Grid-Stiffened Fuselage Panel Layout for Lower Aircraft Weight
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional aircraft fuselage structures are structurally strong but heavy and costly to produce, necessitating a more lightweight and efficient design.
Innovation Solution
A fuselage structure featuring a grid-stiffened panel skin with frames and stringers arranged along the longitudinal direction, incorporating torsion boxes and support triangles, which eliminates the need for traditional stiffeners, allowing for a lighter and stronger design through a combination of machining and assembly processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional frames, skin and numerous stiffeners are used, then structural strength is good, but weight is heavy and production cost is high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes traditional stiffeners from the fuselage structure, extracting only the essential load-bearing elements (frames and stringers) while eliminating redundant components. This extraction principle directly addresses the contradiction by reducing weight through component removal while maintaining structural integrity through optimized frame-stringer connections.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the functions of traditional stiffeners into the skin itself by creating a grid-stiffened panel where the skin and frames form an integrated load-bearing structure. The stringers are pressed against and secured to the skin, combining multiple structural functions into unified components, thereby reducing overall weight while maintaining strength.
2Strength
If conventional frames, skin and numerous stiffeners are used, then structural strength is good, but production cost is high
Solution Approach 1:
By extracting and eliminating stiffeners, the patent simplifies the manufacturing process, reducing the number of parts to be procured, stored, and assembled. This directly lowers production costs while maintaining structural strength through the optimized frame-skin-stringer configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The grid-stiffened panel is prepared in advance with pre-positioned frames and stringers before final assembly. This preliminary action reduces on-site assembly complexity and production time, thereby reducing overall manufacturing costs while ensuring proper structural alignment.
3Weight of moving object
If traditional stiffeners are eliminated, then weight is reduced and production cost is reduced, but structural strength must be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by concentrating structural reinforcement at specific locations where frames and stringers intersect and connect to the skin. Rather than distributing stiffness uniformly through traditional stiffeners, the grid-stiffened panel provides localized reinforcement exactly where structural demands are highest, maintaining strength while reducing weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The grid-stiffened panel creates a composite structure where the skin and frames work together as an integrated load-bearing system. The combination of skin, frames, and stringers forms a composite structural solution that maintains strength without requiring additional stiffener components.
Data Source
AI summary
A structure for an aircraft fuselage, the structure comprising a skin having an outer face and an inner face machined as a grid-stiffened panel, a plurality of frames, each frame shaped as the cross section of the fuselage and the frames being arranged one after the other along a longitudinal direction of the fuselage. The outer perimeter of each frame is secured to the inner face, a plurality of stringers extend parallel to the longitudinal direction, each stringer extending across multiple frames, passing through these at an opening provided to that end in each frame, and each stringer is pressed against the inner face and secured thereto. In the upper part and in the lower part of the fuselage, a torsion box is provided extending parallel to the longitudinal direction, each torsion box comprising a horizontal plate and tabs which secure the plate to the inner face.