Boeing Patente

In some implementations, a system (320) within a flight deck of an aircraft (310) determines, based on line-of-sight data associated with an aircraft operator stationed within the flight deck of the aircraft, a field of view, FOV, of the aircraft operator. The system determines display configuration information based on a set of one or more visual references derived from the FOV of the aircraft operator. The system updates a projection display component that is positioned within the flight deck and within the FOV of the aircraft operator to display at least visual representation information associated with the set of one or more visual references based on the display configuration information.

A coupling system (100) is configured to removably connect to a cart (102). The coupling system (100) includes a connecting arm (108), and an adapter (110) coupled to the connecting arm (108). The adapter (110) is configured to removably secure the connecting arm (108) to one or more stanchions (114) of the cart (102). One or more securing clamps (112) can be coupled to the connecting arm (108). The one or more securing clamps (112) are configured to removably secure the coupling system (100) in a stowed position to a beam of the cart (102).

Composite structures (202) and methods of forming composite structures (202) are presented. A composite structure (202) comprises a first plurality of prepreg plies (231), a second plurality of prepreg plies (233), and an infused functional structure (204) between the first plurality of prepreg plies and the second plurality of prepreg plies. The infused functional structure comprises a first number of insulative layers (206), a second number of insulative layers (210), a functional ply (208) comprising a number of functional components (214) between the first number of insulative layers and the second number of insulative layers, and a resin (222) infused into the first number of insulative layers (206) and the second number of insulative layers (210).

Methods of performing gap resin infusion are presented. A resin is injected into a resin infusion chamber of a resin infusion mold comprising a first portion and a second portion while maintaining a temperature differential between the first portion and the second portion. An infused preform is formed by forcing the resin into a dry fiber preform located in the resin infusion chamber while maintaining the temperature differential between the first portion and the second portion of the resin infusion mold.

Resilient elongated tubular seals that are flexible and that can absorb compressive forces and compress to seal gaps between adjacently positioned aircraft cabin structures and that can further expand outwardly from a compressed condition as compressive forces change or abate and methods of installation of such elongated tubular seals are disclosed.

A system (100) for processing a workpiece (200) includes a constraining container(110), a pressure-triggered coupling (122), and an expandable medium (130). The constraining container includes an interior volume (112) and is configured to enclose at least a portion of the workpiece to be processed. The pressure-triggered coupling is configured to secure the constraining container in a closed configuration and is configured to release the constraining container upon an interior pressure (250) of the interior volume of the constraining container reaching a trigger pressure (252). The expandable medium is configured to be disposed within the interior volume between at least a portion of the constraining container and at least a portion of the workpiece and is configured to expand such that the expandable medium applies a positive pressure (254) to the constraining container and the workpiece.

A system (100) for fabricating a workpiece (200) includes a case (110) that includes an interior volume (112). The case is configured to enclose at least a portion (202) of the workpiece to be fabricated. The system includes an expandable medium (120) disposed within the interior volume between the case and at least the portion of the workpiece. The expandable medium is configured to expand within the case such that the expandable medium applies positive pressure (102) to at least the portion of the workpiece enclosed by the case.

An aircraft includes one or more processors configured to receive input identifying a first equipment item as inoperative. The one or more processors are configured to select, based on the input identifying the first equipment item as inoperative, an adjustment factor to be applied during engine performance calculations for a particular planned flight of the aircraft. The one or more processors are configured to determine, based on the adjustment factor and ambient condition data associated with the aircraft, a set of engine performance planning metrics for the particular planned flight. The one or more processors are configured to determine, based on the set of engine performance planning metrics, a weight penalty, a fuel penalty, or both, for the particular planned flight.

A flight management system of an aircraft may determine that a leg of a lateral trajectory profile, of a flight plan for the aircraft is active. The FMS may determine, based on determining that the leg of the lateral trajectory profile is active, that a distance between the aircraft and an end waypoint associated with the leg satisfies a distance threshold and may therefore perform an update to the lateral trajectory profile so as to lock a bank angle parameter to a particular bank angle value. The FMS may further determine that a transition, which is associated with the end waypoint and another leg of the lateral trajectory profile, is active and may therefore perform an update to the lateral trajectory profile to lock a ground speed parameter to a particular ground speed value.

Methods and apparatus for multi-layered integrity validation of vision-based vehicle guidance are disclosed. A disclosed example system includes an image sensor carried by a vehicle, the image sensor to identify light sources of a ground-based pattern display, wherein a spatial arrangement of varying distances between the light sources defines a light pattern array, and at least one processor circuitry to perform a multi-layer integrity validation corresponding to the light pattern array based on the identified light sources for guidance of the vehicle via the light pattern array.

A system includes a toilet, and an energy harvester coupled to the toilet. The energy harvester is configured to convert vacuum force, which flushes contents from the toilet, into electrical energy. The energy harvester is further configured to provide the electrical energy to one or more components.

A method controls taxiing of an aircraft. A first laser beam and a second laser beam are emitted from the aircraft using a wavelength configuration. A first backscatter light and a second backscatter light are received at the aircraft in response to emitting the first laser beam and the second laser beam. First backscatter data is generated using the first backscatter light. Second backscatter data is generated using the second backscatter light. A first signal to noise ratio is determined using the first backscatter data. A second signal to noise ratio is determined using the second backscatter data. The wavelength configuration is controlled for the first laser beam and the second laser beam emitted by the lidar system using the first signal to noise ratio and the second signal to noise ratio. A taxiing operation is performed for the aircraft using the first backscatter data and the second backscatter data.

An environmental control system pack for an aircraft that includes a ram air circuit and a bleed flow circuit. The ram air circuit receives air from an atmosphere on an exterior of the aircraft and expels the air through an outlet back into the atmosphere. The bleed flow circuit receives bleed air and cools the air prior to the bleed air being delivered to an interior space. The environmental control system pack uses energy from the bleed air to drive a fan in the ram air circuit. This causes an increase in a compression power of the air in the ram air circuit to increase a thrust of the air exiting the ram air circuit through the outlet.

A pressure diffuser to accommodate changes in pressure of a fluid within a fluid supply. The pressure diffuser includes a housing with an interior space and with an inlet and an outlet. A diverting member is positioned within the interior space. The diverting member is configured to divert the fluid within the interior space away from the outlet. An elastic membrane is positioned radially within the interior space between the housing and the diverting member. The elastic membrane is configured to receive the fluid from the diverting member and to expand and contract dependent on a pressure of the fluid.

Systems and methods are provided for fabricating multiple segment spars for an aircraft. In one example the method includes fabricating preforms of fiber reinforced material for spar segments, hardening the preforms to form the spar segments, and bonding the spar segments together to form a completed spar detail. In addition to bonding, other examples include co-curing and fastening the spar segments. In additional examples, the spar segments include kinks or subkinks as described.

A composite material assembly (20) comprises at least one composite material assembly member (22, 24, 26) comprising a dry fiber material impregnated with an epoxy resin-containing material. Said at least one assembly member (22, 24, 26) comprises a first side (22a, 24a, 26a); a second side (22b, 24b, 26b); and a longitudinal radius filler cavity (28) bounded by the second side (22b, 24b, 26b), said cavity (28) comprising a cavity radius. The composite material assembly (20) further comprises a tailorable composite material longitudinal radius filler (30) positioned within the cavity (28), said radius filler (30) comprising a radius dimensioned to substantially match the cavity radius, said radius filler (30) comprising a recycled dry fiber material (40) impregnated with the epoxy resin-containing material (42).

An environmental control system pack for an aircraft that includes a ram air circuit and a bleed flow circuit. The ram air circuit receives air from an atmosphere on an exterior of the aircraft and expels the air through an outlet back into the atmosphere. The bleed flow circuit receives bleed air and cools the air prior to the bleed air being delivered to an interior space. The environmental control system pack uses energy from the bleed air to drive a fan in the ram air circuit. This causes an increase in a compression power of the air in the ram air circuit to increase a thrust of the air exiting the ram air circuit through the outlet.

A unitary composite structure and methods of forming are presented. A method of laying up a unitary composite structure comprises laying up a plurality of dome plies on a rounded end of a mandrel using a plurality of rosettes; laying up a plurality of cylindrical plies on a cylindrical surface of the mandrel using a layup rosette independent of the plurality of rosettes; and forming a transition region comprising a joint between the plurality of dome plies and the plurality of cylindrical plies by varying lengths of the plurality of dome plies and lengths of the plurality of cylindrical plies.

A forming area for automated composite processing and methods of maintaining workability of a ceramic matrix composite material in a forming area are presented. It is determined if a humidity within the forming area is in a desired range. In response to a determination that the humidity is not in the desired range, at least one of a heater or a humidifier is activated by an environmental controller to maintain a desired humidity for forming the ceramic matrix composite material within the forming area.

Methods of peeling a protective film from the composite material are presented. A second protective film on a second face of the composite material sheet is held against a plurality of gripping points of an end effector. The composite material sheet is positioned at an angle relative to the manufacturing floor using the end effector. A first protective film on a first face of the composite material sheet is gripped by a film removal end effector. The first protective film is peeled away from the first face of the composite material sheet by movement of the film removal end effector.

There is provided an airflow system for a building. The airflow system includes at least one air purification system providing purified air and receiving recirculated air; at least one air supply assembly supplying the purified air from the air purification system to at least one interior airflow space including one or more of, an aisleway, a cafeteria, a restroom, and an elevator; at least one air return assembly returning the recirculated air from the at least one interior airflow space to the at least one air purification system; directional airstream(s) formed between the air supply assembly and the air return assembly, and comprising at least one or more of, a directed airflow field around each occupant, air barrier(s) between each occupant, and an airflow field around each occupant; and at least one control system controlling the airflow system. The airflow system provides a contamination mitigation for each occupant.

There is provided an airflow system for a building. The airflow system includes at least one air purification system providing purified air and receiving recirculated air; at least one air supply assembly supplying the purified air from the air purification system to at least one interior airflow space including one or more of, an office cubicle, a conference room, and an auditorium; at least one air return assembly returning the recirculated air from the at least one interior airflow space to the at least one air purification system; directional airstream(s) formed between the air supply assembly and the air return assembly, including first directional airstream(s) forming one or more air barriers between occupants, to provide respiratory isolation, and second directional airstream(s) forming an airflow field around each occupant; and at least one control system controlling the airflow system. The airflow system provides a contamination mitigation for each occupant.

A ceramic matrix composite part and methods of locating a composite ply on a layup tool are presented. A composite ply comprising a fiducial is placed onto the layup tool. A position of the fiducial of the composite ply is determined relative to the layup tool. An actual position of the composite ply on the layup tool is determined. A difference between the actual position of the composite ply and a designed position for the composite ply is determined.

A manufacturing system including a manufacturing device that includes one or more integrated sensors. The manufacturing system further includes an edge computing device including an edge device processor configured to receive integrated sensor data measured during production of a manufactured part using the manufacturing device. The edge device processor transmits the integrated sensor data to a remote computing device. During the production of the manufactured part, the edge device processor receives a remote processing result from the remote computing device. The remote processing result includes a quality control result notification. The edge device processor, in response to receiving the quality control result notification, programmatically performs one or more auxiliary measurements of the manufactured part and/or manufacturing device to obtain auxiliary sensor data. The edge device processor outputs the quality control result notification and the auxiliary sensor data to a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed at the edge computing device.

An elastomer component (10) comprised of an elastomer material (12) having an air volume fraction (AVF) of greater than 5%, and the elastomer component (10) is a three-dimensional solid. An assembly (100) comprises an outer barrier (30), at least one elastomer component (10), and a curable material (20). A method comprises inserting (202) an elastomer component (10) and a curable material (20) into an outer barrier (30) to form an assembly (100) and heating (204) the assembly (100).

A method includes obtaining first humidity data indicative of a first humidity value at an origin airport of a flight. The method also includes obtaining second humidity data indicative of a second humidity value at a destination airport. The method also includes determining, based on the first humidity data, a first fuel flow rate adjustment for a first phase of flight from a first altitude of the origin airport to a threshold altitude. The method also includes determining, based on the second humidity data, a second fuel flow rate adjustment for a second phase of flight from the threshold altitude to a second altitude of the destination airport. The method also includes estimating total fuel flow for the flight based on the first fuel flow rate adjustment and the second fuel flow rate adjustment.

A system includes one or more processors configured to obtain navigation system quality information from multiple data sources. The one or more processors are further configured to generate navigation signal interference map information based on the navigation system quality information. For example, the one more processors may be configured to aggregate, based on one or more parameters, first data from a first data source of the multiple data sources, and identify one or more areas associated with low quality navigation signals based on second data from a second data source of the multiple data sources. A portion of the aggregated first data may be discarded based on the one or more areas to generate the navigation signal interference map information. The one or more processors may also be configured to output the navigation signal interference map information.

Rapidly generated tooling and methods for rapidly generating tooling for composite layup and cure are presented. A foam block is formed into a tool body with a forming surface having a near net shape. A low CTE material is additively deposited onto the forming surface to form a metal cover

Hybrid propulsion systems that utilize liquid natural gas solid oxide fuel cells in a manner practical for use in aircraft that avoid the use of heavy batteries, provide transient response times suitable for use in aircraft, and/or simplify reactant pre-conditioning systems using a compressor and turbine pair operatively coupled to the solid oxide fuel cell. Such hybrid propulsion systems for an aircraft may include a liquid natural gas solid oxide fuel cell, a motor driven by electric power from the solid oxide fuel cell, a gearbox operatively coupled to the motor, and a turbofan engine configured to generate thrust for the aircraft. The turbofan engine may be configured to provide electric power and shaft power and may include a duct fan that is operatively coupled to the motor via the gearbox, with the duct fan being driven by mechanical power from the gearbox and by the motor.

A bushing configured to receive a connector to connect engine components within an aircraft to absorb forces during a fan blade out. The bushing includes an outer ring, an inner ring that is positioned within and spaced inward from the outer ring with the inner ring having a central opening sized to receive the connector, and spokes that extend between and connect together the outer ring and the inner ring. One or more of the spokes have a linear shape and one or more of the spokes have a non-linear shape. (Fig. 1)

A computing device may determine, based on first information identifying one or more maximal cliques in a first connectivity graph, a set of potential cliques in a second connectivity graph that is an updated version of the first connectivity graph. The computing device may determine a set of valid cliques, of the set of potential cliques, in the second connectivity graph and may determine, based on the set of valid cliques, a first set of maximal cliques in the second connectivity graph. The computing device may determine, based on a set of nodes of the second connectivity graph that are not included in the first set of maximal cliques, a second set of maximal cliques in the second connectivity graph. The computing device may determine second information identifying the first set of maximal cliques and the second set of maximal cliques.

A method of forming a dry fiber stack, a carrier encapsulated composite, and a flexible consolidation and forming carrier are presented. The flexible consolidation and forming carrier comprises an integrated heating element arranged in a material support region, a flexible base material encompassing the integrated heating element, and a seal portion around a perimeter of the flexible consolidation and forming carrier.

A device includes one or more processors configured to generate an operational congestion metric associated with a particular airport, wherein the operational congestion metric is based at least on one or more usage metrics for the particular airport. The one or more processors are configured to generate an impact congestion metric non-linearly based at least on the operational congestion metric. The one or more processors are configured to determine based on the impact congestion metric, a congestion prediction for the particular airport. The one or more processors are configured to communicate a congestion alert for the particular airport, wherein the congestion alert is based at least on the congestion prediction.

Examples are disclosed that relate to a weight detection and management system for an aircraft. In one example, the system includes a plurality of weight sensors, a communication network connected to the plurality of weight sensors, and a computing system. The plurality of weight sensors is distributed throughout the aircraft. Each weight sensor of the plurality of weight sensors is configured to output weight data that indicates a weight of a load detected by the weight sensor. The computing system includes a logic subsystem and a storage subsystem holding instructions executable by the logic subsystem to receive, via the communication network, the weight data output by the plurality of weight sensors, calculate a center of gravity of the aircraft based at least on the weight data output by the plurality of weight sensors, and output the center of gravity of the aircraft.

A system and a method included a control unit configured to receive wind characteristics for locations at and between a current location of an aircraft and an arrival location, and revise a flight plan at one or more of the locations based on the wind characteristics to provide a revised flight plan. The aircraft is configured to be operated to fly from the current location to the arrival location according to the revised flight plan.

Methods of resin transfer infusion and maintaining a clean resin infusion tool, a seal, and a resin infusion tool are presented. A resin infusion tool comprises a first mold; a second mold configured to form a resin infusion chamber with the first mold, wherein the second mold comprises at least one channel around a perimeter of the second mold; and at least one seal seated within the at least one channel of the second mold, the at least one seal is seated so as to maintain a vacuum seal between the first mold and the second mold in both a infusion position and a closed position of the resin infusion tool, wherein the seal is in contact with the first mold in the infusion position, and wherein the seal is compressed in the closed position. (Fig. 3)

Examples are disclosed relating to a laser-based system for measuring fluid data of a vehicle. In one example, the system includes a laser, a sensor system, and a computing system. The computing system is configured to send control signals to the laser causing the laser to emit laser light into a medium outside of the vehicle to induce a one or more plasma sparks in the medium. The computing system is further configured to receive, from the sensor system, sensor data indicating one or more properties of the one or more plasma sparks, including an orientation of the one or more plasma sparks relative to the vehicle. The computing system is further configured to calculate the fluid data of the vehicle based at least on the sensor data including the orientation of the one or more plasma sparks relative to the vehicle and output the fluid data of the vehicle.

A composite fuselage frame for an aircraft includes a web and a shear tie foot. The web includes a width and a first thickness. The web forms an arc between first and second ends in relation to the fuselage. The width extends from the outer side in relation to a skin on the fuselage to an inner side. The shear tie foot is disposed on the outer side of the web between first and second mouse holes and projects from the first thickness of the web. The shear tie foot has a second thickness that extends along the skin between first and second stringers. The second thickness of the shear tie foot is defined by the first thickness and second polymer matrix composite layers formed by first material polymer matrix composite plies that provide a frame filler integrated with second material polymer matrix composite plies of the first thickness.

A plurality of fiber tows (214) are laid down (102) by an automated lamination machine (200) (e.g., an automated fiber placement (AFP) machine or a contoured tape laying machine (CTLM)), each fiber tow having a cut end (218). At least one marking (222) is automatically applied within at least one marked region (224) of each respective fiber tow (214). Each marking (222) is configured to provide location information about the respective fiber tow on which the respective marking is placed. The markings are applied using a contrasting color on each respective fiber tow, with the contrasting color being chosen to contrast with a color of the fiber tows such that the markings are configured to enable visual inspection of the plurality of fiber tows. The markings may be designed for human visual inspection, or automated inspection by a machine, and individual fiber tows or plies of fiber tows may be inspected as the tows are being laid down.

A thermoplastic part (202, 302) with a thermoplastic repair patch (204, 304) and methods of repairing a thermoplastic part are presented. The thermoplastic part with a thermoplastic repair patch comprises a composite material (206) with a cut-out forming a repair area (210, 303), and the thermoplastic repair patch in the cut-out. The composite material has a first melting temperature (208, 230). The thermoplastic repair patch comprises a plurality of consolidated thermoplastic stacks (224, 226, 310, 312, 314, 400), each consolidated thermoplastic stack comprising thermoplastic composite plies (232, 244, 322, 324, 326, 406) between low melt thermoplastic surfaces (238, 240, 250, 252, 402, 404) having a second melting temperature (208, 230) lower than the first melting temperature.