The Boeing Company

Zeaid F Hasan

John Huntley Belk

Daniel Joseph Braley

Jade M Brown

Joseph B Harriman

Minas Hagop Tanielian

Jeffrey F Stulc

Lyle Ray Deobald

Jacob I Battat

Nickolas Scott Ellerbeck

Phillip Roger Pratt

James A Backlund, Jr

Michael Palmore Matlack

Emily E McDonald

Kayla M Gagnon

Emily E Mcdonald

A method and apparatus for a composite structure manufacturing system. The system comprises a heating system and one or more smart bladders that encompass the heating system. The heating system and the one or more smart bladders form a curing tool defining a volume for the composite structure when one or more smart bladders in the one or more smart bladders is in a rigid state.

Unitized composite structure manufacturing system

An aircraft includes a wing and a wing box. The wing is joined to the wing box at a side of body joint. The wing and the wing box each includes lower skin and a plurality of stringers on the skin. Ends of at least some of the stringers at the side of body joint have a web cutout and a base that is spanwise tapered to a knife edge at the skin.

Aircraft side of body joint

Disclosed herein is a method of repairing a composite structure comprising fiber-reinforced polymer plies each with unidirectional fibers. The method comprises removing a damaged portion of the composite structure to form a void in the composite structure. The method also comprises positioning an adhesive layer into the void. The method further comprises positioning a first nanotube sheet ply and a first fiber-reinforced polymer repair ply into the void, by first positioning one of the first nanotube sheet ply or the first fiber-reinforced polymer repair ply into the void over the adhesive layer. The first nanotube sheet ply is fiberless and the first fiber-reinforced polymer repair ply comprises unidirectional fibers.

Repair patch for composite structure and associated method

Elongated, ultra-high conductivity electrical conductors for use in advanced electronic components and vehicles, and methods for producing the same, are disclosed herein. The elongated electrical conductors include a conductor body that defines a longitudinal axis. The conductor body includes an isotropically conductive matrix material and a plurality of anisotropically conductive particles interspersed within the isotropically conductive matrix material. Each anisotropically conductive particle defines a respective axis of enhanced electrical conductivity that is aligned with the longitudinal axis of the conductor body. The methods include providing a bulk matrix-particle composite that includes the isotropically conductive matrix material and the plurality of anisotropically conductive particles. The methods further include forming the bulk matrix-particle composite into an elongated electrical conductor and aligning the plurality of anisotropically conductive particles such that the respective axis of enhanced electrical conductivity thereof is at least substantially aligned with the longitudinal axis of the elongated electrical conductor.

Method for producing an ultra-high conductivity electrical conductor

A stringer beam joint structure of an aircraft formed from fiber-reinforced composites includes a wing and a wing box. The wing is joined to the wing box at a side of a joint structure. The wing and the wing box each includes a lower skin. A plurality of stringers is coupled to the lower skin and all made of fiber-reinforced composites. A first end of at least one of the plurality of stringers at the side of the joint structure features a web cutout with a taper formed in the base flange that spans longitudinal to the respective stringer and the taper located at the end of each respective stringer, where the taper runs from a knife edge of a base flange of the respective stringer to a full height of the base flange. The tapered surface of the base flange is contiguous with an edge of the web cutout.

Composite stringer beam joint structure of an aircraft

A transmission cable may include a conductor core, an insulator layer surrounding the conductor core, and a shielding layer surrounding the insulator layer, wherein the shielding layer includes a carbon nanotube sheet material.

Carbon nanotube shielding for transmission cables

A structural health management system may include a structural health management apparatus including a carbon nanotube element configured to generate an electrical output in response to a deformation of the carbon nanotube element, a piezoelectric element configured to actuate in response to an electrical voltage applied to the piezoelectric element, electrode elements coupled to the carbon nanotube element and the piezoelectric element, and a controller communicatively coupled to the structural health management apparatus, wherein the controller is configured to convert the electrical output into data representing a measurement value of a structural abnormality and to initiate application of the electrical voltage to the piezoelectric element to counter the structural abnormality upon the measurement value being equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value.

Growing community of inventors

St. Louis, MO, United States of America

Zeaid F Hasan