Method for producing composite materials
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorMichael R. Chapman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An improved method for producing composite structures is disclosed. In accordance with the method, a first computer representation of the manner in which a plurality of plies are to be cut from a common fibrous material is provided and the representation used to cut the plies from the common material. A second computer representation of the manner in which the plurality of plies are combined to form the composite structure is used to control an ink-jet marking system to sequentially mark a partial composite with the location of a ply. After the partial composite is marked, the ply is manually placed and its placement inspected. The partial composite is then marked, using the ink-jet marking gantry, with the location of the next ply.
Claims33
A method for producing high-performance composite structures wherein the composite structure consists of a plurality of fibrous plies, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a first computer representation of the manner in which the plurality of plies can be cut from a common elongate sheet of fibrous tape to maximize use of the tape, the first computer representation including the orientation and configuration of the plies to be cut and the identity of the plies;
- (b) storing the first computer representation in the memory of a first processor;
- (c) providing a second computer representation of the manner in which the plurality of plies are to be combined to create the composite structure, the second representation including the relative positioning and orientation of the plurality of plies as well as the sequence in which the plies must be combined to produce the composite structure;
- (d) storing the second computer representation in the memory of a second processor;
- (e) cutting the plies from the common elongate sheet of fibrous tape using a water-jet cutting gantry, the water-jet cutting gantry being controlled by the first processor and the first processor being controlled by the first computer representation;
- (f) identifying the plies by marking them using a first ink-jet marking gantry, the first ink-jet marking gantry also being controlled by the first processor;
- (g) marking a partial composite to indicate the positioning and orientation of the ply to be placed using a second ink-jet marking gantry, the second ink-jet marking gantry being controlled by the second processor and the second processor being controlled by the second computer representation;
- (h) placing the ply on the partial composite in the position and orientation marked;
- and
- (i) repeating steps (g) and (h) until all plies have been placed to thereby provide the desired high-performance composite structure.
A method for producing high-performance composite structures wherein the composite structure includes a plurality of fibrous plies, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a representation of the composite structure to be produced, wherein the representation includes the manner in which the plurality of fibrous plies are configured to produce the composite structure;
- (b) using the representation of the composite structure to control an ink-jet marking gantry to mark the location of the next ply to be placed;
- (c) placing the next ply in the location marked;
- and
- (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) until all plies have been placed to thereby provide the high-performance composite structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.