One-piece inner shell for full barrel composite fuselage
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsDoan D. Pham, Mark W. Tollan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of manufacturing a unitary seamless section of an aircraft fuselage comprises disposing a thin lay-up mandrel element onto the outer shell surface of a cylindrical inner mandrel shell, thereby forming a mandrel with a lay-up surface. A plurality of resin impregnated stiffener fibers may be layed-up within a plurality of stiffener channels in the lay-up surface to form a plurality of stiffeners or stringers. The method further includes laying up a plurality of resin impregnated skin fibers onto the lay-up surface while the mandrel rotates to form a unitary pre-cured section of an aircraft fuselage.
Claims14
A method of manufacturing a unitary seamless section of an aircraft fuselage, the method comprising:
- disposing a plurality of caul plates onto an outer shell surface of a one-piece inner mandrel shell to form a mandrel with a lay-up surface, said caul plates arranged longitudinally parallel to the longitudinal axis of said one-piece inner mandrel shell and comprising a plurality of longitudinal stiffener channels formed into a caul outer surface;
- laying up a plurality of resin impregnated stiffener fibers within said plurality of stiffener channels to form a plurality of stiffeners;
- inserting a removable rubber mandrel into each of said plurality of stiffener channels;
- and
- laying up a plurality of resin impregnated skin fibers onto said lay-up surface while said mandrel rotates to form a unitary pre-cured section of an aircraft fuselage, wherein the top ends of said plurality of resin impregnated stiffener fibers form a flush mandrel surface and are in contact with said plurality of resin impregnated skin fibers.
A method of manufacturing a unitary seamless section of an aircraft fuselage, the method comprising:
- disposing a thin lay-up mandrel element onto an outer shell surface of a inner mandrel shell to form a mandrel with a lay-up surface;
- laying up a plurality of resin impregnated stiffener fibers within a plurality of longitudinal stiffener channels formed in said thin lay-up mandrel element:
- inserting a removable rubber mandrel into each of said plurality of stiffener channels:
- and
- laying up a plurality of resin impregnated skin fibers onto said lay-up surface while said mandrel rotates to form a unitary pre-cured section of an aircraft fuselage, wherein the top ends of said plurality of resin impregnated stiffener fibers form a flush mandrel surface and are in contact with said plurality of resin impregnated skin fibers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.