FANUC UK
Aerospace automation specialist Loop Technology will soon take delivery of seven FANUC industrial robots, including four of the largest ever ordered in the UK, as part of a new aerospace project looking to solve composite manufacturing challenges.
In July 2023, the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) announced that government investment of £50m had been secured to establish the COMPASS (Composites at Speed and Scale) facility.
This new innovation facility in Sheffield will see a a consortium of partners, including Boeing, Spirit AeroSystems, Loop Technology and the AMRC, attempt to help solve composite manufacturing challenges in order to meet future demand for lighter commercial aircraft and help the aviation industry reach net zero.
According to the AMRC, this facility aims to derisk and develop high-rate sustainable structures, with the potential to reduce large component process times from 40 hours to around four hours.
Loop Technology’s FibreLINE is a high-rate preform manufacturing system for the aerospace sector – Image Credit: The AMRC
Building work is expected to be completed by the end of this year, and in the meantime the facility is ordering the required equipment and technologies, including three long-reach FANUC M-2000iA/1700L six-axis robots and a two further FANUC M-2000iA robots – 1200L and 900L models.
These five robots will form part of Loop’s proprietary high-rate deposition cell, known as FibreLINE. This state-of-the-art high-rate preform manufacturing system, with FibreFORM at its centre, can pick composite sheets (plies) and form them into complex 3D double curvature profiles before placing them on a tool, inspecting them and heat staking them ready for the next stage of the production process, at a rate of up to 200kg an hour. Traditional methods typically operate at 40kg/hr.
Alun Reece, Loop Technology’s managing director, said: “Innovations in robotics around scale, precision and collaborative working are opening up new opportunities for aerospace manufacturers all the time.
“Whether in high-rate performing systems, fibre placement or assembly operations such as drilling, fastening, sealing or automated inspection applications, the versatility offered by modern robotics is redefining the way tasks are performed, helping to drive down aerospace manufacturing costs while driving up quality.”
