SmartMotor using Combitronic for Flexible Tooling

http://www.animatics.com Download the case study at http://www.animatics.com/download/case_studies/Aircraft%2... Aircraft wings are the most critical structural component of the entire aircraft and the precision fabrication of aircraft "skins" has become nothing short of engineering artistry. Airplane fuselages and wings for the aviation, space and defense industries are made of 1mm-5mm thick contoured aluminum or aluminum composite and designed to be both incredibly strong and lightweight, a challenging combination that's been mastered thanks to computer assisted design and automation in manufacturing. This video shows the progression of a flexible tooling machine, such as the one from Line Machines in Canada (not in video). The key capability with SmartMotor is using Combitronic (runs over DeviceNet or CANopen without interfering) for group addressing and global addressing, and the ability to start and stop motion of groups or of all motors at the same time, regardless of current position. Imagine a supersized bed of nails where every "nail" is actually an electromechanical actuator with a SmartMotor� servo attached to its base. Flexitool can exactly match the unique contoured shape of almost any large metal panel (with support equivalent to a hard tooled fixture) for further processing such as milling, inspection and laser scribing. PS: Sorry for the shaky video. Small camera at the time :)

Uploaded: October 28, 2011 Length: 00:00:56 Plays: 32