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

激光焊接是一种高吞吐量、低变形、全自动的连接方法，几十年来已经被航空航天和汽车工业用于制造从机身部分到车身的结构。根据所讨论的应用，对这类结构中的焊缝的要求可能非常苛刻：强度、抗疲劳性、耐腐蚀性、美观性等。激光焊接以高速进行，产生的焊缝非常小。这一点，再加上对焊缝的要求，使得即使是微小的缺陷也是不可接受的。迎接这一质量挑战总是很困难的。随着更安全、更节能的飞机和公路运输大规模电气化所需的结构变得更大、更复杂，这种情况变得更加复杂。这限制了激光焊接的广泛应用，否则激光焊接将是一种极具吸引力的生产技术。激光焊接需要精确的设置，这一事实加剧了这一点。焊接可能无法容忍零件之间的微小间隙，或激光束与这些零件之间的微小定位误差。间隙和错误可能源于上游的问题，如材料控制不充分、零件放置不正确、夹具不好以及焊接过程中因变形而导致的零件移动。在由薄材料制成的更大的结构中，这种问题进一步加剧。在大工作区域内进行经济高效、灵活和准确的光束操作是必不可少的，在焊接过程中对光束进行智能实时调整的能力也是至关重要的。目前，工业机器人以及扫描仪或门架等替代机械手都不能很好地满足这一要求。e-Tau项目将开发、测试和验证一种新的精密激光焊接系统，促进较大航空航天和汽车焊接结构质量的阶梯式变化：*通过开发尖端高精度并联运动机(PKM)Tau机器人操纵*它与先进的激光摆动光学系统*集成智能质量保证和控制传感器*，然后展示该系统在制造航空航天部门的大型机翼蒙皮结构，以及组装一系列汽车零部件以实现e-Mobility的应用*以及附带的数字孪生系统，用生产量和成本信息可视化和量化生产应用。有了这一点，e-Tau将为整个制造业解锁：*改善对零件放置和激光焊接装配的容差。*改善-并保持-焊接质量。*提高生产率，减少维修和擦伤。减少并可能消除昂贵和耗时的焊后无损检测。

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.