MODULAR AUTOMATION

Prepared By Thyagaraja Gowda s 1RL09ME413 8th sem Mech Engg RLJIT,Doddaballapur.

Presentation Outline

DEFINITION TOPOLOGIES EXAMPLE General Concept Components of Modular Automation Systems System Application Examples Case study

DEFINITION

The key to a much shorter time-to-market and thus to higher productivity of a machine or plant is modularization. The concept of success is called modular automation a production methodology which will enable entire production system to be rapidly designed and configured for a wide range of consumer products. building machines in such a way that they can be reconfigured quickly and extensively, and thus adapted to new tasks

DEFINITION

TWO TOPOLOGIES
TWO TOPOLOGIES OF MODULAR AUTOMATION

COMPACT MACHINES WITH CENTRAL CONTROL

DISTRIBUTED AUTOMATION STRUCTURE

DATABASE INCLUDES MOTION CONTROL PROGRAMS USER INTERFACE HARDARE CONFIG

IT INCLUDES MECHATRONICS FUNCTIONAL BLOCKS MODULE SOFTWARE COMPONENT BASED AUTOMATION

EXAMPLE

Mechatronic function blocks with distributed synchronization

General Concept

MECHANICAL SYSTEM DESIGN CONTROL SYSTEM DESIGN COMBINATION OF MECH ASSEMBLIES + SENSORS + ACTUATORS + CONTROL SOFTWARE + ETHERNET ETC

Components of Modular Automation Systems

Pre- Engineered Subsystems

Modular Subsystem Software

Open Networks

Pre- Engineered Subsystems

The subsystems include the mechanical assemblies with the required automation devices, sensors and actuators already engineered

Modular Subsystem Software

modular subsystems are controlled by interchangeable preengineered control software modules

Open Networks

The Modular manufacturing system must also integrate to the rest of the companies' networks and systems

System Application Examples

types of configurations possible using Lanco's HFL 2002-S Transfer System components

Case study
Modular Automation for the Aerospace Industry

Advanced techniques for manufacturing and assembly enable aircraft suppliers to meet stringent cost targets and time constraints for massive aerospace/defense programs. To meet the challenges of manufacturing airframe components for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, Northrop Grumman Corp.s (Los Angeles) Integrated Systems Sector in El Segundo, CA, is developing a modular, moving assembly line at the Antelope Valley Manufacturing Center in Palmdale, CA, facility where the company assembles the F-35 aircrafts center fuselage.

Modular Automation for the Aerospace Industry

The JSF program is projected to be among the largest military procurements ever, with approximately 3000 of the F-35 multirole fighters planned for the US Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, British Royal Air Force and Navy, and potentially several allied countries.

PROBLEMS

To maintain the tolerances ,they ended up building large monuments, in order to maintain accuracy in the thousandths of an inch needed for military applications. There are some 40,000 OML holes to be drilled in Northrop Grummans section of the airframe. Drilling airframe components constructed of composites with metal substructure such as titanium poses problems when trying to achieve positional accuracy.

Refining critical manufacturing processes

Northrop Grumman engineers have been working in conjunction with partners in the Aerospace Automation Consortium (AAC). To develop new processes including automated burr-less drilling, structural flexible robotic drilling, rapid low-cost tooling for composite fabrication, automated shim application and part loading, automated fastening on assembly systems, and realtime locating systems.

FOLLOW UPS

Automating airframe assembly meant adopting a modular system similar to the moving lines used by the automotive industry capable of producing one complete assembly per day of any of the three F-35 variants. This reduces the use of traditional overhead cranes and larger assembly jigs in favor of an innovative Sequential Universal Rail Fixture, or SURF system.

FOLLOW UPS

Automated burr-less drilling and automated shim application, can drill a burrless hole in composite-metal stack assemblies without damaging the liquid shim material. Determinant assembly, which means that holes are drilled in the skin and substructure separately, and then have to match perfectly when assembled.

FOLLOW UPS

Precision milling machine (PMM), was adopted for machining of the composite parts for the F-35 airframe assembly, to get a very tight tolerances in the low thousandths, over a large envelope. the airframe parts are first put through a wash to normalize temperature to within a couple degrees of ambient temperature. The machine then uses a proprietary volumetric compensation algorithm developed by the manufacturer and licensed for use by aircraft manufacturers to mill, drill, and trim the composite components.

FOLLOW UPS

For toolpath planning, Northrop Grumman uses the Vericut NC verification and optimization software from CGTech Corp. (Irvine, CA). Vericut has programmed into the simulation model the compensation system, and how the machine will react to certain commands, so when you send the machine from one end to the other and drill a hole, youll know how the head is going to rotate and turn to get oriented for the next hole that its going to go drill.

CONCLUSON

The use of Modular Automation resulted in reduced engineering time. Increased speed of machine integration Increased speed of system commissioning Increased plant floor space available for manufacturing Reduced Mean time To Repair (MTTR) Adopting leaner automation boosts aircraft builders F-35 airframe assembly line.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.sme.org/cgi-bin/find-articles http://www.sme.org/manufacturingengineering www.siemens.com/automation/newscentre phoenixcon.com http://www.cage.curtin.edu.au/

Thank You