Automated Tool Change Path for Aircraft Panel Machining
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Solution Overview
Problem
In aircraft construction, the automatic tool change process for cutting tools, especially in complex shapes like aircraft center arch panels, is prone to collisions between cutting apparatus and the object or fixture system, leading to damage and inefficiencies in tool usage, with existing methods requiring manual intervention and increasing engineer workload and costs.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that specify a tool path with entry and exit paths for cutting tools, allowing for safe retraction and replacement without machining, using a processor-controlled robot arm to manage tool life and automate the tool change process, thereby avoiding collisions and optimizing tool usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If standard retraction of cutting apparatus is used to change tools, then tool change can be performed, but high risk of collision with object and fixture occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by moving the cutting apparatus to a safe intermediate position away from the workpiece and fixture before initiating tool change. This preliminary repositioning ensures that subsequent tool exchange operations occur in a collision-free zone, eliminating the risk of damage to both the apparatus and the workpiece.
Solution Approach 2:
An intermediate position is introduced as a mediator between the machining position and the tool storage position. This intermediate zone serves as a buffer area where the cutting apparatus can safely retract and prepare for tool change without risking collision with the workpiece or fixture system, thus resolving the contradiction between operational ease and collision risk.
2Reliability
If cutting tool is changed before failure, then tool performance is maintained, but useful tool life is wasted
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback mechanisms by continuously monitoring tool condition parameters such as vibration, temperature, and cutting forces. Based on this real-time feedback, the control system determines the optimal moment for tool change, ensuring tools are replaced just before failure rather than arbitrarily, thus maximizing useful tool life while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system monitors changes in cutting parameters such as force, vibration, and temperature to detect tool wear progression. By tracking these parameter changes, the system can optimize the timing of tool replacement to occur precisely when tool performance degrades below acceptable thresholds, preventing both premature replacement (wasting tool life) and delayed replacement (compromising reliability).
3Productivity
If pre-programmed tool change process is implemented, then engineer workload and cost decrease, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service automation where the machining system automatically manages its own tool changes without requiring external engineer intervention. The control system autonomously monitors tool life, initiates retraction to intermediate positions, coordinates tool exchange with the storage system, and resumes machining, thereby reducing engineer workload while the automation handles the complex coordination internally.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges multiple functions into an integrated automated tool change process: tool life monitoring, collision avoidance positioning, tool retrieval from storage, tool exchange execution, and machining resumption are all combined into a single coordinated sequence. This integration reduces the need for manual engineering intervention while managing system complexity through unified control logic.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a method and apparatus for machining a workpiece (2). The method comprises: specifying a path along which a cutting tool (6) is to be moved during machining of the workpiece (2), the path comprising a plurality of segments (26); defining, for each segment (26), an entry point and an entry path (32) from a point remote from the workpiece (2) to that entry point; moving a first cutting tool (6) along the tool path from a first point to a second point and machining the workpiece (2); after the first cutting tool (6) has been moved to the second point, moving the first cutting tool (6) to a point remote from the workpiece (2); moving a second cutting tool (18) along the entry path (32) of the segment (26) that contains the second point, and then from the entry point to the second point.