Tear Resistant Fuel Cells for Aircraft
AssigneeResponse Technologies, LLC
InventorsDavid Allen Pettey, Edmund Francis Bard
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of manufacturing a tear resistant fuel cell includes providing a fuel cell mold and forming a fuel barrier layer on the fuel cell mold. A textile substrate is formed on the fuel barrier layer by bonding together a plurality of unidirectional textile plies including first and second ripstop plies, each ripstop ply having a yarn coupled thereto in a ripstop pattern, the ripstop pattern of the first ripstop ply being oriented off-axis relative to the ripstop pattern of the second ripstop ply. In some embodiments, the ripstop plies are distributed nonuniformly within the textile substrate. An outer shell layer is formed on the textile substrate, and the fuel cell mold is removed to yield the tear resistant fuel cell.
Claims20
A method of manufacturing a tear resistant fuel cell, comprising:
- providing a fuel cell mold having an exterior surface defining a shape of the fuel cell;
- forming a fuel barrier layer on the exterior surface of the fuel cell mold;
- forming a textile substrate on the fuel barrier layer by additively laying up a plurality of unidirectional textile plies including at least first and second ripstop plies each having a yarn coupled thereto in a ripstop pattern, the ripstop pattern of the first ripstop ply oriented off-axis relative to the ripstop pattern of the second ripstop ply;
- bonding the plurality of unidirectional textile plies together to form the textile substrate;
- forming an outer shell layer on the textile substrate;
- and
- removing the fuel cell mold to yield the tear resistant fuel cell.
A method of manufacturing a tear resistant fuel cell, comprising:
- providing a fuel cell mold;
- forming a fuel barrier layer on the fuel cell mold;
- forming at least first and second ripstop plies by coupling a high tenacity yarn to a unidirectional textile ply in a ripstop pattern;
- arranging the first ripstop ply in a first orientation on the fuel barrier layer and arranging the second ripstop ply in a second orientation that is off-axis relative to the first orientation;
- forming a textile substrate by bonding the first and second ripstop plies with additional unidirectional textile plies;
- forming an outer shell layer on the textile substrate;
- and
- removing the fuel cell mold.
A method of manufacturing a tear resistant fuel cell, comprising:
- providing a fuel cell mold;
- forming a fuel barrier layer on the fuel cell mold;
- forming a textile substrate by bonding together a plurality of unidirectional textile plies including a plurality of ripstop plies having yarn coupled thereto in ripstop patterns, adjacent ripstop plies having ripstop patterns oriented off-axis relative to one another;
- distributing the ripstop plies nonuniformly within the textile substrate such that the ripstop plies are biased toward an outboard portion of the textile substrate;
- forming an outer shell layer on the textile substrate;
- and
- removing the fuel cell mold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.