Process and equipment for manufacture of advanced composite structures
AssigneeHypercar, Inc.
InventorDavid Taggart
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A process for continuous, tailored lamination of aligned composite materials in such a way that either pre-formed or pre-consolidated sheets are made available for subsequent infusion molding or stamping processes, the process comprising the steps of: material placement, consolidation/stabilization, cut and kit, fabrication, and final trim. A tailored blank machine is also described. The blank machine includes a series of material placement heads arranged in a linear or serial fashion along a single moving placement table, wherein each head lays down a single angle of the prescribed stacking sequence as the conveyer passes under the head at a constant speed wherein the angle is proportional to head traverse rate divided by conveyer speed.
Claims14
A method for making a composite part comprising:
- providing an array of heads arranged transverse to a machine direction;
- reciprocatingly moving the array of heads transverse to the machine direction;
- turning the heads on and off to intermittently dispense groups of fibers;
- dispensing, on a conveyor moving in the machine direction, a first group of fibers at a first angle;
- and
- dispensing, on the conveyor, a second group of fibers at a second angle,
- wherein the first angle is different than the second angle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.