On the considerations for the design of an automated aircraft sheet metal component production loft generation system

Abstract

In this paper an ambitious production loft generation system (PLGS) is created to incorporate innovative and unique features of aircraft sheet metal component (SMC) lofts meeting the stringent standards of aircraft industry owing to non-availability of suitable public domain software. This system is fully tested and validated with the support of the aircraft industry. It provides for automated blank layout generation based on surface models utilizing some unique algorithms and vector logics created through research and development over a period of 15 years taking into account the material properties, flow direction and plasticity and strives to eliminate post forming trimming operations by utilizing the databases of the aircraft industry. For the first time such a custom built system is created, which incorporates industrial process data and provides a host of processing options, together with various design cum production features like mould lines, joggles, bend relief, tooling holes, pilot holes, cut outs, chamfers/fillets, inspection angles etc. and displays features needed for quality assurance as essential ingredients. It has inbuilt, intelligent, high efficiency processing features such as the utilization of symmetry facilitating fractional processing of the SMC. This paper includes a brief account of various issues related to the chronology of design of the systems, implementation of the design options, intricacies of methods deployed, their efficacy and combinatorial suitability. Crucial ground breaking new algorithms relevant to the production features are also elucidated in this paper.