Apparatus and method for emulating temperature during a thermal cure cycle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018304501-A1
Application number	US-201715495454-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 24, 2017
Priority date	Apr 24, 2017
Publication date	Oct 25, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

An apparatus includes a enclosure assembly including an enclosure assembly-leading end and an opposed enclosure assembly-lagging end, and a temperature emulation assembly mounted within the enclosure assembly and including a temperature emulation assembly-leading end located proximate to the enclosure assembly-leading end and a temperature emulation assembly-lagging end spaced away from the enclosure assembly-lagging end. The enclosure assembly thermally isolates the temperature emulation assembly. The enclosure assembly permits conductive heat transfer to the temperature emulation assembly only through the enclosure assembly-leading end.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus comprising:
a enclosure assembly comprising an enclosure assembly-leading end and an opposed enclosure assembly-lagging end; and a temperature emulation assembly mounted within said enclosure assembly and comprising a temperature emulation assembly-leading end located proximate to said enclosure assembly-leading end and a temperature emulation assembly-lagging end spaced away from said enclosure assembly-lagging end, and wherein: said enclosure assembly thermally isolates said temperature emulation assembly, and said enclosure assembly permits conductive heat transfer to said temperature emulation assembly only through said enclosure assembly-leading end.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said apparatus emulates a thermal response of a composite structure during a thermal cure cycle.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein:
said enclosure assembly comprises an enclosure comprising an enclosure-leading end and an enclosure-lagging end,
said temperature emulation assembly comprises a plurality of thermally conductive plates arranged in a stack within said enclosure,
said stack comprises a stack-leading end positioned proximate to said enclosure-leading end and a stack-lagging end spaced away from said enclosure-lagging end, and
at least one of said plurality of thermally conductive plates is configured for connection of at least one temperature sensor to measure a temperature of said at least one of said plurality of thermally conductive plates.

4 . The apparatus of claim 3 wherein:
said enclosure inhibits conductive heat transfer to said stack along any conductive heat transfer path except through said enclosure-leading end,
said enclosure inhibits convective heat transfer to said stack along any convective heat transfer path,
said enclosure inhibits radiative heat transfer to said stack along any radiative heat transfer path, and
heat is transferred conductively through said plurality of thermally conductive plates from said stack-leading end to said stack-lagging end.

5 . The apparatus of claim 4 wherein:
said enclosure is an outer enclosure comprising an outer enclosure-leading end and an outer enclosure-lagging end,
said enclosure assembly further comprises an inner enclosure mounted within said outer enclosure and comprising an inner enclosure-leading end positioned proximate to said outer enclosure-leading end and an inner enclosure-lagging end spaced away from said outer enclosure-lagging end, and
said stack is mounted within said inner enclosure with said stack-leading end positioned proximate to said outer enclosure-leading end and said stack-lagging end spaced away from said inner enclosure-lagging end.

6 . The apparatus of claim 5 wherein:
said outer enclosure inhibits said conductive heat transfer to said inner enclosure along said any conductive heat transfer path,
said inner enclosure inhibits said conductive heat transfer to said stack along said any conductive heat transfer path,
said outer enclosure inhibits said convective heat transfer to said inner enclosure along said any convective heat transfer path;
said inner enclosure inhibits said convective heat transfer to said stack along said any convective heat transfer path,
said outer enclosure inhibits said radiative heat transfer to said inner enclosure along said any radiative heat transfer path, and
said inner enclosure inhibits said radiative heat transfer to said stack along said any radiative heat transfer path.

7 . The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising an insulator disposed within at least a portion of an outer volume defined between said outer enclosure and said inner enclosure, and wherein said insulator inhibits said conductive heat transfer, said convective heat transfer and said radiative heat transfer from said outer enclosure to said inner enclosure.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said insulator comprises at least one of air and fiber insulation.

9 . The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising a thermal barrier disposed within at least a portion of an outer volume defined between said outer enclosure-lagging end and said inner enclosure-lagging end, and wherein said thermal barrier inhibits said conductive heat transfer, said convective heat transfer and said radiative heat transfer from said outer enclosure to said inner enclosure.

10 . The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising a thermal disruptor disposed within at least a portion of an inner volume defined between said inner enclosure and said stack and at least partially surrounding said stack, and wherein said thermal disruptor inhibits said conductive heat transfer, said convective heat transfer and said radiative heat transfer from said inner enclosure to said stack.

11 . The apparatus of claim 10 wherein said thermal disruptor comprises at least one of a fiber mat, a honeycomb structure and at least one baffle.

12 . The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising:
an outer volume defined between said outer enclosure and said inner enclosure;
an insulator disposed within at least a portion of said outer volume between said outer enclosure and said inner enclosure; and
a thermal barrier disposed within at least a portion of said outer volume between said outer enclosure-lagging end and said inner enclosure-lagging end; and wherein:
said insulator and said thermal barrier inhibit said conductive heat transfer, said convective heat transfer and said radiative heat transfer from said outer enclosure to said inner enclosure.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 further comprising:
an inner volume defined between said inner enclosure and said stack; and
a thermal disruptor disposed within at least a portion of said inner volume and at least partially surrounding said stack, and
wherein said thermal disruptor inhibits said conductive heat transfer, said convective heat transfer and said radiative heat transfer from said inner enclosure to said stack.

14 . The apparatus of claim 4 wherein:
said enclosure further comprises a leading end faceplate at said enclosure leading end,
one of said plurality of thermally conductive plates at said stack-leading end is in contact with said leading end faceplate, and
said leading end faceplate defines a permitted conductive heat transfer path such that heat is transferred conductively through said leading end faceplate to said one of said plurality of thermally conductive plates.

15 . The apparatus of claim 14 wherein said leading end faceplate comprises a heat sink.

16 . The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said temperature emulation assembly controls said conductive heat transfer from said temperature emulation assembly-leading end to said temperature emulation assembly-lagging end.

17 . The apparatus of claim 16 further comprising a plurality of insulator layers positioned between adjacent ones of said plurality of thermally conductive plates and arranged in said stack, wherein said plurality of insulator layers control a rate of said conductive heat transfer through said plurality of thermally conductive plates from said stack-leading end to said stack-lagging end.

18 . The apparatus of claim 17 wherein a peripheral portion of at least one of said plurality of insulator layers extends beyond sides of said plurality of thermally conductive plates, and wherein said peripheral portion of said at least one of said plurality of insulator layers inhibits said convective heat transfer and said radiative heat transfer from said stack-leading end to said stack-laggi

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Griffith John M
• Bible George E
• Shewchuk Steven M
• Plummer Steven J
• Trella Ryan M
• Byington Ronald J

Classifications

• B29C2037/90

  Measuring, controlling or regulating · CPC title

• B29C35/0288 Primary

  Controlling heating or curing of polymers during moulding, e.g. by measuring temperatures or properties of the polymer and regulating the process (controlling or regulating chemical, physical or physico- chemical processes in general B01J19/0006) · CPC title

• B29C70/54 Primary

  Component parts, details or accessories; Auxiliary operations {, e.g. feeding or storage of prepregs or SMC after impregnation or during ageing} · CPC title

• B29C35/0294

  using tempering units for temperature control of moulds or cores · CPC title

• G01K7/427

  Temperature calculation based on spatial modeling, e.g. spatial inter- or extrapolation · CPC title