#	Pagina
attuale pagina	/open-h2020/projects/208048/results.html

Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SMART-LAYUP (Development of innovative automated fibre placement machine for composite fuselage manufacturing with high performance hybrid materials)

Teaser

Summary

SMART-LAYUP project aims to contribute to develop and validate an advanced process of hybrid materials automated lay-up for manufacturing of regional aircraft composite fuselage which allows a significant reduction of the overall production costs and manufacturing flow.
After a developmental phase to be performed at MTORRES site, the innovative process and related machine will be validated and costs assessed through the execution of dedicated lay-up tests and fabrication of fuselage demonstrators at Topic Manager plant.

The importance for the society is the ability of this type of process to create more lightweight aircraft which allow less fuel consumption and less CO2 generation.

Work performed

Starting from these premises, one of the first decisions to be taken in the call project was to choose the laying technology and the machine configuration. Taking into account the requirement for the ability to lay complex parts (a one-piece barrel and fuselage panels), as well as productivity and preparation rates and also after software layup simulations, the head configuration chosen was an AFP 8 x Â¼â€ width tows. Regarding current AFP head ability to lay-up viscoelastic material, it was assumed that a new design development must be carried out so the first stages of the project were dedicated to the analysis of necessary modifications both in the design of the head and in the laying process trying to find suitable solutions.

After the first contact with the viscoelastic material manufacturer, it is reported that due to the characteristics of the material it is impossible to slit it into tows, being that necessary to be able to be laid in AFP head. Therefore, minimum width size must be 300mm and, consequently, it was necessary to rethink the initial strategy and assume that the automatic lay-up of the viscoelastic material must be carried out with alternatives technologies, such as ATL or others.

At this point the project got divided into two lines working in parallel, on one hand the investigation and development of the machine platform and the AFP head, as well as the auxiliary elements for the manufacturing process of the parts, agreed with Topic Manager, and second, a development project for the viscoelastic material automatic tape laying (ATL).

With regard to the support structure, the machine had to have the ability to lay female moulds, flat panels and barrel parts, and also fit in the customer facilities. As the machine was also part of a research project, it was assumed that the platform should be flexible to adapt to different moulds, strokes and head configurations A robotic CNC controlled Kuka robotic platform was the chosen solution to meet all the requirements, but there were some new developments to be done such as an external 6 axis robot, to accomplish with the dynamic requirements, an electrical connection system to reach the needed machine strokes, an automatic head change system. Also, even though a robotic platform is not as accurate and rigid as a gantry or column type machine, it can be upgraded through a positioning compensation software which had to be developed and tested during the project. The scope of the project included auxiliary equipmentâ€™s such an ultrasonic trimming system able to cut bevel angles, and also a probe system to self-check the machine positioning.

Regarding the moulds management, a new head and tail stand was designed, with the ability to place the mould in the floor trough a movable platform. The machine was also equipped with a test plate for layup calibration and laying tests.

As the automatic tape laying of the viscoelastic material is pending of further research, in the meantime it will be placed by hand so the project continues its development according to the planning, carrying on with the assembly and startup of the machine in MTorres facilities, in preparation for the pre-acceptance tests (PAT) with customer, which took place in April 2018. Those trials consisted of an accuracy and positioning repeatability, as well as the manufacturing of flat and curved laminates, stringers and contours trimming.

Considering the positive results of all the tests, the MTorres AFP machine was pre-accepted by Topic Manager and authorized to the shipment to its plant.

The system has been installed at Topic Manager plant and acceptance tests have been passed.

Now the project is in the work of two lines, one is to help the Topic Manager to lay up the panels for the first demonstrator and another is to carry out mechanical tests for characterization of the material with the process

Regarding the line of work of ATL Viscoelastic material layup, the design and implementation

Final results

The progress beyond the state of the art is the ability to obtain hybrid Structures lied up in an automatic way which will allow the higher competitiveness of the European aircraft Manufacturer, as well as MTORRES as supplier of this type of solutions.