System and method for thermal management guidance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10216237-B2
Application number	US-201715722793-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2017
Priority date	Jan 11, 2013
Publication date	Feb 26, 2019
Grant date	Feb 26, 2019

Abstract

The present disclosure describes one or more systems, methods, routines and/or techniques for thermal management. One or more systems, methods, routines and/or techniques may provide advice or guidance (e.g., to a repair technician) regarding how to perform a hot bond repair, for example, on an aircraft component that has been damaged. The thermal management advisor may provide advice or guidance regarding how to prepare a repair field prior to running a thermal survey. For example, thermal management advisor may recommend a particular heat blanket, a configuration of the heat blanket, placement of various temperature sensors and other preparation guidance. The thermal management advisor may provide advice or guidance regarding how to alter or manage the repair setup during a thermal survey and during the actual curing process. For example, thermal management advisor may recommend particular temperature sensors or areas of the repair field that should be insulated.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A repair management system, comprising:
multiple temperature sensors that are adapted to be placed near a repair area,
wherein the repair area includes an area of a structure that was damaged;

a scanner that is adapted to scan a repair field of the structure,
wherein the repair field includes the repair area and parts of structure surrounding and underlying the repair area, and
wherein the scanner outputs structural information describing a structural composition of the repair field;

a data processing system that is coupled to the temperature sensors and the scanner, where the data processing system includes a processor that executes computer code to:
receive the structural information from the scanner;
generate a map of the repair area; and
analyze the structural information to determine suggested placements of the temperature sensors near the repair area.

2. The repair management system of claim 1 , wherein the processor executes computer code to display, on a screen of the data processing system, the suggested placements of the temperature sensors relative to the map of the repair area.

3. The repair management system of claim 1 , wherein the scanner is a geometry scanner.

4. The repair management system of claim 1 , wherein:
the scanner is adapted to scan the repair field to detect actual placements of the temperature sensors near the repair area and output temperature sensor placement information; and
the processor executes computer code to:
receive the temperature sensor placement information from the scanner;
generate temperature sensor indicators where each temperature sensor indicator relates to a temperature sensor as detected by the scanner, and where each of the temperature indicators is associated with a location on the map of the repair field; and

display, on a screen of the data processing system, the temperature sensor indicators relative to the map of the repair area.

5. A repair management system, comprising:
multiple temperature sensors that are placed near a repair area,
wherein the repair area includes an area of a structure that was damaged;
a scanning system adapted to scan the repair area; and

a data processing system that is coupled to the temperature sensors and a scanner, where the data processing system includes a processor that executes computer code to:
generate a map of the repair area based on information received from the scanning system;
receive temperature readings from the multiple temperature sensors; and
analyze the map of the repair area and the temperature readings to determine one or more insulation suggestions, wherein each insulation suggestion comprises instructions to add or remove insulation within a repair field, wherein the repair field comprises the repair area.

6. The repair management system of claim 5 , wherein the processor executes computer code to display, on a screen of the data processing system, the one or more insulation suggestions relative to the map of the repair area.

7. The repair management system of claim 5 , wherein the scanner is a geometry scanner.

8. The repair management system of claim 5 , wherein the scanning system includes a wand accessory that is adapted to detect when one of the temperature sensors is close to the wand, and wherein the wand accessory allows a user to enter, into the data processing system, a unique number for each of the temperature sensors.

9. The repair management system of claim 4 , further comprising a hot bonder and associated heat blanket operably coupled with the data processing system, wherein the processor of the data processing system further executes code to control the hot bonder and associated heat blanket responsive to input from the temperature sensors.

10. The repair management system of claim 9 , wherein:
the processor of the data processing system further executes code to:
analyze the map of the repair area and the temperature sensor indicators to determine a repair size that encompasses the temperature sensors placed near the repair area; and
determine an appropriate heat blanket size to cover the repair size; and

a size of the heat blanket corresponds with the appropriate heat blanket size.

11. The repair management system of claim 9 , wherein the processor of the data processing system further executes code to:
analyze the structural information to determine an appropriate heat blanket power supply capable of supplying power to the heat blanket to heat the repair area according to a desired heating profile; and
supply power, corresponding with the appropriate heat blanket power supply, to the heat blanket.

12. The repair management system of claim 9 , wherein the processor of the data processing system further executes code to:
receive, as input from a user, heat blanket information that indicates a size and power of the heat blanket; and
analyze the heat blanket information to determine whether the heat blanket is of acceptable size and power to fit and sufficiently cure the repair area.

13. The repair management system of claim 1 , wherein the processor of the data processing system further executes computer code to determine at least one thermal property of the repair field and determine the suggested placements of the temperature sensors based on the at least one thermal property of the repair field.

14. The repair management system of claim 1 , wherein the map of the repair area comprises an image of the repair area.

15. The repair management system of claim 1 , wherein the map of the repair area comprises the structural information, variations in density, thickness, or thermal mass of the repair area.

16. The repair management system of claim 1 , further comprising a projector that is coupled to the data processing system and adapted to project the suggested placements of the temperature sensors onto the repair area.

17. The repair management system of claim 5 , wherein the processor of the data processing system further executes computer code to analyze the map of the repair area and the temperature readings from the multiple temperature sensors to determine the instructions in response to a determination that one or more of the temperature readings is not within an acceptable temperature range based on a location of a corresponding one or more of the multiple temperature sensors within the repair field.

18. The repair management system of claim 5 , further comprising a projector that is coupled to the data processing system and adapted to project the one or more insulation suggestions onto the repair field.

19. The repair management system of claim 5 , wherein the instructions to add or remove insulation within the repair field comprises instructions to add to or remove insulation from at least one temperature sensor of the multiple temperature sensors or from an insulation area within the repair field.

20. A repair management system for repairing a repair area that includes an area of a structure that was damaged, comprising:
a scanner that is adapted to scan a repair field of the structure,
wherein the repair field includes the repair area and parts of structure surrounding and underlying the repair area, and
wherein the scanner outputs structural information describing a structural composition of the repair field;

a data processing system that is coupled to the scanner, where the data processing system includes a processor that executes computer code to:
receive the structural information from the scanner;
genera

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Evens Michael W
• Hafenrichter Joseph Lawrence
• Baldwin Joel Patrick
• Turner Ronald G
• Watson Megan N

Classifications

• B29C73/34

  for local heating · CPC title

• B29C73/30

  for local pressing or local heating · CPC title

• B64F5/40

  Maintaining or repairing aircraft · CPC title

• B29C73/12 Primary

  Apparatus therefor, e.g. for applying (B29C73/30 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B29C73/10

  using patches sealing on the surface of the article (B29C73/14 takes precedence) · CPC title