METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMPOSITE PART DATA EXTRACTION

• US 20090112973A1
• Filed: 10/25/2007
• Published: 04/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Fisher, Phillip Jon, Shirron, Paul J., Mullins, Donald M., Kessel, Jamie A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,321,180 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2113/26 Composites
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]

Abstract

A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for providing ply lay-up data for a composite part. A designation of a location is received for the composite part in a three dimensional object from a requester. A three dimensional model is opened in which the composite part is located. The ply lay-up data is extracted for a section within the composite part within the three dimensional model to form extracted ply lay-up data for the section. An output file is created containing a two dimensional drawing for the section with the ply lay-up data identifying a ply stacking sequence, an orientation of each ply in the ply stacking sequence, and a material for the each ply in the ply stacking sequence. The output file is returned to the requester.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for providing ply lay-up data for a composite part, the computer implemented method comprising:

receiving a designation of a location for the composite part in a three dimensional object from a requestor;

opening a three dimensional model in which the composite part is located;

extracting the ply lay-up data for a section within the composite part within the three dimensional model to form extracted ply lay-up data for the section;

creating an output file containing a two dimensional drawing for the section with the ply lay-up data identifying a ply stacking sequence, an orientation of each ply in the ply stacking sequence, and a material for the each ply in the ply stacking sequence; and

returning the output file to the requestor.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying the three dimensional object on a display; and

receiving a user input for the designation of the location for the composite part in the three dimensional object.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the receiving, opening, extracting, creating, and returning steps are performed on a server computer.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying the three dimensional object representing the composite part; and

receiving a user input designating the location.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

performing a maintenance operation on the composite part.

6. A computer implemented method for providing ply lay-up data for a composite part, the computer implemented method comprising:

receiving a location on the composite part from a requester;

extracting the ply lay-up data for a section of the composite part within a three dimensional model containing the composite part to form extracted ply lay-up data; and

sending the extracted ply lay-up data to the requester.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 6 further comprising:

performing a maintenance operation using the extracted ply lay-up data.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 6, wherein the extracting step comprises:

identifying a set of sections from the location;

forming a two dimensional drawing of plies in the section;

associating ply orientation data with the plies; and

associating material data with the plies.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 6 further comprising:

displaying a three dimensional object of the composite part; and

receiving a user input selecting the location on the composite part.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9 further comprising:

performing the displaying step and the receiving step on a client computer using a part file.

11. A method for obtaining lay-up data for a composite part, the method comprising:

receiving a first user input to a user interface on a data processing system, wherein the first user input selects the composite part;

responsive to receiving the first user input, displaying a three dimensional object;

receiving a section user input selecting a location on the three dimensional object to form a selected location;

sending the selected location in a request to a server data processing system for the lay-up data; and

receiving the lay-up data for the composite part in response to sending the request.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving step comprises:

receiving an output file having a stacking sequence, ply orientation, and materials for plies in a section around the selected location.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the sending step comprises:

sending the selected location and a part number for the composite part in a request to the server data processing system for the lay-up data.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a client data processing system;

a server data processing system;

a user application located on the client data processing system, wherein the user application displays a three dimensional object for a composite part and receives user input selecting a location to form location information on the composite part; and

a data extraction tool located on the server data processing system, wherein the data extraction tool receives the location on the composite part, extracts lay-up data for a section around the location from a three dimensional model containing the composite part to form extracted lay-up data, and returns the extracted lay-up data to the client data processing system.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the server data processing system is located at a manufacturer facility and the client data processing system is located at a maintenance facility.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 further comprising:

a three dimensional model data base containing the three dimensional model.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the extracted lay-up data is returned in a document and wherein the extracted lay-up data comprises a ply stacking sequence, an orientation of each ply in the ply stacking sequence, and a material for the each ply in the ply stacking sequence.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the location information comprises an X coordinate, a Y coordinate, and a Z coordinate.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the location information also includes a part number for the composite part.

20. A computer program product for providing ply lay-up data for a composite part, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable media;

program code, stored on the computer readable media, for receiving a location on the composite part from a requestor;

program code, stored on the computer readable media, for extracting the ply lay-up data for a section of the composite part within a three dimensional model containing the composite part to form extracted ply lay-up data; and

program code, stored on the computer readable media, for sending the extracted ply lay-up data to the requestor.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the program code, stored on the computer readable media, for extracting ply lay-up data for the section of the composite part within the three dimensional model containing the composite part to form the extracted ply lay-up data comprises:

program code, stored on the computer readable media, for identifying a set of sections from the location;

program code, stored on the computer readable media, for forming a two dimensional drawing of plies in the section;

program code, stored on the computer readable media, for associating ply orientation data with the plies; and

program code, stored on the computer readable media, for associating material data with the plies.

22. The computer program product of claim 20 further comprising:

program code, stored on the computer readable media, for displaying a three dimensional object of the composite part; and

program code, stored on the computer readable media, for receiving a user input selecting the location on the composite part.