Capacitec non-contact gap sensor systems offer reliable performance in aircraft assembly and coating applications

Capacitec, Inc. (Capacitec) (www.capacitec.com), a global leader in the design and manufacture of non-contact capacitive displacement, gap and parallelism sensing technologies for scientific and industrial customers, has announced the successful application of non-contact gap sensor systems within aircraft assembly, slot die coating and aircraft engine and power generation testing applications.

During commercial and military aircraft assembly, the Capacitec Gapman system is used as a "portable electronic feeler gauge", to determine appropriate dimensions of metal shims used in wing assembly other metal-to-composite surfaces. Implementation has reduced required shimming time by 5X over the previous method, which utilized feeler gauges.

During thin coating operations, a Capacitec Slot Die Coater Gap measurement system is used to measure slot die gaps to an accuracy of 0.5 microns, while maintaining gap uniformity to < 0.25 microns across a two to three-meter length in production of labels, special films, wall panels, batteries and foam-based products.

In aircraft engine and power generation turbine manufacturing, Capacitec offers "contact wand" sensing systems, used to measure gaps between fan blades and engine cowling. The major system advantage is that it does not require grounding of the target and the handheld wand, and electronics can easily access any of the fan blade gaps without the need to rotate the blades.