Integrated apparatus and method for filling porous composite preforms
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsJames M. Ahrens, Daniel Domanski, John A. Hornor, Ruth Hughes, Dennis James Landini, Roger Lee Ken Matsumoto, Hongyu Wang, Troy Frederick Brenner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for filling preforms with resin or slurry includes a tank for holding the slurry and an autoclave for holding the preforms. The tank and autoclave have a common vacuum system connected thereto, and the tank is disposed above the autoclave. This arrangement provides a compact casting system which utilizes a vacuum and gravity to transfer slurry from the tank to the preforms within the autoclave.
Claims16
A vacuum enabled casting system for filling preforms comprising:
- a tank for holding a material for filling the preforms;
- an autoclave for containing the preforms that are to be filled with the material held in said tank;
- and
- a common vacuum system interconnected to said tank and said autoclave for causing the material held in said tank to flow to said autoclave through piping interconnecting said tank and said autoclave to fill the preforms contained therein.
A method for filling preforms with casting material involves locating a tank above an autoclave connecting the tank and the autoclave to a common vacuum system and utilizing a combination of vacuum and gravity to cause the casting material to flow from the tank to fill preforms disposed in the autoclave.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.