Robodome imaging for high performance manufactured aerostructures

下一代节能飞机需要高度优化的空气动力学机翼表面，这些机翼表面设计成以越来越高的生产率制造越来越严格的公差。为了促进这一点，在组件接口和产品关键表面都需要高精度的空间信息，以了解零件间装配所需的操作、零件中产生的变形的影响以及任何必要的返工。下游机会延伸到整个制造周期，以支持产品设计、材料和工艺的调整，从而优化质量、成本和生产力。现有的大容量计量系统和部署无法满足各种工程要求;成本太高或需要中断或停止制造过程的部署。目前，飞机机翼制造中的产品计量活动主要是交钥匙工程，消耗了空客25%以上的生产时间。在反映卫星导航数据及其现在普遍依赖于车载和移动的电话导航的系统范例中，支持新流程的生产力和灵活性的提高需要来自嵌入制造基础设施的系统的更丰富的可信空间数据。虽然有能力的系统可在小到中等数量，并与创新资金将演变成工业传感器网络，在大容量无标记表面计量的研究和技术差距限制了机会。针对EPSRC此次会议的主题“支持模型验证和制造业计量的工具”，我们的建议旨在缩小差距。我们的愿景是将由虚拟光学计量仪器模型引导的低成本反射变换成像嵌入到工厂空间中，以在数十平方米的区域内实现几微米量级的精度。空中客车公司通过REng/Airbus大容量计量学主席支持PI，实现R&T合作，并接触到包括设计未来数字工厂的制造建筑师在内的专家。我们共同创建了这一提案，并将指导开发和演示基于反射变换成像（RTI）的可扩展低成本全场光学计量所需的基础研究，以支持以本地度量不确定性验证为基础的大体积表面的数据驱动制造。其结果将是验证直接光学表面测量的准确性，在各种各样的表面材料，形式和光学光洁度，先进的多材料飞机结构。与此同时，它将有助于为制造空间和嵌入式设施的设计提供信息，从而在新兴的Fly Zero战略中实现下一代机翼产品的敏捷制造。NCC和Taraz Metrology针对行业用例提供开发技术的演示，将为我们的研究扩展到其他行业的能力提供机会，这些行业的切割制造高性能数字化工程表面是成功的关键。例子包括风能、造船和现场制造。

The next generation of energy-efficient aircraft require highly optimised aerodynamic wing surfaces engineered to increasingly tight tolerances manufactured at increasing rates of production. To facilitate this, high accuracy spatial information is required both at component interfaces and product critical surfaces to understand the manipulations needed to fit part-to-part, the impact of resultant distortions in the parts and any necessary rework. Downstream opportunities extend over the manufacturing cycle, to support adaptations in product design, materials and processes needed to optimise quality, cost, and productivity.Challenging this activity are existing large volume metrology systems and deployments failing to achieve diverse engineering requirements; being too costly or needing deployments that disrupt or stop the manufacturing process. For current products metrology activities in aircraft wing manufacture are largely turn-key and consume over 25% of Airbus production time. In a systems paradigm that mirrors satellite navigation data and its now ubiquitous reliance for in-car and mobile phone navigation, improvement in productivity and flexibility to support new processes requires richer trustworthy spatial data from systems that are embedded into manufacturing infrastructure. Whilst capable systems are available at small to medium volumes and with innovation funding will evolve into industrial sensor networks, a research and technology gap in large-volume marker less surface metrology limits opportunity. Addressing the "tools to support the verification of models, metrology in manufacturing" theme of this EPSRC call, our proposal seeks to close the gap.Our vision is to embed low-cost Reflectance Transformation Imaging guided by virtual optical metrology instrument models into factory spaces to achieve accuracies of the order of a few micrometres over areas of several tens of square metres. Airbus supports the PI through an REng/Airbus Chair in Large-Volume Metrology enabling R&T collaboration and access to specialists including manufacturing architects who design the digital factories of the future. Together we have co-created this proposal and will steer the fundamental research needed to develop and demonstrate scalable low-cost full-field optical metrology based on Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) to support the data driven manufacture of large-volume surfaces underpinned with local metric uncertainty verification. The outcome will be validated direct optical surface measurement to unprecedented levels of accuracy across the wide variety of surface materials, forms and optical finishes that characterise advanced multi-material aerostructures. In parallel it will help inform the design of the manufacturing spaces and embedded facilities necessary to enable agile manufacture of next generation wing products in the emerging Fly Zero strategy.Close working with partners Airbus, NCC and Taraz Metrology against industry use cases to deliver demonstrators of the developed technologies will open opportunities to extend capabilities arising from our research into other sectors where manufacture of cutting-edge high-performance digitally engineered surfaces are central to success. Examples include wind energy, shipbuilding, and onsite fabrication.