Faced to the advances of automation technologies in global scenario, the branches of industry seek for modernization and optimization of their production methods, while new customized products have been developed and the manufacturing processes are becoming smarter day-by-day. Intelligent automation is an important trend and today collaborative robots are central in different fields and machining is not the exception. This evolution is coupled with the Industry 4.0 trends, as well known as advanced manufacturing that demands virtual manufacturing simulations in order to validate the processes and reduce the fabrication costs of physical products, certification that the processes are ergonomically safe for people, definition of cycles times regarding the productivity of the processes and the dimensioning of number of manpower and machines, thus, levering the digitalization and automation utilization in the industry environment with a faster, safer and advanced way. A motivation of this research is that computer simulation offers the great advantage of studying and statistically analyzing what-if scenarios, reducing the overall time and cost required for taking decisions. This tendency is followed by the demand for innovation and manufacturing environment flexibility, which leads to Product Life-cycle Management software (PLM), that allows more detailed process planning before investment on manufacturing. In this sense, this research proposed the use of Tecnomatixâ Siemens PLM software for process simulation of 7050 aluminum drilling, material widely used in aerospace industry, aiming the evaluation of complexes scenarios with multi-robot integration and its conditions and variables, in order to improve the machining process and its aeronautical assemblies, based on the multi-robot synchronization, as well as the determination of processes parameters,  the most efficient sequence of drilling, productivity and ergonomics optimization for human operation, intending to get a technical and economic evaluation regarding the use of digital manufacturing for this specific case. Thus, this research has analyzed the performance of human-robot interaction by digital manufacturing tools for machining operation. This advanced robotic application at industry 4.0 trends enhances the drilling process of 7050 aluminum when performed by robot, as a case study to explore the scenarios using Siemens TecnomatixÒ Process Simulate as digital tool and implementing different drilling methods with collaborative robots. Several normally aeronautical processes were simulated implementing collaborative robots in order to determine its feasibilities and most efficient production sequence, avoiding collisions and identifying the shortest cycle time, while selecting the most suitable tools for the process, thus improving the drilling automation process. These analyses look for a better understanding of main process parameters to obtain an efficient condition for the drilling process using robots, related to analysis of productivity, safety and economic evaluation, regarding the performance of the human-robot interaction during the robotized drilling process, while exploring parameters as feed rate, robots acceleration and position. Considering the importance of 3D digital manufacturing for the future of industry based on Industry 4.0 trends, this research innovates due to its proposal of a feasibility study of the 7050 aluminum drilling process for aeronautical industry, and to be a specific technical and economic evaluation regarding the use of the 3D digital manufacturing for a particular case applied on the aircraft fabrication area, granting improvement in drilling process sequences possibilities, as well as productivity, safety and economic evaluation in Human-Robot interactions regarding drilling processes, ensuring the capability and enhancement of robotization in this area.


3D Digital Manufacturing Applied on Drilling of 7050-T651 Aluminum Performed by Robot

Division / Sponsors: 
Aerospace, Bioengineering, Applied Mechanics, Design Engineering Division, Advanced Energy Systems, Manufacturing Engineering Division, Noise Control and Acoustics, Nondestructive Evaluation, Diagnosis, and Prognosis (NDPD), Nuclear Engineering Division, Process Industries Division, Fluids Engineering, Heat Transfer, Materials, Microelectromechanical Systems, Safety Engineering and Risk Analysis, Computers & Information in Engineering


Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IMECE/IMECE2020/volume/84478

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