System and method for textile positioning

Abstract

A circular needle loom comprises a stationary bed plate for receiving a spiral textile. Engagement members may be disposed next to the stationary bed plate, such that the engagement members interface with a positional structure of the spiral textile that is used to position and rotate the spiral textile around the stationary bed plate. A conical roller deploys the spiral textile on the stationary bed plate. The engagement members rotate the spiral textile around the stationary bed plate until a predetermined number of layers are deposited on the stationary bed plate.A spiral textile comprises a weft tow that extends from an inside diameter to an outside diameter, and a positional structure, such as a sacrificial edge and / or loop, is located next to and / or is attached to the weft tow. The positional structure facilitates positioning the spiral textile in a desired manner with respect to the circular needle loom in order to create a needled preform.

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION[0001]This invention generally relates to positioning and securing a textile, and more particularly, to systems and methods for positioning and securing a spiral textile on a rotational bed plate or entraining a textile on a stationary bed plate to needle the spiral textile into a circular preform.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Carbon / carbon (“C / C”) parts are employed in various industries. An exemplary use for C / C parts includes using them as friction disks such as aircraft brake disks, race car brake disks, clutch disks, and the like. C / C brake disks are especially useful in such applications because of the superior high temperature characteristics of C / C material. In particular, the C / C material used in C / C parts is a good conductor of heat and thus is able to dissipate heat away from the braking surfaces that is generated in response to braking. C / C material is also highly resistant to heat damage, and is thus capable of sustaining friction between brake surf...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012]In order to address the deficiencies outlined above, various embodiments of a circular needle loom comprise a stationary bed plate for receiving a spiral textile. Engagement members may be disposed next to the stationary bed plate, such that they interface with a positional structure of the spiral textile that is used to rotate the spiral textile around the stationary bed plate. A conical roller deploys the spiral textile on the stationary bed plate. The circular needle loom may further comprise a needling zone to needle the spiral textile to create a needled preform. In accordance with an embodiment, the engagement members rotate the spiral textile around the stationary bed plate until a predetermined number of layers are deposited on the stationary bed plate. Utilizing a stationary bed plate facilitates creating a needled preform with a higher fiber volume than those preforms created by prior art systems and methods.

[0013]The positional structure, according to various embodiments, may include a sacrificial structure comprising one or both of a sacrificial edge and a fiber loop. Further, the engagement members of the loom comprise spikes that engage the positional structure and rotate the spiral textile on the stationary bed plate in a manner resulting in increased manufacturing efficiency of a needled preform.

[0017]In accordance with various embodiments, a spiral textile comprises an inside diameter and an outside diameter. A weft tow extends from the inside diameter to the outside diameter, and a positional structure is located next to and / or is attached to the weft tow. The positional structure may also be proximate to the inside diameter and / or the outside diameter of the textile. Further, the positional structure facilitates positioning the spiral textile in a desired manner with respect to a circular needle loom in order to create a needled preform. Such positional structure overcomes deficiencies with prior art spiral textiles, for example, because the positional structure enables production of needled preforms with higher fiber volume.

[0020]The positional structure, according to various embodiments, interfaces with an engagement mechanism on the circular needle loom. The engagement mechanism may include a wheel, a clamp, a spike and / or other engagement mechanism. The positional structure in conjunction with the engagement mechanism facilitates layering and needling the spiral textile in an efficient manner to produce high quality needled preforms. Furthermore, the positional structure facilitates simplified removal of the preform from the needle loom.

[0021]In accordance with an embodiment, a circular needled preform comprises a plurality of layers of a spiral textile needled together by a circular needle loom. A weft tow with a first end and a second end is located in the spiral textile. A positional structure interfaces with the first end of the weft tow and / or the second end of the weft tow. The positional structure also interfaces with an engagement mechanism of the circular needle loom in order to deposit the plurality of layers of the textile and facilitate needling the textile to create the needled preform. During and / or after the needling process, the positional structure may be removed from the spiral textile.

Problems solved by technology

Significantly, prior art looms and other apparatuses for manufacturing circular preforms suffer from inefficiencies in the manufacturing process.

However, maintenance and cleaning of the brush bed plate, and removal of the finished preform from the bed plate create extra steps in the needling process.

These extra steps, among other reasons, substantially add to the time required to manufacture the preform, resulting in reduced efficiency, lower output and increased cost.

Such brush bed plates are therefore generally not suitable for high production rates, and it is desirable to develop a system and method for increasing the efficiency of the manufacturing process to result in higher production rates and reduced costs

Furthermore the brush bed plate does not always provide sufficient anchorage of the bottom layers, resulting in some cases of preform transport interruption during fabrication.

Additionally, existing systems and methods for manufacturing circular preforms may produce preforms that have undesirable properties.

For example, a soft brush bed plate is compliant, and this compliancy may result in preforms with lower than desirable fiber volume.

The lower than desirable fiber volume may result in a preform that is of lower quality.

Another reason for the deficiencies in the prior art with respect to quality of the preforms and the manufacturing efficiency is due to the complexities involved in working with a spiral textile.

Additionally, the texture and structure of the textile makes it difficult to deposit layers of the spiral textile on the circular needle loom.

Furthermore, existing layering and needling processes make it difficult to remove the needled preform from the needle loom.

Significantly, prior art mechanisms and methods for transporting a spiral textile from a loom (where the textile is woven) to a circular needle loom require much more space in order to deliver the spiral textile in a complex path to the circular needle loom.

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