Pullwound Composite Pressure Tanks With Thinner Fiber Shells
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for manufacturing high-pressure tanks, such as Type II, Type III, and Type IV tanks, are complex, time-consuming, and costly due to the labor-intensive process of winding individual fibre strands around a metal or polymer liner, making them inefficient for large-scale production while also resulting in a thicker fibre shell.
Innovation Solution
The method employs pullwinding to fabricate a tube of fibre filament reinforced material, which is then wrapped onto a liner using a combination of longitudinal and hoop wound fibres at specific angles to enclose the cylindrical portion, allowing for a reduced fibre shell thickness and affixed using heat shrinking or gluing, enabling continuous or semi-continuous production.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If individual fibre strands are wound around the liner one by one, then the tank can achieve sufficient pressure resistance, but the manufacturing process becomes complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple individual fibre winding operations into a single integrated tube formed by pullwinding. Instead of winding fibres around the liner one by one, the invention creates a complete reinforced tube with longitudinal and hoop fibres already positioned, then wraps this entire tube onto the liner in one operation. This merging of operations reduces manufacturing complexity while maintaining the pressure resistance achieved through proper fibre orientation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary positioning of both longitudinal and hoop fibres during the pullwinding process to form the reinforced tube before wrapping it onto the liner. This preliminary action ensures correct fibre orientation and distribution is achieved during tube formation, eliminating the need for complex step-by-step winding operations around the liner and simplifying the overall manufacturing process.
2Strength
If individual fibre strands are wound around the liner one by one, then the tank can achieve sufficient pressure resistance, but the production time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements continuous production by forming the fibre-reinforced tube continuously through pullwinding, then wrapping this continuous tube onto the liner without interruption. This eliminates the stop-start nature of traditional sequential fibre winding, where the process must pause to reposition and wind each individual strand. The continuous action dramatically increases productivity while the pullwinding technique ensures proper fibre orientation for pressure resistance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the positioning of longitudinal fibres and hoop fibres into a single continuous pullwinding operation, creating a complete reinforced tube in one continuous action. This combined operation is then wrapped onto the liner continuously, eliminating multiple separate winding steps. The merging of these operations into unified continuous processes directly addresses the productivity issue by eliminating repeated setup and positioning time.
3Strength
If traditional fibre winding methods are used, then adequate pressure resistance is achieved, but the fibre shell thickness increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by using pullwinding to create a tube with specifically engineered fibre distribution - longitudinal fibres provide tensile strength along the length while hoop fibres provide circumferential strength. This localized optimisation of fibre placement ensures that material is distributed efficiently where needed for pressure resistance, achieving adequate strength with reduced overall shell thickness compared to traditional uniform winding methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite materials with specific fibre orientations - combining longitudinal fibres and hoop fibres at defined angles - to achieve optimal pressure resistance with minimal thickness. The pullwinding process creates a composite structure where different fibre layers work together synergistically, allowing thinner shells to achieve the same or better pressure resistance than thicker shells made with traditional single-direction winding.
4Reliability
If complex manual fibre winding is employed, then pressure safety can be ensured, but the manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical winding process with an automated pullwinding system that uses controlled mechanical and chemical processes to form the fibre tube. The pullwinding process employs a moving die and chemical bonding agents to automatically position and secure fibres in the correct orientations, eliminating labor-intensive manual operations. This substitution maintains pressure safety through precise fibre positioning while dramatically reducing manufacturing costs by automating the process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the manufacturing parameters from manual winding speeds and positions to controlled pullwinding parameters including die movement speed, fibre feed rate, and chemical bonding application. These parameter changes enable automated, repeatable production with consistent fibre placement that ensures pressure safety. The optimized parameters reduce material waste and production time, lowering manufacturing costs while maintaining or improving pressure resistance through more precise fibre orientation control.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly reduces the thickness of the fibre shell to as low as 5 mm or 3 mm, enhances pressure resistance, and lowers production costs by simplifying the manufacturing process, while ensuring pressure safety and high throughput.
Implementation Method 1
The tube of fibre filament reinforced material may be affixed to the liner by means of heat shrinking the fibre filament reinforced material onto the liner
Data Source
AI summary
A method for manufacturing tanks for storing or containing a fluid under pressure and a method for manufacturing pipes for containing or channeling a fluid under pressure, such as for storing, containing or channeling hydrogen, natural gas or a hydraulic fluid. The method is less complex than known procedures, can be employed in a continuous or semi-continuous manner and allows for a lower thickness of the shell made from the fibres. The method comprising providing a liner having a cylindrical portion with two ends and two dome portions at the respective ends of the cylindrical portions or a liner having a cylindrical portion and one or two open ends; fabricating a tube of fibre filaments by means of the pullwinding method; and wrapping the tube of fibre filaments onto the liner such that at least the cylindrical portion of the liner is enclosed by the tube of fibre filaments.