Aircraft Paint, Maintenance and Manufacturing Solutions

On 28th March 2010, the STTS group (European leader in aeronautic painting and sealing) inaugurated a new aircraft painting hall in aviation parc Aéroconstellation ZAC.

The STTS group searched for a partner with years of experience, ability and flexibility for realization of their innovative aircraft painting hall project. CTI Systems proved to be the perfect partner to meet this challenge. The new painting hall was designed with the focus on economy, energy reduction and an optimized ventilation system. The collaboration of STTS / CTI Systems has allowed for the creation of an ergonomic, economic, safe, and innovative aircraft paint facility meeting all project requirements.

The new 10.000 m² building located near the Toulouse-Blagnac Airport runway, is dedicated to painting long-haul Airbus aircraft. This painting hall was specifically designed for A350 painting however, due to new developments, the painting hall is also capable of painting the A380 or Boeing 747. To access the upper part of the A380 vertical stabilizer without considerable elevation change in the building height, CTI designed two mobile access bridge cranes (tail docks) and installed them in the rear part of the hall. Both crane bridges are height-adjustable from 15,5 m to 22,5 m and equipped with sliders for optimum adjustability when painting the vertical stabilizer. These tail docks allow for work on large aircraft in buildings with reduced size.

Technical innovation does not stop here. To capture energy savings CTI equipped the platforms with a regenerative Power Module System allowing capture of produced energy during braking phases.

To permit access of several aircraft during the painting process stages, CTI Systems realized the design, manufacture and installation of the following equipment:

• Four teleplatforms with working platforms of 7 m length.Max. work height of 14 m.
• Two teleplatforms with working platforms of 7 m length. Max. work height of 15,3 m
• Two tail dock bridge cranes, with adjustable height from 15.5 m to 22.5 m

Each design detail, starting with the operator access stair, drip pans, compressed air connections, etc. was subjected to a detailed engineering study with STTS. All studies were aimed to achieve full user satisfaction.

The combination of the four fuselage and two tail teleplatforms with integrated tail docks provides optimal accessibility to all aircraft areas.

The paint hall ventilation is optimized due to a hot-air recycling system during several process stages and with internal volume reduction. The new hall consumes five times less energy than a typical painting hall considering the aircraft size.

Enhanced project co-ordination and communication between the various participants ensured deliveries and project completion on time.

The project result provides the STTS with a “state of the art”, innovative, efficient, compact and flexible installation with allowance to service multiple aircraft types.

CTI Systems is proud to have participated in the success of this project in cooperation with the STTS group, employing to date 570 personnel worldwide.

Once again, CTI Systems demonstrates ability to accept and execute challenges in the Aviation and Space industries.