Disadvantages of jig-based rivet hole drilling are long tooling times, high production costs for the drilling templates and jigs and low part flexibility. Industrial robots with six degrees of freedom as a machine base for automatic drilling and riveting do not only open up the possibility of eliminating the need for jigs, they also cost far less than special machines. The new measurement concept is based on a measuring probe which operates in trigger mode. The measured values are only used to perform the movements that are necessary to satisfy the trigger conditions. For this motion no exact calibration is needed. Another big advantage of the new measurement concept becomes apparent: self-calibration can also be used to calibrate the probe. The new measuring concept also provides a means to conduct a simple but exact Cartesian movement. Further, with no jigs for the whole part being present, it is necessary to integrate jigs into the end-effector and to clamp the part locally. Two solutions have been found: First, the drill bushing is pressed against the fuselage skin before drilling begins. For this purpose, the robot has to move the drill bushing a few millimeters in direction of drilling. The second solution is based on a drill bushing in combination with vacuum cups mounted on pneumatic cylinders. With this vacuum fixture system the fuselage skin can be pulled against the drill bushing.
Rivet bore drilling with industrial robots
2007
9 Seiten, 11 Bilder, 5 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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