APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING A FIBER COMPOSITE COMPONENT

• US 20170144387A1
• Filed: 11/22/2016
• Published: 05/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus Defence and Space GmbH
• Original Assignee: Airbus Defence and Space GmbH
• Inventors: ENGEL, Franz, WEIMER, Christian, ORTH, Tilman
• Granted Patent: US 10,434,727 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 70/38 Automated lay-up, e.g. using robots, laying filaments according to predetermined patterns application heads for tyres B29D30/28
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 70/382 Automated fiber placement [AFP]
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 70/86 Incorporated in coherent impregnated reinforcing layers, e.g. by winding

Abstract

An apparatus for producing a fiber composite component. The apparatus includes a shaping tool and a plurality of laying units which are mechanically independent of one another and are each configured to lay a fiber material on the shaping tool, wherein the laying units each include a control device which is configured to actuate each laying unit to automatically interact with at least one other laying unit to lay a predetermined fiber arrangement together.

Claims

1. An apparatus for producing a fiber composite component, comprising a shaping tool and a plurality of laying units which are mechanically independent of one another and are each configured to lay a fiber material on the shaping tool, the laying units each comprising a control device that is configured to control each laying unit to automatically interact with at least one other laying unit in order to lay a predetermined fiber arrangement together.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the laying units are each configured to autonomously move on an assigned running surface.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the laying units comprise communication devices which are configured for communication between the laying units in order to determine laying of the fiber arrangement, including a pattern or a distribution of the fiber arrangement.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the shaping tool is in a form of a running surface.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the running surface is designed to be ferromagnetic, and the laying units each comprise a drive device having magnets which can be controlled by the control device in order to move on the running surface in a magnetically driven manner.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the running surface contains controllable magnets, including magnets that are controllable by the control device of a laying unit, and the laying unit comprises a drive device for interacting therewith in order to move on the running surface in a magnetically driven manner.

7. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein a hollow body is provided as the running surface, the inner face of which forms the running surface, at least portions of the tool being arrangeable inside the hollow body such that the fiber material can be wound or braided around the tool by laying units moving on the running surface.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the running surface is designed to be ferromagnetic, and the laying units each comprise a drive device having magnets that are controllable by the control device in order to move on the running surface in a magnetically driven manner.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the running surface contains controllable magnets, including magnets that are controllable by the control device of a laying unit, and the laying unit comprises a drive device for interacting therewith in order to move on the running surface in a magnetically driven manner.

10. A method for producing a fiber composite component comprising:

providing a shaping tool and a plurality of laying units which are mechanically independent of one another and are configured to lay a fiber material on the shaping tool; and

laying the fiber material on the shaping tool together by the plurality of laying units which are mechanically independent of one another in a predetermined fiber arrangement, wherein the laying units each comprise a control device, by which each laying unit is actuated in order to automatically interact with at least one other laying unit to lay the predetermined fiber arrangement together.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the laying units comprise communication devices and communicate with one another in order to determine laying of the fiber arrangement, including a pattern or a distribution of the fiber arrangement.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the laying units move autonomously on an assigned running surface in order to lay the fiber material.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the shaping tool is provided in a form of a running surface, the laying units moving in order to lay the fiber material on the shaping tool.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the laying units move on the running surface in a magnetically driven manner in order to lay the fiber material.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the running surface comprises a ferromagnetic design, and the laying units each comprise a drive device having controllable magnets in order to move on the running surface in a magnetically driven manner, the magnets each being actuated by the control unit which belongs to each laying unit in order to move the laying units on the running surface.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the running surface contains controllable magnets, and the laying units each comprise a drive device interacting therewith in order to move on the running surface in a magnetically driven manner, the magnets being actuated by a control device, in particular the control device which belongs to each laying unit, in order to move the individual laying units on the running surface.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the laying units move on an inner face of a hollow body, which face is in a form of a running surface, in order to lay the fiber material, the tool being arranged inside the hollow body such that the laying units moving on the running surface wind or braid the fiber material around the tool.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the laying units move on the running surface in a magnetically driven manner in order to lay the fiber material.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the running surface comprises a ferromagnetic design, and the laying units each comprise a drive device having controllable magnets in order to move on the running surface in a magnetically driven manner, the magnets each being actuated by the control unit which belongs to each laying unit in order to move the laying units on the running surface.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the running surface contains controllable magnets, and the laying units each comprise a drive device interacting therewith in order to move on the running surface in a magnetically driven manner, the magnets being actuated by a control device, in particular the control device which belongs to each laying unit, in order to move the individual laying units on the running surface.

21. The method of claim 10, wherein the method is for producing a fiber composite component by an apparatus for producing a fiber composite component, the apparatus comprising a shaping tool and a plurality of laying units which are mechanically independent of one another and are each configured to lay a fiber material on the shaping tool, wherein the laying units each comprise a control device which is configured to control each laying unit to automatically interact with at least one other laying unit in order to lay a predetermined fiber arrangement together.