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
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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.
Claims22
A duct comprising:
- a thermoplastic foam sheet having properties suitable for use in an environmental control system;
- a crenulated first edge of the thermoplastic foam;
- and
- a second edge of the thermoplastic foam, wherein the duct is formed by interlocking the crenulated first edge with the second edge.
3-7. (canceled)
13-26. (canceled)
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;
- and
- thermally welding the first edge to the second edge to form the duct.
The method of claim 39, wherein the step of thermally welding further comprises compressing the first edge and the second edge.
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 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;
- and
- applying pressure and heat to thermally weld the first crenulated edge and the second crenulated edge together so as to form the duct.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.