HYTRI drilling and fettling machine for A400M now in full operation

Citation

(2007), "HYTRI drilling and fettling machine for A400M now in full operation", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 79 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2007.12779eab.008

HYTRI drilling and fettling machine for A400M now in full operation

HYTRI drilling and fettling machine for A400M now in full operation

A new special purpose machine for manufacturing major parts of the A400M military transport aircraft (Figure 9) has been successfully installed by its maker HYTRI for its customer, Airbus. Commissioning has been completed and the machine is now in full-scale operation at the Airbus wing manufacturing plant in Filton, Bristol, UK.

Figure 9 A new special purpose machine for manufacturing major parts of the A400M military transport aircraft has been successfully installed by its maker AMTRI for Airbus UK

Supplied as part of a comprehensive turnkey contract through HYTRI the sophisticated 5 + 2-axis CNC machine (Figure 10) automatically drills and fettles leading and trailing edge assemblies for the wings of the new A400M which is due to make its first flight in 2008. The contract to supply the complete system including the machine was awarded by the customer in 2005.

Figure 10 Close-up picture shows the automatic tool changer of the 5 + 2-axis CNC machine made by AMTRI for Airbus UK; it incorporates a tool run-out measurement station and storage for 45 tools

HYTRI is a joint venture between production engineering specialists AMTRI and one of the world's largest, privately owned aerospace tooling design and manufacturing enterprise, Hyde Group Ltd working closely with the tooling supplier Hyde Group, AMTRI designed, developed, and manufactured the sophisticated special purpose machine.

The machine employs a number of clever design innovations to minimise set-up times, and position features with high precision on very large workpieces.

Notable features include a post-out beam arrangement that has been incorporated to enable two-sided operation of the machine. The whole machine is mounted on a bogie that travels along a 60m rail track, enabling an entire wing-set of spar assemblies to be machined in a single cost-saving set-up.

Further, in each and every working zone, special transformation algorithms devised by AMTRI are used to reference automatically the coordinate frame of the machine to that of the components. This feature combined with the implementation of comprehensive error compensation ensures high precision is maintained over the full working volume of the machine.

High precision is maintained throughout the whole working volume of the machine: this is achieved by probing known reference points on the jigs on arrival at each new zone so that the machine coordinates can be transformed to those of the local workpiece coordinates.

This feature reduces the problem of maintaining “global” accuracy to one of “local” proportions, and avoids the need to maintain high accuracy along the full 60m length of travel of the machine. Coordinate frame manipulation and the integration of feature-based navigation were techniques developed and perfected during the DARWIN (Drilling Automation Research for WINg manufacture) research project, and use the full capability of the Siemens 840D controller.

In addition, comprehensive real-time software compensation both for positioning (linear) and geometric (straightness and angular) errors is implemented in the machine control system. The error matrix required to implement this system was generated by on-site measurement of the machine's motion using a high precision Leica laser tracking system.

Graham Wood, Head of A400M Manufacturing Engineering for the A400M Outer Wing at Airbus, said: “The integrated jig and machine facility represents a critical production system for the A400M Wing Assembly. The machine is performing well in production with hole drilling performance and quality very good across a number of varied and demanding applications. The fettling process is also performing to the required specification.”

Philip Sholl, Managing Director of AMTRI, said: “Many of the features in the HYTRI machine have been made possible as a direct result of the technologies developed in the DARWIN and AWBA research projects, where AMTRI was a key participant in both projects.”

The DARWIN was a £1 million collaborative project, part-sponsored by the DTI, involving AMTRI, The Hyde Group and Airbus UK. In DARWIN AMTRI helped lead the design of a new generation of automated wing assembly systems for Airbus UK.

The two-phase AWBA (Automated Wing Box Assembly) project, led by Airbus, was part-funded by the DTI and comprised consortiums, including the Hyde Group in Phase 1, and AMTRI as a key partner in Phase 2, researching and developing advanced technologies for automatic wing box assembly for large aircraft.

Based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, AMTRI supplies technical consultancy services to the manufacturing sector in the UK and clients around the world. Its aim is to help clients improve productivity and efficiency and therefore save time and costs by providing technical solutions to production engineering problems across all sectors, mostly in aerospace, automotive, metals and food processing industries.

Most of AMTRI's work comprises conceiving, planning, designing, developing, building, commissioning and installing cost-effective, and often highly innovative, bespoke, special purpose machinery and automation systems. These may be turnkey systems for production, inspection or test, technology demonstrators or prototypes.

Its income is either fee-based or through collaborative research assistance from, respectively, private sector clients, or UK Government departments and the European Commission. AMTRI is also a value- added reseller, working with IT suppliers of digital factory simulation and other systems.

Details available from: AMTRI, Tel: +44 (0)1625 425421, Fax: +44 (0)1625 412540, E-mail: hardwick@amtri.co.uk, Web site: www.amtri.co.uk