Abstract
AbstractRobotic drilling systems have been used in the manufacture of large aerospace components for a number of years. Systems have been developed by several systems integrators in order to accurately drill materials from CFRP to Titanium. These systems, however, have been unable to achieve large diameter holes in Titanium due to reduced structural stiffness and end effector capabilities. Typically, large holes are either drilled using large cartesian CNC-controlled machines or drilled using automated drilling units (ADU). However, there is a pull from aerospace OEMS to move away from large monolithic machines, in favour of flexible robotic system. Flexible robotic systems provide a number of benefits for large structure assembly. The following report primarily outlines drilling trials conducted on the Accurate Robotic Machining System, during which holes from 25 mm to 32 mm ID were drilled in titanium implementing an empirical test schedule. Additionally, a discussion on the benefits of drilling large diameter holes using flexible robotic platforms.
Highlights
Robotic drilling systems have been used in the manufacture of aerospace components for a number of years
Aerospace production holes drilled through Aluminium with robotic drilling systems currently don’t typically exceed 5/8th (15.88 mm)
To achieve the hole quality demanded by the aerospace industry, it has been typical that all ‘large diameter’ holes are either drilled using CNC-controlled machines, expensive bespoke Cartesian drilling machines or drilled manually using automated drilling units (ADUs)
Summary
Robotic drilling systems have been used in the manufacture of aerospace components for a number of years. There have been systems developed to accurately drill materials such as Aluminium, CFRP and Titanium. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the largest hole drilled by a robotic drilling system in titanium was 1.0 (25.4 mm) in diameter, this was carried out under research conditions. Aerospace production holes drilled through Aluminium with robotic drilling systems currently don’t typically exceed 5/8th (15.88 mm). To achieve the hole quality demanded by the aerospace industry, it has been typical that all ‘large diameter’ holes are either drilled using CNC-controlled machines, expensive bespoke Cartesian drilling machines or drilled manually using automated drilling units (ADUs). There are huge benefits to using a robotic drilling system over a typical machining centre. This, in most cases, can be an automated process requiring no human interaction
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