Airbus UK was interested in a high-speed riveting machine cell that could
automatically rivet over 30 different wing panels for a wide range of aircraft
to fit in a limited floor space. Electroimpact was approached and proposed a
Flexible, High Speed, Riveting Machine (HSRM).
The resulting HSRM system is designed to rivet pre-tacked, upper and lower wing
panels from the Airbus A330/340, A319/320/321 and A300 aircraft families. One
of the many benefits of this cell is the ability to maintain the wing panels in
true aerodynamic form during the fastening process while only requiring a
minimum of factory floor space. To justify the system for production use, the
HSRM cell would need to reduce fastener rework and the amount of time a panel
is needed in jig for fastening.
Rapid adaptability of panel sequencing through the cell was of paramount
importance, therefore the fixture design needed to be quickly re-configurable to
accommodate any of the wing panels slated for the cell.
The HSRM cell is comprised of an E4150 traveling yoke
machine and two flexible fixtures joined end to end.
Wing panels are oriented vertically in the fixture with the
leading edge pointed skywards. The footprint of the cell
was minimized to approximately 80m long x 10m wide. A
park zone at one end of the cell doubles as a buy-off
and maintenance area.