Spirit Aerosystems, Inc.

The Boeing Company

Glen Paul Cork

Darin Clay Wiley

Mark Davis Haynes

Bruce E Gabel

Gregorio Balandran

Bharath Achyutha Rao

John Thomas Baumfalk-Lee

Matthew W McKenna

Michael D Borgman

Scott Bishop

Richard Jacobs

Ronald G Lane

A system for inspecting features of an airframe, the system including a feature inspection device configured to measure an aspect of a first feature and a tracking subsystem configured to determine a position of the feature inspection device when the feature inspection device measures the aspect of the first feature. The system is configured to determine a position of the first feature on the airframe via the feature inspection device and the tracking subsystem, the determination of the position of the first feature being independent from the measurement of the aspect of the first feature.

Feature inspection system

An in-line laser profilometry inspection system broadly comprises a first laser, a first sensor, a second laser, a second sensor, a camera, a calibration standard, and an interface. The lasers transmit first and second light signals to a stringer charge or other part. The sensors detect the light signals reflecting off first and second edge walls of the part. The camera obtains a top-down image of the part. The calibration standard provides structure for calibrating the inspection system via the lasers and sensors. The interface allows a user to oversee part inspection. Data generated from the reflected light signals corresponding to a part profile may be analyzed based on at least first and second derivatives of the part profile such that the part is inspected during a cutting procedure.

In-line laser profilometry inspection system

A composite repair system and method for assisting in the repair of a cured composite part in which a damaged portion has been cut out and removed, exposing a plurality of composite plies and their cut edges, which are then taper sanded to expose a plurality of taper-sanded surfaces and their corresponding ply boundaries. The ply boundaries may be traced by a user with a marking device. The composite repair system may comprise an image capturing device to obtain an image of the traced ply boundaries and a computing device for processing creating a map of the traced ply boundaries based on the image. The map may be used to manufacture filler plies having peripheral edges shaped to correspond with the ply boundaries for replacing the damaged portion of the composite part.

System and method for repairing composite parts

A composite repair system and method for assisting in the repair of a cured composite part in which a damaged portion has been cut out and removed, exposing a plurality of composite plies and their corresponding composite ply edges. The composite repair system may comprise a light source to illuminate the ply edges, an image capturing device to obtain an image of the ply edges, and a computing device for processing the image of the ply edges and creating a map of the ply edges based on the image. The map may be used to manufacture filler plies having peripheral edges shaped to correspond with the composite ply edges for replacing the damaged portion of the composite part.

A method and apparatus for determining a shape of a shim that can be inserted between a first body, such as a strut torque box, and a second body, such as a torque box skin, is disclosed. The strut torque box is marked with a plurality of retro-reflective markers at the desired locations needing to be shimmed. The positions of the markers are measured using digital photogrammetry equipment yielding a plurality of measured points. The measured points define a surface of the first body. The locations of the measured points are transformed relative to a surface of the second body to yield a profile of the shape of the shim. The present method and apparatus have the advantage of considerably reducing the labor required for manual shim measurement using gauges by allowing multiple shim points to be measured simultaneously and without the pre-assembly of the strut torque box and torque box skin.

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Wichita, KS, United States of America

Glen Paul Cork