The amount of capital equipment that is required for modern composite airframe production is untenable for future aircraft programs.
Electroimpact AFP offers a pathway to getting 4-8x the throughput with the same capital investment used in past programs. Primarily this is done by taking actions and developing technology that will drastically increase the utilization of our AFP equipment. It does this by:
Quality: Near perfect quality. The laminations produced on Electroimpact AFP systems will pass current quality standards 99+% without any manual intervention.
Reliability: Less than one process error per maintenance interval. A single maintenance interval on average contains about 10,000-14,000 tows on a 16 lane AFP head. MSBF > 10,000.
Performance: Actual lamination time reductions by a factor of 2. Initial add at 4,000"/min, re-feed at 3,000”/min, traverse 4,000"/min, cut 3,000"/min on a 16 lane AFP head.
Utilization: Listed last, but by far the most important contributor to production gains. We are able to demonstrate utilization gains of 3x – 6x depending on the part type.
Process head improvements include VSSL, ServoCreel and RUC as seen in the following video enhance quality, reliability and performance
Planned Maintenance replaces the reactive maintenance of past systems greatly increasing both quality and reliability
Automatic and nearly instantaneous auto inspection helps us make fantastic gains in Utilization and over all cell productivity
Four high-rail gantry machine cells for laying up 1300+ pound in-situ wing spars of over 100 feet in length. Cells 3 and 4 were the first production implementation of the ½” ServoCreel AFP head. A robotic head-change system presents empty heads to an operator at a maintenance station, providing ergonomic access for cleaning and reloading, and without disrupting production.
Four high-rail gantry machine cells for laying up wing skins weighing over 5000 pounds. Each cell has a pair of OH20 (1.5" material, 20 lane) heads; cells 3 and 4 were the first production implementation of the 1.5" ServoCreel AFP head. An ECF head is shared between the cells, automating the disposition of expanded copper foil for lightning strike protection. A pendulum head-change system allows for offline cleaning and reloading without disrupting production.
EI Accurate Robot motion platform with 12m X-axis.
Integrated multi machine production system for high part count production. System consists of two AFP gantries sharing the same bridge beam, with a shared head service area that is accessible by both machines and the head service robot. Machines are 0.5g capable motion platforms. System uses eight tow AFP heads for laying up inside of concave tools. System has four separate X axis pallets that allow for offline tool loading and unloading along with laser projection for manual inspection and repair operations. Each sled has an RFID reader for detecting what tool is loaded on the sled. This allows the machine to automatically load the correct programs and transform for that tool.
System includes four AFP heads, and a touch probe head. All heads are shared between the two gantry machines. The service robot moves heads into and out of the cell for machine use. The service robot also positions the head for ideal manual access in order to preform offline material loading and head service functions.
The system has a 7th axis (C') to supplement the more conventional six axes (X, Y, Z, A, B, C) to access the complex curvature in the nose cone area. The machine is equipped with a Q16 head (1/4" x 16 tows) for all of the fairing and adapter parts. The machine is also equipped with an ATL head for production flat charges.
This project included an Electroimpact Accurate Robot motion platform with 15m X-axis travel.
For rotary components, the cell included a horizontal rotator for tools up to 9t and 4.6m diameter and a vertical turntable for parts up to 25t and 4.2m diameter.
A layup table facilitates material trials and machine calibration activities alongside any flat layup activity.
The cell operates as a flexible composite deposition environment accommodating a range of material types and formats to support R&D and preproduction activities.
Ancillary equipment: Horizontal rotator (15k lbs, 10ft diam. Parts)
The cell operates as a flexible composite deposition environment to support R&D of new manufacturing processes, composite heating technologies, and composite part build methodologies.
EI Accurate Robot motion platform with 30m X-axis. Originally built for rocket part production, now primarily used for R&D and single build, demonstrator parts.
EI Accurate Robot motion platform with 12m X-axis. Dual zone operation with small round parts and larger fixed parts on one side, integrated vacuum table on other side.
Dual EI Accurate Robot motion platforms with 18m X-axes. Each robot is paired with a large vacuum table for layup of preform flat charges. Each vacuum table is fitted with a 4 axis ultrasonic cutting gantry for part trimming.
High rail 7 axis gantry with linear motors on all linear axes, 27m X travel. The gantry is paired with a medium capacity rotator with removable tail stock to retain full cell utilization. Laser projection is integrated into the machine platform.
Two fuselage lamination cells, each with a pair of giant 6-axis post machines concurrently laminating on a high-performance rotator. These machines lay 1/2" and 1/4" prepreg
A 7-axis, high-rail gantry machine with an infinite C-prime axis, for a Boeing R&D cell.
Four lamination cells each with a 6-Axis vertical ram style gantry machines with an unlimited C-axis. Each system is provided with two modular 16-lane 1/2" heads (H16) for laying up prepreg material. Laser projection is integrated into the machine cell foundation.
2 Electroimpact accurate robots, 3 high capacity rotator stations, 2 x 1/2" heads, 1 x 1/4" head and 2 inspection platforms.
Contact Electroimpact for more information: Sales@electroimpact.com