Integrated Creel System for Composite Fiber Placement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional fiber placement machines have a large refrigerated creel house that takes up to an hour to rethread material, leading to downtime and resin buildup, which hampers production efficiency in fabricating composite items.
Innovation Solution
A modular head with an integrated creel system that stores spools of tow on parallel spindles, allowing for quick exchange and continuous material application, reducing downtime and resin buildup.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If a large refrigerated creel house is used to store composite prepreg material, then material storage capacity is improved, but rethreading time increases to an hour and resin buildup occurs on components
Solution Approach 1:
The creel house is divided into multiple individual spool holders arranged in a circular array, with each spool being independently replaceable. This segmentation allows individual spools to be changed without rethreading the entire material delivery system, reducing rethreading time from an hour to minutes while maintaining large storage capacity through the array configuration
Solution Approach 2:
A robotic end effector with a gripper serves as an intermediary between the operator and the spool replacement process. The end effector automatically grasps and replaces spools on the spindles, eliminating manual rethreading operations and preventing resin buildup on components that would occur during manual handling
2Quantity of substance
If a large refrigerated creel house is used to store composite prepreg material, then material storage capacity is improved, but resin buildup occurs on components carrying the tow
Solution Approach 1:
The spool replacement operation is extracted from the material delivery path and performed at a remote location on the creel house. The robotic end effector replaces spools at the spindle locations without the tow or resin-exposed components needing to be moved or handled, thereby preventing resin buildup on components while maintaining continuous material supply capacity
Solution Approach 2:
The robotic end effector acts as an intermediary that performs spool replacement without exposing resin-handling components to contamination. The automated gripper system replaces spools at fixed spindle locations, keeping the tow delivery path and compaction components isolated from the replacement operation, thus preventing resin buildup
3Quantity of substance
If conventional fiber placement machines with separate creel house are used, then material storage is achieved, but device complexity and rethreading operations increase
Solution Approach 1:
The creel house and spool storage system are merged into a compact circular array integrated with the fiber placement head. Multiple spindles are arranged in a circle around the head, combining storage and delivery functions in a single integrated structure that reduces overall system complexity compared to separate creel house configurations
Solution Approach 2:
The circular array of spindles serves multiple functions: it provides large material storage capacity, enables rapid spool replacement through robotic access, and maintains continuous tow supply to the head. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for complex separate storage and delivery systems while improving operational efficiency
Data Source
AI summary
To fabricate a composite item, a first end effector is selected from a plurality of end effectors to apply tows to a form. The first end effector includes an integrated creel configured to store spools of the tow on an assembly of spindles. The assembly of spindles is substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the first integrated creel. The first end effector is secured to a positioning device. The tows are applied to the form and the tows are compacted on the form with a compaction device. The assembly of spindles are disposed circumferentially about the compaction device.