Methods and system for determining fiber placement start locations for manufacturing a laminated composite component

A method for determining fiber placement start locations for manufacturing a laminated composite component, the laminated composite component being manufactured by applying a plurality of plies to a region of the laminated composite component in a specified sequence, wherein each of the plurality of plies comprises a layer of fiber made up of one or more courses of fiber, each course of the one or more courses of fiber comprising a finite width of fiber material, the method comprising:

• accessing, by one or more processors in communication with a non-transitory computer readable medium having executable instructions stored therein, a computer geometric model of the laminated composite component, the computer geometric model comprising data characterizing parameters of the laminated composite component, the data including:
• a laminate definition including the plurality of plies, each of the plurality of plies defined by a ply orientation and a ply boundary;
• and
• data characterizing a definition surface comprising a predetermined surface of the region on which ply boundaries are defined;
• analyzing the computer geometric model, by the one or more processors, and grouping all plies of the plurality of plies that have a same ply orientation into one or more groups;
• for each of the one or more groups, the one or more processors:
• determining a reference curve on the definition surface for the ply orientation of the group based on the ply orientation and the data characterizing the definition surface;
• determining, for each of the plies in the group, a geodesic curve on the definition surface normal to the reference curve;
• dividing the definition surface into stacking areas that each have an identical set of plies through a thickness of the plurality of plies of the group;
• determining, from the laminate definition and for each of the stacking areas, stagger requirements between two plies of the identical set of plies of the stacking areas, wherein stagger is defined as a normalized difference in distance along the geodesic curve between a first fiber placement start location of a first ply in the identical set of plies and a second fiber placement start location of a second ply in the identical set of plies, wherein the normalized difference is with respect to the finite width of fiber material of a course of the first ply or the second ply;
• defining a discrete set of possible distances along the geodesic curve for the fiber placement start location of each ply in the group;
• determining a set of candidate fiber placement start locations for each ply in the group based on the discrete set of possible distances;
• populating an integer optimization algorithm with the set of candidate fiber placement start locations to determine an optimization solution indicating which of the set of candidate fiber placement start locations for each ply in the group complies with an objective function of the integer optimization algorithm and one or more constraints, the objective function or the one or more constraints including the stagger requirements;
• executing the integer optimization algorithm to obtain the optimization solution;
• computing a three-dimensional fiber placement start location for each ply in the group based on the optimization solution, the reference curve, and the geodesic curve;
• and
• applying each of the one or more courses of fiber a single pass of a fiber applicator, wherein the fiber applicator is a hand fiber applicator and the method further comprises:
• the one or more processors, or another computing device, determining a location of boundaries of each of the one or more courses of each ply based on the three-dimensional fiber placement start location for each ply;
• determining a shape of each of the one or more courses of each ply based on the location of the boundaries of each of the one or more courses of each ply;
• and
• transmitting the shape of each of the one or more courses to a laser projector for projecting the shape of each course onto a surface of the laminated composite component for a user to apply fiber using the hand fiber applicator.

A system configured to determine fiber placement start locations and manufacture a laminated composite component that comprises a plurality of plies applied to a region of the laminated composite component in a specified sequence, wherein each of the plurality of plies comprises a layer of fiber made up of one or more courses of fiber, wherein:

• each course of the one or more courses of fiber comprises a finite width of fiber material applied with a single pass of an automated fiber placement machine or an automated tape layer;
• one or more processors, or another computing device, are configured to generate instructions, based on a three-dimensional fiber placement start location for each ply in a group, for the automated fiber placement machine or the automated tape layer for automatically applying fiber to the region to create the laminated composite component;
• and
• the system comprises:
• one or more processors in communication with a non-transitory computer readable medium having executable instructions stored therein, that when executed causes the one or more processors to:
• access a computer geometric model of the laminated composite component, wherein the computer geometric model comprises data that characterizes parameters of the laminated composite component, wherein the data comprises:
• a laminate definition including the plurality of plies, each of the plurality of plies defined by a ply orientation and a ply boundary;
• and
• data that characterizes a definition surface that characterizes a predetermined surface of the region on which ply boundaries are defined;
• analyze the computer geometric model and group all plies of the plurality of plies that have a same ply orientation into one or more groups;
• for each of the one or more groups, the one or more processors further configured to:
• determine a reference curve on the definition surface for the ply orientation of the group based on the ply orientation and the data characterizing the definition surface;
• determine, for each of the plies in the group, a geodesic curve on the definition surface normal to the reference curve;
• divide the definition surface into stacking areas that each have an identical set of plies through a thickness of the plurality of plies of the group;
• determine, from the laminate definition and for each of the stacking areas, stagger requirements between two plies of the identical set of plies of the stacking areas, wherein stagger is defined as a normalized difference in distance along the geodesic curve between a first fiber placement start location of a first ply in the identical set of plies and a second fiber placement start location of a second ply in the identical set of plies, wherein the normalized difference is with respect to the finite width of fiber material of a course of the first ply or the second ply;
• define a discrete set of possible distances along the geodesic curve for the fiber placement start location of each ply in the group;
• determine a set of candidate fiber placement start locations for each ply in the group based on the discrete set of possible distances;
• populate an integer optimization algorithm with the set of candidate fiber placement start locations to determine an optimization solution indicating which of the set of candidate fiber placement start locations for each ply in the group complies with an objective function of the integer optimization algorithm and one or more constraints, the objective function or the one or more constraints including the stagger requirements;
• execute the integer optimization algorithm to obtain the optimization solution;
• and
• compute a three-dimensional fiber placement start location for each ply in the group based on the optimization solution, the reference curve, and the geodesic curve.

A method for determining fiber placement start locations for manufacturing a laminated composite component, the laminated composite component being manufactured by applying a plurality of plies to a region of the laminated composite component in a specified sequence, wherein each of the plurality of plies comprises a layer of fiber made up of one or more courses of fiber, each course of the one or more courses of fiber comprising a finite width of fiber material, the method comprising:

• accessing, by one or more processors in communication with a non-transitory computer readable medium having executable instructions stored therein, a computer geometric model of the laminated composite component, the computer geometric model comprising data characterizing parameters of the laminated composite component, the data including:
• a laminate definition including the plurality of plies, each of the plurality of plies defined by a ply orientation and a ply boundary;
• and
• data characterizing a definition surface comprising a predetermined surface of the region on which ply boundaries are defined;
• analyzing the computer geometric model, by the one or more processors, and grouping all plies of the plurality of plies that have a same ply orientation into one or more groups;
• for each of the one or more groups, the one or more processors:
• determining a reference curve on the definition surface for the ply orientation of the group based on the ply orientation and the data characterizing the definition surface;
• determining, for each of the plies in the group, a geodesic curve on the definition surface normal to the reference curve;
• dividing the definition surface into stacking areas that each have an identical set of plies through a thickness of the plurality of plies of the group;
• determining, from the laminate definition and for each of the stacking areas, stagger requirements between two plies of the identical set of plies of the stacking areas, wherein stagger is defined as a normalized difference in distance along the geodesic curve between a first fiber placement start location of a first ply in the identical set of plies and a second fiber placement start location of a second ply in the identical set of plies, wherein the normalized difference is with respect to the finite width of fiber material of a course of the first ply or the second ply;
• defining a discrete set of possible distances along the geodesic curve for the fiber placement start location of each ply in the group;
• determining a set of candidate fiber placement start locations for each ply in the group based on the discrete set of possible distances;
• selecting, from the set of candidate fiber placement start locations, one fiber placement start location for each ply in the group that satisfy the stagger requirements;
• transforming the one fiber placement start location for each ply in the group into a three-dimensional fiber placement start location based on the reference curve and the geodesic curve;
• applying each of the one or more courses of fiber with a single pass of a fiber applicator, wherein the fiber applicator is an automated fiber placement machine or an automated tape layer;
• and
• generating instructions, using the three-dimensional fiber placement start location for each ply in the group, the one or more processors or another computing device, for the automated fiber placement machine or the automated tape layer for automatically applying fiber to the region to create the laminated composite component.