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.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 09, 2021
Filed:
Jul. 30, 2019
Spirit Aerosystems, Inc., Wichita, KS (US);
Michael Arthur Champa, Clearwater, KS (US);
John Patrick McPherson, Haysvill, KS (US);
Blaise Francis Bergmann, Clearwater, KS (US);
James Edward Westerman, Derby, KS (US);
Brian Charles Clapp, Goddard, KS (US);
Aaron Rae Heitmann, Andover, KS (US);
Spirit AeroSystems, Inc., Wichita, KS (US);
Abstract
A system and method for fabricating large composite fuselages or other vehicle structures, in which the composite structure is fabricated and cured as on a tool, segmented and removed from the tool without disassembling the tool, and then reassembled off the tool to reform the large structure. The tool includes mandrel segments attached to a substructure. The attachments may be moveable to accommodate differential expansion and contraction during curing, and the tool may be rotatable to facilitate access. A composite material of resin and synthetic fibers is applied over the mandrel segments to fabricate the structure on the tool. Caul plates are secured over the composite material, and the composite material is cured on the tool. The resulting structure is cut into part segments which are then removed from the tool, and the part segments are joined to reassemble the large composite structure off the tool.