Robotic Needling Head Trajectories for Complex Textile Preforms
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current needling systems are limited to axisymmetric geometries and cannot adapt to non-axisymmetric or non-through geometries, such as spherical caps, and are machine-specific, lacking versatility and parameterizable trajectory control.
Innovation Solution
A needling system with a robotic arm and modular needling head, equipped with a textile strip feeding device and monitoring unit, allows for adaptable, non-axisymmetric and non-through geometries, enabling customizable textile strip trajectories and mechanical bonding without chemical additives, suitable for various machines.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If current needling means are used with programmed trajectories, then axisymmetric preforms can be produced, but non-axisymmetric and non-through geometries cannot be manufactured
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic arm is designed to perform multiple functions: positioning the needling head, depositing textile strips, and needling operations. This universal positioning system replaces multiple dedicated machines, enabling production of axisymmetric, non-axisymmetric, through, and non-through geometries with a single device configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs dynamic trajectory programming that allows real-time adjustment of the needling head position and orientation. The robotic arm can follow complex, parameterizable trajectories adapted to various preform geometries, transitioning from static programmed paths to dynamic adaptable positioning.
2Adaptability or versatility
If machine-specific programs are used for needling, then current machines can operate, but versatility across different machines is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses parameterizable trajectories defined by mathematical equations and control parameters rather than machine-specific programmed sequences. By changing trajectory parameters (coordinates, speeds, orientations), the same robotic system can be adapted to different preform geometries and machine configurations without reprogramming the entire system.
3Productivity
If textile strips are deposited and needled simultaneously with a single system, then deposition in various directions is enabled, but strip tension control becomes critical
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates feedback control mechanisms that monitor strip tension and position during simultaneous deposition and needling. The robotic arm adjusts deposition parameters in real-time based on feedback from sensors, maintaining precise strip placement and appropriate tension levels throughout the manufacturing process.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for determining a program of displacement and orientation of a needling head for making a textile preform by needling a textile strip on a support tooling, includes determining a set of triplets of coordinates of the points of passage of the needling head as a function of the positions of the fibers along the Z axis in the textile preform to be made, of its local geometry and of a predetermined minimum distance to be met between the needling head and the support tooling or the preform making it possible to avoid a collision with the latter, and determining the angular orientation of the needling head for each point of passage as a function of the angular orientation of the textile strip and of the Z fibers in the textile preform to be made, and determining a local speed of displacement of the needling head.