The Boeing Company

Robert E French

Robert A DiChiara

John Suarez

Peter A Hogenson

Conley Siddoway Thatcher

Edward A Zadorozny

Paul F Thieben, Jr

Methods for forming thin wall tubing into a tightly-coiled helical duct comprise selecting a thin wall tube with an outside tube diameter and a wall thickness that is less than 15% of the outside tube diameter; and bending the thin wall tube to form the tightly-coiled helical duct so that an outside duct diameter of the tightly-coiled helical duct is less than four times the outside tube diameter.

Centrifugal air separator coil manufacturing methods

Tightly-coiled helical ducts for centrifugal air separators may be formed with the tools and methods disclosed herein. A helical coil toolset includes a helically grooved mandrel and an entry block. The helical groove of the mandrel has a small helix inside diameter relative to a width of the helical groove. The entry block has a guide channel to guide a tube to the helical groove and a mandrel channel to receive the mandrel. Methods include forming tubing into a tightly-coiled helical duct by filling a tube with fine particles, positioning the tube in the helical groove of a helically grooved mandrel, fixing the tube relative to the mandrel, assembling an entry block around the tube and around the mandrel, and bending the filled tube around the helically grooved mandrel into the tightly-coiled helical duct by rotating the mandrel relative to the entry block.

Centrifugal air separator coil manufacturing tools and methods

A ruddervator for an aerospacecraft including a monolithic, one-piece, oxide/oxide-based ceramic matrix composite (Oxide-CMC) shell having a hollowed interior area. A graphite composite structural member is inserted into the hollowed interior area and bonded thereto. The Oxide-CMC shell is comprised of one or more plies of Oxide-CMC fabric which are fused over a thick substrate of rigid ceramic foam insulation to form the monolithic shell. An outer mold line ply of the Oxide-CMC shell is further infused with a high-emissivity coating such as reaction-cured glass (RCG) to provide plasma heating re-radiation outward to reduce internal temperatures in the ruddervator. A torque box transition structure is secured to the graphite composite structural member to interface the ruddervator to a fuselage actuator spindle of the aerospacecraft. The ruddervator is reusable and formed from a reduced number of independent component parts, and weighs less than previously developed ruddervators. The manufacturing cost of the ruddervator is reduced by utilizing the reduced tooling complexities of Oxide-CMC over CMC fabrication processes.

High temperature resistant airfoil apparatus for a hypersonic space vehicle

A ruddervator for an aerospacecraft. The ruddervator is formed by a plurality of airfoil sections nestably disposed in side by side fashion and supported by a pair of titanium box beam frame elements extending through central openings in each of the airfoil sections. Each airfoil section includes an oxide fiber/oxide matrix-based ceramic matrix composite (oxide-CMC) panel made up of multiple plies of oxide-CMC fabric which are fused over a rigid ceramic foam insulation member. The lower ends of the frame elements are secured to a transition component comprising a conventional torque box. The ruddervator can be manufactured with less cost and lower weight over previous ruddervator designs which require one or more large skin sections which are mechanically fastened to a substructure. The ruddervator of the present invention further minimizes fabrication costs by using a common design for the nesting airfoil sections so that a common female lay-up mold can be used for fabricating all of the airfoil sections.

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San Gabriel, CA, United States of America

Robert E French