Automated application of lightning strike protection material on doubly curved surfaces

Center for Lightweight Production Technology (ZLP) Augsburg

The latest generation of aircrafts, which are often in large parts made from fibre-forced-plastics, are prone
due to common lightning strikes. Therefore, an extra treatment of the fuselage is necessary in order to
prevent any damage. A special high conductive material (Lightning Strike Protection (LSP) material)
is applied to the outermost layer of the fuselage. Currently, for double curved parts of the fuselage,
this happens to be a very cost-intensive manual process. In project RoCk, we have developed an automated solution
for standard industrial robot which reduces the necessary manpower, speeds up the lay-up quantity and
improves the process reproducibility. Our approach aims not only the draping process of the LSP material
due to the constructed lay-up head but also the generation of the robot paths and optimised cuts of the
material regarding to the curvature of the mould. The cuts are produced during the draping process
directly from the material reel. Therefore our solution shortens the process chain by eliminating the
pre-cutting of the material and allows to lay-up wider cuts and better utilisation of the material. The
lay-up process itself is very precise, less stressful to the material and compliant to the manufacturing
specifications.

Contact Person: Dr. Marcin Malecha, marcin.malecha@dlr.de

DLR,DLR ZLP,DLR ZLP Augsburg,ZLP Augsburg,Augsburg,Zentrum für Leichtbauproduktionstechnologie,Forschung,Leichtbau,Lightweight,Institut,Institut für Bauweisen und Strukturtechnologie,Institut BT,Institut of Structures and Design,Research,Research Augsburg,Projekt,Project,Drapierprozess,Blitzschutzmaterial,LSP,lightning strike protection material,surfaces,automated,automated application,draping process,process,Project RoCk,Projekt RoCk,