The Boeing Company

Frederick K Klein

Alan K Jones

Michael Drumheller

John M Switlik

A method of defining a composite tape course to form at least a portion of a composite part ply comprises approximating a contoured surface with a reference plane. The method further includes selecting a three-dimensional reference surface to approximate the contoured surface and defining a first function to correlate a first point from the contoured surface to a first intermediate point on the reference surface. The method includes selecting the reference plane to approximate the reference surface, defining a second function to correlate the first intermediate point to a reference point in the reference plane, and mapping a ply boundary from the contoured surface to a reference ply boundary in the reference plane. A tape boundary may be mapped from the contoured surface to a reference tape boundary in the reference plane. A tape edge may be defined based at least in part on a reference intersection of the reference ply boundary and the reference tape boundary in order to form at least a portion of the composite part ply using the defined tape edge.

Tape course generation method and apparatus for programming a composite tape lamination machine

Methods and systems for generating a curve that represents raw data are provided. In one embodiment, the system includes memory for storing a curve generation application program, a user interface, a display device, and a processor. The processor executes the stored curve generation application program and is coupled to the memory, the user interface, and the display device. The executed curve generation application program includes a first component that receives raw data and a second component that allows for the manual or default setting of a base value for defining weight values for each data point of inputted raw data. A third component generates a curve for representing the raw data based on at least a portion of the data points and the set base value. A fourth component outputs the generated curve to the display device.

Growing community of inventors

Seattle, WA, United States of America

Frederick K Klein