초록 ▼

A method of fabricating an aircraft leading edge nose structure includes the following steps. Parallel strengthening members are welded onto a flat planar outer skin sheet. Two forming tool members having appropriately shaped outer contours contact the inner surfaces of the strengthening members, an

A method of fabricating an aircraft leading edge nose structure includes the following steps. Parallel strengthening members are welded onto a flat planar outer skin sheet. Two forming tool members having appropriately shaped outer contours contact the inner surfaces of the strengthening members, and are then pivoted and shifted toward each other so as to bend the outer skin sheet into a parabolic shape along the curved contour defined by the forming tool members. The resulting bent outer skin sheet with the strengthening members welded thereon is secured into a negative mold. To provide boundary layer suction, a perforated throttling sheet, inner ribs, and a non-perforated inner skin sheet may be successively secured by sealant and blind rivets onto the pre-bent structure of the outer skin sheet and the strengthening members. The finished structure is then removed from the mold.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A method of fabricating a leading edge nose structure of an aerodynamic surface, comprising the following steps:a) joining plural metal strengthening members that extend in a longitudinal direction and that are laterally spaced apart from one another onto a flat planar metal outer skin sheet, so

1. A method of fabricating a leading edge nose structure of an aerodynamic surface, comprising the following steps:a) joining plural metal strengthening members that extend in a longitudinal direction and that are laterally spaced apart from one another onto a flat planar metal outer skin sheet, so as to form thereof a preliminary flat planar structure; b) after said step a), deforming said preliminary flat planar structure by contacting and securing at least some of said strengthening members onto a curved contour of a positive forming tool and reconfiguring said positive forming tool so as to increase a curvature defined by said curved contour, and thereby bending said outer skin sheet to have an outer sheet contour with a cross-sectional nose curvature corresponding to said curved contour, so as to form of said preliminary flat planar structure a preliminary curved structure; c) after said step b), placing and securing said preliminary curved structure into a negative form so that said outer skin sheet contacts and is supported by a negative form surface of said negative form having a negative contour corresponding to said outer sheet contour; and d) after said step c), releasing and removing said positive forming tool from said preliminary curved structure; wherein said step b) is carried out using a bending apparatus that includes a rotatable threaded spindle, first and second threaded guide elements which are thread-engaged on said threaded spindle, and said positive forming tool which includes separate first and second forming tool members that each have a respective portion of said curved contour and that are respectively pivotally connected to said first and second threaded guide elements; and wherein said contacting and securing of said strengthening members onto said curved contour of said positive forming tool and said reconfiguring of said positive forming tool is carried out in a stepwise progressive manner and comprises securing two laterally outermost ones of said strengthening members respectively to said first and second forming tool members, rotating said threaded spindle to move said first and second threaded guide elements linearly toward one another and thereby pivoting said first and second separate forming tool members relative to one another so as to increase said curvature defined by said curved contour comprising said respective portions of said curved contour on said first and second forming tool members, then contacting and securing onto said first and second forming tool members two more of said strengthening members that are respectively inwardly adjacent to said two laterally outermost ones of said strengthening members, and then continuing said pivoting of said first and second forming tool members in successive pivoting steps and successively securing inwardly successive pairs of said strengthening members onto said first and second forming tool members between successive ones of said pivoting steps, while said deforming of said preliminary flat planar structure progresses correspondingly in a stepwise manner.