MEASUREMENT
IM-7500 IMAGE DIMENSION MEASUREMENT SYSTEM TAKES COMPLEX COMPONENT READINGS QUICKLY, EASILY AND ACCURATELY
Aerotron Avotec is a maintenance and repair organisation in the aviation industry that specialises in the repair and overhaul of a variety of rotary and fixed wing aircraft components for civil and military customers. The company is based in Scotland. Aerotron Avotec is renowned for its technical excellence and meticulous approach to repairs as well as offering one of the lowest warranty rates in the aerospace industry.
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ecause of the demanding nature of its work, Aerotron Avotec has to work with a wide range of complex parts that can include tiny bearings as well as shafts, gears, brake components, wheels and large outer casings for aircraft undercarriages. Engineers at the company are tasked with inspecting parts to extremely tight tolerances and this can often mean taking key measurements from difficult to access areas. At the same time, readings taken can be of a nature that prevents them from being measured with traditional measurement equipment.
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Checking these parts to meet the stringent demands of customers would ordinarily require Aerotron Avotec to acquire expensive, specialist “one-off” measurement tools. For example, a small gear shaft not only needs measurements taken of its external splines but also its internal spline and fixed central shaft. Pin measurements need to be taken to measure gear wear while the bearing lands on the shaft also have to be checked for wear. Normally, carrying out these 24 | Industry EMEA | April 2020
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checks requires three different traditional measurement tools – an external micrometer, a specialist micrometer with calliper jaws to access the central shaft (which is partially enclosed by the internal gear) and a specialist bore gauge with an open centre to allow the internal gear surface (which is obstructed by the internal shaft) to be measured. After scanning the market for the most suitable solutions to its problems, Aerotron Avotec invested in the IM-7500 optical imaging measurement system from Keyence which has enabled measurements such as those mentioned to be acquired using just the one instrument and in a fraction of the time that it used to take. At the same time, using the Keyence system has increased significantly the accuracy of measurements taken by Aerotron Avotec, mainly through being able to reduce the amount of human interface involved when measuring the part and with the associated tooling. Once the information
