Automated inspection takes flight

With ongoing development in composite materials, the aerospace industry faces the challenge of finding ways to improve manufacturing processes.

One collaboration is determined to advance a key goal of aerospace manufacturing: automating the inspection of composite assemblies with real-time measurement.

The National Research Council, Ottawa, Ontario, and Fives Machining Systems Inc., Hebron, Kentucky, are partnering to develop the Sentry, the next generation of in-line inspection instrumentation, suitable especially for composite applications in aerospace and other industries.

The Sentry enables high-quality, real-time, in-process inspection of composite assemblies. Image courtesy of Fives Group

The Sentry generates a 3D map of the assembly surface. This enables the measurement of gaps and overlaps between fiber tows, the beginning and ending points of fiber tows, and ply angularity; the detection of missing tows; and the capture of any other phenomenon that manifests as a change in surface profile or dimension. The tool eliminates the need for manual inspection, saving up to 30 percent of production cycle time, the partners say.

Existing technology uses line laser triangulation (LLT), which wields the geometry of the beam to capture dimensional information.

“This restricts the effectiveness of LLT to relatively simple surfaces,” said Ken Wright, chief technology officer at Fives’ metalcutting and composites unit. This approach “fails to capture a high percentage of measurements on more complex surfaces.”

In addition, he said, LLT is sensitive to the type of material being measured, because of variations in reflectivity of surfaces that reduce the fidelity of generated images.