Tau robot platform for laser welding next generation, extra-large aerospace and automotive structures (e-Tau)

用于激光焊接下一代超大型航空航天和汽车结构的 Tau 机器人平台 (e-Tau)

• 批准号: 107303
• 金额: $ 100.15万
• 依托单位: PRODTEX LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=107303
• 关键词: Tau; robot; platform; laser; welding

Laser welding is a high throughput, low distortion, fully automated joining method, already used by aerospace and automotive industries for several decades to fabricate structures from fuselage sections to car bodies. The requirements on the welds in such structures, depending on the application in question, can be very demanding: strength, resistance to fatigue, resistance to corrosion, aesthetics etc.Laser welding takes place at high speed and results in very small welds. This, coupled with the demands placed on the welds, renders even small imperfections unacceptable. Meeting this quality challenge is always difficult. This is becoming more so, as structures needed for safer and more energy-efficient aircraft and mass-electrification of road transport become larger and more intricate. This currently limits the broader uptake of laser welding, which would otherwise be an attractively productive manufacturing technique.This is compounded by the fact that laser welding requires precise setup. Welding can prove intolerant to small gaps between parts, or small positioning errors between the laser beam and those parts. Gaps and errors can result from problems upstream, with inadequate material controls, incorrect part placement, and poor fixturing, as well as distortion-induced part movement during welding. Such problems are further exacerbated in larger structures made out of thin materials.Cost-effective, flexible, and accurate beam manipulation over a large working area is essential, as is a capability for intelligent real-time adjustments in the beam during welding. This requirement is not currently well served by industrial robots, nor alternative manipulators such as scanners or gantries.The e-Tau project will develop, test and validate a novel precision laser welding system, facilitating a step-change in the quality of larger aerospace and automotive welded structures:* By developing cutting-edge high precision parallel kinematic machine (PKM) Tau robot manipulation* That works with advanced laser beam wobbling optics* Integrated with intelligent quality assurance and control sensors* Then demonstrating the application of that system to the fabrication of large wing skin structures for the aerospace sector, and assembly of a range of automotive parts for e-mobility* Along with an accompanying digital twin system, to visualise and quantify production applications with throughput and cost information.With this, e-Tau will unlock, for manufacturing as a whole:* Improved tolerance to part placement and fit-up for laser welding.* Improved - and maintained - weld quality.* Increased productivity and reduction in repairs and scrap.Reduced and potentially eliminated need for expensive and time-consuming post-weld NDT.

激光焊接是一种高产量、低变形、全自动化的连接方法，几十年来已被航空航天和汽车工业用于制造从机身到车身的结构。根据所讨论的应用，对此类结构中焊缝的要求可能非常苛刻：强度、抗疲劳性、抗腐蚀性、美观性等。激光焊接以高速进行，并产生非常小的焊缝。这一点，加上对焊缝的要求，使得即使是小的缺陷也是不可接受的。应对这一质量挑战始终是困难的。随着更安全、更节能的飞机和道路运输大规模电气化所需的结构变得更大、更复杂，这种情况变得更加严重。目前，这限制了激光焊接的广泛应用，否则激光焊接将是一种具有吸引力的生产制造技术。这是由于激光焊接需要精确的设置。焊接可以证明不容忍零件之间的小间隙，或激光束和这些零件之间的小定位误差。间隙和错误可能是由于上游的问题造成的，包括材料控制不足、零件放置不正确和夹具不良，以及焊接过程中变形引起的零件移动。在由薄材料制成的大型结构中，这些问题会进一步加剧。在大工作区域内进行经济高效、灵活和精确的光束控制至关重要，在焊接过程中对光束进行智能实时调整的能力也至关重要。目前，工业机器人以及扫描仪或龙门架等替代机械手都无法很好地满足这一要求。e-Tau项目将开发、测试和验证一种新型精密激光焊接系统，促进大型航空航天和汽车焊接结构质量的飞跃：* 通过开发尖端的高精度并联运动机床（PKM）Tau机器人操作系统 *，该系统采用先进的激光光束摆动光学系统 * 集成了智能质量保证和控制传感器 * 然后演示该系统在航空航天领域大型机翼蒙皮结构制造中的应用，以及电动汽车的一系列汽车部件的装配 * 沿着数字孪生系统，通过生产量和成本信息可视化和量化生产应用。有了这个系统，e-Tau将为整个制造业解锁：* 提高了激光焊接的零件放置和装配公差。*提高并保持焊接质量。*提高了生产率，减少了维修和报废。减少并可能消除对昂贵且耗时的焊后无损检测的需求。