Adjustable Drilling Spindles for Aircraft Nacelle Plates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing drilling technologies for acoustic protection plates in aircraft engine nacelles face inefficiencies due to the need for precise orientation of drill spindles on complex surfaces, leading to increased cycle time, potential damage to honeycomb structures, and complexity in automating the drilling process.
Innovation Solution
A drilling device with a tool-holder plate featuring rotary drilling spindles oriented parallel to a mean drilling direction, equipped with continuous positioning linear actuators for individual spindle displacement, allowing for precise axial positioning and orientation of drills to match the curvature of the plate surface, enabling efficient drilling of complex shapes without excessive drill length or multiple tool-holder plates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If drill spindles are fixed and immobile on the tool holder plate with ends in the same plane, then the tool structure is simple, but on complex surfaces some drills cannot be perpendicular to the plate surface leading to poor drilling quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the drill spindles adjustable rather than fixed. Each spindle can be individually positioned and oriented to match the local surface curvature, allowing the tool to adapt dynamically to complex plate geometries while maintaining drilling perpendicularity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements local quality by allowing each drill spindle to have independent positioning and orientation capabilities. This enables different parts of the tool holder plate to have different spindle configurations tailored to the local surface characteristics, ensuring optimal drilling quality across the entire complex surface.
2Manufacturing precision
If drills of increased length are used to pierce through the plate despite surface curvature disparities, then through holes can be achieved, but the drilling cycle time is considerably lengthened due to increased stroke amplitude
Solution Approach 1:
The patent reduces drilling cycle time by making the drill spindle positions and orientations adjustable to match the local surface curvature. This eliminates the need for excessive drill length and large stroke amplitudes, as each spindle can be optimally positioned for its specific drilling location, thereby reducing the required stroke while still achieving complete penetration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameters of drill spindle position and orientation to adapt to the surface curvature. By adjusting these parameters, the system achieves effective through-hole drilling with reduced stroke amplitude and shorter drill lengths, thereby reducing the drilling cycle time.
3Manufacturing precision
If drills of increased length are used to account for surface curvature, then through holes can be made, but excessive holes penetrate into honeycomb layers at inclined directions damaging the structure and reducing sound absorption performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent prevents honeycomb structure damage by enabling local adjustment of each drill spindle's position and orientation. This ensures that drills engage the surface perpendicularly at each specific location, preventing inclined drilling that would damage the honeycomb core structure and compromise sound absorption performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses dynamic adjustment of spindle orientations to match local surface normals. This prevents excessive or inclined drilling into the honeycomb layers by adapting each drill's approach angle to the local geometry, thereby protecting the delicate honeycomb structure from damage.
4Manufacturing precision
If a multitude of tool-holder plates with different concave and convex curvatures are used to match local plate curvature, then drilling quality can be maintained, but the tooling cost considerably increases and plate changes during drilling cycle are required lengthening the process
Solution Approach 1:
The patent achieves universality by creating a single multi-functional tool holder plate capable of accommodating various drilling configurations. Through adjustable spindle positions and orientations, one tool holder plate can handle multiple plate curvatures and geometries, eliminating the need for multiple specialized tool holder plates and reducing tooling complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the static approach of using multiple fixed-curvature tool holder plates with a dynamic system where spindles can be adjusted to match various surface geometries. This dynamic adaptability allows a single tool holder plate to perform the function of multiple plates, simplifying the tooling system.
5Productivity
If drill spindles are individually positionable to match surface curvature, then drilling time is reduced and honeycomb structure is protected, but the device complexity increases due to continuous positioning linear actuators
Solution Approach 1:
The patent accepts the necessary device complexity of individual actuator systems for each drill spindle as the price for achieving dynamic adaptability. This dynamic positioning capability enables rapid adjustment to match surface curvature, significantly improving drilling speed and productivity while protecting the honeycomb structure, thus justifying the increased complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution reduces drilling time, minimizes damage to honeycomb structures, and simplifies the automation of drilling on complex surfaces by allowing drills of reduced length to penetrate uniformly, while ensuring precise axial positioning and efficient use of drill bits, thereby enhancing sound absorption performance and production efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
the driven means of individual movement comprise continuous positioning linear actuators
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
The device (1) has a tool holder plate (2) that is arranged with a set of rotary drilling spindles (3a2-3d2) that is arranged with a set of drills (4a2-4d2) that is directed according to a set of drilling directions that is arranged parallel to average drilling directions (M-M). A set of controlled individual displacement units e.g. electric jacks, is displaced with regard to the tool holder plate of each of the set of rotary drilling spindles according to the set of drilling directions. The displacement units are arranged with continuous positioning linear actuators. An independent claim is also included for a method for drilling plate.