The Boeing Company

Keegan D Bray

Shuonan Dong

Jonathan A Santiago

Jonathan Y Ahn

Joseph L Garbini

Silas Lawton Studley

Santosh Devasia

Daniel James McMillan

Kyle William Schultz

Asher S Einhorn

Samuel B Williams

Wesley E Perrault

Zena L Moran

Benjamin Wong

Naga Vamsi Krishna Jonnalagadda

Wade Marquette

A channel crawler has a carriage, a stabilizing mechanism, and a deployment mechanism. The carriage has wheels configured to engage surfaces that define a channel through which the carriage is configured to move. The stabilizing mechanism is configured to extend from the carriage and engage a non-horizontal surface of the channel in a manner restricting unintended movement of the carriage in one or more directions. The deployment mechanism is configured to fit within the carriage when retracted, and selectively deploy an operational device from a stowed position within the carriage to a deployed position outside the channel for performing an operation in relation to at least one of structure and hardware proximate the channel.

Channel crawler and method of use

Bladder vent plugs comprise a body, a manifold block, and a diaphragm extending fully around a peripheral channel of the manifold block. The diaphragm is configured to expand toward an interior-volume peripheral face of the body when the peripheral channel is pressurized via a pressure bore extending through the manifold block and a pressure passage extending through the body. Bladder vent plugs are configured to receive an open-ended composite-manufacturing bladder between the interior-volume peripheral face and the peripheral channel of the manifold block. Composite manufacturing methods comprise pressurizing a diaphragm to seal an open-ended composite-manufacturing bladder against a bladder vent plug.

Bladder vent plugs for composite manufacturing and related methods and systems

Growing community of inventors

Federal Way, WA, United States of America

Keegan D Bray