Method of manufacturing a product using scan targets
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsAli Salour, Robert M. Barclay, Jr., Larry J. Laiben, Walter Raymond Baron
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of manufacturing aircraft includes removably securing a target to a portion of the aircraft in a predetermined position on the portion of the aircraft. The method further includes scanning the target with a scanning device to acquire information about at least one of a location and orientation of the target. The method also includes processing the acquired information to determine at least one of a location and orientation of the portion of the aircraft. In addition, the method includes working the aircraft using the processed information and removing the target from the portion of the aircraft before completing manufacture of the aircraft.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- determining a precise location of a feature on a portion of an aircraft, including:
- securing a removable target to a precise mounting position with respect to the aircraft feature, the target providing target features that can be easily sensed by a scanning device;
- thereafter scanning the target and using the scanned target to determine the precise location of the aircraft feature instead of using a scan of the aircraft feature;
- and
- performing at least one manufacturing operation at the precise location.
A method comprising:
- determining precise locations of features of a product, including:
- securing targets having scannable features to the product at known positions relative to the corresponding features;
- scanning the targets with a scanning device;
- and
- processing scanned target information from the scanning device to determine the precise locations of the features of the product, wherein the scanned target information is used to determine the precise locations instead of scanning the features with the scanning device;
- and
- working the product using the determined locations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.