SAE International The Advent of Battery Tools in Aerospace Assembly Processes 2013-01-2327

Until recently most aircrafts, aircraft engines and landing gear as well as other aerospace equipment has been manufactured using essentially traditional mechanical, pneumatic or hydraulic power hand tools maintaining at the same time very strict processes to ensure quality and traceability to a certain level. An increased use of composites, intensified focus on quality and demand for extended traceability, as well as more accuracy, more flexibility, more productivity and more ergonomics in the tooling used during the assembly process has led to many manufacturing shops to invest into wireless battery tools as the best alternative to manufacture aircrafts now and in the future. We will detail in this paper what reasons led some pioneers to choose wireless battery technology to assemble aircrafts. We will describe from our perspective what the next steps are in solutions dedicated to the aerospace industry.