aerospace
MWP checks out this year’s Aero Engine Expo,
billed as the world's largest independent,
international aero engine event. By Steed Webzell
Engines spread
their wings
Aero Engine Expo
attracted 100 leading
exhibitors, and was
supported by an extensive
conference, seminar and
networking programme
Pic courtesy of Rolls-Royce
- one of the eye-catching
names exhibiting, and not
surprisingly one of the
biggest customers for
innovative gauging
equipment
NOW in its fourth year, the Aero Engine Expo is
beginning to make a name for itself on the
manufacturing exhibition calendar. Among the factors
contributing to the show’s rise in popularity are: the
presence of around 100 industry leading exhibitors; an
extensive aero engine conference; an open seminar
programme featuring 20 expert presentations; an
organised ‘meet the buyers’ networking session; and the
presence of a complementary, integrated event in the
form of the Gas Turbine O&M Expo and Conference.
All of this made for an interesting two days in
September at the Olympia Exhibition Centre in London.
Entering the main hall, the first factor to register was the
quality of the exhibitors present. Eye-catching names
such as Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, Alstom, Dunlop
Equipment, Hampson Aerospace, Qinetiq and the
Farnborough Aerospace Consortium were all present to
meet visitors and support the event.
If it was aero engines specifically that you were after,
there was no shortage on display, including the SaM146
on the stand of PowerJet, a joint venture between Snecma
of France and NPO Saturn of Russia, and the CFM56-7B
(billed as the 737 engine) being displayed by CFM
International, a 50/50 joint venture between Snecma and
US-based General Electric.
In terms of exhibitors offering manufacturing
technology to this important sector, there was also a wide
selection of familiar names on view. Perhaps one of the
36 MWP november 2007
more noticeable themes (indicative of the aerospace
industry) was quality and inspection. Here, a number of
important exhibitors came in strength to show visitors
what can be achieved in terms of component/assembly
measurement and verification. The provision of effective
3D measurement solutions has generated considerable
demand from the aerospace sector for Faro in recent years.
High profile orders from Airbus and Boeing (most
recently 15 Laser Tracker Xi models for Boeing in the US)
have helped boost the company’s presence in the
aerospace industry.
Taking prime position at the front of the Faro stand at
the Aero Engine Expo was the Faro Gage Plus personal
CMM. With its 1.2m working volume, the Faro Gauge is
the ‘mount it where you make it’, minimal training 3D
gauge for machinists that replaces all conventional
gauging devices with an expandable library of software
gauging tools. High precision caliper, height gauge and
micrometer measurements can be emulated easily, while
basic geometry, distances and angles can be checked with
simple on-screen prompts that illustrate what to do.
Inspection time can be reduced to seconds using the Faro
Gage, which is why the biggest UK customer for this
innovative equipment is Rolls-Royce.
Also present on the stand was the Faro Laser ScanArm,
a 7-axis contact/non-contact measurement device with a
fully integrated Faro Laser Line probe. These can digitise
interchangeably without having to remove either
component. Users can measure prismatic features
accurately using the arm’s hard probe, then laser scan
sections requiring larger volumes of data (at more than
19,000 points per second) without adding or removing
attachments, untangling cables or having to use a separate
CMM to import the data. The ScanArm’s seventh axis
affords further flexibility and has been designed for the
integration of the Laser Line scanning probe. The extra
degree of freedom allows optimum scanner positioning
to obtain the best possible data - well suited to reverse
engineering applications.
Another company at the show specialising in the
acquisition of 3D co-ordinates was SPG Data, a company
that offers applied 3D measurement solutions based on
image processing technology. Each SPG Data 3D system is
bespoke according to the requirements of the application
and configured to suit, ie single measuring stations,
multi-station systems sharing the application server or
portable measuring tools. The SPG Data stand featured a
banner stating ‘if you can see it, we can measure it’,
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