Composite wheel and method for its manafacture
AssigneePrins Dokkum B.V.
InventorJan Spoelstra
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of manufacturing a composite wheel. The wheel is composed by mats of oriented carbon fibers. The mats are impregnated with a synthetic resin. The wheel is composed of at least two portions previously built up, which form respectively the hub and the rim of the wheel. The rim portion can, viewed from a direction perpendicular to the central axis, have a section substantially symmetric relative to a central plane of symmetry, the distance measured from a side of the section facing the central axis to the central axis predominantly increasing in the direction pointing away from the mirror plane, and the hub portion having a correspondingly comically shaped outer edge, which fittingly lies against the side of the rim portion facing the central axis over a substantial distance.
Claims16
A method of manufacturing a composite wheel, characterized by the steps of:
- building up at least two separate preforms (1, 2, 3), which preforms form respectively a hub portion (2, 3) and a rim portion (1) of the wheel, by compressing mats of oriented fibers (5) into each of the respective preforms;
- combing the separate preforms;
- compressing them into one whole;
- and
- impregnating this compressed whole with a synthetic resin.
A method according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that closed open spaces (14) formed by combining the preforms are filled with a non-impregnable material and by a transport material (16) leading the resin through the space (14) along predetermined paths.
A method according to cam 4 or 5, characterized in that the transport material consists o s fiber strips.
A method according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in tat the preforms are built up by
- cutting mats (5) from larger woven fiber mats, with a weaving pattern with two fr orientations directed substantially transversely to each other, and which are provided with an agent bonding under the influence of heat;
- substantially orienting the fibers of the mats in a circumferential direction and/or in a radial direction of the preform;
- and
- maintaining the shape of the mats under vacuum and heating the mats until the preform (1, 2, 3) has been formed.
A method according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the preforms 1 are built up with mats (5) having a relatively small size and a predetermined fixed basic shape.
A method according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the manufacture of the wheel comprises further steps of
- providing a number of bores (10) in the compressed whole;
- and
- arranging therein closely fitting metal bushes (16) before the impregnating step.
A wheel, characterized in that it is formed according to the method of any one of the preceding claims.
A wheel according to claim 16, characterized in that it has the sizes for use as a truck wheel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.