System and method for textile positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for manufacturing circular preforms, such as carbon/carbon brake disks, face inefficiencies in production processes due to the use of brush bed plates, which result in lower fiber volume, increased maintenance, and higher part-to-part variations, leading to reduced quality and higher costs.
Innovation Solution
A circular needle loom with a stationary bed plate and engagement members that rotate the spiral textile around the plate, utilizing a positional structure like sacrificial edges or fiber loops to secure and position the textile, allowing for efficient layering and needling, thereby increasing fiber volume and reducing waste and space requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a brush bed plate is used to prepare a net shape brake preform, then the preform can be transported and needled, but maintenance and cleaning create extra steps that reduce manufacturing efficiency and increase costs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the brush bed plate component entirely from the system, replacing it with a smooth bed plate. This extraction eliminates the maintenance and cleaning steps that were causing process complexity, while maintaining the core functionality of supporting and transporting the preform during manufacturing.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using a brush bed plate that requires maintenance, the invention inverts the approach by using a smooth bed plate that eliminates the need for brushing operations. This reversal of the traditional approach simplifies the process by removing the problematic component rather than trying to improve it.
2Reliability
If a brush bed plate is used, then preform transport is possible, but anchorage is insufficient resulting in transport interruptions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the brush bed plate that was causing anchorage problems and replaces it with a smooth bed plate配合engagement members. This extraction eliminates the transport interruptions caused by insufficient anchorage while maintaining continuous manufacturing capability.
3Manufacturing precision
If a soft brush bed plate is used, then preform compliance is improved, but fiber volume is lower than desirable resulting in lower quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the soft brush bed plate that was compressing the fibers and reducing fiber volume. By replacing it with a smooth bed plate, the system maintains preform compliance through alternative means while preserving higher fiber volume and improved quality.
4Productivity
If existing layering and needling processes are used, then preform fabrication is possible, but removal of the finished preform from the bed plate creates extra steps
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the brush bed plate that was creating adhesion problems and requiring extra removal steps. The smooth bed plate eliminates these adhesion issues, allowing for simpler preform removal and reduced process complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
In various embodiments, the present disclosure relates generally to a method for needling a spiral textile to create a needled preform, the method comprising receiving the spiral textile on a bed plate of a circular needle loom, engaging a positional structure of the spiral textile, rotating the spiral textile around the circular needle loom, depositing a predetermined number of layers of the spiral textile on the bed plate, and needling the spiral textile to create the needled preform. Moreover, the present disclosure also provides, in various embodiments, a method for creating a circular needled preform from a spiral textile, comprising attaching sacrificial fibers to at least one of the weft tow and the plurality of warp tows proximate at least one of the inside diameter and the outside diameter, and engaging the sacrificial fibers with an engagement mechanism on a circular needle loom.