Systems and methods for continuous fabrication of woven composite materials

A machine for continuously forming a finished woven composite from a composite weave material comprising:

• spools for dispensing polymer impregnated or coated warp filaments;
• a warp rack comprising warp heads for receiving warp filaments from the spools, each warp head:
• comprising filament channels positioned at different vertical locations along the height of the warp head, each filament channel configured to engage a warp filament suspended between one of the spools and a roller assembly;
• and being capable of vertical movement independent of vertical movement of the other of the warp heads to adjust the height of warp filaments extending from the warp head toward the roller assembly;
• a weft inserter stack comprising weft inserters for inserting polymer impregnated or coated weft filaments between warp filaments to form the composite weave material;
• and
• a consolidation zone with the roller assembly configured to receive the composite weave material and consolidate the composite weave material by heat and pressure to form the finished woven composite.

A machine for continuously forming a consolidated composite weave comprising:

• one or more spools for dispensing one or more warp filaments;
• a roller assembly configured to;
• receive a composite weave material comprising one or more of the warp filaments and one or more weft filaments;
• and
• consolidate the composite weave material into the consolidated composite weave;
• a warp rack comprising heddle assemblies for receiving one or more of the warp filaments from the one or more spools, each heddle assembly comprising:
• a first heddle comprising a first eye for engaging a first warp filament suspended between a spool of the one or more spools and the roller assembly, the first heddle capable of vertical movement independent of vertical movement of other heddle assemblies to adjust the height of the first eye;
• and
• a second heddle having a slot for receiving the first warp filament and a second eye for engaging a second warp filament suspended between a spool of the one or more spools and the roller assembly, the second heddle capable of vertical movement independent of vertical movement of other heddle assemblies to adjust the height of the second eye;
• a weft inserter stack comprising weft inserters for inserting one or more of the weft filaments between one or more of the warp filaments;
• wherein the consolidated composite weave is continuously formed from polymer impregnated or coated warp filaments of the composite weave material by compressing and heating of the composite weave material;
• and
• wherein the heddle assemblies are aligned adjacent to one another in a first vertical plane.

A method of continuously forming a consolidated woven composite using a machine having a plurality of polymer impregnated or coated warp filaments suspended between a roller assembly and a warp rack that comprises a plurality of warp heads, wherein each warp head comprises a plurality of filament channels positioned at different vertical locations along the height of the warp head, each filament channel configured to engage a warp filament, and each warp head being capable of independent vertical movement to adjust the height of warp filaments associated with the respective warp head relative to the roller assembly, the method comprising:

• vertically positioning a first sub-group of the plurality of warp heads in a first vertical position and a second sub-group of the plurality of warp heads in a second vertical position such that the vertical height of each warp filament in a filament channel of a warp head of the first sub- group of the plurality of warp heads is higher than a warp filament in a corresponding filament channel of a warp head of the second sub-group of the plurality of warp heads;
• inserting one or more polymer impregnated or coated weft filaments into a warp between the roller assembly and the warp rack, such that each weft filament is inserted between a warp filament associated with the first sub-group of the plurality of warp heads and a warp filament associated with the second sub-group of the plurality of warp heads;
• securing the one or more weft filaments between two or more warp filaments to form a composite weave by vertically repositioning the first sub-group of plurality of the warp heads in a third vertical position and the second sub-group of the plurality of warp heads in a fourth vertical position such that the vertical height of each warp filament in a filament channel of a warp head of the first sub-group of the plurality of warp heads is lower than a warp filament in the corresponding filament channel of a warp head of the second sub-group of the plurality of warp heads;
• and
• consolidating the composite weave into the consolidated woven composite compressing and heating the composite weave.