Inventors:
THE BOEING COMPANY - , US
Daniel R. Smith - Redmond WA, US
Jayson J. Aquino - Bothell WA, US
Edward John Batt - Bothell WA, US
James N. Buttrick - Seattle WA, US
Antonio C. Micale - Seattle WA, US
Darrell D. Jones - Mill Creek WA, US
Clayton L. Munk - Maple Valley WA, US
Chris G. Couevas - Bothell WA, US
Mario Ramos - Tacoma WA, US
Azita N. Namdaran - Bellevue WA, US
Noman S. Noor - Bellevue WA, US
Donald A. Mottaz - Issaquah WA, US
Assignee:
THE BOEING COMPANY - Chicago IL
International Classification:
B23P 23/00
Abstract:
A system and method are provided to automate the assembly of a wing panel, such as utilized by commercial aircraft. In the context of a system, a tacking cell is provided that is configured to tack one or more stringers to a skin plank. The system also includes a riveting cell configured to receive a tacked plank from the tacking cell and to rivet the one or more stringers to the skin plank. The system also includes a splicing cell configured to receive a plurality of riveted planks from the riveting cell and to attach one or more splice stringers to the plurality of riveted planks. Further, the system includes a side of body cell configured to receive a spliced panel from the splicing cell and to attach a side of body chord thereto to produce a wing panel.