Descripción del proyecto
Un nuevo soldador para la línea de montaje de aeronaves en Europa
La unión de materiales híbridos termoplásticos (MHT) es un importante paso en la fabricación de estructuras aeroespaciales de MHT. La siguiente generación de aviones de pasajeros empleará abundantes MHT, que son más ligeros y pueden unirse por soldadura. Esto no solo evita el uso de fijaciones, sino que también mejora la fiabilidad y reduce los costes de montaje. Para aprovechar todo el potencial de los MHT en la aviación, el proyecto financiado con fondos europeos TCTOOL desarrollará nuevos efectores terminales para el montaje sin sujeciones de estructuras de fuselaje de MHT. Además, ideará nuevas herramientas adaptativas para soldar el revestimiento termoplástico del fuselaje a los largueros y los bastidores. El objetivo es conseguir un montaje sin defectos y rentable para las líneas de ensamblaje de aviones en Europa.
Objetivo
The next generation of large passenger aircraft will make extensive use of thermoplastic composites which could replace thermoset composites and metals in many areas of aircraft construction. Thermoplastic composites can be lighter in weight even than thermoset composites, but the key advantage is that they can be joined together using welding processes. This has the potential to eliminate many of the hundreds of thousands of fasteners in an aircraft, improving reliability and reducing assembly costs by over 60%.
To take full advantage of thermoplastic composites weldability will require the development of innovative new approaches to tooling and automation to eliminate or reduce fixed tooling costs which can account for more than one third of non-recurring costs.
This project will develop innovative new end-effectors for jigless assembly of thermoplastic composite fuselage structures and new adaptive tooling for the welding of thermoplastic fuselage skin to stringers and frames. This will allow highly automated assembly of these complex structures with tooling that can be re-configured digitally and re-used. The project will also deliver simulation tools and perform manufacturing simulations to quantify variations in assembly, risk of defects, and optimise the process to achieve cost-effective zero-defects assembly.
This €1050k project will be led by TWI a major industrial research organisation with world-leading expertise in composites joining and large equipment design, FADA-CATEC Center for Advanced Aerospace Technologies with expertise in robotic assembly and aerospace technology, London South Bank University – developers of innovative robotic and end-effector solutions, Brunel University – experts in thermoplastic composites welding and AcroFlight – experts in virtual engineering and simulation.
Ámbito científico
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcomposites
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringaircraft
- social sciencessociologyindustrial relationsautomation
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringrobotics
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwaresoftware applicationssimulation software
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
CS2-IA - Innovation actionCoordinador
CB21 6AL Cambridge
Reino Unido