Patent ID: 6958105

Claim:
A method for automatable fabrication of an integral structural shell of a fiber reinforced composite material strengthened with stringers spaced apart from one another, using a forming jig that has a vacuum chamber therein and that has a forming surface with grooves therein and with air passages communicating from said grooves into said vacuum chamber, said method comprising the steps: a) laying a film loosely onto said forming surface of said forming jig; b) applying a vacuum to said vacuum chamber so that said vacuum is effective through at least said air passages to suck said film onto said forming surface; c) after establishing a specified vacuum level of said vacuum, removing said film from said forming surface while simultaneously applying a vacuum skin onto said forming surface directly following said film as said film is removed, so that said vacuum skin is sucked form-fittingly onto said forming surface and into said grooves by said vacuum as said vacuum skin is applied onto said forming surface; d) after said step c), laying stringer members into said grooves lined with said vacuum skin; e) after said step d), laying plural skin layers comprising fiber material onto said vacuum skin and said stringer members; f) applying a sealant onto said vacuum skin around a perimeter of said skin layers; g) after said steps e) and f), laying a shell component onto said sealant and onto an uppermost one of said skin layers, whereby said sealant is compressed to form a vacuum-tight seal that circumscribes and closes a cavity between said vacuum skin and said shell component, wherein said cavity contains said skin layers and said stringer members therein, and said cavity is evacuated; h) after said cavity is evacuated to a required vacuum level, then discontinuing said applying of said vacuum to said vacuum chamber and venting said vacuum chamber to the atmosphere outside of said forming jig; i) removing said shell component, said skin layers, said stringer members, and said vacuum skin, which together form a preform for said integral structural shell, from said forming jig; and j) injecting resin into said preform unless said skin layers already contain resin, and curing said resin, to form said integral structural shell.