Method of forming a seamless, cylindrical, thermoplastic structure with a multiple compaction roller winder

Abstract

A method and apparatus utilizes a multiple compaction roller ring winder (10) to consolidate multiple tapes of thermoplastic material (34) through conductive heat transfer to form approximately cylindrical structures. This includes rotating a driven mandrel (20) about an axis (24) to present a rotating forming surface. A plurality of material supply reels (30) disperse multiple thermoplastic material tapes (34). The supply reels (30) are positioned around the mandrel (20) such that the thermoplastic tapes (34) are simultaneously wrapped around the forming surface of the mandrel (20) to provide the material for the cylindrical structure. The multiple tapes (34) are compacted against the forming surface of the mandrel (20) by a plurality of heatable compaction rollers (40) that are positioned to rotate and press the tapes (34). The thermoplastic tapes (34) are heated through conduction with the heatable compaction rollers (40) to a temperature sufficient to consolidate the multiple tapes (34) approximately simultaneously with the addition of the thermoplastic tapes (34) to the cylindrical structure being formed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.