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Research & Technology Center
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RESEARCH  &  TECHNOLOGY CENTER OVERVIEW

At Sekisui Aerospace, we work with our customers on an individual basis to develop innovative and cost effective solutions that are based on cutting edge technology and industry leading design and manufacturing expertise. Our design team will work hand in hand with your engineers to define requirements and  develop the optimized design that best meets your performance and cost targets. We will then identify best suited materials, provide prototypes, design / build tooling, and develop a production process that will yield high quality products. Through this process, we take your data in its native form and manage it through our tooling and manufacturing process development while ensuring geometric integrity at every step.

Product Design
OUR TECHNOLOGY 
PRODUCT DESIGN
Structural Optimization
Bracket Example | AIM Aerospace
Structural Optimization – OptiPart™

OptiPart™, Sekisui Aerospace's unique optimization process for composite structures, is a system and process for developing a manufacture-able composites structure. The system utilizes finite element structures based on load, space, mounting, operational and manufacturing constraints. Using these tools, a design can be tailored to perform in specific load case or in-service conditions, while considering the manufacturing process and process constraints in the initial design phases.

Structural Optimization | AIM Aerospace

Results

  • Optimization provides additional weight savings over traditional part design (which uses iterative FEA)
     

  • Weight savings in excess of 50% can be obtained when converting from aluminum to chopped carbon fiber fittings and using optimization to define geometry
     

  • Optimization can improve strength margins by redistributing material into load path areas while not adding weight
     

  • Part cost can be minimized because material is only placed where it is needed
     

  • Less costly materials systems may be used and still meet weight targets
     

  • More robust manufacturing considerations can be designed into the part (predefined flow paths to ensure fill or increase strength)
     

  • Thickness variation can be designed in that would not be easily machined in a metallic part
     

  • Tool designs are created in house

Structural Optimization – QFORGE™

Metallic-to-composite conversion

Metalic-to-composite conversion | AIM Aerospace

Aluminum

Discontinuous Fiber Thermoplastic

Results

  • 30-40% weight reduction as compared to machined aluminum

  • Cost savings over machined aluminum with buy-to-fly ratios greater than 10:1

Sekisui Aerospace’s engineering staff will provide design for manufacturing support from the very beginning of your project. We consider this the first step in successful qualification or your product. From the beginning, we will work closely with your team to optimize your part design for performance, plus producibility. Another great advantage to partner with us is we will work concurrently with your team to refine the part design, while developing the tooling and manufacturing process.

Design for Manufacture | AIM Aerospace
Design for Manufacture
Design for Manuf.
Ideal Material Selection
High Fiber Volume Thermoplastic Composites | AIM Aerospace
Ideal Material Selection

Sekisui Aerospace finds solutions from the extensive materials knowledge of our years of composite experience. We are focused on finding the highest performing thermoplastics and thermoset composites for your products. Whether it’s an increased strength requirement or improved wear resistance, we have the internal expertise to find the right solution for you.​

  • Prepreg

  • Unitapes (fully consolidated)

  • Slit for AFP and ATL

  • Formed into panels and stampformed into clips and shapes

  • Chopped to form bulk molding compound

  • Semi-Pregs

  • Fabrics with polymer on the surface

  • Can be hand layed up and consolidated into panels or molded into complex shapes

  • Reinforced Thermoplastic Laminates (RTLs)

  • Used to rapidly form clips and shapes from cut patterns

  • Stretch broken fabrics

  • Used to make “deep draw” shapes without darting

Collaberative Design | AIM Aerospace
Collaborative Design

Sekisui Aerospace works closely with customers from start to finish to develop and design the optimal part for the process. We have successfully executed this design process on various UAV parts, structural aerospace parts and also military components

Collaborative Design
OUR TECHNOLOGY
PROCESS

Sekisui Aerospace has embraced Automation by adding robots and cobots to the manufacturing process plus developed supervisory control and data acquisition to talk to the equipment miles away. The process that has been created reduces manual data entries from operators and provides individual reports for each part containing process trends, lot info, operator ID, recipe used and start/top time. It also results in reduction of scrap and reduces invalid data due to manual entries. By having trends for each part, it helps identify equipment issues quicker and assist in suspect part investigations.

Intelligent Automation
Intelligent Automation | AIM Aerospace
Intelligent Automation

Highlights
 

  • Leveraging SCADA to track, trend, and report on all aspects of manufacturing
     

  • Link SCADA to MES for full product traceability
     

  • Leverage latest robotic technology to work within our highly flexible environment
     

  • Gather equipment statistics to understand capability, utilization, OEE, and have the data gathered as more advanced analytics are implemented
     

  • We have produced over 200,000 composite parts with this strategy

Intelligent Automation in action | AIM Aerospace
– Process –

Benefits
 

  • Isolate personnel from extreme conditions

  • Cost reduction

  • Increased repeatability

  • Reduction of repetitive motion injuries

  • Consistent TAKT time

As part of developing a new product for a customer, we create a virtual factory or workcell to plan for equipment and manpower requirements. This allows for us to provide the most cost-effective solution for our customers. Automation is evaluated as part of the process simulation for return on investment. This allows Sekisui Aerospace to build the factory of the future for our customers.

Process Simulation
Process Simulation | AIM Aerospace
Process Simulation
Industry 4.0
I40_LOCKUP_Sekisui.png
Industry 4.0

Sekisui Aerospace is embracing the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies and implementing it through the 4 Centers of Excellence. We will be creating factories of the future which includes cyber-physical systems, cloud computing and cognitive computing.

Results:
 

  • All automated equipment, building controls, MES, and ERP feeding information to a “Data Lake”
     

  • Full traceability on products
     

  • Any system can gather data from other systems
     

  • Determine machinery and process statistics (OEE, MTBF, MTBA, etc…) and predict downtime
     

  • Complex AI and analytics are executed on Data Lake to drive optimizations and predict shortfalls
     

  • Information dashboards and reporting automatically generated and available to appropriate recipients
     

  • Adaptable to low and high rate production
     

  • Manufacturing planning will be automatically generated based on orders, build time, priority, and scrap rate
     

  • Customer portal to view specific production data dashboards and reports

Advanced Processing Technologies | AIM Aerospace
Advanced Processing Technologies

Active tool heating and cooling technology: This composite molding tool is divided into multiple regions which are connected to a multi-channel control system. Variable, on-demand heating and cooling fluids through each region allows individual zones to be independently managed throughout the entire cycle. Pre-emptive control strategies programmed into the system ensure the final part meets all quality requirements.This process provides significantly greater localized control than traditional autoclave and oven curing. It also out-performs other methods across a range of temperatures, cycle times and energy consumption metrics.

APT
Rapid heating and cooling compression molding | AIM Aerospace

Results:

  • Reduce cycle times by up to 85%

  • Reduce energy consumption by up to 95%

  • Rapid heating & cooling compression molding cycle

  • 200˚F/min to 850˚F max, +/-1˚F tolerance

  • Thermoplastic & thermoset

  • Real time intelligent process control

  • Modular & reconfigurable tooling

  • From prototyping to mass production

SEKISUI AEROSPACE DESIGN SOFTWARE SUITE

CATIA™ V5
View CAD Models and Drawings
Comply with FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Certification Policies

 

SOLIDWORKS™
Design and Drafting Model Based Definition (MBD)

 

SOLIDWORKS™ ENTERPRISE PDM
Product Data Management and Control

 

PRO/ENGINEER™
Foundation Modeling and Drafting

 

AUTOCAD LT®
2D Design and Drafting with Full DWG Compatibility

 

FIBERSIM
Specifies Laminates and Selects Ply Creation Methodologies

AIM Aerospace design software suite | AIM Aerospace
Software Suite
Analysis

RAVEN™
LABVIEW™
COMPOSITE PRO™
MOLD FILLING SIMULATION SOFTWARE

Manufacturing

OPTITEX™
VIRTEK™ LPS-7H LASER PROJECTOR

Inspection

PC-DMIS

POLYWORK

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