Composite fuselage barrel with improved EME protection and method of making thereof
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsGlory Christine Edwards, Arne K. Lewis
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A composite fuselage section, including an outer skin comprising one or more composite materials, an internal framework to support the outer skin, and one or more mechanical fasteners disposed through the outer skin, wherein the internal framework is joined to the outer skin using the one or more mechanical fasteners, and wherein the outer skin includes a conductive layer surrounding at least one of the one or more mechanical fasteners to enhance an energy distribution of a lightning strike flowing across a surface of the composite fuselage section.
Claims20
A composite fuselage section, comprising:
- an outer skin comprising one or more layers of composite materials and a conductive layer,
- an internal framework to support the outer skin, and
- one or more mechanical fasteners disposed through the one or more layers of composite materials and the conductive layer of the outer skin,
- wherein the internal framework is joined to the outer skin using the one or more mechanical fasteners, and
- wherein the conductive layer surrounds at least one of the one or more mechanical fasteners to enhance an energy distribution of a lightning strike flowing across a surface of the composite fuselage section.
A composite fuselage section, comprising:
- a composite outer skin comprising an inner layer defining an inner surface of the outer skin, an outer layer disposed over the inner layer, and a conductive layer disposed over the outer layer,
- an internal framework to support the composite outer skin, and
- one or more mechanical fasteners to join the internal framework to the composite outer skin,
- wherein the one or more mechanical fasteners are disposed through the inner layer, the outer layer, and the conductive layer of the composite outer skin, and
- wherein the conductive layer covers an area from about 0.5 inches to about 10 inches surrounding at least one of the one or more mechanical fasteners.
A composite fuselage section, comprising:
- an outer skin comprising one or more composite materials and a conductive layer,
- an internal framework to support the outer skin, and
- one or more mechanical fasteners disposed through the outer skin,
- wherein the internal framework is joined to the outer skin using the one or more mechanical fasteners, and
- wherein the conductive layer surrounds at least one of the one or more mechanical fasteners to enhance an energy distribution of a lightning strike flowing across a surface of the composite fuselage section, and
- wherein the conductive layer comprises one or more conductive bands defining at least one of a circumferential electrical path around the outer skin and a longitudinal electrical path along the outer skin.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.