Process Dependent Design of (Hybrid) Parallel Kinematic Machines for Aircraft Assembly

航空航天制造商正在寻找用于自动化飞机装配的灵活敏捷机器，以克服当前机器的局限性，即，传统的大型昂贵专用设备的可扩展性和工业机器人的低刚度和精度。最近的研究表明，（混合）并联机床（（H）PKM）有潜力提供所需的灵活性，刚度和精度。它是一项新兴技术，已被确定为下一代制造系统的关键推动者，尽管其发展仍处于初始阶段。显然，不同的制造工艺将需要不同类型的H（PKM），并且需要模块化设计以便于重新配置。因此，机器设计必须依赖于工艺，并由真实的工程要求驱动。该旅费资助用于参观位于中国天津大学的世界领先的制造设备与系统（GMES）研究小组，并与田晃教授及其研究团队合作一个月，探索下一代飞机装配制造系统的PKM/HPKM创新设计方法。该项目最初将专注于航空航天制造业，一旦成功，将扩展到其他制造业，如汽车和运输行业。为了促进英国国家在高价值制造业方面的优先发展，该项目的成功将对英国经济产生巨大影响，英国制造业占GDP的13%，出口占50%以上。本研究的范围如下：1）评估现有的PKM/HPKM性能2）飞机自动装配制造工艺的分类3）新的PKM/HPKM设计和开发4）设计和生产的新性能指标5）拓扑和尺寸优化方法6）飞机装配生产系统集成的创新方法主要交付成果是编写访问后报告，该计划将为两至三项拨款申请（最少一项为基础研究，另一项为申请拨款）提供基础。其他成果将包括今后的联合出版物和研究交流。

Aerospace manufacturers are looking for flexible agile machines for automated aircraft assembly to overcome limitations of current machines, i.e., inflexibility of conventional large expensive dedicated equipments and the low stiffness and accuracy of industrial robots. Recent research shows (Hybrid) Parallel Kinematic Machine ((H)PKM) has the potential to provide the required flexibility, stiffness and accuracy. It is an emerging technology, which has been identified as the key enabler for next generation manufacturing systems, although its development is still in the initial stage. Obviously, various types of H(PKM)s will be needed for different manufacturing processes, and modular design is required for ease of reconfiguration. Therefore the machine design has to be process dependent and driven by real engineering requirements. The travel grant is for visiting the world-leading research Group of Manufacturing Equipments and Systems (GMES) in Tianjin University in China, and working together with Prof. Tian Huang and his research team for one month to explore innovative design method of PKM/HPKMs for next generation manufacturing systems for aircraft assembly. The project will initially focus on aerospace manufacturing, once successful, it will be extended to other manufacturing sectors, such as automotive and transport industries. To contribute to the UK national priority in high value manufacturing, the success of this project will bring a huge impact to the UK economy, where manufacturing accounts for 13% of GDP and more than 50% of exports. The scope of this investigation is as follows.1) Assessing existing PKM/HPKM performance2) Categorisation of manufacturing processes for automated aircraft assembly 3) New PKM/HPKM design and development4) Novel performance indices for design and production5) Topological and dimensional optimization method6) Innovative method of productive system integration for aircraft assemblyThe main deliverable will be the writing of a post-visit report, which will form the basis for two to three funding applications (at least one for fundamental research and one for applications). Other deliverables will include joint publications and research exchanges in the future.