Aircraft Module Assembly via Pre-Drilled Connecting Elements
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current assembly methods for complex aircraft components face challenges in achieving precise hole alignment and assembly efficiency, particularly for large parts, due to thermal expansion issues and the need to avoid drilling when systems are installed, while also requiring tight tolerances and parallel assembly operations.
Innovation Solution
A method involving pre-drilling connecting elements and structural parts according to predefined hole patterns, allowing for independent drilling outside the load aerostructure, followed by alignment and assembly using fastening means, without re-drilling, to ensure accurate and efficient assembly of modules into aerostructures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If elements are assembled one by one individually into the aerostructure, then assembly flexibility is maintained, but assembly time and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The aerostructure is divided into multiple elements that are pre-assembled into modules in parallel, then integrated into the final structure. This segmentation allows simultaneous preparation of multiple components without interfering with each other, reducing overall assembly time while maintaining organizational complexity at a manageable level.
Solution Approach 2:
Holes are pre-drilled in elements before final assembly into the aerostructure. This preliminary action allows hole preparation to be done in advance and in parallel for multiple elements, eliminating the need for sequential drilling during final assembly and significantly reducing total assembly time.
2Manufacturing precision
If holes are drilled in elements before assembly, then drilling precision can be optimized, but hole alignment accuracy during assembly deteriorates due to tolerance accumulation
Solution Approach 1:
A reference element is introduced as an intermediary component during assembly. This reference element serves as a common reference for positioning multiple elements, allowing holes to be aligned relative to the reference rather than requiring direct pairwise alignment. This mediator approach enables tolerance compensation and maintains alignment accuracy even when elements are pre-drilled separately.
3Strength
If tight tolerances are enforced for hole alignment, then load transfer between elements is optimized, but assembly difficulty and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The reference element is designed to automatically establish correct positioning relationships when elements are assembled around it. The geometry of the reference element and its connection features enable self-alignment and self-positioning, allowing the assembly process to achieve proper tolerances through its own structure rather than requiring external measurement and adjustment operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A method to load sub-modules into a aerostructure of an aircraft including: providing each sub-module with a connecting element wherein first holes are drilled in each of connecting element; drilling a second holes in the aerostructure a pattern corresponding to the first set of holes; assembling the at least one module assembly and the connecting elements by matching the second holes in the at least one structural part with corresponding ones of the first holes in the connecting elements and securing the sub-modules to the aerostructure by aligning the first holes to the second holes and attaching fasteners to the aligned holes, and attaching a connection between the sub-modules in the aerostructure.