SAMPE Journal - November/December 2020 - 42

FEATURE / ONE-OFF COMPOSITE STRUCTURES
ity report and the production run has finished. The
gap information can also be stored in a database
together with the data of the robot parameters.
This information can later be used to investigate
the correlation between robot movements and laydown accuracy, thereby improving the system.
The systems also allow manual input from operators, such as other defects, repairs and material
change. All this information is collected and presented in a quality report after the completion of
production.

programming, which can be performed by the robot operators. By using the
software platform in combination with inline quality inspection has also greatly reduced the need for manual quality inspection. This has made it possible to
go from a 100% manual quality inspection, to only inspect based on warnings
from the software.
The ALC is a highly flexible automated production platform which has
many potential applications beyond the manufacturing of complex telescope
structures. This system can also be integrated with downstream processes,
such as press forming or other consolidation process, making a fully automated process, from prepreg to cured product feasible.
REFERENCES

CONCLUSIONS
The CCAT project has demonstrated the benefits
of using automation in composite manufacturing,
in particular taking advantage of the Airborne ALC.
However, an equally important improvement has
been achieved by taking a digital approach to the
design and manufacturing process. The ALC Manager is estimated to have saved thousands of hours
in work preparations and robot programming. By
going directly from CAD design to robot code, not
only cuts down the lead time, but it allows for a
high degree of flexibility when it comes to production planning. The software allows for on-the-fly

1. CCAT Observatory: https://www.ccatobservatory.org/
2. SIMONS Observatory: https://simonsobservatory.org/
3. M. Di Francesco, A. Brodsjo: Expanding the Envelope of Automated Tape Laying, The
Fourth International Symposium on Automated Composites Manufacturing 25th April
2019
4. Stephen C. Parshley, Jörg Kronshage, James Blair, et. al.,CCAT-prime: a novel telescope for submillimeter astronomy, SPIE Astronomical Telescope + Instrumentation,
2018, Austin, Texas, USA; Proceedings Volume 10700, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VII; 107005X (2018).

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SAMPE Journal - November/December 2020

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