Winding machine for producing components made of fiber-reinforced plastic

By introducing intermediate roller pairs and coupling designs into the winding machine, productivity and quality problems are solved, and efficient and stable fiber belt wrapping is achieved, suitable for manufacturing high-pressure gas storage tanks.

CN120344385APending Publication Date: 2025-07-18VOITH HYDROGEN TECHNOLOGY CO LTD
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Patent Information

Application Number
CN202380087359.4
Authority / Receiving Office
CN · China
Patent Type
Applications(China)
Current Assignee / Owner
Priority Date
2022-12-20
Filing Date
2023-11-29
Publication Date
2025-07-18

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

The productivity of existing winding machines is limited, and it is difficult to ensure the uniform winding quality of the fiber tape when using thick resin, resulting in unstable component quality, especially in high-pressure gas storage tanks.

Method used

The intermediate roller pair is introduced into the winding machine to ensure that the fiber belt remains stable when the angle of the guide wire eye changes. Through the coupling of the conveying roller and the intermediate roller pair, the fiber belt is avoided from being subjected to lateral forces, and accurate and uniform fiber belt separation and winding are achieved.

Benefits of technology

It improves winding speed and quality, reduces material consumption, reduces manufacturing costs, and can handle more fiber tapes at the same time without affecting quality, suitable for the manufacturing of high-pressure gas storage tanks.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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Abstract

The invention relates to a winding machine (1) for producing a component (45) made of fiber-reinforced plastic by simultaneously winding a plurality of fiber tapes onto a winding core (4), comprising: a winding core (4) having a drive which can rotate the winding core (4); the invention relates to a thread guide (1) comprising a winding core (4), a thread guide eye (2) comprising a plurality of deflection rollers (11, 12), a guide roller (10) for guiding a fiber strip before being wound onto the winding core (4), and a support structure (5), the thread guide eye (2) and the rollers (10, 11, 12) thereof being tiltable together about an axis of rotation (31) such that a positioning plane (35) of the thread guide eye can be adjusted with respect to an angle alpha, the winding angle beta at which the fiber strip is wound onto the winding core (4) can thus be changed; a plurality of transport rollers (13, 14) which are arranged in front of the thread guide eye (2) in the direction of travel of the fiber strip and which deflect and guide the fiber strip to the thread guide eye (2); a plurality of reels (19, 20) from which the fibre tapes are unwound, in which additionally there are intermediate roller pairs (15, 16), which are arranged upstream of the conveying rollers (13, 14) in the direction of travel of the fibre tapes and whose axes are oriented non-parallel to the axes of the conveying rollers (15, 16), in which each fibre tape is provided with an intermediate roller pair (15, 16), and in which the intermediate roller pairs (15, 16) are arranged in the direction of travel of the fibre tapes (13, 14) and the axes of the intermediate roller pairs (15, 16) are oriented non-parallel to the axes of the conveying rollers (15, 16). The conveying rollers (13, 14) and the pair of intermediate rollers (15, 16) are connected to the thread guide eye (2) in such a way that, when the angle alpha of the thread guide eye changes, they roll laterally together about the axis of rotation (31) of the thread guide eye, the axis of the conveying rollers (15, 16) being always parallel to the axis of the deflection rollers (11, 12).
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Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a winding machine and a method for manufacturing a component made of fiber - reinforced plastic by simultaneously winding a plurality of fiber tapes onto a winding core. For example, such components are pressure vessels for vehicles, in which a gas, especially hydrogen, is stored at a pressure of several hundred bar, especially at a pressure of up to 800 bar, and the pressure vessel is made of carbon fiber - reinforced plastic (CFK).

[0002] Such a winding machine comprises: - a winding core with a drive, the drive enabling the winding core to rotate; - a thread guide eye, which includes a plurality of deflection rollers, a guide roller for guiding the fiber tape before winding onto the winding core, and a bearing structure, wherein the thread guide eye together with its rollers can be tilted about a rotational axis such that the positioning plane of the thread guide eye can be adjusted in terms of an angle α, so that the winding angle β at which the fiber tape is wound onto the winding core can be changed accordingly; - a plurality of delivery rollers, which are arranged in front of the thread guide eye in the running direction of the fiber tape, and the delivery rollers deflect and guide the fiber tape to the thread guide eye; - a plurality of spools, from which the fiber tapes are unwound. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Generally, such wound fiber - reinforced plastic components, such as pressure vessels for vehicles, are manufactured by a so - called wet winding method. Here, the fiber tapes are provided wound onto spools in a dry state. Carbon fibers in the form of continuous fibers are preferably used as the fibers. For example, each fiber tape is a roving composed of thousands of parallel single fibers. As the matrix material, a thermosetting plastic, such as epoxy resin, is used, which is provided as a liquid in a resin bath in order to impregnate the fiber tape online. After unwinding from the spool, the still - dry fiber tape is first guided through the resin bath, in which the fiber tape is soaked with the liquid matrix material and thus impregnated, then the impregnated fiber tape is guided through the thread guide eye and wound wet - to - wet onto the winding core. By changing the angle of the positioning plane of the thread guide eye, different layers can be wound at different angles. Thus, different winding design requirements can be met. After winding, the component is removed from the winding machine and hardened in a separate furnace.

[0004] In the prior art, such winding machines are known. A winding machine for wet winding is described in DE 102016122522 A1. Further embodiments of the winding machine are shown in WO 2022 / 136812 A1. In it Figure 2A variant of the thread guide eye with guide rollers and deflection rollers for four fiber tapes is shown. Here, every two fiber tapes are jointly guided via two deflection rollers each with a lateral spacing from one another. Only on the guide roller, which is the last roller before winding onto the winding core, do the fiber tapes all converge, thus forming a closed wide tape, which is wound onto the winding core. The rollers of the thread guide eye are fastened to a carrier structure and can be tilted about the axis of rotation, such that the wide tape is wound onto the winding core at a desired angle. Due to the tilting, the fiber tapes are guided torsionally between a stationary reel or also a stationary delivery roller or roller block before the thread guide eye and the tilted rollers of the thread guide eye. In order that the fiber tapes do not move due to the lateral forces occurring here, the rollers of the thread guide eye have grooves in which the fiber tapes are guided and are prevented from slipping laterally.

[0005] By wet-on-wet winding, it is ensured that even when the winding process results in the fiber tapes not being exactly side by side with perfect precision, possible defects in the component are avoided. Since the still liquid matrix material fills all the voids well and the fibers can still move slightly in the matrix material, a good and uniform distribution of the fibers and the matrix material is obtained under the radial pressure of the fiber tension during the winding process, such that no quality problems occur.

[0006] However, the current problem with these winding machines is that the productivity is limited. On the one hand, the in-line impregnation in the resin bath and the winding of the wet fiber tapes do not permit higher speeds because otherwise the impregnation would become uneven or the matrix material would splash. And on the other hand, more fiber tapes cannot be simultaneously and parallelly converged into a wide tape and jointly wound because this would affect the quality of the component.

[0007] In particular, in the pressure vessels of the vehicles mentioned above, a deterioration in quality is unacceptable because these pressure vessels must meet very high safety requirements and at the same time should be manufactured as light as possible and with little material consumption. In addition, the manufacturing must be achieved as reliably and inexpensively as possible. Summary of the Invention

[0008] The object of the present invention is now to provide a winding machine which enables a higher productivity to be achieved with as little material input as possible and at the same time reliably improves the quality of the manufactured component.

[0009] According to the invention, for the device, this object is solved by an embodiment according to independent claim 1. Further advantageous embodiments of the invention emerge in the dependent claims.

[0010] The winding machine according to an embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that additionally there are intermediate roller pairs which are arranged in front of the conveying rollers in the running direction of the fiber tape and whose axes are oriented non-parallel to the axes of the conveying rollers, wherein an intermediate roller pair is provided for each fiber tape respectively, and wherein the conveying rollers and the intermediate roller pairs are connected to the thread guide eye in such a way that they tilt together about the axis of rotation of the thread guide eye when the angle α of the thread guide eye changes, wherein the axis of the conveying roller always remains parallel to the axis of the turning roller here.

[0011] The rollers of the intermediate roller pair are arranged parallel to each other. Likewise, the conveying rollers are arranged parallel to each other.

[0012] In the thread guide eye, the guide roller and the turning roller are oriented parallel to each other. They are supported on the bearing structure of the thread guide eye and tilt together when the thread guide eye tilts.

[0013] The fiber tapes first converge into a wide seamless tape on the guide roller and then are wound onto the winding core. Only a part of the fiber tapes are respectively guided on the turning roller in such a way that there are corresponding gaps between the respective fiber tapes. Thus, it is ensured that the fiber tapes are well and evenly separated and do not stick to each other at the edges before being placed on the winding core.

[0014] With the arrangement implemented in this way, so-called towpregs can in particular also be well processed as fiber tapes. A towpreg is a fiber material impregnated with a matrix material, which is provided in a wound-up manner on a reel. The matrix material is a very thick and somewhat sticky resin at room temperature during the winding process and is not in a thin liquid state like the known resins used for in-line impregnation in a temperature-controlled resin bath. Due to the thick resin, the towpreg-fiber tapes can be well unwound from the reel and guided via the rollers. The processing and winding of the components can be carried out at a significantly higher speed.

[0015] On the other hand, very viscous resins result in possible defects during winding and the fiber overlap situation is not easily self-compensated. That is to say, for winding, the fiber tapes must be guided more precisely in the correct position because the fibers in the fiber composite can no longer move. Therefore, the gaps between the fiber tapes or the unwanted overlaps are no longer self-compensated during winding as in the case of wet-on-wet winding due to the liquid resin. What is particularly disadvantageous in this case is that in the hitherto known winding machines, continuously changing lateral forces occur as described, which cause slight lateral movement of the fiber tapes and thus always lead to defects and unreliable winding quality when using tow prepregs. The lateral forces are not constant but depend on at which position the fiber tape travels in the lateral direction and how much the wire guide eye is tilted with respect to the 0° plane. In addition, the twist of the fiber tape also changes depending on the angle of the wire guide eye. The more fiber tapes are wound side by side and the stronger the wire guide eye is tilted, the greater the quality problems are.

[0016] These problems can be completely avoided by using the embodiment of the winding machine according to the invention, which results in better and more reliable winding quality in the component. Since the conveying roller and the intermediate roller are coupled to the wire guide eye and tilt together when the angle α of the positioning plane of the wire guide eye is changed, the continuously changing lateral forces acting on the different fiber tapes no longer occur. The fiber tapes are only turned by a fixed angle, preferably 90°, respectively on the path between the intermediate roller pair and the conveying roller. When the angle α of the wire guide eye changes, neither the twist, i.e., the angle of rotation of the fiber tape, changes at the wire guide eye nor on the conveying path. Only the length of the travel path between the winding drum and the intermediate roller pair changes. From the conveying roller through the wire guide eye, via the turning roller to the guiding roller, the fiber tapes no longer bear lateral forces. Therefore, the fiber tapes can be evenly separated and precisely guided side by side so that they can be placed on the winding core with precise positioning. Therefore, even with the viscous matrix material of the tow prepreg, there is no quality risk. In addition, the winding speed can be significantly increased without drawbacks.

[0017] Therefore, great advantages in terms of productivity improvement, reliability and quality improvement are obtained through the embodiment according to the invention compared to the known winding machines, in which the conveying rollers are implemented as so-called roller blocks fixed in front of the wire guide eye. Fixed in this context means that when the wire guide eye tilts, the axial orientation of these roller blocks remains parallel to the axis of rotation.

[0018] In addition to the improved productivity, it is particularly advantageous that due to the higher reliability and quality, less material consumption is required when placed on the winding core and there are fewer rejects, thus significantly reducing the manufacturing cost. In addition, more complex winding designs can also be reliably and with high quality and at high production speeds.

[0019] In particular, the winding machine is implemented such that it can process at least 8, preferably at least 10, particularly preferably at least 12 fiber tapes in parallel and can wind them onto a winding core in the form of a wide tape. Since no transverse force acting on the fiber tape in the eyelet occurs anymore, more fiber tapes can be processed in parallel without quality problems due to gaps or unwanted overlaps. This will increase the productivity again.

[0020] In hitherto known winding machines, this is not possible because, especially when the eyelet is tilted significantly (e.g., tilted +70° or -70°) for winding a low-angle helix (small winding angle β), for example, the outer fiber tapes on the roller of the eyelet are subject to large and continuously changing transverse forces, which will lead to significant quality fluctuations.

[0021] The winding machine is particularly implemented such that the eyelet can be tilted in an angular range α of at least +70° to -70° about the axis of rotation. The 0° positioning of the eyelet is the positioning in which the axis of the guide roller of the eyelet is parallel to the winding axis of the winding core. In this positioning, the fiber tape is wound around the winding core as a circumferential winding. This is referred to as the 90° layer or circumferential layer with respect to the winding angle β. The larger the tilting angle α of the eyelet, the flatter the winding angle β. This is referred to as the helical layer.

[0022] Particularly preferably, the axes of the intermediate roller pairs are arranged parallel to the axis of rotation of the eyelet. In this embodiment, the intermediate roller pairs are vertically offset relative to the conveying rollers respectively. Therefore, the fiber tape is constantly twisted by 90° on the travel path between the intermediate roller pairs and the conveying rollers. And this is independent of the tilting of the eyelet and remains the same at each angle α.

[0023] Furthermore, it is advantageous that some of the bobbins are arranged above the eyelet and other bobbins are arranged below the eyelet, especially half of the bobbins are arranged above the eyelet and the other half are arranged below the eyelet. Thereby, the bobbins can be arranged in a space-saving manner, which is particularly important in the case of a larger number of bobbins.

[0024] In an advantageous refinement of this embodiment, there is a first conveying roller and a second conveying roller, wherein the first conveying roller deflects the fiber tape from the bobbin above the eyelet, and the second conveying roller deflects the fiber tape from the bobbin below the eyelet, and wherein the first conveying roller is arranged above the second conveying roller in the 0° positioning of the eyelet.

[0025] Advantageously, there is a first pair of intermediate rollers arranged above the conveying roller in the 0° position, and a second pair of intermediate rollers arranged below the conveying roller in the 0° position. Among them, the first pair of intermediate rollers deflect the fiber tape from the reel above the wire guide eye, while the second pair of intermediate rollers deflect the fiber tape from the reel below the wire guide eye.

[0026] This enables a space-saving embodiment of the winding machine.

[0027] Preferably, unwind rollers are provided for each fiber tape in the travel path between the respective reel and the pair of intermediate rollers. These unwind rollers are oriented parallel to the pair of intermediate rollers. Thereby, the fiber tape is guided without being twisted before the pair of intermediate rollers, so that even when the travel path between the unwind roller and the pair of intermediate rollers changes due to the tilting of the wire guide eye, it does not cause a negative impact on the fiber tape. Therefore, the twist between the reel and the unwind roller remains constant and is independent of the tilting of the wire guide eye. For example, the reel can be arranged relative to the unwind roller with a 90° tilt. Therefore, the reel can be arranged in a particularly space-saving manner.

[0028] In a particularly preferred embodiment, the wire guide eye includes a wire guide eye sleeve, and the fiber tape is guided through the wire guide eye sleeve before being deflected by the deflection roller. Among them, the wire guide eye sleeve is rotatably supported on the bracket so that the wire guide eye can tilt about its rotation axis. For this purpose, the wire guide eye sleeve can have a cylindrical part arranged coaxially with the rotation axis of the wire guide eye. The wire guide eye sleeve can be connected to the load-bearing structure of the wire guide eye, and the guide roller and the deflection roller are supported and fastened on the load-bearing structure. Therefore, the entire wire guide eye can be tilted via the tilting of the wire guide eye sleeve.

[0029] The tilting of the wire guide eye is understood as rotation about the rotation axis, where the rotation axis is located in a plane perpendicular to the rollers (guide roller and deflection roller) of the wire guide eye.

[0030] For example, the conveying roller can be coupled to the pair of intermediate rollers and the wire guide eye via an additional load-bearing structure. This additional load-bearing structure can be fastened to the wire guide eye sleeve and thus tilt accordingly when the wire guide eye tilts.

[0031] In particular, the winding machine is implemented such that in the 0° position of the wire guide eye, the respective fiber tapes respectively wind around the two rollers of the pair of intermediate rollers in sequence, while in the position where the wire guide eye tilts at an angle α > 10° or α < -10°, a part of the fiber tape winds around only one roller of the pair of intermediate rollers, and the other part of the fiber tape winds around the three rollers of the pair of intermediate rollers in sequence. Preferably, this part is half of the fiber tape, and the other part is the other half of the fiber tape. Thereby, precise and interference-free guidance of the fiber tape is provided, ensuring uniform feeding into the wire guide eye and high precision in placement on the winding core.

[0032] Advantageously, there is a first deflection roller and a second deflection roller, wherein a part of the fiber tape is wound around the first deflection roller, and another part of the fiber tape is wound around the second deflection roller, and wherein the first deflection roller is arranged above the second deflection roller in the 0° position of the wire guide eye, and preferably, half of the fiber tape is wound around the first deflection roller, and the other half of the fiber tape is wound around the second deflection roller. Thus, it is prevented that the fiber tapes (especially when they are constructed as fiber tow prepregs) contact each other too long and are already adhered at the edges before they are placed on the winding core. This is especially advantageous when winding the end caps of pressure vessels, because during winding, the wide tape is better adapted to the contour of the tank.

[0033] Additionally advantageously, the last deflection roller in the first deflection rollers and the last deflection roller in the second deflection rollers, which are respectively directly arranged in front of the guide rollers in the traveling direction of the fiber tape, are positioned such that the traveling distances of the respective fiber tapes from these two last deflection rollers to the guide rollers are substantially the same. Thus, a closed wide tape is more evenly formed on the guide rollers.

[0034] In a further improved embodiment, the guide roller is elastically supported such that under the tensile stress of the fiber tape, the axis of the guide roller can tilt around the pivot point, so that the guide roller is no longer oriented completely parallel to the deflection rollers. Through this yieldability in terms of support, the guide roller can slightly compensate for the minor non-uniformity of the tensile distribution between the fiber tapes, so that the abutment is less error-prone.

[0035] Additionally, the present invention also relates to a method for winding a rotationally symmetric fiber-reinforced component on a winding machine, wherein different layers are wound around a winding core by a fiber tape at different angles β, and for this purpose, the wire guide eye of the winding machine is tilted at an angle α.

[0036] According to the present invention, for the method, this task is solved by the embodiments according to the dependent method claims. The solution is characterized in that a winding machine according to any one of the foregoing device claims is implemented, wherein when the fiber tape is wound into layers at an angle β not equal to 90°, and thus the wire guide eye is adjusted to an angle α different from the 0° position, the conveying roller and the intermediate roller pair rotate together with the wire guide eye.

[0037] Thus, the above advantages can be achieved. Description of the Drawings

[0038] With the aid of embodiments, further advantageous features of the present invention are illustrated with reference to the drawings. The above features can be advantageously implemented not only in the shown combinations, but also can be combined with each other individually. Specifically:

[0039] Figure 1a shows a winding machine according to the prior art (side view),

[0040] Figure 1b shows a detailed view for winding,

[0041] Figure 2 shows the detailed view in a front view,

[0042] Figure 3a 、 3b 3c shows an example of a winding machine according to the present invention in the 0° position (side views from two perspectives, together with the detail segment A and a rear view),

[0043] Figure 4a shows an example of a winding machine according to the present invention in the -70° position (rear view),

[0044] Figure 4b shows an example of a winding machine according to the present invention in the -70° position (rear view),

[0045] Figure 5 shows a side view of an additional wire guide eye of the winding machine according to the present invention,

[0046] Figure 6 shows a top view of an additional wire guide eye of the winding machine according to the present invention,

[0047] Figure 7 shows a front view of a height - adjustable roller section,

[0048] Figure 8 shows a side view of a height - adjustable roller section.

[0049] These figures are described in more detail below. The same reference numerals refer to the same or similar components or parts. Detailed Description

[0050] Figure 1aShows a winding machine 1' according to the prior art. Fibre tapes (e.g. four fibre tapes in parallel) are unwound from reels 19, 20, turned through 90° by unwinding rollers 17, 18, and guided to roller blocks 21, 22 which are fixedly supported on a carrier structure 7. The fibre tapes 41 are guided from the roller blocks 21, 22 through a thread eye 2 having a thread eye bushing 3. The thread eye 2 also includes guide rollers 10 and turning rollers 11, 12, wherein the thread eye 2 can be tilted about a rotation axis 31. Different fibre tapes are first guided via turning rollers, e.g. two of them via a first turning roller 1 and two of them via a second turning roller 12, with a gap between the tapes. Then all the fibre tapes first converge side by side on the guide roller 10 to form a closed wide tape, and are jointly (fibre tape 40) guided to a winding core 4 and wound there to produce a wound component 45. The winding core 4 has a drive such that the winding core rotates about a winding axis 30 and accordingly winds and tensions the fibre tape 40.

[0051] By tilting the thread eye by an angle α, different winding angles β can be achieved and thus layers can be wound at different winding angles β, e.g. wound into so-called helical layers.

[0052] Figure 1b Shows different winding angles β. When the thread eye 2 is positioned at 0°, a circumferential winding with a winding angle of 90° is produced. The stronger the tilt of the thread eye, the flatter and thus smaller the winding angle β. Thus, β1 represents a so-called low-angle helical layer and β2 represents a so-called high-angle helical layer.

[0053] Figure 2Problems occurring in a winding machine according to the prior art are described. A so-called roller block 22 having a groove 25 for guiding a fiber tape 46 is used as a conveying roller. The axis 34 of the roller block is stationary and does not change. Now, the greater the roll of the wire guide eye 2 and its rollers (guiding roller 10 and turning rollers 11, 12) (for example in a low-angle helical layer), the greater the torsion of the fiber tape 41 when passing through the wire guide eye and the greater the height difference between the roller blocks 21, 22 and the turning rollers 11, 12 at the outer fiber tape 41. A change in the angle α of the positioning plane 35 of the wire guide eye always also results in a change in torsion and a change in height difference. Therefore, stable conditions are not provided for guiding the fiber tape 41. The height difference also results in a lateral force acting on the fiber tape 41, causing the outer fiber tape 41 to move towards the center (arrow). These constantly changing conditions and the inaccurate guiding caused by the lateral force result in quality problems with gaps or unwanted overlaps. More particularly, when treating a fiber tow prepreg as a fiber tape, such small fluctuations cannot be tolerated either, because this inevitably leads to serious quality problems. Defects in the wound component result in lower local strength, or must be compensated for by additional layers, which increases the weight and material requirements of the component.

[0054] Figure 3a An embodiment of a winding machine 1 according to the invention is schematically shown, which is designed to wind up to 12 fiber tapes simultaneously. The numbers 1 to 12 in the circles indicate the positions where the fiber tapes will be side by side in a closed wide tape later. See section A-A. Here, half of the fiber tapes are provided on a first reel 19, which are arranged above the wire guide eye 2, while the other half of the fiber tapes are provided on a second reel 20, which are arranged below the wire guide eye 2. Alternatively, all the reels 19, 20 can also be arranged on one side of the wire guide eye 2.

[0055] The fiber tapes are preferably so-called fiber tow prepregs, which have been completely impregnated with a matrix material. This winding machine is designed for such fiber tow prepregs and is particularly suitable therefor. Thus, a high pulling speed enables high productivity while maintaining high quality.

[0056] The shown winding machine 1 has the positioning plane of the wire guide eye 2 in the 0° positioning. The fiber tape 44 is pulled out from the reels 19, 20, turned on the unwinding rollers 17, 18, and the fiber tape 43 is guided to the intermediate roller pair 15, 16. On the way out from there, the fiber tape 42 is twisted by 90° and guided to the conveying rollers 13, 14. The fiber tape 41 is directly guided through the wire guide eye 2 without any twisting. The wire guide eye 2 includes: a guiding roller 10 on which the fiber tape 41 converges into a wide tape as a whole; turning rollers 11, 12 which separate the fiber tape 41; a bearing structure 5 on which these rollers are all supported; and a wire guide eye sleeve 3. Here, four turning rollers 11, 12 are shown in the illustration. However, more turning rollers 11, 12 can also be used. The wire guide eye 2 as a whole can tilt by an angle α about the rotation axis 31. The conveying rollers 13, 14 are supported on the bearing structure 6 and are coupled to the wire guide eye 2 such that when the wire guide eye 2 tilts, the conveying rollers 13, 14 tilt together. Similarly, the intermediate roller pair 15, 16 is coupled to the wire guide eye 2 such that when the wire guide eye 2 tilts, they tilt together.

[0057] In the shown embodiment, the intermediate rollers 15, 16 are arranged to move vertically towards the conveying rollers 13, 14. The conveying rollers 13, 14 are arranged parallel to the turning rollers 11, 12.

[0058] Among all the rollers provided here, 11, 13, 15, 17 are the first rollers and 12, 14, 16, 18 are the second rollers. The first rollers 11, 13, 15, 17 guide the fiber tapes pulled out from the first reel 19, that is, from the reel arranged above. While the second rollers guide the fiber tapes pulled out from the second reel 20, that is, from the reel arranged below. The first reel 11, 13, 15, 17 guides the fiber tapes in the odd positions respectively with gaps between them, and the second reel 12, 14, 16, 18 guides the fiber tapes in the even positions respectively with gaps between them. Thus, these fiber tapes do not touch each other at the edges. These fiber tapes converge into a closed wide tape (fiber tape 40) only on the guiding roller 10, as shown in the section A-A. Then, the fiber tape 40 is wound onto the winding core 4 which is in rotation by the drive. Thus, the wound member 45 is made.

[0059] Preferably, an even number of reels 19, 20 are provided, where half of the reels form the first reels and the other half form the second reels 20. However, different numbers of first and second reels can also be used. For example, six first reels and five second reels, so that 11 fiber tapes are processed in parallel.

[0060] The winding machine provides the above advantages. And the winding machine can be realized very space - savingly.

[0061] Figure 3b The winding machine 1 is shown in another perspective view. For an overview, only the foremost turning rollers 11, 12 are shown.

[0062] Figure 3c is a rear view of the winding machine 1 in the 0° position again. What can be seen here is that the fiber tape winds around the two rollers of the intermediate roller pair 15, 16 in an S-shape when bypassing the intermediate roller pair 15, 16.

[0063] Figure 4a and Figure 4b shows rear views of the winding machine 1 at angles α of -70° and +70° of the wire guide eye 2. What can be seen is that here, the travel path of the fiber tape 42 remains unchanged. This is a path where the fiber tape 42 is twisted by 90°. Only the travel path of the fiber tape 43 between the unwinding rollers 17, 18 and the intermediate roller pair 15, 16 changes. Here, this does not matter because the fiber tape 43 is not twisted and because these paths do not affect the travel behavior of the fiber tape 41 through the wire guide eye 2.

[0064] Furthermore, it can be seen that in these positions, when the fiber tape winds around the intermediate roller pair 15, 16, a part of it only winds around one roller of the intermediate roller pair 15, 16 (the inner fiber tape), while the other part winds around three rollers of the intermediate roller pair 15, 16 (the outer fiber tape). Here, these fiber tapes are divided equally in this case. The arrangement according to the invention has the advantage that a particularly stable fiber tape guidance is ensured even in the case of a large angle α, and the fiber tape guidance carried out in the fiber guide eye 2 is completely unaffected by the change of the angle α or the positioning of the fiber tape. Therefore, multiple fiber tapes can be processed in parallel and at a high winding speed. The winding quality can be ensured without limitation at each angle α.

[0065] Furthermore, it can be seen that despite the high number of reels 19, 20, the winding machine 1 is still constructed very space-savingly.

[0066] Figure 5 The illustration in shows an exemplary variant of the wire guide eye 2 for the winding machine 1 according to the invention. Here, the turning rollers 11, 12 are arranged such that the travel paths between the last turning rollers 11, 12 and the guide roller 10 before the guide roller 10 along the travel direction of the fiber tape are of the same length respectively. Thereby, a uniform separation of the individual fiber tapes 41 can be achieved. An embodiment with six turning rollers 11, 12 is shown here.

[0067] Furthermore, it is advantageous for the travel path to be kept as short as possible so that no edge adhesion occurs between the individual fiber bands 41. In particular, the travel path between the last deflection rollers 11, 12 and the guide roller respectively is at most three times the diameter of the guide roller 10.

[0068] In Figure 6 a top view of the guide roller 10 and two first deflection rollers 11 is shown. The guide roller 10 is connected to the suspension such that its axis 33 is tiltable, so that the axis is no longer arranged exactly parallel to the axes 32 of the deflection rollers 11, 12 during tilting. The tilting movement of the guide roller 10 is restricted via an elastic element, such as a spring element 9, so that the tilting movement only deflects when the fiber bands 40, 41 are subjected to correspondingly different tensile stresses on the guide roller 10, thereby reducing the tensile stress difference.

[0069] Thereby, a small tensile stress difference can be compensated so that the small tensile stress difference does not cause winding defects in the wound member.

[0070] Figure 7 and Figure 8 show further concepts on how problems with the winding quality can be avoided in the case of a large angle α. This is a fragment of the conveyance on the roller block, once in a front view and once in a side view.

[0071] Here, the roller block is divided into a plurality of roller segments 23 such that each fiber band travels on its own roller segment 23. The roller segments 23 are supported on roller segment carriers 24, where the roller segment carriers 24 can be adjusted in terms of angle such that the roller segments 23 are either at the same height (for winding in 0° positioning) or at successively increasing heights (for winding at a larger angle α). By adjusting the height of the roller segments 23 to match the angle α, the lateral forces on the fiber bands 41 are greatly reduced and it is achieved that all fiber bands 41 bear the same lateral force. Thus, the convergence of the outer fiber bands 41 towards the middle is avoided. The winding quality (even when processing fiber tow prepregs) can also be significantly improved. In addition, more fiber bands 41 can be processed in parallel without affecting the quality.

[0072] List of reference numerals

[0073] 1, 1' winding machine

[0074] 2 wire eye

[0075] 3 wire eye sleeve

[0076] 4 winding core

[0077] 5 bearing structure of the deflection roller

[0078] 6 Load-bearing structure of the conveying roller

[0079] 7 Load-bearing structure for the roller block

[0080] 8 Suspension part

[0081] 9 Spring element

[0082] 10 Guide roller

[0083] 11 First turning roller

[0084] 12 Second turning roller

[0085] 13 First conveying roller

[0086] 14 Second conveying roller

[0087] 15 First intermediate roller pair

[0088] 15a Outer roller of the first intermediate roller pair

[0089] 15b Inner roller of the first intermediate roller pair

[0090] 16 Second intermediate roller pair

[0091] 16a Outer roller of the second intermediate roller pair

[0092] 16b Inner roller of the second intermediate roller pair

[0093] 17 First unwinding roller

[0094] 18 Second unwinding roller

[0095] 19 First reel

[0096] 20 Second reel

[0097] 21 First roller block

[0098] 22 Second roller block

[0099] 23 Roller section

[0100] 24 Roller section carrier

[0101] 25 Groove in the roller block

[0102] 30 Winding axis

[0103] 31 Rotation axis of the wire guide eye

[0104] 32 Axis of the turning roller

[0105] 33 Axis of the guide roller

[0106] 34 Axis of the roller block

[0107] Positioning plane of the 35 guide wire eye

[0108] Fiber tape to the winding core from 40

[0109] Fiber tape in the 41 eyelet

[0110] Fiber tape before the 42 delivery roller

[0111] Fiber tape after the 43 unwinding roller

[0112] Fiber tape after the 44 reel

[0113] Wound component from 45

[0114] Fiber tape on the 46 roller block

[0115] ~ Reel positioning / Fiber tape positioning

[0116] Angle of the α guide wire eye

[0117] β Winding angle

Claims

1. A winding machine (1) for manufacturing a component (45) made of fiber-reinforced plastic by simultaneously winding a plurality of fiber bands (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) onto a winding core (4), the winding machine comprising: - A winding core (4) with a drive, the drive being capable of rotating the winding core (4); - A thread guide eye (2), the thread guide eye including a plurality of turning rollers (11, 12), a guide roller (10) for guiding the fiber bands (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) before winding onto the winding core (4), and a support structure (5), wherein the thread guide eye (2) and its rollers (10, 11, 12) together can tilt about a rotation axis (31) such that the positioning plane (35) of the thread guide eye can be adjusted in terms of an angle α, so that the winding angle β at which the fiber bands (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) are wound onto the winding core (4) can thus be changed; - A plurality of conveying rollers (13, 14), the conveying rollers being arranged in front of the thread guide eye (2) in the traveling direction of the fiber bands (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) and the conveying rollers turning and guiding the fiber bands (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) to the thread guide eye (2); - A plurality of reels (19, 20), the fiber bands (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) being unwound from the reels; It is characterized in that additionally there is an intermediate roller pair (15, 16), the intermediate roller pair being arranged in front of the conveying rollers (13, 14) in the traveling direction of the fiber bands (40, 41, 42, 43, 44), and the axis of the intermediate roller pair being oriented such that it is not parallel to the axis of the conveying rollers (15, 16), wherein an intermediate roller pair (15, 16) is provided for each fiber band (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) respectively, and wherein the conveying rollers (13, 14) and the intermediate roller pair (15, 16) are connected to the thread guide eye (2) such that when the angle α of the thread guide eye changes, the conveying rollers and the intermediate roller pair tilt together about the rotation axis (31), wherein the axis of the conveying rollers (15, 16) always remains parallel to the axis of the turning rollers (11, 12).

2. The winding machine (1) according to claim 1, Characterized in that, the winding machine being designed for fiber bands (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) which are so-called tow prepregs, the tow prepregs being unwound from the reels in a manner that they have already been completely impregnated with a matrix material.

3. The winding machine (1) according to claim 1 or 2, It is characterized in that the winding machine being implemented such that the winding machine can process at least 8, preferably at least 10, particularly preferably at least 12 fiber bands (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) in parallel and can wind them onto the winding core (4) simultaneously in the form of a wide-width band.

4. The winding machine (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, It is characterized in that The axes of the intermediate roller pair (15, 16) are arranged parallel to the axis of rotation (31) of the wire guide eye.

5. The winding machine (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, It is characterized in that, The wire guide eye (2) can be tilted at least in an angular range of +70° to -70° about the axis of rotation (31).

6. The winding machine (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, It is characterized in that Some of the bobbins (19, 20) are arranged above the wire guide eye (2), while other bobbins (19, 20) are arranged below the wire guide eye (2). Preferably, half of the bobbins (19, 20) are arranged above the wire guide eye (2), and the other half of the bobbins (19, 20) are arranged below the wire guide eye (2).

7. The winding machine (1) according to claim 6, It is characterized in that There are a first conveying roller (13) and a second conveying roller (14). Among them, the first conveying roller (13) deflects the fiber tapes (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) from the bobbin (19) above the wire guide eye (2), and the second conveying roller (14) deflects the fiber tapes (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) from the bobbin (20) below the wire guide eye (2). And among them, the first conveying roller (13) is arranged above the second conveying roller (14) in the 0° positioning of the wire guide eye (2).

8. The winding machine (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, It is characterized in that The wire guide eye (2) includes a wire guide eye sleeve (3). Before the fiber tapes (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) are deflected by the deflection rollers (11, 12), the fiber tapes (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) are guided through the wire guide eye sleeve. Among them, the wire guide eye sleeve (3) is rotatably supported in a bracket so that the wire guide eye (2) can be tilted about the axis of rotation (31).

9. The winding machine (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, It is characterized in that The winding machine is implemented such that in the 0° positioning of the wire guide eye (2), the respective fiber tapes (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) respectively wind around the two rollers of the intermediate roller pair (15, 16) in sequence. And in the positioning where the wire guide eye (2) is tilted at an angle α > 10° or α < -10°, a part of the fiber tapes (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) only winds around one roller of the intermediate roller pair, while the other part of the fiber tapes (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) winds around the three rollers of the intermediate roller pair (15, 16) in sequence. Preferably, the part is half of the fiber tapes (40, 41, 42, 43, 44), and the other part is the other half of the fiber tapes (40, 41, 42, 43, 44).

10. The winding machine (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, It is characterized in that There is a first deflecting roller (11) and a second deflecting roller (12), wherein a part of the fiber belts (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) is wound around the first deflecting roller (11), and the second deflecting roller is wound around by another part of the fiber belts (40, 41, 42, 43, 44), and wherein the first deflecting roller (11) is arranged above the second deflecting roller (12) at the 0° positioning of the wire guide eye (2), and preferably, half of the fiber belts (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) are wound around the first deflecting roller (11), while the other half of the fiber belts (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) are wound around the second deflecting roller (12).

11. The winding machine (1) according to claim 10, It is characterized in that, The last deflecting roller in the first deflecting rollers (11) and the last deflecting roller in the second deflecting rollers (12) which are respectively directly arranged in front of the guiding roller (10) in the traveling direction of the fiber belts (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) are positioned such that the traveling distances of the respective fiber belts (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) from these two last deflecting rollers (11, 12) to the guiding roller (10) are basically of the same length respectively.

12. The winding machine (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, Characterized in that, The guiding roller (10) is elastically supported such that under the tensile stress of the fiber belts (40, 41, 42, 43, 44), the axis (33) of the guiding roller can tilt around the rotation point, so that the guiding roller (10) is no longer oriented completely parallel to the deflecting rollers (11, 12).

13. A method for winding a rotationally symmetric fiber-reinforced component (45) on a winding machine (1), wherein, Different layers are wound around the winding core (4) by the fiber belts at different angles β, and for this purpose, the wire guide eye (2) of the winding machine is tilted at an angle α, characterized in that Implement the winding machine (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein when the fiber belts (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) are wound into layers at an angle β not equal to 90°, and thus the wire guide eye (2) is adjusted to an angle α different from the 0° positioning, the conveying rollers (13, 14) and the intermediate roller pair (15, 16) rotate together with the wire guide eye (2).

Citation Information

Patent Citations

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