Automated application of lightning protection material on double curved fuselage panels of carbon fibre aircrafts: From the idea to the application

Abstract

The latest generation of aircrafts, which are often in large parts made from fibre-forced-plastics, are prone due to common lightning strikes. Therefore, an extra treatment of the fuselage is necessary in order to prevent any damage. A special high conductive material (Lightning Strike Protection (LSP) material) is applied to the outermost layer of the fuselage. Currently, for double curved parts of the fuselage, this happens to be a very cost-intensive manual process. We have developed an automated solution for standard industrial robot which reduces the necessary manpower, speeds up the lay-up quantity and improves the process reproducibility. Our approach aims not only the draping process of the LSP material due to the constructed lay-up head but also the generation of the robot paths and optimised cuts of the material regarding to the curvature of the mould. The cuts are produced during the draping process directly from the material reel. Therefore our solution shortens the process chain by eliminating the pre-cutting of the material and allows to lay-up wider cuts and better utilisation of the material. The lay-up process itself is very precise, less stressful to the material and compliant to the manufacturing specifications.