Apparatus and method for close tolerance forming of areas in fiber reinforced resin composite components
AssigneeShort Brothers PLC
InventorWilliam James Trevor Millar
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for forming a fiber reinforced resin composite component by a resin transfer infusion (RTI) process in which a preform is laid up on a hard base tool and a bagging blanket is applied as a flexible upper tooling. Edge and/or other regions of the preform are superimposed by localized control plates which, together with spacer pins passing through the preform, serve to determine localized dimensional accuracy in the component without the need for hard upper tooling throughout.
Claims37
An apparatus for forming a fiber reinforced resin composite component comprising:
- a hard base tool which presents a tool face having a lay up region for lay up of a reinforcing fiber preform,
- a flexible bagging blanket for overlying the lay up region and cooperating with the tool face to form a sealed enclosure which encloses the reinforcing fiber preform,
- a liquid resin source,
- a liquid resin inlet which communicates with the sealed enclosure and which is connected to the liquid resin source for injection of the liquid resin into the sealed enclosure to form a liquid resin/reinforcing fiber preform system for liquid resin impregnation of the reinforcing fiber preform, and
- at least one rigid control plate adapted in use to be located in at least one zone within the sealed enclosure such that at least one part of the preform is disposed between the control plate and the hard base tool, and by
- at least one spacer with a predetermined dimension adapted to be located within or against the preform in said at least one zone and between the control plate and the hard base tool, wherein the at least one spacer determines an equivalent dimension of the preform and thus the finished component in said zone.
A method of forming a fiber reinforced resin composite component comprising:
- providing a hard base tool presenting a tool face having a lay up region,
- laying up a reinforcing fiber preform in said lay up region,
- overlaying the preform with a flexible bagging blanket to form, with the preform and the hard base tool, a sealed enclosure,
- injecting a liquid resin into the sealed enclosure to form a liquid resin/reinforcing fiber preform system for liquid resin impregnation of the reinforcing fiber preform,
- externally pressurizing the sealed enclosure,
- controlling the temperature of the sealed enclosure to cure the resin and form the component,
- introducing, prior to injection of the liquid resin, at least one rigid control plate in at least one zone within the sealed enclosure between the preform and the flexible bagging blanket in said zone, and
- locating at least one spacer of known dimension within or adjacent to the preform in said zone and between the control plate and the hard base tool thus, wherein the spacer determines an equivalent dimension of the preform and the finished component in said zone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.