Curve shaping apparatus

A curve shaping apparatus for shaping a reinforcing fiber material so as to form a curve in a plan view while conveying the same on a defined path, the reinforcing fiber material being formed by molding a long sheet shaped reinforcing fiber base material in which a thermoplastic resin is used as a matrix material and a reinforcing fiber is oriented at an angle with respect to a longitudinal direction, the curve shaping apparatus comprising:

• a heating device provided in the path and configured to heat the reinforcing fiber material to a temperature equal to or higher than a deformable temperature at which the reinforcing fiber material enters a deformable state;
• a clamping mechanism provided upstream of the heating device and configured to be switchable between a clamping state in which at least both end portions of the reinforcing fiber material are clamped and a non-clamping state in which the clamping state is released;
• a swing mechanism including a gripping unit provided downstream of the heating device and configured to be switchable between a gripping state in which at least both end portions of the reinforcing fiber material are gripped and a non-gripping state in which the gripping state is released, the swing mechanism being configured to rotationally drive the gripping unit between an initial position and a rotation position downstream of the initial position about a position of one side edge of the reinforcing fiber material or a position on a center side of the curve with respect to the side edge as a center of rotation;
• a shaping mechanism including a shaping mold unit provided adjacent to the heating device on a downstream side of the heating device and including an upper mold, a lower mold, and a pair of side molds for shaping the reinforcing fiber material, the shaping mechanism being configured to heat the shaping mold unit to a temperature lower than the deformable temperature and drive the shaping mold unit to perform a shaping operation, and the shaping mechanism being configured such that, in order to shape the reinforcing fiber material into a curved shape, an outer shaping surface of each side mold of the shaping mold unit for shaping the reinforcing fiber material is formed as a curved surface for realizing the curve and an inner shaping surface of the upper mold and/or the lower mold facing the outer shaping surface is formed as a curved surface parallel to the outer shaping surface;
• a pulling-out mechanism provided downstream of the heating device and configured to perform a pulling-out operation of pulling out a portion of the reinforcing fiber material heated by the heating device to a position where the shaping operation by the shaping mold unit is performed;
• and
• a drive control device configured to control drive of each mechanism so that each process of a rotation process of bringing the clamping mechanism into the clamping state and bringing the gripping unit positioned at the initial position by the swing mechanism into the gripping state and then rotating the gripping unit toward the rotation position, a pulling-out process of bringing the clamping mechanism into the non-clamping state and then causing the pulling-out mechanism to perform the pulling-out operation, and a shaping process of causing the shaping mold unit to perform the shaping operation by the shaping mechanism is performed in the order of the rotation process, the pulling-out process, and the shaping process.