Geometric sound absorption via additive manufacturing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017072638-A1
Application number	US-201514850952-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 10, 2015
Priority date	Sep 10, 2015
Publication date	Mar 16, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Sound damping structures and methods for additively manufacturing composite structures having sound damping properties. In some embodiments, sound damping structures may be manufactured according to methods that may include selecting a desired sound damping geometry, inputting a three-dimensional computer-aided design model of the geometry into an additive manufacturing machine, and additively manufacturing a three-dimensional sound damping structure corresponding to the computer-aided design model.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A method for manufacturing a sound absorbing panel for an interior of an aircraft, comprising:
determining a desired set of sound absorption properties; determining a desired sound absorbing geometry based on the sound absorption properties; constructing a three-dimensional computer-aided design model of the sound absorbing geometry; and additively manufacturing a three-dimensional sound absorbing panel based on the three-dimensional computer-aided design model.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the panel includes a volume-filling composite core having a plurality of layers of composite material and disposed between a composite sandwich structure.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the composite material is thermoplastic.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the panel is configured to be geometrically complex, varying in at least one of density and shape between two or more layers of the panel.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the panel is configured to be placed in a pre-determined location within the interior of the aircraft.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the panel is manufactured to have a predetermined sound absorption coefficient as a function of sound frequency and three-dimensional position.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the panel is manufactured using fused deposition modeling technology.

8 . A method for manufacturing a sound absorbing core, comprising:
determining a set of desired sound absorption properties by measuring sound to be absorbed in a particular portion of an aircraft interior; determining a sound absorbing geometry based on the sound absorption properties; constructing a three-dimensional computer-aided design model of the sound absorbing geometry; inputting data for the computer-aided design model into a control system for an additive manufacturing machine; and additively manufacturing a three-dimensional composite core including a plurality of layers of composite material corresponding to the sound absorbing geometry.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the core is disposed between a pair of rigid panels.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the rigid panels are additively manufactured.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the composite material is thermoplastic.

12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the core is configured to be geometrically complex, varying in at least one of density and shape between two or more layers of the core.

13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the core is configured to have a desired sound absorption coefficient as a function of sound frequency and three-dimensional position.

14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the core is manufactured using fused deposition modeling technology.

15 . A method for manufacturing a sound damping core, comprising:
providing a three-dimensional computer-aided design model of a desired sound damping geometry; transmitting data representative of the computer-aided design model to an additive manufacturing machine; and additively manufacturing a three-dimensional composite core corresponding to the computer-aided design model.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising selecting the sound damping geometry based on a desired set of sound absorption properties.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the sound damping geometry is selected based on data obtained by mapping or measuring sound to be damped.

18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the core includes variations of at least one of density and shape within the core.

19 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the core is configured to be placed in a pre-determined location within an aircraft interior.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the core is configured to damp at least one frequency of sound characteristic of the pre-determined location.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Hayes Michael Williams
• Cuddy Nathanial C

Classifications

• B29L2007/002

  Panels; Plates; Sheets · CPC title

• B64C1/40

  Sound or heat insulation {, e.g. using insulation blankets} · CPC title

• B29L2009/00

  Layered products · CPC title

• G10K11/16

  Methods or devices for protecting against, or for damping, noise or other acoustic waves in general (G10K11/36 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B33Y50/02

  for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes · CPC title