AROUND THE WORLD IN A GLIDER!
Sometimes we at sigma3D receive unusual requests from customers. This is one such case:
Our customer owns a glider and wants to convert it into a powered aircraft. To make this happen, the aircraft needs the one thing that distinguishes it from a powered aircraft: an engine.
CUSTOMER REQUIREMENT:
The engine is to be installed in the fuselage. To ensure easy access to it in the future, a hatch is to be installed in the fuselage skin.
One problem the customer faced was that there was no data available on his glider to accurately plan the installation. The requirement for sigma3D was to create a NURBS model. Everything was to be depicted in precise detail—that is, the actual condition, including every dent and sign of wear. This was necessary to install the access panel correctly.
A fully editable (parametric) CAD model was not required for the planning. Instead, a more cost-effective option for the customer was chosen by creating a surface model using free-form surfaces. This approach is best suited for surfaces such as automotive bodies, aircraft fuselages, and consumer goods with complex shapes. The CAD models created in this way are referred to as NURBS-generated CAD data.
Measurement Task:
The glider was measured using a Faro laser tracker and the corresponding scan arm. The resulting data can be seen as a point cloud.
In the first step, a polygonal model was generated and optimized from the 3D point cloud. To do this, all points were meshed with their neighboring points. The result is thousands of triangles (polygons) that describe the surface of the scanned object.
Next, a curve network is constructed over the scanned object using specialized CAD software. Depending on the scanned object, optimizing the curve network can take several hours before the final free-form surfaces can be calculated.
RESULT:
The result is a NURBS-generated surface model. The generated surfaces align with the scan data with a high degree of accuracy and thus precisely reflect the real object. The CAD models can be scaled, trimmed, and merged, but it is not possible to thicken them without restriction or to edit specific areas. This is due to a fundamentally different mathematical approach compared to that of a parametric CAD model.
We created exactly what our customer wanted. By reverse-engineering the glider, we were able to install the flap in the correct location and mount the engine.
Our client is now flying his motorized glider!
If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact us!