Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Jonathan K Garhart

Thomas Arthur Carstensen

Vineet Sahasrabudhe

Anthony Litwinowicz

Andrew M Brookhart

Preston R Bates

Nathaniel Dew

Mark W Davis

Derek H Geiger

Marcus D Cappelli

Avinash Sarlashkar, Jr

Cody Michael Ture

Michael Rene Urban

Eric Christopher Schenck

Derek Geiger

A unitary core panel for a composite sandwich structure includes a plurality of cell walls defining a plurality of core cells, the plurality of cell walls extending across a thickness of the core, the plurality of core cells including one or more defined structural nonuniformities resulting in nonuniform properties of the core panel. A method of forming a core panel for a composite sandwich structure includes determining structural requirements of the core panel, designing the core panel to satisfy the structural requirements with one or more local nonuniformities in the core panel, and manufacturing the core panel as a unitary core panel with the one or more local nonuniformities.

Core material for composite structures

A method of fabricating a composite structure includes laying at least one composite ply about a bladder, the bladder comprising a phase change material in a first phase having a first volume, positioning an outer mold about the bladder and the at least one composite ply, and curing the at least one composite ply to form the composite structure. Curing causes the phase change material contained within the bladder to change to a second phase to expand from the first volume to a second volume and apply a pressure to an interior surface of the composite ply and press an outer surface of the composite ply against the outer mold to form an interior cavity. The bladder is not removable from the formed interior cavity.

Self pressurizing bladder tooling

A technique relates to evaluating autonomous landing of an aircraft. An autonomous vehicle receives cellular metadata and determines whether a landing site is suitable for the autonomous vehicle based on the cellular metadata.

Integration of real time metadata in the evaluation of landing zones

A joint and a method of bonding a first member to a second member are disclosed. The joint includes a multi-layer adhesive material between the first member and the second member. The multi-layer adhesive material includes at least one adhesive material that is applied to one of the first member and the second member. The multi-layer adhesive material also includes a heating element for heating the at least one adhesive material and at least one permeable layer for allowing air to escape from between the first member and second member during heating of the at least one adhesive material.

Self-clamping self-curing bond method

A method of determining how to repair a damaged composite component includes generating a three-dimensional model of the damaged component, determining a configuration of a repair structure to be applied to the damaged component using the generated three-dimensional model and general design data for the component prior to being damaged, determining an operational feasibility of the determined repair structure using application specific information related to the damaged component and generating a repair procedure for forming the repair structure when the determined operational feasibility indicates that the damaged component can be successfully repaired.

Composite repair design system

According to an aspect, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a cutter, a spooling mechanism and a computing system. The computing system is configured to drive the cutter to form a channel in the ply based on the stored instrumentation layout. The computing system is additionally configured to drive the spooling mechanism to insert the instrumentation into the formed channel based on the stored instrumentation layout.

Instrumentation composite integration system

A structural health monitoring system includes a first component and a second component associated at a joint. At least one sensor is embedded within the joint to monitor a health of at least one of the first component, the second component, and the joint.

Structural pi joint with integrated fiber optic sensing

A fiber-optic sensor system includes a structure having a fiber-optic cable operatively connected thereto. The system includes a network controller with an interrogator operatively connected to the fiber-optic cable to receive optical energy indicative of a characteristic of the structure therefrom and convert optical energy to electrical energy and electrical energy to optical energy for data communication. A sensor and/or a data source are operatively connected to the fiber-optic cable through the network controller to transmit data through the fiber-optic cable and receive data therefrom.

Systems and methods for integrated, multi-functional, fault tolerant sensing and communication

A method of repairing a contoured structure is provided. The method includes forming and curing on the contoured structure an armature formed of materials that are curable at a temperature lower than a service limit temperature of materials of the contoured structure and removing the armature from the contoured structure and placing the armature with prepregs laminated thereon in an oven to heat cure the armature and the prepregs to form a repair patch.

Composite repair armature

An apparatus and method for bonding a member to a substrate is disclosed. A surface of the member is prepared by applying an element to the surface. The element includes a dye agent that changes color when exposed to a level of plasma radiation consistent with preparing the surface for bonding. The surface is exposed to the plasma radiation and is inspected to see whether or not a change in a color of the dye agent occurs. After the dye agent changes color; the surface is bonded to the substrate.

Plasma detection tracers for process monitoring

Embodiments of the disclosure are directed to measuring, via at least one sensor, at least one of a damage and a compromise associated with a vehicle, determining at least one of a region and a location of the at least one of a damage and a compromise and a level of the at least one of a damage and a compromise, and adapting an operational envelope for the vehicle based on the determined at least one of a region and a location of the at least one of a damage and a compromise and the level of the at least one of a damage and a compromise.

Growing community of inventors

Seymour, CT, United States of America

Jonathan K Garhart