After pioneering digital design in the aerospace industry 25 years ago, Dassault Aviation has implemented what it calls “the digital factory.” The Falcon 7X was the first aircraft to be produced using this concept, and the result was some impressive gains in manufacturing efficiency. Now Dassault has taken digitization one step further, by simulating the processes of aircraft completion and maintenance.
At the company’s virtual reality center in Saint-Cloud, near Paris, 3-D glasses effectively “transport” the design team into the digital mockup displayed on the large screen. The system allows them to take a collective look inside an interior fuselage bay where hydraulic, electrical and other systems are routed. With an astonishing degree of fidelity and accuracy, the mockup shows every connector, every fastener, every rivet. When the operator zooms in on a particular area of the bay the team discovers a problem: electrical wires are passing straight through a bracket that holds a hydraulic pipe in position. This digital “clash” has resulted from competing claims for space in the bay, exacerbated by the hydraulic and electrical system design teams. The problem can be resolved with a quick digital redesign. Previously, it might not have been discovered until the prototype aircraft was being equipped during final assembly.
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