Pre-Impregnated Tape Laying with Moving Cutter and Uniform Heating
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional laminating equipment for thermoplastic pre-impregnated materials faces issues such as overheating, uneven temperature distribution, and misalignment of cut edges due to temporary pauses during cutting, leading to poor adhesion and increased material waste.
Innovation Solution
A tape laying device with integrated mechanisms for continuous lamination, including a tape transmission mechanism, compaction head, cutter, heating, and motion mechanisms, allowing for simultaneous cutting and adhering of pre-impregnated tape without pauses, ensuring uniform heating and precise edge alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the pre-impregnated material is stopped for cutting, then the cutter can accurately cut the material, but the heating device causes overheating or scorching of the stationary material
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements continuous feeding of the pre-impregnated material during the cutting process. The cutter mechanism moves with the material feed rather than the material stopping, allowing the heating device to continuously heat the material without causing localized overheating. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining continuous material motion while enabling precise cutting through the moving cutter.
Solution Approach 2:
The cutter mechanism is designed to be movable, tracking the material feed motion. This dynamic cutter position allows the cutting action to occur at the correct location on the moving material without requiring the material to stop, thereby preventing temperature accumulation while maintaining cutting precision.
2Manufacturing precision
If the pre-impregnated material is stopped for cutting, then the cutting can be performed, but the overall process time increases due to accumulated feed time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates idle time by maintaining continuous material feed during cutting operations. The cutter mechanism synchronizes its motion with the material feed, performing cutting actions without interrupting the overall material flow. This continuous operation significantly reduces accumulated feed time and increases processing speed while maintaining cutting accuracy.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the heating device power is reduced or temporarily turned off to avoid scorching, then material damage is prevented, but the temperature distribution becomes uneven causing poor adhesion
Solution Approach 1:
By maintaining continuous material motion during heating and cutting, the patent ensures uniform heat distribution across the material surface. The material continuously passes through the heating zone rather than being stationary, preventing localized overheating while maintaining adequate adhesion temperature throughout the heating area.
4Device complexity
If the cutter is kept at the same direction for composite pre-impregnated material, then the cutting mechanism is simple, but the cut edges of individual materials are not perfectly aligned
Solution Approach 1:
The cutter mechanism is designed to move dynamically with the material feed and can adjust its position to accommodate different material directions in composite laminates. This movable cutter tracking system maintains simple overall mechanism design while achieving precise edge alignment for multi-directional composite materials.
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
Enhances adhesion quality, reduces material waste, and decreases processing time while improving the product's resistance to deformation and impact absorption.
Implementation Method 1
a bonding surface of the thermoplastic pre-impregnated material shall be heated to induce adhesiveness thereof
Implementation Method 2
The compaction head mechanism, connected with the tape transmission mechanism, is configured to depress and drive the pre-impregnated tape
Data Source
AI summary
A tape laying device includes a tape transmission mechanism, a compaction head mechanism, a cutter mechanism, a heating mechanism and a motion mechanism. The tape transmission mechanism is configured to transmit the pre-impregnated tape. The compaction head mechanism, connected with the tape transmission mechanism, is configured to depress and drive the pre-impregnated tape transmitted by the tape transmission mechanism to follow a moving path so as to adhere the pre-impregnated tape onto the mould surface. The cutter mechanism is configured to cut the pre-impregnated tape. The heating mechanism, disposed downstream to the cutter mechanism, is configured to heat the pre-impregnated tape. The motion mechanism is used to have the cutter mechanism having an active path to move toward the moving path while the cutter mechanism cuts the pre-impregnated tape.