Digital Twin of Large-Scale Coaxiality Measuring Instrument With Six Dimensions: Realizing the Unification of Aeroengine Rotors Measurement and Assembly

• Published in: IEEE transactions on industrial informatics 2024-03, Vol.20 (3), p.4504-4516
• Main Authors: Mei, Yingjie, Liu, Yongmeng, Li, Jiahao, Wu, Huilin, Sun, Chuanzhi, Wang, Dawei, Tan, Jiubin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aeroengine rotors; Aerospace engines; Aircraft propulsion; Assembly; Augmented reality; coaxiality measurement assembly; Data models; digital assembly guidance; digital twin (DT); Digital twins; Digitization; Engines; Instruments; large-scale coaxiality measuring instrument; Measuring instruments; Prediction models; Real time; Real-time systems; Rotors; Surface treatment; Time response
• ISSN: 1551-3203; 1941-0050
• DOI: 10.1109/TII.2023.3325057

Precise measurement is the basis for the precise assembly of aeroengine rotors. However, due to the limitations of data application in the measurement process and the insufficient digitization of auxiliary assembly, the guided assembly after precise measurement heavily relies on manual analysis and operation. Moreover, due to the difficulty of fully utilizing measurement data of aeroengine rotors to guide assembly in existing assembly methods, it is hard to unify measurement and assembly processes, which limits the efficiency of aeroengine rotors assembly. According to the real-time response and high-fidelity interaction capability of the digital twin (DT) system, a coaxiality prediction model of aeroengine multistage rotors assembly and a cloud-based measurement data rapid interaction are established. Based on the large coaxiality measuring instrument, a DT system with measurement and real-time guidance for assembly is designed. Augmented reality device is used as the "sixth dimension" of the DT system to realize the digital measurement and assembly of aeroengine rotors. The experiment uses a certain type of engine three-stage rotors for measurement and assembly. The experimental results show that the large-scale coaxiality measuring instrument DT system can carry out accurate measurement and real-time assembly guidance for the engine, and achieve breakthroughs in engine assembly quality in multiple metrics, which significantly broadens the application dimension of precision measuring instruments.