Apparatus and method for manufacturing tow prepreg
AssigneesMizuno Corporation, Mizuno Technics Corporation
InventorsMototaka Iwata, Akiyoshi Utsumi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tow prepreg manufacturing apparatus applies resin to an original tow of reinforcing fibers. The tow prepreg manufacturing apparatus includes an oiling roller, a scraper, a resin reservoir, a tube pump, and a controller. The oiling roller is supplied with resin while rotating at a predetermined rotation speed. The scraper adjusts the shape of the resin supplied onto the oiling roller. The resin reservoir supplies resin to the oiling roller. The tube pump discharges resin to the resin reservoir. The controller controls the tube pump so that the amount of resin held in the resin reservoir remains constant and controls the rotation speed of the oiling roller so that a resin content of a wound tow prepreg becomes equal to a target resin content.
Claims12
A method for manufacturing tow prepreg, the method comprising:
- supplying an oiling roller with resin from a resin reservoir;
- moving an original tow of reinforcing fibers over the oiling roller to apply resin to the original tow;
- and
- executing a resin discharge control and an oiling roller rotation speed control in parallel, wherein
- the resin discharge control keeps the amount of resin supplied from the resin reservoir constant,
- the oiling roller rotation speed control controls a rotation speed of the oiling roller to converge a resin content of a wound tow prepreg on a target resin content and adjust the amount of resin supplied to the original tow from the oiling roller, and
- the oiling roller rotation speed control includes
- calculating a resin content of the wound tow prepreg, and
- feedback-controlling the rotation speed of the oiling roller in accordance with the resin content of the wound tow prepreg and the target resin content so that the amount of resin supplied to the original tow from the oiling roller converges the resin content of the wound tow prepreg on the target resin content.
A method for manufacturing tow prepreg, the method comprising:
- supplying an oiling roller with resin from a resin reservoir;
- moving an original tow of reinforcing fibers over the oiling roller to apply resin to the original tow;
- and
- executing a resin discharge control and an oiling roller rotation speed control in parallel, wherein
- the resin discharge control keeps the amount of resin supplied from the resin reservoir constant,
- the oiling roller rotation speed control controls a rotation speed of the oiling roller to converge a resin content of a wound tow prepreg on a target resin content and adjust the amount of resin supplied to the original tow from the oiling roller, and
- the oiling roller rotation speed control includes
- detecting the weight of the resin delivered to the resin reservoir;
- detecting the weight of the resin that falls from the oiling roller;
- detecting a winding length of the wound tow prepreg,
- calculating the amount of resin applied to the wound tow prepreg from the weight of resin delivered to the resin reservoir and the weight of resin that falls from the oiling roller, and
- calculating the resin content of the wound tow prepreg from the winding length of the wound tow prepreg and the amount of resin applied to the wound tow prepreg.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.