Zeiss to deliver its largest ever gantry CMM to Lockheed Martin
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Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company in Fort, Worth, Texas has selected a Zeiss gantry co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM) to measure F-35 wing sub-assemblies.
The F-35 Lightning II (Joint Strike Fighter) is a supersonic stealth fighter designed to replace a wide range of existing aircraft worldwide.
The high-accuracy MMZ B Plus system features a measuring range of 5 by 16 by 2.5 m and is the largest gantry CMM that Carl Zeiss has ever built.
Valued at more than $5 million, the order from Lockheed Martin’s aerospace division encompasses the measuring machine, plans for the vibration-stabilised foundation, the climate-controlled lab and the integration of a pallet feed system.
At a length of 16 m, the MMZ B Plus is ideally suited to measure aerodynamic tools, wind tunnel models, 1:1 modules, aircraft wings and elements of the airframe.
“The challenge was to develop a CMM large enough to fit the oversized, structural parts while maintaining highest accuracy during the inspection process”, said Walter Pettigrew, vice president of sales at Carl Zeiss IMT Corporation.
With the MMZ B Plus, Carl Zeiss has built a complete system solution that also offers software compatibility with AIMS, the Advanced Integrated Mathematical System software suite Lockheed is using for F-35 structural parts.
AIMS permits seamless sharing of CAD geometries, inspection plans and measurement results between dissimilar software and hardware platforms. During 2006, Carl Zeiss developed an interface for its CAD-based Calypso software to link with AIMS.
