Compaction method and device for automated fiber placement
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsMichael Robert Chapman, Robert M. Watson, Stephen Howard Williams
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A compaction device for use with an automated fiber placement machine includes multiple compaction rollers mounted for independent displacement on a supporting frame. The attitude of the compaction rollers change relative to each other when fiber tows are laid up at an angle over an edge of a tool in order to maintain compaction pressure on the tows and thereby reduce non-compacted areas of the tows.
Claims20
A device for compacting only a bandwidth of fiber tows on a tool, comprising:
- a frame adapted to be moved over surfaces of the tool;
- and
- a plurality of compaction rollers mounted on the frame for independent relative displacement, each of the compaction rollers adapted to compact the fiber tows onto the surfaces of the tool, wherein each of the compaction rollers has first and second opposite ends, and the device further comprises:
- pins fixed to each of the first and second ends of the compaction rollers and slidably mounting the compaction roller on the frame.
A device for compacting only a bandwidth of fiber tows on a tool having tool surfaces intersecting at an angle forming an edge on the tool, comprising:
- a pair of arms spaced apart from each other;
- and
- a plurality of displaceable compaction rollers extending between the arms and mounted on the arms for independent displacement relative to each other as the compaction rollers traverse over the edge of the tool, wherein each of the plurality of displaceable compaction rollers is spring biased toward the tool surfaces.
A device for compacting only a bandwidth of fiber tows on a tool, comprising:
- a frame adapted to be moved over surfaces of the tool;
- a plurality of compaction rollers mounted on the frame for independent relative displacement, each of the compaction rollers adapted to compact the fiber tows onto the surfaces of the tool, and wherein:
- the compaction rollers extend substantially parallel to each other;
- the tows each have a width;
- there is a pitch between centers of the compaction rollers;
- and
- the pitch is substantially equal to the width of the tows.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.