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US 10,197,987 B2Granted
Use of manufacturing compounds to create fiducial marks
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsCraig F. Battles, Gregg W. Podnar, Kurt Webster
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A robotic tool is positioned relative to a feature of a component during a manufacturing process. The tool may be used to perform a manufacturing operation on the component. The tool is also be used to dispose a fiducial mark with a known registration to the feature, even if the feature is subsequently obscured. The position of tools for subsequent manufacturing operations are then set relative to the fiducial mark.
Claims9
A method of creating fiducial marks on a component, the method comprising:
- identifying, with a sensing tool, a reference location on the component;
- moving a tool to a location having a predetermined spatial relationship to the reference location;
- using the tool, disposing a compound to create a fiducial mark on the component at the location;
- identifying, with the sensing tool, the fiducial mark;
- positioning one of the tool or a second tool relative to the identified fiducial mark;
- and
- using the one of the tool or the second tool, performing a manufacturing operation on the component.
4 more elements
A method of manufacturing a wing of an airplane, the method comprising:
- identifying a first location on the wing;
- performing a manufacturing operation using a tool spatially positioned relative to the first location;
- creating a fiducial mark using the tool at a second location with a known spatial relationship to the first location;
- identifying the fiducial mark with a sensing system;
- determining a position of a tool with respect to the fiducial mark;
- and
- positioning the tool for a manufacturing operation based on the determined position.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.