Patent ID: 11897074
Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
Field: Machine tools (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. A needle array for forming ultrasonic perforations in a workpiece, the needle array comprising:
a plurality of needles arranged to form the needle array, wherein each needle of the plurality of needles is oriented to extend along a longitudinal axis from a first end to a second end, wherein each respective needle of the plurality of needles is configured to form a respective hole in the workpiece when the needle array is vibrated along the longitudinal axis at an ultrasonic operating frequency while the needle array is positioned to repeatedly contact a surface of the workpiece, wherein each needle of the plurality of needles has a non-circular cross-sectional area, wherein the needle array is configured to form a plurality of holes within a region of the workpiece without translating the needle array with respect to the workpiece, without rotating the plurality of needles about the longitudinal axis, and without rotating the plurality of needles with respect to the workpiece; and
a support plate, wherein the first end of each respective needle of the plurality of needles is coupled to the support plate, and wherein the needle array is configured to be operatively coupled to an ultrasonic actuator, via the support plate, to vibrate the needle array at the ultrasonic operating frequency;
wherein the plurality of needles are arranged in a distribution selected from the group consisting of a bilinear distribution and a pyramid distribution, wherein in the bilinear distribution, the needles of the plurality of needles are arranged according to their lengths such that the second end of each needle of the plurality of needles collectively form an angled contact plane for contacting the workpiece, and wherein in the pyramid distribution, the needles of the plurality of needles are arranged such that the second end of each needle of the plurality of needles collectively form a pyramidal contact shape for contacting the workpiece.