Structural component having a curved wall and apparatus for making such structural component

DETAILED DESCRIPTION According to the invention the structural components are constructed with rib reinforcing belt segments also made of fiber reinforced synthetic material and having a width dimensioned corresponding to a multiple of a width dimension of the above mentioned stringers for reinforcing the respective rib.
Preferably, the rib reinforcing belt segments are themselves also reinforced by an edge strip of fiber reinforced synthetic material running along the edge of the belt protruding below the respective rib radially inwardly.
The apparatus according to the invention is so constructed that groups of mold bodies are arranged around the circumference of a wheel rim type ring which itself is supported on a mandrel while carrier plates for the individual mold bodies are secured to the outer circumference of the wheel rim ring by means of radial drives such as hydraulic cylinders and by means of radial guides such as a cylindrical rod guided in a guide bushing.
The arrangement is such that the carrier plates and thus the mold bodies are radially adjustable by the radial drives.
A plurality of wheel rim rings are provided which are supported on the mandrel by longitudinal or axial guide rails for locating the wheel rim rings in the axial direction along the mandrel.
Thus, by the radial adjustment of the carrier plates and mold bodies it is possible to assemble the mold bodies into a position in which they define the cylindrical body to be formed.
On the other hand, the locating of the wheel rim rings in the axial direction makes it possible to provide initially a certain gap between adjacent mold body ends for inserting the above mentioned rib reinforcing belt segments which are then compressed between two short ends of longitudinally adjacent mold bodies for the subsequent curing and bonding.
In this manner very large scale tubular bodies may be formed.
Another advantage of the invention is seen in that the structural features of the invention enable a large scale automation of the manufacturing steps, whereby the assembly of the entire structural component such as an aircraft fuselage can be accomplished with prepreg layers which have not yet been cured or hardened and so that the hardening of all the elements of the component can take place simultaneously in a hot pressing operation, whereby a structural component may be made as a seamless cylinder or a seamless conical shape