Computer-Integrated Filament Winding-computer-Integrated Design, Robotic Filament Winding and Robotic Quality Control-Scholliers1994
Computer-Integrated Filament Winding-computer-Integrated Design, Robotic Filament Winding and Robotic Quality Control-Scholliers1994
A computer-integrated environment has been created around the filament winding process,
including design, production and quality control. In the design phase, computer-aided design,
finite element analysis and fibre path calculation techniques are integrated. Two filament
winding machines have been developed for production: a two-axis filament winding machine
and a robotic tape winding machine. The collision-free robot program is generated completely
off-line. For quality control, a robotic ultrasonic C-scanning cell has been developed.
NOMENCLATURE
point of fibre path
axis of delivery rolls fibre path parameter
binormal = aS(u, v)/&J, surface derivative
curvature vector = dS(u, v)/&, surface derivative
delivery point in pay-out eye surface
transversal force on fibre tangent to fibre path
normal force on fibre magnitude of fibre tension
resultant force on fibre surface parameters
fibre tension fibre path
friction force slippage tendency
outwards directed normal to surface friction coefficient
leads to a force J: = dx/ds = Tcper unit length on the d2uJds2 and d2vJds2:
mandrel surface, which is directed towards the centre of
curvature of the fibre path. The force Tr can be split in d2u a22h - ad2
-=
two components: the normal force f, = T(c.i))n: ds2 al ta22 - a12a21
perpendicula: to the surface, and the transversal force
5 = T(c.@)b, tangential to the mandrel surface (Figure du dv
=A( u, 0, -, - ) (12)
ds ds
‘When the surface is not completely convex, the fibre
may lift off from the surface, taking a shorter way through d2v ad2 - a2A
-=
the air. This is called jibre bridging. To prevent fibre ds2 al 1a22 - a12azl
bridging, the normal force f, must be directed towards
the material side of the surface, in the opposite direction
of the outwards directed normal n’:
du dv
=f2( u, v, -7 -
ds ds
) (13)
tTsfn<O or T(n. ij < 0 (4) The system of differential equations (12) and (13) is solved
numerically in the CAWAR program.
Fibre bridging occurs if the product n’.c’is positive.
In order to obtain an accurate and reproducible fibre
lay-down, the fibre may not slip on the surface. The Paths in tape winding
transversal force jb should therefore be smaller than the An alternative to winding with several individually
maximum friction force 3w between the fibre and the tensioned rovings is to wind with a single tape. The use
material underneath, or: of tapes results in lower investment cost, since only one
ll3blls Il3wll= PI13nll (5) delivery unit is needed. However, tapes wrinkle easily
under transversal compressive forces, which have
with p the static coefficient of friction. The value of p therefore to be kept as low as possible. This causes
depends on various factors, such as resin viscosity and problems in tape guidance and tape centring, since no
mandrel surface finish, and can vary7y8 between 0.2 and transversal guides can be used.
0.4. In a band with independently tensioned rovings, the
The slippage tendency5, 2, is defined as the ratio
rovings can move longitudinally with respect to each
between the magnitudes of the transversal force fb and other. This is no longer possible in a tape; if the difference
the normal force 3”:
between the lengths of the tape edges becomes too large,
A= *!L$& the path of the edges will change so that the difference
(6) between the lengths of the paths is minimized: the tape
” -c.n
will slip, wrinkle or lift off from the surface, which will
The stability criterion (5) can then be written as: have a negative effect on the strength of the part. For
faultless winding, the path of the tape centre should be
14 s P (7)
such that the difference between the lengths of the edges
In Equation (6) a negative sign is used since c‘. n’ is is minimized. Such a path is called a natural path’. This
negative, except when fibre bridging occurs. If the path can be approximated by a geodesic, provided that
slippage tendency I equals zero, the fibre path the width of the tape is sufficiently smaller than the radius
corresponds to a geodesic. of curvature of the surfacelO. Therefore tape winding
The set of equations (2) and (6) can be written as: allows only geodesics, so that the design freedom is less
c.i= 0 than in filament winding, where deviations from
(8)
geodesics are allowed.
c’.(d+ hi) = 0 (9)
These equations result, with Equation (3), in a system of Design methodology
two second-order differential equations: The fibre paths have to be designed so that all the design
d2u d2v requirements for the part are met. For strength and cost
alljp + al2 - = b, (10) requirements an optimal strength and/or minimal weight
ds2
are desired. For aesthetic reasons or for fluid storage, a
d2u d2v full and uniform coverage is often desired. The design
a,,-
ds2
+ a22-
ds2
= b2 (11) process consists of the following steps (Figure 3).
such as loading and unloading the mandrel and for Figure 6 Collisions during filament winding
V
U 6475823
64753 Ei 6472856
w 6472841
6472857... t
64.72858... 6 6 4 7 5 8 2 7...
X 6472847... 7
design, avoidance of fibre bridging is a serious problem; Figure 13 First pattern of quasi-parallel geodesic paths
during calculation of the fibre path, collisions between
pay-out eye and mandrel have to be avoided.
The T-piece is wound using tapes. Thus only geodesics
are allowed.
The trajectories of the different geodesics possible on
the T-piece have been investigated. Figure 12 shows a
trajectory map, in which the starting position, which
varies along the lower edge of the vertical cylinder 6, is
given as the abscissa and the winding angle is given as
ordinate. Geodesics are represented by their surface
sequence, i.e., the sequence of the surfaces the geodesic
crosses. For instance, a geodesic of type K (Figure 11)
has as surface sequence 6-4-l: it starts at cylinder 6,
crosses torus 4 and ends at cylinder 1. Fibre bridging
occurs for all paths of type K on torus 4. Geodesics, for
which fibre bridging occurs, are shaded in the map, and
have to be excluded. In Figure 12, only 26% of the
geodesics are free from fibre bridging. The main design
problem is therefore the selection of bridging-free fibre
paths that cover the surface completely. Only the
trajectory types A, B, C and D are bridging-free. Fibre Figure 14 Tape wound T-piece