The project ZAero coordinated by PROFACTOR was nominated as one of the finalists of the JEC innovation award.
The project consortium developed technologies for zero defect manufacturing of large composite parts.
Visit PROFACTOR at the JEC 2019 in Hall 5, Booth S66. The JEC takes place from March 12-14, 2019 in Paris.
Zero-defect manufacturing of composite parts
In the aerospace industry, very large components (e.g. wing covers) are made of carbon fiber composite materials. Different challenges are related to the processing of such materials. The complexity that comes with carbon fiber composites often leads to anomalies and defects during production. The EU project ZAero developed intelligent inspection technology to detect problems in production at an early stage. The ZAero project aims for 30-50% boost in productivity via inline AFP and ADMP inspection, simulated part performance and decision support tools. The technology will be showcased at the JEC (Hall 5, Booth S66).
Very high quality standards have to be met in the aerospace industry. In order to guarantee production of defect-free components, a great deal of effort needs to be put into quality control. Lightweight carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) components are nowadays largely used in the aerospace industry. Production of such parts requires multiple stages of processing, each of which needs to be done with great care.
Continuous process monitoring for zero defects
In order to avoid defects during production, the EU project ZAero developed technologies for consistent monitoring of production. This is based on sensors for fiber orientation measurement and 3D profile scanning that perform inline monitoring during the lay-up process. In addition to this, data from the following production stages (infusion, curing) is collected in a manufacturing database. This database represents a “digital twin” of the real part as manufactured. Intelligent data processing and mechanical simulation provide information about the severity of defects.Logistical simulation delivers information about the part flow and overall production performance. This enables a global view on the production and reveals how defect rates and re-work decisions affect, for example, completion time of a specific order.
Industrial reference implementation
Installation of monitoring systems into industrial environments were done at the facilities of Danobat and FIDAMC. The deployed sensor systems were demonstrated to work well in the respective environments. Data collection, simulation, and decision support modules were successfully demonstrated. Experiments showed that the future production of up to 60 passenger planes per month will be possible with the technologies developed within the project.
PROFACTOR is an Austrian research company located in Steyr and focuses on developing new methods for integrated production technologies. In the field of composite part production, the technological focus is on zero defect manufacturing. PROFACTOR offers sensor systems for fibre orientation measurements, AFP and ADMP monitoring, surface inspection and thermography. Visit us at booth S66 in hall 5.
ZAero Zero-defect manufacturing of composite parts in the aerospace industry
Coordinator PROFACTOR GmbH
Partners: Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Dassault Systèmes SE, M Torres Diseños Industriales SA, IK4 – IDEKO S Coop, Danobat S Coop, FIDAMC
Duration: 2016 – 2019
Funding: EU Horizon 2020
Website: www.zaero-project.eu
Heimsheim. 3D-printing is everywhere. How far additive manufacturing can go this is shown in the project DIMAP. As outstanding outcome of the H2020 project DIMAP, cirp will showcase the first ever pneumatic robot in the world printed almost exclusively with PolyJetTM technology from Stratasys® at the exhibition formnext 2018.
DIMAP, standing for “Novel nanoparticle enhanced Digital Material for 3D Printing and their application shown for robotic and electronic industry”, is a multidisciplinary research project focusing on the development of novel 3D-printing materials for PolyJetTM technology.
A group of 12 partners from five different countries coordinated by PROFACTOR developed ink materials with special thermal and electrical conductive properties within the scope of the project
Due to its qualities, these ink materials can be used for selected print heads as well as be tailored to suit future industrial applications in products.
The DIMAP SCARA robot displays impressively the potential of the PolyJetTM 3D-printing technology with new developed ink materials. The robot will be presented to the public for the first time this November at the formnext exhibition. SCARA is the abbreviation for Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm and describes a jointed-arm robot that can operate horizontally. DIMAP stands for Novel nanoparticle enhanced Digital Materials for 3D Printing and their application shown for the robotic and electronic industry. From 2015 to 2018, Profactor has coordinated a group of 12 partners from five different countries focused on the development of novel materials for PolyJetTM printing technology. The European Union has funded this joint project within the framework of the program Horizon 2020.
PolyJetTM is a 3D-printing technique where print heads jet layers of curable liquid photopolymer materials, so called inks, onto a build tray. So layer by layer complex models get shaped. Multiple inks can be printed simultaneously in one layer to combine different characteristics or colors in one printed object. DIMAP aimed to develop ink materials with an innovative set of properties:
Electrical conductive ink with silver nanoparticles to print conductive tracks
Thermal conductive ink with ceramic nanoparticles to cool LED lights
Foamed ink for light-weight applications
Polyimide inks with excellent chemical and high temperature resistance.
A prototype PolyJetTM printer with extended processing features was created within the project to allow the printing process with the novel ink materials.
Two demonstrators were developed to test the printing suitability of the new ink formulations: a customizable luminaire and a pneumatically operated robot. Festo, a German supplier of pneumatic and electrical automation technology, was responsible for the design and startup of the DIMAP SCARA, which is a pneumatically actuated robot. Its functional plastic components have been printed with PolyJetTM additive manufacturing technology. Two movable axes display two different solutions for a printed rotary drive. Altair’s simulation software was used to optimize further structural components, such as the lightweight gripper. Additive manufacturing enabled a high functional integration with a small amount of components and a particularly light structure.
Gabriel Dämmer, Project official at Festo says: “Regardless if Additive Manufacturing is considered for prototyping or for the manufacturing of end-use products, understanding and incorporating the technological capabilities into specific design processes is essential. The development of the DIMAP SCARA gives us first hand experiences of Multi-Material Additive Manufacturing in the field of pneumatic light-weight robots.”
The German company cirp manufactured the plastic components of the robot with a modified Stratasys’ Objet260 Connex2TM printer using the newly developed inks supplied by the different partners as well as standard materials from Stratasys.
cirp will show the unique DIMAP robot in action at its exhibition stand at the formnext (hall 3.1 booth F11 + G10).
Leo Schranzhofer, project leader of DIMAP says: “DIMAP gives us a glimpse into future possibilities of PolyJetTM printing, nicely shown with the DIMAP SCARA robot, developed by FESTO and printed by cirp. The outcome of DIMAP opens the door to a new generation of highly functional products”.
cirp: The company, based in Heimsheim near Stuttgart, has been manufacturing plastic parts as prototypes and small series for a wide variety of industries with additive manufacturing and injection moulding since 1994. The processes at cirp include PolyJetTM, stereolithography, laser sintering, FDM, vacuum casting, CNC milling.
Booth number at formnext: Hall 3.1 Booth F11 + G10
Festo AG is a global player and an independent family-owned company with headquarters in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany. The company supplies pneumatic and electrical automation technology to 300,000 customers of factory and process automation in over 35 industries. The products and services are available in 176 countries. With about 20,100 employees in over 250 branch offices in 61 countries worldwide, Festo achieved a turnover of around €3.1 billion in 2017. Each year around 8 % of this turnover is invested in research and development. In this learning company, 1.5 % of turnover is invested in basic and further training. Yet training services are not only provided for Festo’s own staff – Festo Didactic SE also supplies basic and further training programmes in the field of automation technology for customers, students and trainees.
PROFACTOR: is an Austrian research company located in Steyr and focuses on developing new methods for integrated production technologies. The technological focus is on robotics, machine vision, functional surface and nanostructures. About 75 scientists of various disciplines conduct research to improve the competitiveness of the production industry and to strengthen the Austrian and European industry. PROFACTOR strives to enhance printing technologies that create solutions for functionalizing surfaces. This is the key to innovative and individual products with outstanding properties.
Stratasys is a global leader in additive manufacturing or 3D printing technology, and is the manufacturer of FDM® and PolyJet™ 3D Printers. The company’s technologies are used to create prototypes, manufacturing tools, and production parts for industries, including aerospace, automotive, healthcare, consumer products and education. For 30 years, Stratasys products have helped manufacturers reduce product-development time, cost, and time-to-market, as well as reduce or eliminate tooling costs and improve product quality. The Stratasys 3D printing ecosystem of solutions and expertise includes: 3D printers, materials, software, expert services, and on-demand parts production. Online at: www.stratasys.com, http://blog.stratasys.com and LinkedIn.
Stratasys is a registered trademark and the Stratasys signet is a trademark of Stratasys Ltd. and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
PROFACTOR: EU project to develop the future of inspection robots
A research project worth 4 million € together with FACC, voestalpine Boehler Aerospace and Centro Ricerche Fiat
STEYR. The research center PROFACTOR has been awarded a 3-year resarch project called SPIRIT. Together with 8 partners from science and industry, including FACC, voestalpine Böhler Aerospace and Centro Ricerche Fiat, a new generation of inspection robots is to be developed. These robots will be used for very different inspection tasks in industry – without programming.
“The goal of the project is to get rid of time-consuming and expensive programming tasks and instead to just configure the inspection process for the machine“, says Christian Eitzinger, head of the machine vision department at PROFACTOR. The research organization has long-lasting experience in industrial machine vision and robotics and in a long-term research program Profactor focused on the integration of these two topics. This included e.g. the project “ThermoBot” that aimed at the thermographic crack detection in forged parts, such as crank shafts. The main challenge when inspecting parts of complex shape is to plan the motion of the robot in such a way that the surface is fully inspected.
Path planning depends on inspection technology
Planning of an inspection path highly depends on the particular inspection technology. Eitzinger: “For thermography we need to take the time for heat dissipation into account, while no such restrictions exist e.g. for X-ray inspection. In that case, however, an emitter and a detector need to be independently positioned on opposite side of the part.”
SPIRIT aims at the “universal inspection machine”
SPIRIT aims at the development of inspection robots that can deal with a wide range of inspection technologies, including surface inspection by machine vision, thermography for crack detection, X-ray inspection or 3D sensors for assembly checks. Eitzinger: “We are developing a software framework that can automatically plan an inspection path for all these different inspection technologies”. The inspection robot will just need a CAD model of the workcell – to avoid collisions – and a model of the part to be inspected. Given this information it will take the selected inspection technology into account and automatically generate an inspection program for the particular task.
At Centro Ricerche Fiat e.g. the robot will be used to inspect a part on the conveyor while it is moving. In this case the presence and correct mounting of plugs, cables and hoses needs to be verified by the robot.
Reactive Planning
As an additional feature the robot will have the capability to optimize the inspection process in real-time while it is running. This is necessary in the case of e.g. unknown deformations that are not accurately represented in the CAD model. Or in the case of X-Ray inspection the sensor needs to be adjusted to the orientation of the honeycomb core in a composite part.
Technology for SMEs
The end users in the project are large, well-known companies, but also small and medium size enterprises will benefit from the results, either by using the inspection robot for quality control of small lot sizes or – in the case of machine builders – by using the software framework for an easy deployment of the technology at end users.
Project data
Akronym: SPIRIT
Project name: A software framework for the efficient setup of industrial inspection robots
Printing on a sport shoe with a robot-based inkjet printer was one of the highlights at the InPrint 2016, the exhibition for industrial print technology, from 15th to 17th of November in Milan, Italy.
In cooperation with Ardeje, PROFACTOR presented an inkjet printer prototype for printing on curved surfaces supported by a robot.
The capability of the robot assisted printing on 3D objects was demonstrated with printing of a green grass design on sport shoes with ink receptive 3D Haptic coatings provided by the Chinese company HUAFENG. Perfectly programmed by PROFACTOR Engineers, the robot made the job with high reliability and repeatability. For many visitor, the demonstration was the most impressive innovation presented at the InPrint show 2016.
The prototyp was developed in the addmanu project
PROFACTOR (robotics, process development) and TIGER Coatings (ink) are together developing the robot assisted printing system in a ongoing national funded project. addmanu is a national flag ship project for research, development and the establishment of additive manufacturing with more than 20 partners from universities and industry. Apart from the project, ARDEJE developed the inkjet printing engine.
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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 779431.
