Analysis of Effective Working Hours of Automatic Assembly Equipment for Aircraft Assembly Stations

To improve the accuracy of capacity analysis and prediction for the aircraft assembly stations,an approach for calculating the effective working hour(EWH)of automatic assembly equipment is introduced by using the dynamic mixed Weibull distribution(DMWD)model.Firstly,according to the features of aircraft assembling,a DMWD model considering the dynamic reliability of multiple subsystems and their synthetic effects on the whole equipment is established.A typical automatic drilling&riveting machine is selected as the research object,and the dynamic weights of reliability of three subsystems are modeled and solved.Subsequently the unknown parameters of the DMWD model are estimated based on maximum likelihood estimation(MLE)and Newton-Raphson method.Finally,the EWH of an automatic station is defined and modeled by using the solved dynamic reliability function.Based on the experimental study on a real automatic drilling&riveting machine from a wing panel assembly station,it is shown that the proposed DMWD and EWH models could effectively calculate the equipment reliability with full consideration of its multiple subsystems.The DMWD model is more suitable for improving the solution precision of EWH than the traditional three-parameter Weibull distribution.

Key Technology and Complete-set Equipment for Intelligent Construction of HSR Simply-supported Girder Reinforcement Framework

In view of the problems such as backward production mode,poor quality stability,high safety risk and incomplete control system during erection of the reinforcement framework of simply-supported box girders for high-speed railway(HSR),and in combination with the key points and main challenges in the reinforcement framework construction of Guangzhou-Zhanjiang HSR,the overall technical route for the intelligent manufacturing of reinforcement framework of simply-supported box girders is put forward.The component design of reinforcement framework of simply supported box girder is carried out based on BIM,and the feasibility of the scheme is verified through segment assembly test.The assembly techniques are studied in combination with the mesh design scheme to achieve rapid forming of the reinforcement framework.R&D of automatic processing equipment for components,material transshipment equipment,automatic hoisting equipment and technological equipment for assembly clamping fixture are carried out to realize the overall design of equipment production line.An intelligent control system is developed for the whole-process intelligent construction of reinforcement framework to realize the full life-cycle applications for the workshop production and visual management including intelligent layout and quality traceability.The research results systematically optimize and innovate the assembly and forming technologies of reinforcement framework in the prefabrication beam yard of high-speed railway,realize the component processing,automatic assembly and information technology management,improve the construction quality,efficiency and information technology level of intelligent manufacturing of reinforcement framework of railway prefabricated beam as a whole,and reduce the construction cost of the project.The research has realized a major breakthrough in the construction technology of railway prefabricated box girders,which has the extensive technical and market promotion values.

The Development of Dynamic Compliant Wrist for Robots

Based on an analysis of the relative shaft-to-hole position and attiude errors, as well as of the mechanics and Kinematics in the process of automatic assembly of industrial robots, the paper studies the principle of construction of dynamic wrists. Type I-3 and Ⅱ-6 dynamic compliant wrists have been designed and made. Prblems in the production of compliant elements and the connection between compliant elements and wrists were also solved. A study on the results of tests of the function of two kinds of dynamic compliant wrists shows that the dynamic compliant wrist's compliancy function can be improved by adding metallic materials having higher longitudinal and transverse rigidity into the softer elstomer. And the design Principle is proved to be feasible and practicable. It can be expected that the use of dynamic compliant wrist will greatly lower the technical requirements of the shaft-hole assembly and the requirements in the resetting accuracy.

Combined method for parallel manipulator configuration design

Configuration design is an essential, creative and decision-making step m parallel manipulator design process, in which modeling and assembly are iterative and trivial. Combined approach with automatic parametric modeling and automatic assembly is proposed for parallel manipulator configuration design. The design process and key techniques, such as configuration design, configuration verification, poses calculation of all parts in parallel manipulator, virtual assembly and etc., are discussed and demonstrated by an example. A software package is developed for parallel manipulator configuration design based on the proposed method with Visual C＋＋ and UG/OPEN on Unigraphics.

Novel gripper module and method for automated assembly of miniature parts

During assembly process,the miniature part needs to be fixed in its assembly position.In some occasions where adhesive is used,the joining force is not established due to the adhesive curing process,in that case the locking of parts is required.Manual locking is difficult to meet the increasing demand for mass production.To solve this problem and realize fully automatic assembly,a novel gripper module was designed and corresponding locking method was proposed.Thanks to the functional integration,the gripper module is capable of manipulating and locking the part.This module is integrated into the assembly system and plays a crucial role in automatic assembly.The locking method for automatic assembly is based on the integration of the part picking up and the locking unit releasing.After being placed accurately at its desired position,the miniature part can be automatically locked by releasing the locking unit.The innovative structure and mechanism of the gripper module convert the spring force into the locking force of the miniature part,ensuring non-rigid locking and suitable small locking force.Locking principle,flexibility and limitations of the proposed method were clarified in detail.Moreover,an effective compensation strategy was used to achieve accurate and stable pickup of the part,which increased the reliability of the assembly process.During automatic locking,the disturbances to the part due to the eccentric load were analyzed.The effectiveness of the gripper module and proposed method was verified by experiment.Experimental results indicated that the modular system integrated with the gripper module could meet the requirements of fully automatic assembly.Manual locking is replaced by automatic locking,and workers are liberated from tedious manual operations.The improvement of automation level enables assembly equipment to be applied to mass production scenarios.

Multibody system transfer matrix method:The past, the present, and the future

The multibody system transfer matrix method(MSTMM),a novel dynamics approach developed during the past three decades,has several advantages compared to conventional dynamics methods.Some of these advantages include avoiding global dynamics equations with a system inertia matrix,utilizing low‐order matrices independent of system degree of freedom,high computational speed,and simplicity of computer implementation.MSTMM has been widely used in computer modeling,simulations,and performance evaluation of approximately 150 different complex mechanical systems.In this paper,the following aspects regarding MSTMM are reviewed:basic theory,algorithms,simulation and design software,and applications.Future research directions and generalization to more applications in various fields of science,technology,and engineering are discussed.