Systems and methods for forming a dust mitigating fabric

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10507627-B2
Application number	US-201715476902-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2017
Priority date	Mar 31, 2017
Publication date	Dec 17, 2019
Grant date	Dec 17, 2019

Abstract

In an example, a system for forming a dust-mitigating fabric includes a warp-strand-delivery unit including warp strands. The warp strands include insulative-warp strands and conductive-warp strands. The system includes a plurality of heddles that receive the warp strands, and a plurality of harnesses coupled to the heddles. The dust-mitigating fabric has an adapter for receiving one or more phases of an electrical signal. The warp strands include a group of insulative-warp strands and one or more groups of conductive-warp strands. Each group of conductive-warp strands corresponds to a respective phase of the electrical signal. The harnesses move the groups of warp strands to form a shed, and move, on a group-by-group basis, each group of conductive-warp strands to facilitate forming the adapter. The system further includes a picking device to move a weft strand through the shed to form a fabric.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming a dust mitigating fabric, wherein the dust mitigating fabric includes an adapter for receiving an electrical signal, having a plurality of phases, from an alternating-current (AC) power source, the method comprising:
determining a weave pattern for the dust mitigating fabric;
determining, based on the weave pattern, an order and a spacing of a plurality of warp strands, wherein the plurality of warp strands comprise a plurality of groups of warp strands including a group of insulative warp strands and a plurality of groups of conductive warp strands, wherein each group of conductive warp strands corresponds to a respective phase of the electrical signal;
feeding, based on the order and the spacing, each warp strand through a respective one of a plurality of heddles;
coupling the plurality of heddles to a plurality of harnesses such that the plurality of groups of warp strands are movable, on a group by group basis, relative to each other;
feeding, from the plurality of heddles, the plurality of warp strands through a reed to a fabric beam; and
forming the adapter by, for each group of conductive warp strands, positioning a respective insulating termination sheet between the group of conductive warp strands and the group of insulative warp strands,
wherein determining the weave pattern comprises determining the weave pattern such that the dust mitigating fabric comprises the plurality of groups of conductive warp strands being entirely insulated from each other.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the weave pattern comprises determining the weave pattern based on at least one of a voltage, a frequency, or a quantity of the plurality of phases of the electrical signal of the AC power source.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
forming a shed by moving, using the plurality of harnesses, (i) the group of insulative warp strands and (ii) all of the one or more groups of conductive warp strands relative to each other;
inserting a weft strand through the shed to form a woven fabric; and
after forming the woven fabric, forming the adapter, wherein forming the adapter comprises, for each group of conductive warp strands:
raising, using the plurality of harnesses, the group of conductive warp strands relative to the group of insulative warp strands,
while the group of conductive warp strands is raised, inserting an insulating termination sheet between the group of conductive warp strands and the group of insulative warp strands,
after inserting the insulating termination sheet, lowering, using the plurality of harnesses, the group of conductive warp strands onto the insulating termination sheet, and
after lowering the group of conductive warp strands, coupling a conducting termination sheet to the insulating termination sheet such that the group of conductive warp strands is between the insulating termination sheet and the conducting termination sheet.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein each conductive warp strand comprises a conductive tow on an insulative tow, and
wherein feeding each warp strand through the respective one of a plurality of heddles comprises orienting each conductive warp strand such that the conductive tow is on a front surface of the woven fabric and each insulative tow is on a back surface of the woven fabric opposing the front surface of the woven fabric.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the one or more groups of conductive warp strands comprise a first group of conductive warp strands, a second group of conductive warp strands, and a third group of conductive warp strands,
wherein feeding each warp strand through the respective one of the plurality of heddles comprises:
feeding the first group of conductive warp strands through a first group of heddles,
feeding the second group of conductive warp strands through a second group of heddles, and
feeding the third group of conductive warp strands through a third group of heddles,

wherein coupling the plurality of heddles to the plurality of harnesses comprises:
coupling the first group of heddles to a first harness,
coupling the second group of heddles to a second harness, and
coupling the third group of heddles to a third harness, and

wherein forming the adapter comprises moving the first harness, the second harness, and the third harness relative to each other.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein feeding each warp strand through the respective one of the plurality of heddles further comprises feeding the group of insulative warp strands through a fourth group of heddles,
wherein coupling the plurality of heddles to the plurality of harnesses further comprises coupling the fourth group of heddles to a fourth harness, and
wherein forming the shed comprises collectively moving the first harness, the second harness, and the third harness relative to the fourth harness.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the adapter further comprises, for each group of conductive warp strands, coupling a respective conducting termination sheet to the respective insulating termination sheet with the group of conductive warp strands between the respective conducting termination sheet and the respective insulating termination sheet.

8. A method of forming a dust mitigating fabric, comprising:
moving, using a plurality of harnesses, (i) a group of insulative warp strands and (ii) one or more groups of conductive warp strands relative to each other to form a shed;
moving a weft strand through the shed to form a woven fabric; and
after forming the woven fabric, forming an adapter for coupling each group of conductive warp strands to a respective phase of an electrical signal of an alternating-current (AC) power source,
wherein forming the adapter comprises, for each group of conductive warp strands:
raising, using the plurality of harnesses, the group of conductive warp strands relative to the group of insulative warp strands,
while the group of conductive warp strands is raised, inserting an insulating termination sheet between the group of conductive warp strands and the group of insulative warp strands,
after inserting the insulating termination sheet, lowering, using the plurality of harnesses, the group of conductive warp strands onto the insulating termination sheet, and
after lowering the group of conductive warp strands, coupling a conducting termination sheet to the insulating termination sheet such that the group of conductive warp strands is between the insulating termination sheet and the conducting termination sheet.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more groups of conductive warp strands comprises a first group of conductive warp strands and a second group of conductive warp strands,
wherein raising, using the plurality of harnesses, the group of conductive warp strands comprises raising the first group of conductive warp strands and the second group of conductive warp strands together, and
wherein lowering, using the plurality of harnesses, the group of conductive warp strands comprises lowering the first group of conductive warp strands and lowering the second group of conductive warp strands separately from each other.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein inserting the insulating termination sheet comprises positioning the insulating termination sheet across a width of the woven fabric, and
wherein coupling the conducting termination sheet comprises positioning the conducting termination sheet (i) on the insulating termination sheet and (ii) across the width of the woven fabric.

11. A system for forming a dust mitigating fabric, wherein the dust mitigating fabric includes an adapter for receiving an electrical s

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Manyapu Kavya K
• Peltz Leora

Classifications

• B32B2255/02

  on fibrous or filamentary layer · CPC title

• B32B3/06 Primary

  for securing layers together; for attaching the product to another member, e.g. to a support {, or to another product, e.g. groove/tongue, interlocking} · CPC title

• F16L59/028

  Compositions for or methods of fixing a thermally insulating material · CPC title

• B32B2307/304

  Insulating · CPC title

• D10B2401/16

  antistatic; conductive · CPC title