DESIGN AUTOMATION OF V-22 GRIP

The V-22 grip is unlike other grips built at Bell in that it is made of composite materials, rather than metal. It is a helically wound structure that is non-symmetric and of unequal thickness. It also possesses very complex contours. This means that the maximum material thickness than can be wound is the minimum thickness of the grip. Filler packs made of composite fabric must be inserted between the windings throughout the grip where the thickness exceeds the grip's minimum thickness. The problem with this approach is that developing the shape and volume of the filler packs is an extremely difficult lofting task that on the V-22 FSD program required many thousands of manhours and multiple iterations to complete. A process has been developed that vastly reduces the manhours and cycle time associated with this task. This process makes use of a knowledge-based design system to develop the shape and volume of the filler packs, interactive 3-D modeling to develop the individual ply shapes, and a new fiber placement manufacturing process that utilizes the 3-D ply shapes. This new process is expected to reduce the cost of developing the filler packs by a factor of ten and, at the same time, greatly improve the accuracy and manufacturability of the filler pack shape.