System for constructing a laminate

Abstract

In one form of the present invention, a system for constructing a laminate (122) is disclosed. The system comprises a ply feeder (101) that sequentially stacks one or more plies (100) to form a ply stack (102). A computer (106) directs a laser (104) to cut each ply (100) to a desired shape after becoming part of the ply stack (102). The ply stack (102) is then placed on a reconfigurable tool (112). An applied pressure compresses the ply stack (102) against the reconfigurable tool (112) while an actuator (124) subsequently reconfigures the reconfigurable tool pins (114) to a predetermined shape. In a more particular embodiment, a composites forming process is used, such as diaphragm forming, to compress the ply stack (102) before the reconfigurable tool pins (114) are reconfigured. In another particular embodiment, the reconfigurable tool pins (114) are first reconfigured then a vacuum diaphragm forming process is utilized to compress the ply stack (102) against the reconfigurable tool (112).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.