FARNBOROUGH: Lasers shine light on aircraft components

Lasers are helping aerospace manufacturers to build position components in aircraft with much greater accuracy than has been previously possible.

Germany's SL Laser is demonstrating some of the latest advances at the show.

The company has developed lasers capable of projecting an image on a 3D surface. These are being used by composite manufacturers to build aerospace components.

As the lasers are able to measure 3D surfaces highly accurately, manufacturers can use them to reproduce a 3D design even if they lack the original drawing.

Another laser under development by SL Laser is designed to help aerospace companies position every bracket in an aircraft fuselage within tolerances of a few thousandth of an inch.

Claimed to be twice as accurate as manual measuring techniques, the Proassembler laser can be used to help engineers check that no brackets have been overlooked. It projects an image inside a fuselage showing the position of each bracket.

"Measuring can introduce some inaccuracy. We offer an accuracy of plus or minus 14 thousandths of an inch. Manually, we are talking about 30 thousandths of an inch," said SL Laser product manager Jason Galek.

The company, which has a turnover of $10 million, employs 46 people, split between Germany, the USA and France. Among the manufacturers using its products are Airbus, Eurocopter and Triumph.