PRESSURE BULKHEAD

Abstract

A pressure bulkhead having a laminate body made of composite material with a polymer matrix reinforced with fibers in a laminate arrangement; a general bulging of the laminate body, which extends along a face thereof; concave reliefs and convex reliefs alternately arranged on the laminate body, defining stiffer areas of change from convexity to concavity that act as stiffeners, the concave reliefs and convex reliefs having a maximum angular width of 180 degrees to prevent negatives in the production mould and to facilitate demoulding; and a rigid interface embedded in the laminate body, for securing the bulkhead, and for securing to the aircraft structure.

Claims

1. A pressure bulkhead comprising: a laminate body made of composite material with a polymer matrix reinforced with fibers in a laminate arrangement; a general bulging of the laminate body, which extends along a face thereof concave reliefs and convex reliefs alternately arranged on the laminate body, defining stiffer areas of change from convexity to concavity that act as stiffeners, the concave reliefs and convex reliefs having a maximum angular width of 180 degrees to prevent negatives in the production mould and to facilitate demoulding; and a rigid interface embedded in the laminate body, for securing the bulkhead, and provided with means for securing to the aircraft structure.

2. The pressure bulkhead according to claim 1, wherein the concave reliefs and the convex reliefs alternately placed have an arrangement inspired by biostructural shapes.

3. The pressure bulkhead according to claim 2, wherein the arrangement in a biostructural shape comprises a radial configuration in the shape of petals.

4. The pressure bulkhead according to claim 1, wherein the polymer matrix is made of polymer resin.

5. The pressure bulkhead according to claim 1, wherein the fibers are selected from the group consisting of carbon fiber, fiberglass and aramid fiber.

6. The pressure bulkhead according to claim 5, wherein the laminate body is made of carbon fiber with a vinyl ester matrix.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the pressure bulkhead of the invention.

[0015] FIG. 2 shows a front view of the pressure bulkhead of the invention.

[0016] FIG. 3 shows a side view of the pressure bulkhead of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF A PRACTICAL EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

[0017] The pressure bulkhead (1) of the invention comprises: [0018] A laminate body (2) made of composite material with a polymer matrix reinforced with continuous fibres in a laminate arrangement, [0019] A general bulging (3) (see FIG. 3) of the laminate body (2), which extends along a face (22) thereof, [0020] Concave reliefs (4) and convex reliefs (5) alternately arranged on the laminate body (2) (see FIG. 1), defining stiffer areas (23) of change from convexity to concavity acting as stiffeners (said areas are represented in the figures with thin lines, but they are not really physical edges, they are marked only for a better understanding of the invention), [0021] The concave reliefs (4) and convex reliefs (5) having a maximum angular width of 180 degrees to prevent negatives in the production mould and to facilitate demoulding; and [0022] A rigid interface (6) embedded in the laminate body (2), for securing the bulkhead, and provided with means for securing to the aircraft structure (in this example of the invention the holes (70) would be for the passage of screws which are not shown).

[0023] Preferably, the concave reliefs (4) and the convex reliefs (5) alternately placed have an arrangement inspired by biostructural shapes; in other words, a strong shape similar to those implemented by living beings in the laminar portions thereof and which have a strength demonstrated and improved by evolution itself (for example, radial shapes such as flower petals, polygonal shapes such as honeycombs, etc.). In this preferred example, the arrangement in the shape of a biostructure comprises a radial configuration in the shape of flower petals (8) (see FIG. 2), which radiates from the geometric centre growing in radius, which makes it possible to meet all the strength requirements without additional reinforcements.

[0024] Regarding the nature and composition of the raw materials thereof, the laminate will be made up of a matrix based on thermosetting polymer resin, preferably vinyl ester, while the fibres could be any material (carbon, glass or aramid).

[0025] Having sufficiently described the nature of the invention, in addition to the manner of applying it in practice, it must hereby be stated that the aforementioned arrangements indicated and represented in the attached drawings are susceptible to modifications with regard to the detail provided that they do not alter the fundamental principle of the invention.