major Components

Judt, David M.; Forster, Kevin; Lockett, Helen; Lawson, Craig; Webb, Philip

doi:10.4271/2016-01-2120

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…In an assembly line, the relationship between physical and functional integration is far more complicated than a serial sequence of physical structure followed by functional systems. There are actually certain system pre-equipping works included in the structural assembly stage for technical and operational reasons [33,34]. The "first structure then system" image is mostly based on experience of certain previous aircraft (2019) 000-000 3 projects from a very high-level view, which only presents part of the assembly process.…”

Section: Characteristics Of Aircraft Systems Integration In Assembly Linementioning

confidence: 99%

Using requirement-functional-logical-physical models to support early assembly process planning for complex aircraft systems integration

Lockett

Lawson

2020

Journal of Manufacturing Systems

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The assembly line process planning connects product design and manufacturing through translating design information to assembly integration sequence. The assembly integration sequence defines the aircraft system components installation and test precedence of an assembly process. This activity is part of the complex systems integration and verification process from a systems engineering view. In this paper, the complexity of modern aircraft is defined by classifying aircraft system interactions in terms of energy flow, information data, control signals and physical connections. At the early conceptual design phase of assembly line planning, the priority task is to understand these product complexities, and generate the installation and test sequence that satisfies the designed system function and meet design requirements. This research proposes a novel method for initial assembly process planning that accounts for both physical and functional integrations. The method defines aircraft system interactions by using systems engineering concepts based on traceable RFLP (Requirement, Functional, Logical and Physical) models and generate the assembly integration sequence through a structured approach. The proposed method is implemented in an industrial software environment, and tested in a case study. The result shows the feasibility and potential benefits of the proposed method.

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Section: Characteristics Of Aircraft Systems Integration In Assembly Linementioning

confidence: 99%

Using requirement-functional-logical-physical models to support early assembly process planning for complex aircraft systems integration

Lockett

Lawson

2020

Journal of Manufacturing Systems

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“…Previous work [13] has identified that there is potential to manufacture future wing systems using a pre-equipping assembly philosophy. In this case, systems are installed on the front spar structure of the wing before the wing spar is assembled into the wing box.…”

Section: Experimental Methods 21 Hypothesis and Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…11,12 In comparison, automation of systems assembly tasks is more difficult due to their complexity, varying access conditions and part handling. A proposal to increase production rate in the near term and enable automation in the far term pre-equips the major structural components with systems components before the wing-box is completed, 13 mimicking common practice in the automotive and other industries. 14,15 Such a change provides additional freedom to organize the pre-equipping station and position the structural components.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental investigation into aircraft system manual assembly performance under varying structural component orientations

Judt

Lawson

Lockett

2019

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B:

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Installation of aircraft wing systems is a bottleneck in the assembly process. This phase is typically composed of many work packages, taking hundreds of man-hours per wing. In addition to this volume of work, tasks are specialized and completed in a difficult environment in terms of access and visibility. In current industrial practice, the wing is mounted horizontally on a transport trolley, which exposes the workforce to prolonged periods of overhead working. Future wing designs may consider a pre-equipping build philosophy, where systems are installed to major structure assemblies before the wing box is assembled. This allows for a change in the orientation and position of the major structure and provides new freedoms in assembly station design and layout. This research presents results of experiments to investigate manual assembly performance of aircraft wing systems, under varying wing structure orientation. A mock-up of a section of an A320 aircraft wing front spar, mounted on a rotation device, functions as the testbed. Manual installation activities are then conducted to emulate real aircraft system equipping for electric harnesses, raceways and hot air ducts. The results show a best-case assembly performance change of 36% for electric system installation activities of cable harnesses and raceway housing components. Tilted and horizontal orientations of the structure show the highest time reductions, with the vertical orientation either non-conclusive or increasing the assembly time. The outcomes of this study are intended to aid in effective trade-off decision making for future wing systems and assembly station layouts from the perspective of structural orientation and assembly task interaction.

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The Design and Development Process

2019

Design and Development of Aircraft Systems

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Aircraft Wing Build Philosophy Change through System Pre-Equipping of Major Components

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Cited by 3 publications

References 8 publications

Using requirement-functional-logical-physical models to support early assembly process planning for complex aircraft systems integration

Using requirement-functional-logical-physical models to support early assembly process planning for complex aircraft systems integration

Experimental investigation into aircraft system manual assembly performance under varying structural component orientations

The Design and Development Process

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