Electrothermal heater mat
AssigneeGKN Aerospace Services Limited
InventorStephen Goodfellow-Jones
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In manufacturing an electrothermal heater mat, there is provided a preform which comprises a laminated stack of dielectric layers which are made of thermoplastic material and include a central layer or group of layers which include(s) reinforcement and first and second outer groups of layers which do not include reinforcement. The preform includes a heater element and the preform has a first configuration. The preform is then heated to a temperature (e.g. 180° C.) between the glass-transition temperature of the thermoplastic material and the melting point of the thermoplastic material, and the heated preform is formed into a second configuration which is different to the first configuration so as to produce the heater mat.
Claims20
-20. (canceled)
A method of manufacturing an electrothermal heater mat, comprising:
- providing a preform that includes a laminated stack of dielectric layers made of thermoplastic material, the stack including a central group of one or more layers, and first and second outer groups of layers;
- wherein the central group includes reinforcement and the outer groups do not include reinforcement;
- wherein the preform includes a heater element and the preform has a first configuration;
- heating the preform to a temperature between a glass-transition temperature of the thermoplastic material and a melting point of the thermoplastic material;
- and
- forming the heated preform into a second configuration which is different from the first configuration so as to produce the heater mat.
A method of manufacturing an electrothermal heater mat, comprising:
- laying up a stack comprising substantially planar layers which include a plurality of dielectric layers and a heater element layer;
- wherein each layer comprises thermoplastic material;
- heating the stack to a first temperature and laminating together the layers of the stack so as to produce a preform;
- positioning the preform on a convex surface of a tool;
- heating the preform to a second temperature which is lower than the first temperature and is in a range of 150° C. to 210° C.;
- and
- forming the preform around the convex surface of the tool.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.