Composite Drainage Plate with Shaped Openings
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The installation of drainage fabrics in producing composite material parts, especially panels with complex shapes like double curvature, is challenging due to crumpling issues, leading to surface marks that degrade aerodynamic characteristics and increase drag, and existing solutions are costly and time-consuming.
Innovation Solution
A device with a shaping and drainage plate featuring openings that limits aerodynamic degradation, allowing for simplified installation and effective gas evacuation without surface marking, using a plate that is flexible enough to conform to the part's shape without crumpling and can be reused.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If drainage fabric is used to evacuate gases during composite material production, then gas evacuation is effective, but the fabric crumples and creates surface marks that degrade aerodynamic characteristics
Solution Approach 1:
A smooth shaping plate is introduced as an intermediary element between the drainage fabric and the composite material surface. The plate serves as a mediator that allows gas evacuation to occur through its openings while its smooth surface prevents direct contact between the crumpled fabric and the composite material, thereby avoiding surface marks and preserving aerodynamic characteristics.
Solution Approach 2:
The shaping plate is designed as a thin, flexible component that can conform to the curved surfaces of composite material parts with double curvature. This flexibility allows the plate to maintain close contact with the complex geometry of the part while its smooth outer surface continues to protect the composite material from surface defects caused by fabric crumpling.
2Reliability
If drainage fabric is installed on complex double curvature surfaces, then gas evacuation is achieved, but installation becomes time-consuming and tedious due to the need for careful attention to detail
Solution Approach 1:
The shaping plate acts as a pre-fabricated intermediary component that comes ready-made with the appropriate shape for complex surfaces. Instead of carefully installing and shaping drainage fabric on-site, the plate can be directly placed over the composite material, significantly reducing installation time while maintaining effective gas evacuation through its openings.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical state and form of the drainage system from a flexible fabric that requires careful manipulation to a rigid or semi-rigid plate with fixed geometric parameters. This parameter change from fabric to plate structure eliminates the time-consuming installation process while preserving the gas evacuation function through strategically designed openings.
3Shape
If multiple pieces of draining fabric are used to cover large panels, then the panel shape is better adapted, but the number of parts increases leading to higher cost and more complex installation
Solution Approach 1:
The shaping plate is designed as a universal component that can be used across different composite material parts with various shapes and sizes. A single plate design can accommodate different geometries including flat surfaces and double curvature surfaces, eliminating the need for multiple specialized fabric pieces and reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The shaping plate utilizes a thin-film or shell structure that inherently adapts to complex geometries through its flexibility. This allows a single continuous plate to conform to double curvature surfaces and large panel shapes without requiring segmentation into multiple pieces, thereby reducing the number of parts and simplifying the overall system.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution simplifies the installation process, reduces surface marking, and maintains aerodynamic integrity by using a flexible, reusable shaping and drainage plate with strategically arranged openings for gas evacuation, enhancing production efficiency and reducing costs.
Implementation Method 1
During polymerization, pressure is exerted so as to expel the air and the solvents to reduce the porosity
Implementation Method 2
a system for drainage of gases emanating from the part that is to be produced
Data Source
AI summary
A device for producing a composite material part designed to be in contact with aerodynamic flows, in particular a portion of the fuselage, whereby the device includes at least one mold (32), elements (34, 36, 38) for compressing the part that is to be produced, as well as a system for drainage of the gases emanating from the part that is to be produced that includes at least one plate (42), characterized in that the at least one plate (42) includes a number of openings (44) whose shapes and/or arrangement limit the degradation of the aerodynamic characteristics of the part that is to be produced.