Automated Robotic System for Jet Engine Overhaul. Process Development and Enhancement for Honeycomb Repair.

Abstract

Following the first phase of system design and development, this paper places the emphasis on the process development and enhancement for the automated honeycomb repair system. In this report, an active force control has been developed for the chiseling process and the optimal parameters have been established for the belt polishing process. The active force control was originally developed to avoid the overload problem on the robot arm, and consequently extended the robot running at its full capacity. The parameter for polishing process was optimized using "Taguchi method". As the result, the productivity was improved about 30%-50% and tool life was doubled.