Introduction to Assembly

An Aerospace Manufacturing Perspective

Course Overview

Introduction Assembly Concepts

Constraint Fixtures Assembly features Tolerance stacks

copyright J. Anderson, 2008

Assembly The Necessary Evil

Assembly is inherently integrative brings parts together brings people, departments, companies together can be the glue for concurrent engineering Assembly is where the product comes to life there arent many one-part products Assembly is where quality is delivered quality is delivered by chains of parts, not by any single most important part
copyright J. Anderson, 2008

Assembly

The term assembly covers a wide field

From a lowly pencil sharpener with less than 20 parts to an advanced fighter aircraft like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with hundreds of thousands parts

copyright J. Anderson, 2008

The Study of Assembly

Traditional unit processes studied for 150+ years Assembly studied perhaps 40 years Most assembly process design and actual assembly is manual Surge in interest in robot assembly in the 70s Interest in appropriate technology today
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Manual vs. Automated Assembly

People just do it Machines cant just do it It was hoped that robots could just do it Early robot research focused on imitating what people do obehave flexibly ouse their senses ofix mistakes
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What happened
Too slow and too costly No one knew how to do an economic analysis and most didnt care at first People do what they do because of their strengths and weaknesses - same with robots Today there is a place for robots, people, and fixed automation in assembly The issue is to decide which is best and how to prepare the environment

copyright J. Anderson, 2008

Robotics as a Driver for Assembly Automation

Robotics raises a number of generic issues: flexibility vs efficiency generality vs specificity responsiveness or adaptation vs preplanning absorption of uncertainty vs elimination of uncertainty lack of structure vs structure
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Assembly = Constraint
1. Assembly = removal of dof = application of constraint 2. As constraint is applied, degrees of freedom are taken away so that a part gets to where it is supposed to be. 3. When parts are where they are supposed to be, the key characteristics of the assembly can be delivered, assuming no variation 4. This is called the nominal design
copyright J. Anderson, 2008

Constraint is Accomplished by Surfaces in Contact

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Degrees of Freedom
An object's location in space is completely specified when three translations (X, Y, Z) and three rotations (X,Y, Z ) are specified How many DOFs are constrained for a cube on table (x-y plane)?
- rotation about x & y and translation along z; therefore 3 degrees of freedom are constrained

copyright J. Anderson, 2008

Assembly Constraint
1. Proper constraint provides a single value for each of a bodys 6 degrees of freedom (dof) 2. This is done by establishing surface contacts with surfaces on another part or parts 3. If less than 6 dof have definite values, the body is under-constrained 4. If an attempt is made to provide 2 or more values for a dof, then the body is over-constrained because rigid bodies have only 6 dof 5. Any extra needed dof must be obtained by deforming the object
copyright J. Anderson, 2008

Example of Proper and Over Constraint

Proper constraint permits an assembly to have unambiguous chains of delivery of KCs

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"Good" Over-constrained Assemblies

Preloaded angular contact bearing systems
Preload increases contact stress, creating a stiff bearing system (see next page)

Planetary gears - redundant locators, no stress Shrink fit

Heated wheel slips on over shaft, shrinks upon cooling to make a super-tight joint

Beam built in at both ends

It's stiffer for the same cross section than a simply- supported beam because the ends can support a moment A good design permits longitudinal motion at the ends

In each case there is an underlying properly constrained system!

copyright J. Anderson, 2008

Why Does Over-Constraint Occur?

Forces or torques are deliberately inserted, e.g. Shrinking Tightening a lock nut The design attempts to fix more than 6 degrees of freedom of a part, e.g. The x position is determined by the part's left end The part's x position is determined by the part's right end There is a fight whose outcome is compression in the x direction and no easy way to calculate the x position
copyright J. Anderson, 2008

Tipoffs for Over-constraint

1. It takes skill to put the parts together and get them just right 2. The assembly task is operatordependent 3. Fasteners have to be tightened in a particular sequence 4. It is hard to get welded parts out of the fixture 5. Some parts will assemble easily but other "identical" ones will not 6. You can never get everything to line up the way you want it to 7. Results are inconsistent
copyright J. Anderson, 2008

Location and Stability

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Force Closures and Form Closures

Force closures are one-sided
They support force in one direction at a definite location They can provide proper constraint

Form closures are two-sided

They can support unlimited force They will generate over-constraint unless some clearance is provided If clearance is provided, then the location is no longer definite
copyright J. Anderson, 2008

One-Side and Two-Side Constraints

One-side (AKA force closure)
Needs an effector Gives perfect knowledge of location but can't support an arbitrary force in all directions Needs no effector and can support arbitrary force Contains its own stabilizer Actually contains over-constraint If we relax this over-constraint with a little clearance then we lose perfect knowledge of location copyright J. Anderson, 2008

Two- or multi-side constraint (AKA form closure)

When Parts are Joined, Degrees of Freedom are Fixed

Parts join at places called assembly features Different features constrain different numbers and kinds of degrees of freedom of the respective parts (symmetrically) Parts may join by
one pair of features multiple features several parts working together, each with its own features

When parts mate to fixtures, dofs are constrained

copyright J. Anderson, 2008

F35 Horizontal Stabilizer Fixture

Fixture

Stabilizer structure
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How Airplanes are Built

Boeing: Ensure that there is open space at max material condition Fill the gap with shims, reducing gap to XXX Report remaining gap to Engineering Lately: use better process control to predict gaps and prepare standard shims in as many cases as possible Airbus: Make parts from 3D CAD/NC Join them directly No shims Both attempt to limit locked-in stress
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F/A 18 Horizontal Stabilizer

Position Skin
Uses Hard Tool Suspended by a Crane

Suction Cups for Holding Skin

Typical Tool on Storage Rack

Opportunity for Automation

Install Torque Clecos Cure Liquid Shim
Current Cure Time is 8 Hours

Remove Skin
Using Hard Tool

Install Skin Inspect Liquid Shim and Repair

Using Hard Tool

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F/A 18 Horizontal Stabilizer, contd

Move Structure into Automated Drill Machine Drill & Countersink Holes Full Size Drill & Countersink Tack Rivets to Full Size Inspect Holes
Using Renishaw Probe

Move Structure into Workstand

Install Fasteners

Sample Skin and Frame

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Examples of Engineering Features

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Statistical and Worst Case Compared

copyright J. Anderson, 2008