Aerospace case study

Point cloud sectioner

In traditional measurement strategies, cross section profiles on a blade form would have to be individually measured. A DMIS part program would have to be generated and executed for each section required, and if further cross section profiles were needed in the future, the blade would have to be remeasured.

Renishaw's point cloud sectioner (PCS) offers a new more flexible approach. Using APEXBlade and Renishaw's REVO probe, it is now possible to capture the entire blade form using sweep scan measurements. These measurements generate a cloud of tip centre data points over the entire form of the blade. PCS then allows offline 'on surface' sections to be generated on any plane through the captured point cloud data.

Built on the GML, and executed through MODUS, PCS can be used time and time again on a measurement dataset, both at the time of measurement or in the future if further sections at different locations are required, without the need for remeasurement.

APEXBlade -the GML takes the pain out of complex 5-axis path planning

Within the field of co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM) inspection the ability to write machine inspection programs is key. Typically relying on dedicated inspection software packages, this task has become increasingly complex over time as the probing systems themselves have developed from simple manual 3 axis (move and touch) systems, through to indexable 3 axis continuous scanning heads. Imagine then the further leap in programming complexity brought about by the latest scanning heads such as the Renishaw REVO continuous 5-axis scanning head.

APEXBlade is a package designed to greatly simplify continuous 5-axis scan path production. Built on the GML, it works by asking users to simply import nominal geometry – in this case of aerospace blades – select the blade they wish to measure and then automatically determining the optimal 5-axis sweep scan path over the blade.

The resultant DMIS part program is tailored to specifically suit, and be imported into, Renishaw's own CMM inspection package called MODUS, from where it can be executed.

Within this application the GML is used extensively with an add-in developed to deal with the complex path planning problem brought about by highly constrained measurement volumes, to deal with collision avoidance and to give optimal probe configurations throughout the planning cycle.