Method of manufacturing a composite panel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10791386-B2
Application number	US-201816117116-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 30, 2018
Priority date	Nov 13, 2015
Publication date	Sep 29, 2020
Grant date	Sep 29, 2020

Abstract

Embedded lighting, microphone, and speaker features for composite panels are described. An example composite panel includes a plurality of plies assembled in a stack-up, and a trace sheet with electrically conductive traces and a plurality of transducer discs positioned onto the electrically conductive traces at positions such that the electrically conductive traces form an electrical interconnection between selected ones of the electrically conductive traces and associated ones of the transducer discs. The trace sheet is included as an internal ply in the stack-up of the plurality of plies. The composite panel also includes a composite base upon which the stack-up of the plurality of plies is applied, and the plurality of plies are cured upon the composite base to integrate the trace sheet and the plurality of transducer discs into the composite base.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing a composite panel, comprising:
printing electrically conductive traces onto a planar surface of a trace sheet;
positioning a plurality of transducer discs onto the electrically conductive traces at positions such that the electrically conductive traces form an electrical interconnection between selected ones of the electrically conductive traces and associated ones of the transducer discs, wherein positioning the plurality of transducer discs onto the electrically conductive traces comprises, for each of the plurality of transducer discs: printing a bottom conductive trace onto the trace sheet, printing a piezo-electric material onto the bottom conductive trace, and printing a top conductive trace onto the piezo-electric material;
positioning a stack-up of a plurality of plies onto a composite base, wherein the plurality of plies includes the trace sheet with the printed electrically conductive traces and the plurality of transducer discs, wherein the trace sheet is included as an internal ply in the stack-up of the plurality of plies; and
applying pressure and heat to the stack-up and the composite base to cure the plurality of plies upon the composite base and to integrate the trace sheet and the plurality of transducer discs into the composite base.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of transducer discs includes acoustic-to-electric transducers that convert sound into an electrical signal.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of transducer discs includes electroacoustic transducers that convert an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of plies include a polymer sheet, and wherein the trace sheet is provided in the stack-up between the polymer sheet and the composite base.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
printing a second plurality of electrically conductive traces onto the planar surface of the trace sheet;
positioning a plurality of light sources onto the second plurality of electrically conductive traces on the planar surface of the trace sheet at light mounting positions such that the second plurality of electrically conductive traces form an electrical interconnection between selected ones of the second plurality of electrically conductive traces and associated ones of the plurality of light sources; and
applying pressure and heat to the stack-up and the composite base to cure the plurality of plies upon the composite base and to embed the plurality of light sources into the composite base.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of transducer discs includes acoustic-to-electric transducers that convert sound into an electrical signal as a microphone, and the method further comprises:
printing a second plurality of electrically conductive traces onto the planar surface of the trace sheet;
positioning a plurality of loud-speaker transducers onto the second plurality of electrically conductive traces on the planar surface of the trace sheet at positions such that the second plurality of electrically conductive traces form an electrical interconnection between selected ones of the second plurality of electrically conductive traces and associated ones of the plurality of loud-speaker transducers, wherein the plurality of loud-speaker transducers include electroacoustic transducers that convert an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound as a loud-speaker; and
applying pressure and heat to the stack-up and the composite base to cure the plurality of plies upon the composite base and to embed the plurality of loud-speaker transducers into the composite base.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the composite base includes a honeycomb core panel.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the composite base includes a polycarbonate material.

9. A method of manufacturing a composite panel, comprising:
printing electrically conductive traces onto a planar surface of a trace sheet;
positioning a plurality of transducer discs onto the electrically conductive traces at positions such that the electrically conductive traces form an electrical interconnection between selected ones of the electrically conductive traces and associated ones of the transducer discs;
printing a second plurality of electrically conductive traces onto the planar surface of the trace sheet;
positioning a plurality of light sources onto the second plurality of electrically conductive traces on the planar surface of the trace sheet at light mounting positions such that the second plurality of electrically conductive traces form an electrical interconnection between selected ones of the second plurality of electrically conductive traces and associated ones of the plurality of light sources;
positioning a stack-up of a plurality of plies onto a composite base, wherein the plurality of plies includes the trace sheet with the printed electrically conductive traces and the plurality of transducer discs and with the printed second plurality of electrically conductive traces and the plurality of light sources, wherein the trace sheet is included as an internal ply in the stack-up of the plurality of plies;
applying pressure and heat to the stack-up and the composite base to cure the plurality of plies upon the composite base and to integrate the trace sheet and the plurality of transducer discs into the composite base as well as to embed the plurality of light sources into the composite base.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of transducer discs includes piezo-electric microphone components printed on the trace sheet.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of transducer discs include acoustic-to-electric transducers.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the composite base includes a honeycomb core panel.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein positioning the stack-up of the plurality of plies onto the composite base comprises positioning a polymer sheet, and wherein the trace sheet is provided in the stack-up between the polymer sheet and the composite base.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the trace sheet includes the electrically conductive traces and the plurality of transducer discs printed thereon.

15. A method of manufacturing a composite panel, comprising:
printing electrically conductive traces onto a planar surface of a trace sheet;
positioning a plurality of transducer discs onto the electrically conductive traces at positions such that the electrically conductive traces form an electrical interconnection between selected ones of the electrically conductive traces and associated ones of the transducer discs, wherein the plurality of transducer discs includes acoustic-to-electric transducers that convert sound into an electrical signal as a microphone;
printing a second plurality of electrically conductive traces onto the planar surface of the trace sheet;
positioning a plurality of loud-speaker transducers onto the second plurality of electrically conductive traces on the planar surface of the trace sheet at positions such that the second plurality of electrically conductive traces form an electrical interconnection between selected ones of the second plurality of electrically conductive traces and associated ones of the plurality of loud-speaker transducers, wherein the plurality of loud-speaker transducers include electroacoustic transducers that convert an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound as a loud-speaker;
positioning a stack-up of a plurality of plies onto a composite base, wherein the plurality of plies includes the trace shee

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Schalla James
• Duce Jeff

Classifications

• H04R2499/13

  Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles · CPC title

• H04R2201/021

  Transducers or their casings adapted for mounting in or to a wall or ceiling · CPC title

• H04R1/028

  associated with devices performing functions other than acoustics, e.g. electric candles · CPC title

• H04R1/025 Primary

  Arrangements for fixing loudspeaker transducers, e.g. in a box, furniture · CPC title

• H04R27/00

  Public address systems (circuits for preventing acoustic reaction H04R3/02; circuits for distributing signals to loudspeakers H04R3/12; {monitoring or testing arrangements for public address systems H04R29/007}; amplifiers H03F) · CPC title