Computer-aided process planning

Dunlop Aviation Braking Systems Division is using HMS-CAPP (computer-aided process planning) as it moves towards a paperless factory. A wheel is machined at the company's manufacturing facility in Coventry, UK.

The Braking Systems Division of Dunlop Aviation in Coventry, UK, is involved with "almost everything between the tarmac runway and the aircraft undercarriage," supplying brake systems for commercial aircraft, including regional and business types, plus military and niche applications. Components, subassemblies, and systems used by the company include the tire (Dunlop Aviation does not manufacture tires), wheel, hub, brake rotors and stators, brake calipers, speed transducers, hydraulic control circuits, and the electronic systems associated with anti-skid capability. When the Braking Systems Division decided to introduce a new computer-aided process planning (CAPP) capability as a step toward a "paperless factory," the system had to be sufficiently comprehensive to embrace the needs of precision manufacturing, fabrication, and assembly, and be able to cope with the specialist needs of the company's carbon workshop, which produces carbon-carbon brake rotors and stators. An added complexity was a need to integrate the new CAPP software with the existing SAP business system and with new tool management, document management, and CAD systems that were to be implemented at the same time. It also had to be capable of reading legacy data and be suitable for use on the company's existing PCs and workstations. Dunlop Aviation required retention of its unique system of machine identification codes together with incorporation of test-piece specification.

HMS Software's HMS-CAPP with an Oracle database has been installed with sufficient flexibility to allow Dunlop Aviation to configure the user interface to meet its specific needs. Other specific requirements have also been configured into the software. If a manufacturing engineer starts work on a process layout for a new project, a screen is presented, leading the user through a question-and-answer format dealing with material, form, size, and pretreatment. The software then automatically creates a 12-digit code that is incorporated within the layout. A test-piece specification is included within the layout, relating to components that have to undergo any type of treatment, including anodizing. This process ensures that a test piece is prepared from the same batch of material as the part. The system is also capable of producing "sealed" layouts that can be changed only by designated personnel.

At present, the HMS-CAPP system is being used mainly by Dunlop Aviation's production engineering department, but authorized users elsewhere in the factory can also log on and use system PCs and workstations. Team leaders can benefit from viewing layouts to check the progress of a new project or to see the layout for an order without having to track down a hard copy. It is possible to exchange data between process planning and other critical applications.

However, broadening the capability of the company's manufacturing engineers is the most important improvement brought about by the new system, says the company. They can add graphics to help explain a layout or video clips to help with machine operator or technician training.

The next stage at the Braking Systems Division will be to provide total integration between the CAPP system and Dunlop Aviation's document management, CAD, IT, and SAP systems. Looking further ahead, Dunlop Aviation plans to move even closer to a paperless factory. The process layout screens of the CAPP system will have direct access (hyperlinks) to drawings from the company's Unigraphics CAD system with a further link to the iMAN document management system. When the CAPP system is linked to the SAP resource planning system, routing will effectively be an automated operation.

Feature-based CAD models will be available for automatically generating "at least part" of the process layout. The features-based CAD model for a particular part could hold data relating to a block of material, the nature of which has been specified so that the CAM software can function. In addition, it could contain information on a series of holed and milled or turned features. The intention is to use this information as the starting point for the process layout. Because many new parts are similar to existing ones, the use of a knowledge-based approach could save a significant amount of time and improve the consistency of designs instead of relying on the skill and experience of manufacturing engineers.

- Stuart Birch

Avidyne improves pilot awareness with FlightMax

Avidyne recently introduced its new large-screen FlightMax EX5000 flight situation display for business and general aviation aircraft.

To improve situational awareness in the cockpit, avionics systems must be capable of showing pilots what they cannot see. Avidyne attempts to do so on two fronts: increasing display resolution and improving communications throughput with the addition of a data link system to its FlightMax flight situation displays.

Avidyne recently introduced a new large-screen FlightMax EX5000 flight situation display for business and general aviation aircraft. Available in both vertical and horizontal display formats, the system allows the pilot to overlay important navigation data—such as the active flight-plan route, airways, navaids, off-route waypoints, political boundaries, obstacles, and special-use airspace—over a high-resolution, color-contoured terrain- and water-base map. The display's terrain and obstacle clearance scale provides the pilot with the minimum safe altitude for the area displayed. It can be interfaced with Goodrich's WX-500 Stormscope lightning sensor and Skywatch Traffic Awareness System. The FlightMax EX5000 also takes advantage of the ARINC 429/GAMA graphics bus capability of some IFR GPS systems by displaying all segments of a GPS instrument approach, including holds, DME arcs, and procedure turns.

Available in both vertical and horizontal display formats, the system allows the pilot to overlay important navigation data—such as the active flight-plan route, airways, navaids, off-route waypoints, political boundaries, obstacles, and special-use airspace—over a high-resolution, color-contoured terrain- and water-base map.

The EX5000 features a large-format, 10.4-in., diagonal active-matrix liquid-crystal display with a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels—over six times that of a standard 5-in. diagonal LCD display. The display's compact design (3.7 in. behind the panel) allows for easy installation in many aircraft.

Avidyne also has recently announced its new FlightMax DX50 data link system, which is capable of delivering weather data to FlightMax displays via a low-Earth orbit satellite network. Available for business and general aviation aircraft, the data link system delivers strategic weather information and data to the cockpit using a bidirectional request/reply system through the ORBCOMM system for display on the full range of FlightMax displays. The system's data services include NEXRAD radar images, METAR, and TAF information, providing airport precipitation, temperature, dew point, pressure, winds, visibility, and ceilings.

The data link capability provides pilots with the strategic weather data needed for long-range planning and complements the tactical capabilities of airborne weather radar and lightning sensor information. By looking at weather trends hundreds of miles ahead, pilots can make deviation decisions earlier, resulting in a safer and more efficient flight.

- Frank Bokulich