Boeing Wing Rib Workstation

The goal of this project is to develop a workstation that will facilitate all assembly of secondary components for a "generic" lower wing rib. Further considerations are laid out below and center around a movable workstation/tool system. The station will have modular options to eliminate redundant rib tools, and dynamic traits that will ease handling and assembly operations.

Background
Boeing is currently in the process of constructing a new airplane, the 777X. With a new design come new challenges. One in particular is the manufacturing and handling of the parts. The ribs in particular cannot be handled in the same way they have been with regards to preparing them for installation. Boeing has given us the task of constructing a tool/workstation that will make the assembly of components on the rib easy and efficient.

Deliverables

 * Concept sketches/CAD models and developed ideas of suitable frames to house the different size ribs.
 * Scale model prototype of a "generic" tool.
 * Proposition of scalability/customizability of the "generic" tool.
 * Suggestion of necessary workstation features and appropriate positioning of those feautures.
 * Features include: tool balancers, lighting, and air hose and power outlets.

Potential Framing Materials
For the framing of the workstation were are looking at multiple options. So far we have looked at using Bosch Tubing, 304 Stainless Steel, 6061 Aluminum, and Low-Carbon Steel tubing. Ideally the best option so far would be Bosch tubing due to it's capabilities. However, we must take into consideration the cost, material properties (such as yield strength ect.), as well as attachments. For example, so far Bosch tubing seems like the best option for the cost. However, it will contain a lot of attachments which will change the cost. We have compiled quiet a bit of information about the different materials, from different sellers. Once we have a more concrete design for the workstation, we can use the information compiled to make a better assessment of which material to go with. Also the option for our scaled down prototype might not be the best for our final product. We will continue to work towards figuring all this out.

Lighting Possibilities
Possible lighting options that we looked into were standard construction standing lights, tall standing LED lights and string lights that could be suspended above the part for more range than the other options. All three options can be easily purchased and are easy to set up. The string lights cover more area without having to be moved while the standing LED and construction lights might have to be moved along during the assembly process.

Ergonomics
Because the main purpose of this project is to facilitate easy handling and manipulation of large objects, ergonomics are a primary concern and focus. These consideration primarily center around the minor assembly that is to be performed on the wing component held by our tool. First and foremost we need to keep all assembly operations centered within the ergonomic strike or power zone. This region is identified by the vertical extent between the hip and top of the shoulder and approximately one to one and a half forearm lengths horizontally from the hip to shoulder line. The ideal vertical location is abeam of and one forearm length away from the elbow. This allows the technician or mechanic to support their tool or part with the least about of physical strain, using their body weight as the main force. Repetitive injury from tool use is an issue and we will plan to address using a variety of tool counter balance or support devices. Finally safety considerations related to the placement of emergency stop buttons and protection of pinch or catch points related to any mechanical function of our eventual design will need to be carefully considered.

Tool Balancers
As a part of creating a complete workstation, we wanted to include the use of tool balancers to make the assemblers job easy. A suitable tool balancer would be a zero gravity balancer. They have a large array of models for many weight capacities each range being about 10lbs. The most likely weight ranges would be approximately 5-11lbs or 10-20lbs. Other features include: 360 degree rotation, easy external tension adjusting, safety cable provision, permanent lubrication, compactness and "true balance".

Pneumatic System
Pneumatic systems are essential to our complete workstation to allow the worker to ascend or descend in order to keep all operations within the workers strike zone. This system is safe and cheap compared to hydraulic systems. They provide rapid movement but are not especially precise in speed or movement. We plan to use a pneumatic system(s) to elevate a platform that assembler(s) will be working on.

Generic Rib
We will be constructing a scaled down mock up rib. The purpose behind this mock up rib is to use it for testing the workstation. Particularly, we will be using it to obtain a better understating of what capabilities are necessary in our workstation in order to hold and operate on the rib. The rib will be made using MasterCAM. It will have many of the challenging and important features found within the actual ribs. However, they will be more simplistic on the mock up. Essentially the mock up will only be similar to the actual ribs but it will still be a great reference object for constructing and testing the workstation.