Composite parts for the B-2 bomber program and other programs of similar magnitude are being produced in the world's largest operational autoclave. The Boeing Military Airplanes manufacturing facility houses the autoclave, which measures 25 ft*90 ft. The autoclave uses redundant Modicon 984B programmable controllers (PLCs) as its main control device along8 with two Phoenix Digital Modbus port expanders to control more than 1500 I/O points. Data is sent through the PLCs to a pair of two-channel AMI-6000 industrial workstations from Eaton IDT, Inc. One workstation is used by the operator in the control room, and a second is in the maintenance area. Maintenance personnel can monitor the autoclave's operation via the redundant system, which provides them with complete operational information. This information would become useful should any part of the autoclave or its support equipment malfunction during a production run. A Seiko color copier captures screen modes to document alarm conditions.
Workstations help control world's largest autoclave
Mikrorechner-Einsatz in Flugzeug-Fertigungsanlagen
I&CS ; 63 , 9 ; 102-104
1990
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Englisch
Europe's largest autoclave for A380 wing manufacture
Emerald Group Publishing | 2003
Engineering Index Backfile | 1940
Engineering Index Backfile | 1967
Engineering Index Backfile | 1940
Engineering Index Backfile | 1967