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Regarding the assembly of the fuselage panel, this paper aims to illustrate a design of pre-assembly tooling of the fuselage panel for the automatic drilling riveting machine. This new prototype of pre-assembly tooling can be used for different types and sizes of fuselage panels. Also, apply to the automated drilling and riveting machine of the fuselage panels.

Based on the different structures of the fuselage panel, the position of the preassembly tooling components, location of the clamp and position of the fuselage panel are determined. After that, the overall structure of the preassembly tooling is designed, including the movable frame and the cardboard. The cardboard positioning module and the clamping module formulate a detailed design scheme of preassembly tooling for the fuselage panel. The structure of the pre-assembled tooling is optimized by static analysis. The result of the overall design is optimized by using MATLAB and CATIA-V5 software, and the results meet the condition of the design requirements.

The traditional assembly process of the fuselage is to install the fuselage panel on the preassembly tooling for positioning the hole and then install it on the automated drilling and riveting tooling for secondary tooling. Secondary tooling can consume assembly errors of the fuselage panel. The new prototype of flexible tooling design for the fuselage panel not only avoids the secondary tooling error of the fuselage panel but also meets the preassembly of different types of fuselage panels.

The further development of the flexible tooling design of the fuselage panel is to reduce the error of sliding tooling due to friction of the sliding components. Because if the assembly cycle is increased, the sliding parts will lose material due to corrosion. As a result, the repeated friction force is the root cause of the positioning error of sliding parts. Therefore, it is necessary to engage less corrosive material. Also, the lubricant may be used to reduce the corrosion in minimizing the positioning error of the sliding tool components. In addition, it is important to calculate the number of assembly cycles for efficient fuselage panel assembly.

According to the structure and assembly process characteristics of the fuselage panel, the fuselage panel preassembly tooling can optimize the assembly process of the fuselage panel and have certain practical application values.

The purpose of this paper is to develop digital flexible pre-assembly tooling system for fuselage panels.

First, the paper analyzes the technological characteristics of fuselage panels and then determines the pre-assembly object. Second, the pre-assembly positioning method and assembly process are researched. Third, the panel components pre-assembly flexible tooling scheme is constructed. Finally, the pre-assembly flexible tooling system is designed and manufactured.

This study shows the novel solution results in significantly smaller tooling dimensions, while providing greater stability. Digital flexible assembly is an effective way to reduce floor space, reduce delivery and production lead times and improve quality.

The tooling designed in this case is actually used in industrial application. The flexible tooling can realize the pre-assembly for a number of fuselage panels, which is shown as an example in this paper.

The paper suggests the fuselage panel pre-assembly process based on the thought including pre-assembly, the automatic drilling and riveting and jointing, and constructs a flexible tooling system for aircraft fuselage panel component pre-assembly.

The purpose of this paper is to design a reasonable joining path and achieve assembly automation for multiple arc-shaped panels. A fuselage panel is primarily composed of skins, stringers, frames and clips. Both inserted and nested structures are adopted in the panels to improve the strength and hermeticity of the fuselage. Due to the complex structures and relationships, it is a challenge to coordinate the arc-shaped panels in the assembly process.

A motion sequence model which achieves arc approximation based on the relative motion of multiple panels is established. The initial position of the panels is obtained by decomposing the computer-aided design model of the panels. Two translation rules, i.e. progressively decreasing translation and limited deformation translation, are applied to determine the moving path of the panels. If a panel is not at its path node, a search algorithm is used to find the nearest path node. Finally, the key algorithms are implemented in an integration system to promote joining automation of multiple panels.

The zigzag path is effective for the joining of multiple panels with complex mating relationships. The automation of the join–separate–rejoin operations is time-saving and safety-assuring. The proposed method is demonstrated in practical engineering and a good efficiency is obtained.

This method has been used in a middle fuselage assembly project. The practical results show that the zigzag path is convenient to be stored and reused, and the synchronous movements of multiple curved panels are precisely realized. Additionally, the posture accuracy of panels is significantly improved, and the operating time is reduced considerably.

This paper gives a solution including path planning and process integration to solve the joining problem of multiple panels. The research will promote the automation of fuselage assembly.

In aircraft wing–fuselage assembly, the distributed multi-point support layout of positioners causes fuselage to deform under gravity load, leading to assembly difficulty and assembly stress. This paper aims to propose a hybrid force position control method to balance aerodynamic shape accuracy and deformation of assembly area, thereby correcting assembly deformation and reducing assembly stress.

Force and position control axes of positioners are selected based on screw theory and ellipsoid method. The position-control axes follow the posture trajectory to align the fuselage posture. To exert force on the fuselage and correct the deformations, the force-control axes follow the contact force derived by using orthogonal experiments and partial least squares regression (PLSR). Finite element simulation and one-dimension deformation correction experiment are conducted to verify the validity of this method.

Simulation results indicate that hybrid force position control method can correct assembly deformation and improve the wing–fuselage assembly quality significantly. Experiment on specimen verifies the effect of this method indirectly.

The proposed method gives a solution to solve the deformation problem during aircraft wing-fuselage assembly, thereby reducing assembly stress and improving assembly quality.

The aim of this paper is to present a new variation modeling method for fuselage structures in digital large aircraft assembly. The variation accumulated in a large aircraft assembly process will influence the dimensional accuracy and fatigue life of airframes. However, in digital large aircraft assembly, variation analysis and modeling are still unresolved issues.

An elastic structure model based on beam elements is developed, which is an equivalent idealization of the actual complex structure. The stiffness matrix of the structure model is obtained by summing the stiffness matrices of the beam elements. For each typical stage of the aircraft digital assembly process, including positioning, coordinating, joining and releasing, variation models are built using the simplified structure model with respective loads and boundary conditions.

Using position errors and manufacturing errors as inputs, the variations for every stage of the assembly process can be calculated using the proposed model.

This method has been used in a large fuselage section assembly project, and the calculated results were shown to be a good prediction of variation in the actual assembly.

Although certain assumptions have been imposed, the proposed method provides a better understanding of the assembly process and creates an analytical foundation for further work on variation control and tolerance optimization.

PLANNING and tooling for the smaller type of aircraft presents certain problems not encountered elsewhere. The main difficulty is that the confined space in which operators have to work when the aircraft is complete reduces the number of operators who can be employed at any time. Therefore, it is necessary to fit as much as possible of the systems and other equipment in the breakdown stage of the small aircraft, whereas, on the large aircraft more men can work inside the fuselage and this problem is not nearly so acute.

This paper aims to describe the development and testing of a system for the automated assembly of aircraft fuselage panels.

The system described in this paper uses a low‐cost industrial robot and laser stripe sensor to assemble stringers on to a fuselage panel prior to riveting. The method uses a combination of measurement and best fit placement algorithms to optimally locate parts relative to existing features.

The paper demonstrates that with a combination of metrology and mathematical processing standard industrial robots can be used to assemble aero‐structure subassemblies. The paper also demonstrates that the system can work within the tolerances required within the aerospace industry.

The paper introduces techniques for compensating for the inherent distortion that occurs in airframe components during manufacture. This is an enabling technology that will significantly increase the number of possible applications for industrial robots in the assembly of aero‐structures.

The purpose of this paper is to present a dual-robot pneumatic riveting system for fuselage panel assembly, including the system design, dynamic analysis and sensitivity analysis. The dual-robot pneumatic riveting system is designed to improve riveting efficiency and quality, thus finally replace the traditional two-man riveting mode where possible.

The dual-robot pneumatic riveting system has been designed by considering vibration reduction for the tools and isolation for robots. Nonlinear multi-body dynamic model including clearance and collision is established for investigating the dynamic performance and analyzing the systemic sensitivities with respect to the key variations. Semi-implicit Runge–Kuta algorithm is used for solving the dynamic equations and shop experiments are implemented to verify the effectiveness of the numerical simulations.

The simulation results show the tools can be held stably enough for riveting operation and the system sensitivity with respect to robot gesture can achieve the expected level. The experiment validates the proposed system with a good performance, and the riveting quality could adequately meet the requirements. The system is capable of installing an aluminum alloy countersunk 5 mm diameter rivet in 5 s.

The dual robot pneumatic riveting system is successfully developed and test. It has been applied in a project of fuselage panel assembly in the aircraft manufacturing industry in China.

To replace the traditional manual rivet installation, this paper presents a dual robot pneumatic riveting system and includes both the system design and dynamic analysis.

THE production of a glider presents problems that are similar in many respects to those found in the production of any other type of aircraft. The position in the case of the glider is simplified by the absence of such parts as the engine and the various equipment associated with it, and also the elaborate undercarriage installation. It is, however, complicated by the relatively large overall size of the aircraft as compared with an equivalent power machine.