Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Assembling or joining
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-02
2001-05-29
Hughes, S. Thomas (Department: 3726)
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Assembling or joining
C029S791000, C029S431000, C029S243530
Reexamination Certificate
active
06237210
ABSTRACT:
PRIORITY CLAIM
This application is based on and claims the priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of German Patent Application 198 34 703.0, filed on Jul. 31, 1998, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a method for fabricating an aircraft fuselage from plural fuselage sections, equipping the fuselage and outfitting the fuselage, as well as a system for carrying out this method.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In present day manufacturing of aircraft fuselages, it has been typical to carry out the fabrication of the fuselage shell, the equipping of that fuselage shell, and the final outfitting or interior furnishing of that fuselage shell in separate distinct stages carried out in succession after the previous stage has been completed for the entire fuselage.
To carry out the fabricating stage, it is typical to first join together large surface area curved fuselage shell components by means of riveting to form fuselage sections, for example using riveting equipment disclosed in German Patent Laying Open Document 34 38 584 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,556 (Gidlund), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The resulting fuselage sections are then typically joined to each other along transverse or circumferential seams to form larger aircraft fuselage segments, using both automatic riveting systems as well as manual operations.
After the aircraft fuselage, or at least a relatively large fuselage segment, has been assembled from plural fuselage sections, the entire resulting fuselage shell is transferred to at least another assembly station or area for carrying out the equipping of the entire fuselage shell, and thereafter the entire fuselage shell is transferred to at least a further assembly station or area for carrying out the outfitting of the entire fuselage shell. In this context, the equipping of the fuselage shell involves installing various aircraft systems components and equipment such as pipes, conduits, ducts, auxiliary devices and equipment, and structural components in the raw fuselage shell. The outfitting stage involves the installation of various outfitting components such as insulation packets or blankets, electrical conductor bundles, floors, wall paneling, furnishings including seats and baggage compartments for example, fittings and various finish and trim components.
It is apparent from the above discussion that the production cycle for manufacturing a finished aircraft fuselage involves plural independent and successive stages of fabrication, assembly and installation operations carried out sequentially one after the other for the entire aircraft fuselage. Especially due to the extraordinary size of a modern day commercial aircraft fuselage, such a conventional fabrication and assembly process is rather space intensive and time intensive and therefore costly. Assembly areas including the necessary support arrangements and the like require a large capital investment and also require a rather large and expensive building to enclose the large working space including the several successive assembly and installation areas or stages. The conventional step-by-step assembly and installation process, in which prescribed production steps or stages are carried out at a given assembly area and thereafter the aircraft fuselage is moved to the next assembly area for carrying out the successive assembly or installation stages, suffers another disadvantage, in that the entire production cycle will be affected by a problem causing a delay at any one of the successive assembly areas. As a result, any problem in any stage of the fabrication or installation process can lead to production standstills or delays of the entire production process.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above it is an object of the invention to provide an optimized production process for manufacturing an aircraft fuselage in which the time and space required for fabricating, equipping, and outfitting the fuselage shell is reduced in comparison to the conventional stage-by-stage process. It is a further object of the invention to provide an apparatus or system for carrying out such a method. The invention also aims to avoid or overcome the disadvantages of the prior art, and to achieve additional advantages, as apparent from the present specification.
The above objects have been achieved according to the invention in a method for fabricating, equipping and outfitting an aircraft fuselage in which an assembly area for assembling a single fuselage shell includes a riveting zone, an equipping zone, and an outfitting zone, wherein the following steps are carried out. A first fuselage section is moved into the riveting zone, in which the first fuselage section is then joined by riveting to an initial structure such as a fuselage tail piece or the like. Next, the first fuselage section is moved out of the riveting zone and into an equipping zone, while a second fuselage section is moved into the riveting zone. Equipment components are installed in the first fuselage section in the equipping zone, while simultaneously the second fuselage section in the riveting zone is joined by riveting to the first fuselage section. Next, the connected fuselage sections are moved together or in common, so that the second fuselage section is moved out of the riveting zone into the equipping zone while simultaneously the first fuselage section is moved from the equipping zone into the outfitting zone. Also, a third fuselage section is moved into the riveting zone. Then, simultaneously, outfitting components are installed in the first, already equipped, fuselage section in the outfitting zone, and equipment components are installed in the second fuselage section in the equipping zone, and the third fuselage section is joined by riveting to the second fuselage section in the riveting zone. The above steps are repeated while successively shifting the resulting fuselage segment “downstream” section-by-section from the riveting zone to the equipping zone and then to the outfitting zone, until the entire fuselage or the desired segment thereof has been fabricated, equipped, and outfitted.
According to the inventive method, the total amount of assembly space for completely fabricating, equipping and outfitting an aircraft fuselage is substantially reduced in comparison to the prior art. Namely, according to the invention, the entire process can be carried out in an assembly area such as a fabrication hall that is only large enough to accommodate one complete fuselage therein, while the conventional stage-by-stage method required an assembly area at least three times as large, namely a first area to completely assemble the fuselage, a second area to completely equip the fuselage, and a third area to completely outfit the fuselage. Furthermore, since the several fabricating, equipping and outfitting operations are carried out substantially simultaneously or at least overlapping in time, according to the invention, the total production time and therewith the total throughput time for the production of a single aircraft fuselage is substantially reduced.
The above objects have further been achieved according to the invention in a system or apparatus for carrying out the above mentioned method. The system comprises an aircraft assembly area such as a fabrication hall which essentially includes three successive adjacent production zones, wherein the first zone is a riveting zone including riveting equipment, the second zone is an equipping zone, and the third zone is an outfitting zone. Each one of the zones preferably has a size substantially corresponding to a single fuselage section as defined by successive transverse seams of the fuselage. Alternatively, a prescribed multiple of fuselage sections can be accommodated in each zone. For example, two fuselage sections joined along a transverse seam might be accommodated in each zone and processed or treated as a single fuselage section in the method of the invention. In order to prevent the work b
Koehler Bernd
Kosuch Norbert
Stoewer Udo
DaimlerChrysler Aerospace Airbus GmbH
Fasse W. F.
Fasse W. G.
Hughes S. Thomas
Jimenez Marc
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