The Boeing Company

Other

William R Schell

David M Kozy

Daniel L Nydegger

Barry Allen Fetzer

Kin Yip Wong

Navpreet S Grewal

Kate Brown Boudreau

Peter Kuk-kyung Hwang

Jack William Mauldin

David L Wagner

Steven Ray Walton

Noel A Spishak

Edward O Jorgenson

Mark D Gilcreest

Stephen L Sembritzky

Steve A Brink

Benjamin S Northup

Ray Henderson

Peter Kuk-Kyung Hwang

A method of forming a weld on a work piece is disclosed. The method may include creating an internal cavity along the work piece and extending a conduit having an exit orifice into the internal cavity such that the exit orifice may be positioned adjacent to the weld to be formed. The method may further include supplying a purge gas to the conduit, the purge gas being carried through the conduit and pushed out of the exit orifice so as to displace undesirable gasses away from the weld to be formed and then subsequently forming the weld.

Integrated gas purge path for welded sandwich structure

An apparatus for inspecting a tubular workpiece may include a probe assembly and a rotation mechanism. The probe assembly may include a transducer array positionable adjacent to an inner surface of the tubular workpiece. The probe assembly may generate transmitted sound waves and may receive reflected sound waves. The rotation mechanism may rotate the probe assembly relative to the tubular workpiece in a manner such that the transducer array passes over the inner surface in a circumferential direction during transmission of the transmitted sound waves.

Apparatus for inspecting a tube

Apparatus and method for inspecting a tube

An aqueous tube cleaning system as described herein can be utilized to clean a plurality of tubes having different lengths. The system includes a tower assembly having a wash chamber that houses the tubes during the cleaning cycle. The tower assembly is held in a horizontal load/unload position for loading and unloading of the tubes. The system rotates the tower assembly into a vertical cleaning orientation to accommodate cleaning with cleaning and rinse solutions, which flow through and around the tubes using the force of gravity. After rinsing and draining, the tower assembly is rotated back to the horizontal position for unloading.

Cellular aqueous tube cleaning system and method

An aqueous tube cleaning apparatus and method includes a cleaning receptacle and a vertical receptacle, which is taller than the cleaning receptacle. A tube, or bundle of tubes, is placed in the cleaning receptacle, extending through an inlet port from the vertical receptacle, and a gate is closed to clamp the tubes in place. The vertical receptacle is then filled with a fluid, and the pressure created by gravity forces the fluid through and around the tubes, cleansing the inner and outer surfaces of the tubes.

Aqueous tube cleaning apparatus and method

An apparatus and method is provided for cutting curved tube and duct assemblies using a high-powered laser, which locates, measures and follows a scribe line. The invention generally is comprised of a multi-axis laser-based machine tool to cut formed (i.e., curved) welded tube and duct detailed parts to a planar scribe line. It is further comprised of a laser focusing head positioned on a rotating and tilting platform; fixturing aids to position and hold the tubes or ducts to be cut; a machine vision system to locate and measure a scribe line in a plane on the tube or duct, thus determining its orientation; and a controller that tilts the turntable to a co-planar position, and then operates a high-powered laser to cut the duct at the scribe line.

Tube and duct trim machine

A cutting method and apparatus in a laser trim cell system for cutting ducts and tubes used in an airliner. The ducts are cut along a horizontal cutting plane using an orbiting laser nozzle and the apparatus and method includes an anti-spatter tube for removing spatter from the interior of the duct by directing the spatter through an opening in the tube where it impinges a high thermal conductivity plate that deflects it to the bottom of the tube where it solidifies by contact on a surface of high thermal conductivity for easy removal from the tube.

Anti-spatter tube

Growing community of inventors

Federal Way, WA, United States of America

William R Schell