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US 8,583,271 B2Granted
Controlling cutting of continuously fabricated composite parts with nondestructive evaluation
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsRoger W. Engelbart, Steven J. Burpo, Michael P. Renieri
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus may comprise a nondestructive evaluation system and a cutting system. The nondestructive evaluation system may be configured to inspect a processed portion of a structure. The nondestructive evaluation system may be configured to determine whether an inconsistency is present in the processed portion. The nondestructive evaluation system may also be configured to generate information about a location of the inconsistency. The cutting system may be configured to cut a number of parts out of the processed portion of the structure in which the inconsistency may be at least substantially excluded from the number of parts.
Claims24
An apparatus comprising:
- a nondestructive evaluation system configured to inspect a processed portion of a structure, determine whether an inconsistency is present in the processed portion, and generate information about a size, shape, and location of the inconsistency in a first format;
- a transformation system configured to transform the information about the size, shape, and location of the inconsistency in a first format into a second format;
- a cutting system configured to cut a number of parts out of the processed portion of the structure, using the information in the second format, in which the inconsistency is at least substantially excluded from the number of parts;
- and
- a control system configured to control the cutting system, the control system comprising a number of nesting routines that update the shape of the inconsistency.
2 more elements
An aircraft part manufacturing apparatus comprising:
- a continuous manufacturing system configured to process an unprocessed portion of a composite structure to form a processed portion of the composite structure having a continuous cross section;
- a nondestructive evaluation system configured to inspect the processed portion of the composite structure, determine whether an inconsistency is present in the processed portion, identify a presence of the inconsistency in the processed portion of the composite structure, and generate information about a size, shape, and location of the inconsistency in response to identifying the presence of the inconsistency, wherein the nondestructive evaluation system is an ultrasound system;
- a cutting system configured to cut a number of aircraft parts out of the processed portion of the composite structure in which the inconsistency is at least substantially excluded from the number of aircraft parts using a second format, wherein the cutting system comprises at least one of a laser cutter and a circular blade;
- a computer system configured to control the nondestructive evaluation system and the cutting system;
- a transformation process configured to execute on the computer system, and transform the information from a first format generated by the nondestructive evaluation system into the second format of aircraft coordinates used by a control process to identify a number of shapes for the number of aircraft parts to cut out of the processed portion of the composite structure using the information such that the inconsistency is at least substantially excluded from the number of aircraft parts;
- and
- the control process configured to execute on the computer system to identify the number of shapes for the number of aircraft parts to cut out of the processed portion of the composite structure using a first computer-aided design model in the second format for the number of aircraft parts and the information in the second format such that the inconsistency is at least substantially excluded from the number of aircraft parts, wherein the control process is configured to identify the number of shapes using a model in the second format for the number of aircraft parts and receive the information in the second format, the control system comprising a number of nesting routines that update the number of shapes based on the information received from the evaluation system.
4 more elements
A method for processing a composite structure, the method comprising:
- moving a processed portion of the composite structure past a nondestructive evaluation system;
- inspecting the processed portion of the composite structure for an inconsistency;
- identifying the inconsistency;
- generating information about a size, shape, and location of the inconsistency in the processed portion of the composite structure using the nondestructive evaluation system in a first format;
- transforming the information about the location of the inconsistency in a first format into a second format;
- cutting at least one part out of the processed portion of the composite structure using a cutting system with the information from the nondestructive evaluation system in the second format, wherein the inconsistency is at least substantially excluded from the composite structure in the number of parts;
- and
- controlling the cutting with a control system comprising a number of nesting routines configured to continuously update the shape of the inconsistency.
5 more elements
A method for manufacturing aircraft parts, the method comprising:
- manufacturing a composite structure, wherein the composite structure has an unprocessed portion and a processed portion;
- moving the processed portion of the composite structure past a nondestructive evaluation system;
- inspecting the processed portion of the composite structure for an inconsistency;
- responsive to identifying the inconsistency, generating information about a location for the inconsistency in the processed portion of the composite structure using the nondestructive evaluation system;
- transforming the information about the a size, shape, and location of the inconsistency in a first format into a second format, the second format comprising aircraft coordinates, wherein the information about the location of the inconsistency in the processed portion of the composite structure is stored in a file having a second format used for a model of a number of parts;
- identifying a number of shapes on the processed portion of the composite structure using the model of the number of parts and the file such that the inconsistency is at least substantially outside a perimeter of the number of shapes;
- cutting the number of parts using the number of shapes identified on the processed portion of the composite structure, wherein the inconsistency is at least substantially excluded from the composite structure in the number of parts, wherein the cutting occurs while the unprocessed portion of the composite structure is being processed;
- and
- controlling the cutting with a control system comprising a number of nesting routines configured to continuously update the shape of the inconsistency.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.