Airlines, original equipment manufacturers, and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) organizations are making greater use of drones in inspecting aircraft as they overcome challenges to the deployment of such aircraft in hangars and on airfields.
Marketing Team
This press release was published on PRWeb.
Donecle drone combined with 8tree’s 3D sensor — the flying dentCHECK.
The focus of this program was to develop an integrated solution comprising dentCHECK – 8tree’s 3D dent-mapping technology – onboard a Donecle drone, to enable automatic inspection of aircraft surfaces.
Tested on metallic and composite surfaces, this integrated ‘flying dentCHECK’ solution allows the comparison of new inspection results against the aircraft’s digital damage record.
The collaborative project was able to validate the technology at the French military base 118 in Mont-de-Marsan. Within one hour, the flying dentCHECK inspected dents and bumps of an entire Rafale fighter with accuracy of 0.1mm depth and 2mm size.
“It’s all about automating non-destructive testing tasks and procedures. The 100% automated flying dentCHECK drastically reduces the time taken to inspect an aircraft while improving the quality of maintenance operations significantly.”, says Erik Klaas, 8tree’s CTO.
Both 8tree and Donecle will be exhibiting at MRO Europe in Amsterdam, October 19-21. The flying dentCHECK will be showcased at Donecle’s booth #3080C, while 8tree will be demonstrating the latest dentCHECK features at booth #9059.
“We make precision 3D measurement as simple as taking a photo”
With this vision in mind, 8tree makes 3D optical surface inspection tools that solve chronic problems for multiple industries. 8tree’s products empower every operator – from mechanics on the floor, to engineers in the lab – with instantly actionable precise measurements, portability and performance. With its patented user-centric product design, instant ‘go/no-go’ answers and zero-learning curve, 8tree is committed to making precision 3D scanning more broadly accessible – technically and commercially.
For recent news follow 8tree on LinkedIn.
Press release initially published here —
English Version
German Version
Marketing Manager
Get in contact
LinkedIn
Aircraft maintenance requires regular inspection of the aircraft surfaces. We are speaking about non-destructive testing (NDT). These tasks are time-consuming and potentially dangerous for operators working at height. The Defense Innovation Agency (DIA) and other stakeholders called for projects to “automate non-destructive testing“. The project aims to develop solutions to reduce the duration and improve the quality of such maintenance operations.
8tree’s collaboration with Donecle and Dassault to develop a flying dentCHECK is part of this initiative. The French Ministry of Defense recently announced an article and a video about our drone project with Donecle and 8tree.
The article was published in French. Read below a segment about our project and have a look at the video, where you can see the drone flying around a Rafale aircraft.
DONECLE, in partnership with 8tree and Dassault provides an automatic 3D inspection of aircraft skin, thanks to a 100% automated drone. This technique allows to detect and measure surface defects such as dents, impacts, or perforations. Tested on metallic and composite surfaces, the solution also allows comparisons with the aircraft’s digital mapping and digital monitoring of the evolution of defects.
– Source
Marketing Manager
Get in contact
LinkedIn
« Can you make dentCHECK fly? »
This is a question which our customers and prospects ask on a regular basis. Dent damage is a chronic and recurring problem on aircraft, due to loading operations, hail-storms, bird strikes, etc.. But detecting, measuring and precisely locating such damage is a long and challenging process, which can be risky for inspectors working at height. As an example, on an annual basis, hail strikes affect 25% of the worldwide fleet and requires dozens of hours of inspection. How can the manual process of dent characterization be improved?
In this context, a drone seems an obvious solution.
However, embedding dentCHECK on a drone is not an easy thing to do and requires intense development.
So, the question came up – Who can we collaborate with to make dentCHECK flying?
We identified Donecle as our launch partner to realize the vision of a flying dentCHECK. Donecle as the leader of automated aircraft visual inspection has a strong expertise in drone robotics, automation and aircraft maintenance processes.
After initial tests, we accelerated our collaboration under the approval of the DGA, working together with Dassault on Rafale inspections.
The solution features Donecle’s automated drone which will scan targeted areas where risks of dents are well known (such as doors, leading edge, HTP, tail…). The acquired 3D scan data will then be sent into our damage reporting tool which will automatically map and measure dents and generate an SRM-compliant report.
Typical use cases include inspection after hail strike or after hard contact during in-flight refueling for military aircraft; dent measurement around doors which are subject to impacts during loading and unloading operations; inspection of dents and depth defects during aircraft manufacturing, and any other dent inspection in areas difficult to access.
This new unique solution will enable much faster inspections, bring better accuracy thanks to the precise location of the dents relative to the aircraft structure, improve safety of workers (no need to climb on upper surfaces and dangerous areas) and contribute to a paperless process.
The question which is on everyone’s lips is of course: when will it be available? We are making good progress and after recent promising lab tests we conducted the first field-tests on aircraft, before larger deployment 2021.
So, stay tuned, we will soon officially announce the availability of this new product!
Learn more about Donecle: https://www.donecle.com/
Marketing Manager
Get in contact
LinkedIn
