Going slowly round the bend

PFW Aerospace has ordered a high-specification tube bender from Unison to support its production contract for the Airbus A350 XWB aircraft, which is scheduled to enter service in 2013. The precision bending machine will be employed by the aerospace supplier to manufacture the fuel and bleed air tubing systems for the wings and fuselage.

The machine, which will be delivered in Q3 2010, will extend the tube fabrication capabilities of PFW Aerospace's manufacturing facility in Farnborough. Its all-electric architecture will support the company's lean manufacturing strategy and save costs by reducing material waste, lowering energy consumption, and speeding machine set-up.

Among the advanced capabilities made possible by the machine's servomotorbased architecture is precision bending at extremely slow speeds. This attribute will be used in particular on titanium tubing parts, to exert fine control over material flow and the finished wall thickness.