Infusion monitoring system and method
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsLawrence E. Pado, Craig L. Brown, Michael L. Vandernoot
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Abstract
The invention relates to systems and methods which may be used to determine when an uncured composite part is ready to be cured. In one embodiment, a system under the invention may comprise an infrared camera adapted to take infrared images of an uncured composite part, a heating device adapted to heat an uncured composite part, an image capture device adapted to capture infrared images taken by the infrared camera, and a computer adapted to analyze infrared images taken by the infrared camera in order to evaluate temperatures of an uncured composite part. The infrared images may be used to determine that the composite part is substantially covered, and/or completely covered, with resin and ready to be cured.
Claims18
A method of determining when an uncured composite part is ready to be cured comprising:
- providing an uncured composite part;
- injecting resin onto the uncured composite part;
- heating the uncured composite part with a heating device;
- taking an infrared image of the uncured composite part;
- and
- analyzing temperatures of the uncured composite part using the infrared image in order to determine whether the uncured composite part is substantially covered with the resin;
- wherein all of the steps of the method are done before beginning the cure process.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.