Integrated Composite Parts Thickness Measurements in Aerospace Manufacturing & Assembly Operations

Abstract

In aerospace vehicle manufacturing and assembly, including that at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, measurements of composite part thickness are required for ensuring underlying processes are within tolerance, and for achieving outer mold line control surface requirements. This paper describes an integrated process involving a robust and reliable method of thickness measurement followed by wirelessly transferring the data either into a quality database, and directly populating measured thickness points into an electronic planning document. Without such a system, the process would consist of three steps: 1) manually taking measurements, 2) hand-documenting the measured data, and 3) manually entering the measurement data into a planning document within the Manufacturing Execution system. Obviously the manual approach involving three steps is time consuming and prone to data entry errors. Details of the mechanical gauge with ZigBee® data transfer capabilities, Composite Part Thickness Measurement System architecture, gauge Reproducibility & Repeatability study, software features, how the new thickness measurement process works, as well as benefits of the system will be discussed in this paper.