Fiber tow winding resistance fiber placement head

Abstract

To provide a fiber placement head that prevents wrapping of fiber placement tows.SOLUTION: There is provided a fiber placement head for applying a plurality of composite tape segments on a mold, including one or more powered wheels that are configured to engage and move the composite tape; and one or more elongated fingers that closely conform to or abut an outer surface of the powered wheel(s) such that a portion of the elongated fingers forms at least a portion of a lane path.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Claims

1. A fiber placement head for applying multiple composite material tapes to a mold, One or more powered vehicles configured to engage with and move a composite material tape, It comprises one or more elongated fingers whose contours are defined to extend toward or abut against the outer surface of one or more power vehicles, A portion of one or more elongated fingers is adjacent to or forms at least a portion of the lane path. The fiber placement head further comprises a biasing element that biases the elongated fingers to engage with the powered vehicle.

2. The fiber arrangement head according to claim 1, wherein the powered vehicle and the elongated fingers are supported by a restart module that is removable from the fiber arrangement head.

3. The fiber arrangement head according to claim 1, wherein the elongated fingers include an arc shape that extends away from the mounting surface.

4. The fiber arrangement head according to claim 1, wherein the elongated fingers include a flat surface that forms at least a portion of the lane path.

5. The fiber arrangement head according to claim 1, further comprising a resistance block connected to a central plate and a pivot positioned on an elongated finger, wherein the biasing element is constrained between the resistance block and the elongated finger to rotate the elongated finger around the pivot and engage with the powered vehicle.

6. The fiber arrangement head according to claim 1, further comprising a link member attached to the elongated finger, wherein the biasing element abuts against the link member and rotates the elongated finger around a pivot.

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