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Pilatus Flugzeugwerke AG: Laser-based measuring technology

Pilatus Flugzeugwerke AG: Laser-based measuring technology
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Pilatus Flugzeugwerke AG: Laser-based measuring technology - 1

empowering metrology solutions www.apisensor.com Laser-based measuring technology at Pilatus Flugzeugwerke AG, founded in 1939, is the leading manufacturer of single-engine turboprop aircraft and the only Swiss company to develop and construct aircraft and training Systems and sell them on every continent. The company also opened a new chapter in terms of quality control 70 years after the company was founded and in the year in which the largest volume of orders in the company's history had been achieved to date; in future, portable, laser-based measuring Systems will guarantee that manufacturing tolrances are observed. The highest demands in terms of quality apply globally within the aviation sector. A task that already represents a challenge within sries aircraft manufacturing becomes a work of art in itself within customised aircraft manufacturing: guaranteeing the quality of Pilatus aircraft. As thousands of individual parts are involved that have to fit together perfectly, the complexity of quality control within production increases, as ail of the parts and the modules produced from them must undergo an entire and extremely pr驩cise quality control check. In particular, observing the accuracy of fit within the current partial sries manufacturing plays a vital rle within Pilatus; the customers' individual challenging requests in terms of production can only be taken into consid鴩ration and tested with this production process. Since the beginning of 2009 an API laser tracker has played a major part in the company's ability to implement thse customer requests and still produce effectively and with high-precision. The ultra-precise but nevertheless portable measuring system does not just guarantee the proverbial Swiss quality in terms of jig and gauge construction. Deutschland USA ^^^^^^^^^^^1 lnfo@apisensor.com ■ User story by Automated Prcision Europe GmbH

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Pilatus Flugzeugwerke AG: Laser-based measuring technology - 2

empowering metrology solutions www.apisensor.com The jig construction: where everything cornes together. As is also the case with other international aircraft manufacturers, Pilatus manufactures the parts of an aircraft, such as the body, cockpit or wings, at diffrent sites. The measuring points are already defined when they are constructed enabling the jigs for the parts assembly to be checked at a later stage to guarantee their accuracy for assembling. Measuring thse points guarantees that the jig corresponds with the CAD data. On the basis of th騨se rfrence points, an aircraft wing, for...

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Pilatus Flugzeugwerke AG: Laser-based measuring technology - 3

empowering metrology solutions www.apisensor.com and it had to be completed moving from the interior to the exterior. Laser measuring technology now allows another incredibly time-saving procdure: using a laser tracker each coordinate can be transferred from the CAD System to the jig. This means that even during the manufacture of the outer skin, ail hole positions can be drilled precisely on CNC machines. As Pilatus manufactures a wide range of the most diverse types of aircraft - from the PC 12 NG, which is suitable as a business and touring aircraft as well as for spcial missions, such...

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Pilatus Flugzeugwerke AG: Laser-based measuring technology - 4

empowering metrology solutions www.apisensor.com Ail Systems successfully completed the tasks in hand and the test measure-ments without any problems in terms of measuring accuracy. We were impressed with API's professional software intgration and the connection to our CAD Systems. We were also confident with the speed of the data transfer and the ability of the System to deal with large data files. Last but not least: the lasertracker from API was by a long way the most compact device in the test. As we often have to measure in inaccessible places and are travelling throughout the world...

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