Design and analysis of flexible fixture for aircraft side panels

Based on the analysis of two kinds of aircraft side panels and requirements in digital assembly, a novel type of flexible fixture suitable for aircraft side panels assembly was proposed. The fixture based on four accurate 3-coordinate manipulators can be equivalent to a 6-DOF parallel mechanism. Manipulators were aligned in two rows and side panel was supported by 4 protruding arms. By analyzing the mechanism kinematics, reverse solution algorithm was developed. Joints displacement can be calculated from the given initial and final postures of the side panel. Computer simulation model was used to verify the reverse solution. The simulation result shows the accuracy of the algorithm, which provides the technological basis of accurate control for posture alignment of the large side panels.