Lufthansa Technik: Digital inspection procedure for engine components industrialized

From research project to industrialization: AutoInspect in productive
use

Lufthansa Technik AG has industrialized the automated inspection
procedure for engine components that the company developed in-house.
The concept system that was produced during the AutoInspect R&D
project is now in productive use. AutoInspect is a robot-based
procedure that performs digital crack inspections on engine
components with the help of high-end sensors.

The optical measurement procedure not only improves crack detection
but also further increases process reliability. "Thanks to the
AutoInspect procedure, we now have repair-relevant information
available in digital form for all components throughout their product
life cycle. This makes our engine component repairs even more
efficient and thus also benefits our customers," says Michael Ernst,
AutoInspect Project Manager at Lufthansa Technik.

The newly developed inspection procedure is currently being made
robust enough for industrial use. In addition, it is being rolled out
for other combustor components in engines of the CFM56 and CF34
families. In mid-2018, the AutoInspect procedure and the automated
repair procedure AutoRep are set to be combined into a process chain.