Method and system of forming a composite airfoil having a set of plies
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsGary Willard Bryant, Jr., Wendy Wen-Ling Lin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of forming an assembly. The assembly having a stack of plies and an airfoil portion. The airfoil portion has an outer wall extending between a root and a tip in a spanwise direction, and between a leading edge and a trailing edge. The assembly has a first set of plies and a second set of plies. The first set of plies form at least a portion of the airfoil portion.
Claims20
A method of forming an assembly including a stack of plies, and an airfoil portion, the airfoil portion having an outer wall extending between a root and a tip in a spanwise direction, and between a leading edge and a trailing edge, the method comprising:
- forming the stack of plies by:
- automatically stacking a first set of plies along a first portion of the assembly, the first portion including at least the airfoil portion, each ply of the first set of plies extending a respective maximum fiber length, with the respective maximum fiber length of each ply of the first set of plies being greater than or equal to a threshold fiber length;
- and
- manually stacking a second set of plies along a second portion of the assembly, each ply of the second set of plies extending a respective maximum fiber length, with the respective maximum fiber length of each ply of the second set of plies being less than the threshold fiber length.
A composite airfoil comprising:
- an airfoil portion having an outer wall extending between a root and a tip in a spanwise direction, and between a leading edge and a trailing edge;
- a first set of plies forming at least a portion of the airfoil portion, each ply of the first set of plies extending a respective maximum fiber length, with the respective maximum fiber length of each ply of the first set of plies being greater than or equal to a threshold fiber length;
- and
- a second set of plies, with each ply of the second set of plies extending a respective maximum fiber length, with the respective maximum fiber length of each ply of the second set of plies being less than the threshold fiber length,
- wherein the threshold fiber length is within a range of greater than or equal to 8 inches and less than or equal to 20 inches.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.