MAG's aerospace profiler awarded three design patents

MAG's three patents, for its profiler, cover the design of its uniformly rigid cutting zone, "flight deck" operator's station and externally mounted drives.

Developed for high-output machining, of large monolithic aluminum or titanium aerospace parts, the 5-axis HyperMach H-series turns the typical profiler concept on its side in a fixed-column, traveling table arrangement.

The modular machine design accepts single, or nested, parts ranging from 2 by 4 m to 2 by 20 m, with a wide choice of spindle speeds and torques to match material requirements.

The first patent is for the four-column lock-up which maximizes stiffness, providing consistent cutting performance at any position of the pallet and spindle, while eliminating thermal drift, and periodic realignment of column and pallet table.

A second patent covers the "flight deck" ergonomics of the operator station. Its layout permits visual monitoring of the machine's HMI, the work zone, the tool change process, tool in the ready position, the tool magazine itself, and utilities panel, as well as, immediate physical access to the work zone.

The third patent relates to maintainability and reliability. The machine's large drive motors and drive systems are mounted on the exterior of the machine structure, minimizing the number of large cables and hoses that need to be passed through a flexing power carrier, which is a reliability weak point.

Pending patents cover the part loading system for the machine and the pallet handling/clamping system. The part loading system allows material loading in the horizontal position, then orients the pallet to a vertical position, for shuttling into the workzone and machining in that orientation. The pallet clamping system uses vacuum chucks in the Z-axis plane, and achieves its Z and Y locations with gravity alone.

Author
Michael Richards

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MAG Industrial Automation Systems

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