Study On Dual-Robot-Based Drilling & Riveting End-effector And Automated Rivet Feeding Apparatus

Research and application of automatic drilling & riveting technology has increasingly matured in foreign aviation industry, and its tendency is flexible automation assembly system which contains robots and special flexible equipment. However, the domestic automatic drilling & riveting is mainly used in certain aircraft parts of foreign subcontract, besides the technical level is lower, almost the equipments imported from foreign country are outmoded machinery. Therefore, for the assembly of large aircraft fuselage wainscot, a kind of automatic assembly system using dual-robot synergy drilling & riveting is presented by my team. As preliminary studies of the large-scale assembly system, the robotic drilling & riveting end-effector and its automated rivet feeding apparatus are studied in this paper.The development and application status of automatic drilling & riveting technology and equipments are summarized. On basis of analyzing the structural characteristics and the main components' connection method of the large aircraft fuselage wainscot, the dual-robot synergy automatic drilling & riveting system is introduced, and the technics process of wainscot components assembly using automatic drilling & riveting is framed.Based on the functions and assembly processes of the robot end-effector, the structure program of an integrative end-actuator and its rivets inserted installation are presented. Through making simple end-effector and doing trials, feasibility of robot implementing automatic drilling, rivet impacting, auxiliary riveting, aperture and shaft mating-assembly is respectively verified. Optimal process parameters obtained from the trials provide an important basis for further design and optimization of the integrative drilling & riveting robot end-effector.The rivets used on wainscot assembly are analyzed and functional requirements and design conditions of automatic rivet feeding apparatus are summarized. A program which includes directional sorting, separation and rivets delivery three modules is proposed. For each functional module, several possible options are proposed to analyze and compare, the best program is selected to design the specific structure.To ensure the operational reliability of automated rivet feeding apparatus, the analysis of the movement of rivets in auto-supply process is worked out, and the average speed of rivet supply is estimated according to the parameter. The length, inclination and cross-sectional shapes of rigid track are designed, and the speed when rivet reaches separation module is calculated. The smallest pipe bend radius of flexible pipeline rivet transported in is analyzed and calculated, and the necessary condition is worked out to prevent the rivet locked in pipe as well, the calculation results are validated through experiments.