Aircraft Fuselage Section Assembly on a Mobile Reference Trolley
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Solution Overview
Problem
The assembly of large aircraft fuselage sections is complex and space-intensive, requiring precise geometric conformity and significant handling equipment, which complicates the process and increases the need for extensive tooling and installations.
Innovation Solution
A method utilizing a mobile trolley with a supporting structure to assemble and immobilize key components of the fuselage section, allowing for the assembly to be moved between stations without lifting equipment, using a combination of gantry cranes and guiding rails to position and fix walls, spars, aprons, cross-beams, and skin components, with fixings achieved through bolting, riveting, welding, or bonding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If traditional fixed assembly installations are used for fuselage sections, then geometric conformity and precision can be ensured, but the complexity and space requirements of the assembly equipment increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by replacing traditional fixed assembly installations with a mobile trolley that can move between assembly stations. The trolley includes a supporting structure with positioning systems that adapt to different assembly locations, maintaining geometric conformity while reducing the complexity and space requirements of permanent installations.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile trolley serves multiple functions: it supports the fuselage section, provides positioning references, and can be moved between different assembly stations. This multi-functional design replaces the need for multiple specialized fixed installations, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining manufacturing precision through its integrated positioning system.
2Reliability
If traditional fixed assembly installations are used for fuselage sections, then stable assembly operations can be performed, but the space occupied by the assembly equipment becomes excessive
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile trolley transforms the static assembly installation into a dynamic system that moves between assembly stations. This reduces the space required for assembly equipment while maintaining operational stability through the trolley's supporting structure and positioning system that provides stable references at each station.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile trolley acts as an intermediary between different assembly stations, bringing the assembly support system to the workpiece rather than requiring large fixed installations at each station. This mediator approach reduces the total space required while maintaining assembly stability through the trolley's integrated support and positioning capabilities.
3Manufacturing precision
If heavy fuselage section components are assembled in place, then geometric precision can be maintained, but the need for extensive lifting equipment increases complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile trolley enables dynamic repositioning of the assembly support system, allowing components to be assembled at different stations without requiring heavy lifting equipment to move the entire fuselage section. The trolley's positioning system maintains geometric precision while eliminating the need for complex lifting equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using lifting equipment to move heavy fuselage components in place, the invention inverts the approach by moving the lightweight mobile trolley to different assembly stations. This reverses the traditional method, maintaining positioning precision without requiring extensive lifting equipment.
Data Source
AI summary
An assembly of a central aircraft fuselage section includes a longitudinal master wall for fixing of two aircraft air foil boxes. The method includes providing a trolley that can be moved on the ground, including a supporting structure in a station, supplying the station with the master wall, installing and mechanically immobilizing the master wall at a reference position on the supporting structure of the trolley, supplying the station with a transverse wall, installing and mechanically immobilizing this transverse wall at a reference position situated at a rectilinear edge upstream or downstream of the master wall, fixing the transverse wall to the master wall, and moving the trolley to another station.