TPT July 2014

Technology News

Advanced tube bending technology UNISON has won a major tube bending machinery order from British Airways, for use in its Heathrow-based aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility. Airbus A380 superjumbos over the next ten years. The introduction of these latest- generation aircraft poses numerous new challenges for the airline’s repair and maintenance personnel. Following the decision to upgrade the tube fabrication capabilities of its repair and maintenance workshop, British Airways therefore sought a tube bending machine company with proven expertise in the aerospace sector.

The order calls for Unison to supply a unique turnkey solution for fabricating precision tubular parts, based on two bending machines that are widely used in the aerospace industry. One machine is a semi-manual bender with CNC control, the other is a fully CNC all-electric model. Unison will also be providing all associated tooling, together with a portable coordinate measuring machine and advanced program generation software. To maximise operational efficiency, British Airways maintains its fleet of aircraft in-house. The loss of revenue resulting from the grounding of a modern aircraft can be astronomical, making fast-turnaround MRO capabilities vital to economic performance. Unison’s tube bending solution will meet the long-term needs of this critical repair and maintenance workshop. British Airways has embarked on a major upgrade to its fleet of long-haul aircraft, which is set to include the addition of Boeing 787 Dreamliners and

For steel pole industries, Somo produces fully automatic bending units (press brakes) as well as turnkey plants for the production of poles and towers. Applications include round poles for street lighting, telecommunication towers, and high masts for low and medium energy supply. Welded large pipe industries are supplied with pre-bending machines, automatic bending units (press brakes), calibration presses and tack welding machines, for use in oil and gas and LNG substations. Large press brakes for general purposes are dedicated mainly to metal- forming service centres, earth moving industries, auto and crane industries. Somo Produzione SpA – Italy Fax: +39 02 9356 1457 Email: info@somoproduzione.com Website: www.somoproduzione.com Unison was an obvious contender; the company’s all-electric tube bending technology is used by a number of leading aerospace manufacturers, including Boeing and Airbus, to produce parts for engines and airframes. In fact, Unison machines are already used to produce hydraulic fluid lines for both the 787 Dreamliner and A380. For the British Airways application, Unison configured a complete turnkey MRO package for tubular components, to provide quick and cost-effective repair of fluid lines on aircraft by reverse- engineering OEM parts and then re- creating them in the workshop. The package covers tube sizes from a few millimetres up to 40mm in diameter and accommodates the variety of materials used in this application, including stainless steel and titanium alloy. Unison – UK Website: www.unisonltd.com

One area that is receiving particular attention is the fabrication of replacement rigid hydraulic tubes. The central hydraulic systems of Boeing 787 and Airbus A380 aircraft operate at 5,000 psi –most commercial aircraft have 3,000psi systems – to allow use of smaller and lighter hydraulic components. Much of the interconnecting hydraulic pipework is manufactured from specialist aerospace materials such as titanium alloy, using thick tube walls to accommodate the high working pressures; a 25mm hydraulic tube for an aileron actuator, for example, would typically have a wall thickness of 2.5mm. Fabricating replacement high pres- sure hydraulic tubes from these materials economically – without generating expensive scrap – and to the very high quality and safety standards demanded by the aerospace industry requires precision bending and measurement equipment, backed by application-specific knowledge.

Automatic plants SINCE its establishment in 1960 Somo Produzione has specialised in the production of sheet metal working machines.

In recent years the company has focused further on the construction of automatic plants for the manufacture of specific products.

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J uly 2014