Jig increases throughput
May 1st 2006 A new jig for testing critical wing components has allowed an airliner wing builder to increase throughput by 75%.
Employing 186 servo drives with tightly coordinated motion control, the jig's operation relies on Mitsubishi control solutions and high-speed networking built on a backbone of SSCNET technology.
The design of an aircraft wing is a complex business involving large quantities of critical parts such as stringers - the lateral ribs inside the structure that determine the wing's shape and lift characteristics.
Comprehensive testing of the stringers is vital, with the test jig needing to operate to axis dimensions accurate to within 0.2mm. But with demand for aircraft increasing daily, the testing station was becoming a production bottleneck with its slow testing speed and long set-up times.
As well as providing increased throughput, the new system is also geared towards providing high system availability, not even requiring recalibrating after power downs.
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