Advanced Inspection and Repair Cell for Radomes, and Other Components

The proposed project is to build a cell incorporating machining, inspection, 3D digitizing and non-destructive testing into a single work cell to automate the manual processes now employed by the depot to repair large diameter 3D composite shapes through the application of available advance technologies. While the cell will be designed to target many different types and sizes of components, it will initially focus on a KC135 Nose Radome with a high volume repair rate.

Currently following current Radome inspection and repair processes are performed manually:

1. Manual detection of defective areas (Tap Test).
2. Manual routing or grinding operation to remove the defective composite skin.
3. Manual removal of crushed core.
4. Manual preparation of replacement core plugs for the repair.
5. Manual preparation of dry fabric plies for the repair.
6. Manual laminating process with core plugs, dry fabric plies and resin curing process.

Note: No digital data is generated by any of the above processes.

The proposed cell will incorporate the following capabilities:

1. Automated generation of surface, and geometric data in electronic data format.
2. Automate detection of defective areas by using various NDI technologies.
3. Visualization of defective areas by using a Laser Projection Technique.
4. Automatic removal of defective skin, and core material, by using CNC Ultrasonic Cutting and High Speed Routing processes.
5. Generation of 2D geometries for the fabric plies and core plugs for the repair process utilizing advanced software.

The proposed automation will reduce the dependence on subjective judgments. It will greatly improve flow times as well as provide a capability to capture inspection and repair data in digital form. The ability to retain this data will provide tracking history to support knowledge based repair strategies.

Program Manager: Bill Waddell, (231) 264-9774, Wwadd49648@aol.com,