SYSTEMS AND METHODS ENABLING AUTOMATED RETURN TO AND/OR REPAIR OF DEFECTS WITH A MATERIAL PLACEMENT MACHINE
First Claim
1. A method enabling automated repair of defects in a composite structure formed with a material placement machine that lays composite material in one or more courses and one or more plies to form the structure, the method comprising:
- inspecting a course of the composite structure for defects;
determining whether a defect detected by the inspecting is unacceptable;
determining whether a defect detected by the inspecting is repairable by the material placement machine without user intervention; and
automatically causing the material placement machine to return to and place material sufficient for repairing a defect determined to be unacceptable and repairable by the material placement machine without user intervention.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method generally includes electronically accessing positional data defining a defect location on a composite structure, and automatically causing a material placement machine to return to the defect location as defined by the positional data. The method can also include automatically causing the material placement machine to place or lay down material sufficient for repairing a defect at the defect location. Alternatively, the material placement machine may automatically return to a defect location, and then an operator may manually repair the defect at the defect location.
52 Citations
39 Claims
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1. A method enabling automated repair of defects in a composite structure formed with a material placement machine that lays composite material in one or more courses and one or more plies to form the structure, the method comprising:
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inspecting a course of the composite structure for defects;
determining whether a defect detected by the inspecting is unacceptable;
determining whether a defect detected by the inspecting is repairable by the material placement machine without user intervention; and
automatically causing the material placement machine to return to and place material sufficient for repairing a defect determined to be unacceptable and repairable by the material placement machine without user intervention. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method comprising:
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using a material placement machine to lay one or more courses and one or more plies of composite material to form a composite structure;
inspecting the one or more courses for defects;
determining whether a defect detected by the inspecting is unacceptable; and
automatically causing the material placement machine to return to a defect determined to be unacceptable. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method comprising:
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using a material placement machine to lay one or more courses and one or more plies of composite material to form a composite structure;
electronically accessing positional data defining a defect location on the composite structure; and
automatically causing the material placement machine to return to the defect location as defined by the positional data. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A machine-readable medium for use with a processor having a memory, the machine-readable medium comprising:
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instructions to cause the processor to access positional data defining a defect location on a composite structure formed by a material placement machine that lays composite material in one or more courses and one or more plies to form the structure; and
instructions to cause the processor to generate instructions to cause the material placement machine to return to the defect location as defined by the positional data and place material sufficient for repairing the defect at the defect location. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A machine-readable medium for use with a processor having a memory, the machine-readable medium comprising:
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instructions to cause the processor to access positional data defining a defect location on a composite structure formed by a material placement machine that lays composite material in one or more courses and one or more plies to form the composite structure; and
instructions to cause the processor to generate instructions for automatically causing the material placement machine to return to the defect location as defined by the positional data. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A method comprising:
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electronically accessing positional data defining a defect location on a composite structure;
automatically causing the material placement machine to return to the defect location as defined by the positional data; and
performing exterior monitoring of the material application position of the material placement machine to determine a first distance from a first reference point of the composite structure to a defect, the monitoring including detecting and counting transitions between contrasting portions of a code ring coupled for common rotation with a compaction roller.
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38. A method comprising:
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electronically accessing positional data defining a defect location on a composite structure;
automatically causing the material placement machine to return to the defect location as defined by the positional data;
performing exterior monitoring of the material application position of the material placement machine to determine a first distance from a first reference point of the composite structure to a defect;
summing courses completed to produce a total completed course count; and
multiplying a predetermined course width by the total completed course count to determine a second distance from a second reference point of the composite structure to the defect. - View Dependent Claims (39)
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Specification