SAM XL bridge between university
Text Bas Koppe
Smart Advanced Manufacturing for major constructions, components and parts. With a little imagination, you can abbreviate that to SAM XL. In the expertise centre for Smart Robotics and Manufacturing Automation, Delft faculties, research institutes and industry have been joining forces for five years now. “We are trying to fill the gap here between the academic world and the manufacturing industry”, explains business developer Aydin van den Bergh.
“As a field lab, we are working with TU Delft and 44 companies on the automation of production processes involving smart robots, to bring them closer to the market”, explains CEO Hein Koelman. SAM XL stems from the European Union’s Composite Automation Development Program. “We have developed our own team of experts and participate in European and regional research projects. In collaboration with companies, research institutes and TU Delft, we are developing a demonstrator which allows us to show the technology developed by TU Delft in an industrial setting”, continues Koelman.
PeneloPe
A factory in which everything runs efficiently and no energy is wasted. Employees are supported by robots and sometimes they are able to take over a process. And the robots themselves know what to do at what moment.
Project PeneloPe revolves around techniques for the factory of the future. It concerns new automation techniques and how they work together, explains programmer Dave Kroezen. “The Dutch part concentrates on the aviation industry”, explains project manager Quincy Martina from the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), one of the partners in the project which is being worked on in nine European countries. This should ultimately make processes more efficient, cheaper and greener.
TNO is working on projects such as Non-Destructive Testing (NDT), which involves inspecting an object without damaging it. TNO is developing a contactless ultrasonic inspection technology for this, which can check an object made of composite material for defects, for example. In collaboration with SAM XL, they are making a gantry robot suitable for this task. They exchange plenty of knowledge. “We make the sensor, and at SAM XL there are people who are able to program the robot”, explains Martina.
The programming of that robot is where the challenge lies for Kroezen. “The robot needs to know where the object is and will carry out a particular movement and action on the basis of this. We are developing a technique for this which we refer to internally as Zero Programming. As a result, the robot is able to carry out the task without knowing in advance what the object looks like. This doesn’t always require a new program to be written.”
The ultimate goal is to present the processes and techniques at SAM XL. “At PeneloPe, our focus lies on demonstrating our Zero Programming framework and the improved control of our gantry robot”, explains Kroezen. To allow the robots to communicate, another special interface needs to be built. Ultimately, everything must come together at SAM XL. “Everyone has done their own part and now we are going to show how it works as a single whole.”
‘We are using technologies to make the world a better place’
SAM XL stems from the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering (AE), so there is a great deal of collaboration with the aviation sector. But that isn’t the only partner of this field lab. “Together with 3mE’s Robotics Institute and the Robohouse field lab, we are forming a robotics ecosystem that we are trying to extend to more faculties and Institutes of Higher Education”, says Koelman. “We are also trying to get lots of Robotics students through our doors to contribute to the education.” SAM XL’s specialisation is the smart manufacturing of large components or compositions which are made one-off or in small series, and which vary from application to application. Business developer Aydin van den Bergh explains: “Sensor systems combined with smart software play an important role in this. That combination can be used to make a robot ‘smart’, which in turn ensures a more effective manufacturing process and higher-quality products. Whereas conventional robots are always able to carry out a task in the same manner – automation – a smart robot is able to identify the tasks itself. It is able to program itself, as it were, and this leads to autonomisation.” Yet it isn’t just about the robots. “Our processes also require people who have knowledge of materials and manufacturing processes, of mechatronics and of course people who are able to write the software for the smart robot.”
Complex shapes
In the enormous SAM XL hall, there are various robots for various manufacturing processes. “We always check whether we can use our technology in several locations”, points out Van den Bergh. “A robot that can check aeroplane wings for cracks could do the same thing for the rotary blades on windmills or ship’s hulls.” “We use automated fibre placement to lay carbon fibre tape in a smart manner. That’s how we create complex shapes.” Next to it is a station where a new welding technique is being worked on. “Ultrasonic welding makes it possible to attach thermoplastic composite materials together.
In the future, these can be used to make lighter-weight aircraft bodies. That will save fuel”, explains Van den Bergh. Van den Bergh stresses that SAM XL is not a manufacturing factory. “We can’t make 1500 components every month. We can, however, set up a small production line to show what technology is required. A major industrial partner can scale that up and implement it once it is a fully-fledged idea.” “It might sound cliché, but I think that we are showing here that we are using technologies to make the world a better place.”
Stunning
The aviation industry needs to be greener. One of the ways of contributing to this is by means of lighter-weight aircraft. At SAM XL, work is therefore being carried out on a demonstrator in which the underside of an aircraft fuselage was built from composite material.
“When we began this project, SAM XL was yet to exist”, explains Irene Fernandez Villegas. As an expert in the field of ultrasonic welding of composite material, she is involved in the STUNNING project. “But now they play a key role. Because everything came together here. SAM XL brought structure to the project, and with all the contributions made by the partners, a successful demonstrator was created.”
“An aircraft fuselage made of this material had never been built on this scale”, she continues. “We also built major components in previous projects, but never was it as complex as this.”
SAM XL lies opposite the Faculty of AE, so expertise and labs are always close to hand. Fernandez Villegas adds: “Furthermore, the engineers from Fokker helped us with the physical work and the people from SAM XL were able to re-program the robot.”
The project didn’t just concern the construction. “We also researched how to improve the technique. And all tools – from a welding head for the robot to the software – had to be developed. We did the latter together with the programmers from SAM XL”, explains Materials & Process Engineer Abhas Choudhary.
The development of the technique doesn’t stop now that all components on the aircraft fuselage have been welded. “We are now working on a new welding technique. With STUNNING, we have developed the sequential spot welding technique. We now want to weld larger pieces”, explains Materials & Process Engineer Bram Jongbloed. Aircraft builder Airbus is interested in that technique. “STUNNING is part of the Clean Aviation consortium, and Airbus is one of its partners. That’s how they found their way to us.”