Own development model for Integrated Management of Technological Innovation.
Automation of Visual Inspection and Finishing Processes for Aero-egines
In this project, IDEKO is in charge of integrating all the technologies and to supporting decision making on the developments of different vision systems; in addition to using IDEKO"s knowledge on the implementation of intelligent robotic cells for surface finishing of workpieces.
The objective of the AVISPA project is to make the European aero-engine manufacturing sector competitive. For this, within a zero-defect approach, work will be carried out on the automation of workpiece surface finishing processes, automated visual inspections will be integrated during the process and closed-loop controls will be implemented based on automatic learning algorithms.
One of the challenges is the automation of the visual inspection process in order to control the wear and defects of the cutting tools. The participants in the project will design and implement a system that visually inspects the wear and the breakage of tools in the machining centre available at the Aeronautics Advanced Manufacturing Center.
The automation of the surface finishing process (deburring and polishing) of additive manufacturing workpieces will also be implemented in a robotics cell designed for that purpose. A first step will tackle the problem of locating the part in the robotic cell (avoiding the use of precise tooling), and communicating to the robot the location of the workpiece that it has to work on. In a second step, a surface verification will be carried out so that the closed-loop can make use of automated learning techniques and improve the finishing processes automatically.
Lastly, work will be carried out to automate the visual inspection of honeycomb workpieces and the integrity of the turbine discs. A system will be designed and implemented that, through its vision capacities, will check that the machined honeycomb workpieces are finished correctly.
The integration of the various visual inspection technologies developed in the project within the finishing processes, and their use in conjunction with automated learning, will give the following results:
• Reduction of the number of defects resulting from the current processes (mainly carried out manually).
• Identification of the defects in the early stages of the process.
• Prevention of the defects caused by the premature breakage of the tool.
• Improvement of repeatability, standardisation and control of the processes. Key step in the aero-engine sector.
• Reduction in final processing and inspection time.
• Elimination of bottlenecks occurring in final workpiece inspection processes.
• Reduction of operator workload.
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