US 5,664,311 AGranted

Automated spar assemby tool

AssigneeThe Boeing Company

InventorsDavid P. Banks, James E. Brodhead, James N. Buttrick, Jr., Paul E. Ffield, Darrell D. Jones, James C. Murphy, John F. Richards, Melvin R. Wiseman, John W. Schooff, Steven C. Van Swearingen

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Abstract

An automated assembly machine for fabricating large mechanical structures including a floor assembly jig for receiving and holding parts in a desired orientation, a pair of carriages, a first drive mechanism for independently driving the carriages longitudinally, a second drive mechanism for moving the carriages vertically, a tool tray mounted on the carriages, and a plurality of tools, including a drill, a hole diameter measurement probe, a nut runner, and an electromagnetic riveter, mounted on the tool tray for lateral movement toward and away from a workpiece clamp-up position. The tools are positioned at the workpiece clamp-up position by moving one of the carriages longitudinally along the floor assembly jig and raising the other carriage to elevate the tool tray to a desired elevation.

Claims24

Dependent claims

An automated assembly machine for fabricating large mechanical structures from a multiplicity of individual parts, comprising:

a floor assembly jig having a multiplicity of clamps for receiving and holding said parts in a desired orientation with respect to each other and in a desired position in space, clamped together in a workpiece clamp-up position, having supports and guides for supporting and guiding a pair of carriages along the length of said machine on opposite sides of said workpiece clamp-up position;
a pair of carriages supported and guided on supports and guides on said floor assembly jig, said carriages being disposed on opposite sides of said workpiece clamp-up position;
a first drive mechanism for independently driving said carriages longitudinally along said guides and supports;
a second drive mechanism for moving said carriages vertically with respect to said floor assembly jig;
a tool tray mounted on at least one of said carriages, said tool tray being mounted on a shifting mechanism for longitudinal movement on said at least one carriage relative to said floor assembly jig;
a plurality of tools, including a drill, a hole diameter measurement probe, a nut runner, and an electromagnetic riveter, mounted on slides on said tool tray for lateral movement toward and away from said workpiece clamp-up position;
a motive device for moving each of said tools toward and away from said workpiece clamp-up position;
whereby said tools can be positioned at any desired position on said workpiece clamp-up position by moving said at least one carriage longitudinally along said floor assembly jig to a desired longitudinal position, and raising said at least one carriage to elevate said tool tray to a desired elevation, shifting said tool longitudinally along said at least one carriage to align one of said tools with the desired position, and sliding the one of said tools laterally into said workpiece clamp-up position.

5 more elements

A method of automatically fabricating large mechanical structures from a multiplicity of individual parts, comprising:

receiving and holding said parts in a desired orientation with respect to each other;
clamping said parts together in a workpiece clamp-up position in their relative position with respect to each other which said parts will occupy in said large mechanical structure;
supporting and guiding a pair of carriages along opposite sides of said workpiece clamp-up position;
independently driving said carriages longitudinally and vertically with respect to said workpiece clamp-up position;
supporting a tool tray on a shifting mechanism on at least one of said carriages for longitudinal movement on said at least one carriage relative to said workpiece clamp-up position;
and
individually mounting a plurality of tools, including a drill, a hole diameter measurement probe, a bolt inserter, a cold working tool, and an electromagnetic riveter on slides on said tool tray for movement laterally toward and away from said workpiece clamp-up position and performing drilling and fastening operations on said parts to fasten said parts together to make said large mechanical structure.

4 more elements

A method of automatically fabricating large mechanical structures from a multiplicity of individual parts, comprising:

receiving and holding said parts in a desired orientation with respect to each other;
clamping said parts together in a workpiece clamp-up position in their relative position with respect to each other which said parts will occupy in said large mechanical structure;
supporting and guiding a pair of carriages along opposite sides of said workpiece clamp-up position;
supporting a tool tray on a shifting mechanism on at least one of said carriages for longitudinal movement on said at least one carriage relative to said workpiece clamp-up position;
individually moving a plurality of tools, including a drill, and a fastener insertion device, on slides on said tool tray laterally toward and away from said workpiece clamp-up position to perform operations on said parts to fasten said parts together to make said large mechanical structure;
drilling a hole in said workpiece with said drill;
feeding a fastener to said fastener insertion device;
inserting a distal end of said fastener, opposite a headed end thereof, into said hole so that said distal end is tightly wedged into said hole and said headed end of said fastener is spaced from said workpiece surface;
extending a driver of an impulse actuator into contact with said fastener head;
and
actuating said impulse actuator to seat said fastener against said workpiece surface.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.