The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Apr. 13, 2021

Filed:

Feb. 27, 2019
Applicant:

The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US);

Inventors:

Jeron D Moore, Lynnwood, WA (US);

Brice A Johnson, Federal Way, WA (US);

Samuel F Pedigo, Lake Forest Park, WA (US);

Sayata Ghose, Sammamish, WA (US);

Assignee:

The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B32B 41/00 (2006.01); B29C 70/38 (2006.01); B29C 70/54 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
B29C 70/384 (2013.01); B29C 70/382 (2013.01); B29C 70/54 (2013.01);
Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for dynamically managing heater position for an Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) machine. One embodiment is a method that includes retrieving distance data indicating predicted distances of a heating surface of a heater of the AFP machine to a surface of a laminate being laid-up by the AFP machine, for each of multiple locations along a path. The method also includes directing the AFP machine to lay up the laminate in accordance with a Numerical Control (NC) program, identifying a current location of the heater in the path, determining a speed at which the heater of the AFP machine is moving, correlating the current location of the heater with a predicted distance, and adjusting an amount of power for the heater at the current location based on the predicted distance that was correlated with the current location, and the speed at the current location.


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