# US 12,759,247 B2 · Fiber bundle cutting method in automated fiber bundle placement apparatus and automated fiber bundle placement apparatus

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- Number: US 12,759,247 B2
- Document ID: US12759247B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/677,607
- Filed: 2022-02-22
- Published: 2022-09-29
- Granted: 2026-10-13
- Earliest claimed: 2021-03-23
- Assignees: Tsudakoma Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
- Applicants: Tsudakoma Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
- Inventors: Takeshi Ataka; Ren Uenaka; Takahisa Fujinaga
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12759247B2

## CPC

- B29C 70/384: {Fiber placement heads, e.g. component parts, details or accessories}
- B29C 70/545: {Perforating, cutting or machining during or after moulding}
- B29C 2037/903: {by means of a computer}
- B29C 2793/0027: Cutting off
- B29C: SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING (making preforms B29B11/00; making laminated products by combining previously unconnected layers which become one product whose layers will remain together B32B37/00 - B32B41/00)

## Abstract

A fiber bundle cutting method in an automated fiber bundle placement apparatus includes: obtaining a placement length of a fiber bundle in an operating time of a movable blade from a start time point of a drive period to an end time point of a contact period, based on an operating time and a basic speed; setting, as a first time point, a time point determined as preceding the start time point by a predetermined preceding period; obtaining an additional speed to extra deliver at least a placement length during the preceding period; changing a feeding speed from an actual feeding speed to a corrected feeding speed obtained by adding the additional speed to the actual feeding speed at the first time point; and stopping rotary drive of a roller by a drive motor at the start time point.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An automated fiber bundle placement apparatus comprising a placing head configured to perform placement of a plurality of fiber bundles supplied from a supply device onto a placement die by pressing the fiber bundles onto the placement die by a pressing part, the placing head comprising a delivery mechanism having a pair of rollers provided for each of paths of the fiber bundles so as to deliver the fiber bundle toward the pressing part and a drive motor configured to rotationally drive at least one of the pair of rollers; an articulated robot configured to move the placing head at a preset basic speed for the placement; and a drive control device configured to control drive of the drive motor so that a feeding speed of the fiber bundle becomes an actual feeding speed corresponding to the basic speed, wherein the placing head has a cutting device provided between the pressing part and the delivery mechanism in a feeding direction of the fiber bundle and configured to cut the fiber bundle to be a placement length corresponding to the single placement by driving a movable blade, the cutting device is configured such that the cutting is performed during a contact period for which the movable blade and the fiber bundle come into contact with each other during a drive period for which the movable blade is driven, and is configured such that drive of the movable blade is performed in such an aspect that an amount of displacement of the movable blade in the feeding direction during the contact period becomes smaller than a feeding amount of the fiber bundle, and the single placement is performed by moving the placing head at the basic speed from a start time point to an end time point of the single placement, while the pressing of the fiber bundle onto the placement die by the pressing part is maintained, and a cut end of the cut fiber bundle is pressed onto the placement die by the pressing part, so that the single placement of the fiber bundle is ended,
wherein the automated fiber bundle placement apparatus includes a storage unit configured to store a first time point and an additional speed,
wherein the first time point is a time point between the start time point of the placement during the single placement and a start time point of the drive period during the same single placement, the first time point is determined as the time point that precedes the start time point of the drive period by a predetermined preceding period,
wherein the additional speed is a speed used to deliver the fiber bundle of a length equal to or longer than the placement length of the fiber bundle in an operating time of the movable blade, during the preceding period,
wherein the operating time of the movable blade is determined as a time from the start time point of the drive period to an end time point of the contact period, the placement length of the fiber bundle in the operating time of the movable blade is determined from the operating time of the movable blade and the basic speed,
wherein the drive control device is configured to control drive of the drive motor so that the feeding speed is the actual feeding speed from the start time point of the placement during the single placement to the first time point during the single placement and change the feeding speed from the actual feeding speed that is a speed corresponding to the basic speed, to a corrected feeding speed that is a speed obtained by adding the additional speed to the actual feeding speed at a time point reaching the first time point during the single placement, and to stop rotary drive of the roller by the drive motor at the start time point of the drive period.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The automated fiber bundle placement apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein an arithmetic equation for obtaining the additional speed with the basic speed as a parameter is set in advance in the storage unit, and
wherein the automated fiber bundle placement apparatus includes a computing unit configured to obtain the additional speed corresponding to the basic speed by using the arithmetic equation, and to obtain the corrected feeding speed based on the obtained additional speed.