Fiber Arranging Device for Non-Overlapping Tape Lamination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional AFP apparatuses struggle with laminating tape materials of varying widths and curvatures efficiently, leading to non-uniform thickness and reduced lamination efficiency, especially when attempting to laminate along curved lines without overlapping tapes.
Innovation Solution
A fiber arranging device with adjustable guides and rollers allows non-overlapping arraying of tapes with varying widths and curvatures, using a mechanism to alter tape intervals and feeding directions, enabling simultaneous lamination without overlapping, and integrating with an AFP apparatus for uniform tape distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If tape materials are laminated simultaneously to improve lamination efficiency, then the length of tape material laminated per unit time increases, but the thickness of laminated tape materials cannot be made uniform due to overlapping
Solution Approach 1:
The lamination head is designed with movable guides that can dynamically adjust the positions of multiple tapes in the width direction. This allows the system to adapt to different lamination widths and maintain uniform thickness by preventing overlap between adjacent tapes during simultaneous lamination operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The lamination head is designed as a multi-functional device that can handle multiple tapes of different widths simultaneously. The guide positions are adjustable to accommodate various tape width combinations, making the device universal for different lamination requirements while maintaining precise thickness control.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the total width of laminated tape materials is changed, then the adaptability to different product specifications improves, but the overlapped amounts among tape materials must be changed requiring complex adjustments
Solution Approach 1:
The guides in the lamination head are designed to be movable along the width direction, allowing dynamic repositioning of each tape's guiding position. This enables the total lamination width to be changed by simply adjusting guide positions rather than changing overlap amounts, reducing adjustment complexity.
3Productivity
If prepreg tapes are overlapped with each other to be laminated, then the lamination efficiency improves, but it becomes difficult to laminate along curved lines due to viscosity differences in length
Solution Approach 1:
The lamination head incorporates movable guides that can dynamically adjust tape positions during lamination. This allows the system to accommodate curved lamination paths by adjusting guide positions in real-time, preventing the viscosity-related problems that occur with fixed overlapping configurations on curved surfaces.
4Productivity
If tape materials with large width are used, then the lamination efficiency improves, but the ability to laminate along curved lines with large curvature decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The movable guide system allows wide tapes to be positioned and adjusted dynamically during lamination. This enables the use of wide tapes for high efficiency while still accommodating curved paths by adjusting the guide positions to compensate for the tape width and curvature relationship.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
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Figure 5~6
AI summary
A fiber arranging device (1) includes first guides (10A), a first moving mechanism (11A), second guides (10B), a second moving mechanism (11B) and a roller (6). The first guides guide a first feeding of first tapes (TA) in a first feeding direction. The first tapes (TA) are first fibers or prepregs. The first moving mechanism changes an interval between the first guides, for the first feeding of the first tapes (TA) with a first interval. The second guides (10B) guide a second feeding of second tapes (TB) in a second feeding direction. The second tapes (TB) are second fibers or prepregs. The second moving mechanism changes an interval between the second guides (10B), for the second feeding of the second tapes with a second interval. The roller (6) feeds the first tapes (TA) and the second tapes (TB) in a same feeding direction by disposing the first tapes (TA) and the second tapes (TB) alternately.