Over the past decade or so, aerospace manufacturers have increasingly used riveting process automation equipment to increase productivity. Automation equipment includes gantry cranes and transport cranes, as well as robots.
"Automation has been in the aerospace industry for more than two decades," said Dave Littlejohn, marketing and technical sales manager at Monogram Aerospace. "Monogram's first intervention took place in the late 1980s, when Northrop Corp. studied the effectiveness of automation by using robots to manufacture and assemble the wingtips of T38 supersonic jets. The plan used our Titanium Visu-Lok fasteners. "
The study lasted about a year. Fasteners are automatically fed into the end effector from the integrated on-board loading box, and the end effector installs each fastener in seconds. Each loading box contains 40 fasteners and weighs 38 pounds at full load.
Littlejohn said Monogram works closely with aerospace manufacturers, robotics suppliers and integrators to ensure that its fasteners work properly in every automated process. Monogram recently partnered with Airbus, an aerospace giant, in its Spanish plant with integrators to develop a special end effector to maximize automation efficiency.
Cherry Aerospace technical service engineer Caleb Lemler said Airbus has been using robots for years to install rivets and fasteners. More than 3,000 MBC blind rivets need to be installed on each A330 passenger wing.
Alcoa Fastener Systems' Ergo-Tech blind fastener installation system can be handled by an assembler or mounted on a robot. Luke Haylock, director of new product development for Alcoa Fastener Systems, said the system can be used with wireless smart tools that use sensors in the process to provide real-time feedback. Lightweight tools measure the angular rotation and mounting torque of each fastener and compare the results with predetermined acceptance criteria.
Cherry and Allfast also provide tools to speed up manual installation of blind rivets. The G746A Cherry powered rivet gun is a hydro-pneumatic tool that can be equipped with straight, offset and right-angle pull heads. The cycle time is one second.
Allfast produces the RV3000 MaxMatic self-feeding rivet machine, which can hold 40 to 100 rivets on a steel strip in its load box. The operator activates by pressing the handle. After the rivets are installed, the red gun head is retracted and the next rivet is inserted into the nose. The RV3000 is used by Bombardier and Boeing assemblers.