Interesante artículo sobre la rampa de carga. Incluye una descripción e imágenes de los 10 pasos seguidos en su construcción:
https://www.compositesworld.com/article ... -autoclave...
In January of this year, the first A400M upper cargo door — the largest structural composite aircraft component produced to date using the vacuum-assisted resin infusion process — was delivered by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) Military Air Systems Business Unit (Augsburg, Germany) to Airbus for the first fuselage assembly. EADS Augsburg is the largest external supplier for the Airbus family and through its Center of Competence has helped de-sign and promote innovative materials and technologies for aerostructures. One of the cargo doors was recently on display at the JEC Composites Show in Paris, France. The door represents a significant breakthrough for low-cost, out-of-autoclave processing in a highly demanding structural application.
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EADS engineers used finite element analysis (FEA) software to design the door for the anticipated loads. They also opted to forego the autoclave and make the door using EADS’ patented infusion technology, dubbed VAP (vacuum-assisted process), to minimize production costs. As do many other infusion processes now in use within the composites industry, VAP employs a vacuum to facilitate epoxy resin infusion of dry carbon fiber reinforcements under a vacuum bag. The part then is cured in an oven rather than in an autoclave process
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The door comprises several elements. The largest, the outer skin, is a slightly domed and tapered rectangle made of a solid, uncored carbon/epoxy laminate. The skin’s inner surface is stiffened with 16 stringers oriented parallel to the fuselage’s long axis. A separate edge wall, roughly 203 mm/8 inches high, forms the perimeter of the part. Nine beefy crossbeams run perpendicular to the stringers and are attached to the skins with metallic fasteners. A narrow inner skin (see Steps 1 & 7, at right) covers the central portion of the door’s inside surface and functions as a partial inner for additional rigidity. It is also stiffened with several small stringers. A metal hinge bolted to the outer skin attaches the door to the fuselage, and large metal hooks affixed to the edge wall are used to hold the door in place during flight.
A key element of the design and VAP process is the fact that the stiffening stringers are integral and cocured with the door’s outer and inner skins, saving considerable production time and eliminating thousands of fasteners. The design team was able to dispense with roughly 3,000 metallic rivets that would have been required to attach the stringers to the outer skin, saving fastener weight and also considerable cost
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RU entrena el despliegue rápido (ACE - "Agile Combat Employment") del A400M en ambientes fríos en Noruega, durante el ejercicio Arctic Phoenix. De paso, probaron el ALARS ("Air Landed Aircraft Refuelling System"):
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/british ... in-norway/By George Allison - December 21, 2023
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The Atlas A400M also facilitated tests by the RAF Expeditionary Logistics Squadron whose staff established a tactical fuel system, known as an Air Landed Aircraft Refuelling System or ALARS, which supports fixed-wing aircraft operating in remote locations.
“The team constructed a temporary fuel system using a fabric tank while utilising snow-filled sandbags to support to the structure before proving its functionality by de-fuelling and then re-fuelling the Atlas A400M. The first time this has been trialled by the RAF in the challenging arctic conditions of the High North. The ability to maintain flying operations from remote and austere locations is vital to the RAF being ready to survive and evade attack and outmanoeuvre an adversary, known as Agile Combat Employment or ACE.”
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