CompositesWorld
Issue link: https://cw.epubxp.com/i/930524
NEWS CompositesWorld.com 39 Notably, the aircraft's massive 72m wingspan will be reduced, on the ground, via folding wingtips, each 3.5m long, to enable the plane's crew to access the same airport gates as today's 777. e 777X wingtips and folding hardware will be made at Boeing's facility in St. Louis, MO, US. Two more Electroimpact work- cells have been installed at the CWC to produce the one-piece, composite wing spars (more on those below). e wing panels are made in two halves (upper and lower) via AFP in low-curvature, male molds positioned inside each work- cell's gantry work envelope, explains Josh Cemenska, controls engineer at Electroimpact. e main gantry, on which an Elec- troimpact AFP head is mounted, travels along the length of the 30m wing panel tool, and a bit beyond, while the head itself can move 7.5m across the gantry, to access the entire 9m width of the tool at its widest point; the head's z-direction travel is about 2m. e material is 34-mm/1.5-inch wide carbon/epoxy prepreg tape, supplied by Toray Composite Materials America (Tacoma, WA, US). "For the 777X panels, automated inspection was a neces- sity," asserts Rudberg. "e parts are so large, you really can't do manual inspection. Our automated inspection system was really an enabling technology for this next-generation wing." Cemenska explains that in a manual process, inspectors verify tow end accuracy by visually comparing the layup to a laser outline projected onto the tool surface, then painstakingly scan the surface for other flaws such as gaps, overlaps or missing tows, using hand-held magnifiers. Replacing this, the Electroimpact wing panel cells integrate three 20.5-kg LASERVISION projector box units, each equipped inspecting layups and alerting technical staff to anomalies on the fly. In the first of a series of articles on this topic, CW takes a look at automated, in-situ inspection equipment developed for Electroim- pact's AFP machines. Eliminating manual inspection Electroimpact got its start in 1986, when founder Peter Zieve commercialized his first low-voltage electromagnetic riveting machines for aluminum aircraft assembly, which offered safer, less expensive and less noisy technology than existing riveting machines used by aerospace OEMs. Since then, the company has thrived by expanding its focus to provide a range of automated production solutions for metals and composites. Customers include not only Boeing but other aerospace OEMs, including Airbus (Toulouse, France), Bombardier (Montreal, QC, Canada), Spirit AeroSystems (Wichita, KS, US) and many more. "We've been developing automated, in-process inspection over the past three years. Ours is currently the only automated inspec- tion system that is fully certified by an OEM for composite part production," says Rudberg, who was on the team that developed Electroimpact's first AFP machine and its control software. Indeed, the company's AFP machines are producing the first-article wing panels and wing spars for Boeing's first 777X test aircraft, and automated inspection has been implemented for the wing panel parts. ese are fabricated in two Electroimpact-designed, auto- mated workcells at Boeing's new Composite Wing Center (CWC) in Everett, WA, US, built specifically to handle fabrication and production of the 777X's composite wings, the world's largest. Automated, in-process inspection A preproduction trial of a 777-X wingskin segment is shown at ElectroImpact's facility. Note the second gantry above the part (top, center), on which three Aligned Vision LASERVISION projectors are mounted, for automated in-process inspection of the wingskin layup. Source | Electroimpact Boeing 777X: Technology advance beneficiary The 777X aircraft from Boeing has an all-composite wing with a 71.75m wingspan. Electroimpact machines with automated inspec- tion capability will be used to make the wingskins and internal spars. Source | Boeing Automated, In-situ Inspection