Aircraft Structure Joining with CNC-Drilled Alignment Holes
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge in aircraft manufacturing lies in accurately joining structural components, particularly in areas like the fuselage and wing box cavity, where drilling is unstable, time-consuming, and generates foreign object debris, often resulting in oversize holes and ergonomic access issues due to the use of drill jigs on titanium structures.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that involve pre-drilling holes in structural components, measuring their locations and orientations, generating a program for a CNC machine to drill corresponding holes in a third structure, and aligning these holes for fastening, allowing for precise alignment and secure assembly without manual tool access issues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If drill jigs are used to drill primary structure joints on titanium structures, then hole location accuracy is improved, but drilling stability deteriorates resulting in large percentage of oversize holes
Solution Approach 1:
The drilling process is divided into two independent stages: first, pre-drilling holes in separate structural components using stable drilling platforms; second, assembling the components and drilling through-holes using a drill jig. This segmentation allows each drilling operation to be performed on a stable platform, eliminating the instability problem of drilling through assembled components.
Solution Approach 2:
Holes are pre-drilled in individual structural components before assembly. This preliminary action allows drilling to be performed on stable, isolated components rather than on unstable assembled structures, thereby improving drilling stability and reducing oversize holes while maintaining hole location accuracy through subsequent alignment procedures.
2Manufacturing precision
If drill jigs are used for drilling primary structure joints, then hole alignment is improved, but productivity deteriorates due to time-consuming process
Solution Approach 1:
The drilling operation is segmented into pre-drilling of individual components followed by assembly and through-hole drilling. This allows parallel processing of multiple components before assembly, reducing overall cycle time and improving productivity while maintaining alignment through the drill jig in the final assembly stage.
Solution Approach 2:
Components are prepared with pre-drilled holes and pre-assembled before final drilling. This preliminary preparation allows for parallel work on multiple components, reducing waiting time and improving productivity, while the final drill jig operation ensures proper alignment is achieved.
3Adaptability or versatility
If manual tools are used for drilling large fuselage and wing integration fasteners, then flexibility is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to ergonomic access issues
Solution Approach 1:
The structure is divided into separate components that are drilled individually using stable, ergonomic drilling platforms before assembly. This segmentation eliminates the need to maneuver large manual tools into confined spaces during final assembly, improving ergonomic accessibility while maintaining flexibility through modular component design.
4Manufacturing precision
If drilling is performed on assembled structures, then hole location accuracy is improved, but harmful factors increase due to significant foreign object debris
Solution Approach 1:
The drilling operation is extracted from the final assembly process and performed separately on individual components during their fabrication. This extraction eliminates the generation of foreign object debris in the confined assembly area, as drilling debris is produced during separate component manufacturing when proper debris collection and cleanup procedures can be implemented.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes making a first structure with a first plurality of pre-drilled holes at pre-defined locations, making a second structure with a second plurality of pre-drilled holes at pre-defined locations, making a third structure without pre-drilled full-size holes, measuring the location and orientation of the first and second plurality of pre-drilled holes in the first and second structures, determining the location of a third plurality of holes to be drilled in the third structure that correspond to first and second plurality of pre-drilled holes measured in the first and second structures, creating a program to drill the third plurality of holes in the third structure that align with the measured location and orientation of the first and second plurality of pre-drilled holes in the first and second structures based on the measure location and orientation of the first and second plurality of pre-drilled holes in the first and second structure, drilling the third plurality of holes in the third structure based on the program, positioning the third structure on the first and second structures such that the third plurality of holes in the third structure are aligned with the first and second plurality of pre-drilled holes in the first and second structures, and inserting fasteners through the third plurality of holes and the first and second plurality of predrilled holes that are aligned with the third plurality of holes to secure the second structure to the first structure using the third structure.