Automated fiber placement with course trajectory compensation
First Claim
1. A system for determining course trajectories for the application of tows of composite material to a curved surface using an automated fiber placement machine, the system comprising:
- a data repository that stores data related to the shape and dimensions of the surface and that stores an indication of a comfortable steering limitation and an indication of a length limitation; and
a computing system comprising one or more computing devices, the computing system in communication with the data repository and programmed to;
produce a plurality of generally parallel path course trajectories for application of the tows to the curved surface;
determine, for each of the plurality of generally parallel path course trajectories, whether any of the tows would violate the comfortable steering limitation;
determine, for at least one of the generally parallel path course trajectories in which any of the tows would violate the comfortable steering limitation, whether to make a course adjustment, wherein the determination of whether to make a course adjustment comprises comparing the length of the portion of the tow that violates the comfortable steering limitation to the length limitation; and
adjust, in response to determining to make a course adjustment, the trajectory of the least one of the generally parallel path course trajectories in which any of the tows would violate the comfortable steering limitation to a flared path course trajectory, the flared path course trajectory intentionally diverging from the trajectory of an adjacent course, thereby creating a gap between the flared path course and the adjacent course.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Various automated fiber placement systems and methods are disclosed. The system can determine steerable paths for the application of a composite material over highly contoured surfaces. The system can determine when a course trajectory would violate a steering limitation (e.g., a maximum bendability of the composite material) and can adjust the trajectory to avoid such violations. The adjustment can create gaps between adjacent courses, which can have a generally flared peripheral shape. The system can fill such gaps with subsequent courses of the composite material. Thus, the system can automatically apply composite material to highly contoured surfaces while also avoiding violation of the steering limitations.
95 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A system for determining course trajectories for the application of tows of composite material to a curved surface using an automated fiber placement machine, the system comprising:
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a data repository that stores data related to the shape and dimensions of the surface and that stores an indication of a comfortable steering limitation and an indication of a length limitation; and a computing system comprising one or more computing devices, the computing system in communication with the data repository and programmed to; produce a plurality of generally parallel path course trajectories for application of the tows to the curved surface; determine, for each of the plurality of generally parallel path course trajectories, whether any of the tows would violate the comfortable steering limitation; determine, for at least one of the generally parallel path course trajectories in which any of the tows would violate the comfortable steering limitation, whether to make a course adjustment, wherein the determination of whether to make a course adjustment comprises comparing the length of the portion of the tow that violates the comfortable steering limitation to the length limitation; and adjust, in response to determining to make a course adjustment, the trajectory of the least one of the generally parallel path course trajectories in which any of the tows would violate the comfortable steering limitation to a flared path course trajectory, the flared path course trajectory intentionally diverging from the trajectory of an adjacent course, thereby creating a gap between the flared path course and the adjacent course. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A computer implemented method of controlling an automated fiber placement machine configured to apply a plurality of layers of courses of composite material to a form, each course comprising a plurality of tows, the method comprising, under the control of one or more processors:
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determining a plurality of generally parallel course trajectories over the form, the plurality of generally parallel courses trajectories being in the same layer; identifying a course to be adjusted, wherein identifying the course to be adjusted comprises;
identifying at least one of the plurality of generally parallel course trajectories that has a tow that would violate a comfortable steering limitation;determining, for the tow that would violate the comfortable steering limitation, the length of the portion of the tow that would violate the comfortable steering limitation for greater than a length limitation; and adjusting the trajectory of the course to be adjusted to include a flared path trajectory portion, wherein, in flared path trajectory portion, all of the tows diverge from an adjacent one of the generally parallel path course trajectories, thereby creating a gap between the tows in the flared path trajectory portion and the tows of the adjacent generally parallel path course trajectory. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A computing system configured to implement a process comprising:
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receiving dimensional data for a contoured surface on which a plurality of layers of composite material are to be applied, each of the layers comprising a plurality of courses, each course comprising a plurality of tows; producing a plurality of course trajectories over the surface in the same layer, the course trajectories being generally parallel to each other; determining that at least one of the course trajectories comprises a steering violation, the steering violation occurring when a steering radius of any of the tows of the at least one course trajectory is less than a comfortable steering radius, the comfortable steering radius being related to the ability of an individual tow to traverse a curve; determining a length of the steering violation for the at least one course trajectory; and in response to determining that the length of the steering violation is greater than or equal to a length limitation, replacing the portion of the least one course trajectory that comprises the steering violation with a flared path trajectory, the flared path trajectory being non-parallel with the generally parallel path course trajectories. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification