Leonardo Corporation

Alenia Aermacchi S.p.a.

Alberto Russolillo

Gianni Iagulli

Giuseppe Totaro

Marco Raffone

Tommaso Nanula

Sabato Inserra Imparato

Vincenzo De Vita

Carlo Arnone

Carmine Suriano

Giuseppe Lauria

Sergio Recchia

Antonio Fiore

Daniela Carretti

Gianpiero Lembo

A method for manufacturing a wing box for aircraft comprises the steps of arranging, on a curing surface, a first panel of composite material, alternately arranging, on the first panel, along a transverse direction, a rib of non-polymerized composite material and a tool comprising a central part, a bottom part and a top part, wherein the central part of each tool is interposed between said bottom part and the top part and may be extracted in a transverse direction, arranging a second panel of composite material by putting said second panel in contact with the flanges of each rib, pulling out the central part of each tool along the transverse direction and removing the top part and the bottom part of each tool, and subjecting the first panel, the second panel, and each rib to a curing process in autoclave with vacuum bag.

Method for manufacturing a multi-ribbed wing box of composite material with integrated stiffened panels

A method for manufacturing a wing-box for aircraft comprises: arranging, on a curing surface, a first panel of composite material comprising a skin a plurality of longitudinal stringers, and arranging, on each stringer, a caul plate; arranging, on the first panel, pluralities of support inserts so that each support insert rests on a respective caul plate, and on the skin of the first panel, and arranging, on the first panel, a plurality of ribs of non-polymerized composite material, each rib comprising a plate, a first pair of flanges and a second pair of flanges arranged at opposed ends of the plate, and having openings on an edge of the plate, by placing the respective first pair of flanges on the first panel and the respective plurality of openings on the plurality of support inserts, and having the first panel and the plurality of ribs undergo a curing process in autoclave with vacuum bag.

Method for manufacturing a multi-ribbed wing-box of composite material with integrated stiffened panels and communicating bays

A tool for forming a C-section beam made of carbon fiber includes a straight elongated mandrel with a rectangular or trapezoidal cross-section. The mandrel has three consecutive outer faces, with a planar face configured to form a surface of the web of the C-section beam, and two opposing lateral faces, configured to form two respective surfaces of the flanges of the C-section beam. The mandrel has a distributed perforation on at least one of the three outer faces and an inlet/outlet connection to connect the mandrel to an external source of vacuum and/or compressed air. Passages are formed inside the mandrel to establish a fluid communication between the distributed perforation and the inlet/outlet connection. Through the distributed perforation, a vacuum is applied to the interface between the mandrel and the C-section beam to retain the C-section beam on the mandrel while lifted and turned by 180&#xb0; for coupling to a similar C-section beam to assemble an H-beam. Applying compressed air through the perforation facilitates the removal of the C-section beam from the mandrel at the end of the compaction step.

Tool and a method for forming and assembling beams of composite material

A method for producing a closed-section portion of an aircraft wherein a strain gauge is glued on a first face of a flat tape that, in turn, is fastened on a face of a tool comprising a rigid elongated body covered by an extensible sack. The tool supporting the tape is arranged in a cavity of an aircraft structure. A vacuum is then created to obtain the expansion of the vacuum sack and perform the pressure gluing of the tape onto a wall of said cavity. The tool is subsequently extracted from the cavity. Upon conclusion of these operations, the tape is integrally fastened onto a wall of the cavity so that any deformation applied to this wall is transmitted to said strain gauge.

Method for producing a closed-section portion of an aircraft provided with deformation sensors

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Foggia, Italy

Alberto Russolillo