Device for emulating temperature of a composite structure through a thermal cure cycle
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorKarl M. Nelson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A temperature emulator may include a stack assembly having a pair of end plates positioned at an uppermost and lowermost location of the stack assembly, a plurality of heat sink plates disposed between the pair of end plates, each of the heat sink plates having a plurality of heat sink cutouts, a plurality of shim plates separating adjacent pairs of the end plates and the heat sink plates, each of the shim plates having a shim cutout, an open cavity formed by a plurality of adjacent heat sink cutouts and shim cutouts, thermal insulation disposed within the cavity, and at least one temperature sensor coupled to at least one of the plurality of heat sink plates.
Claims20
A temperature emulator comprising:
- a stack assembly comprising a plurality of thermally conductive plates, said plurality of thermally conductive plates comprising:
- a pair of end plates positioned at an uppermost and a lowermost location of said stack assembly;
- and
- a plurality of heat sink plates disposed between said pair of end plates;
- an insulator layer disposed between adjacent pairs of said plurality of thermally conductive plates;
- and
- a temperature sensor thermally coupled to said stack assembly.
A temperature emulator comprising:
- a stack assembly comprising:
- a pair of end plates positioned at an uppermost and lowermost location of said stack assembly;
- a plurality of heat sink plates disposed between said pair of end plates, each of said heat sink plates comprising a plurality of heat sink cutouts;
- and
- a plurality of shim plates separating adjacent pairs of said end plates and said heat sink plates, each of said shim plates comprising a shim cutout, wherein said shim cutouts and said heat sink cutouts define an open cavity;
- thermal insulation disposed within said open cavity;
- and
- a temperature sensor coupled to at least one of said plurality of heat sink plates.
A temperature emulator comprising:
- a stack assembly comprising a plurality of thermally conductive plates;
- an insulator layer disposed between adjacent pairs of said plurality of thermally conductive plates, wherein said insulator layer comprises at least one shim plate comprising a cutout disposed therethrough, said cutout being filled with thermal insulation;
- and
- a temperature sensor thermally coupled to said stack assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.