Advanced composite aircraft cowl
AssigneeGrumman Aerospace Corporation
InventorRobert E. Anderson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An aircraft cowl, and in particular a translating cowl, used as a component of a thrust reverser, formed of at least one one-piece bondment cured in a single operation. Preferably, a one-piece inner bondment and a one-piece outer bondment fastened together at a joining region. The bondments have constant density cores and tapered closures. Acoustically absorbing materials are part of the lay up for one of the bondments and are integrally cured therein.
Claims27
An aircraft cowl, comprising:
- an inner bondment formed as a one-piece composite structure;
- an outer bondment formed as a one-piece composite structure;
- fastening means for fastening said inner bondment to said outer bondment;
- and
- an acoustic attenuating liner on at least a portion of an inner surface of at least one of said inner bondment and said outer bondment.
An aircraft cowl, comprising:
- at least one bondment formed as a one-piece composite structure having a honeycomb core and composite layers over at least one side of said core, said bondment having a tapered edge closure about at least a portion of the periphery thereof;
- and
- an acoustic attenuating liner on at least a portion of an inner surface of said bondment.
A method for manufacturing an aircraft cowl, comprising the steps of:
- forming a first one-piece composite bondment;
- forming a second one-piece composite bondment;
- integrally curing and bonding an acoustic attenuating liner to at least one surface of one of said bondments;
- and
- assembling said first one-piece composite bondment and said second one-piece bondment to form the cowl.
An acoustic attenuating liner, comprising
- a corrosion-resistant honeycomb core;
- a corrosion-insulated perforated sheet on said honeycomb core;
- adhesive between said perforated sheet and said core for bonding said perforated sheet to said core;
- a mesh woven from corrosion-resistant metal on said perforated sheet;
- and
- additional adhesive between said mesh and said perforated sheet for bonding said mesh to said perforated sheet, said additional adhesive having predetermined characteristics including a specific viscosity during curing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.