Process Dependent Design of (Hybrid) Parallel Kinematic Machines for Aircraft Assembly

Aerospace manufacturers are looking for flexible agile machines for automated aircraft assembly to overcome limitations of current machines, i.e., inflexibility of conventional large expensive dedicated equipments and the low stiffness and accuracy of industrial robots. Recent research shows (Hybrid) Parallel Kinematic Machine ((H)PKM) has the potential to provide the required flexibility, stiffness and accuracy. It is an emerging technology, which has been identified as the key enabler for next generation manufacturing systems, although its development is still in the initial stage. Obviously, various types of H(PKM)s will be needed for different manufacturing processes, and modular design is required for ease of reconfiguration. Therefore the machine design has to be process dependent and driven by real engineering requirements. The travel grant is for visiting the world-leading research Group of Manufacturing Equipments and Systems (GMES) in Tianjin University in China, and working together with Prof. Tian Huang and his research team for one month to explore innovative design method of PKM/HPKMs for next generation manufacturing systems for aircraft assembly. The project will initially focus on aerospace manufacturing, once successful, it will be extended to other manufacturing sectors, such as automotive and transport industries. To contribute to the UK national priority in high value manufacturing, the success of this project will bring a huge impact to the UK economy, where manufacturing accounts for 13% of GDP and more than 50% of exports. The scope of this investigation is as follows.
1) Assessing existing PKM/HPKM performance
2) Categorisation of manufacturing processes for automated aircraft assembly
3) New PKM/HPKM design and development
4) Novel performance indices for design and production
5) Topological and dimensional optimization method
6) Innovative method of productive system integration for aircraft assembly
The main deliverable will be the writing of a post-visit report, which will form the basis for two to three funding applications (at least one for fundamental research and one for applications). Other deliverables will include joint publications and research exchanges in the future.

With 30% cost saving expected from implementation of next generation machines [A review of international approaches to Manufacturing Research, EPSRC 2011], development of advanced robotics and automation technologies gains its priority in manufacturing research as it will gain UK a competitive edge world-wide. Upon success of this project, the research outcome will have a direct impact to the UK aerospace industry which is the 2nd largest in the world with a turnover of £23.1 billion per annum. Being a transferable technology, the impact of this project will also be extended to other manufacturing sectors. By year 2020, many heavy inflexible machines are to be replaced by the new advanced PKMs for achieving higher productivity with less energy consumption. In 50 years, the design methodology of the PKMs will have been expanded to include all types of knowledge-based machine tools to support the intelligent reconfigurable manufacturing system. All of these will bring a real boost to the UK economy, where manufacturing accounts for 13% of GDP and more than 50% of exports.
The success of this project will urge developments in many research areas (mechanism, robotics, machine tool, cutting tool, cutting processes, production, and environmental conscious manufacturing) and industry sectors (CAD/CAM, machine tool manufacturers, control, machine intelligence, machine user). To enhance the impacts of this visit, the following events have been planned:
1) The research results will be published on QUB website, as with the previous projects.
2) Two seminars will be organized after the visit to disseminate the research outcomes. One on (H)PKM frontiers will be organized through NIACE (Northern Ireland Advanced Composites & Engineering) RTC Centre in September 2012. The target audience will be from manufacturing industry, including the investigator's current industrial partners (e.g. Bombardier Aerospace Shorts, Airbus UK, Wright bus, Thales and Michelin and Gudel) and relevant machine tool manufacturers and users. The event will be advertised in Knowledge Transfer Network and the British Automation and Robot Association. Another seminar will be organized in Queen's University Belfast in November 2012 to introduce the state of the art research in (H)PKM for researchers, students and academics.
3) Pathway to product commercialization will be explored through above mentioned seminars or awareness raising meetings with participation of tool manufacturers (such as Gudel). Tool manufacturers are to obtain insightful understanding of practical industrial requirements, and will benefit from incorporating our models and methodology into their existing design tools.
4) The investigator has an excellent research track record with over 30 publications. The findings and results of this research will be published in high quality internationally conferences (such as IEEE, International Conference on Robotics and Automation, and International Conference on Manufacturing Research) and journals (e.g. International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture, and Mechanism and Machine theory), which will further enhance the applicant's existing strong record in publications.
5) 2-3 open seminars will be organized in Tianjin University during this visit, allowing both parties to disseminate their recent research to a wider audience.
6) The international standing of QUB will be enhanced by establishing key collaborations with the leading Chinese university. Detailed memorandum of understanding for future collaborations will be drafted during the visit.
7) The theoretical advances, models, algorithms and methods will be incorporated into the class module of robotics and manufacturing automation. A generic case study will be developed for both education and industrial training.