Monolithic composite wing manufacturing process

A method of manufacturing a monolithic composite wing comprising the steps of:

• (a) fabricating a center wing box cell having a pair of longitudinally disposed U-shaped pre-formed spars, laterally disposed plurality of rib-lets between said spars, and a pair of resin impregnated wing skin-molds glued to upper and lower surfaces of said spars wherein said box cell is wrapped, compacted, and bonded by means of locally heated resin impregnated composite tapes in a plurality of layers along spanwise and helical directions;
• and
• (b) adjoining additional boxes contiguously disposed in the lateral direction on either side to form a framework, wherein wrapping, compacting, and bonding of said additional boxes includes overlapping the previously wrapped boxes in said framework by means of said locally heated resin impregnated composite tapes in a plurality of layers along spanwise and helical directions;
• and
• (c) repeating said fabrication procedure described in said step (b) until all boxes up to and including the leading edge and the trailing edge box cells of said wing are added;
• including
• (d) installing conduit devices for fuel, hydraulic systems and electrical services;
• (e) spraying the inner surface of the wing box with fuel leak proof chemical compounds;
• (f) providing inspection cutouts and placing reinforcement tapes around said inspection cutouts;
• and
• (g) curing said wing in an autoclave under controlled uniform pressure and temperature.