Autonomous flexible manufacturing system for building a fuselage
First Claim
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1. A method for building a fuselage assembly for an aircraft, the method comprising:
- driving a tower across a floor into a selected tower position relative to a utility fixture selected from a plurality of utility fixtures in an assembly area, wherein the tower comprises a top platform that is configured to provide access to a top floor of an interior of the fuselage assembly by a human operator or an internal mobile platform moving across the top platform onto the top floor of the interior of the fuselage assembly and a bottom platform that is configured to provide access to a bottom floor of the interior of the fuselage assembly by the human operator or the internal mobile platform moving across the bottom platform onto the bottom floor of the interior of the fuselage assembly;
physically coupling the tower to the utility fixture by a first physical interface such that a number of utilities flow from the utility fixture to the tower through the first physical interface, wherein the number of utilities comprise at least one of electricity, air, hydraulic fluid, and water;
driving a cradle fixture across the floor into a selected cradle position relative to the tower in the assembly area to form an assembly fixture;
physically coupling the cradle fixture to the tower by a second physical interface to such that the number of utilities flow downstream from the tower to the cradle fixture through the second physical interface; and
building the fuselage assembly on the assembly fixture;
driving a number of the internal mobile platforms autonomously from the tower into the interior of the fuselage assembly; and
building the fuselage assembly on the assembly fixture.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for building a fuselage assembly for an aircraft. A number of fixtures may be drive across a floor to an assembly area to form an assembly fixture. The fuselage assembly may be built on the assembly fixture.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method for building a fuselage assembly for an aircraft, the method comprising:
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driving a tower across a floor into a selected tower position relative to a utility fixture selected from a plurality of utility fixtures in an assembly area, wherein the tower comprises a top platform that is configured to provide access to a top floor of an interior of the fuselage assembly by a human operator or an internal mobile platform moving across the top platform onto the top floor of the interior of the fuselage assembly and a bottom platform that is configured to provide access to a bottom floor of the interior of the fuselage assembly by the human operator or the internal mobile platform moving across the bottom platform onto the bottom floor of the interior of the fuselage assembly; physically coupling the tower to the utility fixture by a first physical interface such that a number of utilities flow from the utility fixture to the tower through the first physical interface, wherein the number of utilities comprise at least one of electricity, air, hydraulic fluid, and water; driving a cradle fixture across the floor into a selected cradle position relative to the tower in the assembly area to form an assembly fixture; physically coupling the cradle fixture to the tower by a second physical interface to such that the number of utilities flow downstream from the tower to the cradle fixture through the second physical interface; and
building the fuselage assembly on the assembly fixture;driving a number of the internal mobile platforms autonomously from the tower into the interior of the fuselage assembly; and building the fuselage assembly on the assembly fixture. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification