Aircraft Processing Station With Height-Adjustable Clamping Frame
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing processing stations for aircraft structural components face limitations in adjustment range and productivity due to the need for increased gantry height and linear guide extension, leading to significant losses in productivity when machining large components, especially when ceiling height is insufficient.
Innovation Solution
A flexible processing station with a gantry processing machine, a clamping frame, and a holding device assembly that allows for height adjustment of both the processing tool and the clamping frame, enabling a larger adjustment range without modifying the gantry or linear height guide, and facilitating precise alignment and efficient manufacturing of large components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the gantry height is increased to enlarge the adjustment range for machining large aircraft structural components, then the processing capability is improved, but the machine height increases and requires more ceiling space
Solution Approach 1:
The holding device assembly is made height-adjustable through integrated drives, allowing the clamping frame to be positioned at different heights dynamically. This enables the processing machine to adapt to components of varying sizes without requiring a permanently increased gantry height, thus resolving the contradiction between adjustment range and machine height.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of increasing the vertical dimension (gantry height) to achieve larger adjustment range, the invention introduces height adjustability through a separate degree of freedom in the holding device assembly. This adds another dimensional capability that allows the system to process large components without proportionally increasing the overall machine height.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the linear height guide is extended to increase the adjustment range, then the processing capability is improved, but the machine complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The height adjustment function is extracted from the gantry's linear height guide and transferred to the holding device assembly. This separation allows the main gantry structure to remain compact while the holding device provides the necessary height variability through its own integrated drive mechanism, reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The holding device assembly is designed with multi-functionality, serving both as a clamping mechanism and as a height-adjustable support structure. By integrating the height adjustment drive into the holding device, it performs multiple functions (clamping and positioning) without requiring separate complex height adjustment mechanisms, thus reducing device complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple gantry processing machines are used to machine different regions of large components, then the adjustment range is improved, but productivity decreases due to significant losses in productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The invention combines multiple functions (clamping, height adjustment, and positioning) into a single integrated holding device assembly. This consolidation allows one processing machine to handle the entire component by adjusting the holding device's height, eliminating the need for multiple machines and the productivity losses associated with transferring work between them.
Solution Approach 2:
The holding device assembly provides dynamic height adjustment capability through integrated drives, enabling a single processing machine to adapt to different component sizes and positions. This dynamic adaptability allows one machine to perform the work that would otherwise require multiple fixed machines, thereby maintaining high productivity.
4Adaptability or versatility
If the processing tool is made height adjustable to increase the adjustment range, then the processing capability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The height adjustment function is extracted from the processing tool and relocated to the holding device assembly. This separation maintains the processing tool's simplicity while achieving the desired height variability through the adjustable support structure, thus avoiding increased complexity in the processing tool itself.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure relates to a processing station for aircraft structural components, having a gantry processing machine, a clamping frame for fastening at least one component, and a holding device assembly for receiving the clamping frame, wherein the gantry processing machine has a gantry and the gantry supports a processing tool which defines a processing point, wherein the processing tool is configured so as to be pivotable in relation to the gantry, and wherein the processing tool for displacing the processing point is height adjustable in the z direction in relation to the gantry, wherein the holding device assembly has at least two holding devices, and wherein at least one holding device has a drive for the height adjustment, and the clamping frame is height-adjustable in the z direction by means of the holding device.