A composite fuel tank includes a tank-shell and a tank-liner, located within the tank-shell. The tank-shell is formed from a composite layup that is placed, consolidated, and cured on a bladder. The bladder forms the tank-liner after formation of the tank-shell.

Disclosed herein are fully automated methods for shaping a composite material.

A method for assembling blade parts of a wind turbine blade includes the steps of: obtaining information about a connection area of a blade part, at least one of selecting, customizing and manufacturing an adaptor piece depending on the obtained information about the connection area of the blade part, wherein the adaptor piece serves to connect the blade part with at least another blade part, and connecting the blade part to the adaptor piece. Independently manufactured blade parts of a wind turbine blade are assembled in a manner such that the assembled blade comes as close as possible to a single-casted blade.

Techniques for inlaying a composite material within a tooling shell are disclosed. In one aspect, an additively manufactured tooling shell is provided, into which a composite material is inlaid and cured. A surface of the tooling shell is provided with indentations or another mechanism to enable adherence between the composite material and the tooling shell. The resulting integrated structure is used as a component in a transport structure.

A method and apparatus for tacking and trimming a thermoplastic tow. A thermoplastic tow is received from a braiding system over a braided structure on a surface. The thermoplastic tow is tack welded to the braided structure. A portion of the thermoplastic tow is trimmed to thereby trim the thermoplastic tow received over the braided structure.

A bonding tool is described that is used to secure sacrificial pads to bonding locations on a perimeter of a rib during a bonding process. In one embodiment, the bonding tool includes a base member having a rib receptacle dimensioned to receive a rib of a wing, a plurality of compression forms disposed around at least a portion of the rib receptacle and proximate to a perimeter of the rib, where the compression forms include a plurality of sacrificial pads that face towards bonding locations on the perimeter of the rib, and at least one bladder proximate to the compression forms that expands between a wall of the base member and the compression forms to press the sacrificial pads against the bonding locations while the sacrificial pads bond to the bonding locations.

Methods and apparatus for securing an autoclave bag to a composite fixture are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a flange sealing device including a forward flange at a first end and an aft flange at a second end, and a composite fixture including a forward groove to locate and seal with the forward flange of the flange sealing device to affix an autoclave bag, an aft groove to locate and seal with the aft flange of the flange sealing device to affix the autoclave bag, and an aft locating ring to position the autoclave bag.

A composite manufacturing system and method are provided. The composite manufacturing system comprises a press and a bladder. The press has an upper portion having a desired shape for a composite structure and a lower portion configured to receive layers of composite material. The bladder is associated with the upper portion of the press and is configured to reach a superplastic state when heated such that the bladder forms to the composite structure by applying heat and pressure to the layers of composite material. The bladder cools without appreciable shrinkage, applying a desired amount of pressure to the composite structure during the entire cooling cycle. Once one composite structure is formed using the bladder, the bladder may be reused to form similar structures.

Traditional climbing is being sought out by more indoor climbers, however the issue that has arisen is that the only way to learn the method is through trial and error in the outdoors on real rock. An indoor-traditional climbing device (I-TCD) makes it possible to learn how to climb Traditionally in a safe environment with hands on instruction. Provided herein is a cover/shield for an I-TCD that allows not only for the placement of multiple kinds of gear within the I-TCD body, but it allows the climber to fall on that gear placement safely to determine the quality of their gear placement, without the risk of falling upon the I-TCD body. Therefore, the cover/shield provides an angled feature to reduce direct impact injuries while increasing the opportunity for climbers who wish to learn how to climb traditionally.

The present invention relates to a container having a cavity, wherein the cavity has a cavity pressure and comprises fibre material suitable for manufacturing one or more fibre-reinforced composite components for a wind turbine blade, and at least a part of the fibre material touches a first part of a wall of the container, at least the first part of the wall consisting of a flexible airtight material, and a ratio of an entire volume of non-cured polymer in the cavity to an entire volume of the fibre material in the cavity is less than 0.3, and the container is adapted to prevent inflow of a polymer into the cavity. A method for preparing such a container is also disclosed. A method for laying fibre material into a mould is also disclosed.