Aerospace

Manoeuvring 80 Metres of Wingspan in a few Minutes

If parking a car or truck is a challenge for some people, imagine bringing the world’s largest commercial aircraft into a hangar. The hangar is far from empty, with 20 operators ready to work on the Airbus A380 whose safety must be guaranteed – along with that of the aircraft worth several hundred million euros. These are the challenges of hangaring an ultra-large aircraft – what is known in aerospace jargon at Airbus as “moulage”.

The First Complete Industrial Assembly Process Based on Laser Measurements

The Airbus A380 is the most modern, spacious and capable civilian aircraft of all time. It was first shown in December 2000, christened “The Flagship of the 21st Century.” The plane was developed in close cooperation with air carriers, airports and air traffic authorities.

Maintaining Longevity Of Large Bridge CMM

Founded over 57 years ago, China Airlines is the main airline carrier in Taiwan, operating over 1 400 flights per week to 118 airports in 115 cities across Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania. With a fleet of 84 aircraft, regular engine repairs and maintenance programmes are crucial.

DPA in Aerospace

At Eurocopter Deutschland the component testing under burdening of solar panels is part of a vast standard testing routine. In this context, also parameters for stiffness and flatness of the panel are determined. For these measurements Eurocopter now relies on AICON's optical measurement system DPA.

Edgecam and Javelin Assist Growth For Aerospace Manufacturer

Edgecam CAD/CAM software optimises around ten different makes of CNC machine tools for a growing aerospace manufacturer.

Automated Scanning Solution Speeds Aerospace Manufacturing

​Jet Wing Surface Scan Reduced to Under Four Minutes​. Wichita, Kansas is known as the "Air Capital of the World". This is due in part of the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University, a leading advanced aircraft manufacturing laboratory.

Full Thrust Thanks to Measuring on Machine-Tools

Nowadays measuring of workpieces while clamped on machine-tools is state of the art in series-production more and more. At company RUAG big rings for the fans of jet-engines are manufactured by using touch probes and 3D Form Inspect software from m&h.

Space travel with solar power

A huge solar sail unfolds in space and drives a satellite that explores the solar system. So-called solar sailing is not a vision for the future, but may soon be reality in space exploration. The institutes of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Braunschweig and Bremen are working together with the European Space Agency ESA and the Technical University of Braunschweig on the so-called Gossamer Project. The researchers want to prove that solar sailing is operational. The masts of the sail, the so-called booms, are being checked for their resilience with AICON's 3D coordinate measuring machine MoveInspect HR.

Alphacam Dynamic Nesting For Composite Aircraft Panels

A company manufacturing internal composite panels for commercial aircraft are moving towards full dynamic nesting by using Alphacam’s powerful automation capability.

Javelin Ensures ExoTec Aims For The Stars

As mission-critical functionality goes, products manufactured by ExoTec Precision don’t come any higher on the list.

Measuring to Generate Orders!

Measuring and logging of workpieces, while still clamped on the machine, has enabled ZSM of Gummersbach to win new customers. They perform measuring, machining and logging of nose gear for the Airbus A320 using this technology.

AE Aerospace and Edgecam Reach New Heights

AE Aerospace has celebrated the 2nd anniversary following its highly successful MBO by Peter Bruch and Andy Masters in 2014. The Birmingham-based company has established itself as a significant player in the precision components market. It supplies components and assemblies to many of the civil and military aircraft currently in service around the world.

Paving the Way to Repeatability and Accuracy

Every gear manufacturing company welcomes growth, but it comes with challenges. They include investing in new equipment to meet capacity, hiring skilled operators if necessary and even finding space to locate the machine.

TubeInspect in the Aerospace Industry

Quality demands on tube manufacturing in the aerospace industry are considerably more stringent than in other industrial sectors. In order to determine the suitability of the optical tube measuring system TubeInspect for this sector, PFW Aerospace AG carried out an extensive measurement system analysis.

Airbus jet engine pylons inspected with dual laser tracker setup

The Airbus site in St. Eloi in Toulouse, France manufactures all engine pylons for the entire Airbus aircraft lineup. Engine pylons attach the engine to the wing structure. The pylons are almost invisible to passengers, as they are hidden under various aerodynamic housings under the wing.

Flying High with More Efficiency

BMT Aerospace benefits directly from the increase in air traffic volume. The order books of the Belgian producer of gears for aerospace applications are full. In order to cope with the amount of work, BMT Aerospace needed a fresh start in the measuring room.

Perfecting The Last Hubble Rendezvous

​Perfecting The Last Hubble Rendezvous: When NASA comes to mind, one instantly envisions their mission to launch vehicles to the moon and beyond. Yet the agency has a secondary mandate. Whatever NASA puts into low earth orbit must be safely brought home upon its expiration date.

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Portable Systems

Strata Manufacturing PJSC, established in 2010 and based in Al Ain is a manufacturer of composite parts for aerospace industry. Strata is wholly-owned by Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi-based investment and development company, and is part of Mubadala Aerospace, Communications Technology and Defense Services. Among the partners of Strata are the world’s leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) such as Boeing, Airbus and Alenia Aermacchi.

The Final Control

The contractors in the aerospace branch of TenCate Advanced Armor have laid down new requirements in terms of dimensional quality control. The firm has called on a service provider to accompany it in this metrology process and contacted several measuring arm manufacturers with a view to purchasing a suitable measuring tool. ROMER was the natural choice thanks to the good reputation of the group and its excellent after-sales service. ROMER was able to satisfy the specifications, and the fact that one of TenCate’s subcontractors had just replaced an old ROMER arm with a new ROMER Absolute Arm augured well for the future!

New Spheres Of Coordinate Metrology

The Black Forest. Thanks to successful tourism advertisements, this name is associated with cuckoo clocks and the scent of pine trees, but the early birds in the forest aren’t the only ones to catch the worm.

Laser Tracker Corrects The Exact Position Of Robots In Aircraft Construction

With A350, it’s a different story. Each aircraft fuselage is provided with profiles, so-called stringers, for reinforcement. Up until now, they have mainly been made of aluminium. In general, they are manually positioned over holes created by a milling machine. With the A350, which is primarily comprised of carbon fibre-reinforced plastics (CFP), this doesn’t work. The material hardens in an autoclave, a pressurised oven, so it can’t be drilled.

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Leading Aircraft Manufacturer Loyal Articulated Arm User For More Than 15 Years

A large, financially secure private international group, with a presence in more than 70 countries across 5 continents, Dassault Aviation has been profitable ever since its creation in 1936. Structured to adapt its production to market cycles, Dassault Aviation cooperates with a rich industrial network of high-tech companies in France, Europe, the US and other countries worldwide

Versatile Use Of The Leitz PMM-C Ultra with Small Precision Parts

Before a precision moulded part, a special screw or a movement element can be installed in the end product it must go through several process stages. At SFS intec development starts with the agreement of a customer‘s construction drawing.

Entrusting Laser Trackers With Critical Measurements For Nearly Two Decades

BAE Systems is a global company engaged in the development, delivery and support of advanced defence and aerospace systems in the air, on land and at sea. As one of the largest defence companies in the world and the largest such contractor in Europe, the company plays an important role in global military aircraft production. The company’s Typhoon, Tornado and Harrier fighter-bombers are all frontline aircraft of the Royal Air Force. BAE Systems is also a major partner in the F-35 Lightning II program and produces the Hawk Advanced Trainer. Investing about 10 percent of its revenues into research and development, BAE Systems has always been at the forefront of what is technologically possible in the world of industrial metrology. The company’s cooperation with Leica Geosystems dates back to 1991, when the world’s first commercially available laser tracker was launched.

Airbus Measures Up With DEA Coordinate Metrology

The Airbus factory in Broughton, North Wales, recently ordered a large gantry type coordinate measuring machine from DEA. The machine will provide advanced dimensional inspection capabilities that will help keep pace with the production of wing spars for the current fleet of Airbus aircraft and components for the new A380, a 555 seater aircraft for the 21st Century.

Pretty Tight ...

Pretty tight these are the manufacturing tolerances for aeronautical parts at BBAT in Wildau/Brandenburg. They manufacture rotor housings for jet engines in small volumes using m&h touch probes and software 3D Form Inspect.

Blue and White Metrology under Bavaria’s skies

Aircraft Philipp makes structural components in Übersee, Bavaria for every conceivable type of passenger and military aircraft. One such plane is the Airbus A320, the world‘s best-selling medium-range airliner. So that these silver birds climb safely into white and blue skies all over the world, quality assurance at Aircraft Philipp is firmly grounded on a coordinate measurement system from Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence.

Ergonomic Lightweights

Airlines and aeroplane manufacturers are facing the challenge of transporting people and freight more efficiently. The only way to do this is to put every single aircraft component on a drastic slimming diet, but the RECARO Aircraft Seating company won’t be compromising the ergonomics or comfort of their aircraft seats for the economy and business classes. Instead, the company will be maintaining their high quality standards and betting on their well-positioned development department, with support from a DEA GLOBAL 3D coordinate measuring device from Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence.

Manufacturing A Reputation For Quality

Aerospace component supplier’s ten year association with Hexagon Metrology establishes reputation for top-quality output.

Ready for Departure

Boarding a plane to fly from one continent to another within hours has become an everyday event for us. Behind that are over a hundred years of aviation history and a great deal of high tech, such as engines produced by MTU Aero Engines. In its quality assurance, MTU relies on the power of measuring systems by Hexagon Metrology.

C.M. Menegazzi - Maserà, Padua, Italy

The company C.M. Menegazzi was established in 1982 and is still led by its founder Umberto Menegazzi, who has been joined by sons Roberto and Luca, respectively responsible for the accounts/sales and technical areas of the business.

Transforming Outdated Equipment into Valuable Assets with Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence

When the world’s longest and heaviest plane – the Antonov An-225 “Mriya” – made its first flight in 1988, it was a historic moment for Ukrainian company Motor Sich, the manufacturer of the six Progress D-18T engines that propelled this mammoth aircraft skywards. But in the aviation industry, nobody can afford to stand still; the development of new technologies is the key to long-term success.

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ROMER Arm Reduces Production Bottleneck

The aerospace subsidiary of a multinational manufacturing group needed a solution to alleviate bottlenecks in its production department. The company manufactures towering airframe components which make up the superstructure of commercial aircraft. The company already owns a large bridge CMM of adequate size to measure the parts. However, due to the size and difficulty to move the parts, the company was searching for a portable measurement solution. The objective was two-fold. The first was to relieve some of the bridge CMM’s workload and the second was to be able to measure directly on the machining center setup without removing the fixtured parts.

Dynamic Measurement of the ALMA Project Antenna Settings

The activity sectors covered by SETIS are a reflection of a will to diversify whilst at the same time staying close to the basic professions: the nuclear, aerospace, automobile or research and development industries. SETIS has in its portfolio clients as notable as Airbus, DACIA, EDF, CERN or AREVA and is responsible for the follow up of projects as prestigious as LHC, ITER or the ATV project.

Hexagon Metrology is Assuring Quality of Composite Parts at PCT UAE

Construction without limits Architecture without constrains, futuristic concepts turned into reality, state-of-the-art solutions – all this is possible thanks to the advanced composites materials. Premier Composite Technologies (PCT), located in Dubai, is a leading global supplier and manufacturer of advanced composite solutions for the Architectural Design, Transportation and boatbuilding markets. Composite materials are extremely light, durable and allow the creation of sophisticated geometric shapes. They are used in a wide range of applications such as architecture, marine, rail and wind energy. In order to assure the best quality of manufactured composite parts, PCT uses portable measuring systems from Hexagon Metrology; two Leica Absolute Trackers AT401 and the ROMER Absolute Arm.

Leica Laser Trackers and SpatialAnalyzer

Determinate Assembly (DA) is a technique used in aerospace assemblies that requires drilling precise and matching hole patterns for fastening mating parts. The DA technique is critical to building large structures effectively for aerospace as it allows for consistent, accurate assembly and component alignment. Massive NC machines or large jigs are often used in order to achieve the necessary precision to drill DA hole patterns, but these methods are both expensive and inflexible to changes in design and process. An alternate technique employs a robot on a rail using a large scale precision metrology system. This technique allows DA hole patterns to be drilled precisely in a cell capable of adjusting to changes in design and process.

Measurement of the Geometric Characteristics of ATV Spacecraft

The adventure began in 1951 when Mr Degaud opened a “classical” office of surveying experts in Grenoble. The Olympic Games in 1968 contributed to the company’s rise which became, with 120 people working there, the largest office in the region. Since the 1960s and in the context of the Olympic Games, the company was responsible for measuring stadiums, bobski and toboggan runs or springboards with a tool which was already exceptional and ahead of its time: the Wild theodolite. Always staying faithful to their first theodolite supplier which became Leica Geosystems over time, the company SETIS which belongs to the Degaud group, acquired all the group’s laser tracker generations between 1992 and today: from the SMART 310 to the very latest Leica Absolute Tracker AT401 in addition to the Leica Absolute Tracker AT901 together with the Leica T-Probe and Leica T-Scan.

New Heights in Measurement precision

It hardly needs saying that measurement inaccuracies during aircraft construction can have enormous negative consequences. That is why the issues of quality assurance and measurement technology assume such paramount importance in the fields of aviation and space travel. And that is also why Airbus uses no fewer than seven Leica Geosystems Laser Trackers in its Bremen factory. By using the tracker in combination with the new T-Probe, the Bremen-based team has been able to achieve considerable savings in terms of both cost and time.

Strata Manufacturing PJSC - APPLICATION REPORT

Strata’s Aerospace Hub Strata Manufacturing PJSC, established in 2010 and based in Al Ain is a manufacturer of composite parts for aerospace industry. Strata is wholly-owned by Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi-based investment and development company, and is part of Mubadala Aerospace, Communications Technology and Defense Services. Among the partners of Strata are the world’s leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) such as Boeing, Airbus and Alenia Aermacchi. The heart of Strata business is located in the 25 square kilometers aerospace hub in the surrounding of Al Ain International Airport. The construction of the hub started in 2010 and Strata was the key anchor tenant there. According to the Al Ain strategic 2030 plan, the aerospace hub will consist of various industrial projects, a business park, office facilities and educational research.