System and method for fabricating a composite ply layup

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11305498-B2
Application number	US-201816229222-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2018
Priority date	Dec 21, 2018
Publication date	Apr 19, 2022
Grant date	Apr 19, 2022

Abstract

A method is provided for fabricating a composite ply layup with a desired shape. The method includes moving a shuttle having a sheet of elastic material into engagement with at least one composite ply at a ply pickup station, and picking up the at least one composite ply with the shuttle. The method also includes transporting the shuttle and the at least one composite ply from the ply pickup station to a forming station, and moving the shuttle and the at least one composite ply into engagement with a forming tool at the forming station or any previously laid plies on the forming tool. The method further includes compacting the at least one composite ply on the forming tool or any previously laid plies on the forming tool with the shuttle to form the composite ply layup with the desired shape.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for fabricating a composite ply layup to a shape, the method comprising:
laminating stock material to form at least one composite ply, wherein the laminating is performed by a laminator at a ply pickup station;
moving a shuttle into engagement with the at least one composite ply at the ply pickup station, the shuttle comprising a sheet of elastic material;
picking up the at least one composite ply with the elastic material of the shuttle;
moving the shuttle and the at least one composite ply into engagement with a tool at a forming station or into engagement with any previously laid plies on the tool, wherein the shuttle is positioned between a flexible forming press and the tool; and
compacting the at least one composite ply on the tool, or compacting the at least one composite ply and the previously laid plies on the tool, between the shuttle and the tool using the flexible forming press to form the composite ply layup to the shape.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
placing the at least one composite ply on a table at the ply pickup station.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:
net-trimming the at least one composite ply at the ply pickup station.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the picking up the at least one composite ply with the elastic material of the shuttle includes:
tack-adhering the at least one composite ply to the sheet of elastic material.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
drawing a vacuum to urge the sheet of elastic material into engagement with the at least one composite ply.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
transporting the shuttle and the at least one composite ply from the ply pickup station to the forming station.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the picking up the at least one composite ply with the elastic material of the shuttle includes:
adhering the at least one composite ply to the sheet of elastic material by tack-adhering the at least one composite ply to the sheet of elastic material.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein moving the shuttle and the at least one composite ply into engagement with the tool at the forming station or into engagement with the previously laid plies on the tool includes:
conforming the at least one composite ply to the previously laid plies or to the tool to form the shape of the composite ply layup.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein conforming the at least one composite ply to the previously laid plies or to the tool to form the shape of the at least one composite ply includes:
finger-forming the at least one composite ply to the previously laid plies or to the tool to form the shape of the composite ply layup.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
laminating stock material to form another at least one composite ply at the ply pickup station when the shuttle and the at least one composite ply are moving into engagement with the tool at the forming station or into engagement with the previously laid plies on the tool at the forming station.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:
net-trimming the another at least one composite ply at the ply pickup station when the shuttle and the at least one composite ply are moving into engagement with the tool or into engagement with the previously laid plies on the tool at the forming station.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising:
removing backing paper from the another at least one composite ply at the ply pickup station when the shuttle and the at least one composite ply are moving into engagement with the tool or into engagement with the previously laid plies on the tool at the forming station.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the method is performed by a computer having a memory executing one or more programs of instructions which are tangibly embodied in a program storage medium readable by the computer.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one composite ply comprises carbon-fiber material pre-impregnated with a thermoset resin.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one composite ply comprises carbon-fiber material pre-impregnated with a thermoplastic resin.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the moving the shuttle and the at least one composite ply comprises moving the shuttle and the at least one composite ply into engagement with the tool at the forming station.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the moving the shuttle and the at least one composite ply comprises moving the shuttle and the at least one composite ply into engagement with a previously laid ply of the any previously laid plies on the tool.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the picking up the at least one composite ply with the shuttle includes:
adhering the at least one composite ply to the sheet of elastic material by vacuum-adhering the at least one composite ply to the sheet of elastic material.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the picking up the at least one composite ply with the shuttle includes:
adhering the at least one composite ply to the sheet of elastic material by electro-statically adhering the at least one composite ply to the sheet of elastic material.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the picking up the at least one composite ply with the shuttle is controlled by a controller.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the compacting the at least one composite ply on the tool, or compacting the at least one composite ply and the previously laid plies on the tool is controlled by a controller.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shuttle and the at least one composite ply are moved using a computer numerically-controlled based system.

23. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shuttle and the at least one composite ply are moved using indexing features.

24. The method of claim 1 , wherein the laminator at the ply pickup station comprises a laminator head.

25. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sheet of elastic material comprises latex material.

26. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sheet of elastic material comprises a first major surface for tack-adhering the at least one composite ply.

27. The method of claim 26 , wherein the first major surface comprises a tacking portion and a vacuum seal portion located outside of the tacking portion of the major surface.

28. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sheet of elastic material is disposed within a frame structure of the shuttle.

29. The method of claim 28 , wherein the frame structure defines a substantially rectangular-shaped internal area in which the sheet of elastic material is disposed.

30. The method of claim 1 , further comprising removing backing paper from the at least one composite ply.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Prause Richard A
• Modin Andrew E

Classifications

• B29C70/388 Primary

  Tape placement heads, e.g. component parts, details or accessories · CPC title

• B29C70/34 Primary

  and shaping or impregnating by compression {, i.e. combined with compressing after the lay-up operation} · CPC title

• B29C2793/0072

  combined with rearranging and joining the cut parts · CPC title

• B29C70/545

  Perforating, cutting or machining during or after moulding · CPC title

• Y10T156/1075

  of plural laminae from single stock and assembling to each other or to additional lamina · CPC title