MANUFACTURING METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR STRINGER REINFORCED COMPOSITE SKIN

摘要

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for manufacture of stringer reinforced composite skins. The method includes the consecutive steps of: providing a forming tool comprising elongated support members spaced apart by means of elongated dummy members. The support and dummy members may be assembled side by side longitudinally such that the long sides of the support and dummy members are essentially parallelly aligned. In a first fibre placement step fibre reinforced resin is placed onto said forming tool, to form a fibre reinforced skin on said forming tool. The fibre reinforced skin is cut along the longitudinal extension of the dummy members so as to cut out fibre reinforced blank materials for stringer members. The dummy members are removed. The fibre reinforced blank materials are formed so that the fibre reinforced blank materials are shaped around said support members to form stringer members. The stringer members are assembled by longitudinally bringing together the stringer members so that the long sides of the stringer members are essentially parallelly aligned, to form a stringer unit. In a second fibre placement step fibre reinforced resin is placed onto said stringer unit, to form a fibre reinforced skin onto said stringer unit. The fibre reinforced skin and said stringer unit are co-cured to form a stringer reinforced composite skin. The support members are then removed from said stringer reinforced composite skin.