(2,760 cubic meters) and went into operation last month to support rate increases on the 787 Dreamliner program and to manufacture the longer aft-body fuselage section of the 787-10. The Everett and North Charleston autoclaves have different interior configurations because of the shapes and sizes of the parts that will be heated and cooled inside each of them. Everett cures a wing panel, spars and stringers; North Charleston a fuselage. The Composite Wing Center autoclave requires a higher floor, enabling the use of heating and cooling coils beneath it; North Charleston places its coils at the rear of the autoclave, notably lowering its interior working space. At some point, the Composite Wing Center will have three autoclaves side by side, churning out composite wings, as production of the 777X increases. “This is just the start of what’s to come,” Mohaghegh noted. The Composite Wing Center, big enough to hold 25 football fields, is divided in two—the autoclave area on one side and spar-lamination machines on the other, with four levels of office space supplying a buffer. One area supports the other. Spar-lamination machines roll back and forth on parallel sections of track in a “clean room,” or a debris- and dust-free work area. Tugs repeatedly sweep the floor as construction continues inside the wing center. Two spar lamination and two skin lamination machines have been installed, as well as a stringer machine. At each machine, technicians lay down carbon-fiber material on a metal form. The machine stops and starts, moving vertically over the form below it. Attached to the lower half of the machine, a robotic capsule equipped with a camera slides horizontally, inspecting the work during the ongoing testing. An entire composite wing, composed of upper and lower wing skins with stringers and front and rear spars, can be built in a day, according to Boeing technicians. “The machine is very cool; it moves like we never imagined,” said Arica Epps, a spar technician. “It’s like going from a toy truck to the real thing.” Parts will be transferred from the “It’s like baking a cake,” said Kenneth Buchanan, experimental test mechanic. The Composite Wing Center autoclave fills up 91,000 cubic feet (2,575 cubic meters) of space, but it’s not Boeing’s biggest. By volume, the largest autoclave is the newest one at Boeing’s North Charleston, S.C., factory, which fills 97,500 cubic feet spar-lamination machine to the autoclave by automated guided vehicles. Three are needed to transport a spar, which is the main structural piece of the wing. The Everett autoclave is lined on the inside with stainless steel panels and temperature probes. It has a huge blue end cap that slides into place on rollers using overhead tracks. It is heated with natural gas burners, cooled with water and pressurized with nitrogen. Unlike other Boeing autoclaves, this one has just a front entry, with parts moving in and out rather than through it. Large blower fans block off the rear section. At Boeing Fabrication Advanced Developmental Composites in Tukwila, Wash., Tiffany Ferguson is a composite layout team leader for a group that creates 777X wing prototypes, models for the wings that will be reproduced at the new facility. She welcomed a chance to catch a glimpse of the Composite Wing Center to size up the entire process. “It’s nice to see where the handoff is and where the parts are going to go,” Ferguson said. “It’s going to be cool to see how this takes off and be part of it.” Carl Withers moved from Advanced Developmental Composites to become a Composite Wing Center operations manager. He said his team feels empowered by the building and the idea of working on something new. The autoclave alone proved eye-opening. “Just the size is unbelievable,” he said. Aluminum wings for current 777 models are built in Everett’s main factory. Composite wings for the 787 Dreamliner are put together in Japan and shipped to Everett and North Charleston for assembly-line installation. The Composite Wing Center will streamline the process and lower costs, according to Boeing. Employees say this latest addition to the Boeing landscape, centered on that huge autoclave with others to come, represents a new era of manufacturing innovation. “Composite is the wing of the future,” Buchanan said. “This will keep us competitive.” • DANIEL.W.RALEY@BOEING.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 | 11
Frontiers September 2016 Issue
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