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EP-4501597-B1 - CONSOLIDATING THERMOPLASTIC MATERIAL WITH INDUCTION HEATING COIL AND HEATING PLATE(S)

EP4501597B1EP 4501597 B1EP4501597 B1EP 4501597B1EP-4501597-B1

Inventors

  • TANG, Alfred Y.
  • KIYANITSYN, Igor
  • MITROVIC, MILAN
  • VAN TOOREN, MICHAEL
  • WOODS, JEFFREY D.

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20240531

Claims (15)

  1. A repair method, comprising: arranging a thermoplastic patch (40) on a thermoplastic aircraft component (38), the thermoplastic patch (40) and the thermoplastic aircraft component (38) each including a thermoplastic matrix (42) and a plurality of fibers (46) embedded within the thermoplastic matrix (42); arranging a metal plate (58A; 58B) against a stack (60), the stack (60) including the thermoplastic patch (40) and the thermoplastic aircraft component (38); and consolidating the thermoplastic patch (40) and the thermoplastic aircraft component (38) together, the consolidating comprising concurrently induction heating the thermoplastic patch (40), the thermoplastic aircraft component (38) and the metal plate (58A; 58B) using an induction heating coil (82), characterised in that the induction heating comprises exciting at least some of the plurality of fibers (46) in the thermoplastic patch (40), at least some of the plurality of fibers (46) in the thermoplastic aircraft component (38) and at least some material of the metal plate (58A; 58B) with eddy currents generated by the induction heating coil (82).
  2. The repair method of claim 1, wherein the metal plate (58A; 58B) is induction heated to provide a heated metal plate (58A; 58B); and the consolidating further comprises conduction heating the stack (60) with heat energy from the heated metal plate (58A; 58B).
  3. The repair method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the metal plate (58B) is arranged against the thermoplastic patch (40).
  4. The repair method of claim 3, further comprising: arranging a second metal plate (58A) against the thermoplastic aircraft component (38), the stack (60) located between the metal plate (58B) and the second metal plate (58A); the consolidating comprising concurrently induction heating the thermoplastic patch (40), the thermoplastic aircraft component (38), the metal plate (58B) and the second metal plate (58A) using the induction heating coil (82).
  5. The repair method of claim 4, further comprising pressing the stack (60) between the metal plate (58B) and the second metal plate (58A) during the consolidating.
  6. The repair method of claim 4 or 5, further comprising: configuring the stack (60), the metal plate (58B) and the second metal plate (58A) within a vacuum bag (70), the stack (60) pressed between the metal plate (58B) and the second metal plate (58A) using the vacuum bag (70).
  7. The repair method of any of claims 4 to 6, wherein at least one of the metal plate (58B) comprises a first uninterrupted surface (66) engaging the stack (60); or the second metal plate (58A) comprises a second uninterrupted surface (64) engaging the stack (60).
  8. The repair method of any preceding claim, further comprising pressing the thermoplastic patch (40) between the metal plate (58B) and the thermoplastic aircraft component (38) during the consolidating.
  9. The repair method of any preceding claim, wherein the metal plate (58A; 58B) is arranged against the thermoplastic aircraft component (38).
  10. The repair method of any preceding claim, further comprising: pressing the thermoplastic aircraft component (38) between the metal plate (58A) and the thermoplastic patch (40) during the consolidating; and/or pressing the thermoplastic patch (40) against the thermoplastic aircraft component (38) at a pressure less than two atmospheric pressure (203 kPa).
  11. The repair method of any preceding claim, wherein a surface (64; 66) of the metal plate (58A; 58B) contacting the stack (60) is covered with a protective material.
  12. The repair method of any preceding claim, wherein the aircraft component (20; 38) is configured with an aircraft during the consolidating.
  13. The repair method of any preceding claim, further comprising supporting the stack (60) on a support structure (78) during the consolidating with a protective layer (80) between the stack (60) and the support structure (78).
  14. The repair method of any preceding claim, wherein at least one of: the plurality of fibers (46) comprise a plurality of carbon fibers; the plurality of fibers (46) in at least one layer (48) of the thermoplastic patch (40) are unidirectional; or the plurality of fibers (46) in at least one layer (48) of the thermoplastic aircraft component (38) are unidirectional, at least along the thermoplastic patch (40).
  15. The repair method of any preceding claim, wherein the thermoplastic patch (40) includes a plurality of unconsolidated patch layers (48) prior to the consolidating.

Description

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field This disclosure relates generally to joining methods and, more particularly, to consolidating thermoplastic material together. 2. Background Information Various systems and methods are known in the art for joining thermoplastic materials together. While these known joining systems and methods have various benefits, there is still room in the art for improvement. DE 10 2011 076463 A1 discloses a prior art repair method as set forth in the preamble of claim 1. US 2022/161508 A1 discloses prior art methods for producing a structural component. SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a repair method is provided as recited in claim 1. Features of embodiments are set forth in the dependent claims. The foregoing features and the operation of the invention will become more apparent in light of the following description and the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partial schematic sectional illustration of a thermoplastic component.FIG. 2 is a cutaway schematic sectional illustration of an aircraft propulsion system which may include the thermoplastic component.FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of an aircraft with an aircraft airframe which may include the thermoplastic component.FIG. 4 is a partial schematic sectional illustration of layers in the thermoplastic component.FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method for manufacturing a thermoplastic component.FIG. 6 is a partial schematic sectional illustration of a system for consolidating a stack of thermoplastic components together using an induction heating coil.FIG. 7 is a partial schematic sectional illustration of a portion of the consolidation system with another stack of thermoplastic components.FIG. 8 is a schematic plan view illustration of the induction heating coil along one of the thermoplastic components.FIG. 9 is a partial schematic sectional illustration of a portion of the consolidation system with still another stack of thermoplastic components.FIGS. 10 and 11 are partial schematic sectional illustrations of alternative thermoplastic component configurations. DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present disclosure includes methods and systems for manufacturing a thermoplastic component 20 (e.g., a thermoplastic composite component) of an aircraft, where an exemplary section of the aircraft component 20 is shown in FIG. 1. The aircraft may be an airplane, a helicopter, a drone (e.g., an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)) or any other manned or unmanned aerial vehicle or system. The term "manufacturing" may describe a process for original manufacturing the aircraft component 20; e.g., creating a brand new aircraft component. The term "manufacturing" may also or alternatively describe a process for remanufacturing or otherwise repairing the aircraft component 20; e.g., restoring one or more features of a previously formed aircraft component to brand new condition, similar to brand new condition, better than brand new condition, etc. The aircraft component 20, for example, may be repaired to fix one or more defects (e.g., cracks, wear and/or other damage) imparted during previous use of the aircraft component. The aircraft component 20 may also or alternatively be repaired to fix one or more defects imparted during the initial formation of the aircraft component. For ease of description, however, the aircraft component 20 may be described below as a repaired aircraft component, and the methods may be described as repair methods. Referring to FIG. 2, the aircraft component 20 may be configured as or otherwise included as part of a nacelle 22 of a propulsion system 24 for the aircraft. The aircraft component 20, for example, may be (or may be part of) a component of a nacelle inlet structure 26; e.g., a nacelle inlet lip (e.g., a nose lip), a nacelle outer barrel, a nacelle inner barrel, etc. In another example, the aircraft component 20 may be (or may be part of) another component of the propulsion system nacelle 22 such as a cowl 28 (e.g., a fan cowl), or the like. Referring to FIG. 3, the aircraft component 20 may alternatively be configured as or otherwise included as part of an airframe 30 of the aircraft. The aircraft component 20, for example, may be (or may be part of) an aircraft wing 32, an aircraft fuselage skin 34, an aircraft stabilizer 36, or the like. The aircraft component 20 may still alternatively be configured as or otherwise included as part of a structure within the aircraft airframe 30; e.g., within a cabin of the aircraft. The present disclosure, however, is not limited to manufacturing the foregoing exemplary aircraft components. Moreover, it is contemplated the methods of the present disclosure may be utilized for manufacturing (e.g., repairing or creating) non-aircraft components. However, for ease of description, the thermoplastic component is generally described below as the aircraft component 20. Referring again to FIG. 1, the aircraft component 20 i