Method of making composite aircraft wing
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorPhilip C. Whitener
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A pair of specially reinforced skin-spar joints in combination with a honeycomb core are used to build up a wing spar for a composite airplane wing. A series of contoured mandrels with a covering of fuel resistant material and a wrapped reinforced plastic are aligned one above the other. The wing spar materials are placed between the mandrels, honeycomb core is located alongside as well as wing skins to form a wing buildup. The buildup is placed in a mold, pressure applied to each mandrel forcing all the parts together, and the buildup heated to cure the resins and form a composite wing structure.
Claims8
A method of preparing a contoured composite structure, with steps comprising:
- wrapping resin impregnated nonmetallic reinforcing fibers around a plastic covering on each of a series of individually contoured elongated mandrels, arranging the wrapped mandrels in a line and in spaced relation to each other, locating a pair of reinforced load bearing joints and a honeycomb core at each spacing between wrapped mandrels, placing honeycomb core between the load bearing joints along the sides of the wrapped mandrels, covering the sides with a preformed reinforced skin, establishing the outside contour of the skin by placing the built up composite structure in a mold and introducing pneumatic pressure around each mandrel forcing all parts together in the mold, and curing into a contoured composite structure.
A method of preparing a composite aircraft wing comprising:
- utilizing an air bag on each of a series of elongated contoured mandrels, encasing each mandrel in a fuel resistant plastic liner, introducing pneumatic pressure into each air bag, laying a resin impregnated nonmetallic reinforcing material over the plastic liner, arranging the covered mandrels in a line and spaced apart from each other, laying up a pair of elongated reinforced load bearing wing spar joints and a honeycomb core between adjacent covered mandrels, locating a honeycomb core along side each mandrel and between wing spar joints, covering the outside with a skin, locating the arranged components in a mold, forcing the component parts together by introducing pneumatic pressure into the air bags, and curing into a composite wing structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.