UT Munich uses Creaform's HandySCAN 3D for measurement and research projects within the Chair for Aerospace Systems
The Chair for Aerospace Systems is an integration chair for the entire field of aeronautics, as well as its integration into civil and military aviation. In addition to civil and military aircraft design, it focuses on the derivation and analysis of aviation boundary conditions, and the evaluation of aircraft according to these boundary conditions and requirements. As a Faculty of Aviation, Astronautics and Geodesy at the Technical University of MunichThe Chair for Aerospace Systems covers the complex system of aeronautical engineering in the sub-fields of teaching and research.
The research project
As part of the FLEXOP European research project (Flutter Free Envelope Expansion for Economical Performance Improvement), new methods are being developed and validated for lightweight and therefore flexible wing structures, and for the design of active and passive systems for oscillation damping. As part of Horizon 2020, the European Union's research and innovation program, industrial and research partners from six different nations are working on control algorithms, actuators and design optimization, as well as unmanned flight demonstrations with 7 m wingspan and turbine engines on which the approaches developed will be tested.
Several sensors installed on the flight demonstrator, such as the pitot tube for flight speed measurement, had to be reoriented as precisely as possible in the direction of flight, in order to achieve error-free measurements. In order to take account of errors in the measurement data, caused by an installation angle of 0° deviation, this angle had to be determined very precisely using 3D digitizing. The challenge lay in the fact that the angle relative to the aircraft's nose had to be determined, and that the pitot tube attached to the tip of the nose boom was around 0.5 m long.
The fuselage segment of the plane has been digitized on the front (30 cm) with Creaform's HandySCAN 3D scannerto generate the measurements needed to determine a reference plane. The nose arrow was then digitized and used to determine the exact installation angle. Without the 3D scanner, it would have been very difficult to obtain accurate measurements. The HandySCAN 3D enabled flexible operation, rapid results and an accuracy of 0.025 mm. Before Creaform's 3D scanner, such measurements had to be carried out using expensive photogrammetric systems.
The benefits of 3D scanning
A 3D scanner can be used to perform a multitude of different measurements and enables a wide range of possible applications for TU Munich's Institute of Aviation and Astronautics, which cannot be fully supported by other systems. Potential applications include the digitization of parts and components to create precisely tailored accessories using 3D printing processes. In addition, it is possible to define the profile geometries of purchased aircraft wings or propellers. This improves the precision and simplicity of certain measurements and research work. "The ability to scan relatively small parts with the HandySCAN 3D, as well as larger structures, such as wings with spans of several meters under static loads, using the MaxSHOT 3D cameraconvinced our Creaform Systems Chair. Digitizing components right through to the complete aircraft has enabled us to quantify uncertainties during the construction and production process. We can take their effects into account during flight tests, for the validation of aircraft design simulations", explains Prof. Dr-Ing Mirko Hornung, Chair of Aviation Systems at the Faculty for Aviation, Astronautics and Geodesy at UT Munich.
Experience with the system has been consistently positive. Component acquisition and measurement can be carried out quickly, even by inexperienced personnel. It is therefore also possible to integrate these technologies into a future university internship, during which students will carry out the measurement tasks.
History of the Chair for Aerospace Systems in the Faculty of Aviation, Astronautics and Geodesy at the Technical University of Munich
Thanks to the initiative of the ten tenured members of the Institute of Aviation and Aeronautics at the Technical University, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harry O. Ruppe, the Endowed Chair for Aviation Technology was founded on September 18, 1989. At the start of the 1989-1990 winter semester, Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Gero Madelung, who had worked for many years in the management of Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm GmbH, took over the chair as its first professor. After 5 years, the Chair became officially affiliated with the Technical University of Munich. Following Prof. Madelung's departure, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dieter Schmitt took over as Senior Lecturer in the summer of 1996. Since the departure of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dieter Schmitt in September 2002, the chair has been temporarily headed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Horst Baier. Since January 2010, the former Chair for Aerospace Technology has been headed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Mirko Hornung under the name of Chair for Aerospace Systems.
Creaform 3D scanner for the aviation and aeronautics industry
The HandySCAN 3D scanner, along with other measurement systems from Creaform, is used by aerospace companies all over the world, for a wide range of applications. These include quality control/testing, aerodynamic/stress analysis, manufacture of original parts and restoration of worn parts, reverse engineering (assembly/maintenance/repair/overhaul, gas turbines, engine compartments, nacelles, cockpits), MRO and damage assessment, prototype creation, tool and mold adaptation, as well as design and engineering of aircraft components and assemblies.
Creaform's HandySCAN 3D scanner meets the requirements of the Boeing Service Letter, and is also listed in the Airbus Technical Equipment Manual, as well as in the company's Structural Repair Manual.