Spirit Aerosystems, Inc.

The Boeing Company

Rodney Eugene Bahr

Douglas Alan McCarville

Jennifer Lyn Wilson

Jeremy Michael Bodecker

Ryan Craig Harris

Gerard F Spexarth

A cap for a temporary fastener comprises a hollow, cup-shaped body and an inwardly tapered neck. The hollow body fits over a workpiece-engaging portion of the temporary fastener, and the neck extends from the hollow body. The tapered neck terminates in a hollow tip that is sized and configured to fit over aligned holes in the joined workpieces and to contact a minimal surface area of the outermost workpiece to reduce surface damage to the workpieces such that any damage will be removed when the holes are countersunk in the normal course of assembly.

Cap for temporary fastener

A system and method for constructing a composite structure using a multi-piece tool. The pieces are assembled, including making a connection, such as a mortise-and-tenon connection, between pieces using an adhesive mixed with an induction heatable material, such as iron filings having a unit size of between 5 microns and 600 microns, and an amount of between 5% and 50% by volume. Plies of a material are applied around the connection between the pieces, and the plies are cured to create the composite structure, which results in the pieces being trapped within the composite structure by the connection. The adhesive is exposed to electromagnetic induction from an electromagnetic induction coil which generates heat in the induction heatable material and thereby loosens the connection. The tool can then be disassembled by individually pulling at least some of the pieces from within the composite structure.

System and method for facilitating removal of trapped tool from composite structure

A bladder monitoring apparatus and method for monitoring an inflatable bladder during curing of composite material in an autoclave. The bladder may be wrapped with composite material and have an impermeable membrane sealed around the composite material. The method may include the steps of fluidly coupling a vacuum port of the impermeable membrane with a vacuum source and fluidly coupling a vent of the bladder with a first port of a flow meter located outward of the autoclave. A second port of the flow meter may also be fluidly coupled with atmosphere within the autoclave. The method may then include evacuating air from within the impermeable membrane. If a flow above a threshold flow is detected by the flow meter, the leak in the bladder may be located and repaired or a valve of the flow meter between the first and second ports may be closed.

Autoclave health monitoring and control system

A heat shrink apparatus for heat shrinking a shrink film to a bladder. The heat shrink apparatus may include a support structure, a bladder support system, and a heat chamber. The bladder support system for supporting the bladder thereon may have two spaced apart parallel rows of a plurality of resilient members pivotally and/or resiliently attached to the support structure. The heat chamber may be hollow with opposing end openings and may have one or more heating elements therein. The heat chamber may translate over the shrink film and the bladder along the support structure between the two spaced apart parallel rows, shrinking the shrink film to the bladder. As the heat chamber translates, it may contact ends of the resilient members, thereby pivoting or deflecting the resilient members from a first position to a second position such that the heat chamber can pass between the two parallel rows.

Translatable heat shrink oven for applying heat shrink film to a silicone rubber bladder

A method of forming composite sine wave spars from composite material. In accordance with the method, the sine wave spar is formed of web plies, filler plies, separator plies and cap plies. The edges of the web plies are cut to form a plurality of teeth having different geometric configurations. The web plies are first formed to the sine wave contours of a tool having the desired final part geometry. The teeth of the web plies are then folded over the edges of the tool to form a portion of the flanges of upper and lower U-shaped channels. The portions of the flanges of the U-shaped channels not covered by the teeth are formed using filler plies that intermesh with the teeth to form a layer of the flanges of the respective upper or lower U-shaped channel. The flanges are reinforced through the use of separator plies that are placed between the filler plies. The formed upper and lower U-shaped channels are joined together so that their respective flanges are located in line with each other. The triangular recesses between the flanges of the joined upper and lower U-shaped channels are filled with radius fillers having a triangular cross-section. Once the radius fillers are in place, cap plies are placed over the radius fillers and flanges to further reinforce the flanges. In the preferred embodiment, each web ply has eight different teeth configurations. The teeth are configured to fold over the edges of the sine wave contour and cover the edges of the sine wave contour in order to minimize overlapping and gaps between the folded over teeth.

Growing community of inventors

Wichita, KS, United States of America

Rodney Eugene Bahr