Patent ID: 7869982
Filing Date: 2011-01-11
Classification: B29C,G05B

Abstract:
1. A method of defining a composite tape course to form at least a portion of a composite part ply, comprising the steps of: approximating a contoured surface with a reference plane; selecting a three-dimensional reference surface to approximate the contoured surface; defining a first function to correlate a first point from the contoured surface to a first intermediate point on the reference surface; selecting the reference plane to approximate the reference surface; defining a second function to correlate the first intermediate point to a reference point in the reference plane; mapping a ply boundary from the contoured surface to a reference ply boundary in the reference plane; mapping a tape boundary from the contoured surface to a reference tape boundary in the reference plane; defining a tape edge based at least in part on a reference intersection of the reference ply boundary and the reference tape boundary; and forming at least a portion of the composite part ply using the defined tape edge.