Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastic Tape Cooling Roller Geometry
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for manufacturing fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin tapes often result in uneven fiber density and defective regions due to inadequate cooling and impregnation processes, leading to areas with either no fibers or insufficient resin.
Innovation Solution
The apparatus includes a resin impregnation device with a nozzle and cooling rollers, where the distance between the nozzle tip and the main cooling roller is optimized to ensure quick cooling and solidification of the thermoplastic resin, preventing widthwise uneven fiber density, and a tension adjustment mechanism to maintain consistent fiber tension, along with a grooved roller to control fiber width.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If the cooling roller is disposed close to the downstream slit nozzle to prevent tape deformation, then the cooling efficiency is improved, but uneven fiber density and defective regions occur in the manufactured tape
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is divided into multiple cooling rollers (first cooling roller and second cooling roller) positioned at different locations downstream of the nozzle. This segmentation allows different zones of the tape to be cooled at different stages, preventing uneven cooling that causes fiber density issues while maintaining overall cooling efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The first cooling roller is positioned to cool the tape immediately after it exits the nozzle, performing preliminary cooling action before the tape fully forms. This preliminary cooling prevents resin solidification issues and fiber distribution problems that would occur with delayed cooling, while the second cooling roller provides additional cooling to ensure complete solidification without causing defects.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the tape is cooled immediately after drawing from the nozzle to prevent deformation, then the shape stability is improved, but widthwise uneven fiber density occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling approach transitions from a single-point cooling location to a distributed cooling system across multiple dimensions. The first cooling roller addresses the immediate cooling need for shape stability, while the second cooling roller positioned further downstream provides additional cooling coverage, creating a multi-dimensional cooling strategy that ensures both shape stability and uniform fiber density.
3Device complexity
If a single cooling roller is used to simplify the cooling system, then the device complexity is reduced, but defective portions and uneven fiber distribution occur
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is segmented into multiple independent cooling rollers rather than using a single complex cooling unit. This segmentation into simpler, modular components (first cooling roller and second cooling roller) maintains device simplicity while improving reliability through distributed cooling functionality that prevents defective portions and ensures uniform fiber distribution.
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 effectively reduces defective portions in the tape by ensuring uniform fiber distribution and resin impregnation, resulting in a high-quality fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin tape with minimal defects.
Implementation Method 1
at least one main cooling roller disposed downstream of the nozzle and configured to downstream feed the fiber bundle having passed through the nozzle while cooling the tape-shaped fiber bundle
Implementation Method 2
a nozzle provided to the outlet of the container of the resin impregnation device and configured to allow the fiber bundle having been impregnated with the thermoplastic resin to pass through the nozzle while forming the fiber bundle into a tape shape
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3A~3B
Figure 4A~4B
AI summary
Provided are a method and an apparatus enabling a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin tape having few defective portions to be manufactured. The provided apparatus includes a resin impregnating device (3) including a container (3a) and allowing the fiber bundle (8) impregnated with a thermoplastic resin to be discharged through an outlet thereof, a nozzle (18) provided to the outlet and having an opening allowing the fiber bundle to pass therethrough while forming the fiber bundle into a tape shape, and a main cooling roller (20) feeding and cooling the fiber bundle (8) having passed through the nozzle (18) while making contact with the fiber bundle at a contact position. The opening is a rectangular slit. With T (mm) being the dimension of the short sides of the slit and L (mm) being the distance between a tip of the nozzle (18) and the contact position, the dimension T and the distance L satisfy either one of Expression (A) and Expression (B) below: L≤1000×T−35;T<0.08AL≤785.7×T−17.9;T≥0.08B.