Aircraft Radome Skin Assembly With Controlled Overlap Ratios
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing aircraft radome manufacturing processes are labor-intensive and inefficient, with manual assembly and limited material utilization due to the complex shapes and sizes of radome components, leading to high material waste and reduced productivity.
Innovation Solution
The method involves assembling aircraft radomes using skin pieces with reduced dimensions and predetermined overlap ratios, allowing for automated assembly and ensuring structural rigidity and electromagnetic transparency, with skin pieces made of composite materials and a honeycomb or foam shell structure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual assembly of large fabric petals is used, then the radome can be manufactured with traditional techniques, but the assembly process is labor-intensive and productivity is low
Solution Approach 1:
The radome skin is divided into multiple small skin pieces instead of using large fabric petals. Each skin piece has controlled dimensions that enable automated handling and assembly. The segmentation allows industrial robots to manipulate individual pieces with precision, transforming a manual process into an automated one while maintaining assembly quality.
2Loss of substance
If large fabric petals are used for skin assembly, then traditional manufacturing methods can be applied, but material waste increases due to limited material utilization
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the skin into smaller pieces, the manufacturing process can optimize material utilization. Each skin piece can be cut more precisely from composite material sheets, reducing off-cuts and waste. The smaller pieces also allow for better nesting arrangements during cutting, maximizing the use of each material sheet.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the dimensional parameters of the skin components from large petals to small pieces with specific size constraints. This parameter change enables both reduced material waste through better utilization and compatibility with automated manufacturing processes, resolving the contradiction between material efficiency and manufacturing complexity.
3Strength
If skin pieces with large overlaps are used, then structural rigidity is improved, but electromagnetic transparency is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The invention optimizes the overlap parameter between skin pieces to a specific range that simultaneously satisfies structural and electromagnetic requirements. By controlling the overlap ratio and skin piece dimensions, the design achieves adequate structural rigidity while maintaining electromagnetic transparency for radar wave passage.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the radome skin are designed with different overlap characteristics. The skin pieces are arranged and overlapped in a pattern that provides sufficient structural reinforcement where needed while minimizing overlap in areas critical for electromagnetic transparency, particularly in the radiofrequency zone where radar beams pass through.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method for assembling an aircraft radome (100) comprising at least a first skin (110) and a second skin (130) arranged on two opposite faces of the same shell (120), said first skin (110) and said second skin (130) being respectively formed from a first assembly of skin pieces (111a, 111b) and a second assembly of skin pieces (131a, 131b), the assemblies being such that all or part of the skin pieces of said first and second assemblies partially overlaps one or more adjacent skin pieces of the assembly comprising them, and such that the ratio between the surface area of a skin piece overlapping one or more adjacent skin pieces and the total surface area of that skin piece does not exceed a predetermined threshold value. The invention also relates to a radome assembled according to the method.Thus, it is possible to automate the assembly of the radome while reducing the rate of material waste during manufacturing.