SmartNews June | Aircraft Skin Processing in Motion with Combitronic
June 2011
Industry: Aviation
Application: Flexible tooling/dynamic tooling
Benefit: 49% Reduction in parts and floor space & global addressing capabilities of Combitronic
The most critical structural components of the entire aircraft, both fuselages and wings are designed to be both incredibly strong and lightweight: a challenging combination. So how are the essential curved panels made and machined?
Imagine a supersized bed of nails where every "nail" is actually an electromechanical actuator with a SmartMotor™ servo attached to its base. Flexitool™, by Liné Machines in Quebec, can exactly match the unique contoured shape of almost any large metal panel (with support equivalent to a hard tooled fixture) for further processing such as milling, inspection and laser scribing.
Utilizing the SmartMotor resulted in a 49% reduction of parts and floor space used with the greater capabilities. "We used the integrated SmartMotor because having separate controllers, drives and motors was limiting our capabilities. Now the connection is much simpler, and it's easier to increase or decrease the number of tooling structures for each Flexitool ordered" said Claude Sven Zurbuchen, Lead Product Development Engineer for Liné Machines.
The largest advantage of incorporating the SmartMotor in the Flexitool system was Combitronic™ technology. When raising or lowering any panel on the Flexitool tooling system, all of the actuators needed to move in sync vertically from any position to prevent warping. Typically either Ethernet, Profibus, DeviceNet or CANopen are used, however, none of these networks alone allowed Flexitool to talk to multiple motors simultaneously; it must address each device separately. This wouldn't be a problem with two or three motors but Liné Machines had an impressive 160 actuators in just one of its Flexitool systems. This is the exact situation Combitronic technology was created for.
View or Download the complete case study
Watch the video on flexible tooling and the SmartMotor
Learn more about Combitronic by video.
PS: Animatics is now on Twitter! For the latest product news, case studies, new website additions and helpful hints (all in less than 140 characters) bookmark the page or follow us on 
.
Headquartered in Silicon Valley and with offices world wide, Animatics Corporation is the global leader in integrated motion control products and systems and has been for more than 20 years. Animatics designs, manufactures, markets and sells innovative, state-of-the-art, cutting-edge motion control products, systems and solutions.
Animatics is Defining the Future of Motion Control!
Copyright © 2010 Animatics Corporation. All rights reserved.
3200 Patrick Henry Dr, Santa Clara, CA, Tel: (408) 748-8721
All integrated motor products made by Animatics are covered by patent number 5,912,541
Sign Up for SmartNews!
is the definitive source for all motion control industry information, application advancements, news and new product releases from Animatics Corporation.
Watch the SmartMotor™ in action
Click to go to the Application page
