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

Claim 10:
11. A system for forming perforations in a thin sheet of a composite material, the system comprising:
an ultrasonic drilling apparatus comprising:
the needle array according to claim 1; and
the ultrasonic actuator configured to vibrate the needle array along the longitudinal axis, such that the needle array repeatedly contacts a surface of the thin sheet at an operating frequency sufficient to form a plurality of holes through the thin sheet within a first region of the thin sheet, wherein the needle array does not rotate with respect to the surface of the thin sheet while the plurality of holes is formed, and wherein the ultrasonic drilling apparatus is configured to operate without use of a slurry or a cooling fluid; and

a remote heating unit spaced apart from the ultrasonic drilling apparatus, wherein the remote heating unit is configured to locally heat the first region of the thin sheet while the plurality of holes is formed by the ultrasonic drilling apparatus.