Continuous Digitalization of Rotationally Symmetrical Components With a Lateral Scanning White Light Interferometer

Abstract

In the field of aircraft maintenance the demand for automation and increased reproducibility is currently growing. With the inspection of aircraft combustion chambers it has been shown in a previous research project that this can also be achieved for complex tasks. A fully automated process was developed with a robot-guided white light interferometer, which digitizes the entire combustion chamber of an aircraft engine in high resolution. Furthermore, damages such as cracks and breakouts are detected automatically [1,8]. In addition to a standard industrial robot a turning table is used to utilize the rotational symmetry of the part. Due to the special procedure the part must stop at each of the more than 50.000 measurements. This procedure is time-consuming and induces unwanted vibrations into the inspection system. In this proceeding a new approach is presented that uses the same sensor technology continuously. This leads to a significantly faster process and a noticeable reduction of vibrations. On the other hand, considerable adaptations are necessary in the field of measurement technology and handling. These topics will be examined in more detail below.