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US 10,647,074 B2Granted
Light weight thermoplastic flex foam and hybrid duct system
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsWalter Forrest Frantz, Jayant D. Patel, Douglas Dean Maben, Bruce Whitman, Douglas E. Freeman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An aerospace vessel including a fuselage, a means for causing the fuselage to fly coupled to the fuselage, and an environmental control system within the fuselage. The environmental control system includes a duct made of closed cell thermoplastic foam, such as polyvinylidene fluoride foam.
Claims18
A duct comprising:
- a thermoplastic foam sheet having flammability properties for use in an environmental control system of a vehicle;
- a crenulated first edge of the thermoplastic foam sheet;
- a second edge of the thermoplastic foam sheet;
- a seam comprising the crenulated first edge compressed and bonded with the second edge;
- at least one flaring attached to an inner face of the thermoplastic foam sheet, wherein the flaring is attached along the seam and extends radially inwardly;
- and
- at least one flaring attached to an outer face of the thermoplastic foam sheet, wherein the flaring is attached along the seam and extends radially outward.
4 more elements
A method of forming a duct, the method comprising:
- skiving a sheet from a bun, the sheet having a closed cell structure;
- cutting the sheet to create a first edge and a second edge;
- crenulating the first edge of the sheet so as to form a crenulated edge;
- cutting the crenulated edge so as to bevel the first edge along the crenulated edge;
- thermally welding the first edge to the second edge creating a seam between the first edge and the second edge to form the duct;
- adding at least one flaring to an inner face of the sheet, wherein the flaring is attached along the seam and extends radially inwardly;
- and
- adding at least one flaring to an outer face of the sheet, wherein the flaring is attached along the seam and extends radially outwardly.
5 more elements
A method of forming a duct, the method comprising the steps of:
- skiving a thermoplastic bun having a closed cell structure to form a sheet, the thermoplastic bun comprising an expanded foam polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) material;
- cutting the sheet to create a first edge and a second edge of the sheet;
- forming a crenulation pattern in the first edge of the sheet so as to form a first crenulated edge;
- forming a crenulation pattern in the second edge of the sheet so as to form a second crenulated edge;
- cutting the first crenulated edge so as to create a bevel along the first crenulated edge;
- cutting the second crenulated edge so as to create a bevel along the second crenulated edge, the first crenulated edge reciprocally matching the second crenulated edge;
- wrapping the sheet around a mandrel;
- applying pressure and heat to thermally weld the first crenulated edge and the second crenulated edge together so as to form the duct, wherein an overlapping seam of the first edge and the second edge is formed;
- attaching at least one flaring to an inner face of the sheet, wherein the flaring is attached along the seam and extends radially inwardly;
- and
- attaching at least one flaring to an outer face of the sheet, wherein the flaring is attached along the seam and extends radially outwardly.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.