Mobile, Modular and Adaptive Assembly Jigs for Large-Scale Products

Abstract

The assembly of products is often supported by jigs. Especially for large dimensional products, jigs and fixtures are used to align the components and ensure the stability of the assembly until all parts are firmly mounted. This paper describes the development of mobile, modular and adaptive assembly jigs, which are designed to support ergonomic working in the production of high-lift systems for civil aircrafts. The jig supports the workers to adapt the position and orientation of the product to the current assembly operation. The fundamentals of the development are explained and the features of a concept, called assembly wheel, are presented. The assembly wheel consists of two or more robot arms on a circular seventh axis. The robot arms hold and position the components to be assembled so that all joining spots are freely accessible to the worker. The ergonomic benefits of the concept were examined in a study using a 3D model of the jig. A demonstrator on a scale of 1:2 was set up, with which real experiments with an adaptive jig can be conducted for evaluation.