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A significant step is achieved on the flight control actuation system toward the more electrical aircraft through the Airbus A380, A400M and the A350 development phase ongoing. The A380/A400M/A350 features a mixed flight control actuation power source distribution, associating electrically powered actuators with conventional FlyByWire hydraulic servocontrols. In the scope of the preparation of the future Airbus Aircraft, this paper presents the perspectives of the use of the EMA technologies for the flight control systems in the more electrical aircraft highlighting the main technical challenges need to treat: jamming susceptibility, ?on board? maintenance reduction, Operational reliability increase, power electronics and power management optimization, and regarding the environmental constraints, the predicted performances; the benefits associated to the optimized utilization of on-board power sources.

Automated countersink measurement methods which require contact with the workpiece are susceptible to a loss of accuracy due to cutting debris and lube build-up. This paper demonstrates a non-contact method for countersink diameter measurement on CFRP which eliminates the need for periodic cleaning. Holes are scanned in process using a laser profilometer. Coordinates for points along the countersink edge are processed with a unique filtering algorithm providing a highly repeatable estimate for major and minor diameter.

Electroimpact's newest riveting machine features a track-style injector with Bomb Bay Ejection Doors. The Bomb Bay Ejection Doors are a robust way to eject fasteners from track style injector. Track style injectors are commonly used by Electroimpact and others in the industry. Using the Bomb Bay Doors for fastener ejection consists of opening the tracks allowing very solid clearing of an injector when ejecting a fastener translating to a more reliable fastener delivery system. Examples of when fastener ejection is needed are when a fastener is sent backwards, when there are two in the tube, or when a machine operator stops or resets the machine during a fastening cycle. This method allows fasteners to be cleared in nearly every situation when ejecting a fastener is required. Additional feature of Electroimpact's new injection system is integrated anvil tool change.

Traditionally, automated fiber placement (AFP) motion platforms use rack and pinion drive trains coupled through a gearbox to a rotary motor. Extensive use of non-contact linear motors on a new AFP motion platform produces a quiet, low-maintenance system without sacrificing precision. A high-rail gantry arrangement allows dynamic performance improvements to machine acceleration and speed, while lowering power consumption costs and capital expenses. The seventh axis incorporated into the machine arrangement effectively produces an effective “five sides of a cube” work envelope, permitting complex spar and panel fabrication.

Since Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) is used to manufacture twin-aisled commercial aircraft parts, extremely large envelope machines are often required and appropriate. Additionally, for very large parts, the average AFP course length may be on the order of one to two meters, and the part may have numerous contours. With courses of this length, a high acceleration machine is necessary to achieve fast laydown rates because the machine is frequently starting and stopping. Part contour also requires high acceleration machine axes to accurately maintain the AFP tow path at high feedrates. Large machines with high accelerations result in very large loads on bearings. Large loads and the long, high speed axis travels associated with large envelope machines make achieving a long service life difficult. Designing efficient, lightweight machine structures becomes critical to provide long machine service life.

In many existing AFP cells manual inspection of composite plies accounts for a large percentage of production time. Next generation AFP cells can require an even greater inspection burden. The industry is rapidly developing technologies to reduce inspection time and to replace manual inspection with automated solutions. Electroimpact is delivering a solution that integrates multiple technologies to combat inspection challenges. The approach integrates laser projectors, cameras, and laser profilometers in a comprehensive user interface that greatly reduces the burden on inspectors and decreases overall run time. This paper discusses the implementation of each technology and the user interface that ties the data together and presents it to the inspector.

The newest generation of automated fastening machines require a feed system that is smaller, more flexible, and faster than any currently available. The feed system must be compact enough to fit on a robot base, yet have a capacity large enough to support unmanned production for hours. A large variety of fasteners must be supported and the entire system must be reloaded or reconfigured in minutes to match the next work piece being assembled by the machine. When requested by the part program, the correct fastener must be released directly and immediately into the feed tube to minimize cycle time. This paper describes a new “plate cartridge” feed system developed to meet these needs.

Manufacturing C cross-sectional components with high aspect ratios out of carbon fiber reinforced composites is desirable by the aircraft industry. Modular AFP heads with short, fixed tow path have the fundamental performance characteristics required to successfully and productively automate the production of these part families. Aircraft parts in this family include wing spars, stringers, and fuselage frames.

Very large multi-axis CNC machines offer a special challenge for efficient and accurate machine compensation. Aerospace applications demand tight tolerances, but conventional compensation methods become expensive for large machines. Volumetric compensation offers an approach for reducing costs and improving accuracies. A unique control architecture enabled by volumetric compensation enables the use of a single part program by multiple machines. Combining multiple technologies (a proprietary volumetric compensation solver program, Spatial Analyzer, API's Active Target, a laser tracker and bespoke CNC-Tracker communication software for measurement triggering) significantly reduces machine compensation time. Available analysis tools also enable the engineer to evaluate measurement uncertainties and determine the best locations for additional stations as well as quantify the accuracy benefits such stations would offer.

Growing use of composite materials in aircraft wing construction requires a new generation of drilling machines. Electroimpact's new LTD drilling machine features a Bolt Injector with improvements for more streamlined operation and less operator intervention. The Bolt Injector “injects” or stages Single Sided Temporary Fasteners (SSTF). It features hands-free automated tool change between three different feed paths for a total of eight different fastener diameters being fed through one set of Bolt Injector hardware. This is accomplished with an indexing system for three feed tubes fed to the machine head, with each feed tube serving more than one diameter. Furthermore the LTD Bolt Injector checks fastener diameter at the machine head and also length in conjunction with Bolt Inserter servo axis. The bolt diameter is checked with an analog sensor attached to a gripping mechanism. The length check is accomplished with a “touch off” pad and the Inserter's servo motor encoder.

One of the largest advancements in the use of the Flextrack technology is the addition of automated fastener installation on the Multifunction Flextrack made by Electroimpact. The new Flextrack installs SSTF (Single Sided Temporary Fasteners) into the holes it drills without removing clamp-up force from the workpiece. This is the first Flextrack to drill and install fasteners and its functionality goes beyond even these functions. The fasteners, SSTF bolts, are increasingly replacing more cumbersome and manual tools for temporary fastening of aerospace components during assembly. They provide doweling, clamp-up, and feature a compact head to facilitate machine installation. The new Multifunction Flextrack carries the bolts on the machine head as opposed to being fed through a feed tube. A Bolt Cartridge System carries up to 80 bolts onboard the Flextrack and the Cartridges can be quick changed for use with several different diameters.

Incorporation of laser projectors in AFP machine cell controller reduces ply boundary inspection time, on-part course identification and part probing.

Flex Track Drilling systems are being used increasingly in aerospace applications providing low cost, highly efficient automated drilling systems. Certain applications like circumferential splice drilling on large size airplane fuselages require multi spindle flex track systems working in tandem to meet production efficiency requirements. This paper discusses the development of a multi spindle flex track drilling system for a circumferential splice drilling on the 777 airplane. The multi spindle system developed uses a variety of flex track carriages attached to the flexible vacuum tracks to allow for offset or wide inside drilling. Segmented machine programmes allow these multiple machines to be deployed on the same circumferential splice on the airplane providing the multi spindle system. Interfacing of the multiple spindles is achieved by a custom OEM interface using a single screen thereby ensuring simplicity of operation.

Single Sided Slave Fasteners (SSSF) or Single Sided Temporary Fasteners (SSTF) are increasingly replacing more cumbersome and manual tools for temporary doweling and clamping of aerospace components during assembly. Their ability to clamp provide doweling and clamping reduce the amount of tooling required. Due to their low profile and blind (one-sided) capability, the key benefit of this new technology is the ability to install these fasteners with automated machines. Electroimpact has developed machines to feed primarily SSTF bolts made application-specific by Centrix LLC [ 1 ]. The application discussed in this paper presented problems of confined spaces where a variety of fasteners were required to be fed automatically. To address this, Electroimpact developed new Bolt Injector and Bolt Inserter technology to feed multiple diameters of SSTF bolts in a very small package. Application-specific SSTF were designed such that multiple diameters could be fed through one feed tube.

Accurately measuring the length of a pintail type fastener is limited by the process of forming the fastener. When the pintail is formed its overall length is not dimensionally controlled. To accurately measure the grip of the bolt a vision system is utilized that finds the notch between the tail and bolt shank. The grip, diameter, and angle of the bolt prior to insertion are then measured. This method proves to be more accurate than measuring the bolt mechanically and provides a number of other advantages including; decreased measurement time, improved accuracy, FOD detection, and angle of the bolt in the fingers prior to insertion.

Boeing has relied upon the 767 ASAT (ASAT1) since 1983 to fasten the chords, stiffeners and rib posts to the web of the four 767 wing spars. The machine was originally commissioned with a Terra five axis CNC control. The Terra company went out of business and the controls were replaced with a custom DOS application in 1990. These are now hard to support so Boeing solicited proposals. Electroimpact proposed to retrofit with a Fanuc 31I CNC, and in addition, to replace all associated sensors, cables and feedback systems. This work is now complete on two of the four machines. Both left front and right front are in production with the new CNC control.

The use of two-piece temporary fasteners is not an option on some build methodologies, processes, or techniques because of limited accessibility. To solve this problem the use of Single Side Slave fasteners (SSSF) were used. With the development of the SSSF, new process tools also needed to be developed to automatically feed and install these fasteners. This paper will cover the development of the process tools used to feed and install SSSF. The tools were designed to automatically insert and torque 1/4\mi - 5/8\mi SSSFs. This paper will cover both the development of the Bolt injector and Bolt inserter.

Electroimpact has designed the E6000, the next generation riveting machine, with a focus on reduced weight and speed. It will initially be used on ARJ21 wing panels in Xi'an, China, but it is able to fasten a variety of panels including A320 and 737. The E6000's fastening cycle is capable of forming and shaving 16 rivets per minute. Head alignment is maintained by two independent four axis heads using a combination of controls and kinematics. Process tool speed has been improved via high lead screws, high speed Fanuc motors, and a shorter head stone drop. An innovative EI operator interface enhances end user experience.

Inspection of fasteners prior to installation is critical to the quality of aerospace parts. Fasteners must be inspected for length/grip and diameter at a minimum. Inspecting the fasteners mechanically just prior to insertion can cause additional cycle time loss if inspection cannot be performed at the same time as other operations. To decrease fastener inspection times and to ensure fastener cartridges contain the expected fastener a system was devised to measure the fastener as it travels down the fastener feed tube. This process could be adapted to inspection of fasteners being fed to the process head of a running machine eliminating the mechanical inspection requirement and thus decreasing cycle time.

A fully automated off-line cartridge filling station has been commissioned to support the new Boeing SAL production cell. The filing station uses automated fastener feed technology that is typically found on the machines themselves. Incorporating this technology off-line in place of the traditional manual handling processes extends the benefits of automation beyond the main manufacturing cell. A single operator is able to keep up with the demand of eight production fastening machines while maintaining the highest levels of accuracy and quality. Additional benefits to this application of automation include reduction of the operators exposure to risks associated with manual handling and repetitive tasks.