Portable fastener delivery and installation system

摘要

The Portable Fastener Delivery System or PFDS, has been developed at the Boeing St. Louis facility to streamline the manual fastener installation process. The PFDS delivers various fasteners, on demand, through a delivery tube to an installation tool used by the operator to install the fasteners in an aircraft assembly. This paper describes the PFDS in its current configuration, along with the associated Huck International (now Alcoa Fastening Systems) installation tooling, as it is being implemented on the F/A-18E/F Nosebarrel Skinning application. As a "portable" system, the PFDS cart can be rolled to any location on the shop floor it might be needed. The system uses a removable storage cassette to cache many sizes and types of fasteners in the moderate quantities that might be required for a particular assembly task. The operator begins the installation sequence by calling for the particular fastener grip length needed using a wireless control pendant. The fastener is sent to a Huck PowerFeed installation tool through a pneumatic delivery tube. The operator manually inserts the fastener into the hole and pulls the tool trigger to activate the hydraulic system and upset the fastener. The PFDS continues to send the same grip fastener to the installation tool until the operator elects to change to another grip size using the pendant. This paper will discuss the existing F/A-18E/F Nosebarrel skinning application, the operation of the PFDS and the operation of the Huck PowerFeed installation tool. The paper will also discuss how the simplification of the installation process has improved quality and increased production efficiency.