Lockheed Martin Corporation

Ctlp, LLC

Todd H Ashton

Ross A Benson

Terrance R Burd

Ronald P Schmidt

Jeffrey T Drewett

Michael Loren Hestness

Austin J N Blue

Linden S Blue

Gary L Kelly

Peter L Morken

Easton D Smith

Richard R Batzer

Paul T Briney

James S Winegar

Grady L White

A main landing gear assembly for an aircraft has an upper beam and a lower beam. The proximal ends of the upper and lower beams are each connected to a trunnion assembly that is mounted on the fuselage or wing of the aircraft. The distal ends of the upper and lower beams are each affixed to an axel support structure on which a main wheel of the landing gear assembly is mounted. In the gear assembly, the upper beam and the lower beam are coplanar and act together, in combination, to accommodate a planar flexure of the gear assembly during aircraft takeoffs and landings.

Composite twin beam main landing gear for an aircraft

A method is provided for the non-contact measurement of variations in thickness of composite materials and structures prepared from composite parts. Metrologic methods are employed to provide a 3D image of the structure or part. Variations that are greater than an acceptable amount can be corrected by adding a compensation layer to the surface of the structure or part.

Composite laminate thickness compensation

Composite tooling is fabricated with low cost dry fabrics and a neat resin instead of expensive prepregs. Dry, three-dimensional woven joint preforms are placed on a dry tool substrate and dry, 3D preforms are also placed between pre-cured egg crate-like junctions. The entire tool substrate and substrate-to-support structure joints are then resin-infused simultaneously through the use of rota-molded tooling aids, providing an additional reduction in cost. Tight control of resin content and distribution with vacuum infusion is thereby provided. This process eliminates the primary cause of structural weakness and cooling distortion, which typically occur at the attachment interface when existing methods are used. The preforms provide significantly greater pull-off strengths at interfaces than do hand-laid tie plies. Issues with tool surface durability are addressed through the use of ceramic-filled face coat.

System, method, and apparatus for production-worthy, low cost composite tool fabrication

A composite panel waffle stiffener has fabric plies pre-cut to a selected pattern and laid on a tool having a waffle configuration. The plies overlap each other to maintain continuity of the structure. The resulting waffle stiffener is then bonded to a panel requiring stiffening. The stiffener is flexible and may be bonded to curved panels. Holes in the stiffener allow access to the volume between the stiffener and the panel for minimizing volume loss within, for example, a wing structure containing fuel and for ventilating air or moisture trapped in the volume.

Waffle stiffener and method of construction

An apparatus and method for stiffening a panel provides a composite waffle stiffener and the method for constructing the stiffener. A plurality of fabric plies pre-cut to a selected pattern are laid on a tool having a waffle configuration, the plies overlapping each other to maintain continuity of the structure. The resulting waffle stiffener is then bonded to a panel requiring stiffening. The stiffener is flexible and may be bonded to curved panels. Holes in the stiffener allow access to the volume between the stiffener and the panel for minimizing volume loss within, for example, a wing structure containing fuel and for ventilating air or moisture trapped in the volume.

Method of making a waffle stiffener

A thermoplastic conformal tool/vacuum bag that is structured to substantially conform to a surface or a cavity in a composite structure is placed proximate to a uncured composite member to fabricate a composite structure. External heat and external pressure are applied to cure the member. The conformal thermoplastic tool/vacuum bag is removed from the cured assembly by reheating, if necessary, to facilitate removal of the tool/vacuum bag.

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Fort Worth, TX, United States of America

Todd H Ashton